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1 1

PRAYER IN WAR TIME

«0«U BY m MV.

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iSy"'**'' "fE- Eighth Editiov. |/. „«

LoMDOH : HODDKt ft STOUOHTON

PRAYER IN WAR TIME

W. ROBERTSON NICOLL

HODDER AND STOUGHTON
LONDON NEW YORK TORONTO
MCMXVI

PREFACE

The articles which form this volume were
published in the British Weekly during the
War. At the suggestion of many readers
they are now sent out in book form. The
dates of publicaticm are giyoi for obvious
reasons.

Bay Tree Lodge,
Hampstead,

September 1916.

CONTENTS

PRAYER IN TIME OF WAR

A CALL FSOM THE BATTLEFIELD

WR8T RIOflTB(H7SNM-.THEN PEACE

HUMILIATION A PART OF PRAYSR

PRAY WITHOUT CEASING

VII

'BUT RATHER GIVING OF THANKS'

CONTENTS

vni

THE HAND OF GOD IN JVDQUtm

IMPORTUNATE PRAYER .

'THE ROCKS ARE NOT BURNING'

TO THE QUIET IN THE LAND

XII

WHEN THE ^ 'BOUNDED GO HOME

XIII

'THEIR UNtOVERTAKEABLENESS'

XIV

SUSPENSE

ENDURANCE

XVI

THE ACCEPTANCE OF EACRIFICB

PRAYER m TIME OF WAR

PRAYER IN TIME OF WAR

Love, it has been said, that needs to be entreated
is not perfect love. Perfect love would unseal the
deep fountains of mercy and make them flow.
But God asks to be entreated. He waits for the
cry of His troubled children. He tells them to
call upon Him in the day of trouble, and He will
give an answer. Yes, those who have never
blessed Him in the day of joy are welcome when
they call in the day of rorrow. They are not
taunted or upbraided, but blessed and pitied.

In this day of trouble many are seeking God
who hardly gave Him a place in their thoughts
while the sun Aane on them. God is the solitary
r^ige to which the anguished heart can flee. To
be driven to God by fear is more ignoble than to
be drawn to Wm by love, but He makes no distinc-
tions. This, we say, is a time for prayer and
suppUcation and interoMsion, and the more this
spirit grows, the mant intense our petitions are;
the OKwe freqimoi; our assembfies, the happier is
the prospect that this trial will leave the nation
spiritually cnmfafid.

4 PRAYSa m WAR TIliE

TeC we hear from maay quarten that there is
a unm €i perplexity and discouragement in many
of our Biirmblici for prayer. This is, we believe,
beoanw the petitkms ottered are not clear enough,
not deftnite enough, not passionate enough. We
may reeaB at this point a story told by holy
SAinntL MAxm, A minister had been for some
time engaged in prayer, and had been telling God
idiat He was and what He was not, what He had
done and what He had not done, till a poor woman
rose in the meeting and said, 'Ask Him some-
thing; ask mm something.' It is the word of
our Kessed Loxd, 'Adc, and ye shall receive.'
We need to hear tiie voice of the Mediator saying
to us, *AdE Him something.' We need to hear
the voioe at the Holt Ghost saying, ' Ask Him
something.' We need to hear the voice of our
Fatbu saying,- * Ask Me all your hearts' desire,
not for yomrs^lves oidy, but lior others, and for
all'

We diall state Imefly some of the main oon-
sideratioiis on the nature of prayer, and their
ai^lieatkB to a time like this.

In the first place, pmyer must be the prayer of
faith. We love, ourselves, those who come to us

PRAYER IN TIMB Of WAR

with a great expectation and a tender confidence,
and so does God. But God doeft not reject the
faith that is dim, doudy, questioniiig, fearing.
The mere fact that we pray to Goo means that we
have faith, though it be only like a mustard seed.
Nor is there any limit to the aniwer givoi to
prayer for pardon and for poiNrer against evil.
The prayers we offer up are never free from sin,
but so long as they are not consciously treacberous
or mean or selfish they will be regarded.

What this generation needs above everything
is to consider prayer as the bringing of the power
of the human wil^ to wrestle with the Divine will.
A corrupt mysticism teaches that all true ptvytf |
begins with a renimciation of all personal will. /
that prayer is a sigh of resignation. PrevaiUng
prayer, according to this evil teaching, means a
prayer that simply and speedily subsides into
GoD*s will and is quiet. But all Scripture and all
Christian experience are dead against this view.
The will is the central part of our personality,
and, as Bushnell says, * God means it to be
ennobled and not crushed.' Of course, in the
end God's will decides. The mere thought of
forcing our will upon God is blasphemous. But,
all the same, prevailing prayer means a suppliea-
ti<m that has broufht a reason i<« God's heaiimg

« PRAYER IN WAR TIME

and for giving the thing requested, as otherwise
He would not have willed to do. We need not be
troubled at the mystery of Goo's purposes. To
quote again from Bushnell : 'God's purposes
are set by His reasons, as clocks by the sun. He
has our prayers as in everlasting counsel befcm
the prayers are made.'

We see then — and it is a message for the hour
and for all hours— that prayer succeeds by the
intensity of will force put into it. There are those
who deny the right of the will to exertion, who
condemn it from the outset. But God wants to
see our will, to see it in action, to make account
of it, and to give it a place in His mind. The Bible
from the beginning is full of importunate and
prevailing prayers— prayers which prevailed simply
because they were imp tunate. Such was the
prayer of AsuAHiiM when he pleaded for Sodom.
Such was the prayer of Jacob when he wrestled
with the angel. Such was the prayer of Moses
when he pleaded to be blotted from God's book
if his people were to be blotted. Our Lord f^-
quently commends importunate and unfainting
prayer : ' Men ought always to pray and not to
faint.' We are to hold on with inflexible tenacity
till we know that God says to us, as He sometimes
does, ' Speak no more to Me of this matter.' It

PRATER IN T

OF WAR

is, we fully believe, the want of will in our prayers
that 80 often makes them end in failure. There
are t lany prayers that God cannot answer simply
because they ftil in heroic trust.

So far we have written of importunate and
definite petitions. What are we to say about the
prayer of yearning ? Not much. It is impossible,
however, to doubt that this form of supplication
has power with God, and often prevails. There
are hearts so cruelly crushed that they are unable
to direct themselves to God and put into articulate
forms the longings that consume them. Their
sighs, their griefs, their sorrows, their aspirations
are nevertheless known to God, Who loves them.
These sufferers seem to have no force of will to
put into their intercourse with God. But the very
depth of their feeling, and the very fact that they
have done nothing to increase it, but that it has
stirred and grown and agonised, witness a most
moving sincerity which is not lost, not ignored,
not forgotten, not left without an answer. It is
written that the Holy Ghost Himself passes out
of the sphere of words when He pleads with
groanings that camiot be uttered.

PRAYER IN WAR TDfE

We are to pray in the name of Chust. It is
muefa that in this way we are less trammelled with
the miserable consciousness of our own evil, with
the sense of shortcomings and guilt. Chbist is
the answer to this self-condemnation, and He
•Mwered it once for all on His Cross. A daring
Christian thinker has said frankly that 'In My
name ' means simply * In My Cross.* ' Hitherto
ye have asked nothing in My name. Ask, and ye
•hall leceive, that your joy may be full.' And
indeed it is because we have a High Priest in the
holiest place Who ome offered Himself without
VOt to God that we may come boldly to a throne
of grace. The St nts of old had prevision of the
'nreat Atonement. They were trying to say ' In
'BUSIES name ' before the time : * Have mercy
upon me, O God, according to Thy lovingkindness ;
aecording to the multitude of Thy tender mercy
blot out my transgressions.' But an infinite
and blessed change came over all thmgs when
the Son <tf God passed from the invisible worid
into the world of time and history. Now we are
admitted beyond the scene of the finite into
penonal communion with the Eternal Son, through
Whom aU thmgs are made. We stand by His side.

PRAYER IN TIME OF WAR

and cur iMMt is with Hit iiMit wimi we aak in
His name and leMire tiU our Joy it taSL

Alto when w« pmy in the ntme of Ctaan He
makes us in a rery real and deep sense partners
with Himtelf and Hit Work of intercesrion. We
are prone to think Tery lightly of inttnetttion.
We go into m meeting and offer up certain pmyen>
and then pass out into the worid to foifet our
pleadings and those for whom we have been
pleading. But true intercettioo lies on the tool
day and night. Intercession wadet deep at knre.
When we truly intercede we put the pattioii of
our wills into the prayer, and the names become
realities, and we pass as far as we may into the
needs and sorqws and struggles of those whose
cause we have espoused. The Man the Cross,
the Intercessor on the right hand of tL:^ Majesty
on high, was called to His work by God, and so
are those who share in His intercessory woriu
They also are called. ' I sought for a man among
them that shouh ake up the hedge and stand in
the gap before M .'

We proceed briefly to apply these principles to
our present circumstances.
In the first place, it is our business to piay for

10 PRAYER IN WAR TIME

victory in the battlefield. Many are leaving our
churches and chapels sore at heart because there
has been no direct appeal to the Throne of Grace
for victory to o".r arms. We are commanded, or
rather invited, in everything to make our requests
made known unto God. There is no desire more
strong or more righteous among us at the present
hour than the desire for victory. And are we not
to express that desire and to plead it with all
the forces of our will ? We believe that we are
fighting for freedom, for righteousness, for the
defeat of the enemies of the human race. And
are we not to pray for these things ? Each day
comes with a fresh proof that we are at war with
Anti-Christ. The destruction of the Rheims
Cathedral is a spot on Germany which can never
be washed out whilst memory holds her seat.
All the centuries to come cannot undo this deed.
To commit this sacrilege and defend it is to re-
nounce humanity and to defy God. Most of the
forms of prayer that have been published at this
time are so limp, so nerveless, so faithless, so
cowardly that the mere reading of them depresses.
We want no forms of prayer for our Free Churches.
What we do want is the proof that those who
lead our ser\'ices are prepared to put before
God with solemn pleading the supreme, the

♦

PRAYER IN TIME OF WAR 11

agcmising desife that victory should eome, and
come soon. We say deliberately tiiat it would
be fax better not to attempt prayer at all than to
show such a practical and measureless disbelief in
prayer as is involved in the refusal to ask God's
blessing in a victory.

We must also pray for our soldiers and our
sailors, and pray i» far as it is possible for each
by name. The Churches have an opportunity
such as very rarely cmnes to them. There is a
strange breaking down of the barriers of custcmi
and cmivention. Tlie nation is drawn together,
and is at unity with itself. Let every church and
chapel that has sent fortii men to fight for us
hang a roll of their names within its walls, and
plead for them at every meeting. Let us pray
that if it be possible they may be spaml to ecme
back, though many must die, and let us pmy that
every death on the battlefield may be a death in
grace. But it is lawful and it is right to pray that
their lives may be spared. Indeed, this is ahnost
the only prayer which many a one can make.
There has been little sunshine in the house since
the dearest went away, and there is a burden
which weighs like lead upcm the lonely heart.
Let this lonely heart be ccnofMted and cfae»ed
by the thought that otiiers are praying for ^ote

12 PRAYER IN WAR TIME

of whom they keep thinking aU the day and night.
The intercession we have asked for wiU seek out
every home from which one has gone and do its
utmost lo comfort, to strengthen, to reKeve.
We are confident that oar people wiU see to it
that those left in poverty by the absence of the
breadwinner shall not suffer from want. But
Ihere is a trouble much harder to bear than that,
and in that trouble also the sufferers must be
helped. And they will mainly be helped by
mtercession. The great matters of hfe and death
and eter,' -ty are before the national mind as they
never were before. Woe unto us if we are deaf
or disobedient to the calls that are ringing in our
ears. Let those who are hazarding their Kves
for our safety and peace have the comfort of
knowing thdt their dear ones are guarded and
beloved, and that they themselves aie never
lorgotten where the people of God assemble.

Next we must pray for our eneniies also, remem-
bering that the first cry of the Immaculate Lamb
from the Altar was, ' Faf her, forgive them, for
they know not what they de. '

A CALL FROM THE BATTLEFIELD

Addrtt deiivartd at tke City Temple Jntereet$9rg Snvke

on October 23, 1914

' Pray for us : for we trust we have a good conscience, in all
thing* willioir to live honestly. Bat I heeeeeh you the rather
to do this, that I may be vettored to yon tbe ■eon«r.'--If'.4nucws

xiii. 18, 19.

I BRING you to-day a message from those who an
fighting for us on land and on sea. They tat
sajdng to us in the homeland, * Pray for us : for
we trast we have a good conscience, in all thmy
willing to live honestly. But I beseech you the
rather to do this, that I may be restored to yoB
the sooner.*

They have a right to our joayen, for they have
the ri|^t to daim a fp»od conscieiice and a williiig-
ness to Kve honestly in all things. They have
' a good consdenee,* for th^ have hasaided all
in the cause of ri^itecmsiiess aad peaee. We have
too much forgotten that in the latt resMt we are
entirely and wholly dependent on em neiiMen tmd
stakm e q > eci ally on ^ote who have tiie almost
unbearable leqfwnnbility of leading them. We
have wisdom and eoonsd, we have n^t tmd

1« PRAYER IN WAR TIME

money and great resources, and with these we can
back our brave men in the critical strug^e. But
without them we are helpless, and all that we
possess and all that we do will not bring us to
our goal. How precious, then, and how near our
hearts, must those be who are facing the actual
and awful realities of war !

They have a good conscience, for they are doing
all that men can do for the honour, the safety,
and peace of our Empire and our civilisation.
It is they who stand between our women and
children — ^between them and death, or worse than
death. They have removed themselves beyond
all challenge, for they have withheld nothing.
It is we men who remain at home and refirain
from actual intervention in the fight who are on
our defence. It is we who have to answer to our
conscience, fo our country, and to our God, that
we are out of the zone of fire, and are in the enjoy-
ment of our homes. There are, of course, very
many who have a good answer to the chaU*?nge.
They are debarred by age or physical > aoiesr^
from taking their place in the ranks. The day
may come, however, when even they may have
to do the little they can. The e are no doubt
very many who ought to have obeyed the summons,
who have the quaUficati(»i8, and who for varioi»

A CALL FROM THE BATTLEFIELD 17

reasons are holding back. We may hope that
the conflict goes on they may see the path more
plainly. It is as certain as it can be that multi-
tudes are not of good conscience in this matter.
But we who are not recfccmed amMig the fit must
do what we can for those who are. We cannot
make our absence good. We cannot sacrifice
what those in the fight are sacrificing. How
glorious is the record of men who have offered
themselves willingly in all ranks of Hfe I How
many who were rich in possessicms, in love, in
youth, in hope, with life opening sunnily before
them, have quietly given their lives, unboasting
and unfeaiing! How many have met death
without a murmur or a pang 1 How meekly and
how devoutly have their stricken ones taken up
life afresh, as those who were sure of a nMeting t
Have they not a right to ask for our prayers ?

They have been in all things 'willing to Uve
honestly.' We have many stories of our soldiers
and sailors, and they all testify to their gaiety,
their courage, their kindness. They have smiled
in the face of death. They have grown brighter
and better tempered and keener under the
harshest conditions. War is war, but they have
done what they could in mercy and in pity. N<^
one case of outrage or needless cruelty has been

18 PRAYER IN WAR TDIE

m§dt good agtinst any soldier of our British
troofM. We thiill with pride when we think of
them— of what they are, and of what they have
done, and what they are doing.

What ean we do for our soldiers and sailors ?
Mai^ things ; but not the least thing is to pray
fcHT them. What do we mean by prayer? Do
we mean by prayer a simple, hopeless out-breath-
ing, dying away in filse and fieeble resignation ?
The author of the Epistle to the Hdbfews took no
such view ot prayer. Ferfaaps his was the most
subtle and beautiful mind among all the inspired
writers of the New Testament. He unquestion-
aUy regarded loayer as a power. *I beseech
you the rathn to do this, that 1 may be icttored
to yon the soonef.' Our sol£ei« and sailon, in
their long days and nights, go on cheerily with
their woric, but who among them does not kng
to be baefc, erowned with vietoiy, and in the
anns of his own f Fkay for that. Fny as those
who bdieve that your ptmya may make a dilfer^
enoe. There is such a thing as the suppliant
ahaii^tiness oi pmytat, God does not mean
our lamyers to be m«e «ght of aoqmeseeiief.
He loves to be entreated, {beaded with, wresHed

A CALL FBOM THB BATTLBFIELD 10

with. He does not wish to break our wills, but
to make them. We are to put will into our
prayers. 'Ask and ye shall receive, seek nud
ye shall And, knock and it shall be opened unto
you.' What I mean is that we should pray with
all our might for a speedy victory. Is there one
of us who does not long for it ? Is it conceivable
there should be a single human being in this city
or in this land who would, if he could, prolong
this war by a single day? I cannot believe it.
Well, then, if we desire this we must pray for itt
If we are not ready to pray for it we have no
right to desire it. But we desire it, and we prav
for it, and we pray as those who believe that it is

ot the same thing to God and man whether we

^ay or no.

*That I may be restored to you the sooner.*
The day of the return of our victorious fighters —
oh, what a day that day will be I I never longed
so much to live for anything as to live to that
day. Oh, the rapture and the rest and the thank-
fulness and the gladness that will fill every heart
when again there is peace on earth — ^a righteous
peace! They will not all come back, and many
of us will have to go through our Gethsemane —
a fierce conflict, a submission, a strengthening
angel. But still, they wUl return, the vast

so PRAYER IN WAR TIME

"Mjofity of them, erowned, as we believe, with
glory.

Wdl, then, let us pny for it with the whde
intensity of our hearts. Oh, if we only beUered
that our prayers would bring them back sooner
--if London believed it, if the Churches believed
it>-instead of having hundreds present this day
we should have had thousands, and no place in
Lcmdon would be able to contain the pleaders.
But there are many of us who do really believe
it. Let us go on with our praying, and make
it, if we can, more earnest every day. There is
prayer all over the iroOd, There is prayer on
sea and knd. Every soldier in the trenches puts
up his prayer at night. A recent visitor to Russia
wrote iiome, * I have come htte to see a nation
on its knees.* Our country » not yet on its
knees. When it is we shall see the light bieak.

An American writer has said that what we
want to see most of all is good pray-ers. It
seems as if there were not many left to us.
Perhaps the throng and fever of our modem
dayo inciqpacitates men mad women for that
continual siege of heaven whkh is involved in
true jmyer. It is hard to eoaeaAoAe one's

A CALL FROM THE BATTLEFIELD 21

enetgy on prayer and to obey the oomnuuidincnt,

* Phiy without oeMing.' But it it not inpoHilile.
If we pray for our soldiert and taikm the kit
thing each ni^t, if we do lo at toon at we waken,
if fnm time to time during the day we lift up
our heartt in CHntr's name, then perfaapt, by
and by, even at the dayt are tatorated with
thought about the War, they will be taturated with
prayer about the War. When we have prayed
enough the War will end. But let at who believe
in prayer tee to it that it it not prolonged by our
neglect.

