CHURCH AND WAR

Dominion, Volume 10, Issue 2982, 20 January 1917, Page 9

CHURCH AND WAR

CHRISTIANITY IN THE FIELD

tTHE NATIONS AND "THE GOSPEL, Tho following striking article on the spiritual situation, contributed by a corespondent, 'appeared in a recent issue *>f the London ' "Times":— The prudent polioy for an army hardpressed is to shorten its lines; it may be assumed that the Church is hardpressed, 'both in men and in material; its wisdom, therefore, would appear to lie in a bold shortening of the lines, and that must mean' a concentration upon the mission, which-waits" at its idoor; its "far-flung battle-lino" must be surrendered, and tho! Church must (call upon its sons to defend its cause, threatened by scepticism's or indifference at home. So the argument runs. But the Church with one voicehas rejected this logic in obedience to a . logic of its own —the logio of spiritual experience. The ablest minds in the ; Church will not hear of a shortened line; and at no time liavo thero been so many , powerful minds concerned with the foreign missionary enterprise as there aro to-day. In the ranks of these enthusiasts in all the churches there are nion of statesmanlike vision, scholars whose work wins the respect of the academies, mystics who are seeking the last unity of all,things; theso with . one accord refuse to surrender any sec- • tion of the lino, and with them is the distinct of the Christian heart, which is ohilled by tli9 very • word . "withdrawal.". The exporienco of the London Missionary Society , is representa- • tive; under financial strain the society determined to withdraw from Calcutta ■unless, sufficient funds wero promised to avert this disaster within.; six weeks. ''From every, side came offerings to stay the retreat; and in the end the society, so far from withdrawing its line, ended its year with a balance in hand. What is the reason for such an attitude as these facts disclose? .Why- is it that tho wisest and most far-seeing mouthers, of the Church are,more and moro absorbed in the international and worldwide preaching of the Christian faith? There is moio in the change than.the desire to say "Thank you" to India for its-loyalty: more than tho prudent liope ..that Christianity; may avert perils wliich .'.may, arise, in the East. ' - It is rather due to a reading' of the spiritual situation as that prosents itself in a world, doomed for good or evil to be won. The human race presents itself' to the imagination as the . crew of a ship, ' : "moro drenched with blood thaa ever mutinied .ship"; all nations are in it. and no race with honour can take to the boats. The-unpardonable sin for a modern man is to despair of the Human family, or- to demand a safety for himself or his people, which is not offered, to all. "\Ve are not saved, it has been well said, except in a saved race. , Tlie Church, believing ns it must do that in its Gospel there is a sure spiritual foundation for mankind, cannot limit its vision or its service. Nor can it do its work piece-meal; it cannot finish its task in Europe, and afterwards begin injAsia. "Throughout Asia there is in process, a complete transformation of social institutions, habits, standards, and beliefs... Tie move- ■ ment is unceasing; it will as little wait on our convenience as the tides of the ; sea." The Church, indeed,, so far from .thinking that the missionary enterprise can' be delayed, is stricken by remorse to know that it is late, almost too lato, with the offer of a faith, to which all ; ihe spiritual strivings of tho East haVo 1 moved. _ "If haply- they might feel Titer Him, and find Him." Arid why should the war delay this taission? There is a sense of huiniliaj,tion. it is true, in the Church. There is a subdued tono in its voice, but thero is no shame in tho thought of the iFaith itself. - The war is not the breakdown of"Christianity; "though tlie' • (thought of it must .awake penitence iu. all the churches throughout Europe,' the war can never be laid to the charge iof the Faith. "Christianity has not been tried and found wanting; it has been found difficult and not tried." So far as its international 'witness in (Europe is concerned, it must be with . humbled and disillusioned eyes that the churches look upon things as they are; (Europe can never be restored to health, except on a common spiritual unaerstanding, and tho Church cannot abdicate its task in Europe' to concentrate upon Asia or Africa. But at the same time it cannot refuse to carry at once what it believes to bo the leaves of the tree of healing to the nations, now entering with sudden and untried powers upon the stage of the world's destiny; there is only one stage now. .China is putting out to sea-, it has been said, but whether as a merchantman or a Dreadnought does not yet appear. In such an hour it would be a policy of-despair to withdraw from China,' anil -this the wisdom of,tho Church has seen. . •-' ■ '• •In the early days of Protestant mis-' Bions,- with, an audacity and■ a passion

