LLOYD GEORGE'S APPEAL TO THE CHURCHES.

White Ribbon, Volume 28, Issue 327, 18 September 1922, Page 1

LLOYD GEORGE'S APPEAL TO THE CHURCHES.

A iew weekn ago we read a cabled account of a .speech by the British Prime Minister. He was entertained at a luncheon by Sir Murray Hyslop, Treasurer of the National Free Church Council. Over 400 representatives of the Free Churches were invited to meet AC;* Lloyd George, and the fuller report of his speech, received by mail is worthy of the earnest consideration of jjvery Christian woman. Mr Lloyd George said he was not there as a politician, but as a non-con-formist, speaking to his fellow’ nonconfoitnists on matters of concern to us all. matters which will survive Governments, ond probably outlast parties and combinations of parties. Grave dangera menace the land, first there is the great reaction, temporary perhaps. but considerable, against the sacrificial temper manifested during the war. The new temper, which is one of the grave dangers of to-day, sa; s let as eat, drink and be merry for we have just emerged from the valley of death. This danger the churches alone can cope with. MARK WAR IMIOBBIBLE, There is a great need for ad the churches to combine to make wtir impossible. During the war the cry was "never agam.” But •‘Watch.” "Eternal Vigilance is the price of safety. * Nations were building up armaments. They are constructing more terrible machines than even the late wUr saw. What for? Not for defence. t>ut to at tack unarmed cities, to kill, to maim, to poison, to mutilate, to burn help less women and children. If the church ea allowed this to fructify they had bet

ter close their doors. Armaments had been reduced, but it is difficult for one nation to remain defenceless while others construct machinery which may l>e used for its destruction. THE LEAGUE OF NATIONS. He attached high hopes to the League of Nations. The covenant of the League of Nations is the first part of the Treaty of Versailles. The League of Nations is an essential paid of the machinery of civilisation. If it fails — l speak advisedly—civilisation is doomed. I have a word of warning to utter. Put not your trust exclusively in machinery. The covenants are good, the articles are excellent, but the value o. the machine is in the motive power. You must put in your League of Nations the public opinion, which alone can make it a force. The letter killeth, the spirit giveth life. Although the letter of the covenant is admirable, although the letter of the Articles 1. 2, up to 28 is without a mistake; if you trust to the letter the killing will begin again. The League of Nations has no force unless the people of the nations are behind it to enforce it. The Church must create that public opinion. All over Europe is littered explosive material; when the match is dropped it is too late. You want to cultivate a new spirit. Put the explosives under lock and key. and especially put those who drop matches under lock and key. TEACH HORRORS OF WAR. There is a new’ generation arising. They read of the ghimours of war, they have not passed through its horrors. This is the generation that will decide. Clear war of its glamours, reveal its hideous ness to the eyes of the new generation. Let them know about the troubles that followed the w*ar. These

are always forgotten. The> will forget what happened in Europe after the the Great War. Russia? No way out of the pit except sinking deeper into it with every convulsive effort. Germany clinging desperately to the rotten branch of debased currency, and when that gives way, God help Germany. It is the business of the Church of Christ to keep that before £he eye of the people. A RIGHTEOUS CAUSE. What was one of the great lessons of the war? There was a nation With the most perfect army in the world. It was beaten because it had a lutd cause. There were nations with ill-equipped armies. They won. Why? They had righteousness on their side. I remember Marshal Foeh telling me that the German Army that marched into France was the most perfect military machine that had ever been put together. Scattered, destroyed! It is only now just a Ixtre police force. Imrely Adequate to keep order in its own land without t>eing a menace to any other country. Why? The consciousness of the world destined it because it fought for an unrighteoa* cause. That is one of the lessons of the war. Trust not in force. The nation that does It brings ruin upon itself, but the leaders, the trainers of conscience, have to bring that home. There seems to be the greatest mission of the Churches. THE CALL OF DUTY. But We must all do our duty. There are young men wno may have sunk into materialism, but ! believe they are getting tired of it. As the heart panteth for the living waters, the young men of Britain are looking out for some better cause. They hav* come out with parched Ups from the

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•squalid wilderness of war. They have found no satisfaction in pure materialism, and the time has come to rall> them to the one great call of this generation—that there should be no more war, that nation shall not rise up against nation, and that these terrors shall not continue. I have had .some experience of war. It was not my will. 1 was just like millions of others, caught by the cog-wheels of war and drawn into its horrible machinery. How I got there, why 1 got there, is not for me to say. I simply did my duty. Hut what J saw of it for years tilled me with horror. There is no more horrible alternative between devising machinery of slaughter and aJbnndoning. on the other hand the cause of right, liberty, and humanity. Hut what I saw* of it, day by day, makes me vow that 1 will consecrate what is left of my energies to make it impossible that humanity shall in future have to pass through the tire, the torment, the sacrilege, the horror, and the squalor of war. THE LAST WEAPON. An appeal like the above must ever come with force, but surel> its force is multiplied w r hen we remember that it us the First Citizen of the greatest Empire of ancient or modern times that is speaking. Our own Prime Minister speaking officially from his place in our Parliament, yoked his ow n firm conviction that it was to the righteousness of our cause, more than to the perfection of our arms, that we owed our victory. As a society of Christian women we ran answer this appeal by training our children to exercise the I<ast Weapon—the weapon of a deathless love. Ood is love, and the individual. the nation, w’hich dwelleth in love, dwelleth in Clod. Tw’o thousand years ago the 'hierarchy of heaven accompanied the King of Love so far upon his journey earthward that the shepherds saw’ the flash of their dazzling wings and hea'd the music of their sweet song. “Peace on Earth. (loodwill to man." For lo! the days are hastening on. By prophet bards foretold. When with the ever-circling years Comes round the age of gold. When peace shall over all the earth Its aneinet splendours fling. And the whole world give Ikm k the .-on Which now* the angels sing. At a meeting of the Wellington Presbytery, Dr. Gibb gave notice io move at

the next meeting*:—"That in view of the unspeakable cruelty and horrors of war, and in view of the conviction grounded on fact and right reason, and to which tn»‘ Prime Minister of Great Britain has twice within the last few weeks given deeply impressive erpression, namely, that the only way to make war impossible is to quicken in the hearts of the people a passion for peace, and therefore a hatred of war, the Presbytery of Wellington does now record its profound assurance that no more urgent and compelling task confronts ministers of religion at this time than to take the responsibility, heart and soul, of Mr Lloyd George's appeal, und to take such steps as shall best avail to arouse in the mind of the community a perfect hatred of the fire, torment, and squalor of war.”