CHURCH AND WAR

Dominion, Volume 9, Issue 2652, 24 December 1915, Page 12

CHURCH AND WAR

■ « < ARMENIAN MASSACRES DENOUNCED BY THE DEAN OF MANCHESTER. At a roccnfc service in the Manchester Cathedral the Dean (Bishop Welldon) directed -special attention to the position of the Armenians under Turkish rule. Many members of the Armenian community in Manchester were present. So also was the Arahbishop ol : Armenians ill Western Europe, who wore his robes, and was accompanied by his chaplain. So large was the general congregation that at a quarter-cf an licur before the'timo for beginning the service it was found necessary to close the outer gates. The offertory was in aid-of the Armenian Belief Fund. The Dean, iii the course of bis sermon, said; "Among the manifold horrors of the present war, none, I think, lias been more cruel, more inhuman, or, as I may well say, more diabolical, than the blood-stained massacre in Armenia. The; Turks are set upon wiping the Armenian people off the face of the earth. That is" the literal, absolute truth. Lord Bryce, who knows Armenia as well as any living Englishman, has latSly estimated the number of Armenians who have been slain in the ipast sis months as possibly amounting to the'appalling total of 800,000 souls, "Armenia claims to bave_ been the first among all the nations in recognising Christianity as her national faith. She traces her long history back to the Apoptles St. and St. Thaddaeus. She is known all over Christendom as the Church of St. Gregory the Illuminator. For thirteen centuries slie has preserved the integrity, of her, creed, amidst unspeakable oppression-and porsecution, as the representatives of-'the Cross 'against .the Crescent. And now, in the'hour of her extreme agony,' slie turns .with pathetic, confidence to lier - 6ister Churches, so-nerfr to her ill faith and doctrine, so unlike her in their long immunity from persecution, the Churches of Western Christendom. Speaking, then, as I doubt not I may speak, for this great congregation, and for .all men and women of true Christian spirit in Manchester, .1 asAuro you, my fellow. Christians of Armenia, that we are one with you in heart and soul We fcej tho bitterness of your sufferings as though we ourselves suffered with j'ou; and if it is possible that our prayer, our sympathies, And our- alius, can bring'.you any comfort or help at iliis supreme moment of your national history, they are yours, and they shall bo yours/until the end." INDOMITABLE SPIRIT. The Very Rey. .Dr. Wallace Williamson, St.* Giles Cathedral, in tlie course of an address, in which he recounted impressions of visits to the Army and the Navy, said the great spiritual simplicities of their religion came home to 'their hearts and souls with a new meaning and a new power. The British soldier might have his faults—and there ivere black sheep in eyery flock—but there was 110 grander, simpler soul on earth than, the British soldier. ' 1 There was one equal to him, and that was the British sailor, And his impression aliko of _the Army and the Fleet was simply this, that there was no-: indomitable spirit there which no merely human power could successfully resist. He had come iiito personal living, contact with, the Commanders-in-Chief 'of.. the British Army and the British, Navy. To look on John French and to look on John Jellicoe was' almost to see the embodiment- of the indomitable spirit of the British people, and ho knew that deep in the hearts of these men there was not only confidence in ; the Army • and tlie_ Fleet which they led, but confidence in Almighty God, aild sure trust that He- would lead them through. "FRANCE WILL NOT BE CRUCIFIED." ■The venerable Archbishop of Albi, Monsignor Mignot, lias says, the London '.'Tablet") added further, distinction to his eloquent pen by three pastorals, in which he has taught the lesson of confidence and prayer, in these days of trial. He speaks of this "must unjust, disloyal, and most barbarous of wars," which has been let loose upon Europe by_ two men, "two Christians, who, despite God's' Commandment, 'Thou shalt not kill,' despite the Gospel, and in defiance of the rights, of nations and of humanity, have set light to the conflagration." And then ho'asks: "What uad we done to Germany during the last forty-four, years? , : Had we provoked her? iWe were all at peace; whilst on cur guard against'ambuscades, we had, perhaps imprudently, diminished our armaments until our eyes-' were en-' lightened. ' To avoid war we had mado concessions that were taken for acts of freakness." "But," then, says Monsignor Mignot, "thank Godi we are riot beaten; and we shall not be. Franco will not be crucified, and, after a time of i trial, she will again come forth triumphant. What gives us conWenco in this is the patriotism of our soldiers, their ;'spjrit of their endurance, their tenacity; their sufferings, too, of body and hearty, wholly undeserved as they are, and' forced upon them by the senile,ambition of a man otherwise _ worthy of respect, and the cdld and implacable cruelty of another. These suffermgs will weigh with the justice, of God. _ And another reason is the reawakening of faith among so many of our people." . ' "I DO NOT ENVY NEUTRALS." "I do-not envy neutrals to-day," says,the Bishop of London. "A friend of mine preached to a vast congregation in an American church this summer on the sin of neutrality. At the ! end the congregation rallied round him and said, they heartily agreed. I cannot imag'ine_ anything more, awful than England being a German province. Every man and woman would rather die than have that, and 1 that being so, we aro standing by France for the freedom of the world-. We are fighting for the right to live, of little nations— for Serbia, God bless her!-' I don't envy the feelings of any patriotic Greek if Greece is going to stand, by and see Serbia crushed. What is the first condition of lasting peace in the world? That one nation may trust another nation's word. 'Until we have international honour accepted, there can be no international peace." THE CRAVE SAVED,HIM. Captain the Rev. Chas. L Perry, a Free Church chaplain, who recently returned home to Newport (Moil) on a fe,w days' leave from the front, and who witnessed the recent great advance; tells how he was saved through, leaping into a grave. , . . "A few days ago," he said, I was burying pne of our brave soldiers at a place 'which was the scene of a brilliant attack, when a piece of shell skimmed my belt. I went on- with tho burial service." A moment later, however, I heard the whizz of another shell, and I dived into the grave with the body so as to avoid it. This prob* ably savedi my life." A WIDOW AND HFR SON. A poor boy of nineteen years of age had to have his leg amputated in hospital as the only chance of saving his life. He begged the chaplain who had heard his. confession to pray for him and be near him when lie came out of tlio chloroform. To bis delight he found the chaplain there faithful tc his promiso; but the poor fellow begaii to sink rapidlv and the finest juwi! hia Wile metal cross to bis lirs m «

