CHURCH AND WAR

Dominion, Volume 10, Issue 2902, 14 October 1916, Page 13

CHURCH AND WAR

THE MISSION . FIELD AN ASTONISHING POSITION. _Tho position to-day of foreign missionary work, as carried, on by tie British peoploj is one of the most astonishing witnesses to tihe power of its faith and its resolution. The people of the Empire have been quick to 6ee that its foreign missions may be looked at as oil© leligious expression of the Empire's duty to the world. They hare, therefore, refused, however_ hard pressed, to "out foreign missions." Their religion lias been on its trial. For war has concentrated meaus oil tlio equipment and maintenance of the national forces. War has made some 5,000,000 of our mon non-productive at the most productive period of men's lives. • But war has not ruined or oven eeriously impaired our missions. Yet, if their support had suffered, .110 ono would have been surprised. Parochial and ( congregational life, Church organisations, works of philanthropy have in many instances been very' hard hit. But, financially, foreign missions, as conducted by tho British societies, have not. They have survived all the difficulties created in somo fields by the war, and all the dangers threatened by the war pressure at home. In certain instances the great missionary societies have even gone ahead. The Churoli". Missionary Society' emerged triumphantly from " an anxious fc'me, and reported an income about £8000 above that of tho pre-war year. Apart from legacies, the London Missionary Society received at homo over £8000 more than in 1913-14. Tiiat 6ociety, in a, war year, also 'teceived and appropriated £40,933 in tiho mission field itself. The Wesleyail Missionary Society was also ahead by nearly the same sum of £8000. Faced 1 with an accumulate*! deficit of £9510, it waa ablo, in <t war year, to-wipe this item out. Tho Baptist Missionary Society, for the first time for many jears, closed its accounts in tho second year of the war without a deficit. TJie China Inland Mission—ail interdenominational. agency, lacking the advantage! onjoyedihy societies .witli a, direct claim iipon a particular: clurchr-iacknow-: ledged, a -home- income... of £61,101 against one "of £36,872 in' the year. ; :"Its ; resources in tlie second year of the-war aro £5600 above the , averago. for the provious ten years of peace. Nor is it only the : great and conspicuous agencies that have been thus, sustained. Such, lesser organisations as the Sudan United Mission, tho South Africa Goneral Mission, and the Primitive . Methodist Missionary Society also show advances. The signs pf difficulty are - more apparent in Scotland than in England, but there also the oustanding fact is the high' level at which missionary support has been sustained in tho time of war.

It is unnecessary here to attempt any explanation of. these facts founded on a survey of our economic conditions. It is enough to remind ourselves, that what is happening now is very much wliati. happened in the time of our struggle against Napoleon. In that period most of the great evangelical societies were founded. The descendants of the men - who then had ■ faith to start them are, in like faith, keeping the-societies alive,' efficient and progressive, through' ail evon greater struggle. That ihey should continue in this resolve is of the highest importance; for on many of the societies tho results of the war must speedily lay now burdens, of overwhelming magnitude unless corresponding support bo provided.—The Rev.-. A. ft. Bucklahd, in "The Layman's Bulletin."

" BRAVE CHAPLAINS. THE JUTLAND BATTLE. ■ ■ j? ,in :.'";La£d... and ■Waterj"' gives-'"fchesevistories 'of -.the bravery of naval 'chaplains in the Jutland light t — . "In the 6-inch battery of one 6hip an enemy she'll'set fire to a cordite charge, and there being others in clos6 proximity, the officer of. quarters at once gave orders to clear the battery. Before the order could be obeyed, two boys were knocked over ,by the'ignition of a second charge. A naval chaplain went hack, brushed the burning propellant off them and pulled them out, and got badly burned about the face and hands in doing 60. With uvery feature disfigured and almost blinded, he was led, almost by force, below'. Tho pain must have been excruciating. But he' protested he was an absolute fraud, not a bit hurt, and that they oughfc to be giving their attention to people who were seriously injured. • "Another chaplain, hit in the spins, was told by the doctor that he only had a few hours to live. Ho sat in the chair,- conversing cheerily with those, around him till death came—by far the least concerned of all in the company.".

, In the "Daily Telegraph" a striking story of the Rev. H. Dixon-Wright, Chaplain to H.M.S. Barbara, is told by Able Seaman Woodloy. Ho kept a diary of the principal incidents in the fight, and writes is follows:—"Rather' a touching narrative. is told of our Chaplain, who as he lay dying from a shattered spine and leg prayed for victory (or out Fleet. Liko Nelson he lived just long enough to know that bis prayer"was answered and the day was ours. • The" Burial Service took place on, the quarterdeck at 8 p.m. I and three others had the 6ad job of bearing a . messmate to his last restingplace. The funeral service was read by the captain as the bodies lay on the deck covered by the Union Jack. As they were committed to. the deep the guard of honour fired three volleys over them. The 'Admiral's Salute', and 'Last Post' were also sounded."

A correspondent, writing to the "Times" with reference to Mr. Dixon-. Wright, calls attention' to the fact that he was the author of some "noble hymns." "As Chaplain of the Royal Naval College at Dartmouth he had to do with the.religious training of the Princes. The hymns which he wrote on several memorable occasions remain as a noble memorial of his life-work. They have not only a literary, but an Imperial, interest. The hymn beginning 'To Thee, 0 God, our hearts we raise in humble supplication,' was the earliest. It was sung in the Private Chapel of Windsor on June 24, 1910, on the occasion of the Confirmation of the Prince of Wales. A more beautiful prayer in song for that occasion could hardly be imagined.- The next was a hymn written for His Majesty's Corona, tion in 1911. The third was written, again for the Prince of Wales, on the occasion of his investiture in 1911."