BETTER THAN MILITARY SERVICE.

Press, Volume L, Issue 15017, 11 July 1914, Page 16

BETTER THAN MILITARY SERVICE.

Rev. T. J. Lawrence, M.A., LL.D., who is well known for his books and lectures on international law, and has been rector of Upton Hovel, Wilts, sinco 1902, delivered a most thoughtful bcrmon at Bow Church, Gheapside, Jast month, on "War and Social Service-," in the interests of tne Church of Enp;laud Peaco League. Dr. Lawrence, bearded and spectacled, read with much spirit ironi his careiuily-prepared niauufccript, pouring ecorn on the idea that young mcv could servo their country best by becoming experts in tho most approved, means of slaughtering their fellow-men. Whatever good military training might do in improving character, he urged, could be better attained in hundreds of other ways. Tho notion that military service was tho alternative to luxury and selfish ease was demonstrably talse. The armies of today might not burn libraries or destroy museums, but mere mobilisation before a shot was fired would bring industrial life to a standstill in countries where military service was universal; altruistic work in the State would bo checked, and scientific research, even religion itself, would suffer. Dr. Lawrence's advico to young men, if they wanted to servo their country and gain noblo qualities of discipline and self-sacrificOi was that «hey should work in the slums, organise industrial exhibitions, teach in tho Sunday school, servo ou Car© Committees, and so on.