breathed his last breath. Here is the widowed mother's letter in reply to tho chaplain's announcement of her son's death:— "I have already lost a son and a son-in-law. I only had this poor boy left. I know what passed between him and you, and I feel that now I too am going to die. But my son's kiss on this little cross will have been my last joy. I have given all to my country, I ask for nothing, and I am thankful that it has given my son a priest to close his eyes and mc, his dying mother, .the joy of receiving on a cross his last kiss." NOTHING TO FEAR. The Bishop of London, dedicating at Hackney a motor-ambulance' presented by the borough to the British Ambulance Committee for work in France, said: "No one should "show fear at the air raids. They are meant to frighten us, and I am as sure as the sun shines that if wo are not frightened into giving up we shall have an overwhelming victory in the end. And after all the risk to us is not one ten-thousandth part that which every boy in the trencl;es lias to face. Why should we middle-aged people ask to be out of it all? Why should the boys ( face all the danger?" BELGIUM'S FIFTIETH MARTYR PRIEST. The Abbe Foulon, vicaire at Staden, a little town in Flanders, has been murdered by the Germans on the pretest that he, had acted as a franc-tireur. He is the fiftieth priest who has fallen a. victim to German Barbarity. The following authentic details concerning him have been collected by the Official Belgian Commission of Inquiry :— "The.Abbe Foulon, with some other Staden people, had taken refugo in the presbytery'.cellar behind .the church. Suddenly soldiers knocked at the door; the Abbo went to'oneh it and was asked if therewere ..any' French soldiers in the house. . Scarcely had he said, that none were then when he was shot dead. The others iv;ero then'dragged out of the collar aim shot one after another, with tho exception of three who somehow managed to escape." THE LAST CALL. (By Harold Begbie, in the "Daily J . Chronicle.") Fight it out iii our heart, my lad, It's timefor the final wrench; Home has its arms about your neck, But Conscience points to the trench. Your brothers fought thro' that selfsaino light Bra. rliey rallied 'to face the Hun; ' And where would your home be now, my lad, If Conscience had not won? It isn't an easy choice to make, But it can be made, and must; Shirk, and you bring the finest thing In your soul, and ours, to the dust. Your brothers wrestled with God, and cried That God should leave them alone; And where would your soul seek heaven to-day Had. God been overthrown? The eyes of out women search your face, Our children look as you pass; How does it feel to meet those eyea, And your own eyes, in the glass? - Hard, hard for you now to meet those eyes' With .their challenge: How can you wait? But where will you hide from your brothers' eyes If you should come too late? This iB the last, the last free call • To go as your brothers went, To go as heroic Britons should, Not wait till they're fetched and sent. .Win your first fight,'the fight with self, Be swift with that gallant blow, Then, on to your second fight, good lad, And crush God's other foe. A LITTLE TE DEUM. We thank thee, Lord, For .mercies manifold in these dark days; For Heart of Grace tha,t would not suffer wrong; For all the stirrings in the dead, dry bones; , For bold self-steeling to the times' dread needs; / For every sacrifice of self to Thee; For easo and jvealth and life so freely given; For Thy deep sounding of the hearts of men; For Thy great opening of the hearts of men; For Thy close knitting of the hearts of men; For all who sprang to answer the great call ; For their high courage and self-sacri-fice j For their endurance under deadly stress; For all_the unknown heroes who have died To keep the land inviolate and free; • For all who come back from the Gates of Death; . For all who pass to larger life with Thee,' And find in Thee the wider liberty; For hope of Righteous and Enduring , Peace; For. hope of cleaner earth and closer heaven; With burdened hearts, but faith unquenchable— ' We thank Thee. Lord! _ ■ —John Oxenham, in the "Chris#.® WorW."