CHURCH & WAR

Dominion, Volume 8, Issue 2480, 5 June 1915, Page 12

CHURCH & WAR

WORK OF CHAPLAINS BISHOP OF LONDON AT THE FRONT WITHIN THE RANGE OF GERMAN CUNS. In the pTesout war a groat effort is being made to provide for tlio spiritual noods of the British soldiers at tho front. Taken aa a ivholo, tho chaplains are tho right sort of men. 'i'hey have won the confidence of officers and men, and their work has been referred: to in terms of the highest praise. Tho only complaint soems to be that there is not enough of them. In a recont dispatch General French 6tated:— "I hare onco more to remark upon the devotion to duty, oourago, and contempt of danger wnich lifts (Characterised tho work of tho chaplains of the Army throughout this campaign." The Churches are sending some of their very best men to the front—men who have the special qualifications for this kind of work. Not long ago Cardinal Bourne himself paid a visit to tho trenches, and was received everywhere with great enthusiasm. Some of tho leading clergy of the Presbytorian Churches of Scotland and of the English Nonconformist Churches are doing duty among tho troops in Franca and Belgium, ana the Anglican chaplains have also been carefully chosen. At Easter timo tho Bishop of London (Dr. Ingram) spent some days at the front. The following striking account of his visit is written by an officer who acted as his escort: — Our Great English Hymns. "Nothing could havo bean mora impressive than the silence with which vast bodies of men listened to the Bishop's addresses, and the oarnest and reverent manner in which they joined in the responses t-o the prayers. Those who wore privileged to be present wero struck as never before by the uplifting power of our great English hymns, as "Rock of Ages," "Jesu, "Lover of My Soul," swelled forth in the stillness, which was only broken by the frequent booming of great guns. "For each division and brigade the Bishop had a special message. Tho sombre colour of tho mud-bespattered Ichaki uniforms of the ranks was relieved by the rod and gold of the Generals and their stairs, who wero always present in great numbers. Thus tho Bishop passed along the entire British front, often well within the range of the German guns and through places devastated by shell _firo, so that those who were responsible for his 6afety had. many anxious moments. "At one part of tho lino, where there had recently been heavy fighting, some five hundred officers, many of whom had boon engaged in battle, wore present at a service. There were veteran Gonerals kneeling side by side with newly-commissioned subalterns in silent reverence an the hard stone floor. Soldiers' Cravos. "Hero and there along the line are little spots whore our comrados who have died the death of honour sleep their last earthly sleep. Tho simple wooden crosses and a few spring flowers show how carefully all our soldiers' graves are kept, and many will be glad to know that the Bishop said simple prayers of consecration at all such places which he passed. "And every mound of Flemish earth Shall witness bear as men pass by That greater things than life and death' 'Are truth and right, which never die." "Tho Bishop spent Palm Sunday at General Headquarters. Not the least significant service on that day was a confirmation to which some seventy men wore brought. Ho held two other confirmations during the week, and on one oocasion several men came straight out of the trenches with the mud still caked upon their potties to receive the layingon of hands. "Throughout tho week the Bishop had been looking forward eagerly to meeting the members of the Territorial regiment of. which ho is chaplain, and he had specially asked that ho might bo allowed to celebrate the Holy Communion with them on Easter Day. The regiment is in a most exposed position, and tho Bishop motored into the village (a village. by the way, that has been very much knocked about by shell fire) in pitch darkness, only broken by tho weird glare of star shells fired from the German trenches about a mile away. Enthusiastio Reception. "A most enthuaisatio reception awaited him from the two hundred and fifty men who wore billeted in the village, the remainder of the battalion boing in the trendies. Cheer after choor greeted him as he entered the barn, where a 'sing song' of tho most lively nature was in progress. After giving a- short address, tho Bishop went with Bomo of tho men to tlieir billets and had a cheery woid for each. "At 7 a.m. on Easter Day he celebrated the Holy Communion in a barn, the roof and walls of which had been Bcarred and shattered by gun fire. Over two hundred men communicated. As this service ended we found at least a hundred and fifty men of other regiments outside the building, who had been waiting since 7 o'clock, and had been unable to enter the crowded room. For those faithful officers and men the Bishop celebrated again at once. "Strange as tho surroundings were, with guns firing and the'crack of rifles, distinctly heard, one would doubt if in any church, however beuutiful, a mora reverent congregation had ever gathered together on an Easter morning, or if the meaning of the great central service of the Christian Church could ever be more clearly realised, or the Sacred Presonco nioro distinctly felt. "On the evening of Easter Day the Bishop proached his final sermon at General Headquarters in the presence of Sir John French, many distinguished officers, and a largo body of men." " "Virtually Under Shell Fire." Referring to the Bishop's visit, General French writes:— "The Bishop of London arrived hero with his chaplain on Saturday, March 27, and loft on Monday, Aprii 5. During the course of his visit to the Army his Lordship was at the front every day, and I think I am right in saying that there was scarcely a unit in the command which was not at ono time or another present at his sen ices or addresses. Personal fatigue and even dangor were completely ignored bv his Lordship. The Bishop held several services virtually under shell fire, and it was with difficulty that he could be prevented from carrying on his ministrations under rifle, fire in tho trenches. I am anxious to placo oil record my deep sense of the good effect produced throughout the Army by this selfsacrificing devotion on the part of the Bishop of London, to whom I i'col personally very deeply indebted." CARDINAL MERCIER. A TRIBUTE OF GBATITL'DE. j The Metropolitan Chapter of "Westminster bus sont the following address to Cardinal Mereier. Tt has hoeii confided Lo the bauds of the Yicnr-Gencral, Ri'Oiop do WuecliU'r, to bo transmitted by him to 11 is Imminence when circumstances shall permit:— ''To Mis Kniinonce Cardinal Merrier, Archbishop of Malincs and Primate el' Belgium. ' 1 Vv<■ | Om Vrovonf, and Onnnnr. of tho i\lctr«iK)lilaji Chautar of