And to I give you again the metttge horn
thote who are fighting f<» ut on land and tea,

* Plray for us : for we trutt we have a good eon-
science, in all things willing to live honettly.
But I beseech you the rather to do thit, that I
may be restored to you the tooner.*

FIRST RIGHTEOUSNESS-THEN
PEACE

FIRST Ri GHTEOlJiNESS— THEN
PEACE

Addrett deHvered at the City Temple Intercestiory 'Service
on October 30, 1914

* First being hj interpretation King of righteousnMs, and
after that also King of Salem, which ia^ King of peace.' —

Hebrews vii. 2.

We hated war with a steadily growing hatred
and abhorrence. We hate it more than ever,
and look with longing for its end. A great and |
powerful movement for peace was at work in
the world, and has not been defeated though it has \
been stayed. But we never said that all wars
were to be condemned. We knew too well that
huge armaments were being piled up. We be-
came familiar with the language of menace and
hate. We had to say, ' I am for peace, but when I
speak they are for war.' At last the storm burst
upon us, and found us but partially prepared, while
the enemy had prepared by all means — ^fair and
foul. When the time came we calmly took our side.
Never in any previous war was the nation so
united and so steadfast. We had not renounced
our quest for peace» but we saw that some thing

26 PRAYER IN WAR TIME

came before that. That something was righteous-
ness. Our Lord Jesus Christ is first King of
Righteousness, and then King of Peace.

First, righteousness. Had it not been for that
we might have had a kind of peace. It would not
have lasted long unless we had become so craven
as to fear a fight in any cause. It would have
been a selfish, ignoble, and cowardly peace,
bought at the price of open and cynical treachery.
We might have renounced our plighted word,
our honour, our obligations. We might have
torn up the scrap of paper and left little Belgium
to her fate. But it could not be. It would have
been a peace which would have made us the
scorn of the whole world, and left us without a
friend. Such perfidy and such ignominy would
have been many times worse than war.

While the battles rage our hearts are often
anxious and heavy. They will be for months to
come. We shall have bitter news as well as
joyful news. Our endurance and our faith will
be tested to the uttermost. Consider how much
more wretched we should have been if we had been
out of this war, if we had been watching the ruin
of our Allies and remained passive. Better war, we

FIRST RIGHTEOUSNESS— THEN PEACE 27

say ttom our hearts, than the tame acquiescence
in the dum of the 6«man miUtamm to dmninate
the worid.

But Jesus is first Bong of Ri|^teousness. Is
this an antiquated phrase covering a dead thought f
Nay, verily it is the q>ring of life's hope and of
its highest joy. Righteousness is the keyword
of Christianity. It is the granite foundatii<»i of
our faith. The idea of ri^teousness is not a
simple rudiment of the spiritual schods. Who*
ever understands St. Paul's intense concepti<m
of righteoumess knows that it was tiie scQct
spring of the Apostle's spiritual power. To him
the Gospel was primarily a declaration d the
righteousnens of God. Even love took second
place to ri^teousness. This idea was given
ttom. above, it was not evolved ttom the inner
<xmsciousness, or fnm a survey of tiie w(»ld's
history. The whde course of revdation is the
gradual unveiling of the righteous God, which
reaches its end in tiie New Testament. Once we
know what r^^iteonsaess meant to the i^postks
we have not mudi mcffe to l«um.

I agree with the eminent preadier who said that
if we as a natlGii had nevw known Ctam we
should have been at peace. It is CHuar Who has
flung His shidd over the weak thmgs of the

28 PRAYER IN WAR TIME

world. The love of liberty, the abhorrence of
tyranny, the care for the rights of other nations,
the sacred obligations of honour, would have had
no power to move us to battle had it not been for
the spirit of Christ within us. The devil would
ht ve advised us to be neutral. He would have
whispered to us that nothing was to be put in
comparison with our own comfort and prosperity
and security. He would have advised us to be
content with our little island, and to obey the
bests of our masters, and to cast to the wind the
old superstitions about justice and mercy and
courage and faith. No, it is because we are
rhristians that we have gone to war. It is
Christ Himself who has bidden us draw the
sword for the cause of righteousness.

First righteousness, and then peace— by which
I mean a righteous peace. There is no other
peace worth striving for, no other peace in which
men can be happy. Is it possible for us to hope
that as a result of this frightful war such a peace
may come to us? There are many who are
comforting themselves during this agony by the
thought that this war wiU mean the end of wars.
There arc others, less sanguine, who say that

FIRST RIGHTEOUSNESS— THEN PEACE 29

as long as sin remains war will remain. To get
rid of war we must first get rid of the evil that is
in men's hearts. I cannot help thinking that we
may look forward hopefully to the end of war
if a righteous peace is reached. I decline to
accept war as the permanent condition of human
society. Slavery has been all but banished from
the world, and may not war be banished ? When
we come to the end of the weary strife we shall
see many things in a new light. We shall see,
as we do not see even now, the horror, the pity,
the futility, the ruin and the waste, which follow
in the track of war. I would fain hope that,
when the course of this world war is cahnly
surveyed, the appeal to the arbitrament of war
will cease. We cannot look forward very far,
but surely we may expect that at the end the
victors will see to it that, as far as it is possible,
war and the menace of war shall be removed from
the terrors of human life. It is for this that we
are fighting, and save this we can look for little as
the result of our costly sacrifice.

But if the fight goes against us there is no
such hope. Imagine— if you can imagine— a
triumphant Germany. Imagine— if you can
imagine— Britain, France, Russia, India, Canada,
Australia, Japan, all the subdued and obedient

•0 PRAYER IN WAR TIME

vassds <rf the Gennan conqueror. Would this
make an end of war? Does any one beUcve
that such a triumi^ would be more than the
triunq>h <rf an hour? Only by the sheer whole-
sale murder of all free men could such a settle-
ment be made perman^it. Such an end would
be no end. So long as any Briton could lift his
arm there would be conspirades first and battles
next, and soon the flames would be burning over
the whole earth. There is no peace in that,
neither is there a true peace if we merely beat
Germany on the land and on the sea. It has been
well said that we should be conquerors m that
case, but we shall be more than conqueror^ if we
can ex<»cise the demon of militarism from the
German mind and soul, for Germany in her
humiliation will learn to take her true place among
the fellowship of the nati<ms. Our hope, however,
for the true peace that is buih upaa righteousness
is in the triumph <rf the Kwo of Salem, who was
first <tf all King of Ri|^teousness~-Who is made
of God to all His people wisdom and righteousness
and sanctification and redemption. When the
Uj^tnings flash from one end of heaven to the
other, and He returns to the worid again, He
will take to Hunsdf His great power and rdgn,
and tiien will >ome a peace never to be bnto

FIRST RIGHTEOUSNESS— THEN PEACE 81

more. There is much in the New Testament to
suggest that He will come through the ragings
and convulsions and earthquakes of the world.
As Charles Wesley wrote, in those lines which
Charlotte Bronte has quoted :—

* Oh I who can explain

This struggle for life.
This travail and pain,

This tremblinir and strife ?
Plague, earthquake and famine.

And tumult of war.
The wonderful coming

Of Jesiu declare.'

He will come again to this old, weary, blood-
drenched earth, and then will be the reign of
peace. Then will all the wild tumult be laid to
rest, and instead of the thorn shall come up the
fir tree, and instead of the brier shall come up
the myrtle tree, and it shall be to the Lord for a
name, for an everlasting sign that shall not be
cut off.

• ABIDE WITH US : FOR IT
TOV^ARD EVENING '

'ABIDE WITH US: FOR IT IS
TOWARD EVENING '

Pubtkktd Map 4, 1816

The risen Lord, after Hit pieeious and victotiotts
Passion, after He had broken tlie ban of death,
went with two disciples from Jerusalem to
Emmaus. * And they drew nigh unto the TiOage
whither they went : and He made as though He
would have gone fiurther. But they oonrtniaed
Him, saying. Abide with us: for it Is towaid
evening, and the day is fiir spott. And He went
in to tarry with them/

If we consider the passage eareftiUy we shaO
see that the prayer of the disdplet, *Abi«te with
us, for it is toward evening,' is generally mis.
i ^terpreted. This misinterpretation pervades one
cherished end beautiful hymn femiHa r to the
Christian Church. The hymn takes their request
as meaning that they, for their sakes, as the day
was darkling, pleaded fat the ecanpany of Hhn
Who had mastered the torocs of the ni^ But
when we look at the verses we see that it was of
His plight and not <^ their (rwn that tiiey were
thinkmg. He was, so fiur as they kmrw, without

M PRAYER IN WAR TIME

shelter, and their hearts, still burning with the
words He had spoken to them by the way, went
out to Him in a rush of sympathy and com-
passion. They asked Him to abide under their
humble roof and to partake with them of their
simple fare, because He had demeaned Himself
as He had done, because of a kind and human
feeling.

Nevertheless, there is truth in the common
understanding of the petition, for whenever Chbist
becomes the guest He becomes the host. Be sure
that thty found it so. Thus we may linger a
little on the prayer that has gone up through all
the generations from many a believer who knows
the Christ more truly than they did. They did
not know fully that this Man was a refuge from
the wind, a cover from the tempest. They did
not know that the wind and the storm had driven
pitilessly upon Him. They were walking at best
in twilight, waiting, wondering, wisTul, praying
even when it seemed that they were utterly un-
heard. New glories were to break upon them.
They were to discover that their guest was to be
their host indeed, that He would in the end take
them to abide wi* ■ Him in the true courts of the
House of God.

ABIDE WITH US 97
I

* Abide wHb for it it towMi evwinf/ It
is espediUly a pmyer for ^ow wlw «• old and
for those who are giowiog old. Tiw eveniiiff of
life is often a tiaie of gbon and ddU aad kmc
liness. It is the very grqr November montt of
the year. The Umg rtn^ of life has bioi^
low the suppUant'i strength. Broken by weari-
ness, weakened by ittnfts, weigfatcd with soirow,
and crushed with eaie, ^ ht ar 'oi^ for the
Presence that will not pass ; tor tite iStici^til^at
is made perfect when the vlfMV of nitmu fidis ;
for the Love that npato ap for the bmh^ lores
that are missing — ^for a while.

Never, perhaps, in the history of the w<^ was
this prayer faltered o^ laore earnestly. A fa^
sensitiveness which oyr so-called eiyihsatioii has
developed makes the horrors of war even more
terrible than they used to be. When it is toiraid
evening with us we have little h<^ of fiving tffl
a brighter day dawns. Afl tmible is the shadow
of death. It remmds us (tf it. It is like it. And
it helps to bring us toward it. Such seemfty as
had been painfully built up against eotam iBi
vanishes away. The provision made a few
quiet yean at the end is beii« porasd a

«8 PRAYER IN WAR TIME

bottomless gulf. So there are many in the even-
ing of their lives who are perplexed on every side.
They have to live through fightings without and
fears within, and they have to watch day by day
the gradual dimming and quenching of hopes they
hardly wish to survive. They cannot control the
wild forces that have broken loose in the world,
and they do not understand how they can be
controlled. The world is too much for them.
They are assailed by evil tidings, and every day
brings its own share. What then! Are the
people of God forsaken ? Nay, verily, for Chmst
abides with them, and it will be enough for us if
we have the sense of His fellowship. He is able,
if He cannot as yet dry all our tears, to keep
us fighting the good fight of faith and laying hold
of eternal life. And this is all we ask.

But, of course, the first meaning of the prayer
was different. The disciples were asking Him to
abide with them because it was evening to Him.
It was evening to them, but it did not matter, for
they were at home. He was in worse case, for
He was a stranger, and they never dreamed of
the resources that were in His power.

So tlie lesson for us is that we must make room

ABIPS WITH US 89

for Christ. He spent His life in this worid
seeking room and being denied it. When He
deigned and consented to be bom theie was no
room finUIim in the inn. Wbea He was wearily
seeking us He was not always sure of a roof to
cover Him, for He said, * Foxes have holes, and
the birds of the air have nests, but the Son of
Man hath not where to lay His head.' He came
unto His own and His own received Him not
It was nevor His manner to force His oompaay
<m any. He made as though He would .have
gone farther, and if the disdi^es had not asked
Him to stay He would have shdteted Smsdf
— ^who can tell where ? In the bosom at GiXD ?
He still says, ' Bdiold, I stand at the door and
knock.' There is a lesson for us, most {Hegnaiit
and most vital, in this tremendous crisis It is
that we who trust Him, we who woidi^ liim^ ,
should see that He hat room in our eounsde and
in our plans, that we should {dead for Hn fdkm*
slttp, that we should submit ourselves to ffis
counsds, that we should take all our cares and
an our perplexities and ^lead them hOon the
Lou>. It is for us, in the midit of a foitldsti
and permse generatioD, to testify tiwt tiie tmhs
we have preached are not dremns, that we know
Vihom we have beUeved and what we have taken

40 PRAYER IN WAR TIME

in hand, and that we are confident that He Who
has begun a good work in us wiU carry it on to the
day of the Lord Jesus.

Wc are very far from pretending to read the
mysteries of Providence, or the precise meaning
of the worid-situation. But two things are
certain.

1. Is it not true that before the war we were
losing Chbist out of our national hfe ? A steady
drift was carrying us -way from our true goal.
We were forgetting God, and what that means we
are beginning to understand. Christian had his
fight with Apollyon in a narrow passage in a
place just beyond Forgetful Green. ' And indeed,'
says he, * that is the most dangerous place in all
these parts.' CSiristian ministers have been find-
ing thdr woric more and more difficult every
year. The attendance at places of worship, and
even the numbers of Sunday school children,
were showing over all a steady decline. The
conten^t for the Lokd's Day seemed to spread.
Professing Christians in eminent positions were
to be seen on Sundays on the golf course. We
do not seek to apportion blame, and we do not
foifet tdt a moment the staunchness and fidelity
of many Christians. But still, it remains true
that ideals were waning. A quiet atheism was

ABIDE WITH US

the temper of the times in many drdes. There
were portents of monstrous growth. The very
foundation truths of moraUty were ridiculed by a
cynicism as putrid, prvrfSnne, and heartless as any
that has ever appeared in the wrald. Certain
who have the ear of the public seemed to delight
in making sport of the sweetest certainties.
There was a devouring passion for luxury and
amusement. Social reformers were ahnost hope-
less as they witnessed the prenxscupation of the
young with games. They were not ^ laying games,
but watching others play them. On the part of
the privileged there was a passionate resistance
to any lunitation. The vast teeming populations
were ahnost hopelessly divided, and were able in
consequence to make little headway. But they
were seething with discontent, and it locdced
sometimes as if our society would be torn in
pieces by civil strife. A very acute ob8«v» at
our time says that the great characteristic of the
last ten or twenty years was restlessness. We
did not find and we did not seek true rest. All
this means that Chbist was knockuig at the door
in vain, as of old.

2. Can we say that a generation which was
going amain to hell has been set round again
towards heaven? Are thore any sjgna tiuit we

42 PRAYER IN WAR TIME

are reaUy caUing Christ back to our hearts
again?

We vehemently wish that we could say so.
But there are not many reassuring signs, though
there are some. We beUeve that there is a great
intensity of private prayer. We beUeve that
in many quiet places disciples gather together
and pomr out their hearts before God. But in
many churches the attendance at intercession
meetings is most disappointing. We would not
bring a railing accusation against ministers, for
we bdieve the great majority of them are doing
theur best. But there is not that urgency and
intensity of prayer that we need to see before we
can be very hopeful. Nor is there the spirit of
humiBation which befits us in our present state.
Say what we will, the sins of the nation have been
great, and it may well be, as Sir David Beatty
lias said, that we shall not begin to gain victory
till we are brou|^t to our knees in suppUcation.
If it were possible to see a great turning of the
heart of the nation towards God, we might be
reconcUed to much and look with the greatest
b^inness to a better world in the future. It is
with God that we have to do. We may multiply
our munitions and our sddiers. We may caU in
new counHkm and leadens, and yet nothing will

ABIDE WITH US

avail us if we leave Chbut out. He is the Captain
<^ our sahraftioii. It is under Wm that we must
attain victory. He must be at the head of our
ranks to lead us. Are we thus led forward?
Are we thus led on ?

There have certainly been some things to make
us very thankful. Dr. Jacks says in a thougfatf^
essay that the war has brought to Eni^d a peace
of mind such as she has not possessed for genom-
tions. He thinks that the mind of the natiim is ^
much cafaner than it was before the war. Be-
reavement» the cruel anxieties, the immense
miseries, the grave uncertainties of the ftitaie, 1
strike hard. But those are calmest vdio are
making the greatest exertkm and fmdng the
greats sacri&ot for the common caittc. Th^
say that there is something to hve for now. The
soldiers and sail<nrs are blithe and brave. The
nation as a whole is taking very quietly the
prodigal expenditure oi money, and the destruction
of the huge accumulations of whidi it boasted
itself. The money could not be betttt qient
than in preserving the cause of liberty and of
righteousness.

Still, we need something more. We need the
constant reference of all our ways and words and

*4 PRAYER IN WAR TIME

works to God as revealed in Christ. Dr. jack.-
points out, very rightly, that the destruction of
mifitarism will not save us. If militarism were
cast out then there would be a huge accession to
industrialism, and a fiercer conflict than ever for
the money produced by this industriahsm. The
wealthiest country in the world and the least
menaced by foreign war, where all classes have
the largest share of this world's goods, is America.
And is America at peace ? No, we want some-
thmg more. We cannot live without Christ. If
Christianity were to die out of the world, every
evil that affrights us would start up in strength
enormously increased. There is no hope for us
except in humiliation and prayer and faith.
Come, let us return to the Lord I

HUMILIATION A PART OF PRATER

HUmUATION A PART OF PRAYER

PuhlUhtd Man 18> 1816

We have read strange objections to the a{q»oiat-
ment of a Day of HumiUstion and Fteyer. It
has been urged that, while pmy«r is an undoubted
privilege and duty, we have no need to ImmiHate
oundves. We have, it is said, been Ibieed into
this war ; it is a righteous war ; we have Ibi^lit
it bravely ; it is for the aggressors to humi&ifte
themsdves, and not for us.

Now, while we have believed, and do believe
•s intensely as any, that this coofliet was fbieed
upon us, and that we could not in honour evade
it, and must continue it with our whde strength
till the goal is attained, we also believe that we
have much for which to be proud and thankftil.
We believe also that thoe is much for wfaieh
our portion is shame and c(»ift]sion <rf &oe. But
the central fact is that there can be no prayer
without humiliation. Humility, it has been naid,
is the best friend of prayer. We may go ftirthtt,
and say that without humility and the lowly
expression <tf humility there is no i»ayer. Hmk
is no true prayer that does not indude and rest

«r

48 PRAYER IN WAR TIME

^ • pnytt for pardon, and that prayer must
be <«ered to hie ktett hour on earth by the hoUest
believer in the world.

