CHURCH AND WAR

Dominion, Volume 9, Issue 2675, 22 January 1916, Page 14

CHURCH AND WAR

THE IRISH POINT OF VIEW FACTS TO BE FACED. In connection with the recruiting campaign in Tipperary, a meeting was bold at Cahir, when the parish priest, the Rev. W. P. Burlco, who was in the chair, made an impressive speech. Ho said: We are now, to my mind, confronted with the most serious crisis that has occurred for three hundred years—since Cromwell made preparations at Bristol for the invasion of Ireland. Don't think it is England's fight only. As sure as England goes down we will go down, too. I will tell you a little story. I onco got aboard a boat leaving Liverpool, and amongst tho passengers were an old man and his wife. When they wore .Hearing the mouth of the Mersey [ overheard the woman make the remark: "Rouben, the ship will do down," in an excited tono. "Don't worry," he replied "it aint our ship." (Loud laughter and cheers.) Now, my friends, that is tho situation to-day. If England goes down, and if tho spiked helmets come into sight of Ireland, do you think that Professor MacNeill and the Sinn Fein Party can keep them out of Ireland? No. In this matter we are all in this same boat. Now, what are the facts? For fifty years this German cloud has hung over Europe. Fifty-one years ago Germany crushed Denmark; four years afterwards the Austrians went mider to the Germans; and six s'ears later France was levelled in the dust by them; and then Germany settled down, and for forty years has been preparing for this war.' It would onlytake the Germans fifteen hours to get here —why, we can almost hear tho roar of their guns. Now, if Germany conquers Europe, then Britain will live for only five years longer, and Ireland will then be beaten. (A Voice; "Never.") Well, we shall see. Many persons say that tho victory of the Germans means a victory for the Catholic Church. Well, a few years ago, before' the war commenced, a Catholic Congress was held at Liege, and was attended by deputies from all Europe. _ A largo representation was present from Germany. Dr. Lieber, tho Vice-President of tho great Centre Party in the German Parliament, stated: "Many of you here in Belgium fear Germany. . You fear that, sooner 01; later, your country and its liberties will be swallowed up; but I tell'you that we, the Catholics of Germany, will rend the Empire if one hair of your head is touched." This is the substanco of his statement. Now, my friends, Belgium and its liberties are destroyed, and 110 word of, protest from the Catholics -of Germany. Do you think they will spare you because you are Catholics? What has lupponed in Poland, that great Catholic country? Germany has set itself to crush it out of existence. They have uprooted some 25,000 Polish farmers, and replaced them by. Germans. To complete the destruction .of Poland tho Germans "passed a law prohibiting one Pole purchasing land, so that in process of time the whole soil of Poland must pass into tho Gorman hauds. Now, during all this period the English Government has been labouring to reinstate and root the Irish people in their own soil. The Congested Districts Board and the Estates Commissioners have been busily engaged at work; great ranches have teen divided up, and 110 fewer than 4000 evicted tenants have been restored. Tell me, as reasonable men, if the Germans are going to treat Ireland differently from Poland? Believe me, .my friends, this is a war of conquest, and the Germans mean to exchange the arid wastes of tho Baltic and the sands of Brandenburg for the rich pastures . of Ireland. ! Every one of us should face these facts as \ commonsenso men; and not as dreamers or talkers.

"THEY ARE NOT DEAD." CHANGED TIMES AT OXFORD. The changed times at Oxford are shown by this quotation from the front' page of the undergraduates' paper, "The Varsity." "All Saints, All Souls—the Church, and the College! How little the names of both meant for us all two years ago 1 They were familiar in our mouths as household words; we spoke of them as we spoke of 'The Turl' or 'Tho High.' "AH Saints' Day had small significance, and All Souls' Day might mean much to tho peasants and fishermen of Brittany, but in Great Britain and in Oxford,. 'parous et infrequens cultoi sacrorum,' each undergraduate went his way.

all is changed. On Monday the accustomed collect which speaks of the virtuous and godly living ot blessed Saints Triumphant was no mere mediaeval echo or pious aspiration from tho past, but a real, prayer for that virtue which is valour, that godly living which is -the fulfilling of the law since it is L'ove in its purest manifestation.

