God is our hope.

Waiapu Church Gazette, Volume VI, Issue 4, 1 October 1915, Page 43

God is our hope.

(Psalm 62, verse 8.) A Sermon preached at the Synod Service, held- m the Cathedral, Napier, by the Rev. J. B. Brocklehurst, Vicar of Hastings. Anyone who has tried to keep pace with the*, opinions of thinking men and womien since the war began, must have noticed many criticisms of Christianity. I,et me jquote two or three :— " Christianity has failed," "The Church has no weight im the world," " Nationality has proved stronger than Christianity," "Men are looking to the Church for a lead, and they do not find it there — they find better guidance m the secular press." Now, whilst it is good for us to know what men are thinking, yet phrases like these don't stagger us ; because we know the Founder of the Church died on a Cross. He, too, was a failuro from one point of view, and many then thought that His d^ath would mean the end of His influence and power. We, however, know better, because His death was followed by His resurrection. And this is the truth, the world is oroinnr to re-lea.m. I. for one. do not believe that religion is finished, nay, on the contrary, I believe the best days of Christianity are to come. I cannot say ,how or by what means this will be brought about, but T can see that what is wanted at the present moment is a crusade, declaring all th* fundamental of Christianity. ' The signs of the times show that men are hun-a-e.r;ne and thirsting for these. Perhaps. I can make this clear by gl^ncin^ at three obvious facts: — The firs+ fact that stands out clear is the possibility of human •nature.. Since, thfl wf hpffn" wp h^ve been o-iven a vision, such as the world has never seen before, of what human nature can do and bear. 'Am I wronor when I say that the j^en who left our shores have shown a side, of their nature, which tio one previously saw ? Did you m your wildest dreams of what r«ankind could do, ever think that thY commonplace individuals who walked our streets were capable of such heroic deeds ? Did the parents who know these men better than anyone else ever think that their sons, were tnad§ of stuff like this?

Go aii'd ask the man who claims to know human . nature if he ever thought, that the men m our towns and backblocks would bring their souls and bodies and offer them as living sacrifices to crush out the evils of. militarism. When a miner is prospecting for. gold, he looks out for indications ; did any of us see indications of the gold m the' souls of these men — I, for one, am willing to admit I did not. What they, and those they lelt behind, have done then giv^s a strong hint that they possessed some kind of buried treasure; for their natures are like a tract of country unexplored and undeveloped. The humdrum life gave no signs that deep m the valley of their souls were the seeds of jus L tice, honour and heroic deeds. • What I claim, then, is that We should recognise that there are depths m human nature, as yet unfathomed. For the sake of the days to come, we cannot afford to lose sieht of this fact, for if the Church, has always gathered inspiration from her saints and martyrs, here to-day we can find inspiration m what we call the "average man " ; for he. has shown that when stripped of the conventions of life, he has a so>ul that soars above self interest : which gives us a glimpse of the wondrous possibilties of human nature. The second fact, which stands out, is that the call to self-sacri-fice, meets with response. This fact is blazoned forth every day of our life — turn where you will, you meet it m some form or other. Think, the word " Sacrifice " has forced its way to the front, — before the war it was m the shade ; you heard it m the Churches, and occasionally m the home, but it was never heard on the lips of politicians and seldom used by editors of papers ; but to-day it stands out. alone and amid the few grand strong words m our language it has taken its right place. It is not simlply the word itself, but that for which the word stands, for if sacrifice means " something that hurts," whichit does, then we see it not only m the work being done and the money being given, but behind the closed doors of our homes, we see what sacrifire means among the mothers and wives oE the land, who gladly, yet with a pang, gave up their sons and husbands.,

I haive sometimes thought that we are apt to forget that the greatest sacrifice of all has been made by the women of the land ; because every man that goes to the front is part of some woman's heart, and we know that the roots of love and affection go dee[Per m women's hearts than m men's, so that every volunteer at the front represents a woman's devotion and sacrifice, for m giving up her son or husband she makes the grreat surrender, which is the sacrifice of the heart's divinest treasure. Now these two facts coupled together, show that this moving force m the world to-day is soul force. Analyse as we will, the reasons why men are nVhting, we come back to this: it is because their souls are stronger than all the world beside. Why did Britain po to war ? Because behind the treaty with Belgium lay Britain's soul. Every one of the words foremost m our language to-day are love words of the soul — words like " honour," " duty," " sacrifice " ; what are they when tracked down, but words that have their roots m the soul. When our commanders tell us " the spirit of the troops is excellent," they are thinking of something that lies behind arms and ammunition—they are thinking of that vital force which must m the end spell victory— for without the soul men would surrender no matter what arms and ammunition they had. It is soul force which has forced its way through the crust of materialism, luxury and ease ; it is that, and nothing but that, binding the colonies to the motherland. Everywhere the soul has heard the cry of need— even the fortified selfishness of our social life has been shaken by the call to help ; so that when you think of it m this way you will see that the real thing counting to-day is the soul of man. Men are not talking about it, they never did, but they a.re showing by what they do that the real driving force of their life is this very power they are shy of talking about. These three facts, which we have briefly glanced at, ought to have a meaningi for the Church to-day. Great issues are at stake m more ways than one, so if we fail to interpret them aright, then we shall miss our day of opportunity. I/et