Let tie consider what prayer is. True prayer
reahsee the truth about man and God. It is not
tied to fonn. although forms may be very helpful.
It is not tied to places, though most believers find
that one place helps them to pour out their
hearts. It is not even a matter of words. Per-
haps the deepest of all supplications are wordless.
It is above aU things a matter of manifest sincerity
and earnestness. It is not tied to any particular
mood of the spirit. We are happy if we can go
forward to our prayers in the name of Christ
with a brave and beUeving heart. But it often
happens that thik is the very heart we need to
pray for, when our courage has sunk and our
eyes are dim and our voices are broken. We can
without words teU our case to the Lord Who
hears us. When all the map of our poor history
IS spread before the Eyes that pity us it wiU include
our sins, our failures, our sorrows, our hopes, our
joys, our fears, and our bitter woes. If this be
true, then certainly the avowal of sins, past and
present, wiU mdude a great part of the supplica-

HUMILUHON A PAST OF HUTM M

«™ aay be bnt OM prayer to foUow it. and
^jrZ:^ »*. 'e<»> b. merciful to ...e, a
lUne «. prayer, for high day, and
«l fcr „^ e»Utation, of the
^reryday prayer i. the prayer „,

not p»y. bat .imply demand, his due. I„
efferthe to God, • Pay me that Thou owest.'

'* "hat the

«»w«wdlbe. We do «* pray at all until we

i»»r i. contrite. There

k tn« p^ *^ P~y« whieh i.

"SH »ot deepi*. Wfce« the heart break, with
^UnceH <^ ^ ^ ^ , J'^^

rf.n^'tJ^'" *«" that the whole he«i i,

but a .t^ betwea. ». «rf derth and nothing left
for u. but to ple«l the Phdoa, «<^, .h"^
l»Teeffect».Bypl.«i«l P«r »one but he

"»-«»«^ tb. «*i«««t charity of cfo '
™« fa DO tme «rf p,eviUB„g p^^^^ ^

M nUY» Of WAR TIME

not recojpfnise that to sin ngsinst iSoD if tlie tfite
and damning treason. We ^ we hmvm

sinned, all of us, foully, against our neighbours,
and God forbid that we should make lifht of sucii
transgression. B -t lo sin against our neighbours
is sin against fellow-subjects of the King, and il
is sin against flu- Kn ^ that is oi he very esamm
of sin. How, tiifMi, <ulk of ^lisjoining humitiatioii
and prayer ? '.Ve repeat that humiliation s the
essence and the groundw<4fk of aU pfayer in the
name oi the Redeemer.

Since, then, confession of sins is part of the
very life of prayer, it f>ecome- us earnestly to
strive after true devotion and reality in our
penitence. It njay well be feared tl, t we often
offer the petition, ' Forgiv< us our trespasses,'
without any adequate or sincere realisation o
what transgression means an.i of what pank«^
means. In view of days of humiliation it > well
that we should be frank with ourselves. Con-
fession is nothing unless it is sinr re, deliberate,
and offered up with the full consent of tlie hmt
and mind. We see dangers in this r .spect.

In the first place, there is a te rible Hanger of
our confessing with great uiicJiiom wimi we aie

Christians in opposite

IT^llfLl^' ^"'y uncharitably.

At • tfaiie tte ttes they are prone to say that their

^wfesed, l» cei sins of which they
tli^siehres are fi«^ W#. will « * • .

but Oil can supply the. for

« r a ,re r schievous phrase

X « c« be no such thing as
our OM-n sins that
Z^tTJl' ■"•»*'^'<"*- Part of the sin.

of temptations whie) ,ve
. ^ fc» » in Ibe Imd. No doubt t ,

^ ku wqaieMaiee is part of our ,
w, » ■ » fc, B. to confess it and deplore it
ZTT'^^ Go.. Oh. how excel-

r * Ptople I How reluctant we are
^J^tt on h^i now keenly we ean

ontK. ™« ««i»irH»ortU., and how slow we are

f« let oar own ■imkM'-ij ,„j

Thebn.I»— iK^^T^ "nd gnevous errors!

of " """niliation

We«,o«e. Tfce myrterioo. «*d.rity of humia

S2 PRAYER IN WAR TDfK

life makes us in a sense responsible for the sins of
the body. Let us take our failure to bear this
responsibility as part of our own iniquity, and let
us confess it and humble ourselves before God
because of ii. But we are not called upon to
repent, nor is it possible for us to repent, sins in
which we have no sliare.

Further, it is necessary to say with great frank-
ness that our confession will be utterly insmcere,
and therefore profitless, if we tell falsehoods
Against ourselves. There is a kind of abject
iindiscriminating humility which has no truth
behind it, and which passes easily into the grossest
and most loathsome hypocrisy. More than one
of our great secular writers has held up this
humility to a deserved scorn. Again, we say, let
us be real m our. confessions and confess nothing
tot whieh we are not responsible, and of which
we have judged sincerely. We must be like the
Psataust, who humbled himself before God, but
would not plead guilty to the false charges of
mMi. * Mine enemies speak evil of me,' he says,
Iwt he says also that he has not done that which
they ehaige against him. So far as their charges
Me eommied he is innocent and pure. We do
right to defend ourselves, if need be, against
*l«ideri. We have enough to answer few, God

HU ULIATION A PART OF PBAYBR M
knows, witiKNit aiUUng to the list of our falls.
In our picaait dwomstaiices. fw example, we are
not free to admit that we dciwd war, or that we
mtentKmaUy provolod war, or that we cherished
enmity to o«r foes. We did none of these things.
Thereare enemies who bring such ehai^es against
»«. but they aie fiUse diarges. We repudiate
them, while at the «mie time we humble ourselves
m pemtenee over the ehaiges whidi our own
hearts make against us.

We piopose to return to this subject, for we
Me very deeply convinced that if we aie to eme»e
victorious from our oideal. if we aie to see an
end of this homWe anardiy, we must fiir more
•«i«««ly as a nation and as mdividuals give our^
sdves to lawyer. ft»ym win gwiA battles. He
who prays weU, flghts well It if the im^essive
and reiterated teaching of Sct^rtuie that askinir
IS the law of the Kingdom. Wrthout askingwe
can accomplish nothing. The rule is not lehaed
even for the Heir of all things. To the Son He
saith 'Ask of Me, and I wiB give Tliee the
heathen for Thine inheritMiee and ^ uttetmost
part of the earth for Thy posssssfen.* We, too.
must ask, and we mmt go on asking, ft »

«* PRAYER IN WAR TIME

perseverance that is crowned. There arc so many
things to pray for, so many things to ask for our-
selves and others. The Son accepted the law
and asked, and we must arm ourselves with the
same mind if we are to be victorious. We ask
for victory, and we do not ask with bated breath.
Anything that concerns the kingdom of Chbist
and the glory of God we may pray for, and we may
be sure that in God's good time it will come.
After each petition in the Lord's Prayer we do
not need to say, * Not my will, but Thine be
done.' We ask for victory, the victory for
justice, the victory for freedom, the victory for
humanity. That Avill come, for God is behind the
fighters in that cause. But whether He will
accomplish this victory by means of us who are
fighting is another thing. If we do not ask, if we
are careless and prayerless, it may please Him to
cast us off for our unworthiness and to win His
victory through others. We must, as the awful
drama unfolds itseh", betake ourselves more and
mow to prayer. If we do we shall see the morning
light of salvation. Christ will break forth upon
us aU at once in His holiness and love. But
before that can be we must take Him into our life
and every incident of our Ufe. As one has said,
* Before every action we must breathe a prayer.

HtJMILUTION A PART OF PRAYER 55

and during every action we must farenthe a prayer,
and after every aetion we must breathe a prayer/
But how far we are from this I How haid may
be the discipline through which the loving Father
must lead us ere the end is reached. The very
beginning of our hc^ is in humiliation before
God. Thus shall we come to know ourwdves.
But how many bands must be snapped ere we are
free indeed I

PRAY WITHOUT CEASING

Publithti JwM 16, 1916

A WELL-KNOWN s<^o]ar, writing of the great
decrease in congregatioiis at interceBsion services,
says: *That rush has long ago ceased, and of
those who persevere how many are reaUy depre-
cating on behalf <rf some loved ones the vengeance
of a God of wrath I How many still pray to a
God of Lore, but do so in doubt rather than in
trust I • A deigyman replies that his experience
shows him that it is those whose prayers wei«
httle more than an dfort to avert ill4udc yrho
have fallm off. *Amoog those who have le-
nMined, be they many w few, the most superficial
observer can har^y hdp noticing a great deepen-
ing of real s|»ritnaltty and power.*

We know how easy it is to take daric views <rf
this subject. We remind ouisdves that there are
apparently but few who believe in pnyer and
practise it. When there is talk of a day of
humiliaticm and prayer are many Chrntians
who say that th«e will be no general prayer.
They teU ut that there are vety mmy wlio thhdi
that prayer is of no use. fhoe aie ti»se who

« PBAYER IN WAR TDIB

belieire that prayer has no effect on any one but
the offerer. A defiant or a careless silence, they
••y. will ^ nmoas of lips. Also, they tell
m thi^ not a tenth of those who repeat prayers
wiU offer them in faith, and that there will be
v«y Uttle of that sincere and fmnk confession
which 18 an essential part of prayer.

a>wew this may be. the duty of believers
w«f«njdear. To them it is written, ' Ye shall
Mk. Whatever oUier people do or fail to do.
ye shdl asfcj If others fail ye shaU continue.
shaB adt.* If others will neither ask nor
•eek nor knock, ye shall do so. The one hope for
a c^tiy lies in the true believers who dwell
»««B. aiid. be they many or few, these believers

save their fellows.
Th^ mtoeessofs left to us wiU prevail. They
''^ not be eonfiued by sophisms about the laws
nature, and miredes. and the divine decrees.
^ win give heed to the inward and outward
;j«eei that smnmon them to the throne of grace
The fktth that has overhung and surrounded their

wnls a. a dweffing and a refuge will not be pulled
~P««». For our own part, we believe that
th«e IS more prayer in the land and on the field
than em there was in the history of the world.
It « sotdy needed, and we should hasten the ad

FRAY WITHOUT OBASDiG ei

of tUt weny and awftd itrifb if we reinforced it.
We need am and wonien who will pray, and we
•reflBdiiigtiMni.

Now tiiat we are in this pass we need the masters
in the kffe God, and we need also the frailest,
the hnmUert, the most ignorant. An American
wiitw haa said that the lupieoie necessity of the
Ouneh and the worid is a eompany of great
Fkay-en. It h true. But we want, in addition
to the great Phiy-ers, those who have just begun,
^ staamer at their flrat attea^ who can

iMidly, if M aS. find woids in whieh to express the
yeaniqg that fib their loiils. To the ranks of
Afagr-cn thcfe have been added many who never
Vnytd beioie, and who aie now hi the face of
daOfov of death, of befeavemcnt. Ifo matter
liow broken their snppheatioB has been, it has
been noted and annaonoed on high—* Behold,
hepimyeth.' WeB may we study the ooBmumd-
■M«t, *P*ay w^MNrt oeaiii^' «t this time when
everything often seems to be sinking frt>m under
us, and our sweetest cap« are full erf bittemess.

Thoe are, first, the great and prolonged wiest-
IbV God in de s perate nlTniiiianmn, We
4enot beheve that many Christians pass thnaigh

«* PBAYEH m WAR TIME

Ufe trithout one experience at least parallel with

Gwrt Coumel. vVe might reverently think aho
«fe«h«»n«» and our Lohb's great Agony there.
»* the» .re shadows in Gethsemane whieh
^never p.« away from mortal eyes. We shall
taow, as Che«t did, what it is to be afflieted

T* « «™ of Uke passions with our-

Jit"!" ""^ 'here wresUed

• with hm until the break of the day. Thi,

'1 °" admonition, upon whom the end,
worid Me eome. In sueh wrestUngs the
W mujtbe alone, and the world must be in
Te« me. 1 pray Thee, Thy name,' was th«

f^Tkl ! T'"*"*- • Whore.

th^ thou dost ask after My name f

^2^djdh.«k, Because for him and those
«r»Zl^^ » hour when

k.«.»ir^ n>e answer comes, but it nerer
ftH T^**^""^'""- F^n. that time

~« eqx^iHm There must be some new
™™ooo of the flad> and its affections and lusts.

^"^ ---^

«««tliesoul. TWre must be another haltiiig

PRAY WITHOUT CEASING m

— • iMltfaig befixre temptation. The victorious
wrestbr mmt no longer be caught by the lures of
thewoild. They murt low tlieir power to interest,
to ewite desire, to exaet compliance. Notwith-
•^Mdiqg. ' I wiU not let Thee go except Thou bless
me.' Tliis is the q^t in whieh such struggles
awrt be oontiimed aod ended. We must go on
tai we hmre obtdaed the blessinff, let the time be
never so kmg, let the night be never so dark.

Thwe are great ht&tvtn who not only have
regular times for prayer but are abo able to pray
for proioiiged periods. We read in the lives oC the
saints abo^ their praymg for horns every day.
We read in tiie life of the Master that after jffis
•ultry noonday toMiiinf He w«t to the moon-
tMM in the midnight that He might pray to
God. He needed ptnyer^Oioa^^ is strange for
us to think so. He had not to plead in tears and
diame»asisoiir]otsooften. Hehadnottoeo^bsa
tbe sins of the day. He had never to weqi befim
Goo beeaose of some gnat transgiTssitai. He
never had to wage our ig^ to sobchie a siatei
end rebeffious nature. The piinee of this world
<»ae and had Bothinf fai Hfaiu AndyvtBewat
the gnatest of Ftmytn, and Ks dw^ nevw.

PMAYSR IN WAR TDIE

^J"' ' ''"^^ ^^^^

they said, Lobd, teach i» how to

Xhoie ioenes of extraordinary devotion are
^ wwdoftU. Oiir Lord sought the solitude
!^ f **** "fountain. Amid the iiills,

•nd WW, the long shadows cast by the moonlight
on the twwd, in the sacred house and temple of

^iTL -. ™" " H« prayed aloud, though
•M the damov of the world was stilled.

Th«Pe hm been those who, up to their powers,
hve •Her the iMBe manner. They can go on for
l»«w Paying with profit. Perhaps there are

«a yw nfcM been wisely suggested that we do

^ TZJ^ "^^^ accomplish for ourselves

^J^^^^^'^'^'^y''' We do not

We do

lj^»dy «md the.e we«y earth-bound years.
^»«»»iy be provideatW indications of the times
Z^^K^^ for this kind of supphcation-

SZ?^ ^f!l "^^^^ ^^^^ i° our

^^^'^.tT " "^^^ We might

th« do nWy «id weU to continue all ni^t ia

PBAY wnHcwT cmmm $5

IWWP to Ckn>. We know that those who have
«oe wch tliiQgt hmre great power. They ask
thiy win and it is done unto them. Some
«BW have poMCMed and possess this sacred awful
fin.

Bttt we desife chiefly to encourage those for
iudi endeavoon after God are too hard.
1^ Scriptow deal very graciously with those
f-r wIkmh praya it difficult. They give great
to thote who can only send up
tt«r t^^idkatkms framed in a few words. Of
t^told was the prayer d Nehemiah. offered
^^ween a qneetion fro n his King and his answer.
So I piayed to tiie Gv;> o heaven.' This ha.
»^ealled ejaculatory prayer, that is. prr r
whidi lunk a dbrt-difeeti it. and is done. k
payei. a» po«arfe to all of us and in all eircum-
•^necfc We can tarn to God at all time, and in

fjir* •* ^ in the slightest

tei^»tatioii. Am St Bemmamd says : ' 'his kind of
^yw aeeds i>o d»u«A. oo altar, no sacrament.'
It»^ be o««ed ill aileace and in speech, in
^•ndiawrt. ft -ay be uttered in every
"^a^ta^ in cmy fragment and

nRoofMw. We do wen to appoint seasons for

PBAYER IN WAR TIIIB

prayer and to keep them. But in addition to this
we should go ttu-ough our work constantly pray-
iiig. We diould be saying. *Lobd. help me,'
Lord, bless me,' »Lobd. keep me.' 'Lord,
fMgive me.' At eveiy turn this dart may be
ttrown upward. Throw it when you are handling
the letter wWdi may contain fatal news. Throw
It when the image of some loved one grows clear
to your mind. Throw it when you are sorely
tempted to passion or pride or despair. • Lord
remember me whai Thou comest into Thy king-
dom.' That is an ejacuUtory prayer. 'Give
Thy poor, blind, wandering servant wisdom, give
him tLe key to this lock '-is a prayer which is
socm offered in the soie perplexities which more
or less trouble us all Ejaculatory prayer is
sui»emely the prayer for the battlefield. There
ni*y be no time and no opportunity for stated
prayer, but a man in need can concentrate every-
thing mto one great call to the mighty God.

So we would have this prayer more and more
^'^'^'•S^ Bnd moK ttoditd. Such prayer
always brings the gift the Holy Spirit. What
^ do we need? He is the Spirit of Wisdom,
<rfPower.crfPurity,««iofW. Does not this
coverthewhoteofottrneedst Prayer is nothing
It brings reqioii.c. It never fiuls to bring

PRAY WITHOUT CEASING er

^* «noie and more surely as we put

rowing &ith and forvour in the suppUcation.

«o wc CMne to see that true prayer should
be the use and eonrtant nature of all believers
&«n the weakest to the strongest. It is so with
^ who have be«i privileged. They open the
with prayer. Prayer surrounds them like an
Jtoo^here through the hours of toil and rest
Tbt last consdons moments before sleep are spent
» P»ying. Sometimes they even dream of
pmy«V and they say. *When I am awake I am
with Thee/ »Still witJiThee.' That is the
«»wer to pray«r. StiD with Thee, whatever the
«tttWy drcnmstances may b^for God's dying
^irtj^ at Him even when He slays them
with Thee, and all is well Wherefore it is
'""tten, * Pttiy without ceasing.*

*BUT RATHER GIVING OF THANKS'

'BUT RATHER GIVING OF THANKS'

Pn U MM JumU, im

Thanksoivwo is necessary for the completeness
of p»ycr-«s necessary as humiliation.

But often it is very hard to give thanks. When
our lives are cut in two by a great grief— a grief
which we know can never be got over in this life
~*lien it is hard to give thanks. Never was this
experience so common in our land as it is to-day.

We take ttom the bodes Uiat lie nearest to our
hmdB two ezamiries. In a very moving book
n«rly iwbiished. Boy of My Heart, we read this :

* My husband comes along. There is something
very odd about his step. And his face looks
changed soraeiiow; sharpened in feature and
greyish winte.

How true it it that electric hght sometimes
mtkM people look a dreadftil colour I " I think
as he comes aeaier to me.

* I ran forward then to meet him.

•"Whw is Roland? Isn'thehere? I thought
I hmtd hutt come.'*

* And then for the fiwt toe I noticed that the

72 PBA Y£R IN WAR TDIE

boy's father had a lat of pinkish papa erushed up
m his hand.

• " Is that a telegram ? " I cried eagerly, putting
out my own hand. " Oh, give it to me I What
docs It say ? Isn't he coming to-night ? "

*One of my husband's arms was put quietly
around me. ^

* " No. It 's no good our waiting for him any
tonger. He '11 never come any more. He's dead.
He was badly wounded on Wednesday at mid-
night, and he died on Thursday."

