The Dominion WEDNESDAY, JULY 7, 1915. THE CHURCH AND THE WAR

Dominion, Volume 8, Issue 2507, 7 July 1915, Page 6

The Dominion WEDNESDAY, JULY 7, 1915. THE CHURCH AND THE WAR

The presidential address of the Anglican Bishop of Wellington (Dr. Sfrott) at, the opening of the Diocesan Synod yesterday afternoon lacks the noto of power and inspiration that might have been expected in such an utterance at the present moment when the Empire is fighting for its yery life in the greatest crisis in its history. This address leaves one cold. , It contains no uplifting message to brace up the nation in its desperate struggle for justice -and'- freedom. It is true that tho Bishop declared at the outset that "action, whole-souled action, is the supremo need, and the supremo duty"; but the trumpet call to action was missing. With great ability and persuasiveness Dr. Sprott stated his point of viow regarding those "hard sayings" in the' Gospels in reference to the non-use' of .force in the conflict with evil; but his argument in favour of a rigid, if not absolutely literal, interpretation of those passages is not convincing. It. is beset with insuperable difficulties. Some of the most famous Christian moralists . explain these "non-resistance"'texts in a very different manner. The Bishop's theory will not work in a world such as that in which wo are actually living, and he fully admits that taking all the circumstances into consideration Britain could not, without loss of honour, have refrained from drawing the sword. The doctrine of ' non-rceistanco will not square With the fundamental principle of justice. The very idea of jus-, tice includes the punishment of evildoing, Law is based on force, and without law, society could not hold together. The policeman's baton is an emblem of force as real as the machine-gun. It is; just as right to apply forco t'o a criminal nation as to a criminal 'individual.

■ The Bishop seems to think that wo have no right to denounce 'German "frightfulncss" because wo ourselves are not a nation of saints. He asserts that we adopt the tone of the Pharisee when wo say that "we.aro not, breakers of treaties, ravagei-s of neutral countries, wreckers of churches, slayers of women and children, even as these Germans." This is hardly a fair way of expressing the attitude of the average Britisher. We do not say "we are not," but wo do say "they are" all these things. But, as a/matter of fact we can honestly say that we are waging this war in a chivalrous spirit. We do not claim tp be a_peifcct nation, but wo arc fully justified in denouncing in the strongest terms the terrible barbarities of which tho Germans have been guilty. In his address to the London Diocesan s Confcrence, ■ in May_ last, the Bishop of London spoke with no uncertain mind on this subjcct. After reciting a list of theso horrors he declared that the triumph of German policy would put back the clock of civilisation for a thousand years, and

writo it largo More- heaven and earHv that Odin is greater than Christ, and that it was a mistake for any nation to cling to an effete superstition which had shown itself out of dato in the world of the superman. But to acknowledge this is to disoitn Christ. To bow to such* a claim is to trample under foot tho Son of God ami to put Him to an open sliarao, ... An officcr who escaped from Gernian)- walked two 'hundred miles from village to village, and saw hundreds of women and girls in the villages he passed stripped naked, violated, and dead. . . . That such facts do not vest upon ths testimony of English or-Fronch only, jjr. Prince, ttv u, recent book, gives iis

assorted to he the doubtful testimony, of hysterical victims, but from the diaries of German soldiers—written evidence of the most damning kind. . . . Shall such infamy remain unavenged? Never, while there is a God in Heaven, and a nation brave enough and devoted enough to do His will. And I do not for a moment shirk two issues which may be raised at once. Should- not vongeance bo left to God? Can war ever he right? "Vengeance is mine, I will repay, saith the Lord," but in what way, as a matter of fact, has the Lord repaid in the course of history? Practically always through man. Wo must draw the clearest distinction between God's directions to us as individual men, taking into our hands the avenging of private .wrongs (though even ill such cases a man inay be an instrument of God), and God's directions to us as tho instruments of His will as a nation. The Bishop of London may not bo a profound scholar; but ho is a man who understands men. His passionate protest against German iniquity quickens the moral pulse and makes us feel that we must do all we can to end this, infamy as soon as possible. It is no time for nicely-bal-anced phrases and amiable references to good and earnest Germans who may bo convinced of the righteousness of their cause. Dr. KelMan, a distinguished Scottish preacher, refers to Teutonic brutalities in no hesitating manner: How long, 0. Lord, how long is , the wickedness of the wicked to continue? ... In the name of God and Jesus Christ we will shed the last drop of our British blood in order to end- this great iniquity—the committal of atrocious crimes. The German ' Admiralty has hoisted the flag of hell, and. a nation like that should 1 neither have' a place in the sun nor in the shadow until its devilish militarism lias bsen thrown back into the bottomless pit whence it sprang. Dr. Kelman's peroration was a thrilling appeal to young men, who' were still hanging back, to enlist at once, in answer to the call of the blood of murdered women and ohildren, and their brave brothers already in the conflict. At a time like the present it behoves those in authority in Church and State to impress upon' tho people the duty of throwing their whole heart into tho gigantic struggle in which our Empire is now engaged. Dr. Sproit may be right when he says that force cannot really eradicate the evil .spirit of militarism out of the Germans, but if it can "suppress its manifestations and curb its ambitions, and save the world from anarchy," then let us all put every ounce of force wo possess into this tremendous fight. ' ;