beg to otfor to Your Eminence tho tri' bute of our gratitude for tho adniirablo Pastoral which you havo rooeutly addressed to your suffering people. Wo porrait ourselves to tender you this expression of our thanks because, at a euprenlo hour in the history of I'.urope, jou have spoken the word that was n'auted, and one which has its inspiring message not only to your flock, but t-o all who have at heart tho causo ol justico and civilisation. Catholics in nil countries are your debtors for what you havo so opportunely said, and foi the apostolic courage and candour with which you have said it. Above all, wo ore grateful ior tho stand which you havo raado for the freedom of the Churoh, and in defence of principles which aro especially dear to lie as sealed by tho blood of our glorious martyr, St. Thoina6 of Canterbury. Wo rejoice to know that your words havo been warmly welcomed in this land, and that, translated into our speech, tho;. have gone forth to tho farthest limits of the English-speaking world, to gladden tbo hearts of all who are lovers of right and liberty. 'Verbum Dei non est alligafcum.' "We pray that Your Eminence may long be spared to be tho comfort of your lieroio nation, and to the honour a)id service of the Church of God." HEINE'S PROPHECY FULFILLED. RECRUDESCENCE OF PRUSSIAN BARBARISM. "Cariyle's Germans" is tho title of a striking article which appears in tho April number of "Tho Hibbert Journal" (Williams and Norgato). Tho writer (J. M. Sloan) quotos an extremely interesting passage from an essay writton in. 18U4, in which Heinrich Heine made a prophecy which has been fulfilled in a remarkable maimer by recant events. "The thought," said Heine, "goes before the deed, as the lightning precedes the thunder." The ancient Uermajiic peoples have a brutal lust of war. Thoy fought not merely to destroy or conquer; they waged war from a savage, demoniacal lov6 of war for its own sake. Christianity had in some measure moderated this lust of battle, but could not eradicate it. "When once that restraining talisman, tho Cross, is broken," wrote Heine, "then tho smouldering ferocity of those ancient warriors will again blaze up. . . . Then tho ancient stone-gods will arise from out the ashes of dismantled ruins, and rub the dust of a thousand years from their eyes; and finally. I'hor. with his colossal hammer, will leap up, and with it shatter into fragments • the Gothio cathedrals." Siege-guns from Krupp's factory at Essen. so near to Heine's native Dusseldorf. are now the colossal hammers of Thor by which tho Gothio cathedrals have been shattered into fragments. Cariyle's propheoy that Germany, after 1870, would emerge by meritoriouß might, through her triumphant allegiance to the eternal verities, and her contemptuous disregard of all shams and unrealities, as "Queen of the Continent" for tho good of the Continent, has been woefully falsified among the •hurricanes and earthquakes of this iniquitous war; while Heine's prophecy of tho certain recrudesccnce of Prussian barbarism, of the old Germanic lust of battle for its own sake, voneered by Christianity and "Kultur" has been all too literally fulfilled. The "Hibbert" also contains tho full text of tho address of Professor Borgscn on "Life and Matter at War," as President of the Academio des Sciences Morales and Politiques, and Dr. Jacks (tho editor) contributes a very striking paper on "The Tyranny of Mere Things." Referring to Germany, he savs "she has created a social machine which can be set working by the pressure of a button; but through her constant oversight of the human eletaont, she has left, the button at tho mercy of tho most dangerous element in the State." Professor Percy Gardner and lie Roy. A. W. F. Blunt give thoir views on Gorman "Kultur." There are a number of other deci3edly good artioles.