*For minutes that were like years the world
b^t to me a shapeless horror of greyness in
wjuch there was no beginning and no end, no light
and no sound. I did not know anythmg except
^ I had to put out my hand and catch at some-
thwfir. with an animal instinct to steady myself so
I might not faU. And then, through the
foOmg, Winding waves of mist, there came to me
«»ddenly the old childish cry :

CfMne and see me in bed, mother I "
* And I heard myself answering aloud :
* " Yes, boy of my heart. I will come. As socm
« the war is over I will come and see you in bed
-« your bed under French grass. And I will
••y «ood-ni|^it to you-there-kneeling by your
«ae— M I have always done."

*BUT RATHKR GIWmQ OF THANKS* T»

'"Good-night!

Though Life and all uke %ht,
Never GMd-bjre !"'

Anotlier and lesser though very real sorrow of
the* days, mote even than of other days, is truly
^ described by » weD-known noveUst :

I A zetiTCd ship's captain in a Suffolk village has

dwcing my4tre years saved something hke £4000.
He has pot it into the local bank, and the bank
roddealy breaks. A crowd has gathered round
the bnikiiqg and he joins them, with his rugged.
^1 son-burnt ftee as grey as ashes.

} * Mates," he said, " what is it ? "

j '"Merton's is broke— Merton's is broke I "

{ they answered, bearing a way for him to read the

notice for himsdf. L, Somarsh Captain Bontnor
W eonsidered quite a scholar. As such he might,
peOm^ have dee^diered the clerkly handwriting
m a shorter time than he now required, but on the
™* Com a rqnitatton is not easily shaken.

* They waited for the verdict in silence. After
Ave ndnotes he turned round and his face gave
•one of them a diod^. His kindly blue eyes had
a pMnfbOy punted, hieompetent look.

* " Yes. mates," he said, falling back into his
<^sealhriQf TcnMeuhtf. foigetful of his best suit.
Yes, ^ipmates. as &r as I rightly understand it.

FRATER IN WAR TIME

the bank 's broken, and there 's tome of u. th«t

ruined men."

* He stood for a moment looking straight in front
of him-Iooking very old and not quite fit for life's
battle. Then he moved away.

* " I 'II just go and tell my niece," he said.

' They watched him stump aw8y-«turdy, un-
broken, upright— still a man.

* " It 's a hard end to a hard life," said the old
woman who had suggested hope.'

God does not ask us to behave as if our agaiiy
did not exist. When we are down in the new«irt
of a sudden blow He will hear our prayers tlwugh
they are very imperfect. Chastisement fcr the
present is not joyous but grievous. It is enough
If we can say, ' It is the Lord, let ffim do wfcat
seemeth Him good.' It is enough if we can my,
I was dumb, I opened not my mouth, because
Thou didst it.' Some may rise higher ^ that
and say with Bunyan, ' I felt the bottom and it
was good '-firm rock from shore to shore. It will
be very much in the circumstances, howemk if we
can speak to each other softly of a hope.

Nev«thdess, the pattern shown us in the Mount
18 that not only of resigned subMaioa but of

•BUT BATHBR GIVING OF THANKS' 75

«?^s8ion. Said one in the Old Testa-
mmt, • I wiU bless the Lord at all times.' Said
«oth«r in the New Testament, ' In everything
give thanks.' It is not characteristic of human
n^ure to be very thankful towards God. When
tilings go weU with us we very speedily forget
what we owe, and imagine that our omti hand and
brain have brought us to the position we occupy.
In any ease, it is easy to be grateful under blue
•kies. Any mill will grind when the wind blows.
The times perhaps when we are spontaneously
most grateftil axe those after we have escaped
•ome great danger or have been delivered from
•ome ovmb^ning fear. Then we are disposed
to &a on our knees and bless God. We may
even smfle and weep to God's praise. But these
in tlie nocinal life are not frequent experiences.

^ ^*^^*°*ty points us on to giving thanks
in everything, to blessing the Lord at all times.
We a» to Wets ffim m aU winds and weathers.
We a» to ^aise Hnn tw losses and for pains.
Ofc. how hard it is to obey I Martyrs have
t™^ #<«io«sly. The Three Children in the
fiery temaee cried triiui^liantly, ' O all ye works
ot tke LoBD, ^aise Him and magnify Him for

W PEATra m WAR TIME

ever.' But in all our lives small tfatogt to every

one but ourselves count for very mndi. Ttikt
' the frequent, the very frequ^t. caperienee of
disappointment. Most people are silent about
their disappointments, and so they bulk matt
largely in our thoughts than in our speech. But
thmk of what you know. Thmk of the heart set
upon some particular blessing with its whole florae.
Thmk of how the heart looks and waits and woriu,
jvith the one aim. Think of the happy days when
there seems good hope of winning. Then think of
what it is to lose sight gradually of the prise, to
see It farther and farther off. then finally to Ume
It altogether. The faithful in such circumstanoet
will school themselves to accept their de«»t.

will trust in God and believe that it was
best for them that they should not attain to what

they coveted. It is hard, however, to come to
tbis.

jnien how painful is a long, long suspend,
wlule we watch by the sick-beds of the loved ones
Md every day see that the streni.?;h is ebbing and
the eye growing dimmer. It is not easy to keep
on WessmgGoD. In the November of the humim
spint. when all is cloudy and chilly, how hard is it
to say with a resolute heart. ' I will bless the Lord
now and at all times.' We are to give thank, in

'BUT RATHER GIVING OF THANKS' 77

mrythiqf , not t^kr ererjrthing, but tfii mrythiog
—111 the very moment of the intentest pretfiue
of oar pain.

But surely* however, the indivMhiia attitade of
the beUever dioald be one of thanksgiving.
* Thanks be to Goo for His unspeakable gift.'
AU our assurance is ftunidied and aU our need
iOf^tlied from tiie Cross of Cahrary, It was pro*
phesied by tlwm of old time that the Chbist would
destroy in this mountain the tanot of the covering
cast over aO peqile, and the veil that is spread
over an nations. But often we say, How eaa
these things be r Oh, what a eoveiing tids has
been I What mysterious grief, what unspeakable
•onow, yrhaX heavy doubts has the world passed
through I The riddles and the mysteries have
ponied and popkzed us till we were often in
despair. For mystery is hard to bear between
those who love one another. They cannot endure
it. They are grieved by it, vexed by it, till ^ey
bqpn to think there mast be a MLm of love.
Well, we are not come to the end of mystery,
though we soon shall. But the mystery is not
what it used to be, since the day when tiie veil
<^ the %tmsA» was roit in twain. There is so

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78 FRAYER IN WAR TIME

much light that the darkness is endurable. The
appeal to faith is irresistible, and the sad heart
hears it. The day is not far off when we shall
have fought our last battle of grief and fear, and
then we shall see no longer in a glass darkly but
face to face. Meanwhile we are content to have,
not merely our own dim reading of God, but the
glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.

Also we possess the past with its treasures.
The kindness of youth, the helpful love and holy
example that were given to us to succour us, the
disclosures made to us from the beginning of the
true kingly character of the Christian— how many
are these benefits of the Lobd. We cannot re-
count them. For the means of grace and the
hope of glory we are to be thankful. We are to be
thankful because the supernatural life abides m
us, that life which seems sometimes on the veiy
point of dying and yet does not die. It is best
that our behef in the future world should not be
a faith that helps us on special occasions, but a
calm and settled habit of the soul. It is weU if
we are driven to this assurance by some great
sorrow. But it is better that we should nourish
the hope and the love and the faith that looks
beyond the grave, and know that many battles
are not decided here and now.

•BUT RATHER GIVING OF THANKS' 79

Let m give thanks also in this war. It is a
stupendous catastrophe, and yet the hand of
God is in it. We have cause to give God our pom
thanks for wakening us to reality, fcnr many &i i»
feel that we have played at life till now. We
thank God for the miracles of mercy and deliver-
ance which He has vouchsafed. We thank Him
for the unity of our nation. We thank Him for
the heroism ci our sddim. We thank Wm ibr
those who are facing death feaikady wfth the odds
against them, for those who have teken duty as
their guiding light and have thrown their i»edotts
lives with no niggard hand into the bdaaee. As
for those who have abeady giv»i their lives, we

remonber continually the saying of the saint

* I would lament for you if I daxed.*

Nor in the darkest days has the aation evw
lost hope. We have had our heavy icveises ,
and we have rallied from them to eurfy on the
fight, and so shall to the end.

But to interpret the ways of God is too hard
for us. All will be dear wbim tiie solcaiii tiittiks-
giving of the redeoned to God whids up the
drama of human hi^oiy.

vin

HAND OF GOD IN JUDGMENT

THE HAND OF GOD IN JUDGMENT

PnhUtktd Julf 9, 1916

Does God send judgments to the nation ? Does
God send judgments to the individual? After
wc have used all the lights we have, and all the
Ughts God sends us in revelation, the problem
remains full of mystery. We can faintly trace
the purposes that are being accomplished, but we
can do no more, and when we decide, as we must
decide, <m an affirmative answer, we are encoun-
tered by the greatest perils and by the strongest
temptations to piide and to uncharitableness.

GsoiOB Macdonald, in his fine book Alec
il'Wiet, has drawn for us the pictiu% of the most
lovahte among all his heroines, Annie Anderson.
Those who have read the book will never forget
Annie's walk by the Wan Water to the old church-
yard where her fisthet s body had been laid to
rest. She could not trace the grave, for no stone
mariced tlie qpot yrhcre he sank in this broken
earthy sea. There was no church and there was
Bone to remember the building. It seemed as if
tiie churdiyard had swallowed the church, as the
hesmily light shaS one day swallow the sun and

84 PRAYER IN WAR TIME

moon. The dead lay quietly. Theie were no
fears of the future to torment them, no blank
falling suddenly upon the days. But even to that
peaceful country there came the ttcmns of Ufe.
Dr. Macdonald recalls an actual incident, the
rising of the great and destructive flood in .*at
land. The rivers grew and ruled over ever jig
in a wild, waste, foaming water. The rain fdl as
if a waterspout had broken overhead. It kept
pouring out of the thick night while the streams
went rushing by. Annie Anderson's life was very
nearly lost, but her deliverance came when none
expected it. It was thought that she was dead,
and the miserable hypocrite with whom she Kved
mid to his children, * Bairns, Annie Anctetson's
droont. Ay, she 's droont,' he contimwd, as
they stared at him with frightened fsees. * The
Almichty's ta'en vengeance upon her for her
disobedience, and for brackin' the Sawbath. See
what ye 'II come to, bairns, gin ye tak iq> wf ill
locms, and dinna min' what 's said to ye. Skt *t
come to an ill hinner-en' I '

The people of the neighbourhood were moved to
a study of the prophecies :

' Those who read their Bibles, id idiom thtfe
were many in that region, took to readinf thf
prophecies, all the propheci^ and scfoedy any-

THE HAND OF GOO IN JUDGMENT 85

thing but the prophecies. Upon these every man,
either for himself or following in the track of his
spiritual instructor, exercised his individual powers
of interpretation, whose fecundity did not alto-
gether depend upon the amount of historical
knowledge. But whatever was known, whether
about ancient Assyria or modem Tahiti, found
its theoretic place. Of course, the Church of
Rome had her due share of the appUcation from all
parties ; but neither the Church of England, the
Church of Scotland, nor either of the dissenting
sects, went without its portion freely dealt, ea b
of the last finding something that applied to aJ
the rest. There were some, however, who cared
less for such modes, and, themselves given to a
daily fight with anti-christ in their own hearts,
sought ' 'Hey, too, read the prophecies — ^to fix
their r v . on certain sins, and certain persons
classed accoitling to these their sins. With a
burning desire for the safety of their neighbours,
they took upon them the strongest words of rebuke
and condenmation, so that one might have thought
they were revelling in the idea of the vengeance
at hand, instead of striving for the rescue of their
neighbours from the wrath to come.'

Many of us are like the people in the little town
of Glamerton these many years ago.

86 PRAYER IN WAR TIME

It it Tain for uf to mtUmpt the ptoUeni of the
tnigiii of cyiL All the thoughts of men tat con-
•umed hi that bunung fiery ftiniMe. Somethings,
however, we must bdieve or die. We must beliere
that the universe is under the administration of God
the Father. We must Hft our hearts up against a
desolate atheism and against an equally desolate
fatalism. We must seek to trace the hand of God,
•nd we must believe that the hand is working in
wisdom and hi love, however strange, however dark
its dealings may be. We must cling with all che
•twflfth we possess, with all the strength we can
win, to the faith that the Lobo is working, ev en

when all we can say is, 'It is the LoBD, let Him do
what seemeth Him. good.' We must hold that to
individuals and to naticms God appoints their
portion, and that this is done in righteousness
and in love.

It is wisest to begin by what comes dose to us,
with the expoienoe we know. We should eon-
»der deeply the reasons for the afflictions that
have marked our own lives. We must trace all
our trials to our God. * 3% wrath Ueth hard

THB HAND OF GOD IN JUDGMSNT 87

upon me. Thou hast afflicted me with all Thy
waves.* All suffering of any sort or kind e<Mnes
to us firom the Divine hand. Believers should
look past second causes on to the first. They
should hear the rod and Him Who hath appointed
it

Perhaps our greatest danger is to watch for
judgments that fall upon others. Many, like the
people in Glamerton, are amazingly apt to believe
in judgments to particular persons. They are
ready to talk about accidents as if they were
judgments. The upsetting of a boat on the riw
is reckoned to follow a breaking of the Sabbath.
The accidental fall of a house is taken to signify
the special sinfulness of its occupants. Our LoBD
set aside all this presumption for ever when He
declared that the men upon whom tiie Tower of
Siloam fell were not sinners above all nnima
that were on the face of the earth. It is very
easy to induce people to humiliate themselves
because of the sins of others. It is not to easy
to induce a real ccmtriticHi in men for thdr own
sins.

What are we to say, then, about afl Hct kw w t
Are we to take every affltetioii as a cfaastiaeiiie^ ?
Is every trial to be accounted an act of judgmmt ?
Most assuredly this is not so. There is nothing

88 PRAYER IN WAR TIME

more ftaamux in the worid thui iht of great
trial going aloQg with evident and ■hining good-
MM. Bat, ftvther, alttetioB in itaelf hat no
power to elfeot the pwpoee for wfaieh it wm tent.
Mny aflietioiMi had to bitteRMM, obrtfaiAcy,
unbelief, and dmging to evil. The affliction that
ia aeeepted— what Dr. v^aw^ ^^g^ ^ ^
* accepted lorrow ' — it an angd bringing a mewage
from God. But the heart may be

like iron hammered on an anyil and made the
more chMe-giaiaed thereby. There is no qaettkii
on which our ipiritoal guides have more profoundly
dilieicd than the question idiether wrongdoing
is punished m this wotid. We have known
Christians who beHeved that for every sin they
had eommitted they had been punished. We
have known othen who bdieved that this worid
is not the place of punishmmt, and that
for the rif^ting of wrong we must look to the
dark beyond. We may be sure, at least, tiiat
the history of this world is not the judgment at
this worid.

We can see reasons other than transgression for
afflietion. Afflietion ii|^ taken deqiens the
diaraeter. After going tlttou|^ a peat sonow
we realise that before it we were half adeep, and
that it has wak«ied us up and made vm new

THK HAND OF GOD IN JUDGMENT M

ereatum. Life has become i^gBifleant and soleiiiii
M it never was before,

' Call forth thy powen, my aoulf and dare
The conflict of unequal war.*

We may gay alw that, ijgiitly uMd, tmokm
brings us into synpaii y with our feOoir-milfefm
and teaches ut how to bbid up their wounds.

We may say, too, that afllietioii teaches us how
lightly we must hold aU Um^ heie. In timet
when our little nestt are shakily when ptospeiity
is passing from us, when the wings of death over-
shadow the house, when the odnd is diitneted
and marvels how all is to cod, time b sometyng
gained. Patience has been stnlBed, fidth has
been tested, but lave has been proved, as one says,
to the v«y uttmnost point, and everything grows
stioQger and nearar to perfbetion.

^t it is no doubt wise for us as individuals to
search am hearts and see whether any wrong-
doing can be detected which has brought the
divine judgment. We must not judge even our-
selves unrii^iteously. We may discover that our
afflietioDs are not chastisements, and that we
desire in our inmost hearts to depart from iniquity.

90 PRAYER IN WAR TIME

In these drcomstaiiOM men ntiift have foith.
They must regard themselves as bearing trouUes
which are sent for the ctmicxiiog and help ci
otl^rs, and peifai^ also for ^ prevention of sin
in the ftituze. No doubt God reassures many ci
His trembling children and helps tiiem to under-
stand more d«>«ply that w<»d, * Whom tiie Lobd
loveth He chasteneth.' But for oursdves we
should be willing to search our hearts as the sfMes
searched Canaan, and to taH down in humiliation
at the feet of God. But against such inquiry
into the hearts of others we are expressly warned.
It is one of the last and most evil numifestati<Mis
of Pharisaism. Let us humble ourselves under
the mighty hand of God for what we have done
oi.rselves and for what we have d<»e in the neglect
of others. But beyond that our so-called humilia-
tion is only pjL<;sumption.

As God judges individuals, so we must h<^d
that He judges nations. There is a judgment
going on. God does not judge willingly, for we
know that judgment is a ttm^ worik, foieipi to
His heart, thoui^ not to His nature. But k»ve
compels judgment. It compels it, we repeat.
For see how slow His judgments are f See how

THE HAND OF GOD IN JUDGMENT 91

He mumi^ His wimings ! See how, riang up
eariy. He tells men that He will smite in order
that He may nev« need to smite I When the
loQg-pfepMred mine explodes it is because it
must. God has often to lamrat, * In vain have I
smitten your children; they received no cor-
rection.' May we not say that m the case of
nations, as in the case <rf individuals, judgment is
the token of a other's love ? F<Mr the sake of the
love of God we must hold firmly the belief in the
judgments of God.

We are called upcm at this time to humble our-
selves as mdividuab and as a nation. How shall
we take part in the national humi]iati<m? Are
Dissmters to humiliate tiiemselves because of the
sins of the CSturch of England ? Is the Church
of England to humiliate herself because of the
sins ot Dissenters t Are Badicals to be humbled
because <rf the tran^^resskms of Conservatives t
or Conservatives because of the transgressions of
Badicabt Be sure that all humifiation of this
kind is utteriy unreal, vain, lUse, null. God has
given us as a peofOe singular privileges. With all
our ^ and shortooromgs th»e is enough to make
us thankftil and kyal and humble patrioU. But
it is the way of God to diastise often most severely
those who ate nearest to Him, ^ose who owe Him

92 PRAYER IN WAR TIME

most It may inM be lo witii us. Hie darimen
wiU Kattor ii we truly |»ray, in a deqp penonal
haniilkitioPt ooDfe98iofi> aad le pcntawce i

Would that each of ua could settle into an
earnest prayer that we may not be rdbds against
tiiewiUof God.

RTDNATE PRAYER

IMPORTUNATE PRAYER

PubHthed jufy 27, 1916

Much of our prayer is not impratuiiate. Xa
ordinary circumstances it is languid and fonnal.
We put litUe wiU into it, Uttie energy < f deare.

