THE CHURCH AND THE WAR

Dominion, Volume 8, Issue 2515, 17 July 1915, Page 13

THE CHURCH AND THE WAR

THE RELICION OF THE FRENCH SOLDIER. 'K remarkable change* The Abbe Lange, of Carcassonne, who is a corporal stretcher-bearer, - after telltragic doings at La Basseo, adds: I notice hero the cltango that has come ovor tho souls of the soldiers of tli© south. All my stretcher-bearers are devout; few of them fail to say their rosary, and one of them, the Mayor of his commune, serves my Mass. Several ■whom I knew when with the regiment as hostile to religion now openly wear o»i their breasts the badge of the Sacred Heart. . , . And this return to religion is nothing when compared with that amongst the soldiers who are in constant contact with the enemy, and continually exposed to bullets and shells. Very many of those in the trenches ha.ve asked me for rosaries, and I often notice at my Mass men who had never before set foot in a church." And this is borno out by the witness of the soldiers themselves. The cure of Valcnce-d'Agen has received a letter from one who writes:—"l have a little confession to make to you. My life until the war was anything but edifying. I was not even a. believer, though I had come to like the cure during my two years of service for the. interest he showed in us all. But' now it is not only the cure that I reverence, but the God he represents and the religion of ■which he is a minister. And so if God gives me the happiness of returning to Valence, I shall go back a believer and less unworthy of the interest you have in me." _ _. ■ ■■ Here is similar testimony from a soldier belonging to Lavelnet, in the diocese of Pamier, who says that he regarded himself as "irreligious":—"You say that since.l go to Mass I must be in 'good company _ there. The church is packed i every time,.and I now recognise how mistaken I have been in the past. I.ittle by little I came to see my faults. We have had a word of praise and congratulation to-day, and I have just come away -from singing at Mass." Here is a letter from a French soldier at. the front which, shows the movementto religion which is going on among' the troops:—"l am not sufficiently instructed in- the details of Catholic doctrine to be able to say sincerely that I 1 believe. But this I_ can say, that when I think this condition fulfilled, I shall say so loyally, and if it is not, my opinion on the necessity of religion will still remain unshakable, and I shall only marry a girl who is pious, for that I regard in general as a necessary condition for the happiness and good conduct, of the home.". 'The, "Humahite" has printed, a letter from, a Socialist "ca-marade", in which the writer corroborates the statement that men's minds are being turned_ by war, to their religion. It was printed by the Socialist journal as a sort of reply to the announcement of the conversion of a soldier who is a militant member of the fraternity," but it contains several significant admissions. After describing the sufferings of his detachment the writer says:— "I have been able to. make some capital psychological studies. Conventions and prejudices have fallen down, life was naked, and men appeared just as they really are, brave' or timid, noble or petty, helpful or selfish. And here I have been able to appreciate tho return to religion of which so much is being said. . . , One marches mechaniically, but at halting places, when resting, and on mights after a battle or a march, the mind works. In our mind's eye we see the wounded, whilst in our ears resound the cries of the dying, and wo think of ourselves, our wives, and our children. When will it be my turn? It is_ then that one looks into one's conscience, and automatically, a man, detached from the acual world by the disturbance of equilibrium which war is, looks back to the days of his childhood. His first education makes itself felt, and it is thus, normally and logically, I. should say, that this return to religious ideas is brought about. These men without an ideal; who had abandoned their Christian practices, felt very small in this huge catastrophe. Having in these terrible moments a need of tho ideal, they returned to reli-, gion. Impelled by fear, they abandoned themselves to myth. This neo-reli-gious movement seemed. to be serious at first, and it_ has heen osploitod, guidod, and assisted by the chaplains and a number of majors; and frankly I think that some it will, outlast tho war. . . . Religious sentiments will after the war undergo an attack more serious than ever. . . . and religion will lose her, followers as quickly as she has made them ; But in spite of everything, I think that some of this moral reaction will last._ . And we Socialists can draw from this a necessary lesson: Man must have an ideal. Ours is tho only one that opposes, or, to speak more exactly, rangies itself near that religious ideal." The above extracts are taken from the London "Tablet." A FINE TRIBUTE TO OUR TROOPS. THE SWORD OF JUSTICE, Two masterly sermons on "War and Peace," by Dr. 6. A. Smith, Principal and Vice-Chancellor of the University of Aberdeen, have been published by Messrs. Hodder and Stoughton. Referring to these sermons the '(British Weekly" says:'—"lt is now many years since Dr. Smith took his place at the head of . living expositors of Scripture, mid behind the sermpus now before us there is a tremendous' wealth of knowledge and feeling and wisdom. Quietly as Dr. Smith has stated his conclusions and given his counsel, his words are full of lire and force. They are also very rich ui_ thought and highly finished in expression." !Dr. Smith decisively rejects the doctrine of non-resistance. "Thero never Would have been a civilisation on earth," be writes, "had not justice, by tbe acceptance of all save a few fanatics, held in her hands a sword as well as a pair of scales. The_ conscience and the faith which do not issue into deeds are imperfect if not hypocritical, and that those deeds must sometimes in the name of righteousness be deeds of war is a truth which all but the most dogmatio of pacifists have coine to acknowledge." ', As regards tho present war the "British Weekly" says:—"Our duty, then, is to fight this war to tho death, whatever sacrifices it exacts, however long wo may have to fight, whatever wo may have to endure in the way of reverses. Wo cannot cease to fight till, victory is ours or till we perish. There are many of us who cannot fight. Wo have to do our part, and the man or woman who is "not doing what thoy can is recreant. But it is to the happy soldier -that we must pay our chief tribute of reverence and love. It is he who is marred for our sakos. Dr. Smith says grandly:— " 'This winter I havo had to visit a London hospital where a- number of young officers of English,- Scottish, and Irish regiments lie wounded. As I contemplate tlio sufferings they so cheerfully endured, and listened to their stories of ho\v theso were inflicted, 1 felt the long work of my life shrink to little in c'omparison with what any one of these men had done and borno ill a few days or hours of their young livos.' "Yes, it is the soldiers who are guarding us, and it is only fit that we should honour them as wo may. . . . We read tho record of their deeds, and wo find no faint-hearted doul)tines, .but

