,,the ,,great ,,discovery   ,,by        
,,norman ,,maclean     ,had ,i stood    
aside when in defiance of pledges to    
which my kingdom was a party1 the soil  
of ,belgium was violated and her cities 
laid desolate1 when the very life of the
 ,french nation was threatened with     
extinction1 ,i should have sacrificed my
 honour1 and given to destruction the   
liberties of my ,empire and of mankind4 
,proclamation by ,king ,george ,v4      
,,glasgow  ,,james ,,maclehose ,,and    
,,sons  ,,publishers ,,to ,,the         
,,university  #aiae     ,,published ,,by
  ,,james ,,maclehose ,,and ,,sons1     
,,glasgow  ,publishers to the           
,university   ,,macmillan ,,and ,,co4   
,,ltd4 ,,london    ,new ,york 444 ,the  
,macmillan ,co4   ,toronto 4444 ,the    
,macmillan ,co4 of ,canada   ,london    
44444 ,simpkin1 ,hamilton and ,co4      
,cambridge 44 ,bowes and ,bowes         
,edinburgh 44 ,douglas and ,foulis      
,sydney 44444 ,angus and ,robertson     
,,mcmxv     ,,by ,,the ,,same ,,author4 

,,dwellers ,,in ,,the ,,mist4   ,,hills 
,,of ,,home4   ,,the ,,burnt ,,offering4
   ,,can ,,the ,,world ,,be ,,won ,,for 
,,christ8   ,,africa ,,in               
,,transformation4     ,,to  ,j4 ,p4     
,,croal  ,,to ,,whom ,,this ,,book      
,,owes  ,,its ,,existence     ,preface  
,six articles which the writer          
contributed to ,the ,scotsman constitute
 this book4  ,four of these1 which      
appeared under the title ,in ,our       
,parish1 were1 in response to requests1 
re-printed by ,the ,scotsman as         
leaflets1 and in that form had a        
circulation that reached an aggregate of
 #ajj1jjj4  ,one of the articles 7now   
,chapter ,,ii471 which was published on 
,february #ad1 #aiad1 has been revised  
and somewhat enlarged4  ,the rest are   
reprinted substantially as they were    
originally written4  ,in these last     
months there has come to the nation a   
spiritual and ethical revival4  ,life   
will never again be what it was in the  
last long summer days ere the guns began

 to speak4  ,it will be a better world  
than it has yet been4  ,the nation is   
being saved as by fire1 and in the fire 
much dross will be consumed4  ,the      
conscience of the ,state has been       
stirred1 and it cannot in the future    
acquiesce in the continuance of the     
social evils which are gnawing at the   
nation's heart4  ,the fate of the       
,empire in the long years to come will  
depend more on the fight for social     
renewal in the midst of the streets than
 on red battlefields4 ,to the men who   
have stood between the race and         
destruction the ,state owes a debt which
 it can only repay by such measures of  
social regeneration as will make        
possible for every man and woman to     
realise the thrill and the joy of life4 
,these pages only represent an effort to
 portray the first stirring of that     
newly awakened consciousness of ,god and
 of duty which was felt in every parish 
throughout the ,empire1 and which is    
destined to transform the world4        

,contents      ,i4  ,,the ,,great       
,,discovery   ,,ii4  ,,the ,,revival    
,,of ,,patriotism  ,,iii4  ,,the        
,,shadow ,,of ,,the ,,cross   ,,iv4     
,,the ,,power ,,of ,,prayer    ,v4      
,,the ,,victory   ,,vi4  ,,the ,,cities 
,,of ,,the ,,plain     ,i  ,the ,great  
,discovery    ,i  ,while the thing is   
still fresh in my mind ,i will try to   
put it down on paper--the incredible    
thing that has happened in our parish4  
,when we had least thought about life's 
great things1 we have come face to face 
with the greatest4  ,we had been for    
long years living on the surface of     
things4  ,the sun basked on the slopes  
of the hills1 purple at eve2 we came    
back from the offices in town1 plunged  
through the tunnel1 and hastened to our 
gardens4  ,we lifted up our eyes to the 
hills1 and our security seemed as       
immovable as their crests soaring above 
the little dells that were haunts of    
ancient peace around their foundations4 
,long years of ease dimmed our vision4  

,the church bell rang in vain for many  
of us4  ,those who had six whole days in
 the week to devote to their own        
pleasure began to devote the seventh    
also to that same end4 ,the day of peace
 was becoming a day of unrest4  ,thus it
 was with us when1 with the suddenness  
of a lightning flash1 the incredible    
overtook us4  999999  ,if only one could
 put it into words6  ,but words can     
never express this sudden meeting of man
 and ,god when that meeting was least   
expected4  ,it was heralded by the      
booming of guns across the sea4  ,the   
great city lay slumbering between us and
 the shore1 but over the turrets and    
spires it came--boom1 boom--under the   
stars4  ,it was war4  ,that far-away    
echo might not itself be the grim       
struggle of death1 but it was its       
harbinger4  ,over all the seas death    
would soon be riding on the billows4    
,faces became stern4  ,good-byes were   
spoken4  ,ah6 that word ,good-bye1 which
 we hear every day1 and which1 like     

those old coins which have passed from  
hand to hand so long until at last the  
image and superscription are gone1 had  
lost all trace of its original meaning1 
retaining nothing but a faint aroma of  
courtesy1 which sometimes vanished in   
the inflection of the voice until the   
word became only a discourteous         
dismissal--that word was born for us    
anew4 ,we heard it on the lips of       
mothers clinging to the hands of their  
sons1 who were summoned away to join    
their regiments1 and as white lips said 
,good-bye to those whose blood was to   
water the fair fields of ,france1 we    
suddenly realised what it meant4  ,the  
word1 meaningless yesterday1 to-day     
expressed the greatest wish that the    
lips of man can utter--,god be with     
thee4  ,on the mother's lips the word   
was the commitment of her boy to the    
charge of the encompassing ,god4  ,then1
 when the harvest was ripening on the   
slopes and the drum sounded ,come1 and  
the young and the strong went forth with

 a smile to the great harvesting of     
death1 we learned again the meaning of a
 phrase4  ,but we were yet to learn the 
meaning of a word4  ,it is in the       
darkness that the stars appear and the  
immeasurable abysses of the infinite    
universe1 and it was when the dusk sank 
into the deep night that the word rose  
high in the firmament of life and burned
 red into our souls4  ,and that word was
 ,god4  ,it seemed so incredible to us  
that we should need that old word4  ,we 
were so powerful and so rich4  ,our     
faith was strong1 but it was in the     
reeking tube and in the smoking shard1  
and in the number of our ,dreadnoughts4 
,then all these things seemed to fail   
us4  ,a nightmare seemed to fall on     
us--a nightmare which lifted not night  
or day4  ,our soldiers were driven back1
 back1 back4  ,they fought by day and   
marched by night1 and we heard in the   
night watches the beating of their      
wearied feet1 blood stained4  ,was there
 to be no end to that tramp1 tramp of   

men yielding before death8  ,was the    
,empire reared by the heroism of        
generations to crumble under our feet8  
,the ghastly deeds of shame--were they  
to come to our doors6  ,we looked at our
 children1 and they could not understand
 the light in our eyes4  ,these deeds of
 hell--they might occur even now under  
the shadow of our hills4  ,it was then  
that the word began to blaze in the     
heavens4  ,and the word was--,god4      
999999  ,we had built a new church in   
our parish1 that those who built        
pleasant houses on the slopes1 fleeing  
from the restless city that lay below1  
might have room to worship4  ,but the   
desire to worship seemed to be dying of 
attrition4  ,and the old church where   
the quarriers and farm servants         
assembled and worshipped in an          
atmosphere that on a warm day became so 
thick that one could cut it with a      
knife--that old church would have been  
quite big enough to hold all who came1  
for the instinct to pray seemed to be   

dying4  ,and many1 because the new      
church was now too big1 regretted the   
old4  ,then1 suddenly1 the new church   
was filled to the door4  ,men and women 
discovered the road leading down to the 
hollow where the church stands amid the 
graves of the generations4  ,with       
wistful faces they turned towards it4   
,while the bell rang they stood in      
groups among the graves4 ,and if you    
listened there was but one word--war1   
war1 war4  ,over and over again just    
that one word4  ,until the bell was     
silent1 and they turned into the now    
crowded church4  ,as ,i sat there and   
cast a glance around me1 ,i felt a      
sudden amazement4 ,those who never      
before had come down the steep brae when
 the bell was ringing were sitting here 
and there just as if they had been there
 every ,sunday when the beadle1 with    
head erect1 ushers the minister to the  
pulpit and snips him in4  7,though the  
church is new1 the minister is yet      
snipped in by the beadle--a lonely      

prisoner there on his perch1 and it is  
an uncanny sound to hear the click of   
that snip shutting in the solitary man47
  ,in the pew in front of me sat a burly
 man with a head like a dome4  ,he never
 came to church4  ,when ,i met him he   
would stand for an hour in the lane     
among the hawthorns explaining his      
views4  ,prayer was mere superstition4  
,cosmic laws unchanging and unchangeable
 held the universe in their grasp4  ,to 
ask that one of these laws should be    
altered for a moment that a boon might  
be conferred on us was to ask that the  
universe might be shattered4  ,prayer   
was immoral1 the asking for what could  
not be granted1 and what we knew could  
not be granted4 ,if he went to church it
 would be hypocrisy on his part4  ,and  
thus it came that when the farm servants
 came up the ,gallows road on their way 
to church on a summer morning1 they     
often heard the whirr of my friend's    
mowing machine as he mowed his lawn4    
,it was the way he took of letting the  

parish know that culture could have no  
dealings with effete superstitions4     
999999  ,and yet there he sat in front  
of me with a hymn-book which he picked  
up from the shelf at the door1 where    
such books are piled for the use of     
camp-followers4  ,the tune of the       
opening ,psalm was ,kilmarnock1 and my  
friend sang it in a way which showed    
that his mother had trained him well4   
,then ,i forgot him1 but after a while  
something like a stifled sob in front of
 me brought him again to my             
consciousness4  ,the minister began to  
pray for the ,king's forces on the sea1 
on the land1 and in the air4  ,my mind  
was playing round the words in the air1 
for they were an intrusion into the     
familiar order--an innovation6  ,every  
invention of man seemed doomed to become
 a weapon in the hand of the devil4     
,but the prayer went on--for the sailors
 keeping their watches in the darkness  
of the night that ,god might watch over 
them1 that through their unfaltering    

courage our shores might be inviolate2  
for the soldiers now facing the enemy1  
grappling with death1 that ,god might   
succour them1 covering their heads in   
the day of battle4 ,break ,thou down the
 fierce power of our enemies1 cried the 
minister suddenly1 that with full hearts
 we may praise ,thee1 the ,god of our   
fathers4  ,a great hush fell on the     
crowded church4  ,the shut eyes saw the 
red battlefields1 with the lines swaying
 to and fro1 while the shrapnel burst   
and the aeroplanes whirred in the smoke 
of the cannon4  ,the cries of men       
suddenly smitten smote on the inner ear4
  ,it was then that the great thing     
happened4  ,all of a sudden the voice   
broke1 recovered1 and broke again1 and  
the minister was swept away from the    
well-ordered1 beautiful words he had    
prepared4  ,he began to speak of the    
stricken hearts at home1 of fathers and 
mothers to whom their sons would never  
return1 of women in empty houses with   
their husbands laid in nameless graves1 

of little children who would never learn
 to say ,father 444 ,it was then that my
 friend stifled a sob4  ,there was      
,something after all1 ,someone greater  
than cosmic forces1 greater than        
law--with an eye to pity and an arm to  
save4  ,there was ,god4  ,and my        
friend's son was with the famous        
regiment that was swaying to and fro1   
grappling with destiny4  ,he was        
helpless--and there was only ,god to    
appeal to4  ,there comes an hour in life
 when the heart realises that instinct  
is mightier far than that logic which   
is1 after all is said1 only the last    
refuge of the feeble-minded4  ,there    
came like the sudden lifting of a       
curtain the vision of a whole           
nation--nay1 of races girdling the whole
 earth--to whom the same high experience
 has come4 ,everywhere the sanctuaries  
filled1 the eyes turned upward1 for     
instinct is mightier than reason4  ,the 
smoke of battle has revealed the face of
 ,god4  999999  ,with us in the parish  

churches of ,scotland the great thing is
 the sermon4  ,but to-day it is         
different2 the great thing now is       
prayer4 ,and the minister preached about
 prayer4  ,he set forth in clear and    
ordered language1 with a felicitous     
phrase now and then lighting up his     
sentences1 that prayer was not a mere   
relic of fanatical superstition but a   
mighty power4  ,he discussed with a     
wealth of learning whether ,god had shut
 ,himself in behind a prison-house of   
cosmic laws that made it impossible for 
,him to answer prayer4  ,he reasoned the
 worshippers cold4 ,but there in that   
hour reason was bound to give way before
 intuition4  ,if ,i am free1 cried the  
preacher1 to rush to the help of my     
child when he crieth in terror2 and if1 
when the creatures of ,his hand cry to  
,god ,he is bound and cannot help or    
soothe1 then ,he is poorer than ,i1 so  
great a thing is freedom4  ,prayer was  
not mere spiritual gymnastics4 ,a ,god  
immured in cold laws1 barred for ever   

from the play of love or tenderness1    
would be the one being in the universe  
most to be pitied4 ,the ,creator did not
 sit deaf and dumb on the ,throne of    
indifference answering nothing1 doing   
nothing4  ,history was the proof that   
,righteousness was throned at the core  
of the universe1 for at the last right  
ever prevailed4  ,then the measured     
tones went on to speak of the difficulty
 of believing in the efficacy of prayer 
when ,christians faced ,christians in   
mortal conflict1 and they both cried for
 victory--both the children of the ,one 
,father crying for victory over each    
other4  ,but the difficulty was of      
appearance only4  ,for the only         
prevailing prayer was prayer in the name
 of ,christ4  ,whatsoever ye shall ask  
in ,my name that will ,i do4  ,to ask in
 ,his name was to ask in ,his           
spirit--the spirit of humility1         
self-sacrifice1 and love--the spirit of 
self-surrender to the will supreme4     
,the question was which of the prayers  

for victory was prayer in the name of   
,christ4444  ,this was clear1           
convincing1 but cold4  ,only at rare    
intervals does the minister of our      
parish give way to passion4  ,suddenly  
there came a wave of emotion4  ,he flung
 his head back1 and his eyes glowed4    
,his voice vibrated through the church4 
,when ,i think1 he exclaimed1 of the    
things that have been done with the name
 of ,god on men's lips2 of atrocities   
such as the unspeakable ,turk never     
perpetrated2 of war waged not upon      
to-day but upon the centuries of faith  
that reared great cathedrals now in     
flames2 of women and children laid upon 
the reeking altars of human passion2 and
 all this in the name of culture1 the   
culture of the superman who deems       
himself superior to the ,ten            
,commandments--then1 ,i say1 may ,god   
grant that the culture which beareth    
such fruit may perish from off the face 
of the earth4  ,prayer for the triumph  
of such a cause cannot be in ,christ's  

name4444  ,but the preacher never got   
any further4  ,this was what happened1  
and ,i am afraid some will not believe  
me1 for a ,scotsman in church is a      
stoic1 motionless and dumb1 as he       
listens to the ,word4  ,but all the     
traditions of the parish were snapped in
 a second4  ,in the side gallery sat the
 ,general1 sitting as he always does    
with his back to the minister4  ,this he
 does that he may mark who are in church
 of his servants and tenants1 and who   
absent4  ,when ,i read of the nobles in 
,france who went to the scaffold with a 
jest in the days of the ,terror1 ,i     
always think of the ,general4  ,he is   
that sort of man4  ,to-day1 little by   
little1 as the sermon went on1 he turned
 round4  ,at last he was facing the     
pulpit4  ,his gleaming eyes were fixed  
on the preacher4  ,his son was dead4    
,and when the words rang through the    
church1 may ,god grant that such culture
 may perish 444 the ,general sprang to  
his feet4  ,amen rang his voice through 

the church4  ,there was a sudden        
movement2 as one man they all rose to   
their feet4 ,hands were lifted up to    
heaven4  ,amen1 ,amen1 they cried--and  
then there rose a cheer--muffled1 but   
still a cheer4  ,in the pulpit the words
 died on the preacher's lips4  ,he      
seemed as one suddenly stricken4 ,he    
gazed bewildered over the sea of faces4 
,they sank back into the pews as though 
suddenly ashamed4  ,the last man to sit 
was my friend1 who stood to the last    
with uplifted hand4  ,i think it was he 
who cried ,hear1 hear--the only sign he 
gave of his long absence from church4   
,the sermon was never finished4  ,the   
preacher in a low voice said1 ,let us   
pray4  ,and he humbled himself as one   
who enters the valley of humiliation4   
,and then he gave out this psalm3--     
,now ,israel     ,may say1 and that     
truly1   ,if that the ,lord     ,had not
 our cause maintained2     99    99     
99    99    99   ,then certainly        
,they had devoured us all4     99    99 