But now many have c<nne to know for the first
time what importunate prayer means. One hom-
ing desire has consumed the rest We have known
what it is to say, • Give me my petition ot I
die.' Chief of importunate pnytn is the pimya
Trameat coiiaf— Let this ciq> pass. This eop^
brimming with tribulation, draws nearer and
nearer to reluctant and paling lips, and the spirit
is affrighted and calls to God. Fathers, mo&ers,
wives, lovers pray that prayer, and wonder how
it is with their dearest in these vall^ and hei^tts
of death.

Oftentimes they are stricken and bUnded by
receiving the tidings that this one prayer, the
nearest to the heart and the dearest, can be
uttered no nuwe. Each name on the long list on
which our eyes fasten every morning means the
stilling of an importunate prayor, often of many
importunate prayers, which Uft mtOu and months

06 PRAYER IN WAR TIME

and years have been lifted up to God. It may be
helpful that we should consider the place and
power of importunate prayer as our Lobd has
taught it.

The teaching of Christ, so broad and bold,
seems at times to guarantee the almightiness of
importunate prayer. He has Himself told the
story of the widow who, by sheer importunity,
prevailed over the unjust judge. Everything was
apparently against her. She was praying to an
unrighteous judge who cared for nothing but his
own ease and boasted of his own contempt for
God and man. She had no claim upon him.
She was without, a friend, for her many journeys
had to be taken alone. She was without the
right of access, and must have forced her weary
way with many to oppose her. She had no
promise. Indeed, she had less than no promise,
for she was encountered with rebuffs every time
of her pleading. Yet she prayed, and in the end
her prayer was answered.

Contrast her phght with the place of the children
of the Resurrection. They pray to the Holy
Father, Who is Love. They pray to Him Who
spared not His Son, but delivered Him up to death

mPORTDNATE PRAYER 97

for us all. They pray to a God Who so loved the
world that He gave His only begotten Son, that
whosoever belleveth in Him should hiive ever-
lasting life. They pray with a mighty Frirad
and Advocate to help them. This Friend ever
liveth to make intercession for them. They pray
as those who are bidden to pray. It is not only
that they have a right. They have more th»n a
right. They are plied and exhorted with many
arguments to take their weariness to the Throne
of Grace, which can never be moved. They have
exceeding great and precious promises, for the
Bible is studded with encouragements to prayer.
They have a Priest at the right hand of God.
Their Priest is a Son over His own house, Whose
house are they if they hold fast the confidence and
the rejoicing of the hope firm unto the end. They
have experiences behind them which are sacred
and assured. No believer has ever been able to
tell, with anything like completeness, what he
has known about the power of prayer. But many
know so much that they have never been able
to understand the doubts and difficulties of those
who do not pray or who pray reluctantly and
rarely. To the true believer aU life has been an
answer to prayer. Many of those answers are f »
visible, so quick-coming, so surely the w<»k oi

M PRAYER IN WAR TME

God, that to doubt them would be to doubt every-
thing. Sometimes they arc almost inclined to
believe that even erring prayers have a strange
power whereby God exhorts His diildien ever-
more to plead first that the Holy Will in*y be
done. Also there is the record of the woA of
God for His redeemed people. When faith and
hope are low the spirit is strengthened by falling
back on the long story of God's grace.

We know very well, however, that the promises
which attach to prayer do not and cannot attach
to every petition. We know that not all of our
prayers can be granted. Not every one can ccanc
back whole, or even wounded, from the battie.
Even while they know this the bereaved must
encounter days of des^latioor-days when they
seem to walk m darkness and to have no lif^t.
The house is still and the diair is empty and the
great hard desolation settles down and seostt at
if it would never lift. The frail spirit fears that it
may never reach the happy goal at aU. It is as
if it were left a prey to the enemy and robbed of
all that made life sweet. The thou^ will not
come. The words of comfort scan to be spoicen
without meaning. Hie petitions, if they are

IMPO&TUNATE PRAYER 99

oHend, go up wftboiit heart. The poor and
drear life that •tietehet out before is not worth
living. Tbe old intimades of faith seem to have
ended. Their days are as a dream. The sufferers
cannot enter into the Sanctuary of the Lord's
Fftssian. They eannot feel themselves set as a
seal 00 Hifi heart, as a seal on His arm. But the
eomfort is that Cbust is there even when His
presence is not realised.

'When thou feurett, God b nearett'

Maey wept at the sepulchre for her Lord, and He
was staiMiing beside, her. The disciples sat in
the room with closed doors, and the Lord was
among them. The travellers to Emmaus said,
* We trusted that it should have been He which
should have redeemed Inael,' Uttle knowing that
tiie true Redeemer of Israel was the companion
of thdr journey.

It was meet and ri|^t to go on praying for the
beloved life while the time for prayer was. But
it is not pRmused that importunate prayer for
the earthly life win be answwed. Christians are
cnniitg to understand better than they did for a
time that true prayw concems itself most deeply
with the spiritual gifts which it is God's will we
should possess. Once it was thought a sign of

100 PRATER IN WAR TIME

the Divine favour to attain success in business.
We know better now. Are all our millionaires
Christian ? Some are open scoffers, and yet
everything they touch turns to gold. What
then ? Why, nothing. It was appointed that
our Lord should for our sakes become poor, and
His greatest disciples have been poor, and the
time may come again when poverty shall be
accounted the mark of a Christian. No; what
we are taught to hope for is the children's bread.
Some may solace themselves with the crumbs
that fall from the table, but there is room for each
believer at the table, where he shares with the
rest. The children's bread has never been the
bread of great earthly prosperity. The children's
bread has always been mingled with tears. The
heirs of salvation have had appoir' i to them the
experience of sorrow. If the experience of sorrow
comes to us it is a proof that we are among the
sons and the daughters of God.

What, then, are the bereaved to hope for and
to pray for ? Above all things they are to pray
for the inward calm of faith and love. They are
to pray for a true vision of immortality. They
are to ask the assurance that the Everlasting

IMKMRTCMATE PRATEB 101

Love keeps them and their dear ones safe for aM
another, though Jordan rolls between. They are
to comfort themselves with the certainty that
higher work has been found for their beloved in A
better country, that is, an heavenly. They arc
passed first to the new morning, and there they
wait for those who have been parted from them
for a time. And it is for those who remain to live
as those who know that they are the heirs of
immortality, and to seek to reach the spirit-land
unsoiled and noble.

But the importunity need not, and must not,
cease. We must be importunate in prayer —
importunate for that answer which God is always
willing to bestow. "What do we ask for when we
pray ? In the end of the day we are asking,
whether we know it or not, for power — power to
endure, power to labour, power to trust, power
to fight temptation, power to keep the faith.
That is, we are praying for the Holy Ghost.
Give us the Holy Ghost to lift up our life to
the Divine thought, and all is well. An eminent
thinker of the last generation, whose creed was in
some respects defective, said in his old age that his
* whole inner life had been one long self-distntst

109 PRA/ER IN WAR TDfE

and conscious need of a power beyond my own.'
He believed that he had received that power and
was upheld by it through his long pilgrimage.
What do we need beyond the direct life with God,
the personal intercourse with Christ, the im-
paitation of the strength needed for the day,
the power of vividly realising the Divine life and
fellowship? The immediate action of God in
the human soul — this is the answer, the auper-
natural anewer to the prayer of faith.

But true prayer, though it begins with self,
will not rest with self. We are to pray for those
nearest us, and we are to go on praying to the
very last of life, whether we see our petitions
answered or not. We are to nray for the coming
of the kir^'lom of God, and to care for it, and to
offer saci e for it. We have to pray with
importunity for the victory of that cause to which
so many of our beloved have given their lives,
for we believe with them that it is the cause of
r^^teouanera, of liberty, and of peace. All such
prayers are to be importunate prayers, to be
oHered till they are answered. Those who
pray in that manner may often die with muiy
petitions unfulfilled, and yet with an inner
assurance that they will be fulfilled, that God
will grant their requests and gather them to-

MPOBTUIUTB FSAYER IM

gether at last. So when the earthly tabernacle
clatters to the ground, a mass of boards and
ruins, the sacred priestly soul that has long
ministered there will hear a great Voice saying,
* Come up hither.*

* THE ROCKS ARE NOT BURNING '

•THE ROCKS ARE NOT BURNING'

Published July 29, 1915

In a very beautiful and suggestive speech delivered
at the Weskyan Methodist Conference, Dr. Rendel
Harbis most aptly brought before his audience
the lessons of the Epistle to the Hebrews as they
bear uron the present time. He reminded his
audience tha*; the inspired author wrote when the
passing world and the permanent were thrown
together much as they are now. He was able,
in perhaps the greatest crisis which the Christian
world has ever faced, to look down through the
flames in which Church and State were beiuj
consumed tc^ether, and to signal back to us the
observation that the rocks were not burning, that
they showed no signs of passing away, that the
situation was not a call to fear, but a call to faith
and a call to the reception of grace, of fresh grace,
and new grace, whereby we may under new con-
ditions serve God and adorn His gospel.

It is verily true that this is a time of fears and
tears, of agony and bloody sweat for many, and

of heartache for aU. The war shout» which wc

Iff

108 PRAYER IN WAR TIME

thought had fallen silent, waxes louder and louder.
Never was the world at war like this. We have
not merely that subtle, implacable smiting of the
black waves of change which is a concomitant of
all hfe. We have undreamt-of and inconceivable
earthquake and catastrophe. The very earth
seems to reel under our feet. The foundations
are destroyed. The world is deluged with blood.
The kingdoms are going to rack. Earthly fortunes
are being altered in an hour. Those whom we
thought would outlive us, through whom we had
some hold of the future, die before us because they
can fight and we cannot. Truly we live in an
inverted order, and it is not wonderful that
multitudes, even of the faithful, are wearied and
worn with sorrow, distracted by dark forebodings
that will not down. In the mist a mysterious sadness
gathers over the youngest and the lightest hearts.

Profiting by Dr. Rendel Harris's hint, we will
review the picture of the changing which is drawn
by the inspired writer, and then set over against
it his picture of the permanent.

He begins by telling us that the old sacrificial
wder, so dear to those he was addressing, so bound
up with their inmost thoughts and feelings, rever-

'THE ROCKS ARE NOT BUBNIN6' 100

enced from the beginning of life, had to pass away.
Earthly priests had to go. They were made
priests after the law of a carnal commandment
which was in force no longer. There was no need
now of the priests who offered daily sacrifices,
first for their own sins, and then for the sins of
the people. There was no need of the old taber-
nacle and of the blood of bulls and of goats and
the ashes of the heifer sprinkling the unclean,
and of the divers washings and the carnal ordi-
nances that had existed for so long. The priests
who had infirmity, who, when their time came, had
to yield to the inexorable, were to have their place
no more at all in the Christian Church. Thus the
old foundations were shifted, and the old homes
of religion fell, and those who first read the Epistle
were almost broken-hearted, for they lived by
these and for these. Even the illuminated were
in fear of so vast a change.

Nor is this all. The whole structure of earthly
society was shattered and brought to the ground.
Worldly possessions were taken away. Instead of
riches there was poverty. Life was maintained
on bare necessities. Christians endured the great
fight of aflliction. They were made a gazing
stock by reproaches. They were spoiled of their
goods. Even tUe strongest and the si]ii|>lest faith

110 PRAYER IN WAR TIME

had to be ralUed to meet these aqyeriences. Nor
did the writer hcdd out any hq>e ci more peaceful
and stable times. On the contrary, he tdd his
people that chastening and scouiging were to be
thdr fortune. He spoke even of a time when
the stable earth and heavens should wax old as
doth a garment. He whose v<»ce cmce shook
the earth fh>m the mountain that might not be
touched had promised, saying, * Yet once more I
shake not the earth only, but also the heaven.'
What does this mean? We cannot tell. The
poet writes about these *ruinable skies.' Ruin-
able I Is everything therefore insecure ? Are not
the heavens themselves safe and free from fear ?

For all these the blessed writer has an answer,
and it seems as if he lingered with a certain joy
over such words as * same ' and * continue ' and
' remainest * and * unchangeable,' and, very speci-
ally, ' rest.' All that was of God would endure,
unscathed by the uttermost violence of tiie storm.
The rocks were not burning, fife b^(ins very
grandly where he ends, and that is with Go--.
* Goo who at sundry tin^ and in divers manners
spake in time past unto the fathers, hath in these
last days spoken unto us by His Son, whom He

'THB R

S ARB NOT BURNING' 111

hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also He
made the worlds.' It is to the Eternal Son, who,
being the brightness of God's glory and the express
image of His person, and upholding all things by
the word of His power — to the Son who has by
Himself purged our sins — ^that the throne is
assigned. ' He sat down at the right hand of the
Majesty on high.'

Thus we deal with Christ whose kingdom shall
have no end. Unto the Son He saith, ' Thy throne,
O God, is for ever and ever.' Earth and heaven
shall perish, but Thou remainest. ' Thau art the
same, and Thy years shall not fail.' There shall
be an end of His enemies, for they shall become
His footstool.

The Epistle is concerned mainly with the gospel
of the priesthood. But the offices of our Lord
cannot be divided. He is Prophet, Priest, and King
in every action. He is the eternal High Priest,
^ i riest for ever after the order of Melchisedec.
rh.« priests after the order of Aaron passed away.
They were transitory, and their work was transitory.
They were not suffered to continue by reason of
death, but the Son was consecrated for evermore.
Once in the end of the world He appeared to put
away sm by the sacrifice of Himself, and thus He
aeaomplished that work of salvation, in the full

lit PRATER IN WAR TMB

sense, which had not been completed before.
By one offering He hath perfected for ever them
that are sanctified. Instead of the waning and
ineffectual ordinances of old time, which left those
who came under them so little helped, we have the
Apostle and High Priest of our profession, Cheist
Jesus. He is set as a Son over His own house,
Whose house are we if we hold fast the confidence
and the rejoicing of the hope firm unto the end.

So much for the priesthood of the new Church
as compared with the priesthood of the old. But
what of our hopes, thwarted and ruined as they
seem to be ? What of our trials ? The answer
is that our hopes are to be fixed no lower than
Chbist Himself, ascended and enthroned. About
hopes for this, world there is not much to say.
There is no promise of the restitution of the goods
which have been taken by robbers. But in
heaven we have a better and a more enduring
substance, where thieves cannot break through nor
steal. Resting on two immutable things, the word
and the oath of God, we have strong consolation.
We have laid hold of the hope set before us, and
that hope is an anchor of the soul. It is an anchor
flung into the azure deeps of that sea which is
above all heavens, in the sanctuary within the
veil. It takes hold of the Forerunner who has for

*IHB BOCKS ARB NOT BUBNING* lia

at entered in, even Jesus made a Priest
for ever.

We are promised no escape from pain. All
that can be said is that our pain is not like the
pain of apostasy. Even if it were, the fiuthful
are taught that the chastening and the soouiginf
of life— grievous though they be— are neverthe-
less the work of love. ' Whom the LoBD loveth
He chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom
He receiveth.' These chastemngs yield the peace-
able fruits of righteousness to those who eadxut
them.

What of the dead ? This is the question that
in the- times tries the heart more than any other.
We i the long roU of the elders who obtamed
a good report by faith, who achieved mighty deeds
by faith, subdued kings, worked righteou-mess.
stopped the mouths of lions, turned to flight the
armies of the aliens. These aU died in faith, and
they did not believe a lie.

But there is more than this, so much more, so
sweet and so wonderful, that one shrinks frtm
trying to expound it. By hope and by faith we
have the assurance that the faithful dead are
happy in God's keeping. Hope for this writer
is not the pathetic figure which a modem painter
has made her, wistful, weak, and pale. Hope

114 PRAYER IN WAR TUB

to Wm i. ^t^^dUMt, nd Faith is steadfast also,
«d both point one way. But there is more than
thi^ fdr tt is written that ' we are come to Moun
gton. unto the city of the living God. to the general
^bly and church of the flrst-bom which are
written hi heaven, and to the spirits of just men
made perfect.' We are near them did we know it.
We have come nearer them, did we know it. than
Faith and Hope can ever take us. We are with
them- we ahnost join them in the new song.
We a^ in fellowship here and now. compassed with
darkness as we are, often so lonely, so lost-we are
hi communion with the church of the fir«t-born

Finany. we are approachmg a time when all the
cruelty of change will end. Ere that time come
we niy have to encounter much, for the word
» Yet once more * means the removing of those
Oungs that are shaken, but this is that the things
which cannot be shaken may remain, and we receive
a kmgdom that cannot be moved, eternal m the
heavens.

Ill

The last chapter of the book is made up partly
of practical counsel, but it is impossible for the
writer to keep long away from the thought that
rules him. We find him saying aUnost at once.

'THE BOCKS ABE HOT BI7BNIN6* lis

*JltVS Christ, the same yesterday, to-day, and
for ever/ Yes, he tells us, there is one Rock
that is stable amid the waves and billows and
ragings of the sea. Jesus Chbist is the same.
Though the whole scenery of this passing world be
altered, though the faces we were fain to look on
all fade away, He remains the same as our fathers
knew Him, the same as the Hebrews knew Him,
the same as Eternity knew Him, and always to
be the same. Dr. Harris points out with very
fine insight how the writer says, ' Let brotherly
lore contmue.' This also wa to endure, no matt.T
llow the earth might rock. It was to continue and
to last in all worlds and through ul\ ages. There
ts a tender, reverent remembrance of the dead
ministers of Christ— they which have the rule over
you, which have spoken unto you the word of
God, * whose faith foUow, considering the end of
tiiett eonvcrsation,' which means the manner in
which they died. He (the writer) was hardly
consdoBS of separation, for to him the thin veil
was shot through and through with gleams of light
from the other side. All the book is laden with
warnings agamst apostasy. There are counsels
on what becomes us in a world like this— con-
tentnent ith food and raiment, willingness to
sacnflce out of very small means, obedience to

116 PRATER IN WAR TDfB

holy teachers, and continued prayer. But the
writer is always turning to our Lord Jesus Christ,
that great Shepherd of the Sheep, as the Answer,
the Consolation, the Refuge, the Succourer, the
Prophet, the Priest, the King, of His tried but
futhftil peqple.

' On my soul
Looks Thy fair Face and makes it still.'

TO THE QUIET IN THE LAND

TO THE QUIEl iJN liiE LAND

PuMuked January 20, 1916

Wb had thought of addressing this article to
eountry mmisters, but it has seemed well to widen
its wxipt a little and to take in the quiet Christians
who are left in the land during this period of
agony and conffict and strain. There are many
ministers who are placed in obscure streets of
great towns. There « a host of unknown workers
— Sunday-schocd teachers, visiton, and others—
who in their humble qp^ieres are serving the Lobd
Chbwt. There are Chmtians in the h<nne exer^
ciMng steady but unobtrusive mfhioices. Wth
conferences and committees and manifestos these
have nothing to do. Their naoMs ace not men-
tioned in newqMqpers. But they are as much in
the heart of the strife as any others. They read
with painftd interest the news <rf the war. Their
hearts are ttften wrung with anxiety. Tlieir
dearest may be among the roar of the shefls.
Often they are sordy periled by eonffieting
voioet. It is on than, humanly ^peaking, that
^ wdfiwe of the Qmt^ and the nation chiefly

120 PRAYER IN WAR TIME

depends, and we would in all humility address to
them a message of heartening.