"For what is Patriotism - but the highest form of love for a created person? Know we not that the nation is no mere sum of its living citizens, as certain amongst us falsely say, but a living personality, a life compact of countless other lives? We are the trustees of a oomman heritage entrusted to us by God Most High. "So also do tvo muse on the 'day of the dead' or, as our English tongue better names it, All Souls' Day. For t-hey are not dead, our brothers whose bodies rest in Flanders or in France, in the battlefields of African deserts or at the gates of the Dardanelles. 'They are not dead whose bodies lie beneath the waves. Changed perhaps, but into richer modes' of being, strange to us, but to them a glad surprise. We do not think of them as pale phantoms, or as members of some problematic choir invisible. Faith quickens as the pressure and the peril grow. Who dies if England lives? They have set us free from bondage to tho fear of death.

"As wo read in these pages the long lists of those who gladly laid down their lives as iree will, offerings for good faith and national' integrity and ordered freedom, we were not minded to mourn for them, but to follow their goo'd example, and each House and College triumphed in ; the heroism of sons and comrades. And here in Oxford pray wo that to them may be given the full fruition of their great endeavour, and to us grace to follow in their footsteps as soon as wo be ready for the fight. Tnoso whom .we remember on All Saints' and on All Souls' Day have passed through the fiery furnace and the firo touched thom not at all." ESSENTIALS OF VICTORY. SERMON TO SCOTSMEN. The Rot. Alexander Connell, who succeeded lan jYiaclaren as minister of Sefton Park Church, Liverpool, was tho preacher at St. Columba's, London, recently. The sermon, from Isaiah lx. 4 "Thy sous shall come from far," was one of the noblest patriotic utterances called forth by tho war (says tho "British Weekly '). A great opportunity was offered, and tho preacher used it to the full. Such a trumpet-call might havo been uttered to clansmen anion" the hills of Ardgour or Morven, and many a Highlander in that immense congregation must have felt his heart leap up as at the sound of old chivalric melody. 1 hough spoken in tlio quietest, most delibcrato tones, tho discourso was full of passion. .

!Mr. Council told how fclie ticlincs of the wur ojimo to hipianlf. He wks living » a remote sati o* ihq gifiljlsnd^.

wlioro news was difficult of access, and ■uncertainty deepened the sombro anxiety of these critical and unforgettable days. "The first strong grip on my heart of that great happening was when i 6aw a solitary horseman in full war array riding by tho shore. Ho had come from a rude hamlet noa.r Cape Wrath, and ivas going to join his brethren in this conflict of races. That lonely horseman was a symbol, not only of tho unity which in our heart becomes ever deeper and more assured, but of the rich stream of life flowing from every strath and hamlet, from every colony and island, where our Scottish kinsmen have found' a 'homo."

Tho preacher next asked what contribution tho Scottish people may hope to give, and are bound to give, out of the very fibres of their being, towards tho final settlement of our country by indisputable victory, "for such final settlement can come in no othor way." The essentials of victory, he addedmny be enormously reinforced in two ways from the Scottish tradition. (1) In the gleam of liberty that beckons us forward on the road of sacrifice. (2) In that sense which has not for centuries forsaken the Scottish people—the sense 'of the leading and guidance of God. Under th« first hoad cam» this striking passage: "Victor Hugo tells how an Infanta of Spain was playing, in the gardens of the Escorlal a few days after the Armada had sailed for the coast of England. The child was holding a full-blown rose, and already the wind had begun to scatter its petals. She turned in surprise to her duenna, who answered, 'Madam, to princes belongs all that is on earth save only the wind.' At tliat very hour tho winds of God were dragging the Armada hither and thither, and writing in white breakers round our shores the fate of the Imperial Spain. Another element lies outside tho caprice of power —tho breath of freedom, defiant, immortal, invincible. . . . In following liberty the Scottish race has never been turned back; nor shall it now, if heredity means anything." .