99    99    99   ,but blessed be ,god1  
,who doth us safely keep1   ,and hath   
not giv'n     ,us for a living prey     
,unto their teeth1     ,and bloody      
cruelty4     99    99    99    99    99 
,this psalm as we sang it that day was a
 paean of triumph4  ,the clouds suddenly
 broke4  ,we heard our fathers singing  
it in their dark days4 ,the melody      
wedded to the words soared in exultant  
triumph1 wailed like the cry of the     
shingle swept by the surf2 the sighing  
of the wind over the heather was in it1 
and the hissing of the storm through the
 spray4 ,it was fierce as devouring     
death2 it was gentle as a mother        
crooning over her child4  ,it put iron  
into the blood of our fathers as they   
sang it4  ,it was nerved by such a hymn 
that the sailors of ,queen ,elizabeth   
swept the main1 that the ,puritans      
wrestled with principalities and powers1
 that a handful of moors-men levelled   
despotism and tyranny to the ground4    
,it swept through our blood like flame  

as we in our day of stress now sang it4 
,we1 too1 would pull down strongholds   
and turn to flight the armies of the    
alien4  ,in all ages the cause of       
freedom triumphed1 and that cause was   
ours4  ,we had entered on conflict with 
clean hands and1 ,god helping us1 we    
would wage it with clean hands4 ,the    
clouds suddenly broke and the light of  
victory irradiated our faces4  ,there   
came overwhelmingly the realisation that
 there was a power behind us mightier   
far than sword or shell--even the ,lord 
,god ,omnipotent4  ,and that was how we 
made the greatest of all discoveries--we
 found ,god4  999999  ,yesterday morning
 ,i went early to the station1 and there
 in the booking office ,i found my      
friend talking to the ticket-collector4 
,the ticket-collector is a philosopher1 
and he comes to church1 because he loves
 the old psalm tunes4  ,but when one of 
our parishioners who goes now and then  
to ,keswick comes to the booking office1
 the ticket-collector calls him in and  

reasons with him gently4  ,mahn1 there's
 naething in it1 he says2 ,i can tell   
you for a fact there's naething in      
it--all a whack of fables4  ,some day   
you'll find out to your cost that       
there's something in it1 flashes the man
 from ,keswick4  ,if ye wad only reid   
philosophee1 says the ticket-collector1 
ye would ken better4  ,but to-day my    
friend and the ticket-collector had     
their heads close together1 and ,i only 
heard the conclusion of their argument4 
,mahn1 said the ticket-collector1 ,i am 
beginning to think there may be         
something in it4  ,and in the evening   
near the top of the brae ,i saw the     
,general standing erect with his little 
cane in his hand4  ,he was talking to   
the shoemaker1 the greatest ,radical in 
the parish--one of a party with which   
the ,general has no dealings4  ,but they
 talked like brothers4  ,for the        
shoemaker has a son fighting at the     
front1 and his heart is sore troubled   
within him4  ,and the ,general's son is 

dead4  ,and as ,i came up the brae ,i   
saw the ,general putting his hand on the
 shoemaker's shoulder and turn away1    
walking slowly up the brae4  ,the old   
shoemaker saluted and came down the     
brae4  ,there was a tender look in the  
old man's eye as he greeted me4  ,in our
 parish we have truly made the greatest 
of all discoveries4  ,we have found     
,god1 and1 finding ,him1 we have found  
each other4  ,the man who in his madness
 kindled the lurid flames of war little 
dreamed of this fire which he kindled4  
,,ii  ,the ,revival of ,patriotism      
,,ii  ,there has come to us in these    
days a revival of the spirit of         
patriotism4  ,that revival has come when
 it was sorely needed4  ,in days of     
unclouded prosperity other gods called  
forth our devotion and enthusiasm1 but  
the ,god of our ,fathers who made us a  
great nation and sent us to sow the     
seeds of righteousness beside all       
waters1 bestowing upon us empire and    
might1 was well-nigh forgotten4  ,for   

the new man words like ,empire1         
,patriotism1 ,duty1 ,honour1 ,glory and 
,god had little or no meaning4  ,causes 
for which the fathers died could not    
evoke an added heart-beat from their    
sons4  ,they cared so little for the    
mighty empire which they inherited that 
they contemplated the bloodshed of civil
 war--so hot was their zeal for party   
and so cold their love for the state4   
,it was necessary that discipline should
 come4  ,and that discipline came1      
shaking the very foundations of our     
national life4  ,its first fruit is that
 the smouldering fires of patriotism    
have broken forth once more into bright 
flame2 and that everywhere the hearts of
 the people have been stirred by the    
call to arise and endure hardness that  
the goodly heritage of empire perish    
not4  ,and preachers in a thousand      
pulpits have sounded the trumpet-note of
 duty and of patriotism4  999999  ,it   
has been said that preachers should aim 
at making the churches sanctuaries of   

peace1 within whose walls the echoes of 
the guns and the cries of the perishing 
should not penetrate4  ,some have even  
said that ,christianity1 so far from    
fostering the spirit of patriotism1 is  
in reality hostile to it4  ,patriotism  
itself as a duty1 says ,lecky1 has never
 found any place in ,christian ethics1  
and strong theological feeling has      
usually been directly hostile to its    
growth4  ,no doubt there is something to
 be said for that view4  ,the attitude  
of the early ,christians towards the    
,roman ,empire was not that of          
patriotism4  ,the clear shining of the  
heavenly ,jerusalem so dazzled their    
eyes that this world1 and the temporal  
empire occupying its stage1 seemed but  
as a shadow4  ,their devotion to the    
,unseen ,king left little room for      
loyalty to the earthly ruler4  ,in the  
glorious consciousness of his           
citizenship in heaven1 it was a small   
thing in the estimation of ,st4 ,paul   
that he was also a ,roman citizen--but  

he did not forget it4  ,but when the    
earthly ruler persecuted1 and burnt1 and
 threw the ,christians to the lions1 or 
slaughtered them to make a ,roman       
holiday1 then the poor victims cannot be
 blamed for not being patriots4  ,and   
the ,church in the mediaeval period1    
organised in the mighty hierarchy of    
,rome1 did not tend to foster a national
 spirit of patriotism4  ,in those days  
when the ,emperor ,theodosius made      
penance in the ,cathedral of ,milan and 
,ambrose declared that the ,church is   
not in the empire1 but the ,emperor in  
the ,church2 or in those later days when
 ,hildebrand promulgated the doctrine   
that the temporal power was subject to  
the spiritual power1 and kings and      
emperors were only vassals of the       
,church1 and ,henry ,v4 was left three  
days standing barefooted in the snow    
waiting humbly to see the ,pope at      
,canossa--in those days certainly       
,christianity sought to foster not the  
sense of national loyalty1 but that of  

devotion towards that holy ,catholic and
 universal ,church whose visible head   
was the ,pope4  ,christianity placed the
 ,pope on the throne of the ,caesars1   
and sought to evoke towards him a       
patriotism which transcended            
nationality4  ,but the ,reformation gave
 its death blow to ,hildebrandism1 and  
the ,pope no longer usurped the temporal
 ,thrones of ,europe4  ,and there came  
the throb of the awakening spirit of    
nationality4  ,the spirit of patriotism 
stirred once more the slumbering races4 
999999  ,the question whether patriotism
 is a fruit of ,christianity must be    
answered not by reference to what men   
did in the name of their religion--for  
men are fallible--but by the precept and
 example of the ,founder of             
,christianity4  ,he was a ,jew1 and of  
all races the ,jew was the most         
patriotic4  ,an exile by the rivers of  
,babylon1 the ,israelite refused to     
forget ,zion4  ,if ,i forget thee1 ,o   
,jerusalem1 let my right hand forget its

 cunning--that was the cry wherewith his
 unconquerable soul faced an            
overwhelming destiny4  ,and in this     
respect ,jesus ,christ was true to ,his 
race4  ,he was a patriot4  ,he          
worshipped in the synagogues1 and went  
on pilgrimages to ,jerusalem1 because   
,he loved the national institutions of  
,his country4  ,one note of true        
patriotism is anguish4  ,it is when love
 is great that the folly and sin of the 
person beloved pierce the heart4  ,the  
patriotism of the ,founder of           
,christianity expressed itself in a cry 
of agony which has reverberated through 
the centuries--,o ,jerusalem1           
,jerusalem1 thou that killest the       
prophets1 and stonest them that are sent
 unto thee1 how often would ,i have     
gathered thy children together1 even as 
a hen gathereth her chickens under her  
wings1 and ye would not6 ,behold1 your  
house is left unto you desolate4  ,that 
cry is the measure of ,his patriotism4  
,judged1 then1 by the example of its    

,founder1 ,christianity must produce the
 spirit of love and loyalty towards     
one's own country4  ,there was a        
patriotism before ,christianity1 but it 
was that of arrogance1 aggression1 and  
self-glorification4  ,it was a          
patriotism which meted out only contempt
 to other races4  ,to the ,jew the      
,greek was only a ,gentile dog2 to the  
,greek the ,jew was only a contemptible 
,barbarian4  ,but the patriotism which  
is animated by the ,christian spirit is 
far other4  ,it is not the vaunting of  
pride nor the shouting of vulgar        
ditties4  ,it seeks the glory of its own
 country1 but the glory it seeks is the 
glory of the greater service rendered to
 humanity4  ,conscious of its own       
defects1 it does not condemn others4    
,with eyes cleansed from prejudice1 it  
beholds the good in other races4  ,it   
seeks the first place for its own nation
 because it acts the noblest1 loves the 
best4 ,all the elements which make up   
the strong power of patriotism--love of 

family1 love of neighbours1 love of     
race1 love of country--,christianity has
 purified them all4  ,true patriotism   
is1 then1 a fruit of the ,christian     
religion1 a virtue which falls to be    
inculcated by the ,church4  ,if         
,christianity be the projection of the  
,christ-life into the midst of every    
generation1 then the life that reflects 
the beauty of ,christ must be a life    
animated by the deepest love of one's   
country4  999999  ,it was ,dean ,stanley
 who rendered ,god thanks in ,paisley   
,abbey for that ,scotsmen were citizens 
of an ,empire so great1 members of a    
,church so free4  ,in the building up of
 the ,empire ,scotsmen have borne a     
great share of toil and peril4  ,in     
other days the fires of patriotism      
burned brightly4  ,the cry of our       
fathers was my country right or wrong4  
,but we feel not quite so sure of our   
country being always in the right4 ,the 
passion of ,christianity is an ethical  
passion4  ,christian patriotism demands 

national righteousness4  ,to keep       
patriotism as an ardent fire we must be 
convinced that our country stands for   
righteousness4  ,and in this day of our 
ordeal we have this certainty to uphold 
us1 that we are fighting for the right4 
,it was not in defiance of              
,christianity1 but in its defence1 that 
we drew the sword4  ,for this war sprang
 from an unbridled lust of conquest to  
which a whole nation surrendered itself4
  ,but before surrendering to the       
passions of war the ideals of ,christ   
were first forsaken by our enemy4  ,a   
new law was promulgated3 ,become hard1  
,o my brethren1 for we are emancipated  
and the world belongs to us4  ,new      
beatitudes were declared3 ,ye have heard
 how 444 it was said1 ,blessed are the  
meek 444 but ,i say unto you1 ,blessed  
are the valiant1 for they shall make the
 earth their throne 444 ,ye have read1  
,blessed are the peacemakers1 but ,i say
 unto you1 ,blessed are the war-makers1 
for they shall be called1 if not the    

children of ,jehovah1 the children of   
,odin1 who is greater than ,jehovah4    
,out of this new gospel1 the gospel of  
,odin1 has sprung a war of              
extermination--exiled nations1          
devastated kingdoms1 desolated colleges1
 ruined cathedrals1 and multitudes of   
women and children left nothing but     
their eyes to weep with4  ,the name of  
,god has been invoked over unspeakable  
barbarities--but the ,god thus invoked  
is not the ,christian ,god4  ,it is     
,odin in whose name these things are    
done4  ,what we are fighting for is for 
the ,christian ideal against ,odin--for 
the law of truth and mercy against the  
reign of falsehood of word and bond1 and
 of merciless barbarity4  ,we have bared
 the breast to death that there may sit 
on the throne of the world's soul1 not a
 ruthless tribal god1 but the ,god of   
,fatherhood and ,love whom ,jesus       
,christ revealed4  ,and in waging that  
war we have ground to hope that the ,god
 of righteousness is on our side4  ,if  

we have not had the name of ,god        
constantly on our lips it is not because
 we do not feel that we are fighting    
,his battle1 but because ,he is so      
great1 the ,lord of ,heaven and ,earth  
before whom we are but as dust1 that we 
shrink from coupling ,his great name    
with ours4  ,are you sure that ,god is  
on your side8 ,abraham ,lincoln was     
asked in the dark days of the ,american 
,civil ,war4  ,i have not thought about 
that1 he replied2 but ,i am very anxious
 to know whether we are on ,god's side4 
,and when the causes of this war are    
examined the assurance grows stronger   
and stronger that we are on ,god's side4
  ,that is why the whole nation has been
 welded into the unity and consistency  
of polished steel2 why the fire of      
patriotism burns in our midst with an   
intenser heat than ever before4  999999 
,it is not merely from the righteousness
 of our cause in this war that our      
patriotism draws inspiration1 but also  
from the ideals for which our ,empire   

stands over all the world4  ,as we look 
out to-day on the ,empire which our     
fathers bequeathed us1 taking it all in 
all1 it stands for righteousness as no  
other on earth4  ,it stands for the     
freedom of the soul and the freedom of  
the body all over the world4  ,think of 
,india1 whose three hundred millions    
have been rescued from tyranny and      
ceaseless bloodshed1 whose widows have  
been saved from the flames1 whose       
starving have been fed in famine1 and to
 whom the ,british race brought security
 and peace4  ,when ,i think1 said       
ex-,president ,taft1 of what ,england   
has done in ,india 444 how she found    
those many millions torn by internecine 
strife1 disrupted with constant wars1   
unable to continue agriculture or the   
arts of peace1 with inferior roads1     
tyranny1 and oppression2 and when ,i    
think what the ,government of ,great    
,britain is now doing for these alien   
races1 the debt the world owes ,england 
ought to be acknowledged in no grudging 

manner4  ,no work ever done on earth for
 the elevation of humanity can compare  
with that wrought in ,india by our race 
for the uplift of humanity2 and it is   
the same wherever the standard of       
,britain waves4  ,in our own day we have
 seen in ,egypt a whole race rising out 
of the mud and clothed anew in the      
garments of self-respect4  ,through     
,africa1 wherever the sway of ,britain  
extends1 though yesterday the land      
reeked with blood1 to-day mercy and     
kindness are healing the woes of men1   
and millions who knew not when death    
lurked for them in the bush now sleep in
 peace under the palms4  ,it was the    
might of ,britain that destroyed the    
slave trade1 and it is nothing except   
the might of ,britain which prevents the
 slave raider resuming his nefarious    
traffic1 and slavery under the guise of 
other names being imposed on the natives
 of ,africa4  ,wherever you go1 to the  
tropics or the ,orient1 there the great 
power for righteousness is the ,british 