The drculaticm of the common life of prayer and
love and sacrifice through our smallest churches
is an end devoutly to be wished. The pastors
should be able to say, * My little kingdom is my
own.* It may not be free from mtemal upheavals
and occasional storms, but these should end in the
face of a vast and universal sottow. Geoboe
Macdonald once said that in spite of grumbling
and tristesse ours more than any other nation has
been, is, and will be saved by hope. In the
maintenance of hope we are fellow-workers with
God, and most of us can serve Him best, and can
best satisfy the burning desire to help in making
the world clean, by sweeping our own Uttle rocnn.

There are gloomy prophecies about the future
of the Church. The smallest of Christian assem-
blies has its roll of honour, with a niounting list
of names. So many are dead or dying, so many
are far away in the very heart of peril. What is
to become of the remnant? WiSi the Cluistian
society survive ? For answer we say that the
gates of hell shall not prevail against it. The
Church shall live, and not die, and declare the
works of the Lord. Christian winkers at home
and abroad have a greater oi^pcnrtunity {nresented

TO THE QUIET IN THE LAND 121

to them than was eirer before giveii in the worid's
history.

There are certain things that should be said
about Christian preaching at this time. Chris-
tianity is being asked to do what it was never
meant to do, what it never did and never will do
on this earth. If we are ask^ to explain why
this war took place, we are face to fiuse with a
mystery which will remain a mystery till in His
good time the mystery of God shall be finished.
No one has ever been able by any searcliing thought
to explain the origin of evil and of pain. We do
see a little way in the darkness. We see that we
cannot be good without consotting to be made
good. We must lay hold <^ ,Chbist that we may
be partakers of His h(^ess. A goodness that is
forced upon us is not a real goodness. We can
also see how sharp suffering is often soit to break
the crust that has gathered about the heart.
God often brings His suffering diikben to their
home and thdr blessedness by the road oi pain.
We can also see the gkwry <rf vieaiioas sacrifice.
This is the doctrine which, according to testimony,
has taken hxM ci the sokBers in the trenehes.
Tbuy teem to understand, as they never did, the

122 PRAYER IN WAR TIXfE

meaning of the death of Christ. It is the task of
the theologian to show how from vicarious suffering
is developed the great oblation and satisfaction for
the sins of the world. He could not do so if he
did not begin 'vith vicarious sacrifice, as we see it,
between man and man. But the soldier takes a
flying leap and does not enter into the mysteries
of the Eternal and Adorable Trinity. Nor need
he. It is enough that he believes that Christ
died for him on Calvary and that the Blood of
Jesus Christ cleanses from all sin.

But we should be the last to say that these were
complete explanations. Why does not God give
more grace ? All Christians agree that they are
saved by grace. Why is the river of grace so
scant ? Why does God elect one to suffering and
another to ease ? Why should this one, who had
twined his life with so many otiier lives, be shot,
while the other, who has none to mourn him,
escapes ? The only answer is that we cannot
answer. We cannot answer one of a thousand.
Clouds and darkness are round about God, though
justice and judgment are the foundacion of His
throne. His way is in the sea and His path
in the deep waters, and His footsteps are not
known ; nevertheless He leads His pecq^e like
a flock.

TO THE QUIET IN THE LAND 128

All we can say is that this is a woiid for faith.
We must have faith in Goo, in His Love» in His
Power, in His XVisdom. We must cast ourselves
upon Him in the hour of deepest darkness, assured
that He understands and that we shall yet under-
stand. Above all, we must put in the f<»refront
the Cross of Calvary and the broken heart of
Chbist. God is not indifferent to our sorrows, for
He so loved the world that He gave His only
begotten Son that whosoever believeth in Him
should not perish, but have everiasting life. This
is a worid where only believers can truly live.

Another challenge which we are not called upon
to answer is to account for the failure of the
Churdi. There never was any promise that the
path should be easy, that the Church doing her
duty should annex province after province of Ufe
in the worid and master th^. On the c<mtrary,
when the S<m oi Man came, not to be minista^d
unto but to minister, He failed to convert the
woAd, His apostles also failed. They had
successes, but they were partial and incomplete.
So it has always been. Slow, and even bn^en and
tCMtuous, has ever been the journey of the Mystic
Spouse through the wilderness, even though she
has leant iqxm her Beloved. There are great
IHTomises ot a fairer time, the meaning of which

124 PRAYER IN WAR TIME

will some time appear more plainly to the soul.
But the work of the Church and the failure of the
Church are as they have ever been.

What then is the preacher to do ? Much that
he alone can do. The mere fact that Christianity
is the only religion that has fairly measured itsdf
with sin and sorrow and death is the overwhelming
fact of the present time. The preacher who has
the powerful enforcement of faith and earnest-
ness will find that he has such an access to human
hearts as he never had before. Let him only
try it. Let him preach Christ and the new world
from which Christ came, to which fie returned,
which He is still making, and he will speak to
weary, aching, broken hearts. There are those
who for years have looked for no personal blessing
from without. There are those for whom this
experience seems to have b^[un. They seemed
to be rich the otiier day in the love of husband or
son or brother — and now ! It looks as if tihe dark
future could brii^ Hum nothing. To such we are
to preach the present love of Christ, that love,
given and returned, which is the diief blessedness
of life. Robertson of Brighton was as remcte
from cant as any Chr. "^ian preacli^r ever was.

TO THE QUIET IN THE LAND 125

and yet he, when asked whether he loved Christ,
replied with perfect simplicity that with one
exception he loved no one else in comparison.
Did any of the seed of Jacob ever seek His face
in vain ?

If we thought that these dear lives had
vanished into the inmieasurable inane, dying
out like a puff of wind, we should indeed be left
desolate. It would hardly be worth while to fight
for anything. A quiet life on terms of servitude
might be accepted hopelessly. But when we
know Christ we know that not one of these lives
is unreckoned. If not a sparrow falls to the
ground without our Father, does any soldier fall
to the ground imheeded ? Let us pray for those
who are still with us, and let us be bravely hopeful
for those who have gone. The conditions of
service are very simple. Long ago it was foretold
that the days would come when the sun would
be turned into darkness and the moon into blood«
But there was an easy way out of it. ' Whosoever
shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be
saved.' A look at the Crucified One, a calling
oh the Lord — ^these are enough. Christ knows
all. From His Cross He has flooded the world
with forgiveness, and all that we have to do is to
dip in the cup. There is soil in every heart for the

126 PRAYER IN WAR TDIE

growth of the Gospel seed. We shall find them
again, though we may not know the place of their
graves. It is a great thing to have this impulse,
to look forward and to expect the reunion. This
hope maketh not ashamed, and it soon shapes the
whole atmosphere of the spirit to its hkeness.

Ill

Perhaps the greatest opportunity is that of
pastoral work. Ministers are parted for a season
from the young men of their churches, but they
have left to them the fathers and the mothers
and the children. They have also left to them,
and will have left to them, the gallant men who are
destined to return. If the pastor will lay himself ont
to serve his people in this fiery trial he will discover
that worship is ministration, and that the commoner
service is divine service. If death has come he can
administer consolation through the good hope. If
there is suspense he can hearten and pray. He can
understand the wife and mother who have had no
letters for a week. He can understand those who
are afraid to open the telegrams. Whatever comes
he has the Word of Christ to repeat. All this iie
will do for his people, not as one who helps from
afar, but as one of themselves, not with conde-
scension, but as one who finds his highest life in

TO THB QUIET IN THE LAND 127

the companionship of the sufferers. Very many
ministers have their own ions out fighting the
cause, and they will receive in many CMet as much
comfort as they impart. It is by prayer that the
work will be best accomplished. Perhaps we have
laid too much stress upon great public gatherings
for intercession. They are good even if people
are only driven to them by fear. But Christ
said that where two or three were gathered together
in His name, He was there in the midst of them.
We repudiate the hateful nonsense spoken about
* little churches and little ministers.' We abhor
the arithmetical exercises which tend to show that
if there are not thirty or fifty or a hundred in a
chapel it ought to be closed. God has doae great
things in smaller assemblies than these, and He
will do them again. We would not have ministerg
be too anxious for large meetings. But let the
meetings go on, and if they are informed by graca
one and another will quietly come and join in the
supplications.

It is most important that the pastor should put
himself into closest touch with the men wIm> are
away. He ought to see all the letters they send
home. If he is doing his duty the letters will be
brought to him. He should write many letters
himself to the soldiers. They are made happy.

128 PRAYER IN WAR TMB

•s every one testifies, by friendly letters. They are
comforted by the thought that they are remem-
bered and prayed for at home. If this is the habit,
those who come back will cling faster than ever
to the village pastor, the village church, and the
God of our salvation. But that end is not primary.
It is a plain duty, and it ought to be a very great
privilege, to make the life of the church as much
as possible the life of a loving family while the
trouble lasts.

Once more, we have the children, and they
ought to be consideii ' as they have never been
considered. Is it rigli.. that the churches should
allow the number of their scholars to decrease so
much and so rapidly ? Some Uttle decrease may
be inevitable, through ^ e changing conditions,
but we at least have 'ver heard of any well-
directed movement for canvassing the children
and bringing them within the range of Christian
teaching. Can any one tell us of any minister
who has gone with his Sunday-school teachers to
visit the children outside and tried to bring them
in ? We should be very glad to hear of such cases,
but they must be very few. No. What our
churches will do is to hold conferences, and papers
will be read and speeches delivered, and in due
course a decrease will be reported. It has been

TO THE QUIET IN THE LAND 1S9
said that eyay minirter who .llr^ lus Sunday-
■chpoltodiiiimifhiiaihcker. TWi » undoubtedly
mort unto, hecmm there are dintriets where the
population ha. lai^ely decreased, but there is more
tnith in the chaine than we like to think.

Let the children then be watched, shepherded,
brought m, mmistered unto. That is the true end
of the Sunday^ook-to bring chiWren to Jesus.
The communication of knowkdge is a ver> small
part of the business, and it may be horribly abused.
We want the ehiMren to have their minds stored
with precious texts and godly hymns, and to have
their hearts directed to the Saviour who sought
them We ou^t to look with a new interest at
the children who are to Ktc in the new worid in
which many of us are to have so smaU a share
They should know the solemnity of this war
They should be taught about sin and redemption.'
Their lives should be so cultivated and tended
that they wiU bk)ssom at IcQgth into foith and
love and obedience. This is the way to the heart
of mothers and to the heart of fathers also. It is
not the will of our Father in heaven that one of
these little ones should perish, and if we have to
report decreases, let us make sure that we have
done what we could to prevent tiwm.
We hope we have said i»ough to show that the

180 PRAYER IN WAR TIME

worker hM a gie»t power in tiie knd. Lather
workers be remenibeiwl. It would be well if thoee
of us who were Iwoai^t up in country dniidiet
gave special thought to them and to their paiton.
If we do so we Shan help to nuOntain within them
that sense of Love at the heart of things which
is the chief need of us all to-day.

XII

WHEN THE WOUNDED GO mm&

WHEN THE WOUNDED GO HOME

PMftMAprUl, 1916

We are t hinking not so much of the wounded who
Me lecorering from tl^ wounds, who are being
tended with the utmost love and sidll, who have
beoi hooouiaUy dismissed from the fight, or are
bdng strengthoied for its renewal. They have
gone home, or they will go home, to sun them-
selves in the warmth of devotion. But what of
those who have died <rf their wounds, who lie cold
and staric on the battlefield, viho, it may be, have
been buried in nameless graves known only to
God ? Have not they, too, gone home— h<mie to
a love compared with -vdiidi ours was untender—
to a care compared with which ours was ungentle ?

Surely Easter and its messages are piedous in
these days as they have never been before. Never
were there so many of our people bereaved or about
tobebmaved. What anguished hearts need is the
Euter assurance or Hfe. F<» we cannot, try as we
may, love the dead as dead. We may, and we do,
tevc their mem<mes ; but if we love themselves,
then they are livii^r. havt is for life ; it cannot
dwell with dea^.

184

PRAYER IN WAR TIME

Easter comes to us. with the assurance that the
dead are alive, that death has been aboHshed,
that life and immortaUty have been brought to
light by the Gospel. We are not left to the
foiled searching of mortality. The mighty GrOD»
even the Lord, has spoken, and we know the
truth about death. We have more than words,
for the Eternal Word Himself came to us amid
the assaults of death, in this night of fe&rs and
tears, and bowed His head nnd gave up the ghost,
and slept in the new tomb, and rose from it to
smite the gates of brass and to break the bars of
iron asunder. This is the Easter tidings. Death
is dead for the faithful. The conquest has been
achieved that can never be tmdone. Henceforth
the life beyond death is the true hfe for us, and
in a sense we live it now, for death comes to us as
sleep, as the entrance into the blessed and ever-
lasting rest. Easter is much more than an ungumt
to the sorrows of hfe. It is a way to victory over
them. It is much more than an alleviation of
human misery. It sheds up<m our sorrows a
trans^gurii^; strengtii.

But it may be said. What you have written ia
true of the fisithful dead. But all who hare

WHEN THE WOUNDED GO HOME 135

fallen in Jbattle have not been fiuthful. How
are we to meet this difficulty ? It must be faced
frankly with all the light we have, and in full
recognition of the fact that our light is limited.

We will not make too much of the soldier's
nobility. It is true that the good soldi^ calls
forth the love of every honest heart. Courage is
the root of all virtue, and it will be an evil day
when the coward is allowed to escape. Also
self-sacrifice is the divinest element in man, ''he
element that brings him nearest to the Chsist
who is the Bearer of our M>rrows and the Fountain
of our joy. We love to hear of those who have
givm themselves to the roughest and the sternest
service, who have been ready to beur the very
brunt of the fray. The dust and the smx^e, and
the garments rolled in blood, and the svmid all
hacked, and the dinted armour, and the Imiised
shield, speak of a hero's work. These are good
soldiers who, when they are called to advance to
the attack, do not wish themselves away, who
feel the stem joy which flushes the face in the light
of battle, who do not know how to yield, a^ will
not hear of retreating. Such men are the saviours
of their country, and indeed no country can live
without them. It is our busineit, mbtn the land
if iiB|>eriIled, to value them as we ov^t and to hiUp

laa PRAYER IN WAR TIME

them as we can. It is impiety to throw responsi-
bilities upon God which He has thrown on us.
We need in our defence no mere trumpeters of
gala days, but men to be looked for among the
slain and the surviving when the furious storm of
battle is over. We have seen in this war great
marvels of self-sacrifice which we cannot behold
without bending our heads in reverence.

But it is true that among the bravest there are
many who in quiet years did not Uve wisely,
who had many weaknesses, and bore many stains,
and were often grievously at fault. Their redemp-
tion cannot come from the fact that they died well,
however well they died.

Are we, then, to give over hoping, to doubt
their place in thp great Redemption ? No ; for
we may hope much, and very much, from the very
peril and awftdness and solenmity of their end.
Their lives were in hazard from the first day of
their fighting. Did they not know it ? Did they
not breathe a prayer to the Savioue ? We take
the first extract that Kes to our hand from a
chaplain's report He says : —

*At 8.60 the evening closes with "family
worship "—a short Scripture reading and prayer
by the chaplain, afte* which comes two minutes
set aside tat silent praye^ when each nan has

WHEN THE WOUNDED GO HOME 187

his opportunity for offering the confesnons and
petitions of his own heart. This evening worship
is a very striking act. A stiff rule was made at
the outset that no man was to wait to prayers
unless he wished to wait. They all wait. The
room is always crowded, and the reverent hush
during those two silent minutes of prayer is witness
to the value the men place on the act.'
' They all wait ! '

Our blessed Lord has taught us, in the story of
the thief who was saved in the very act of expiring,
what salvation means. Whoever turns his foce
to Christ believingly, though it be but for an
instant before his death, finds eternal life. This is
the gospel in its naked majesty. There is nothing
to be added. The life may have been utterly
ungodly and wicked. It was so in the case of
the dying robber. But when the crucified thief
turned in his agony to the crucified Christ, all his
sins were instantly washed away. We can imagine
the Redeemer turning His head painfully, with
love in His dying eyes, to the poor suppliant, and
we know that He said in His own royal way,
'Verily, I say unto thee, to-day ^t thou be
with Me in Paradise.' Whoever, even at the hour
or the minute of his death, believes in the LoBD
Jesus Christ shall assuredly be saved.

188 PRAYER IN WAR TIME

But are we to say that this was a soUtary, or
at best an exceptional case ? By no means. It
may be that most are saved in this manner. We
Mill quote Mr. Sfurgeon. That great Doctor of
Grace says : —

' If the thief was an exceptional case — and our Lord
does not usually act in such a way — there would have
been a hint given of so important a fact. A hedge
would have been set about this ocoeptkm to all nites.
Would not the Saviour have whispered quietly to the
dying man, " You are the only one I am going to treat
in this way." . . . No, our Lord spoke openly, and
those about Him heard what He said. Moreover, the
inspired penman has reoorded it. If it had been an
exceptional case, it would not have been written in the
Woid of God.'

' When the wounded go home ' — how do they
find it then ? Among all the tender and wonder-
ful words of Christ there are none more tender
and more wonderful than those : ' I go to prepare
a place for you.' We cannot fully comprehend
them. Underneath are the great abysses of the
Eternal Love. How should Christ need to pre-
pare a place for His people ? Is it not enough
that they should join Him where He is, and behold
His glory ? But if He is with them, is it not
enough ? With a word He made earth fit for

WHEN THE WOUNDED GO HOME 189

created man, but He does not with a word make
heaven fit for the regenerated. He goes to heaven
Himself as a loving host to see everything set in
order against their coming. These dear hids*
struck to the ground, came into a world whoe a
place was prepared for them. Before they entered
it many a loving thought had been given to making
ready for them. The garments in which they
were first arrayed were the handiwork of their
motiiens.

* Little caps in secret sown.
And hid in manv a quiet nook.'

They were received, most of them, with the gladdest
and most loving welcome. So when they pass to
the other side, to the new country, they are waited
for. They are expected. All the things they need
are ready. Their needs are anticipated and
supplied, and the home of each differs from the
home of every other. Nothing is too good for
them. Everything must be the best. Our Lobd
is oigaged in preparing and in interceding. He
does not take any of His redeemed till the fruits
are all mellow and the flowers are all full blown.

Then they enter into nobler service. In a
beautiful Uttle book. The Gutpd Hope, by Dr.

