WAR PICTURES BEHIND THE LINES

New Zealand Tablet, 30 August 1917, Page 39

WAR PICTURES BEHIND THE LINES

V As we peer into the darkness' of : the future (writes Mr. lan Malcolm, M.P., in ) the chapter on War and the Church in his recently-published volume), I try to learn what it has in store for the : nations of the world. I, for one, would wish to be able to see how far the cause of religion will be furthered by the agonies of the fiery trials through which we are now passing. I start with a prejudice*; for it is my firm conviction as it is my.; fervent hope, that the cult of materialism (which is perhaps the basic cause of all our troubles, German aggression, French and British unpreparedhess) has been riven to its foundations, and that the old altars of 7 a fairer faith have already reclaimed millions of worshippers, who but yesterday staked their all upon the omnipotence and omniscience of the gods of gold. These have melted away in the furnace-of war; from them come neither courage or consolation, and so a world in tears turns back and grasps the hand of the Mari of Sorrows. That at any rate is my impression derived from close attention to this particular feature of life in France.