,empire4  ,it does not exploit inferior 
races for gold2 it is the trustee of the
 helpless native4  ,when one thinks of  
these little islands floating in the    
western sea1 of the power that has gone 
forth from them to heal and bless1 of   
the vast multitudes to whom the         
,king-,emperor is the symbol of justice 
and security--his is a poor heart which 
cannot feel the thrill of gratitude for 
citizenship in an ,empire girdling the  
whole earth1 whose foundations are thus 
laid in righteousness4  999999          
,patriotism is not1 however1 a mere     
sentiment4  ,it was not sentiment which 
built up the ,empire4  ,it was          
self-sacrifice--the spirit that faced   
and endured death4  ,for us1 too1       
patriotism must be more than sentiment2 
it must be action and the self-sacrifice
 which action requires4  ,what our      
fathers reared we must defend4  ,and the
 startling thing is that there are still
 so many of our people who shrink from  
the burden which patriotism imposes4    

,many thousands refuse to prepare       
themselves for war2 who are as the      
,romans who could not leave their baths 
to go and fight4  ,vast multitudes      
congregate to gaze on football matches  
and gamble on the issue4  ,the call of  
,king and country falls on ears grown   
deaf4  ,we thank ,god for those who1    
hearing the call1 have gone forth to    
fight1 counting everything but loss as  
compared to their country's gain4  ,but 
these others1 they cannot have paused to
 think4  ,they have not pictured these  
fair lands1 that have not heard the     
sound of war for seven generations1     
given over to that devouring enemy which
 has made ,belgium a wilderness4  ,they 
have not thought of ,oxford and ,st4    
,andrews sharing the fate of ,louvain2  
of ,london and ,edinburgh become as     
,brussels2 of the millions of ,glasgow  
and ,birmingham thrown on the mercies of
 the world1 women and children fleeing1 
driven by nameless fears1 with no place 
to flee to but the mountain fastnesses  

of ,wales and the ,highlands of         
,scotland--the last refuge of the       
miserable and the broken4  ,and yet     
these miseries would surely befall were 
all the manhood of the race such as     
these4  ,think what it would mean were  
the walls of our defence broken down4   
,supposing that a shattering blow were  
struck at the heart of the ,empire and  
our fleet crushed4  ,what would follow8 
,the crumbling of the ,empire in a week6
  ,it is not we alone1 with our wives   
and children in these little islands1   
who would be swept to ruin1 and on whom 
despair would fall4  ,from the far      
north-west to the long wash of the      
,australasian seas the shadow of        
devouring misery and death would fall on
 humanity4 ,the millions of ,india would
 be forthwith swept into the whirlpools 
of war and mutiny4  ,egypt would be     
thrown back into chaos4  ,africa would  
be left to ,islam and the merciless rule
 of a nation which knows but how to     
smite4  ,australia and ,new ,zealand    

would be at the mercy of the yellow     
races4  ,it would not be a calamity for 
us in these islands alone4  ,it would be
 a calamity whose withering blight would
 be cast over all the world4 ,the ideals
 of righteousness which this ,empire    
upholds would be trampled everywhere    
under foot4  ,covetousness and the lust 
of gold would hold the field of the     
world4  ,there is only one thing to be  
done1 one duty summoning us with an     
irresistible call--the duty that calls  
us to stand between our country and     
destruction4  ,were the fate which has  
overtaken the ,low ,country to overtake 
us2 were this fair land to be made a    
wilderness1 our women and children      
driven into the wilds1 and the ,empire  
wrested from our hands1 the men who     
failed in their duty would never be able
 to hold up their heads again4  ,what a 
terrible load would lie on him who1     
beholding the ruin of his native land1  
could say1 ,this might not have happened
 if ,i1 and others like me1 had done our

 duty4  ,that would be a hell from which
 there would be no escape4  ,which way  
,i fly is hell2 myself am hell4  ,there 
can be no limit to the sacrifice which  
patriotism requires1 so great a heritage
 is our native land4  ,it does not      
require of us as ,christians to engage  
in wars of conquest for the             
gratification of pride and greed1 but it
 does require of us even the sacrifice  
of our lives in the defence of our homes
 or in the defence of our brother's     
home4  ,there are those who find        
themselves faced with difficulty4  ,they
 are called upon to fight with every    
force in their power1 to slay1          
withholding not their hand1 while they  
hear the commandment1 ,thou shall not   
kill1 ringing in their ears1 and across 
the centuries the voice of their ,lord  
saying1 ,resist not evil2 whosoever     
shall smite thee on the right cheek1    
turn to him the other also4  ,they are  
bewildered4  ,is not the attitude of    
non-resistance that which ,jesus ,christ

 enjoins8  ,if they fight with sword and
 shell are they not lowering themselves 
to the level of ,nietzsche1 ,bernhardi  
and ,buelow1 and submitting to the      
arbitrament of the sword1 which decides 
nothing except its own sharpness4  ,the 
call of patriotism summoning to resist  
even unto blood comes to them1 and they 
are uncertain whether to obey4  ,but we 
must interpret the will of ,god1 not by 
isolated sentences1 but by the whole    
content of the divine revelation4  ,the 
commandment1 ,thou shalt not kill1 does 
not mean that we are not to kill in any 
circumstance whatever4  ,if the         
commandment is to be taken literally1   
then no limit is to be set to it1 and we
 must not kill any animal--not even the 
parasites of uncleanness4  ,there is1   
moreover1 another law which runs3 ,whoso
 sheddeth man's blood1 by man shall his 
blood be shed1 for in the image of ,god 
created ,he him4  ,so far from the mere 
physical life being for ever sacred1 the
 very altar of ,god ,himself was to be  

no sanctuary for the murderer4  ,the man
 who owned a vicious ox and knew him to 
be vicious1 and the ox killed a man1 the
 owner thereof was to be slain4  ,there 
are therefore circumstances in which the
 law1 ,thou shalt not kill1 is          
abrogated1 and its place is taken by the
 law1 ,thou shalt kill4  ,the law       
demanding the conservation of life rests
 on this foundation1 not that physical  
life itself is sacred1 but that human   
life bears the image of ,god4  ,there   
are things far more sacred than the     
physical life--even those things which  
constitute the image of ,god stamped    
upon man4  ,there are things for which  
men in all ages have been content to    
die--truth and loyalty to truth1 the    
principles which are dearer than life4  
,those things which ,god ordained that  
men might through them grow more and    
more into ,his image1 for these things  
man must be ready to die1 and among     
these things is nationality4  ,men      
cannot develop in isolation4  ,what poor

 creatures men would be if they were    
solitary units4  ,they would be as the  
beasts that perish4  ,it is through the 
heritage of nationality that the soul is
 enriched4  ,what poor stunted lives    
would ours be if we had not behind us   
the great and noble deeds which built up
 our ,empire1 if the words of the high  
souls of many generations did not come  
thrilling to our hearts1 if ,shakespeare
 and ,wordsworth1 ,scott and ,burns did 
not pour their treasures into our laps4 
,the soul grows into the image of ,god  
through the riches of nationality4  ,and
 whosoever warreth against nationality  
warreth against the soul4  ,and the men 
who warreth against the soul must be    
resisted to the death4  999999  ,we dare
 not appeal to ,jesus ,christ to cloak  
our shrinking from sacrifice4  ,no doubt
 ,his gentleness has been the wonder of 
history2 but ,his strength also summons 
us to be strong4  ,for ,jesus ,christ   
was not a quietist4  ,his religion is   
not a mere hospital for wounded souls4  

,his place is among the strong of the   
earth4  ,he faced the evil of this earth
 unflinching in ,his resistance4  ,woe  
unto you ,scribes and ,pharisees1       
hypocrites is ,his denunciation of the  
oppressor2 ,go tell that fox is ,his    
message to the tyrant4  ,when we think  
of ,him making the whips1 and falling1  
with holy anger in ,his eyes1 on those  
who desecrated the courts of the temple1
 overturning the tables of the money    
changers1 we know that the ideal of     
non-resistance is not ,his4  ,no doubt  
,he laid it down as the law for the     
individual that he should turn the other
 cheek2 but ,he did not lay it down as a
 law that a man should turn another's   
cheek to the smiter4  ,what the         
individual can do1 the nation may not   
do4  ,it no doubt is the duty of the    
,ruler to turn his own individual cheek 
to the insulter2 it is not his duty to  
turn the cheeks of the millions over    
whom he rules to those who would smite  
them1 committing their children to shame

 and their homes to devastation4  ,no   
doubt ,jesus ,christ enjoined the law of
 forgiveness1 but it was not            
unconditional4  ,if he repent1 forgive  
him1 is ,his law1 and until the         
wrongdoer repents and ceases from his   
evil1 it would be immoral to forgive    
him4  ,duty demands that every means be 
used to bring the evildoer to           
repentance2 for only so is there a      
chance of his soul being saved4  ,it is 
manifest that ,christianity is not a    
religion of non-resistance to evil1 but 
the religion of ,him who ,himself       
resisted evil1 and who resisted it even 
to the death4  ,patriotism1 therefore1  
demands that we resist even to the      
shedding of blood4  ,when a hostile army
 would destroy a nation1 as in ,belgium1
 it warreth against the soul1 and it is 
as ,christian to kill as it would be to 
shoot a tiger which leapeth out of the  
jungle to devour a man4  ,and that      
,irish soldier whose face in the        
hospital in ,paris was irradiated with  

joy when he was told that the enemy was 
put to flight and ,paris saved1 and who 
died with that gladness in his face1    
died in the spirit of ,jesus ,christ4   
,to say that the ,founder of            
,christianity would not strike a blow   
for home and kindred and truth is to    
forget that ,he struck a blow in        
,jerusalem and wielded the thongs on the
 shoulders of those who polluted ,his   
,father's house4  ,it is ,his will that 
we should strike a blow in defence of   
the house of our soul--the sanctuary of 
nationality4  999999  ,patriotism must  
be vibrant with the spirit of religion  
if it is to be a power rousing the      
nation to heroism and self-sacrifice4   
,there never was a nation so patriotic  
as the ,jew4  ,no city ever gripped a   
nation's heart-strings as ,jerusalem    
gripped the heart of the ,jew4  ,no     
suffering1 no defeat1 no exile however  
far1 could quench the fire of patriotism
 in the heart4  ,if ,i forget thee1 ,o  
,jerusalem1 let my right hand forget her

 cunning4  ,let my tongue cleave to the 
roof of my mouth if ,i remember thee    
not1 if ,i prefer not ,jerusalem above  
my chief joy--such was the cry of the   
,jew by the rivers of ,babylon1 yearning
 after ,sion4  ,how was it that         
,jerusalem thus pulled at its children's
 heart-strings until they hurried back  
to rebuild8  ,it was because ,jerusalem 
was the seat of the worship of ,god4    
,it was not the material stones or the  
hills round about that thus compelled   
the heart4  ,it was the light of        
eternity shining over them4  ,it was    
because of the house of the ,lord our   
,god that the ,jew counted no good worth
 his striving except the good of        
,jerusalem4  ,it is only when ,god      
standeth at the heart of a nation that  
the heart cleaveth with all its fibres  
to its native land1 for then the whole  
of the man--not only the cravings of the
 body and the heart and the mind1 but   
also the deeper cravings of the         
soul--wind themselves round the thought 

of the nation4  ,thus we find that the  
days when the fires of patriotism burned
 brightest were ever those in which ,god
 held sway over the nation4  ,it was    
with ,god that the sailors of ,queen    
,elizabeth swept the main1 that the     
soldiers of ,wellington hurled the enemy
 far from the shores that face          
,england--they were fighting not only   
for ,england but for ,england's ,god4   
,the testimony of history is this1 that 
patriotism cannot maintain its power if 
once it be divorced from religion4  ,let
 ,god's face be veiled and lost and     
everything is lost4  ,without ,god      
nothing1 with ,god everything1 says the 
ancient ,celtic proverb1 and all ages   
testify to its truth4  ,and the last    
proof of it is now before our eyes in   
the condition of ,france4  ,a hundred   
years ago ,france dominated ,europe1    
erected thrones and deposed kings at its
 will4  ,but little by little ,france   
lost the vision of ,god1 until at last  
,m4 ,viviani celebrated the final       

triumph over the ,church in #aijg by    
exclaiming3 ,with one magnificent       
gesture we have extinguished the lights 
of heaven1 which none shall rekindle4   
,france1 in the words of its present    
,prime ,minister1 extinguished the      
lights of heaven1 but in so doing it    
extinguished something else4  ,for      
to-day that nation1 that not so long ago
 dominated ,europe1 can only protect its
 capital city by the help of the two    
nations which have not yet extinguished 
the lights of heaven4  ,without ,god    
patriotism becomes impotent1 for ,god is
 the source of that moral law1          
conformity to which means for a nation  
life1 and defiance of which means the   
degeneration that leadeth to            
destruction4  ,with the departure from  
,god came moral decay and racial        
suicide4  ,the hope of ,france is this1 
that through the descent of the nation  
into the valley of death the lights of  
heaven may be once more kindled2 the    
hope of ,britain1 that these same lights

 may shine more brightly4  ,the spirit  
of patriotism will again vivify the     
nation when we seek after ,god4  ,in    
years of prosperity we have forgotten   
our high calling4 ,we have pursued      
vanities and forgotten the living ,god4 
,when we again realise our calling and  
our election as instruments in the hand 
of ,god for the establishment of ,his   
,kingdom of ,righteousness over all the 
earth1 our hearts will be filled with   
ardour1 and we shall face whatever      
perils may assail us strong in the      
assurance that the ,omnipotent ,god is  
in our midst and that nothing can resist
 ,his will4  999999  ,and this true     
patriotism will mean the salvation of   
the nation4  ,for it will strive to     
realise at home that righteousness which
 alone exalteth a nation4  ,its first   
task will be to raise the life at home  
nearer to ,god1 for we cannot raise the 
world to higher levels than that on     
which we ourselves stand4  ,the vision  
of the new ,jerusalem descending from   

