,transcriber's note3 ,text enclosed by underscores is in italics 7italics74 ,small capital text has been replaced with all capitals4 99 99 99 99 99 ,illustration3 titlepage ,the ,potter and the ,clay ,by the ,right ,rev4 ,arthur ,f4 ,winnington ,ingram1 ,d4,d4 ,lord ,bishop of ,london ,the ,young ,churchman ,co4 #dhd ,milwaukee ,street ,milwaukee1 ,wis4 ,contents ,i4 ,,chapter ,,page ,i4 ,,the ,,potter',s ,,vessel #c ,,ii4 ,,the ,,splendour ,,of ,,god #ae ,,iii4 ,,god ,,the ,,king ,,of ,,the ,,world #bg ,,iv4 ,,missionary ,,work ,,the ,,only ,,final ,,cure ,,for ,,war #dj ,v4 ,,god ,,the ,,champion ,,of ,,righteousness #eg ,,vi4 ,,the ,,knocking ,,at ,,the ,,door #ge ,,vii4 ,,immortality #ia ,,viii4 ,,the ,,peace ,,of ,,jerusalem #ajh ,,ii4--,,to ,,the ,,clergy ,i4 ,,messengers #abc ,,ii4 ,,physicians #ade ,,iii4 ,,fishers ,,of ,,men #afj ,,iii4--,,to ,,girls ,,what ,a ,,girl ,,can ,,do ,,in ,a ,,day ,,of ,,god #agi ,,iv4--,,to ,,boys ,,the ,,effect ,,of ,,the ,,holy ,,ghost ,,on ,,human ,,character #aii ,v4 ,,the ,,war ,,and ,,religion #bac ,,preface ,another year1 and we are still at ,war6 ,but we must not mind1 for we must see this thing through to the end4 ,as ,mr4 ,oliver said in his letter on ,what we are fighting for1 published this week3 ,we are fighting for ,restitution1 ,reparation1 and ,security1 and the greatest of these is ,security4 ,he means security that this horror shall not happen again1 and that these crimes shall not again be committed2 and he adds3 ,to get this security we must destroy the power of the system which did these things4 ,now it is clear that this power is not yet destroyed1 and to make peace while it lasts is to betray our dead1 and to leave it to the children still in the cradle to do the work over again1 if1 indeed1 it will be possible for them to do it if we in our generation fail4 ,this book1 then1 is an answer to the question asked me very often during the past two years1 and very pointedly from the trenches this very ,christmas ,day3 ,how can you reconcile your belief in a good ,,god1 who is also powerful1 with the continuance of this desolating ,war8 ,how can we still believe the ,christian message of ,peace on earth with ,war all around8 ,it is with the hope that this book may comfort some mourning hearts1 and bring some light to doubting minds1 that ,i send forth ,the ,potter and the ,clay4 ,a4 ,f4 ,,london4 ,feast of the ,epiphany1 #aiag4 ,i ,i ,,the ,,potter',s ,,vessel#a #a ,preached at ,st4 ,giles's1 ,cripplegate4 ,the argument in this sermon1 stated shortly during dinner-hour in a ,city church1 is developed at length in the lecture which comes last in this book4 ,arise1 and go down to the potter's house1 and there ,i will cause thee to hear ,my words4 ,then ,i went down to the potter's house1 and1 behold1 he wrought a work on the wheels4 ,and the vessel that he made of clay was marred in the hand of the potter3 so he made it again another vessel1 as seemed good to the potter to make it4--,,jer4 xviii4 #b-d4 ,i suppose there is no metaphor in ,holy ,scripture that has been so much misunderstood and led to more mischief than this metaphor of the potter and the clay4 ,do not you know how1 if any of us dared to vindicate the ways of ,,god to men1 again and again we were referred to the words of ,st4 ,paul3 ,who art thou that repliest against ,,god8 ,shall the thing formed say to ,him that formed it3 ,why hast ,thou made me thus8 ,hath not the potter power over the clay1 of the same lump to make one vessel unto honour1 and another unto dishonour8 ,and so the offended human conscience was silenced but not satisfied4 ,there is no doubt that the monstrous misrepresentation of ,christianity which we call ,calvinism arose chiefly from this metaphor2 and few things have done more harm to the religion of the world than ,calvinism4 ,those who believe that ,,god is an arbitrary tyrant who simply works as a potter is supposed to work on clay1 irrespective of character or any plea for mercy--how can such a person love ,,god1 or care for ,,god1 or wish to go to church or even pray8 ,you cannot do it6 ,thus there sprang up in some men's minds just such a picture of ,,god as is described by that wonderful genius1 ,browning4 ,some of you may have read the poem called ,caliban on ,setebos1 in which the half-savage ,caliban pictures to himself what sort of a person ,,god is4 ,he had never been instructed1 he knew nothing2 but he imagined that ,,god would act towards mankind as he acted towards the animals and the living creatures on his island2 and this is a quotation from that poem3 ,thinketh1 such shows nor right nor wrong in ,him4 ,nor kind1 nor cruel3 ,he is strong and ,lord4 ,am strong myself compared to yonder crabs ,that march now from the mountain to the sea2 ,let twenty pass1 and stone the twenty-first1 ,loving not1 hating not1 just choosing so4 ,say the first straggler that boasts purple spots ,shall join the file1 one pincer twisted off8 ,say1 this bruised fellow shall receive a worm1 ,and two worms he whose nippers end in red2 ,as it likes me each time1 so ,i do3 so ,he4 ,in other words1 his picture of ,,god was that of an arbitrary tyrant who rejoiced in his power1 who did what he liked1 who enjoyed tormenting1 who would have looked down in glee upon the pictures that have so touched us in the paper of a woman1 as she taught a ,bible-class1 killed by a ,zeppelin bomb2 and most touching of all of the little child who1 with the stump of his arm1 ran in and said3 ,they've killed daddy and done this to me4 ,these things stir our deepest feelings2 but such a ,,god as ,caliban pictured his ,setebos to be would have rejoiced at them and laughed to see them4 ,no wonder that this picture of ,,god which has grown up in some minds produces absolute