BATTLE FOR PEACE

Evening Post, Volume CIV, Issue 103, 28 October 1922, Page 9

BATTLE FOR PEACE

APPEAL TO THE CHURCHES

NATIONS PREPARES FOR WAP.

HB. LLOYD GEORGE'S WARNING.

(»ROU OUR OWtf COREMPOSTDS iV.)

LONDON, 4th August.

At a luncheon given in his honour last week Mr. IJoyd Gsorge delivered &n important speech on the subject of Peace. Sir Murray Hyslop, speaiting for the 380 Free Churchmen who were present, said that however divergent their views might be regarding David Lloyd George, the statesman, there could only be one view regarding David Lloyd George, the Free Churchman, They all appreciated that his kinship w&s with the Free ohurcheß, and that his whole religious faith was deeply looted in their traditions. It stood to tha Prime Minister's credit that he consistently had "sought peace and ensued it," and it was largely owing to his untiring efforts that the raging waters were becoming more trancmil and the storm clouds beginning to show rifts of light.

"I am here," said the Prime Minister, "as a Nonconformist, speaking to my. fellow Nonconformists on matters of concern to us all, matters which will survive Governments and probably outluat parties and combinations of parties. There are issues of great moment which are confronting you, which are gathering strength." Aa then went on to speak of the dangers of tha time;;. "They &i-e dangers which may be summed up in the war, its lessons and it 3 consequences. There is first of all a »reat reaction, temporary^ perhaps, but considerable, against the s&crjjjcial temper manifested dining the war, a return to a more material spirit and attitude of mind. It was inevitable that the time o£ war was a time of giving up luxuries, comforts, privileges, rights, property, health, life, and friends,_ brothers, relations. It was a time of giving The reaction io Human nature has not enough petrol to keep it up in the blue sky above the clouds for more than a. certain period, and it comes down to earth, aiid i*. has come down, ..with a bump; and it is only religion can refill tha tank. There was a desire to fret away from th 3 surrenders and sacrifices of war. Let U3 'eat, drink, and ba merry, for we have just emerged from the valley of death. That is the new temper, and it. is one of the dangers of the moment thai the churches atone can cope with. That ia why their vigilance is essential in that direction. QUESTION OF TEMPERANCE. "I should like to say one word about the question of temperance in this reitutioß. There are two favourable facts. The first ia that high taxation has made excessive drinking more inaccessible. Tho second is that, undoubtedly during the la3t year or two there has been core drastic legislation on the question of drink than has been carried through the Houses of Parliament during the previous fifty years. We are indebted very liu-gely for the successful carrying of that Bill by consent to a very distinguished Free ChuTchman tiie Lord Chief Justice of England. There h alao the.fact that the struggle for existence has been intensified considerably by tha burdens and the consequences of the war. _ The struggle and the scramble for daily bread, profits wiped out, -wages reduced, the di.Hculty of securing employment—all that had introduced rather a different temper from that which prevailed largely during the war. It i 3 difficult to preach high purposes to men whose nostrils can with difficulty be kept, above the waves. TERRIBLE MACHINES. " But I mainly wanted to talk about the. urgent need for all the Churches to combine to make war impossible. I have had to make a close study of peace—of its prospects, of its perils—perils not of peace bat the perils to peace. The earth is strewn with these perils, some manifest, some open, some revealed, many hidden. During the war the cry was ' Never again.' There is a growing assumption that the conflict is coming again sooner 1 or later. That is the business of the churches. Nations are building up armaments. Nations that have been submerged, buried, are building up new armaments. You have national animosities, national fears, suspicions, dislikes, ambitions fostered and exaggerated You have more than that. Keep your eye on what is happening. They are constructing more terrible machines than even the late war ever saw. What for? Not for peace. What are they for? They are not even to disperse armies. They are to attack cities unarmed, where you have defenceless populations to kill, to maim, to poison, to mutilate, to burn helpless women and children. WAR ON CIVILISATION. " If the Churches of Christ throughout Europe and America allow that to to fructify they had better close their doors. The next war, if it ever cornea, will be a war on civilisation itself. We have reduced our armaments—Army, Navy, and Air. We have reduced them beyond what they were before the war, and if all nations on earth did the same there would be no peril to peace. But it is difficult for one nation to remain defenceless when others construct machinery which may be used for its destruction. Everything depends on the temper ,~the spirit, which is created throughout the world, and it would be a sad day if the people of the world came to the conclusion that Christianity, in spite of all its principles, in spite of all its ideals, was perfectly impotent to prevent mischief of that kind. LEAGUE OF NATIONS, "I am one of those who attach high hopes to the League of Nations. It is an essential part of the machinery of civilisation. If it succeeds, civilisation is safe. If it fails, civilisation is doomed. You have at this moment the strongest passions in the human heart— fear, revenge, hatred, love of kin— ranging themselves ou the aide of war. That is the peril of the future—the fear that something will happen to your country, the fear of the destruction of your homes, of your kindred—they say we must prepare for war to protect them—all those deep, dominant passions of the human heart gradually enlisting on the side of war. Thut is where the churches come in. And if the fury grows, the crash will inevitably come. Put not your trust exclusively in machinery. The Covenants are good, the Articles are excellent, but the value of the machinery is in the motive power. Without that, it is simply an ingenious iron puzzle. You must have in your League of Nations the public opinion which can alone make it a force, which can alone give force to any human organisation—and that is your business. 'The letter killeth, but the spirit giveth life,' and although the letter o£ the Covenant is admirable, although the letter of the Articles is without a mistake, if you trust to the letter the killing will begin again. You must trust to the spirit which will give tiio letter life. The League of Nations is a Magna Charta, but it has no force unless the people of the nations are be-,

hind it to enforce it and to make it impossible for anyone to resist its' decree. The churches must do that. (Cheers.) BEVEAL TH3 HIDEOUSNES3 OF WAR. "There is a new generation arising. It is a generation that has not. passed through the horrors of war. "Sou are beginning to get into that generation, and each year you will get more and more into it. They read of th« glories of war. They do nci know of Us I horrors. That is the generation that will decide. Oieav the war of its glamour; .reveal its hideousnoss to th« eyes of the new generation. Let them know about the troubles that ioilowed the war. Ther-a are always forgofcter. Russia, no way out of, the pi>S and sinking deeper into it with every convulsive effort. Germany, clinging desperately to the rotten branch of deDased currency, and when that gives way, God help Germany. That is forgotten. It is the business of the Churchy of Cbrist_ to keep that before the eyes nf the people. "You cannot make a League of Nations work uuless you give support to it. It is no use sending my friend Mr. Fisher there, or Lord flavour, able men, distinguished .men, 3aen with voices listened to in the counts of Europe—unless there is an opinion everywhere behind them to give heed to their appeals. Tha machine will fail. It will be futile. It will be a sham. I have had soma experience of war. What 1 saw of it filled me with _horror. Wba. 1- I saw of i* day by day makes me vow that 1 will concenfrt.te what is left of my energies to make it impossible thai humanity shall in future have to pass through the fire, the torment, the cruelty, the horror, and the squalor of war."