CHURCH AND WAR

Dominion, Volume 10, Issue 2890, 30 September 1916, Page 13

CHURCH AND WAR

—....—i, — THE MORAL CRISIS NEED FOR A DOCTRINE OF OPTIMISM. . "Tho War'and the Moral Crisis" is the subject of an article in tho June number of "Tlie Constructive Quarterly" (Oxford University Press), by Georges Michelet, Professor of Philosophy in tho Catliolio Institute of Toulouao, Franco,who gives his answer to tho question.: What are the present needs of our souls, and in this distress ■what resources are offered us by contemporaneous moral systems? Why is- there fratricidal _ struggle botwoon mem.? 'Wliy suffering and death in the world ? Whither, then, ia the universe going through such horrors? And, for me, whence comes the moral obligation deliberately to throw myself into this confusion, and, if necessary, to dio there? We all yearn to know tho eternal reason for those ovils. Wo seek for light to illumine tho shadows in tho midst of which we are struggling; we implore a clcar, complete explanation, an explanation which embraces heaven and earth, life and doath. And, without knowing it, we thus, appeal to the whole of metaphysics. And next to light our souls have an immense need or strength. The explanation sought must not merely enlighten, it must even more sustain us. The obligations which aro prosonted to consciences are too grievous, the saorifioes aro too greats for human wills —oven those of tho finest temper—to bear in certain,/ hours without failing. Whence then may be drawn tho power for these sacrifices, and, if necessary, the heroism for the supreme sacrifice? And towards what master ofthe inner life shall wo turn to ask with these lessons of renunciation the strength necessary to mako our souls equal to the test? Finally, because liuman beings aro not able to live long without joy, their true sphere; because obligation cannot ba accepted, and fulfilled in all tho completeness of its moral value except it expand finally In love, we demand what doctrine will bring to us a little happiness in the bitterness of our sacrifices and our tears. But these forces and these joys cannot proceed except from a doctrine of optimism, and an optimism which may reach the individual. For optimism "alone is the oreator of energy, the fertile source of action, it alone possesses the potent faculty of multiplying living, forces, it alone compels the unfolding of all the heroism latent in souls. But this optimism implies that life and death, tho suffering of individuals and tho martyrdom of peoples have; a. moral significance,, that they .tend • towards a sovereign judgment where account will 1 bo taken of all tho 6ilent sacrifices and mummed virtues. It declares that a thought guides the world toward the better land toward the best, Mid that good will triumph in the coming of justice. This assurance of the final triumph of good alone can create courage and sustain, hope.

All souls in the present liour havo an infinite need of nope and to see i beyond the sorrows , and. the conflicts a reign 'of justice and a blessed city of peace. They beg that the immortal hopes of heaven be revealed to their agonised hearta or their weeping ©yes. •Propose to the soldier, who is lighting, who perhaps will soon succumb, the distant ideal of a humanity happy over his dead body - tell him that bis tears and his blood are the ■' cement necessary for the future cityj that the sacrifice of the individual is inexorably demanded, for the good of the'species, and. that,, after thousands ' of jjoars by this Baorifice.of millions,of individuals, humanity will know the rapturo of perpetual joy; Will consolation come to him, who in his agony is thinking of the dear children who are' waiting for him, of the beloved home, of all his imperious and legitimate reasons for living P A crushing doctrine which should _ awaken ; hatred against, the exigencies of society and thjs humanity of the future. • According to it, there is no joy for the individual but' only Bilent despair. This .doctrine allows not a ray of joy, not a consoling motive to pass,across its bloody horizons to help in the supreme sacrifice. If it affirms its optimism witli regard to the final state of society, it forbids all pity for tho.victims: this pity for the unhealthy charity, lese-humanite. Only a dootrine of love, a doctrine linked to action by its nature and whicli arouses action, a doctrine which, engenders love, and, through love, the entire acceptation of diffioult sacrifices, can respond to the imperious necessities of tho present time. It constitutes the . most urgent need of contemporary moral teaching. This love can only be evoked by a religion whioh plaoes the individual in relation with a personal Being, capable of' recognising his coffering, tearing his prayer, and procuring aid for him. I need to know that my cry of supplication is not .lost in the night, and that it reaches an all-powerful goodness. In order to accept fully aE my obligations, that of death, if need' be, I mu3t know that there is for me a Father Wha is in Heaven.