CHURCH AND WAR

Dominion, Volume 9, Issue 2747, 15 April 1916, Page 3

CHURCH AND WAR

• "ALL FOR UNITY" NONCONFORMISTS AND UNIVERSAL SERVICE. The London "Times" recently published a very interesting letter from an eminent Congregational minister, the Rev. Bernard J. Snell, of Brixton Independent Church, entitled "All for Unity." Mr. Snell approves the statement of another '"limes" correspondent, Mr. Ernest Bcrkev, that Cromwell's Ironsides wore largely "pressed men," and that by the ancient usage of this nation all who enjoy rights are expected to discharge duties, so that none is adjudged lit governor of-Eng-land who is hot prepared . to defend Kngluncl. -Air. Snell goes on:— "But why must lie seize this moment for the groundless allegation that Nonuonformists are tlie main foes of the principles of universal service of our native land? ■ Is this the hour for exacerbating differences ? Does he imag- i mo that it is a Nonconformist trait lor a man to be blind to his first duty as a citizen? -Does he not know that since the time of tlie Protector. there has never been so large a proportion ol Nonconformists serving- their country in arms? Does he think that no Noti. J conformist has sense of shame that our Government has been reduced to the devices and blandishments of the advertising tout to attract recruits? Is it a Nonconformist characteristic that so long. as Ministers/ are content with these paltry methods, wo find it hard to believe that they aro really in earnest when they say tliat the situation is perilous? ; Is that the way that statesmen behave when they feel that their country is in'jeopardy? Sir, we have no native tolerance for the notion that it is the onerous privilege of such as are sensitive to patriotic duty to profoet the lives and families. and holdings of those who have no such sensibility. We have no spiritual affinity with' the doctrine tKat there should be manhood suffrage without manhood service." . Mr. Snell proceeds:— > "We have no patience with the man who refuses to serve his country in a life-and-death struggle for existence, because,. forsooth 1 there are private difficulties .in the way. Is that the way that Frenchmen serve France? Nonconformists have ever given priority trf urgent public duties._ What haa Nonconformity done that it should be saddled with responsibility for the 'pacifists,' who find it . against their conscience to slay our foes, but quite congruous with their conscience to pay war taxeß to enable other'men to perform that disagreeable duty? why suggest that it is a Nonconformist trait to decide that England should rely for safety on her heroic-minority- to face the risk of death, while the inferior spirits are guarded securely 'to become the. progenitors of the thrice "unhappy England l that is to be? Sir, we are all one.' This is.not the hour,for divided counsels.. Our peoples have been bewildered by alternating • cries of distress and hurrahs for the. coming victory ; but they are resolute." Let our leaders sound the note, and- they will find the nation united." A VALIANT WOMAN. KILLED BY A.SHELL. . , : Soeur Ignace, a, religious of tlie Most Holy Saviour, who left the surgical hospital in Paris in June last to organise an ambulance at Mosch, in .Alsace, was killed by. a shell on January 6,.whilst accompanying another i religious to a girls' school, where wounded were lying.Here is an extract from the letter of the chief of the Medical Staff announcing _ her death to the Superior at the Paris house:—

"I cannot describe our despair when her body was brought in to ns on a stretcher, and when we saw -rigid in death this valiant woman who but a short time before was going her rounds in the hospital full of life and alertness, the beloved comforter of our poor wounded in all their pains and troubles. . . .'I had for Soeur Ignac'e the most respectful affection. I regarded her as a most holy soul, and she was to me here the representative of all that is best and purest in France. She was the standard round which all of usy officers and men, in tbe ambulance flocked, whatever our convictions, .. . . I would fain weep, but I cannot, .and I envy my comrades whose tears, are flowing .fast, in presence of the mortal remains of her whom we have so suddenly lost.

. . . God has called to Himself this holy woman, His servant. May His wiH be done," and we bow to it in resignation. Wo shall bury her in-French'' soil, under tbe shadow of the Tricolour,, in the cemetery where sbe will lie with the soldiers whom_ she nursed with such devotion and like whom 6lie fell, .as a, soldier of France.