patient endurance while it is needed, and rushes of splendid valour wlicro there is an opportunity. Many of them dio amid the blare of trumpets and the sound of-guns, and they seem to pass away unheeded. They aro content to make their sacrifice in order that their people should still hold on through all and attain victory. Wo ask, Is there 110 completeness or finish in the short cycle of their mortal years?. There must be. There is."j BATTLEFIELD SERVICES. The Rev. E. R. Day, one of the Senior Church of England Chaplains with the British Expeditionary Force ; pays a very high tribute to. the British soldier. Preaching at St. Mary's Church, Lichfield, he dwelt upon the efficacy of prayer and testified how enormously it was valued by our soldiers now serving at the front. The Holy Communion was especially valued. On Christmas Day there were no fewer than 6evan hundred communicants from one regiment and four hundred from another, and the service was held in ploughed field with 4 packing-case for an altar. He had conducted these services sometimes in the hack parlour of a puhliehouse, in a. stable, in a loft, in a leanto shed, and in the open; anywhere, in fact, where room could ho found. Out on the battlefield there was hardly any heed for a compulsory parade service; the men had only to hear that a service was to beheld and they would crowd to it. The services were often held in the dark, and sometimes they had one or two lanterns. If the services were not very musical, they were at all events very hearty. Hymns were sung, and the men always insisted on having as the last hymn "Holy Father, in Thy Mercy." "IN THE MIDDLE ACES AGAIN." In the literary supplement _of the "Contermporary Review" a writer, dealing with mysticism as opposed to materialism, points to the prevalence in the Middle Ages of a spiritual outlook. In reference to the change wrought by tho present way, lie says: "The death, roll in such a war .is necessarily on an unknown scale, and innumerable homes wiiore comfort, or at anyrate sufficiency, has • abided for generations, and where possibly materiaslim has dulled the 'sharp edge of faith, aro suddenly brought face to face with the very evils that afflicted the Middle Ages—sudden death, loss of breadwinners, want, uncertainty, abiding sorrow. Tho age of harvest has suddenly, become that of late winter and spring. Materialism is strained to its last resources; it has .suddenly become plain, both to the individual and the community, that life cannot be sustained by purely material things. The weeping of those who cannot he comforted by any of these things is heard in .ill :knds. We are 1 in tlio Middle Ages again,, and are looking out beyond the stars with a Kempia and tho great company of mystics for some reconstruction of human affairs, for some glimpses of an obscured hope."