beyond all praise, _ ilia • missionaries sought to win individual believers for the Faith. Afterwards the Church was able to dream of a. Church arising in the East and in the South, and the dream in a measure has como true. It is still. the passionate faith' of the Church that individual souls shall bo won, and churches of the new-born shall be formed. But there has come to tho seers-a vision of nations, accepting as a basis of their life the spiritual values of tho Gospel. They read tho missionary enterprise in terms of the statesmanship which alone can bo .'tolerated in the conliiig age—the_ statesmanship which thinks internationally, and takes into Its range the whole world; ■' . The vision' glows before the ,Church of the day-when nations sluill come to tlio Light, and Icings to the brightness of Ins appearing.

THE WORLD'S MISTAKE ABOUT i- ' : ENGLISH VIEW OF LIFE AND . DUTY. Mr. A. Clutton Brock, writing on "the- Talent in :i Napkin" in "The Times" Educational Supplement, says: "On ono point the Gorman and tho rest of the world have been mistaken about us. They thought that wo wero weak when wo were only lazy, and timid when we wero only sceptical. Wo havo been sceptical about all things because we could not persuade ourselves that there was nothing worth having but material success; and yet wo could not clearly conceivo of something better worth having. Wo could not make up our minds to serve either God or Mammon, because we did not much like Mammon, and' wo were not very sure of God's existence.

"That'has been the attitude of the | ordinary decent Englishman for a generation or more, whatever class lie may belong to. He lias been a little out of conceit with the modern \world and not in conceit with anything else. He has, as it were, suspended judgmont on all things, and meanwhile he has tried to satisfy himself with being de- > cent and with liking other ■ decent people. -He has tried to do his duty, but he has not thought it possible that any duty might become a passion to him. So ho has seemed to niinself to be living in a slack tide of time, between a past that he cannot beliove in- and a future that has not declared itself: and, meanwhile, the German has thought that the future was his and that he could make it as ugly as he chose.

- "And the world lias believed more and more that the future is the GerBefore the war we were losing our prestige even among nations that liked iiß. No one looked to us for ideas; no, one asked oven what was doing in ' England, for it was assumed that nothing was doing. , AVe were supposed' to think of nothing but' being gentlemen and sportsmen. We had the secret, it was thought, of living very agreeably on our own past; and the Kaiser came over here and enjoyed the English holiday life much as English. noblemen in the eighteenth century enjoyed the holiday fife of Venice. "Certainly we had hid our talent very dangerously in a napkin; and for this reason the German and the pacifist aliko say that the present war is our fault. AVe had no right to seem so much more frivolous and lazy and weak than we were; and' now we. and the Germans and all the world are paying, for the mistake they made about us. They have convinced us at least that the war against them is worth waging. ■AVo do not suspend judgment on that point. That future which seemed to us . so vague and distant has rushed 1 in •upon us, and whether tvo will or not we have to play our part in makiug it. . "In two years a new age seems to [ havo begun; and wo hardly know ourselves, srnco we, too, aro a part of it. There is a real good and a real'evil, a;,real Mammon and a real God; and for both men will give. their lives,' ' , "AVo have to learn the technique, at' •least; of wir; we, the nation of amateurs, have to face the nation of professionals ; and if wo were beaten we could not flatter ourselves that wo were .right not to have our- hearts in tho ■ gamo. It is quite clear to us now that 'something is serious, that wo must serVo someone; but is it to bo God or Mammon? That is still the question before us, and success in the war will not settle it for us. ,

"The Germans set to work with immense industry and seriousness to make what 'they believed to bo civilisation; can- wo, with tho samo industry and seriousness, now try to make what we believo to bo civilisation?" , BELGIUM'S TRIAL. PASTORAL FROM CARDINAL MERCIER. Cardinal Mercier, in a recent pastoral, refers to She long trial which Belgium is undergoing, and points out to his people that, if they would realise the inner meaning.of pvents, they must contain their souls iu silence in presence of eternity. In the mysteries of His. death and resurrection.