,god out of heaven will again flame     
before our eyes4  ,and ,i1 ,john1 saw   
the holy city1 new ,jerusalem1 coming   
down from ,god out of heaven1 prepared  
as a bride for her husband4  ,that new  
,jerusalem is not a city remote in the  
inaccessible heights1 but a city which  
descends and permeates the material city
 now so polluted by sin1 until it       
becomes the holy city1 with the law of  
,god obeyed and the will of ,god done in
 it4  ,its citizens shall walk its      
streets1 pure in heart1 seeing ,god     
everywhere4  ,and they shall bring the  
glory and the honour of the nations into
 it4  ,there the nations shall be one in
 the streets of the city of ,god1 all   
their contendings forgotten in the sense
 of their brotherhood1 following the one
 ideal1 obeying the one law1 loving each
 other in the love of ,god4  ,they will 
strive then as to who shall bring the   
greatest glory within the compass of its
 walls1 and that will be the only       
striving4  ,that is the ideal1 that we  

should become a nation so permeated by  
the spirit of ,god1 so brought into     
obedience to ,his will1 that our cities 
shall become holy cities1 even as the   
new ,jerusalem coming down from ,god out
 of heaven4  ,when we shall set         
ourselves to realise that ideal once    
more1 then will the nation evoke the    
devotion of its citizens1 for devotion  
to the nation will also be devotion to  
,god4  ,it was that ideal which fired   
the patriotism of the ,jew4  ,the same  
ideal alone will make our patriotism    
glow as a white flame4  ,when the vision
 of the ,supreme ,ruler whose throne is 
established in righteousness once more  
blazes forth before the people1 then    
once more the throb of patriotism and   
the passion to make righteous law       
operative to the ends of the earth will 
stir the heart1 and the manhood of the  
race will once more thrill with the call
 summoning to service and to sacrifice4 
,the answering shout will everywhere    
arise--,for ,god and the ,king4         

,,iii  ,the ,shadow of the ,cross       
,,iii  ,the churchyard of our parish    
lies in a deep hollow1 and a little     
river half encircles it4  ,in the midst 
of it stands the church beneath whose   
shadow the parish has garnered its dead 
for centuries4  ,there the generations  
have lain down to sleep1 their hearts   
reconciled one to another1 and the      
beadle has drawn the coverlet of green  
over them4  ,as he goes about his       
allotted task he pats a mound here and  
there gently with the back of his       
spade--for roadman and belted earl are  
at one here4  ,the last time ,i wandered
 down to the hollow it seemed as if     
eternal peace brooded over the living   
and the dead4  ,the leaves1 russet and  
gold1 glowed in the sunlight4  ,at the  
stirring of a gentle breeze1 like the   
dropping of a sea-bird's feather1 leaf  
after leaf fluttered silently down on   
the graves4  ,the great bank of trees   
across the river glowed with rivulets of
 dull flames running hither and thither4

  ,in its stony bed the river sang its  
endless song4  ,the immemorial yews1    
beneath whose branches successive       
generations of children have played with
 now and then a thrill of pleasing      
terror because of the overhanging       
graves1 stood regardless of the sun4    
,the crows1 sated with the gleanings of 
harvest fields1 fluttered in their      
rookeries with scarcely a caw4  ,it     
seemed as if no sound of discord or     
strife could ever break in that         
enchanted hollow4  999999  ,as ,i turned
 away to retrace my steps through the   
gate ,i came on a woman sitting on the  
mort-safe1 a handkerchief moist with her
 tears in her hand4  ,she had come up   
from the quarries and she had visited   
her dead4 ,and she came because         
yesterday she received word that on the 
battlefield of ,marne her son was       
killed4  ,he was her eldest4  ,the      
others were not old enough yet to fight4
  ,her husband was killed in an         
accident1 and she had reared her        

children1 refusing all help from the    
parish4  ,the pride of the blood        
sustained her4  ,and now that her son   
was dead she came hither1 driven by an  
irresistible instinct to visit her      
husband's grave4  ,it was as if she     
wanted to tell him about ,john1 and how 
he died a hero1 trying to carry a       
wounded comrade through the hail of the 
shrapnel4  ,she was weary1 and from her 
husband's grave she turned to the       
church4 ,she would go and sit in the    
corner under the gallery1 where ,john   
used to sit4  ,he had sat with her there
 at his first ,communion4  ,the memories
 wrapped her round1 and she would feel  
her son near her there4 ,but the door of
 the church was locked and barred4      
,with an added ache in her heart she    
turned away1 and weariness compelled her
 to sit on the iron mort-safe1 which the
 parish provided in a former century to 
protect their dead from sacrilegious    
hands4  ,but the church used to be open1
 ,i said4  ,aye1 she replied            

tremulously1 gathering up her           
handkerchief into a round ball2 but some
 did-na like it2 the boots on the       
week-days are na sae clean1 and they    
dirtied the kirk4  ,that must be why    
they lockit the door4  ,it was not that 
she complained4  ,those who locked the  
church were wise men1 and no doubt they 
knew best4  ,so she sat on the          
mort-safe4  ,i have other sons1 and when
 they are older they will go1 too1 she  
said4  ,i'll no' keep them back4  ,and  
if they die it'll be for ,god's great   
cause4  ,her lips quivered as she spoke4
  ,the moist ball in the right hand was 
clenched tight--there were no more tears
 to shed4  ,and as ,i looked at the     
worn1 lined face1 the bent shoulders1   
the faded rusty black mantle with its   
fringe1 and the sunken lips that        
quivered now and then1 there came a     
sudden realisation4  ,i saw no longer   
the one grief-burdened figure sitting   
dejectedly on the mort-safe--,i saw the 
unnumbered host of mothers throughout   

the world who have given their sons over
 to carnage1 and who are as ,rachel     
weeping for her children1 refusing to be
 comforted because they are not4        
,millions of men locked in the death    
grapple means millions of mothers given 
tears to drink in great measure1 bound  
in affliction and iron4  ,the song of   
the river went on ceaselessly1 the      
russet-leaves fell softly1 and the sun  
shone on a world wrapped in peace--all  
nature utterly regardless of the        
millions of ,rachels that weep4  7,ten  
million hearts may break1 but nature    
silences not one note of its            
joyousness47 ,and as she sat there1     
behind her1 under the campanile1 showed 
the church door1 locked and barred4     
,nature was heedless of her2 the church 
shut its door upon her4  ,she seemed to 
me the ,mater ,dolorosa4  999999  ,as ,i
 went up the brae there came the memory 
of a school lesson long ago4  ,out of   
the subconscious it leaped as a diver   
might come up from the depths of the sea

 with a gleaming coin in his hand4      
,among the temples of ancient ,rome     
there was one temple always kept open in
 time of war4  ,there the ,roman        
,general clashed the shield and the     
spear1 invoking the god ere he went to  
the battle-line1 and its door was shut  
not day or night4  ,and ,i have no doubt
 but that the ,eternal ,ruler heard that
 clashing of spear on shield1 and marked
 that open door4  ,but over wide        
districts of ,great ,britain we have    
left these pagan habits far behind us4  
,we shut the doors of our temples alike 
in war and in peace--excepting two hours
 on one day of the week1 or in many     
cases one hour in the week4  ,nor do ,i 
doubt but that the same ,ruler marks    
these doors now shut on the mothers of  
sorrow1 and these sanctuaries locked and
 silent4  ,the glory was now gone from  
the day4  ,i could not forget how the   
iron mort-safe gave the rest that the   
,church refused4  ,the shadow lay heavy 
over the valley1 and the mind tried to  

give the shadow a name4  ,but it could  
not4  ,so up the long flight of stone   
steps ,i climbed1 and turned along a    
tree-shaded road4  ,there1 where three  
roads meet1 stands a little chapel      
within whose walls a small section of   
our parishioners worship4  ,i have      
passed it times out of mind without so  
much as glancing at it4  ,but to-day its
 open door arrested my eye1 and ,i stood
 in the roadway and gazed4  ,and there  
came to me there a sudden sense of      
thankfulness for that there is one open 
door in our parish which witnesses to   
the fact that the power and solace of   
religion are not shut in within the     
confines of only two hours of one day in
 the week4  ,while ,i yet stood in the  
highway there came forth from the little
 chapel an honoured parishioner1 who is 
passing the golden evening of a useful  
life in researches regarding ,calvin and
 the ,pope4  ,amazement possessed me1   
for he is a power in the parish church1 
whose door is locked and barred4  ,we   

walked together towards the hills4      
,there was a trace of apology in his    
explanation4  ,since this dreadful      
cataclysm has burst and the boom of the 
guns has come drifting from the sea     
across the high-perched city1 he has    
felt the need of quiet meditation4      
,thus he has often on his walks slipped 
through the open door of the chapel that
 stands by the roadside4  ,and you have 
locked the door of the parish church1 ,i
 exclaimed1 and you deny to the poor the
 privilege you yourself enjoy4  ,he     
stopped and faced me in the roadway1    
blinking at me4  ,we never locked the   
,church door1 he said4  ,it used to be  
open1 ,i answered2 ,i remember being    
glad to sit in it myself4  ,oh6  ,i     
remember1 he exclaimed1 it was open     
every day for a few years1 but the      
authorities were never consulted when it
 was thrown open--a most lawless        
proceeding6--and when a suitable        
opportunity occurred the beadle locked  
it up4  ,law and order have to be       

vindicated4  ,what you did then1 ,i     
replied1 was to allow the beadle to     
deprive the poor parishioners of a      
privilege which you and a few others    
enjoy elsewhere4  ,at that he started   
off walking along the road very quickly1
 but ,i kept step with him4  ,you see1  
said he1 waving a deprecatory hand1 ,i  
am only one among many1 and ,i was so   
absorbed in these old ,reformation      
controversies that ,i never gave it a   
thought1 and it is only since the war   
began that ,i realised4444  ,and as he  
spoke ,i felt that my old friend1       
learned in many controversies1 had      
experienced a revolution4  ,the great   
tide had swept him past all             
controversies right up to the fountain  
head4  ,he had learned that man's high  
calling is not to dispute1 but to pray4 
,as we walked under the darkling hills  
,i told him of that shadow which had so 
suddenly fallen upon me that day1 and he
 at once gave it a name4 ,it is the     
shadow of the ,cross1 said he4  ,and    

thereupon he began to explain out of the
 wisdom and ripened experience of       
seventy years how across nineteen       
centuries the shadow of the ,cross lies 
still over all the world4  ,one thinks  
so seldom of these things1 and if       
occasionally one hears them spoken of1  
familiarity with the words has deadened 
the hearer to their significance4  ,it  
was because ,i listened to him talking  
in the lane that his words gripped me4  
,they might have made no impression if  
he were in a pulpit4  999999  ,we are   
accustomed to think of the greatest of  
all tragedies as an event consummated in
 six hours4  ,it is1 however1 far from  
consummated1 for it is an age-long      
tragedy4  ,its roots lay in             
self-interest4  ,a degenerate priesthood
 in an obscure ,syrian town saw nothing 
in the ,greatest of ,teachers but an    
unbalanced enthusiast1 who struck at    
their ill-gotten gains1 and whose       
triumph would make an end of them and   
their system4 ,so self-interest cried   

,crucify4  ,and though the ,roman       
,governor saw through them and wanted to
 save ,him1 self-interest again was     
brought into play1 and when threatened  
with an awkward complaint to ,rome1 he  
said ,crucify4  ,and ever since then    
self-interest on innumerable lips has   
cried ,crucify1 ,crucify4  ,not only    
cried1 but did it4  ,for this ,teacher  
identified ,himself with ,his followers1
 saying that ,he was the ,vine and they 
the branches4  ,it follows that whatever
 is done to the branch is done to the   
vine4  ,a branch cannot be cut and      
severed from the vine without the vine  
bleeding4  ,he declared it to be so4    
,whosoever receiveth you receiveth ,me1 
and it follows that whosoever crucifies 
you crucifies ,me4  ,and the history of 
the centuries is the history of how the 
poor and unlearned and the toiling have 
been persecuted1 harried by war1 driven 
to death and crucified4  ,generation    
after generation have raised the ,cross 
anew1 and in the crucifying of the dumb 

multitudes have crucified ,him4  ,along 
with ,his own ,he fought with wild      
beasts1 went through the flames1 and    
suffered many bloody and diverse        
persecutions1 and ,he was with ,his     
people now4 ,he confronted to-day the   
mighty of the earth as ,he did that     
blinded priesthood of old1 and ,he      
declared that there is only one way of  
conquering1 and that by love2 that      
gaining the whole world was a miserable 
bargain if in exchange a man parted with
 truth and righteousness and            
purity--those things that constitute the
 soul's very breath4  ,but self-interest
 answered with cold disdain3 ,what      
sickly sentimentalist is this8  ,let    
,him be crucified4  ,he faced to-day the
 lust of conquest1 and declared that the
 conquering of men's bodies was nothing2
 that the only way of attaining power   
was to conquer men's hearts and minds   
and wills1 thus clasping them to us with
 hooks of steel2 that the will of ,god  
for ,his children was that they should  

love their enemies and not pour upon    
them the vials of wrath1 trampling them 
under foot2 but the arrogance of man    
answered with the hoarse cry1 ,crucify4 
,and that humanity which named ,his name
 was driven once more to the holocaust  
of war--ten millions of men consigned to
 the hell of reeking trenches4  ,in the 
midst of the world the ,cross stands as 
never before1 bearing its awful woe4    
,in the seeing of the whole world the   
,eternal ,love is crucified4  ,it was   
its shadow that fell on her whose lips  
trembled as she sat on the mort-safe    
over against the locked and barred door 
of the ,house of ,god4  999999  ,the    
most wonderful thing in history is that 
from a peasant done shamefully to death 
in a remote corner of the ,eastern world
 there should flow through the ages such
 an inexplicable power4  ,and yet there 
must be some explanation of it4  ,why   
should a passion for righteousness be   
evoked in the human heart by the fact   
that a ,galilean was crucified by a     

petty ,roman official8  ,there can be no
 explanation but this--that that deed of
 shame revealed to men the hatefulness  
of the power which wrought so evil a    
deed4  ,that power was                  
self-interest--selfishness4  ,the eyes  
of men turned to ,jesus ,christ1 and    
they saw one holy1 harmless1 undefiled1 
separate from sin1 whose journeying was 
the journeys of healing among the sons  
of men1 whose words were words of       
blessedness1 declaring that ,god loved  
and pardoned ,his children1 and yet men 
reviled1 scorned1 scourged and at last  
crucified ,him4  ,the power that moved  
men to this dread crime was sin1 and    
thus the word sin became a word of      
horror4  7,for the selfishness that     
crucified was only one fruit of sin47   
,out of that realisation of the horror  
of sin there sprang an ethical          
passion--a passion which in the heart   
and in the world waged ceaseless war on 
selfishness and all the devices of evil4
 ,thus humanity was lifted out of the   

mire4  ,they girded themselves to fight 
that dread and hateful power which      
crucified the ,holy ,one4  ,like the    
wind blowing in from the sea that sweeps
 before it the foul miasma that lies    
over the valleys1 so that men look up   
and see the heavens and feel a new      
vigour moving in their blood1 so a      
breath from the living ,god came        
stirring the foul places of humanity1   
and the eyes1 no longer blinded by the  
exhalations of evil passions1 saw the   
ideal of purity arise before their eyes1
 and they turned to climb towards the   
clearer vision4  ,through the revelation
 of purity in the face of ,jesus ,christ
 and the realisation of the awfulness of
 that power which crowned that purity   
with thorns1 there came to humanity the 
dawning of deliverance from sin--a      
deliverance still going on to its       
fruition4  999999  ,history is for ever 
repeating itself1 and to-day the process
 of humanity's deliverance from evil    
will gather momentum and advance a long 

