CHURCH AND WAR

Dominion, Volume 9, Issue 2711, 4 March 1916, Page 14

CHURCH AND WAR

SIGNS OF THE TIMES RENEWED INTEREST IN RELIGION. The Rev. R. .T. Campbell contributes an interesting article to the "British Weekly," entitled "Has the War Changed us Spiritually?" We quote the following extracts: — A friend wrote to me while I was in France commenting upon the remarkable sign of tho times evidonced by the fact that- the secular press is now devoting so much space week by week to spiritual subjects. Before the war, he said, this v would have been unthinkable; people would, not have wanted it, whereas now they do almost universally., Tho wide interest shown some months hack in the letters of the Rev. E. A. Burroughs to "Tho Times." so far from having died away, has spread abroad and is finding expression through media still more unusual. From what one can see, the same is largely true of our colonies and tho United States. My correspoud&nt asked, and others have asked since, whether from my experience I thought tliis tendency was likely to survive the war and how much it portended for the future.' Frankly, I do not know; it would be impossible - to say. There aro other facts pointing in an almost, opposite direction from those just indicated, such as, until the rooont drastic regulations were introduced, the increase of drinking among the poorer classes, and of an observable disposition towards vicious enjoyment among those better off. I do not think the larger attendance at public worship in the lirst few months of the war has been generally maintained. I may bo mistaken in this, but such is my impression. Neither, is there overwhelming evidence, that the whole nation' has betaken itself to intercession 011 behalf of those who aro maintaining our causa at- homo and abroad as unquestionably did seem to be the case at the commencement of the struggle. Hero again ] may bo wrong; it is so difficult to generaliso. And fervour cinuot bo kept at. high/pitch for very long. People may fall back into their ordinary habits of life without ceasing to feel dee-p----ly and seriously on the great matters at issue and, their responsibility to God for dealing rightly with them. And, as aforesaid, there is the undoubted fact, to be taken into consideration that ill quarters where religion was never mentioned before or even treated with contempt it is a theme of constant discussion and surely this is all to tile good. If tho secular press finds it worth while to open its columns continually to subjects with a' religious bearing, there must, bo an important j change somewhere. Disillusionment, What we are witnessing to-day, both of good and ill, as alluded to above— the new n\ood in which ive find ourselves—is due mainly to our disillusionment with civilisation. Taken on the whole we have been living for wrong values and are now paying the price. If you had asked a Greek statesman in, say, tho days of Pericles what civiIsation was for, w)iat the object of statesmanship was, he would have told you at once, to make good citizens. If you were to ask any European statesman the same question to-day, he would have 110 answer unless- it were to say that getting the greatest amount possible of comfort, ease, and abundance were what was aimed at. Undoubtedly that it what an ordinary political speech', points to and assumes in. thoso to' whom it is addressed—or did , up to July, 1914. Now all is changed. Our material civilisation ■ has failed us; it lias done nothing for tho soul, as witness German devilry in the field. > Intellectual cleverness may have no relation to character unless to malco it a greater,force for evil; salvation, individual or collcctive, is not to be won by material efficiency, but by change of heart. We are having to begin at the bottom again, and learn our lesson tlirough much tribulation. "Though out outward mail perish, yet our inward man is renewed day by day." For the moment, at any rate, ( or so it would seem, the nations are wistfully taking account of the eternal once more. How much this means we cannot yet be sure; it may mean a return to the timehonoured observances of the Christian faith, and it may not. Religion In France. ' Ours is not the only country that ia feeling it. Perhaps I may be permitted to insert here an extract from a private letter I wrote homo to the correspondent in question: "Last night in a French restaurant I picked up a copy of the 'Echo do Paris, one of the best known daily newspapers in France. In the most conspicuous position on the front page I found an article beginning thus: 'Sometimes one hears the question asked, Do you truly believe that after the war Franco will bo changed?Assuredly I believe it, and indeed she is changed already.' The leader writer goes on to enlarge upon this at length." Remember that this article constitutes the chief editorial in a prominent daily paper in France, and those who read these words can judge for themselves what is happening to the soul of the nation. Tho renascence of faith in France is not wholly caused by the war, however, as I can myself testify. In the early part of 1914, just before Lent began, I happened to be in Rouen and found the Cathedral crammod to the doors with men' of all social grades night after night for the holding of conferences on the person and work of our Lord Jesus-Christ.. There 'was no service; the altar was unliglited; there were only ' two priests, present, and tliese did not seem to be doing more than'giving a start to the proceedings; the -rest was in the hands of tlie men themselves. I was told it was the same more, or leas all over the country, Paris not excepted. What a change from tho aggressive atheism which controlled the statecraft and tho public opinion of a few years before I Our Soldiers at the Front. As to our own soldiers in tho same territory opinions differ. I can .but describe them as I found them. It was a strange experience to take church parade in camp, or, better still, an ordinary evening service in one of the numerous large huts erected within the war zono, and compare it with what used to be in the old days. Tho psychological atmosphere was very remarkable, especially in the case of men who had been in the trenches. There was an intensity, an eagerness, to hear, a reverence and responsiveness not usual, I should imagine, among the same class at home. What those brave fellows wanted was to hear and ask about siiperselisuous realities, about God, the soul, and the life to come. The last Sunday night before I eanio away was wet and stormy, and I had to drive about, ten milos to conduct evening prayer and give an address 'at a certain camp. I thought nobody would bo t-liore, but' tho place was crammed from end to end. I wonder if many London churches were equally full at the same hour; 1 doubt it. And would those samo soldiers to a man have been found in church a year and a half ago? 1 doubt it still more. Lifo takes 011 s new perspective for those who are looking death in the face day after day, and doing it not For themselves but for the land they love and a cause greater still. It must lead them to see new meanings in tho mystery of the Passion of Christ for ronn'a salvation, and a new beauty to desire,

a deeper fellowship to be realised, with Him whose pierced hand holds the sceptre of omnipotence, and on whoso brows a glory rests that had not been but for the crown of thorns.