140 PRAYER IN WAR TIME

Walpole, Bishop of Edinburgh, we read of the
young soldier fallen in battle. ' I picture him
still going forward, only without the limitation and
hindrance that the flesh imposes on us here.' He
passes immediately into Paradise, and rests from
labour, but not from work. Everything is looked
at from within. ' Intuition takes the place of
sight, faith that of knowledge.' ' Every one feels
at home at once ; there is no strangeness, no
gradual getting used to things, no wondering
whether you will like it, for all those old friends
which, though we admired and praised on earth,
we constantly found escaping us, are there in full
strength.' We must copy the beautiful passage
in which Dr. Walpole describes the comforting
greeting of the Divine Love to the young soldier
whose name has been inscribed on the roll of
honour : —

' Away from thy home thou wentest, not knowing
whither thou wentest, and so thou understandest My
going forth to sucoour the world. In the trenches
thou hadst no cover for thy head, no rest for tiiy Kmbs,
and thou leamedst then the weariness of Him who had
not where to lay His head. For days thou hadst short
rations and hard fare, and in uncomplaining cheerful-
ness didst support the courage of thy followers ; and
so didst thou enter into the Fast of the Son of Man.
Again and again I saw thee in the night watdies,
facing the mystery of death and agonising in the oon-

WHEN THE WOUNDED GO HOME 141

flict that it brought thee, and there thou didst have
thy share in My Gcthsemane. And then in obedience
to the can thftk Ukni knewest meant death thou didst
willingly lay down thy life, and so hast leamt the
secret of Calvary more surely than a thousand books
could have taught thee. All this was My plan for
thee, that in a few weeks thou shouldst sum up the
whaie of life, and altering into the fellowship of My
sufferings mightest share the rest that leads to the
l^ory ai Resuneetiim.'

For Resurrection is the goal. Paradise is a
home of rest and of joyful work. But it is also a
preparation for the Resurrection glory. The happy
spirit in the consummation is united to the body.
The Resurrection of Christ is the guarantee that
those united to Him shall rise in the day of His
appearing. For their bodies are redeemed as
truly as their souls, and they shall come again
from the land of the enemy, when this corruptible
puts on incorruption, &ud this mortal puts on
immortality. Death admits the faithful to a
larger and more loving life. But that life is
crowned on the Resurrection day of which Easter
testifies. Thus has Christ our Redeemer opened
wide His hands and poured forth more than gold.

xni

•THEIR UN-OVERTAKEABLENESS*

' THEXB rN-OVj!:RTAJ££ABJ £»;SS »

AK^fe^^j^^^^ ,r saddest

thoufht «# the dead is th. ^ thei un

overtokaiAlcnm. They ' .fo^e. .nd

we cannot m^rtmke them ^ has not at one
toe or an^ , ^ ^ by that feeling ?
l^e tod are <rf ottf past our touching,

and titer new . a land that is very far

off. '

%it . th, midst e liodIM world we greet
" e mon th la^ Earter, and rejoice in the
' • rtiunoi ai o Jesus CmsT.

ti or e Sabbath when His body lay an

lint 1. i vee*

' n th OCR ewn sepulchre, wrapped in fine
^ee* r We remember how ttey
rolled .re tsto. at the grave's mouth, taww-
r'.g fhat He was dead. We i«nember how at
the ai,pointed time His dead body was quickened
h tl Father, how His heart b^ agam to
b-at how His soul went badt to His body, how

146 PRAYER IN WAR TIME

He led captivity captive and triumphed over
death.

So the new country is not undiscovered. One
Traveller returned. He has gone back and will
return again. The third day was the day of His
first return ; we know not when He will appear a
second time, without sin unto salvation, but the
hands of the clock are moving towards the hour.
He promised ere He died that He would prepare a
place for His people, and He returned to repeat
the premise. He is keeping it. He has been
keeping it since the day of His Ascension. He
will complete it, and all who are His will be with
Him there — with Him and with one another.
The bodies of His people are laid in the grave,
but their souls are not in durance, and for the
bodies the day of deliverance draws on apace, the
day when Christ will break the seal of the en-
closing stone and set them free. So the dead are
not un-overtakeable. We shall come to them one
by one as our hour strikes.

There is more then this to say. The promise
of the consunmiation sometimes chills us by its
distance. * I know that he shall rise again at the

* THEIR UN-OVERTAKBABLENESS* 147

resurrection at the last day,' said the sorrowing
sister. But the words seemed to bring no warmth
or cheer to her heart. She repeated them drearily,
as if thinking of something very, very distant.
But the New Testament comes to us with its
cordial, an ? assures us that we are come to the
assembly and church of the first-bom and to the
spirits of just men made perfect. We are come
to these, even in our dying bodies, even in the low
lights of time. Dr. John Cairns's comment is
perhaps the best : ' are come in indestructible
unity and predestined association.' The unity
remains and cannot be broken. The association
is real also, though in ways we hardly understand.
Have the victorious dead forgotten us ? Are they
ignorant of us ? We can trust them to look with
compassion on our stumbling steps, for they know
how hard it has been to live since they left us.
Perhaps they join in the intercession of the Great
High Priest. Perhaps we receive from them im-
pulses which we cannot trace. It is not perhaps
so ill with us as it might have been without their
love. But into this mystery we cannot go very
far. It is much to know that we have overtaken
them in a manner, though we cannot touch them
as we did because they are ascended. We take,
by permission, from the ffol^ Jla;iA^ a beauts

148 PRAYER IN WAR TDfE

poem of the broken circle by the late Miss Mary
M. Sharpe :

UNDER ONE ROOF

* Therefore at each moment can we joyfully exclaim :
in sfHte of time, d^th, and change, we still all
together.' — Schopenhaueb.

Once, in days of long ago,

Dayi — of my whole life the best —
When the time for sleep had come,

And the house was hushed to rest.
It was such a happy thought.

Used to make my heart so light.
We were all beneath one roof

When I barred the domr at night

Let the wind moan aa it wonld.

Let the raindrops patter fiut,
n»ey were near me, nestled warm

From the midnight, and the blast ;
Not <me lingering out «f reach.

Not one banished 6r ahxyf—
It's a woman's heaven to have

All she loves beneath one roof

How to-night the autumn wind

Through the keyhole whistles shrill ;
It must roar amongst the firs

In that graveyaid on the hill,
luring leavet are whiried aloft.

Swaying branches knock the pane.
In the pauses of the wind

Listen ! Oh, the rain, the rain !

*THEm UN-OVERTAKEABLENESS* 140

Now, when bed-time comes at length

To me, Bitting here alone.
And the ticking of the clock

Tells how still the house has grown.
Oh, how heavy is the heart

That was «iee so light of yore ;
Now — I seem to bar them ont

When at night I bar the door.

But our Father sorely needs

All His dear ones near Him still ;
Are we not at home with Him,

In the house, or on the hill ?
So I illl my empty heart

With the thmigiit that, fiir above.
Over them, as over me,

Spreads one roof of Heavenly Love.

So I can go up to bed.

Pass the doors where once I heard
Gentle breathing, as I crept

SoMj by, witlMwt a wmd:
Though the house is sUent now.

Though they wish me no good ni^t —
We are still beneath one roof —

When I bar tile door at night

Also, when die we overtake them at once,
and hold tb . .or our very own. This hope is
rooted in Chbist, Who died and rose again.
He gave the love on both sides, and that love is
immortal even when the outward tfdcens (tf it are

150

PRAYER IN WAR TIBIE

more or lets withdrawn. There wOl come a day
when it shaU have the fiiQett freedom for expres-
sion and enjoyment, freed from all the mortal
accidents that may have hindered, in^Mired, and
enfeebled it. And this will come tiiroc^ Chust,
Whc breaks down the walls of partition, in the
Day when absent fisces and swidered hearts shall
meet in Him Who gathers all into one.

SUSPENSE

Pubiitked PetffHmry 18, 1915

The whole nation is in a state of suspense, and
suspense is very hard to bear. With some the
keenness of the suffering is far greater than it is
with others, and there may be creatures who
escape altogether the anxiety of the time. Would
that we could scarify such callosities ! Suspense
may be defined as a state of uncertainty accom-
panied with anxiety and expectation. It is very
difficult to live through it. It is so difficult that
when the suspense ends, as we hoped and prayed
it might end, the peace of defeat is, for a short
time at least, welcome as more tolerable than the
racking agony of waiting. The issue may be life
or death. It may be riches or ruin. It may be
honour or shame. We wait for it and wring our
hands while the heart is aching. We hope and we
fear by turns. The chief misery of suspense is
that, so far as appears, we seem unable to do
anything— we are paralysed for the time.

There has been, and there is still, the suspense
of our fate as a Nation and an Empire. We may

154 PRAYER IN WAR TIME

hope that this suspense is gradually passing and
that the guarantees of victory are being secured.
But some defeats are much more disastrous than
others, and final defeat in this war Avould be to
us not only disastrous but absolutely fatal. Life
would cease to be worth living. Men would fight
in desperation, and to the last drop of their blood,
even if they knew that the effort was vain. We
may hope that the triumph of the Allies is certain.
But even now it is certain only if we put forth our
full strength — the three-thirds of it for the one-
third we have put forth already. No one has a
right to calculate on paying a smaller price for a
happy decision. The worst of the storm is not over,
and in a sense the issue still remains indeterminate.

There is, moreover, the suspense as to the fate
of individual lives. That suspense has come to
a sorrowful yet glorious end in many instances,
but in many more it is still keen, still piercing.
We would not add to the poignancy of the c Hua-
tion by harrowing details. The best words are
the fewest. But the suspense holds in multitudes
of loving hearts who have little respite day or
night in waiting for the news to come.

There is also suspense as to our individual
fortunes. Life, it has been said, is a long holding
out. Never was the word truer than it is to-day.

SUSPENSE 155

How many are cheerfully accepting the stinted
way of Uving ! How much silent heroism there is
in carrying on ' business as usual * I There would
not be a murmur if the end was in sight. But
even the faithful and the brave are sometimes sick
with suspense when they read of five years' possible
testing, and the Uke. WTiat will remain for them
if their incomes keep crumbling away ? They
cannot hope for anything but utter shipwreck if
this be so.

Can anything be done to make suspense more
easy, less destructive to happiness ? Is there any
way in which suspense can be made mondly and
spiritually fruitful ?

Suspense may be ended in many cases by simply
obeying the call of duty and venturing life itself.
Those who have volunteered and gone out to the
battle, often after long perplexities and ponderings,
seem to enjoy a singular rest of heart. This is
the universal testimony of those who have met
the men while they have been home on furlough
or have seen them in the hospitals. They are
exhilarated with the assurance that they have done
their utmost. They have been in the trenches,
they have been under fire, they have given all

156 PRAYER IN WAR TIME

they had to give. They have committed their
case to God and they are tranquil. Nay, they
sometimes laugh and play like children — so
blessed is duty and so happy are those who take
. the high road.

On the other hand, those who ought to go, and
in their hearts know it, are the most miserable
of men. We are not speaking of cowards, or of
those in whom the sense of honour is dead. We
are speaking of the Shirkers. Let us be very
careful and very charitable in assigning that
name. But every one knows that even in this
dread hour the Shirkers are to be found all over
the countrj'. They are often honourable men,
but they shrink from the great sacrifice. There
is so much to detain them. There are so many
ties to break. There are so many plausible reasons
for remaining, so many passable excuses, that
they persuade themselves that their place is at
home. But they have no peace day nor night.
If they were to tell the truth they would say :

*Sir, at my heart there was a kind of fighting
That would not let me sleep.'

But perhaps, quite possibly, no one says anything
to them. They are the subject of incessant con-
venation behind their backs, but they are not

SUSPENSE I5r

directly appealed to. They can read, however,
the faces of their friends and neighbours, and they
know what these are thinking. Sometimes they
get a gleam of comfort and shelter under such
pretexts as this : ' Lord Kitchener is well
satisfied with the supply of recruits.' But there
is no rest for them. They are in suspense, cease-
lessly urged by the new calls of each day, and their
suspense can be ended rightly only in one manner.
As we write, the evening paper comes in, and we
read in it of the inquest on a man who was found
drowned the other day. We make an extract
from the evidence : —

The Coroner: 'Was he depressed over the
war ? •

The witness replied that deceased rather dreaded
the idea of having to go. 'I think the war worried
him,' he said.

The Coroner: ' Did he speak about joining the
Army?'

Witness : ' Once or twice he said he would like
to join, but he did not seem determined about it.'

When the light is dim and the seas run high,
and the deadly sough is heard from every head-
land, the sailors say little. They address them-
selves to their task. What is uppermost is the
duty of the individual man— the duty of the

158 PRAYER IN WAR TIME

pMnng hour. He must have a blind eye for danger.
He mutt not be disposed to count the odds in a
rij^teous cause. His business is, at whatever
risk or cost, to play a manly part. He must
bring to bear the strength of a resolute will on the
Conditi<Hi« which he finds. It is not for him to
Uunoit that the equipment of the ship is not up
to date. A good woricman does not quarrel with
hi« tods, but makes the best of them. Further,
a good wv^onan, a good sailor, a good soldier,
does his duty as if the whole result of the struggle
depended whdly upon himself.

A brave man will not hold back from making
his sacrifice because so many have made their
sacrifice. He will not allow them to shield him.
He win join them and help them to shield the
rest— those who cannot fight. Nobody knows
what he may be worth. * lliere was a httle city
and few men within it. And there came a great
king against it, and besieged it, and built great
bulwariU against it. Now there was found in it
a poor wise man, and he by his wisdom delivered
the dty.*

But most of us Mnnot under any circumstances
go to war. The exempted include all women and
many men. For each d them the question is.
What am I doing t Can we say, all of us, that we

8U8PENSB tfi

have done what we could ? We verily believe
that this is true of many women. Women have
acquitted themselves nobly in this war, and have
earned, in our judgment, the right to vote. We
think it may also be said o^ the majority of men,
that they have recognised and performed their
duty. They have joyfully submitted to great
sacrifices, and they are prepared to submit to
greater sacri flees still. Above all, we honour the
parents who proudly and sorrowfully have given
thtir sons to the fight. But we are afraid there
arc not a few who have hung back. There are
wretches who have done what they conld to dis-
courage and disable the men who * "»re shielding
them, but huppily these are few. Th^re are
others, and they are more numerc is ac» have
selfishly and apathetically refused thdt aid. We
could still wish that it were found possible to
penalise the defaulters, and we .rejoice that public
opinion is strengthening and setting agai?>"<' them.
The brunt of the battle is on those soitU rs and
sailors who are really engaged in the conflict, but
shall we disparage the statesmen, the financiers
the preachers, the business men who are freely
and gladly giving their time, their thought, their
energy, and their whole h^u^« in the service ot
the country they love so well ?

leo PRAYER IN WAR TIME

We must say a ward, though it is <mly a w<»d»
on the function of prayer. At a time like this
prayer brings relief and powor. Even in the most
agonising suspense a strange peace is bestowed
by Chust in an&wer to suf^ieation, and He
redeems the word He qpoke idien He said : * Not
as the worid giveth give I unto you.* We shall
never know all the f<»ces that are w<»king in tiiis
strife, but the most powoful d all f<wces may
very well be the force oi wrestiing, believing
prayer.

We must touch briefly cm the wrong ways of
mitigating the agony of subtense. There are
poor, fretfii], ftitile wajrs. A traveller who has
only given himsdf the shortest qiaoe of iam to
catch a tnun finds titat hm carriage is Uodud.
What use is it if he gives si% advice to tiie driver,
if he is fidgety and impatient, if he ladies Mmseif
into a fevor by giving orders that cannot possibly
be filled. It is a poor bttsmess to keep on
buyiaf successive editieiis of papers w^ ao newt
in thoao. Suspense must be oonriiated hi a more
dignified way. It is rig^it— it is very right thot
the sufforer should seek genial society, tnd it »
not hard to find it in these da]rs, i^oi we are all

SUSPENSE 101

wrapped more or less in the same thunder-cloud.
Books will often furnish a most helpful rehef.
But we cannot contemplate with any pleasure the
continuance of such things as footbaU and horse-
racing in a time of war. They hopelessly violate
the sense of fitness. They show an entire con-
tempt of the seriousness of the situation. These
sports are often practised by men who, if they had
a spark of manhood in them, would be out at the
Front. Above all things we must learn, in Geoeoe
Eliot's phrase, 'to do without opium.* There
are forbidden remedies which bring no healing,
and which degrade the souls and the bodies of
those who have recourse to them. Anodynes and
stimulants may have their place to fill, but they
are full of danger in such a time as this.

For Gk» mefias ut to bear the suspense, to
ooBfroit it, md to me it. It is good for us to
look the potdUe inq Kinding calamity in the face.
Tfce dwiter dtemative it to be encountered.
* Slie amy not nmrive this <q)eration.* Then it is
tiial we dionld prepare to meet the trouble
in ^ t^pait of subnMoii and faith. We must
no* tiy to die«t the ti^ffeBEie moment of its true

im PRAYER IN WAR TIME

intensity. We shall bear the blow better, if it
must come, because we have anticipated it in
thought. And if the blow does not fall, if the
calamity is averted, what lights, new lights, should
fall on the preciousuess of what is given back to
us ! We may learn for the first time how miser-
ably we have failed in thankfulness for our dearest
possessions. There was, it may be, no want of
love, but there was little expression of love. What
is restored to us should be cherished and treasured
as it never was before. How we went back in
the searching ordeal on the security that was once
ours, in a time which seems infinitely remote!
How little we praised God for our prosperity and
peace ! Blessed are those whose dear ones will
return. With what wealth of love they will be
received ! But blessed also are those whose
beloved die on the field of battle, if they axe tau^t
thereby to realise the illimitable resources of the
Divine Love and its quick response to human
faith and need.

ENDURANCE

In his recent impressive speech the Pbime Minister
laid proper stress on the twin thoughts that must
be in our minds while the war lasts. We must, in
the first place, have a due sense of the gravity ^
and peril of our situation. We must, in the
seccmd place, cherish an abiding confidence in the ^
issue. There are those who consider it their duty
to prevent panic, which is quite right, and believe
that the best way to prevent it is to deny danger,
which is quite wrong. When the air is electric
people feel danger, and the weather prophets may
prophesy smooth things without inducing anybody
to put to sea.

Mr. AsQiHTH also said truly and beautifully
that this war was to be a war of endurance, and
that we must see to it that we endured to the
end. It is written, 'He that endureth to the
end, the same shall be saved,* and this is a text
by which we must fortify ourselves agamst the
storms to come.

IM PRAYER IN WAR TIME

What is endurance in the Christian sense ?
There are two constituents of the Christian endur-
ance, or of the Christian patience. One is active
and one is passive. But we beheve that the
element of activity is never absent from the true
patience. We are summoned to run with patience
the race that is set before us. The image of the
patient runner is not commonly realised except
by thoughtful readers. Running seems to be an
exercise incompatible with patience, and patience
is too often regarded as mere passivity under
suffering and wrong. In reality it is as active
a virtue as any.

It is worth while to consider the Biblical con-
ception. In order to run our race patiently and
triumphantly we must begin by stripping ourselves.
All that hinders our running must be put aside.
We must be done with the sin that easily besets
us, and we must be done even with the weights
which we are wont to carry in the ordinary course
of existence. They are too heavy for such a
business as that to which we are set. We must
cease to concern ourselves with the anxieties and
aiausements, resentments, ambitions, desires,
which in quieter times so largely filled our

ENDURANCE

167

thoiii^ts. We miifft struggle against and master
every kind of evil. AH must be laid askte to tlie
last ounce. Every grain of seHMwwus, every rag
of sin, must be done with. Thouf^ts of pleasue,
profit, preforment, and distinctiai must be cBs-
mi«wd. The race is too hard for us o<iMnnBe.
We are limping mortals, and socm ediaust ow
strength if we fail rightly to husband it and to use
it. * He that oidureth to the end, the same shall
be saved,' but no other. By the time tiie race is
i^oeed one has tripped, another faints, a third is
out of breath, and others are far behind. It must
not be so witii us in the tranendous struggle to
whidi we are committed now.