way towards the final triumph4  ,for    
just as men only realised the           
hatefulness of sin when they saw it laid
 upon ,jesus ,christ1 so will it be also
 to-day4  ,a generation that had lost   
the sense of sin beholds sin laid upon  
millions of men1 working woe            
unspeakable1 and1 beholding1 learns anew
 what sin is and the hatefulness of it4 
,for these millions of men grappling    
with death1 what are they but humanity's
 sin-bearers4 ,on them is laid the      
burden of the sins of this generation4  
,the selfishness1 greed1 ambition1      
lust--all the passions which sweep men  
to wars of conquest--have poured the    
vials of misery on their heads4  ,the   
son of the widow sitting on the         
mort-safe1 who now lies in a nameless   
grave1 he bore it4  ,the bearing of it  
killed him4  ,and as humanity will      
realise its horror1 the word sin will   
once more burn red before men's eyes1   
and there will arise that passion for   
righteousness which will lay sin low    

even as the dust4  ,there will ring     
round the world the compelling cry that 
this power of hell must not for ever    
hold humanity in its grip--that ruthless
 ambition1 militarism1 despotism must be
 made to cease from the face of the     
earth4  ,once more the shadow of the    
,cross will mean salvation to men4      
999999  ,there was another power also   
that stirred the world under the shadow 
of the ,cross1 and that was the power of
 self-sacrifice4  ,there came to men an 
overwhelming realisation that at the    
heart of the universe was the ,spirit of
 self-sacrifice1 and that the ,cross was
 but the expression of it4  ,they       
realised that the greatest thing a man  
can do with his life is to lay it down4 
,and as men realise to-day that the     
,cross still abides in the heart of     
,god1 so that in all their affliction   
,he is afflicted1 there comes to them   
the feeling that the one way of coming  
nearest to ,his heart is the way of     
self-sacrifice4  ,under the shadow of   

the ,cross now lifted up1 a nation that 
sought life's pleasures has suddenly    
thrilled with the glory of              
self-sacrifice4  ,what is it that       
sustains the men who go down to the     
earthly hell of ruthless war8  ,it is   
just this--the consciousness1 newly     
wakened1 of how glorious a thing it is  
to die for ,king and country1 for home  
and kindred4  ,they are content to be   
blotted out if only the race will live1 
to descend to the abyss that the nation 
may be exalted4  ,under the shadow of   
the ,cross self-sacrifice has become    
once more the only rock on which our    
feet can stand secure4  ,men charge     
across fields of death with the light of
 it in their eyes4  ,they are raised    
into the fellowship of the ,cross4  ,and
 we are raised with them4  ,if ,i could 
only tell the bowed widow sitting there 
on the mort-safe the glorious fellowship
 with which her son is numbered1 she    
would again lift up her face to the     
light4  ,he has died that we may live4  

,greater love hath no man than this--nor
 yet greater glory4  ,but she needs not 
to be told2 she knows it already4  ,she 
knows it far better than you or ,i do1  
for she feels it4  ,in the deep places  
of life where words are meaningless1 her
 dumb heart feels the mystery of        
sin-bearing and the glory of            
self-sacrifice4  ,by a faculty deeper   
and truer far than reason1 in the depths
 of the soul where the ,unseen ,spirit  
moves revealing the things that are of  
lasting worth1 she has learned in       
meekness and suffering that divine      
wisdom which is hid from the wise4  ,she
 knows that the road that goes by       
,calvary up to the ,cross is the one    
road along which the feet can come to   
,god4  ,she knows that her son has      
walked along that road1 and that1       
because of his bearing the cross laid   
upon him1 and his dying while bearing   
it1 ,god has brought him into that joy  
which all the cross-bearers see shining 
beyond the darkness and the woe4  ,and  

because she has thus entered into the   
secret place of the ,most ,high1 and has
 felt the touch of ,god1 she is ready to
 greet the day of still greater         
sacrifice4  999999  ,in the evening1    
when the curtains were drawn1 ,i took up
 a magazine and read an article4  ,it   
was a bitter invective against          
,christianity and the ,church4          
,nineteen centuries of the religion of  
the ,cross--and this holocaust as the   
fruit4  ,it is amazing the blindness of 
the jaundiced eye4  ,it would be as     
reasonable to blame the ,founder of     
,christianity for ,his own crucifixion  
as to blame ,christianity for the fact  
that the wicked have continued to       
crucify ,him4  ,these things are so not 
because1 but in spite1 of ,christianity4
  ,grievous as war now is1 yet it is not
 war as in the days before the ,cross   
was erected on ,calvary4  ,when ,ulysses
 asked ,agamemnon for sanction to bury  
the body of ,ajax1 the ,king was greatly
 annoyed4  ,what do you mean8 he        

answered1 do you feel pity for a dead   
enemy8  ,that was the spirit of war in  
the old heathen world--the spirit which 
had no mercy on the living and no pity  
for the dead4  ,slowly but surely the   
spirit of ,christ fettered the spirit of
 hate and dethroned the spirit of       
revenge4  ,we now minister to the       
wounded and bury the dead enemy with the
 pity and the honour we render to our   
own4  ,we can trace the evolution of    
peace through the centuries4  ,wars     
between individuals have ceased4  ,a    
century and a half ago warring clans in 
,scotland dyed the heather red2 to-day  
wars between tribes have ceased4  ,there
 remains only war between nations1 and  
already there are great nations between 
whom war is unthinkable4  ,if we in     
these days wage war with ,germany1 yet  
we in these days also celebrate the     
hundredth anniversary of unbroken peace 
with the ,united ,states of ,america4   
,if we bewail the failure of            
,christianity in the former1 let us be  

grateful for the triumph of             
,christianity in the latter4  ,formerly 
war was the normal condition2 now to the
 moral consciousness of ,christendom war
 is an outrage4  ,we only need to look  
beneath the surface to realise that     
,galilee is conquering ,corsica1 and    
will conquer at the last4  ,beneath the 
shadow of the ,cross men will at last   
find healing for their grievous wounds4 
999999  ,and as a symbol thereof the    
doors of the sanctuaries of peace will  
be flung wide open1 and no burdened     
heart will find the ,house of ,god      
locked and barred against groping hands4
  ,one fruit of these grievous days may 
well be that the ,church will realise   
that it does not become her to occupy a 
lower plane than that heathen temple in 
ancient ,rome1 whose door was shut not  
day or night while men were dying in    
battle4  ,in the coming days when the   
mothers of sorrow come to their dead1   
over whose graves the falling leaves    
flutter as a benediction1 they will not 

be left sitting on the iron mort-safe4  
,the open door will invite them into the
 sanctuary of peace1 and they will croon
 the coronach of their woe in the holy  
place4  ,for they are the priesthood of 
this generation1 offering up the most   
precious sacrifice--and the door of the 
holy place must be open to them4  ,and  
there1 in the sanctuaries of peace1     
their sorrow will be transmuted into    
joy4     ,,iv  ,the ,power of ,prayer   
,,iv  ,for eight centuries the ,church  
of ,st4 ,giles has been the centre of   
the religious life of ,scotland4  ,at   
all times of sorrow the nation has      
turned to it1 and within its walls1     
consecrated by the prayers of so many   
generations1 the surcharged heart has   
voiced its woe in the presence of the   
,unseen4  ,but in all the years of the  
dim and fading past there never was a   
day like this in which we now stand4    
,death has come as a grim spectre1 and  
has looked into our eyes4  ,the winds   
carry to our ears the moans of our      

perishing sons1 dying gloriously for    
freedom on the bloody fields of         
,flanders4  ,the great ships guard our  
shores1 and we know that if that vigil  
failed1 our cities and villages and fair
 countryside would become as ,louvain   
and the ,low ,country4 ,death itself    
would be welcome rather than that4  ,if 
there ever came to any nation a call to 
seek the refuge which eye has not seen1 
that call soundeth persistently1        
compellingly in our ears4  ,and that    
call soundeth not in vain4  ,to-day#a   
the two great ,churches of ,scotland met
 as one in ,st4 ,giles1 the days of     
their misunderstanding ended1 to pray   
for ,king and country--for all the      
things which make life beautiful4  ,they
 have come through days of alienation   
and isolation1 but to-day they are with 
one accord in one place4  ,and in their 
hearts only one purpose--to seek the    
blessing of ,god for their nation4   #a 
,november #ah1 #aiad4   999999  ,as one 
sat there1 under the tattered flags on  

which many bloody fights for freedom are
 emblazoned1 and watched the stream of  
men flow into the church1 what memories 
came crowding through the echoing       
corridors of time4  ,four hundred years 
ago there came to ,edinburgh the news of
 ,flodden1 and out of the closes the    
women rushed to ,st4 ,giles1 until round
 all the altars there was no room to    
kneel because of the great crowd wailing
 for their dead4  ,the moaning of their 
lamentation was as the sound of the surf
 wailing on the shore1 and their sobbing
 as the cry of the grinding pebbles in  
the backwash of the tide4  ,but the city
 fathers could stand upright even in    
that most cruel day when the cloud of   
destruction was creeping over the       
,pentlands2 and there is the note of the
 heroic in that resolution which called 
all the able-bodied men to rally to the 
defence of the capital1 and exhorted the
 good women to pass to the kyrk1 and    
pray whane tyme requires for our        
,soveraine ,lord and his ,army1 and     

neichbouris being thereat4  ,that       
proclamation stirs the blood6  ,they are
 dust1 these fathers of ours1 but their 
spirit is all alive1 throbbing in the   
heart of us--their far-away children4   
,never did a race meet its ,sedan in a  
sublimer spirit than that4  ,the strong1
 at toll of bell and tuck of drum1      
manned the ramparts1 and the women      
filled ,st4 ,giles' and sent heavenward 
their cries4  ,the bodies of such a race
 may for a brief season be brought to   
subjection1 but their souls are         
invincible--and it is the soul that     
always conquers4  ,and here to-day it is
 the same4  ,from every part of         
,scotland men have come1 and they passed
 to the kirk to pray for our ,sovereign 
,lord and his ,army4  ,true1 there has  
been no ,flodden and no ,sedan2 but it  
is by the good hand of ,god upon us that
 the enemy was frustrated in his        
eagerness for another ,sedan4  ,and it  
is in part the prayer of thanksgiving   
that is laid to-day upon ,his altar1 and

 in part the petition that ,his mercies 
may be continued to the nation in the   
cruel days to come4  999999  ,what a    
sanctuary for a nation's prayers1 this  
church1 where ,kings have prayed and    
gone forth to die in battle2 where      
,queens have wept as the voice of       
judgment1 grim and stern1 untouched by  
tenderness or love1 sounded in the ear2 
where three thousand people dissolved in
 tears as the good ,regent1 foully      
slain1 was borne to his grave4  ,over it
 passed wave after wave of fanaticism   
and barbarism2 and at last it fell into 
the hands of the restorers--more        
ruthless far than ,goths or ,vandals6   
,but1 through it all1 the house of ,god 
survived2 and1 apparelled once more in  
some of its pristine glory1 it opens its
 doors to a nation that once more seek  
after its ,god4  ,and above us1 as we   
sit there1 hang the colours of our      
,scottish regiments stirring our        
patriotism1 assuring us that the men who
 guarded these flags on many bloody     

fields were guarded by ,god1 and that we
 are still in ,his keeping4  ,what a    
place this is in which to set vibrating 
that note of patriotism which now       
quivers from ,maiden ,kirk to ,john o'  
,groat's4  ,these colours there--they   
are the most eloquent things on earth1  
for they pertain to the realm of        
symbols4  ,words are poor compared to   
tears1 and that is because tears belong 
to the world of symbols4  ,that tattered
 banner there belonged to the ,gordon   
,highlanders1 and was carried through   
the ,peninsula and the ,crimea4  ,woven 
in faded letters you can read on it     
still ,corunna1 ,almarez1 ,pyrenees1    
,waterloo4  ,ah6 these flags tell of a  
devotion stronger than death1 rekindle  
the memories of the day when stern      
silence fell on the ranks1 as the       
,highland ,brigade breasted the slopes  
of the ,alma until ,sir ,colin ,campbell
 lifted his hat and they rushed on the  
foe with the slogan of victory2 and that
 other day when the thin red line tipped

 with steel rolled back the surge of the
 ,cossacks2 aye1 and of a hundred such  
days when men went down joyously to     
death that the race might be free and   
live4  ,waterloo6--it is on many flags4 
,and we remember how the ,man of        
,destiny himself1 as he saw his ranks   
yield before the onslaught of the       
,highlanders1 did not restrain his      
admiration for his enemies1 but         
exclaimed with the true soldier's       
generosity1 ,les braves                 
,ecossais--,brave1 brave ,scotsmen 7what
 a contrast to ,french's contemptible   
little ,army74  ,the hands that carried1
 the hearts that thrilled at the waving 
of these flags1 their fame will never   
perish4    ,on the slopes of ,quatre    
,bras   ,the ,frenchmen saw them stand  
unbroken4       99    99    99    99    
99   ,on the day of ,waterloo   ,the    
pibroch blew where fire was hottest4    
99    99    99    99    99   ,when the  
,alma heights were stormed   ,foremost  
went the ,highland bonnets4       99    

99    99    99    99   ,as it was in    
days of yore1   ,so the story shall be  
ever4     99    99    99    99    99    
,think then of the name ye bear1   ,ye  
that wear the ,highland tartan4     99  
99    99    99    99   ,zealous of its  
old renown1   ,hand it down without a   
blemish4  ,as the eye looks along the   
nave up into the choir and sees the     
gleam of red1 colours after colours1    
there comes the memory of words--,we    
have heard with our ears1 ,o ,god1 and  
our fathers have told us what work ,thou
 didst in their days in the times of    
old4444  ,through ,thee will we push    
down our enemies4444  ,the unseen ,god  
who has led ,his people through so many 
and great dangers will not forsake them 
now4  999999  ,there is a tablet where  
formerly stood the door that led to     
,haddo's ,hole1 and there hangs on a    
pillar the flag that pertains of truth  
to the realm of romance4  ,men with     
their hearts hot with indignation buried
 it in ,pretoria in #ahhj1 and put above

 it the inscription ,resurgam4          
,afterwards the ,colonel recovered it   
and brought it home4 ,when war broke out
 again his widow restored it to the     
regiment--the ,royal ,scots ,fusiliers4 
,in #ahha that regiment was the last to 
leave the ,transvaal2 in #aijj it was   
the first to enter the ,transvaal--as   
the inscription narrates4  ,and by the  
direction of ,lord ,roberts1 when       
,pretoria was occupied1 this identical  
flag was run up amid the shouts of the  
victors4  ,now it rests here4           
,resurgam--it is the unquenchable spirit
 of an invincible nation4  ,if only the 
manhood of ,scotland could be gathered  
into this ,church1 under these flags1   
and the story they tell were put into   
words1 pulsating with passion--then the 
ranks of our ,army would be filled up in
 a week4  ,what a lack of imagination we
 reveal6  ,we teach dates1 thinking we  
are teaching history4  ,the only way to 
teach history is by flags1 and all they 
stand for4  ,when ,douglas threw the    

