CALL TO FAITH

Waikato Times, Volume 127, Issue 21201, 26 August 1940, Page 9

CALL TO FAITH

VICTORY OF RIGHT £3 NO TIME FOR DEFEATISM STRONG CHRISTIAN BELIEF (By Telegraph.—Special to Times) WELLINGTON, Monday Opening his address with words of encouragement to the relatives of men in the Forces, the Hon. A. Hamilton, Leader of the Opposition and a member of the War Cabintet, made faith in the ultimate victory of right the keynote of his national service talk last night. After quoting passages from a letter written by a British air pilot to his mother in anticipation of death, he went on: “As people are making supreme sacrifices for us, so we

should not let them down. Let us see that we are not unworthy of our cause and appreciate the blessings which their protection still leaves with us. “To some the troubles of the world loom so large that their minds are swamped by them. With many people there is too much wailing, too much pessimism, with the result that some say that those of us who talk of freedom, progress and enlightenment pursue vain dreams. That is rubbish, of course. Progress has always been forged in fire and tempered in struggle. Hope Set on Future “ In our time we have made remarkable advances in the practical application of technical sciences to industry and commerce,” Mr Hamilton continued. “ Moral and social life has fought upward alongside them. Perhaps the great feeling of disillusion and pessimism is because people see that these things lead to trouble, while they had hoped for a better world. That is defeatism. Better now to review the great legacies of the advance in our days, and see what can be redeemed and well used in the future.”

Mr Hamilton spoke of the barrenness and hopelessness of a materialism which cast off faith in the providence of God, or even in democracy as a personal ideal. The present struggle, he said, was a war between paganism and Christianity. If democracy were not to fail, those who lived under it must seek and find strength and stability in Christian belief. There could be no more appropriate time than the present to overhaul human values. Now was the time to deal with the spirits of envy, vanity and lust for power which corrupted human endeavour. Half-way to Victory “ Democracy must not fail to realise that it is a faith, not a jumble of private interests,” added Mr Hamilton. “ Now that it has stripped itself of the fear of war it is, I believe, more than half-way to victory. Totalitarianism has yet to show that it can fight. Free people have proved themselves in a thousand of desperate encounters and against the greatest odds. There are millions all over the world watching and waiting for a chance to shake off the yoke of tyranny. Today one can almost glory in democracy, free of the fear of war, stripped of half-heartedness and ready to resist attack with counterattack.”