Napoibon said, * Ccmquest made me what I am,
and conquest must maint^n me.* Conquest has
made us what we are, and we axe too apt to forget
thi^ conqpiest must maintain us. The pasnim
for ease and comfort and the continuance of
things as they are has grown so strong among the
prosperous of our naticm that it is destmetively
angry whoi anything interferes witii it. It is like
the Eastern who thought to ignote death. *' None
might enter the king's gate clothed in sadidoth.'
It is afraid to Uuoe the toith, and is impatient ci
those idio would break its security. Sudi faith as
lingers in th» tenqper oi mind is rudely shaken

168 PRAYER IN WAR TIME

when the stem &ctt of the world oome to light.
It would amugn provideiioe, or st least doubt
providence, under the experienee of sudi ft|»Mi ff,
It would punish the heavens for hailiqg if it could.
But we are ha|^ in the piooess of liberation
from these lower frames of mind.

We must not only run, and run with patience,
but we must set our eyes on the goal. Fot the
moment let us say that our goal is vietcHy, the
winning of this war. Every ottor coosldeiwtoi
must yield to this. The old moralist said, * Straight
forward is the best running,* and he spoke well
We shall go under if we turn adde to political
controversies, or, what is mueh baser, personal
recriminations. Difference oi cfj^xdm fhate must
be, but let us differ from one another as those
drawn together under the shackm aiul the {hcsrir
of the wild weather. Political convictions whidi
we have held and advocated and fought for durteg
a whole lifetime are hard indeed to set aside
even momentarily, but the thing must be doM.
Rimners cannot aff<»d to sit down and pawe.
We must have one object, one thou|^t, one goa^
one passion. For the sake of that we imist b»
prepared to sacrifice everything->our dear om%
our possessions, our very life. We must ^
daunted by no difficulties. We must r^me to

ENDURANCE

give way even to what appears inevitable. We
mutt, M fitf as we can, act in the behef that
everjrthing that stands in the way of victory can
be prevented or remedied, and ought to be pre*
% inted oriemedied.

n we go to wiurk in this spirit we must succeed.
A cKvided heart it an unhappy heart. A heart
that it whole and single and utterly disinterested
it happy, whatever may befall. None of us knows
tl» letervet, the inward resources, of men and
wcmea when they are reinforced by grace and
ealled out by duty. Devoting ourselves to the
tapiane end, we shall find that we did not know
what CMff full ttrength was. Nay, we shall find
a buoyant inner strength welling up from deep
foiifitaint of being. The spirit of the runner will
the race goes on, and make all yokes easy
aai •& bwdens light.

^ — ■ ! eadure * at teeing Him Who is invisible.'
aft Mm New Testament has it, * we must
run «lkh patience the race that is set before
nt, taklit waMo Juus, the author and finisher

We d» iPeri^ believe that in spite of all appi^ar-
tmtm iM§ ition hat hitherto been strengthened

170 PRAYER IN WAR TIME

for its great task by faith in the love and in the
righteousness of God. Our consciences acquit us
of all desire for war, and of all intention to annex
the possessions of other nations. We hnve stood
for hberty and for justice, and for right as opposed
to might. We have done all this, and wr !mve
done it at a great price. We humbly believe that
if we do our part we shall not be without rein-
forcements from the higher Will that rules, that
Will of God which is most clearly manifested in
the life and death and resurrection of the Lord
Jesus Christ.

That faith is nearer the hearts of our people
than many have been wont to imagine. It has
nerved our soldiers on the field, it has comforted
the lonely and • anxious watchers at home. It
has not, we hope, induced any one to believe that
without doing our utmost we can attain the prize.
But secretly and silently it has done, and will do,
its work in sustaining the nation and in preparing
it for the duties and the burdens and the sufferings
that lie concealed.

For Christian endurance is not fatalism. Fatal-
ism, as we take it, does not mean patience, nor
resignation, nor submission, but acquiescence pro-
duced by a belief that a blind power — necessity —
rules everything. It involves a denial both of

ENDURANCE 171

science and religion. It finds an almoct perfect
example in the story of a Turkish regiment sur*
rounded by Greeks in an amphitheatre of hills,
who sat down and died patiently of starvatum.
No, we say, faith in God is a faith in righteous
love. It is a faith in communiim, it is a faith in
prayer, in the answer to prayer. It is sueh a
faith as will enable those who hold it to go on to
the last, to struggle with adversity, even when
little hope remains. It is a faith that teaches
endurance as an art to be acquired like any other
by practice — in this case by the practice of the
presence of God. It teaches men and women
to rise above bodily pain, to control the useless
fret and chafing against it. It makes us all like
soldiers in the battlefield, who resolutely acquire
the art of bearing pain as well as it can be bcane,
who find a special and incommunicable joy in the
victory of the spirit over the flesh. We hate and
fear that form of false endurance which is a sullen
submissiveness to unknovm powers, of cowering
resignation under the pitiless but inevitable fweet
of the universe. Minds imbued with this con-
viction are paralysed. They come to beUeve that
war and pestilence and murder and every form
of evil will continue while the race lasts, that
things are without remedy, and that to dream of

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172 PRAYER IN WAR TIME

improving human affairs is to dream of forcing
water uphill.

Christian endurance is quite another thing.
We have defined it, but not completely. There
is in Christian endurance a real element of resigna-
tion. We have very often to put out our whole
strength and to exhaust ourselves in passionate
pleading, and, to all appearance, in vain. We
have to suppress our will before a higher Power.
We have to submit to the inevitable without
whining. Nay, we have to rejoice in adversity
and defeat, and to maintain our faith in the
presence of both. But the Christian resignation,
no matter how complete and triumphant, has
always in it an element of activity. It is never a
dead acquiescence. It is a way of coming near to
God, and discovering in that approach that He
means for us some better thing than that which was
denied. This is the great wonder and secret of
the higher life, given only to those who come with
bleeding feet and with hearts that have been
laden with sorrow. They know that Right must
win at the last, even if for a time it may be over-
borne. What is really of God may lie for a season
under the shadow of the Cross, but only for a
season, and he that endureth to the end, the same
shall be saved.

ENDURANCE

17a

III

All we are passing through teaches us that
elevation, and not happiness, is the object of the
grand plan. It teaches us also to hope mightily
for the day to be, to hope for this world and for
the next. Before the war the music of the word
' eternity ' had ceased to mean much to this
generation. To many it now means everything.
The new world balances the old and far outweighs
it. As life nears its ending we think of the friends
of long ago. Some of them are still in this land
of the dying — ^buffeted, scattered, world-worn, and
waysore. Some have won to the hill where Moses
stood, and have seen a goodlier prospect than this
earth can show. But so many have gone and so
many are going in the springtide of their promise.
Those on whom we have lavished our care, to whom
we looked to take our places, do better than we
have done the work of God in this world, are
entering in before us. And what are we to say ?
Why, this— that all the teeming thou^ts of life
and hope which were embodied in our homes
have not come to an end because the dear ones
have died. There is the infinite eictension <^
thought and love and hope in the world that is
not perishable. The unseoi land to whaeh we

174 PRATER IN WAR TIME

hasten gives meaning to the fair but transient
world of time. So we press forward to Eternity,
our refuge. We press forward to meet the great
realities, to grapple with them, to wrestle with
them, to hold them till we know their name.
Death is the entrance to Eternity, th^ giver of
life, the angel of fulfilled humanity.

XVI

THE ACCEPTANCE OF SACRIFICE

PtMtM April 13, 1916

Much is thought^and said in these days about
the offering of sacrifice. An equally vital subject,
which we propose to discuss, is the acceptance
sacrifice.

All Christians agree that we must accept the
sacrifice of Chust for our uns. We can do no
other. By Wa doing and dying He adiieved for
mm what tiicy eouM not achieve for tlieniM^es.
In Him we have redemption through His Mood,
even the forgiveness of nns. We rest upon Him
Whwn God has set forth to be the propitiatbn.
So resting we are free from condrmnaticm. We
are tne beeMtse He was oondenaied in our stead,
because He carried all our load to the Cross. So
dying He was our substitute, seeuring for us
defivenmee from sin in its guilt, in its power, and
in its penalty. To understand this is to attain
to tiiat nadbing and toudiing of Crnxmr wfeieh
means sahratkm.

178 PRAYER IN WAR TIME

the sacrifice and oblation for the sin of the world,
we accept it in the sacrificial temper. We identify
ourselyes with the Divine suffering. Each heart
says Amen to God in Christ. Our dehverance
does not liberate us from sacrifice ; rather it binds
us to sacrifice. St. Paul, the great - cher of the
Cross, after celebrating the solita ^ achievement
of the Head of the body, the Church, Who is the
beginning and the first-bom from the dead, says
that he now rejoices in his sufferings for his fellov
believers, and fills up that which is behind of the
sufferings of Christ in his flesh, for His body's
sake, which is the Church. St. Paul «ast his
thoughts to the future. He knew that much
would happen to break the quiet that comes from
trust in Christ. He knew that there was before
him a life of conflict and suffering. He had to
Sear his full part in these. He had to renew
again and again his struggle with the Black Watch
of evil. Every inch of the road that stretched
between him and the cross whereon he was to die
swarmed with foemen. He had in his soul a deep
and unbroken rest, but the rest was not on the
surface but in the depths. So he girded himself,
as did the Heir of all things, to service and to
sacrifice. He seemed to think of the sacrifice that
was to as a drop in the measure which had

THE ACCEPTANCE OF SAOOFICB m

to be filled up till it ran over. When he speaks of
that which is behind of the afflictions of Cheist,
he does not refer merely to sufferings borne for
Christ. He means sufferings borne for Christ
and with Christ. The Church is Christ's Body»
and so the sorrows of the members are the sorrows
of the Head. They are shared with Christ and
accepted with Christ, and they are not to last for
ever, for the day will come when they will be over-
past. So the holy Apostle looked forward. He
remembered the Voice that called to him at the
beginning of his Christian dedication, * Saul, Saul,
why persecutest thou Me ? ' and he understood
how the Master identifies Himself with His people
and IS still afflicted in their afflictions. St. Paul
k*" "''•at the worst would be, and he had gauged
a^v . jd his fears. Great storms were out ;
but i,aey could do no more than destroy the frail
tent of the poor body and set the spirit free for the
house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens^

We pass on to consider the acceptance of sacrifice
from our fellow-creatures. The subject is not
altogether free from difficulty. We are all agreed
that unselfishness is the practical test of character.
We may call it what we please — brotheriy kindness^

180 PRAYER IN WAR TIME

ctmntyt humanity, benevolence, beneficence, or
generosity. But the sacrifice of self is a cardinal
doctrine and precept of the New Testament. We
do not, however, accept the watchword of the
positivist philosophy, which used to be ' Live for
others.* This motto was intended to supersede
the standard of Christian duty. It was intended
to embody the aspirations of all generous natures
and to span the chasm <^ warring creeds. But
while we cannot too eamesUy, too simply, too
humbly, too uniesenredly tuooeg^ the sacrifice of
Chbist in our room, we must be very slow in
accepting the sacrifices of others.

It is true tiiat the best life is the service of our
felloira. The most selfish are the readiest to
condemn selfishness. All the same, we must be
careful to distinguish. Some time ago we dis-
cussed the effect on those who consciously devote
themselves to live for others — the effects that
result from that devotion. We now wish to call
Attention mote particulariy to the effects produced
on those who are always accepting and always
IcK^dng for the sacrifice of others on their behalf.

We need not say much about imselfishness in the
lanall details of Ufe. If people are to be happy
they must learn the art of Uving together. In
<»der to do this without firietkm there nmst be ghre

THE A

>TANCB SACBIFKX m

and take. Only we should hesitate to apply such
a word as sacrifice to these small everyday
surrenders which are so easy to those who love.
But we soon come to gi'aver problems. Parents
very often make sacrifices for their children which
may be beyond the line of obligation. We have
all known fathers and mothers who impoverish
and stint their lives for the education of their
children in fashionable schools and colleges, and go
on year after year in supplying to their sons and
daughters what they themselves never enjoyed.
There comes a point where the sacrifice should be
refused. It shoidd always be accepted with a full
sense of what it involves, with a careful watching
of the stooping which comes to those who bear
more than they can well carry. It should be
accepted with profound gratitude and with the
determuiation that, in so far as it is possible, it
shall be fully requited. Even when this is done,
we repeat that there comes a day when manifestly
it ought no longer to be accepted.

On the other hand, it is quite possible that
children may sacrifice too much to their parents.
A mother is left alone in the world save for a
loving daughter, and as years pass comes to lean
more and more on that daughter's service and
affection. A day comes whm Uie du^^itor is

Itt PBAYER IN WAR TIME

ekiimed by a stranger, and all her heart goes out
to meet the claim. She refuses, nevertheless.
She considers that her first duty is to her mother,
and she resigns herself to a lonely life, which is
none the lighter because she remembers that it
was by ber own choice that it continued to be
lonely.

We say that those sacrifices of children ought
not to be accepted. One might imagine that the
acceptance of such sacrifices was wholly impossible
to really noble and unselfish natures. It may be
•o, but any one who thinks and observes sees how
nmy are wearily and dutifully carrying out a
life subject to constant demands from others.
There are persons who live as vampires live, by
absorbing the young life that is near to them.

Also, it used to be widely held that women in
particular should live for others. Perhaps this
belongs to the past. We hope so. One of the
great preachers of altruism was James Hinton, a
really good man in spite of his aberrations of
thought. He imagined that his work as a writer
was of supreme importance to the world, and
brought his poor wife into great straits. We are
told that when the family exchequer was almost
empty he took to descanting on the seemliness of
death by hunger, and the clear advantage he would

THE ACCEPTANCS OF SACRIFICE 188

derive from being driven to dcqMratkn. AB tlMit
James Himton ever wrote wm not wottii the
sacrifice of a womas't Hfo for a ringle year. We
need not multiply initaneei. What we have ^
do is to think over our own livee, and to tee thiA
those near uf .re sacrificing as littk as may be to
our tasteo and fancies.

All this bears very directly on the urgent ques-
tions of the day.

Many of ua— moat of us—must at the present
time aoeqpt the tremcndcNis saeiiioe of o«r soldiers,
our saikfs, our aviators. We do not need to give
the harmwing picture of the fives t*iey are Itvteg
witii such gallantry and ^eerAahiess on f > ^ very
edge of deatb-jn jeopardy every hour an every
minttte. We have to accept the saerifloes, but
we are constrained by evtTr cou lideratioii of
honour and gr«^titude to aeoe|»i ^em in a s a erHklal
tenqiier. We mmst, so for as in us lies, earry
out their supreme saerifiee in tte infinitely quieter
and more easily endured saeiiftees of oar daily
life. Are we aware of what we are dofaig in the
acc^ptwMe of ^hdFsacidleea T

In the HMert Jmmti for Ai»fl the editor.
Dr. L. P. Jacks, has a most impresrive artide on

184 PRAYER IN WAR TIME

the present situation. He carries us with him
from the beginning to the end of his paper. Dr.
Jacks admits that we oui^t to have known that
the rulers ci Germany were preparing to attack
us. We are much to blame that we had to wait
for the outlnreak of the war before discovering
the predatory intentions of Germany. We were
amply warned. But he contends that we could
not have been prquured for such a war as this has
turned cmt to be. We could not have b^eved
that Germany meant to overthrow the moral
foundation on which Western civilisation has been
built up. Nor could we have known that Germany
* was ready to base her conduct in war on a code
of ethks whidi has never yet been acknowledged
by man nor practised anywhere unless it be in the
netiimnost pit.' We were pocf^ed a little, even
after the war b^n, but gradually the truth
dawned upon us. The Orgy of bestiality in
Belgium, the sinking of the Lnwlflwta, the bom-
barding of defenceless towns, the murder of
Armenians, the killing of Nurse Cavell, and other
tfao^pB d^ur as the sun in heaven, set a final leid
(m our ocmviction that the work we have to resist
and overthrow is ttom first to last the devil's work.
I^noe Dr. Jacks wrote we have read the horriUb
story ci the feariid sufferiog at Wttleiribeig Gaa^

THE ACCEPTANCE OF SACRIFICE 185

When typlmt broke out the Gemm dooton fled.
Beioce that they had exxqdoyed savage doft to
tenofke ^ pritonen. Fk^g^^ with a rahber
ifdiqp was frequent. Men wore tied to posts with
their arms above their heads for hours. The men
actually loolced upon the typhus, with all its
borrors, as a godsend. The prisoners, starved and
naked, had no help except from the heroie English
doctors, two of wliom dkd ot typhus about a
month after their arrival. The German medical
officer in charge ot tiie can^ visited onfy on one
occaskm, attired in a compete suH d protective
clothing, inchwKng mask and ntbbor (^oves. A
certain numbor of coffins were sent in by the
Germans every day, m whidi tiie bodwi ot the
dead were put. What the prisoners found hardest
to bear was the |eers w^ iHiich the coffins were
frequo^ greeted by the inhabitants <tf ^l^lten-
berg, who stood outdde the wire and were per-
mitted to inmH the dead.

We say with Br. Jacks, thi^ what eaUs us to
battle » naked Evfl. is no Gcmiaay,
but a flendisii power bdimd her that we are fill-
ing agamst, and we know iHiat we «re 4^^tog for.
With naked Svfl we most ^gl^ and we can 4ght
only one way, for reason and persuasion are out
of tiia qncstma h««» So our hepftiitioiit vanish.

186 PRAYER m WAR TIMB

What more proof do we want that the hour when
the soul must put on its armour is arrived ? From
now forwards till this power is broken nothing else
reaUy matters. We cannot all be soldiers or
sailors, but we can give what we possess to the last
penny, and ungrudgingly, ' the last ounce of mental
and moral energy; the loss of our noblest and
best ; our own lives as a matter of course. For
we are fighting against an enemy whose triumph
would be the defeat of our souls, and the vow has
been vowed that he shall not prevail.' Out of this
conflict and this coming victory will rise a new
and nobler race. Dr. Jacks says rightly : ' I can
imagine nothing worse for my native land than
another century of such a life as we were living
before the war. Before the end of it we should
have gone to pieces, and it would have needed
no attack from without to lay our Empire in ruins.
A shock was necessary to brmg us to our senses
and to send our quacks to the right-about.' But
now we have a vision of a better day. Our gallant
fighters make their ceaseless appeal. For us their
bodies are broken, for us their blood is shed. Are
we worthy of the sacrifice ?

We have a word to say about the persons called
conscientious objectors. Those who can fight and
gtand aside from fighting wUl be judged in the

THE ACCEPTANCE OF SACRIFICE 187

time to come. For the rest, the State has certain
powers. It may not choose to exercise all its
powers on those who are accepting the sacrifices
made for them and treating them as they do. In
common justice the State should see that at least
the pecuniary sacrifice made by those men shall
be as great as the pecuniary sacrifice made by the
fighters. It ought also to make sure that they are
doing the necessary work of the country. The
nation will do what remains to be done.

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