■ perpetuated in the Mass, Christ gives us the koy of events- Out of death | rises lifo. Ami bo in conclusion His limincnco exhorts thom to hear Mass frequently and devoutly, adoring the designs of ''God, sorrowing for sin, thanking Him for His benefits, and praying for their needs. "Suffering makes us pitiful. In>days gone by wo havo seen without much eujotion tho luassacros, .of. the poor Armenians, Mohammedan . 'fanaticism has put to death thousands upon thousands of this hapless peoplo l in tho course'of tho present war, carrying off their , woman and girls as slaves. "And Poland, noble Poland, ever! true to her faith and lier pledges; Poland whioh has never undertaken a war of conquest, but lias struggled always for the freedom of peoples and the civilisation of Europe, suffers more than we. Her sons ate dispersed among Russian, Austrian,' and German armios, her soil trampled and ravaged by the ebb and flow of armies. America' cannot give her food. Pray for ■her,'my brethren,- and beg of God that at least one of the happy results of this horrible war may be tho definite acknowledgment of Poland's independence.

"Aaid lastly, hero also in tho Belgium under enemy occupation let us pray for and love ono another.' Let our affection be sincere and activo. The history of Belgium charity during this war will furnish pages whioh will worthily bo set besido those which tell of tho heroism of-our soldiers. Let there be no stain in the book of our 'nation. Lot us all do our best together for union and to help ono another. Lot those who can,- give largely to those in need, the sick and the infirm. Beware of enriching yourselves at the oxpense of' misery to others. To do so would bo hateful. And let us all stand patient and persevering to tho end. Lot us lift up our hearts, and redoublo our confidence. Let us cry to God, in" tho words of tho Sacrcd Liturgy: "0 Lord, come to my assistance:-0 Lord, make haste to help mo.' Meanwhile, let us bo calm, courageous, and unmurmuring. Let us apply to our patriotic endurance what our Saviour said of .the work of our eternal salvation: Ho only who perseveres to tho end shall be saved."'

WHAT IS THE FIRE DOING FOR US? Rev. George Jackson, preachintr at Brixton, said: b • "For all of us 'this is tfhe question:' AVJiat is tho liro doing for us? Our statesmen and journalists, and all sorts of people, are telling -us, until wo sometimes get weary of hearing them, that when this war is over ours will be a different England. Well, will it ho a better England? "When news replied AVilliam Pitt of another of Napoleon's resounding victories, lie pointed! to the map of Europo and said: 'Roll up that map: it is ten years befo'ro it will be wanted again.! _. It is not simply our maps that this war is sending to tho scrap heap. Hoary traditions, ancient cusideals of the Church, ideals of the State, everything is in the moltingpot now, and the wisest man amongst us cannot forecast in what new shapes they will one day re-emerge.. " 'Trial,' said a great French teacher, 'never stops until its work is done; that is why it hardly ever stops. 'Purge from the sin, but never from tho pain' is a hard prayer for flesh and blood to pray. But remember these aro the balances in which God weighs together the things 'that men call sin and pain. 'Di<T I not cast nations bound into tho liro? Lo, I seo them loose, walking.' AVhen God sees and says that, perchance then, and perchance not till then, will Ho summon us to come forth out of tho midst of tho fire

"Judge of tho nations, spare us yet, Lost wo forgot! Lest wo forget!" BROTHERHOOD OF MANi , Tho Bishop of London says that the girls who havo learned the joy of servico are not going hack to a lifo of idleness. "I want to seo ono brotherhood throughout this country," the Bishop declared. "I. don't believe it is necessary to have all this bitterness between capital and labour. . It is perfectly monstrous that nation should fight against nation and class against class because we have made such a miserable hash, in distributing God's gift." HIS PRAYER. " 'It is Tubby -who will savo England,' said Elizabeth thoughtfully. " 'How?' ho asked. " 'Ho said ,to mo last r.ight, "Mummy, may I make a new prayer of my own " 'I said, "Yes," and ho prayed—you know how fervently lie prays—"O Godl your King and country want You. Gome quickly." —From "Petunia," by Mrs. George AVomyss., (Constable.)