CHURCH AND WAR.

Clutha Leader, Volume XLII, Issue 89, 16 May 1916, Page 7

CHURCH AND WAR.

, ABOUT LOST SHEEP. j "SUCH GOOD FELLOWS, THE RASCALS." The London 'Spectator' prints a very interesting article by "A Student in Arms" about "some who were lost, and i afterwards found." It is based upon j the storyi of the Good Shepherd and His lost sheep. The lost sheep -which "A Student in Arms'' had in mind were so lovable that they had to be forgiven. "They wore, such good fellows, the rasca.'s." The article proceeds: They were perplexing. We could not but condemn them. Indeed, they condemned themselves with the utmost, good humor. Ye* we could never altogether feel that we should like them |to be exactly as they were. Their humility disarmed our self-satisfied judgments. They had the elusive I charm of youth, irresponsibility and | vagabondage. As w e read the "Gospel story we thought that there must have j/been men> like them .among the "lost sheep" whom the Lord Jesus came to seek. Some of those publicans and sinners with whom the Lord feasted, to the great scandal of the worthy Pharisees, must have been- verv liko these wayward vagabonds of ours. Once, more the Lord has_ walked our i streets. Once more He Iras called to th 6 lost sheep to follow the Good Shepherd along the thorny -path of suffering and death. As of old, Hi; has demanded of them their all. And as of old, t He has not called in vain. Whatever 1 their faults, these beloved lost sheep ', •dp not lack courage. "When thev give ' they give recklessly, not st.;'iv|'ng' to count the cost. They never bargain, ■ estimate the odds, calculate profit and loss. With them it is a .plunge, a blind, ' headlong plunge. They venture "neck . or no.th.ing; Heaven's success found, or I earth's failure." When the call came to face hardship and risk life itself in the cause of freedom we stolid respect- j able folk paused. We waited to be con- ' vurod of the necessity. We calculated j

the loss and .gain. We sounded our em- ) plovers .about the keeping open of ouir ' jobs. Not so they. Thev plunged headlong. It was their chance. For this. ; they felt, they, had been born. Their j hearts were afire. They had a cra.ving '. to give- their lives for the great cause. | They had a hunger for danger. And ; what a.' nuisance they were in that first weary year of training! They plunged headlong down the stony path of glory, but in their htaste, thejvi stum Med over every stone! And when they did that they' put us all out of our stride, so crowded was the path. Were they promoted? . Thev promptlv celebrated the fact in 0. fashion, tlna'it secured! their immediate reduction. '. Were they/reduced to the ranks? Then they were in hot water from early morn to dewy eve, audi such was their irrepressible charm that hot water lost its terror's. To be a defaulter in sucih marry company was .a privilege rather than a . disgrace. So in despair we promoted! them again, hoping that by giving them e, little responsibility we shouhl enJist them on tho side of good order and discipline. Vain hope! There are things that cannot be overlooked, even in a "Kitchener bat- : tal'on.'' i Then at last we "got out." We j were confronted with dearth, danger, and death. And; then they came to their I own. We. could no longer compete ' with them. We stolid respectable folk ' were not in our element. 'We' knew it. We left it. We were determined . to go through with it. We succeeded; but it was not without much internal wrestling, much self-conscious effort. \ et tiltey. who had fonaierly been our cksna.tr, were now our glory. Their spirits effervesced. T:be ; r wit sparkled. Hunger and thirst could not depress them. Rain could not dam.p them. Cold could not chill them. Every hardship became, a, joke. They did not endure hardship, they derided it. And somehow it seemed" at the moment as if derision was all that hardship existed, for! Never was stictli a. triumph of spirit over matter. As for death, it was in a way, tho greatest joke of all. In a way. for if it was another fellow that was hit it was an occasion' for tenderness and grief. But if one of theai was hit, O Death where is thv sting? 0 (Jrave, where is thy victory? Portentous, solemn Death, you looked a fool when you tackled one of them ! Life? They did not value life! They liad never been able to make much of a fist of it. But if they lived amiss the* 1 ., died gloriously, with ,i smile for the pain and the dread of it. What else had they been born lor? It was their chance. With a gay heart thev gave then- greatest gift, and with a smile to think that after a'll thev had ainfthing to give that was of value. One bv one Death challenged them. One bv one they smiled- in his grim visage, and refused to be dismayed. Thev had been lost; but they found the path that led thetn home; and l when at last they kid their lives at the feet of the Good Shepherd, what covtkl they do but smile!"