The Dominion. MONDAY, FEBRUARY 7, 1916. ADMIRAL BEATTY'S MESSAGE

Dominion, Volume 9, Issue 2688, 7 February 1916, Page 4

The Dominion. MONDAY, FEBRUARY 7, 1916. ADMIRAL BEATTY'S MESSAGE

When a dashing and brilliant British sailor like Admiral Beatty, a fighter to the linger tips, suddenly assumes the role of the preacher and prophet and tells us that a religious revival must take place if we want to be sure of winning this war, the average man feels a sort of spiritual shock. He is taken by surprise; his attention is arrested; the crust which covers his more or less dormant spiritual instincts is penetrated; and the response of nis own heart bears testimony to tho fact that man cannot live by bread alono. Admiral Beatty declares that tho war will go on until we, as a nation, rouso ourselves from our stupor of self-satisfaction and complacency and put more life and reality into our religion. This is the sort of message which we naturally expect to hear from priests and parsons, and we arc too much inclined to turn a deaf ear to it; but when it comes from the hero of Heligoland Bight it gets right home. It makes us think. _ Here is a powerful weapon which we are neglecting to use, or only using in a half-hearted 'way. Both in France and Russia tho war has stimulated the religious life of the people in a most remarkable manner. In the British Empire it has directed the thoughts of many to the mysteries of the uuseen world, but there has not.been a national revival of religion. Admiral Beatty reminds us that great as is the importance of the material factor in war, the importance of the spiritual factor is still greater. Ships and guns can never save a State which is. rotten at the heart. Everything ultimately depends upon tho -morale and staying power of a nation. A firm belief that tho destinies of mankind are being shaped and directed by an over-ruling Providence begets hope and courage, and gives depth and intensity to that high 'fighting spirit which overcomes all obstacles in its determination to carry a just cause to a good end. The use of the term "national humiliation" by religious leaders in connection with the war has been resented by many people, and it is certainly a novel experience to be told by a British Admiral that prayer and humility have real fightrng value. Some of us have becomc accustomed to regard humility as a mean and cringing attitude. But' this is quite a mistaken view. Humility is generally a characteristic of great minds; conceit and eocksureness are indications of a narrow outlook on life. A great Chinese moralist tells us that humility is the foundation of all virtues, and one of our own poets speaks of true humility as "the highest virtue, mother of them all." When Admiral Beatty suggests that we should learn to look to the future with humbler eyes, nothing could bo further from his mind than the idea of craven servility. He is rather thinking of tho dauntless humility of Xavier, who declared that he feared God and nothing else in the world.

It is a notable fact that some of our greatest soldiers and sailors have been deeply religious men. Nelson went into battle with a prayer on his lips. Sir Henry Havelock, General Gordon, Loud Roberts were all humble-minded Christians as well as great soldiers. During the present war \vc have' hat) numerous illustrations of the existence of a spirit of genuine piety in both the Army and Navy. Dr. Wallace Williamson, the distinguished Presbyterian divine, was deeply impressed by this fact during his visits .to out soldiers and sailors

on active service. He has had the privilege of getting into personal living contact with the Commanders-in-Chief of the British forces on land and sea, and he recently stated that bo knew that deep in the hearts of Admiral Jellicoe and General French "there was not only confidence in the Army and Fleet which they led, but also confidence in Almighty God, and sure trust that He would lead them through.'' In this connection the words written in King Albert's Book by Lord Fisiier, to whose zeal and foresight the efficiency of the Navy is so largely clue, seem to gain a new significance. He merely quotes two sentences. The first is taken from the Book of Jeremiah: "The Lord God of recompenses shall surely requite." Tho other, which is taken from the Times, has reference to the horrors of the German invasion of Belgium: "One poor girl o£ nineteen was found stripped, outraged, and dead." Lord Fisher's contribution to the book is a confession of faith in a "Power that makes for righteousness" and punishes iniquity, however long the day of reckoning may be delayed. The soldier and sailor seem to share the plain man's belief in a real live God—not a callous and colourless Absolute, a mere logical necessity. They want a God who actually docs things and takes sides in moral issues.

The fact that the revival _of religion is less marked in British communities than in Russia and France is no doubt due in a large measure to the sense of security created by the far-rcaching power of our unconquerable Navy._ With the exception of the Zeppelin attacks and one hurried raid by a German squadron, the enemy has not been able to attack us on our own ground. We cannot realise the-horrors of war with tho same vividness as the French and Russians, who have direct experience of the destruction caused by the fire and sword of the invader. This may bo a partial explanation of our complacency, but it docs not excuse or justify it. It is not surprising that a man like Admiral Beatty should stress the need for a national sense of seriousness befitting the justice of our cause and the. tremendous issues at stake. The men who are looking death in the face must wonder at the lighthearted manner in which a large section of tho community pursues the even tenor of its way in the midst of tho most tremendous crisis in human history. A French soldier, in the course of conversation with Professor Passy, of the University of Paris, remarked: "Monsieur, when you are looking,straight the eyes of death it makes you lliink." At' Such moments a sure'instinct makes a man recognise tlie things that really matter, and when hp gets down to fundamentals he is afit to experience a remarkable reversal of some of his value judgments. The Unseen and the Eternal then become very near and very real. Professor Passy tells us that men who were confessed unbelievers when the war began have assured him that when a man is living at the gate of death ho is not so certain that there is nothing in religion. Ho finds it hard to think that ff he falls that will be tho end of it all. This same fcoling finds expression in Admiral Beatty's conviction that this war is something more than "a blood-drunken orgy. There must be a purpose in it." If it prepares the way for a new and better world, the lives that have been sacrificed will not have been sacrificed in vain. _ Our moral and spiritual faculties would be put to confusion if we did not have conficTcnco that right will in the long run be justified. . .