heart of ,bruce among his enemies he    
cried1 ,lead thou on as thou wast wont  
and ,douglas will follow thee or die4   
,in the spirit of ,douglas our fathers  
followed the flags1 and we will follow  
in the steps of our fathers and face    
death with undaunted hearts as they were
 wont4  ,there comes to us the shouting 
of their triumph1 and we cry3 ,lead on2 
we will follow or die4  ,this grey      
church1 ,st4 ,giles'1 is the temple of  
patriotism4 ,therefore our feet turn    
towards it in dark days1 and we say1    
,our feet shall stand within thy gates1 
,o ,jerusalem6  999999  ,how the old    
words are born for us anew as we thus   
meet as one to entreat ,god for the     
broken peace of ,christendom4  ,we sing 
,god is our refuge and our strength1 but
 there is a note of intensity in the    
singing now such as we never knew       
before4  ,men close their eyes1 and     
stand1 the world blotted out1 before    
their ,god1 realising that ,he and ,he  
alone is the one refuge1 the only giver 

of victory4  ,we hear the old story read
 of ,moses holding up his hands and     
,israel prevailing on the plains below2 
but it is not ,israel we see travailing 
in battle1 but our own brothers in the  
rain-sodden trenches1 and we feel the   
uprising of the ceaseless intercession  
of a nation that has anew found its     
,god4  ,it is not the right hand that   
assureth victories2 it is that spirit of
 enthusiasm1 that passion for           
righteousness which filleth the heart1  
and that spirit is as the wind blowing  
where it listeth--and it cometh out of  
the ,unseen at the call of our prayers4 
,when in other days we prayed for the   
,king it was in the spirit of cold      
formalism4  ,but now a lump rises in the
 throat as we invoke the blessing and   
protection of ,heaven for the solitary  
man who is the symbol of the unity of   
our ,empire1 and who watcheth over its  
destinies day and night1 and who has    
sent his son to face death with the     
meanest of his subjects4  ,we hear the  

glorious words3 ,if ,god be for us1 who 
can be against us8 and they are written 
for ourselves4  ,we1 who fight for the  
truth of word and for the freedom and   
deliverance of the oppressed1 can feel  
that ,god is for us1 and that all is    
well4  ,and when we pray1 our voices    
rising as one1 ,thy kingdom come1 we can
 see that kingdom coming through blood  
and tears1 cleansing the foul places and
 establishing peace on everlasting      
foundations4  ,it is a new day that has 
dawned for us--a day in which we stand  
united as the subjects of the one ,king1
 as the sons of the one ,god--and the   
things that separated us one from       
another are swept away4  ,what the      
conferring of the wise found so         
difficult to achieve1 the roaring of the
 guns has accomplished4  ,god teacheth  
his people by sending them through the  
purifying fires4  999999  ,in these     
prayers in ,st4 ,giles' there is a      
directness which shows that we are there
 for a definite purpose4  ,we no longer 

use qualifying words4  ,we cry for      
victory4  ,there is a bloodless form of 
prayer which some use and which sends   
the worshipper away with an aching      
heart4  ,it is the prayer that never    
prays directly for victory4  ,thy will  
be done1 it prays1 in the spirit of     
submission4  ,but prayer is not         
submission2 it is a wrestling4  ,in     
other days our fathers wrestled in      
prayer and prevailed4  ,i spent the     
night in prayer1 wrote ,oliver          
,cromwell1 in critical days2 ,i prayed  
,god that ,he would guide us against the
 enemy4  ,we were simple fellows of the 
country1 and they were men of blood and 
fashion1 but the ,lord delivered them   
into our hands4  ,by ,his grace we      
killed five thousand4  ,if ,he continues
 to show mercy we will kill some more   
to-morrow4  ,such were the ,ironsides1  
men of a spirit1 who broke the charges  
of the ,cavaliers1 as the cliff dashes  
back in white spray the rush of the     
billows4  ,this was also the language of

 the ,covenanters of old2 and though we 
no longer use such plainness of speech1 
we mean the same4  ,there is a place for
 tenderness2 but when men are ground to 
powder by the judgment of ,god1         
tenderness is not manifest then4  ,when 
the heart whispers ,spare and justice   
says ,smite1 men must obey the voice of 
justice1 stifling the voice of the      
heart4  ,our prayers are now for        
justice4  ,better far a righteous war   
than an immoral peace4  ,we have been   
compelled to unsheath the sword1 and we 
pray that no heart may falter1 and no   
cry arise for the sheathing of the      
sword1 until justice be done4  ,thus our
 prayers have become a cry for victory4 
999999  ,as one sits in an ancient      
church such as this1 there comes        
knocking at the heart many questions    
regarding that service of prayer which  
within its walls has linked the         
generations together4  ,can prayer      
really prevail with ,god8  ,can it alter
 the will of the ,unchangeable8  ,if    

there be no power in it1 why should men 
go on praying8  ,we must distinguish    
between the will of ,god which is       
unchangeable1 and ,his lower will which 
is his purpose towards us and ,his      
attitude to us4 ,the former is          
unalterable2 the latter varies according
 to the varying of our hearts4  ,with   
that lower will we are called to        
wrestle4  ,a man is born in poverty and 
obscurity1 and the will of ,god seems to
 be that he should continue poor and    
obscure4  ,but he wrestles with that    
lower will until he prevails4  ,he      
ultimately moves out into the great tide
 of life and becomes a power4  ,the will
 of ,god towards that man is changed4   
,it is the same with a nation4  ,here is
 a nation sinking on its lees with its  
ideals dimmed and the shrines of its    
fathers' ,god forsaken and desolate4    
,it has fashioned to itself other gods1 
and the multitudes crowd the temples of 
the goddess of pleasure4  ,the very race
 itself is sacrificed on the altar of   

gross pleasure1 and the laughter of     
little children is being little by      
little silenced4  ,the fires of         
patriotism are dying low1 and the love  
of country gives place to the love of   
party4  ,there are mean victories       
rejoiced over1 but they are the         
victories of the cynic and the          
sensualist4  ,there is the sound of     
shouting1 but it is the shouting over   
the triumph of one self-seeking         
politician over another self-seeking    
partisan4  ,saintliness1 which other    
generations held in awe and reverence1  
provokes now a pitying smile4  ,mammon  
alone is held in high honour and sitteth
 in the high places4  ,what is the will 
of ,god towards that nation8  ,it is    
this--ruin and utter destruction4  ,over
 every nation that thus succumbed to the
 gross and sensual1 history shows the   
sword of ,god unsheathed1 and at last   
the devouring flames of judgment4  ,but 
to such a nation there comes as if out  
of the silent heaven a call as a trumpet

 sound1 summoning it to the             
judgment-seat of ,god4  ,over the sea   
comes the roar of guns4  ,the           
foundations which the fathers laid in   
righteousness1 through long neglect and 
decay are crumbling4  ,an empire        
encircling the globe is tottering to    
destruction4  ,the hay and the stubble  
cannot come scathless through the       
flames4  ,the writing is on the wall1   
and as the eyes see the hand that       
writes1 trembling seizeth upon men4     
,and then there cometh a sudden change4 
,the nation in a day rises out of the   
morass of its self-indulgence4  ,it sets
 itself to lay hold again upon the      
eternal law of righteousness4  ,they    
seek once more the shrines of their     
,god4  ,they set themselves to fast and 
to pray4 ,who can tell1 they whisper one
 to another1 if ,god will turn and      
repent1 and turn away from ,his fierce  
anger1 that we perish not8  ,the fields 
of their inglorious shouting over their 
games are deserted for the fields of    

hardness and grim preparation4  ,once   
more they gird themselves for conflict1 
as their fathers so often girded1 that  
truth and righteousness may prevail over
 all the earth4  ,sharply the choice is 
presented to them between ,christ or    
,odin1 and though choosing the ,christ  
means agony and woe they make their     
choice unhesitatingly4  ,a new light    
shines in their eyes1 and the work of   
their hands and the devisings of their  
hearts become the spirit of prayer4     
,yesterday the will of ,god towards that
 nation1 sinking on its lees1 was       
destruction2 to-day towards that same   
nation1 thus risen out of the foul      
miasma that was stifling its soul1 the  
will of ,god is salvation4  ,because    
prayer is the greatest power in the     
world2 because it can alter the will of 
,god towards us1 because it can move the
 hand of the omnipotent ,god and is thus
 endued with ,his omnipotence1 our      
prayers as we gather in the sanctuaries 
are no longer the submission of         

quietism1 but a wrestling with ,god--the
 crying of a soul as in agony for       
victory based on the triumph of         
righteousness4  ,it was such a cry that 
rose on that day in ,st4 ,giles4  999999
  ,as the second paraphrase was being   
sung there came the memory of words     
spoken in the pulpit of the great       
,cathedral by ,dr4 ,cameron ,lees4  ,it 
was at evening service1 when the shadows
 were gathering4  ,i have often sat in  
this pulpit1 said ,dr4 ,lees1 on the    
edge of the evening1 and watched the    
shadows enveloping the ,cathedral4      
,they invaded the side chapels first1   
and then the nave1 creeping onwards     
through the transepts1 until the chancel
 was reached4  ,after that they gathered
 in strength1 until the whole building  
was in darkness1 with the exception of  
the white figure of ,christ in the great
 east window4  ,i pray that the last    
vision vouchsafed me on earth may be    
just that--the ,saviour of men4  ,i can 
then close my eyes in the knowledge that

 ,he will lead me through the dark      
valley that leadeth to the eternal home4
  ,it has been like that with the whole 
nation4  ,around our shores the darkness
 gathered1 until all the horizon was    
black with threatening clouds4  ,then we
 lifted up our eyes and saw4444  ,he    
will bring deliverance and peace4  ,as  
we moved along the crowded aisles       
towards the door the white figure of    
,christ glowed in the great east window1
 and we felt that ,he will bless ,his   
people at last with peace--the peace not
 of death1 but of life4    ,down the    
dark future1 through long generations1  
,the echoing sounds grow fainter and    
then cease1   ,and1 like a bell1 with   
solemn sweet vibrations1     ,i hear    
once more the voice of ,christ say      
,peace4   ,peace6 and no longer from its
 brazen portals     ,the clash of war's 
great organ shakes the skies2   ,but    
beautiful as songs of the immortals1    
,the holy melodies of love arise4     ,v
  ,the ,victory    ,v  ,the blinds were 

all drawn in the red-roofed house that  
stands at the cross-roads4  ,it was not 
empty1 for the smoke arose from its     
chimneys in the clear morning air4  ,in 
other days the music of song and        
laughter often floated from its open    
windows1 but now it was stricken dumb4  
,from it two sons had gone to take their
 place in the line of soul and fire that
 girdles these islands1 warding them    
from destruction4  ,in a moment the     
veiled windows flashed their meaning4   
,in the long lists of the dead ,i found 
the name ,i looked for4  ,i had schooled
 myself to look at these lists1 thinking
 of them in the mass as force or power2 
but that one name insisted on its       
individuality4  ,they were all          
individual lives1 each throbbing with   
intensest self-realisation1 each with   
his love and hope and fear4  ,there was 
none among them so poor but some heart  
clung to them4  ,they may die1 no longer
 in units1 but in broad swathes1 mown   
down by machine guns1 but they are      

individual hearts still4  ,in masses the
 sea swallows them up1 trenches are     
filled with them1 but however much we   
try we cannot narcotise our hearts by   
sophistries4  ,some day a name stands   
out alone--and we realise4  ,all over   
the land1 in every parish1 blinds are   
being drawn in houses where music and   
laughter are silenced4  ,there comes the
 surge of a wild revolt4  ,it is not    
these individual hearts alone that lie  
stricken1 it is the joy of the centuries
 yet to be4  ,in nameless graves lie the
 dream-children who will never now be   
born4  ,this criminal sealing up of the 
very fountain of life--how can we bear  
it8  ,and yet we open not our mouths in 
protest4  ,is it because we are losing  
our sensitiveness--becoming brutalised8 
,it might be that4  ,for nothing        
coarsens the mind like that tide of     
hatred and passion which war sends      
sweeping through the hearts of men4     
,and yet it is not that4  ,for when they
 told the mother1 breaking it gently as 

love alone can do1 that her son was     
dead1 she bowed her head in silence1    
yielding herself to the solace of tears2
 but in a little while she said         
brokenly3 ,it is good to die so3 ,i     
would not have my son shelter himself   
behind other mothers' sons4  ,no1 it is 
not because we are already coarsened    
that the heart can bear4 ,it is rather  
because we have realised with the       
passing away of the old world of the    
last long summer days 7it seems already 
centuries remote7 that there are some   
things so great that they can           
transfigure even death4  ,when the      
loyalty to the highest can only be      
fulfilled through death1 we acquiesce in
 the sacrifice4  ,in our parish we have 
not been coarsened--we have been        
quickened4  999999  ,it seems as if it  
were in another era that my friend at   
the top of the ,gallows' ,road proved to
 me convincingly that death alone was   
king4 ,with a keen irony he depicted    
this little globule of a world1 a       

third-rate satellite of a fifth-rate    
star1 floating in the abysses1 in       
relation to the universe but as a mere  
grain of sand amid all the sand on the  
world's shores2 and on that puny speck  
of a world he pictured the ephemeral    
generations1 mere flashes of troubled   
consciousness--and then darkness4  ,it  
was reasonable when they thought this   
world the centre of all things1 with the
 sun and moon and stars circling it     
round as humble ministrants1 that they  
should believe in some high destiny for 
themselves4  ,but now that they know how
 miserably and unspeakably insignificant
 the world is1 it was but vanity and    
arrogance for any man to think of       
himself as of any value whatever in the 
scheme of things4 ,his life was as the  
flashing of a midge's wings4  ,his end  
was as a candle blown out in the night4 
999999  ,one evening1 when the air was  
vibrant with the melody of birds and    
laden with the perfume of the roses that
 filled the garden1 he developed another

 train of thought4  ,he pictured the    
glut of life there would be if all the  
generations on this and millions        
unnumbered of worlds all survived4      
,with vivid gestures he passed them all 
before the eye--low-browed savages1     
cannibals1 fetish-worshippers1          
,calvinists1 and at last the aesthetics 
of our day4  ,there would be no room for
 them--no use for them at all--it would 
be a glut which baffles all imagination4
 ,there was no way out but that the     
individual perished to prevent the      
universe from being crowded out4  ,and  
the cobbler at the top of the brae      
described to me how his dog was run over
 in the street4  ,he gaed a bark--and he
 never gaed anither4 ,it'll be like that
 at the end with us a'4  ,we'll gae out 
like my dawg4 ,it was a queer result of 
the glimpse which came to us of an      
illimitable universe--this cheapening of
 ourselves4  ,there was nothing at last 
but the charnel-house of the crowded    
kirkyard1 where the generations lay     

layer upon layer1 and where the opening 
of a grave reminded the old clerk1 as he
 quaintly declared1 of nothing but a    
dentist's shop4  ,the teeth survived for
 unrecorded centuries--but that was all4
  ,it is strange the tricks the memory  
plays4  ,for1 sitting here1 glancing    
over the crowded sheet filled with the  
names of the dead1 ,i remembered these  
things4  ,and there came the sense of   
the madness of the universe and the     
intolerableness of life1 if the end of  
all heroism was but that--nothingness   
and corruption4  ,a handful of bones    
thrown up by the beadle to make room for
 the dead of to-day--is that all that is
 left of those who handed down the lamp 
of life to us8  ,is that all that will  
be left of us too at the last8  ,in the 
ordinary day my friend at the top of the
 ,gallows' ,road and the cobbler on the 
breast of the brae would have said that 
that was the end4  ,but the             
extraordinary day has come upon us      
unawares1 and in the extraordinary day  

this little1 burdened1 pain-racked life 
becomes suddenly unendurable unless it  
lie in the bosom of eternity4  ,if there
 be no rainbow circling the heavens     
above the carnage heaps of the stricken 
battlefields1 if the farewell of death  
be a farewell for ever1 how can the     
heart endure8  999999  ,it certainly    
looks to the seeing of the eye as if    
destruction were the end4  ,with the    
perishing of the body everything seemeth
 to perish3 all love1 all thought1 all  
tenderness vanish for ever4  ,but the   
eyes and the ears are for ever playing  
us false2 and here1 too1 they deceive   
us4 ,for the world is so ordered that   
nothing ever perishes4  ,in nature there
 is no destruction4  ,a handful of ashes
 in a grate look like annihilation1 but 
what it represents is really            
resurrection4  ,the imprisoned sunrays  
of uncounted aeons1 stored up in the    
lumps of coal1 have been released from  
the prison-house1 and gone forth again  
as heat and as light4  ,the physical    

body may seem to perish2 what really    
happens is that its constituent elements
 are re-grouped4  ,but in the realm of  
beauty1 is there not destruction        
possible there8 ,through long centuries 
faith and devotion rear a great         
cathedral1 every line and curve of which
 is instinct with beauty4  ,every statue
 breathes the love and hope and fears of
 men4  ,in vaulted aisles and windows   
richly dight1 it symbolises the         
,unseen--the beauty which the heart     
yearns for4  ,on that beauty            
materialised1 ruthless ,vandalism rains 
shot and shell2 the devouring flames    
consume it4  ,its gaunt walls are now a 
monument of barbarism4  ,has nothing    
perished there8  ,is it not mockery to  
speak of the conservation of the        
constituent elements there8  ,for       
loveliness has vanished there from off  
the face of the earth1 and beauty which 
no hand of man can ever restore has been
 annihilated4  ,but it has not4  ,for   
beauty is not in things1 but in souls4  