me give, then, what appears to me their meaning. First, we are given a vision of the worth of humanity. Personally I cannot help thinking this is well worth having lived to see. Can we, I ask, ever forget the self-sacrifice, the deeds and soul force that is flowing forth to-day. It may he true that man has .about him the marks of evil. Our own hearts tell us this, without readinir the papers ; but we are being shown to-day that man has also abotit him " the marks of the Lord Jesus." S. Paul coined that phrase, for the marks .of persecution on his .body. These outward brands were the scars of a. veteran, who proudly held them aloft like a standard bearer, for they proved his devotion to his King. When, then, mankind show, *.s they are showing to-day, the brands of service, they are ■Droving themselves worthy. . Men from to-dgv will never ask again that cynical question : Is mankind worth the ao"onv and bloody sweat, and all the prayer and labour which the Christian Church tgives for their salvation ? T emphasise this because it makes all the difference how we look on mankind. None >knew better than Jesus " what was m man." He knew too well the degradation to which men could sink, but side hy side with man's degradation, He saw something so eternally good, that it was worth living, sufferino-, dying for, m order to call out the good. I find that some iare afraid of emphasising the good m humanity, because it seems to eiiid'ancfer -penitence—but does it ? Did the vision of God m His Glory rob Isaiah of the sense of good ? Was it not rather God's Glory that emphasised his own good, and that .vision of glory and his own good, sent him forth to serve, saying, "Here am I, send me." No, it is when we see the good and glory of man, that our own souls are charged with power, that sends us forth to serve, for the vision of it shows what they are capa/ble of becoming — the sons of God. But further : To see the vision of their worth, means we must maike our appeal to sacrifice. Professor James, of Harvard University, has said : " What mankind has to find is a substitute for war." By that 'he means something that

will call out the grandest possibilities of human nature. But have we to find it ? I, for one, believe we have that something m the Gospel of Jesus Christ, there right m the heart of it stands the Cross, which has no other meaning than this — love and self-sacrifice. Is it not a fact that no, one can deny, that right down the-centur-ies, the Cross has. been calling- out, exactly what the finer side of war does. Why, some of us would not be here to-day, if it were not so. You will remember when . Jesus detected that following Him was becoming the popular thins;, He threw out a sterner note — " If any man will come after Me, let him deny. himself and take up his cross daily and follow Me." The men who heard this knew exactly what it meant. . The shirkers fell back, but the few loyal souls, though they knew it meant the lash and prison, the scorn and hatred, aye, and probably death, followed Him. Such words heated the iron m their souls ; the appeal touched that within them which called for manliness and saintliness. When Garibaldi was forced to sign the capitulation of the small republic he had founded, he turned to his followe-rs, sayine", " I am going out from Rome : I offer neither quarters nor provisions nor wages : I offer hrn-rer, thirst, forced marches, battles, death : Let him who loves his country m his heart, and not with his lips only, follow me." They did, the appeal struck home, and as a result, Italy S.s partly what she is to-day. To plant the Cross m the centre of all our teaching is what I believe is needed to-day, for as a iratter of experience nothing else has the power to call out love and self-sacrifice like that. Again, this appeal to sacrifice will give a new motive for living and men want this very badly today. Before the war, success m life was measured m terms of pounds, shillings and pence. This was because the world held thi,s out as the measure of success. It did.notmean that men really loved amassing money for moneys sake, what they loved was the game, the battle of wits, this gave them a motive, and drove them on. If I am right m thinking this, then it follows that religion must capture that motive by giving an-

other. What we have to show them is that the game of life has something finer and better than amassing wealth, that success m life is seen m character and not possessions. We must point out that this spells war, and that on the lonely battlefield of the human heart, all the forces of evil have to be crushed. We are being told to-day . that the stricken lands of Belgium are the result of the evil of militarism, and against that evil the forces of the Empire are arrayed to stamp it out. But let us remember that German militarism is only one of the many forms of evil, so that it is the evil behind it that needs crushing. The world knows it, for the eyes of the world are opened to what greed and insane ambition lead to. Whilst men's hearts are aflame with indignation against this evil, they have risen m their might, to overthrow part of this kingdom of v evil, and, to my mind, whilst their hearts are aflame with indignation, the hour has much for the Christian Church, to ring anew with the call to stand by God. If we can count m millions the slain and wounded, all the result of one form of evil, who will count the numbers slain by the world, the flesh and the devil. Whilst the whole civilised world is crying, oui against the ruthless destruction of Louvain, let us not forget that m the sight of God one perishing soul is worth more than iouvain. Iyet men see, then, -a motive for giving, let them feel the thrill of God calling them, to rise up m their might and stamp out all that destroys the bodies and souls of men. I believe they will respond. I would ask, then, all who are gathered for this Synod, to remember that ll God is our hope," for m these words is a ringing conviction that when humanity fails, when the policies of statesmen break, when the destinies of nations are being reformed, we are lost, hopelessly lost, if we forget God. One of our chaplains at the front has told us, that " the men there are making a great discovery, they are discovering God." What ; is wanted, then, for the new world i which is coming is new men. Our i work is to prepare men for this— : can we do it? Yes, a thousand < times, yes, if we cling on to this— : "God is our hope," :