UNITY AT THE FRONT. TEN CHAPLAINS LIVE TOGETHER. A Baptist chaplain gives a very interesting account of united services among the troops. The chaplains of the. 17th division seem to be in a unique position, having a mess of their own, with united services in tho camps of the various units.. This originated as follows: When under training in England the chaplains were able to arrange united Free Church services at two out of the three camps, and on going to France ,t : he senior chaplain asked if the United Board chaplain would kindly take a service for his men (Church of England). 'This was readily agreed to, but before they could get tho work of the .department adjusted to the new conditions the General Officer Commanding (who had noted with approval the hearty co-operation in England) suggested that a chaplains' mess should be established, and for this purpose ho put a group of farm buildings at their disposal.

When the Chaplains 'began to study the plan of the divisional area with tho disposition of the troops in innumerable camps, they were appalled at the difficulty of; the task, and. immediately it was agreed that the Church of England and Free Church chaplains should join" forces and hold united parades, with the proviso that "no man who had conscientious objections should ho compelled to attend a parade not conducted by his own chaplain," and that the chaplain should be free to conduct the service as he wished. and hold a communion for his own men when ho so desired. This arrangement enabled the chaplains (seven Churoh of England and three Free Church) to reach nearly all the units out of the trenches every Sunday. The arrangement also met with the hearty commendation of the officers and men, and not a single word of ad-verse-criticism has heen heard. Frequently the Church of England chaplain and the United Board chaplain have held short sorvices with a battalion of oompany before they loft the rest camps tor the trenches. This desirable condition of things could not have been possible but for the iress, where tho ohaplains 'fostered a spirit of Christian fellowship and true brot-herliness, and where thoy learned to rospect each other's great convictions' ■ and loyalty and erip afresh the cardinal truths of tho Gospel. By this system the chaplains liave secured many concessions from headquarters which facilitate their work. ' ,

THE REALLY GREAT ISSUES. At his Enthronement in Christ Church Cathedral the Anglican Archbishop of Dublin spoke these words: "Beloved in Christ, I bid you take heed that the Church's usefulness -in days to come will be measured by her power of concentrating her effort on the really great issues of religion and life. This is no time for the elaboration of the petty distinctions upon which, in days of peace, speculative persons set mucli store. We are face to face— not some of us, but all of us—with issues which shall determine the history of the world for many generations. How is our religion helping lis to do our part? The country has no use for a religion which will not sound a trumpet-call when the country is _ in danger, which has no message in time of war. The city has no use for a religion which does not unite class to class, which does not rise above and beyond the politics of the hour." SPLENDID CENEROSITY. The Abbe Bourgeois, who was recent, ly ordained priest by .Mgr. Marbeau, Bishop of Meaux, explained in a letter to the Bishop how he came to be able to present himself for ordination:— "I was talking to a comrade of how glad I should be to be ordained before going to the firing line, and of the almost insurmountable -difficulties m the way of my getting leave. This' comrade, a farm hand from the invaded regions of tho Nord, who. had had no r.ews from his family since the outbreak of hostilities, and who was a. good Christian of the most splendid generosity, immediately offered to forgo the leave due to him in my favour. And when I thanked, him he said: 'There's nothing to thank me for, for I am only too'delighted and "honoured to give up my leave for such a cause. All I ask i 3 that when you go to the altar you will remember me there.' " CONSCRIPTION.

The Archbishop of York, in an address at Middlesbrough on "The National Spirit and the War," asked whether after the Bryce report, the Lusitania, the massacres in Armenia, and the death of Miss Cavell —words that seemed to be like bells sounding the German people to judgment—was there ono now who would wish that during the past fateful year wo had stood apart contemplating at our ease tho ravages of this spirit? Was there ono who did not feel it was infinitely more right to bo combating it with ail our strength? ' When it was a question of right or wrong they must never quail before any sacrifice that was demanded.

Alluding to the question of compulsory sorvice, lie said that supposing the supreme call came was thero ono who would rise up and say: "I don't caro what happens to the freedom of Europe, I don't care whether the sacrifice of all those thousands (>r men to be in vain, so long as nothing touches my precious liberty" ? Ho knew the'fear that conscription rtrf/St; come afterwards, but lie did not believe it. What, however, would make conscription necessary would bo to lose t]iis war, for the nations of Europe would be obliged in self-defence to train their wlmla umulwod fur tsiiu«mtivu« to .Usqwfl. ,