,the beauty lay in the soul of the      
architects that planned1 in the hearts  
of the builders that carved the stones  
until they seemed to breathe--and shells
 cannot destroy that4  ,the loveliness  
was shrined in the souls of the         
generations that gazed1 and1 gazing1    
were raised into the fellowship of the  
hearts that planned and builded4  ,thus 
did the spirit of beauty grow in the    
hearts of men--and shells cannot destroy
 that4  ,and let these charred walls be 
left to the alchemy of time1 and nature 
will clothe them in richer loveliness4  
,lichen and moss will grow on them1 and 
the moonlight will etherialise them4    
,one symbol of beauty may seem to       
perish2 but the spirit of beauty itself1
 dwelling in the hearts of men and      
abiding at the core of the universe1 is 
indestructible4  ,the thing which we    
deem perishable1 no power on earth can  
kill4  999999  ,there is on earth       
something infinitely more precious than 
the material substance1 indestructible  

though it be4  ,the most beautiful thing
 the world can show is a good man4      
,through the years forces play on him1  
and each force adds its element of      
beauty4  ,he has struggled with         
adversity1 and in the conflict he has   
learned patience1 tolerance and a wide  
charity4  ,waves of affliction have     
passed over him1 and he has learned     
tenderness and sympathy with human      
suffering1 so that bruised hearts come  
and lie down in his shadow1 and there   
find healing4  ,with eyes cleansed from 
self1 he looks out on the comedy and    
tragedy of life1 and he sees the hidden 
springs4  ,the healing power that goes  
forth from him grows with the years4    
,at last he dies4  ,does nature conserve
 the shell while it consigns the jewel  
in the shell--the man himself1 with all 
his love and tender thought and         
unselfish care--to annihilation8  ,that 
is unthinkable4  ,to know one good man  
is to know that the human personality is
 imperishable4  ,it was through that    

knowledge that the soul of man triumphed
 over the terror of death4  ,there      
walked in ,galilee a ,teacher who made a
 handful of peasants feel the           
possibilities of moral loveliness latent
 in the human heart1 and when ,he died  
they could not associate the thought of 
death with ,him4 ,it was not possible   
that ,he should be holden of it1 they   
said one to another4  ,everything was   
possible but that ,he could become as a 
clod in the valley of corruption4  ,of  
course even that was possible if the    
world were a chaos given over for sport 
to malicious demons4  ,it would be      
possible1 then1 that the                
self-sacrificing love stronger than     
death1 and the spirit of unsullied      
purity should become mere dust4 ,but the
 possibility of the world being ruled by
 any except a ,righteous ,power did not 
occur to the untutored ,galileans4      
,therefore they faced death with level  
eyes1 refusing to believe in its        
triumph1 saying to their hearts1 ,it is 

not possible4  ,and that is the rock on 
which to plant our feet in the day when 
the world is given over to the wild     
welter of bloodshed4  ,in every parish  
over all the land blinds are pulled     
down1 and hearts1 wrapped round in the  
dimness1 sit still in the shadow of a   
dumb affliction4  ,they will never again
 hear the familiar footsteps coming to  
the door2 they will hear it in their    
dreams--only to awake and find silence4 
,never again will the first question be 
when the door is opened1 as it was      
through all the days since the golden   
days of childhood1 ,where is mother8    
,but the great things which made life   
noble have not been destroyed by bullet 
or shell4  ,no man is worthy of freedom 
except the man who is prepared to die   
for it4  ,the heart1 which in death     
proved itself deserving of freedom1 has 
entered into the fulness of freedom4    
,the heavens are again aglow when we    
realise that4  999999  ,it was the      
,professor who made me sure of those    

things4  ,i met him at the ,priory1     
where my old friend carries on his      
controversy with the ,pope--or used to4 
,in that house of his one meets all     
sorts of visionaries from the ends of   
the earth4  ,a ,waldensian pastor full  
of the dream of a rejuvenated ,italy2 a 
leader of ,french ,protestants1 who has 
forgotten his controversy with the ,pope
 in the great upheaval through which his
 race are finding their soul once more2 
a dreamer from across the ,atlantic1 his
 eyes a-gleam with the vision of a      
reunited ,christendom--these are the men
 you will find drinking tea at the      
,priory on any day in our parish4  ,the 
original bond between them was their    
controversy with ,rome1 but they have   
now forgotten all about that4  ,there1  
in a happy hour1 ,i met the ,professor4 
,one phrase of his lit up for me the    
days of darkness4 ,we see the alchemy of
 ,providence at work all round about us1
 he exclaimed1 pushing his fingers      
through his hair until it stood up all  

on end1 an aureole of white4  ,it is the
 flower of our manhood that is          
perishing1 said the ,prior1 while our   
hostess was nervously solicitous over   
the fate of a teacup which the          
,professor was balancing in his left    
hand1 utterly regardless of its purpose4
  ,perishing6 exclaimed the ,professor2 
they are not perishing--they are living4
  ,to talk of the wastage of life is    
mere cant4  ,our hostess rescued the    
teacup1 and the ,professor had now the  
free use of both his hands4  ,the one   
hand clutched his hair and the other    
made sundry gestures clinching his      
arguments4  ,why should we rail at      
death8 said he2 for death has been the  
saviour of humanity4  ,it was death that
 made men of us4  ,it was in the school 
of death that man learned unselfishness1
 self-sacrifice1 chivalry and honour4   
,there is nothing so ugly as the man    
whose heart is filled by the world4  ,it
 is death that has saved us all from    
that4  ,were man's location here for    

ever1 the world would be his god4  ,a   
world without death would be a world    
with no room for the ,cross4  ,men      
climbed the heights of nobility as they 
defied death4  ,the crackling flames    
were unable to silence the martyrs'     
song2 the march of the hosts of         
devouring tyranny could not move the    
hearts that chose death rather than     
slavery2 the generations sealed with    
their blood their testimony that truth  
and loyalty to truth are more precious  
than life1 and so met death with a      
smile2 it was through this wrestling    
with death that great and noble         
character was forged on the anvil of    
life4  ,death was the weapon which      
forged greatness of soul4  ,death cannot
 destroy what death has created4  ,that 
could only happen in an insensate world4
  ,what is it--death--but just this--the
 slave of immortality8  ,if ,i could    
only write it down as the ,professor    
spoke1 if ,i could only make you see his
 eyes glowing with little darts of flame

 as he saw the whole world transformed  
into a mighty workshop in which the     
alchemy of ,providence is transmuting   
the soiled substance of our humanity    
into living souls 7over whom death can  
have no dominion7 fashioned for heavenly
 destinies--then you1 too1 would        
believe4  ,since that day my old friend 
has not spoken a word about the waste of
 the flower of the race4  999999  ,the  
house with the drawn blinds stands at   
the cross-roads1 and ,i must come back  
to it4  ,what is it that has happened to
 him who lies in a nameless grave in    
,france8  ,the opportunity for winning  
glory and earthly fame did not come his 
way2 he just laid down his life along   
with hundreds of thousands more4  ,he   
has taken his place among the           
undistinguished dead4        ,o1        
undistinguished dead1   ,whom the bent  
covers or the rock-strewn steep   ,shows
 to the stars1 for you ,i mourn--,i     
weep1       ,o1 undistinguished dead4   
,none knows your name1   ,blackened and 

blurred in the wild battle's brunt1     
,hotly ye fell with all your wounds in  
front4       ,that was your fame4  ,not 
a line in the records of time for him4  
,but there are other records--those of  
eternity4  ,he has lost nothing of the  
thrill of life4 ,he is being borne on   
that tide of self-surrender and heroism 
which has flowed through the ages1 and  
bears those who embark on it to the very
 feet of ,god4  ,he would not himself   
have it otherwise4  ,it is better far to
 go out with honour than survive with   
shame1 wrote a comrade from the         
trenches1 now united with him in death4 
,there is a place for sorrow in our     
land1 but its place is by the           
hearth-stones of those whose sons choose
 to survive with shame4  ,he has taken  
his place among those who1 unseen1 are  
leading on the embattled hosts of his   
race to victory4  ,he has discovered the
 treasures in store for the brave and   
the true4  ,when1 amid the flutterings  
of flags and the shouting of the people 

rejoicing in their deliverance1 the     
great army will return home at last--he1
 too1 will come4  ,at ,kobe1 when the   
bugles were welcoming the victorious    
,japanese home in #ahie1 ,lafcadio      
,hearn spoke to an old man of those who 
would never return4  ,probably the      
,western people believe1 answered the   
old man1 that the dead never return4    
,there are no ,japanese dead who do not 
return4  ,there are none who do not know
 the way4  ,it is a poor1 emasculated   
religion that does not believe that4    
,when at the last the bugles call in the
 quiet evening 444 they will come back4 
,they will come crowned with glory and  
honour and immortality--with that       
victory which overcometh the world4     
,let the blinds be rolled up1 and the   
windows be all flung open to the light4 
,,vi  ,the ,cities of the ,plain    ,,vi
  ,it was the old clerk1 of whose       
services and devotion to our parish ,i  
have previously written1 who gave the   
,biblical name to the little village    

that lies near the boundary of the great
 city that is steadily creeping towards 
us1 and ever threatening to engulf us4  
,its own name is singularly pleasant to 
the ear and redolent of the sound of    
running waters1 but it is unnecessary to
 burden the memory with it4  ,though it 
is now many years ago1 ,i remember1 as  
it were yesterday1 the first time ,i    
heard the word on the old clerk's lips4 
,i was sitting warming myself by the    
fire in the ticket-collector's office4  
,the ticket-collector was ostensibly    
waiting to provide tickets1 but as      
everybody in our parish has a season    
ticket1 that part of his duty is almost 
a sinecure4  ,thus it happens that the  
ticket-collector has leisure1 just      
before the trains pass through1 to give 
his friends the fruits of his researches
 in the realms of philosophy4  ,that    
particular day he was speaking of the   
changes he had seen4  ,i was brought up1
 said he1 closing his argument1 on the  
,shorter ,catechism and porridge4  ,i   

dinna haud any longer by the ,catechism1
 but ,i havena lost my faith in         
porridge4  ,it was then that the clink  
of coppers was heard on the sill of the 
ticket window4  ,in the aperture was    
framed the face of the clerk1 with the  
trimmed grey beard and the small        
twinkling eyes4  ,he held three pennies 
deftly in his thumbless hand4  ,return1 
,sodom1 said he4  ,the ticket-collector 
pushed back his cap1 stretched out his  
right hand as if he were beginning to   
speak1 then thought better of it4  ,out 
of his case1 without a word1 he produced
 a return ticket for ,sodom1 clinked it 
in his machine1 and passed it through   
the window4  ,the old clerk received it 
with a grim chuckle4  ,away below the   
bridge there came a rumble4  ,train1    
said the ticket-collector1 closing the  
aperture with a snap1 and making for the
 door4  ,and ,i have never forgotten the
 hoarse voice of the old clerk with an  
acid edge to it as he clinked his three 
coppers1 saying ,return1 ,sodom4  999999

  ,it is an amazing thing how within the
 circuit of the same parish1 removed by 
one mile from one another1 there can    
live together two eras so remote from   
each other in the order of human        
development1 as the world of the        
red-roofed houses on the slopes of the  
hills1 and the village at their base    
where the gorge1 worn by the little     
river through the travail of immemorial 
centuries1 debouches on the great       
central plain that runs across          
,scotland4  ,every morning the dwellers 
on the slopes are borne by the railway  
on a great span of arches over the      
little village1 and they look down on   
the roofs of its houses4  ,on the slopes
 there lies the world in which the      
fringes of life are embroidered--a world
 where men and women talk of books1     
pictures and plays4  ,it is a world of  
hyphenated names4  ,but in all the      
village there is not so much as one     
hyphenated name4  ,it is a refuse-heap  
of humanity4  ,many diverse races are   

crowded in it4  ,the city fathers clean 
out slums without providing first for   
the slum-dwellers1 and1 swept before the
 broom of so-called social reformers1   
homeless men and women have drifted to  
the village1 and there reconstituted    
their slum4  ,from the glens of the     
north broken ,highlanders1 driven out to
 make room for sheep1 have drifted      
hither to work in the quarries1 and the 
speech of their children's children     
still bears the trace of their ancient  
language pure and clean2 over the sea   
,irishmen have come to reap the harvest 
fields of the ,lothians1 and they have  
been deposited by the tide in the       
village4  ,stray ,poles have come hither
 and straggling ,czechs2 a man from     
,connemara neighbours a shaggy giant    
from ,lewis2 and a dour stone-cutter    
from ,aberdeen is door by door with an  
,italian who sells what looks like a    
deadly mixture from a hand-cart4  ,here 
you can see humanity in its primitive   
state1 before it began to adorn the     

fringes of life1 and make for itself    
sanctuaries of privacy4 ,between the    
slopes and the base of the hill there   
yawns an invisible chasm4  ,centuries   
separate them4  ,thus it comes that the 
slope-dweller passes on the top of the  
arches1 scanning his newspaper1 without 
so much as seeing the huddle of houses  
which constitute the village4  ,it is   
only a week ago that1 like the old      
clerk1 ,i took out a return ticket for  
the ,cities of the ,plain4  7,for the   
old clerk had a two-fold formula4  ,when
 he was going to one village he said1   
,return1 ,sodom1 but when he meant to go
 to the quarries beside the village he  
said1 ,return1 ,cities of the ,plain47  
,it was to visit an old soldier that ,i 
thus descended into the plains4  ,he    
lives in a rookery in which many        
families are crowded one on the top of  
the other--a rabbit-warren infested by  
many and strange odours4  ,he used to   
come up the slopes and do odd jobs1     
tidying up gardens1 and he loved to talk