A PRIEST'S REQUEST. A oaptain in a_ French regiment at the front has Tecoived the following letter from a priest who was a hospital orderly and had been wounded:—

"'I have to «"sk you a sorvice. Would ; you, or. rather can you, accept me in ] your company, for the medical service P i I was hospital orderly with the —th, ' and the colonel >egarded me as chap- | lain, but he i 3 dead and I was wounded ! ir. going to help lim. I have been at ! the depot for some time, and I am eat- ■ iug my heart out. I want to be where men are suffering and dying. ..... Excuse my boldness, my captain; but . I feel quite strong enough to encourage those who suffer and die, and, if need be, I have courage enough to die in their places. I am- an orphan, my father and mother having died during the war , without my being able to give them a sen's last kiss or a priest's blessing. So I am .alone and would cladly give my lifo to France and God." t THEOLOGICAL SOLDIERS ON THE MARCH. The 240 Welsh theological students and ministers who enlisted at Rhyl in the newly-formed 8..AM.0. Welsh Unit were early astir on a recent Saturday morning and proceeded - by special train to Sheffield. They fere given a hearty tjend-olf by a. large crowd. Arriving at the Exchange Sta- , tion, Manchester, about 1L.30, _ they were seen swinging along the principal streets of tho city, headed by Lieutenant Dryland, R.A.M.C. (Western Command), Rev. Ceitho Davies _ (Senior Welsli Nonconformist Chaplain ' with tho Forces), and Mr._ Fred Llewellyn •Jones (prospectiro Liberal candidate for Preston), who is chiefly responsible for the raising of the Welsh Unit, to the rhythmic melody of well-known Welsh hymns. L.oudiy cheered as the train left for Sheffield, the men responded with the "war cries" of Aberystwyth, Bansror, and Cardiff colleges. Within a few hours' timo tho theological (Soldiers were safoly at the famous Sheffield Barracks, and later proceeded to Llandrindod Wells for a long training. A NATIONAL MISSION. The Archbishops of Canterbury and York have addressed a letter to the diocesan bishops of England and Wales on the subject of tho proposed national mission or appeal in connection with the religious ' lessons and opportunities of the war. Tho Primates announce that the movement is to bo called "The National Mission of Repentance and Hope," and October end November arc provisionally chosen for tho main and concentrated effort. A council of some I 70 members—bishops, clergy, niid laity, J, with the Bishop of Loudon as chairman

—has been formed to discuss and sub-1 mit to the Archbishops a detailed plan 1 of what they regard as tho best modus operandi, subject, of course, to a wide variety of local conditions. The Archbishop of Canterbury has written fully to tlie council upon the subject of tlio mission and its character, and has enumerated questions on' which guidanco is sought. Each bishop is asked to appoint a special council or committee in Ins own district to make local arrangements. "Wo have good reason to hops," add the Archbishops, "that tlio leaders of other religious communions i'i England will make arrangements in their own way. for au independent effort kindred to our own." PRAYER FOR VICTORY. The '-British Weekly" (London) commends to all conccrned the following statement by Canon Scott Hollaud, who eays: "We go on raoking our poor brains and copscience to say whether we may pray for victory or not. We cannot go to war without desiring victory. If we are right in'going to war, it must be because we believe in ihe righteousness of our cauea; and wo cannot desire righteousness to he defeated. To commit our cause • to God in prayer is to stake our - lives on the conviction that we are fighting for the Truth and for the Right. If we had not this conviction we could not • commit our cause to God at all in prayer. To pray, then, at aJI is to pray that tho Bight may win, and to pray that prayer in the passioriato belief that we are concerned in the winning." A FINE BATTLE HYMN. In the London "Times" recently, Cora Lady Strafford l , an American by pirth, contrasts the spirit of "I Didn't Raise My Boy to be a Soldier" with that of Julia. Ward Howe's "Battle Hymn of the Republic"—perhaps the finest of all the American war songs:— "Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord; He is trampling out the vintage ..where . the grapes of wrath are stored: He hath loosed the fatal lightning of His terrible swift sword; His Truth is marching on. "I have seen Him in the watch-fires of a hundred circling camps; They have builded Him an altar in the evening dews and l damps; I have read His righteous sentence by the dim and flaring lamps; His Day is marching on.

"I have read a fiery gospel, writ in burnished rows of steel; As you deal with My contemners so with you My grace-shall deal; Let the Hero, borii of woman, crush the serpent with His heel, ,' Since. God is marching on.

"He has sounded forth the trumpet that shall never call retreat; He is sifting out the hearts of men before His judgment seat; OKI be swift, my soul, to answer Him, be jubilant my feet I . ■ Our God is marching on.

"In the beauty of the lilies Christ was born across the sea, With a glory in His bosom that transfigures you'and me;As He died to make men holy, let us . die to make them free, ■ ' ,While God is marching on."-