R KAF~}{~HEBREW LETTER FINAL MEM~} {~HEBREW LETTER LAMED~}{~HEBREW LETTER PE~}{~HEBREW LETTER LAMED~}{~HEBREW LETTER YOD~}{~HEBREW LETTER TET~}{~HEBREW LETTER HE~} {~HEBREW LETTER GIMEL~}{~HEBREW LETTER DALET~}{~HEBREW LETTER VAV~}{~HEBREW LETTER LAMED~}{~HEBREW LETTER HE~}

"And God has thus sent me before you to prepare for you a
permanence on the earth and to save your lives by a great
deliverance."--Genesis xlv., v. 7.

In a time of effort, suffering and grief such as this country has never
before known, it is well that we should have frequent occasions for a
review of the position in which we stand for a strengthening of our sinews
to continue the struggle in the spirit of the high and noble resolve which
induced our participation in it.

This week-end will be a solemn occasion; it will draw together the
religious bodies in a rare unity of thought and action. If there be in
these times any who think themselves superior to the need of intercession
and prayer they are not to be envied. For these are the days in which
human values are changing and the folly of human pride and the weakness of
human strength are brought home to men--the old-time wisdom of the humble
heart is vindicated once more. And so we take advantage of the fact that
we are again upon the threshold of a New Year to ask that the blessings of
our God may still be poured upon us and those who, with us, are striving
to right the wrong and to make the world the better and purer for our
fight against injustice, barbarism and slavery. We of this generation feel
that we are so ordering our actions--many of us so facing death--that we may
be able to say to future generations: "God hath sent me before you to
prepare for you a permanence on the earth and to save your lives by a
great deliverance."

The land in which we live is overshadowed, its people perplexed and
exasperated by the fears and resentments of a fierce and desperate War:
and we must needs strive for balance, both mental and moral, if we would
not be swallowed up in the morasses of hate and vengefulness. Whilst we
turn to our God for help in maintaining our just cause, which we cannot
doubt is indeed His cause, we still must guard our actions and our
thoughts, to prevent the blotting out of the moral issues that are at
stake.

It would be a wretched perversion of conscience to require of any man,
condonation of the infamous cruelties and treacheries which have disgraced
our foes