 of      unhappy far-off things   ,and  
battles long ago1  in a language which  
,i also could speak4  ,so ,i got to know
 him4  ,and as ,i sat by his bed ,i     
heard a moan from the adjoining room4   
,it began in a low cry1 and then rose   
into a wail that seemed charged with all
 the woes of humanity4  ,the old man sat
 up in bed trembling4  ,the cry of woe  
now changed into a chorus2 other voices 
swelled it4  ,it was the act of a moment
 to open the door1 and in the dim       
landing find the door of this other     
room4  ,i opened it1 and there ,i saw   
three children huddled before a grate   
which contained nothing but ashes4  ,on 
an iron bed1 stretched on straw1 lay a  
woman sunk in sleep4444  ,a foetid air  
was laden with the fumes of alcohol4444 
,there was no food4444  ,a broken chair1
 a stool or two1 and a box that did duty
 for a table4444  ,the old soldier told 
me what to do1 and ,i did it4  ,a kindly
 woman brought coal and food1 and the   
wailing was silenced4  ,the old man     

explained it all4  ,the woman sunk in   
the stupor is the wife of a soldier now 
in the trenches4  ,she did not belong to
 our parish2 but only came a week or two
 before1 swept before the broom of the  
social reformers from the city4  ,the   
mothers of the ,parish1 the old soldier 
declared1 were heroines4  ,one such1    
when her son asked her consent to       
enlist1 said1 ,eh1 laddie1 ,i dinna want
 ye to gang2 ,i dinna want 444 but if ,i
 were ye ,i wud gang mysel'4  ,our own  
wives and mothers were splendid--but    
those who came from the city1 flotsam   
and jetsam borne on the tide1 staying   
for a little and then carried away      
again1 of whom there were three or four 
in the village--these were different4   
,they meet each other eager for news4   
,they are depressed1 and feel the need  
for cheering4  ,one suggests a stimulant
 444 and the result is this4  ,he is no 
,puritan--the old soldier lying on his  
bed1 his campaigning done--and he spoke 
out of an understanding heart4  ,it was 

only poor human nature1 overtaken by    
thick darkness and misery1 trying to    
open a window towards the realm of      
sunshine4  ,and ,i came out into the    
roadway and turned towards the station4 
,i did not see them before1 but ,i saw  
them now4  ,a few yards separating them1
 ,i pass two shops licensed to sell the 
means for opening windows towards this  
realm of happiness2 and two houses with 
gaudy lights called the villagers to    
enter the region where all cares and    
worries are forgotten4  ,in the street  
pale-faced1 ill-clad children played at 
being soldiers1 marching with heads     
erect4  ,the gorge was already dark with
 the evening shadows1 but the lamps in  
the village were lit4  ,when the village
 was passed ,i stood and looked back4   
,in the west the setting sun had thrown 
over the heavens a glow4  ,a well of    
liquid fire glowed over ,torfionn1 and  
its rays spread fan-like1 so that they  
spanned the horizon1 and1 touching the  
rounded mass of ,corstarfin1 went forth 

over the firth4  ,against this          
background stood silhouetted the great  
arches that carry the railway across the
 hollow1 and behind these the arches    
that bear the canal4  ,the piers stood  
as a gigantic forest4 ,these mighty     
arches might have been the work of the  
,romans4  ,a soft1 luminous haze fell on
 the village4  ,window after window was 
lit up4 ,the door of a cottage near me  
was opened1 and a flood of light        
streamed out4  ,a woman stood in the    
door1 and looking up the road shouted   
,jim1 and a little boy1 leaving his     
fellow-soldiers1 rushed to her1 and she 
clasped him in her arms and closed the  
door4444  ,in that moment the little    
village seemed to me as if it were an   
outpost of ,paradise4 ,nature threw as a
 benediction the mantle of its          
loveliness over it4 ,what nature meant  
to be a sanctuary of beauty1 man had    
changed into ,sodom4  999999  ,the      
ticket-collector stood at his post and  
scanned the passengers as they went     

through4  ,he knew them all1 and had    
only a stray ticket to collect4  ,i was 
last1 and duly gave up my return from   
the ,cities of the ,plain4  ,but he did 
not let me through the gate4  ,i want to
 show you something1 said the           
ticket-collector1 and he led me into his
 office and produced a pamphlet4  ,i got
 it from the man who goes to ,keswick1  
said the ticket-collector2 you know him4
  ,i knew him1 the best of men4  ,nae   
doubt1 went on the ticket-collector2 nae
 doubt4  ,he was always giving me       
tracts4  ,tracts--faugh6--poor stuff1   
nae style1 nae logic1 and nae           
philosophee in them4  ,but ,i aye took  
them and thanked him--for he is a nice  
man1 though a perfect babe in matters of
 understanding4 ,and ,i found them      
useful for spills4  ,the other day he   
handed me this444 and he waved a blue   
paper-covered booklet4  ,mahn1 he       
exclaimed1 pushing his peaked cap back  
from his grey head1 and sweeping his    
brass buttons down with his hand2 mahn1 

this has fair hit me between the eyes4  
,then he opened the pamphlet and began  
to read passages that he had heavily    
scored with blue pencil4  ,the ,czar has
 abolished the sale of vodka for ever6  
,what is the result8  ,the old women in 
the villages1 read the ticket-collector1
 can hardly believe their own eyes1 so  
changed are their menfolk4444           
,everywhere peace1 kindness and         
industry4  ,war is said to be hell2 but 
this is like a foretaste of heaven4     
,listen to this1 cried the collector1   
his arm outstretched4  ,a newspaper     
correspondent writes1 since the sale of 
vodka stopped the old night population  
7in the doss-houses7 seems to have      
vanished4  ,every passage he read bore  
the same testimony4  ,and what are we   
doing8 he exclaimed4  ,we have stopped  
nothing2 we surround our soldiers with  
the old temptations1 and we leave their 
defenceless wives exposed to the same   
temptations2 ,i know all about it4      
,mahn1 it was ,ruskin that said1 ',there

 is no wealth but life1' and we leave   
all our wealth of life at the mercy of  
every evil4  ,it's a fair scandal4  ,do 
you ken the conclusion ,i've come to6   
,it is that the best form of government 
is a benevolent despotism4  ,oor men are
 afraid of this and that--losing        
votes--but an autocrat with a stroke of 
a pen can sweep away the power of hell4 
,if they would only make ,king ,george  
an autocrat for a few years4444  ,that  
would be grand6  ,he insisted on lending
 me the blue-covered pamphlet1 and it   
being his hour off he walked with me    
across the bridge4  ,the valley was now 
dark4 ,the snuff-manufacturer's house   
down below was wrapped in gloom4        
,lights twinkled on the slopes4  ,below 
a lamp-post at the far end of the bridge
 two men stood4  ,when he saw them the  
ticket-collector stood fast4  ,mahn1    
said he1 ,i've come to a great          
resolution4  ,i'm too old to fight2 and 
they canna get at me in ony way4  ,no   
,income-tax for me2 and threepence on   

the tea is naething1 for ,i never take  
it2 ,i want to feel that ,i am worth men
 dying for me2 and ,i am going to be    
tee-total till the end of the war4      
,i'll give the money to help the        
soldiers' weans4 ,it's the weans that   
pull at my heart-strings4  ,and he      
turned on his heel and walked rapidly   
back across the bridge4  ,under the     
lamp-post stood the roadman and the     
beadle1 looking after him4  ,i spoke to 
them1 for since the war began we all    
speak to each other in our parish4  ,has
 he forgotten ony thin'8 asked the      
roadman1 waving a hand towards the      
retreating form of the ticket-collector4
  ,i don't think so1 ,i answered1 he    
just said that he was going to be       
tee-total till the end of the war4      
,tee-total6 echoed the roadman          
mournfully2 there gangs anither lost    
soul6  ,my two friends went sadly down  
the steep brae1 and ,i turned up the    
long flight of stone steps that leads to
 the road above4  ,on the top of the    

first flight ,i turned and looked after 
them4  ,when they came opposite the door
 of the village inn1 they slowed down   
444 and then went resolutely past1 down 
into the hollow4  ,the two of them have 
probably resolved to join the company of
 the lost souls4  999999  ,i have read  
the ticket-collector's pamphlet1 and ,i 
feel a little dazed4 ,it is such an odd 
world1 and the strange thing is that ,i 
never realised its queerness before4  ,a
 ,grand ,duke is murdered in a place of 
which ,i never heard before1 and whose  
name ,i cannot even now trust myself to 
write down correctly1 and here1 a       
thousand miles away1 the result is that 
,i am brought face to face for the first
 time with the problem that lay twice a 
day under my feet--the problem of the   
,cities of the ,plain4 ,a flood of light
 seems to have fallen on things which   
were aforetime hazy4  ,events stand out 
luridly and arrestingly4  ,here is one4 
,i was in a far ,hebridean isle when war
 broke out4  ,all of a sudden there     

sounded the drum1        ,saying ,come1 
,freemen1 come1   ,ere your heritage be 
wasted6 said the       quick alarming   
drum4  ,and the manhood of the island   
sprang to their feet4  ,mothers gave    
their sons1 sending them away with sobs 
and tears1 but in the name of ,god4  ,on
 a drizzling morning the little steamer 
lay at the pier1 crowded with men and   
horses1 going out to fight and die4     
,the hawsers were loosed4 ,the steamer  
churned and backed and crept away4  ,a  
girl stood near me crying softly4  ,a   
youth with clean-cut features1 and the  
yearning no tongue can utter shining in 
his eyes1 leant over the taffrail and   
called to her1 ,not crying1 ,jessie8    
,and she wiped her cheek with the moist 
handkerchief1 and turned a smiling face 
to him and said1 ,no1 ,i am not crying4 
,and the paddles churned faster1 and    
they passed into the drizzle and the    
haze4  ,weeks later ,i read how one man 
of that regiment--the regiment of my own
 county--killed another 444 and a few   

days later ,i read that he had done so  
in a drunken brawl4  ,he was not from   
the island1 that man1 and ,i know not   
who he is4  ,his mother doubtless sent  
him forth to fight as a hero for his    
,king1 and he became a murderer under   
the fostering of the ,state4  ,out of   
the clean countryside they were taken1  
these men1 and the ,state that summoned 
them1 and whose call they answered1     
surrounded them with temptations4  ,away
 from the influence of mother and sister
 and sweetheart1 wearied and worn with  
the hard toil of preparation1 the ,state
 opened the canteen and said1 ,take your
 ease thus1 and they did so4  ,the      
,secretary of ,war made appeals to them4
  ,be sober1 said he1 avoid alcohol1    
that the ,state1 through your           
self-denial1 may live4 ,but the ,state  
said1 ,see1 ,i have made ample provision
 for you1 so that you may disregard the 
noble advice my servant gives you4      
,they came in their thousands across the
 ,atlantic from the far ,north-,west at 

the call of their mother--clean and     
sober--and their mother opened the      
canteen for their benefit on the plain4 
,such a world as that dwelt in the      
imagination of ,dean ,swift--,i never   
imagined that it could exist here and   
now4  ,and in that world of the cities  
of the plain1 what reward are we        
preparing for the men who are baring    
their breasts to the arrows1 standing   
between us and death8  ,when they come  
back1 war-worn1 to what will they       
return8  ,to homes in which the fires   
are extinguished1 the candles burnt down
 to the socket2 the cupboards bare1 the 
children famished and neglected8  ,is   
that to be the guerdon of their         
sacrifice2 is it for that that they have
 gone down into hell8  ,surely it cannot
 be for that6  ,a wave has passed over  
us1 raising us to the realisation of the
 higher values of things4  ,words live  
for us now which were dead yesterday4   
,a beam of light has fallen into the    
chamber of imagery1 and the word        

,temperance has risen from the couch on 
which it lay dying1 and it claims us for
 its own4  ,through it we can make the  
world know that we are worth fighting   
for--worth that the young1 the strong1  
and the brave should take everything    
they hold dear--their ideals1 their     
love1 their little children unborn--and 
throw them into the trench1 and there   
give themselves and their dreams to     
death for us4  ,we must see to it that  
we are worthy the sacrifice4  999999    
,it seemed to me hitherto that ,i was a 
citizen of the country endowed with the 
greatest freedom on earth4  ,but the    
ticket-collector has proved to me that  
that was a dream4  ,here in our parish  
,i have no power to control this thing  
that matters so vitally in the ,cities  
of the ,plain4  ,we have a ,parish      
,council and a ,county ,council1 and ,i 
don't know how many other dignified and 
honourable authorities1 whom we elect4  
,but we elect nobody to control this4   
,a body of unelected ,justices1 of whom 

we know nothing1 settle for us that down
 yonder in the ,cities of the ,plain    
there shall be half a dozen             
,state-regulated places for the         
manufacturing of paupers and criminals4 
7,the laws change with such             
kaleidoscopic swiftness in those days   
that ,i may be wrong47  ,and here am ,i1
 newly awakened by the ticket-collector 
to that enormity1 and ,i am not free to 
do anything4  ,it is surely a mad world4
  ,we needed to be awakened2 and we have
 been awakened with the shriek of shells
 and the crying of the perishing6  ,and 
the result of the awakening will be     
regeneration for the ,cities of the     
,plain4  999999  ,the ticket-collector  
has deprived me for the time being of my
 peace of mind4  ,my conversion is so   
recent that ,i am afraid of falling into
 the fanaticism of the newly converted4 
,i followed the ,general the other day  
into the railway carriage1 and as we    
were passing over ,sodom1 lying there   
under our feet1 ,i spoke to him about   

it4  ,he looked at me with cold eyes4   
,do you want to sacrifice the freedom of
 the individual8 he asked in his curt   
military tones2 do you think that you   
can make saints of people by ,act of    
,parliament8  ,they would be mere       
plaster-saints4  ,i was reduced to      
silence4  ,my new-born zeal seemed to   
ooze out at every pore4  ,there was a   
touch of amused scorn in the ,general's 
eye as he glanced at me4  ,the ,general 
is a man of experience1 and he is quite 
right4  ,acts of ,parliament will never 
make saints of the people4  ,but the    
,state can see to it that the people are
 not surrounded by temptations through  
the operations of ,acts of ,parliament2 
that1 if the ,state is impotent to make 
saints1 it shall not1 on the other hand1
 set itself deliberately to make devils4
  ,that1 it seems to me1 is what the    
,state is now doing in the ,cities of   
the ,plain4  ,in ten thousand schools   
the ,state sanctions that its children  
be taught to pray--,lead us not into    

temptation1 and that same ,state        
encircles the path of its children by   
legalised temptations at every corner4  
,it is the maddest of worlds4  ,i may be
 wrong and the ,general wholly right4   
,but as the ticket-collector said the   
last time ,i saw him--,i would like to  
see the man who could convince me that  
,i am wrong4  ,and ,i don't know whether
 to be grateful to the ticket-collector 
or not4  ,he has deprived me of some of 
my sleep2 he has made my head ache with 
thinking of problems which ,i am not fit
 to cope with2 and1 most unlooked for of
 all1 he has made a tee-totaler of me   
till the end of the war4  ,there is a   
plaintive note in the ticket-collector's
 voice1 which strikes a chord in my     
heart1 when he invariably adds3 ,i hope 
the war won't last long4 ,for1 if it    
does1 there will be the danger of the   
ticket-collector and myself becoming    
teetotalers for altogether4  ,and it is 
such an ugly word--tee-totaler6  ,if    
only the ticket-collector would coin a  

new and beautiful word to connote his   
new and beneficent state of mind6  ,it  
is a pity that great causes should be   
burdened by the weight of ugly words4   
,,glasgow3 ,,printed ,,at ,,the         
,,university ,,press   ,,by ,,robert    
,,maclehose ,,and ,,co4 ,,ltd4