despair4 ,people say1 ,if ,,god is like that1 what is the good of my doing anything8 ,,god will do what ,he likes1 irrespective of what ,i do4 ,or1 again1 it produces a spirit of fatalism3 ,i'm made like that6 ,it's not my fault4 ,like ,aaron when reproached about the golden calf--,i cast the gold they gave me into the fire1 and there came out this calf4 ,and all this produces in the mind of mankind a kind of rebellion--nay1 a hatred of ,,god 7,i hate ,,god1 said a man once to me7--which makes it quite impossible for any religion or trust or desire to pray to exist in the human soul4 ,it is well worth while1 then1 to run this metaphor of the potter and the clay back to its source4 ,here in ,jeremiah is the original passage about the potter and the clay4 ,now if you read for yourself this passage in the eighteenth chapter of ,jeremiah1 you will find an absolutely different picture given4 ,if you go with ,jeremiah to the potter's house you find a humble1 patient man at work dealing with refractory clay1 patiently trying to make the best he can out of it1 and when he is defeated in producing one object he makes another4 ,if he cannot make a porcelain vase he will make a bowl2 if he cannot produce a beautiful work of art he makes a flower-pot4 ,the potter has three things to notice about him4 ,first of all1 there is his patience4 ,then there is the fact that he is checked in his design by the clay at every moment4 ,he has no arbitrary power2 he is checked because he has to deal with a certain substance4 ,and the last beautiful thing about the potter is his resourcefulness2 he has always got the alternative of a second best4 ,though something has wrecked his first plan he has got another4 ,this is the picture of ,,god1 these are the characteristics of ,,god which we are to carry away from the potter and the clay4 #a4 ,now just see1 if this is so1 what a tremendous light this throws upon the war4 ,there are many to-day who do not think things out deeply1 who look on this war as the breakdown of ,christianity altogether4 ,they say3 ,all we have been taught1 why1 look how vain it is6 ,here are seven ,christian nations at war and dragging in the rest of the world4 ,all you have taught us about ,,god1 all you say about ,christianity1 is shown to be futile4 ,we see the breakdown of ,christianity indeed4 ,but wait a moment4 ,look at the potter and the clay1 and see if you do not get some light from this4 ,here is the ,potter1 our great ,,god2 the great ,potter knows what is in ,his mind2 ,he has in ,his mind a world of universal peace4 ,he is planning a porcelain vase in which the world is at peace4 ,he meant men to be all of one mind4 ,he made people of one blood to be of one mind in ,,christ ,,jesus4 ,that is clearly ,his plan1 ,his design1 and we do well to pray for-- 444 the promised time ,when war shall be no more1 ,and lust1 oppression1 crime1 ,shall flee ,thy face before4 ,that is ,his plan1 that is ,his design1 and some day ,he will see it accomplished4 ,he shall see of the travail of ,his soul and shall be satisfied4 ,meanwhile1 because ,he acts like a potter1 ,he is defeated again and again by the character of the clay1 for ,he will not run counter to the free will of the individual or of a nation4 ,if a great and powerful nation deliberately turns back from ,christianity to ,paganism1 if that nation deliberately declares regret that it took up ,christianity in the fourth century1 if it has adopted the gospel that ,might is ,right1 if the people turn to ,odin as their ideal instead of to ,,christ1 they defeat the plan of the great ,potter2 and so ,he cannot have the porcelain vase of universal peace4 ,you have no right to blame ,,god2 it is the work of the ,devil4 ,,god is hindered at every moment by the ,devil and all his works2 you cannot therefore blame our great and glorious ,,god for the defeat of ,his design4 ,the great ,potter is not to be blamed because of the refractoriness of the clay4 ,but here comes the splendid resourcefulness of the great ,potter4 ,although ,he cannot get out ,his first design of the porcelain vase of universal peace1 ,he is not defeated4 ,he has got a second-best2 ,he will have a beautiful bowl of universal service--a people offering themselves out of sheer patriotism for the service of their country4 ,and that is what ,he has produced to-day4 ,who would have thought that five millions of men would have volunteered to fight for their country8 ,who would have thought that every woman would feel herself disgraced if not doing something for her country as nurse1 physician1 or in a canteen8 ,why1 the spirit of service abroad to-day among men and women is something we have not seen in our country for a hundred years4 ,the great ,potter1 then1 has produced something from the clay2 ,he has produced the beautiful bowl of service4 ,let us thank ,him for that6 #b4 ,but it is not only upon the war that the picture of the potter and the clay throws such light2 it also shows what we have to do with our country4 ,there are some people who imagine it is inconsistent to say two things at the same time4 ,people blame me for declaring two things in the same breath4 ,one is that we never have had such a righteous cause2 that we are fighting for the freedom of our country1 for the freedom of the world2 that we are fighting for international honour1 for the future brotherhood of nations2 we are fighting for the nailed hand against the mailed fist4 ,but1 on the other hand1 are we to speak as if we had no faults of our own8 ,are we to take the tone of ,pharisees and say1 ,we thank ,,god we are not as other men1 even as these ,germans8 ,we have to admit that we have grave national sins ourselves1 and if we want to shorten the war we have to put these national sins away4 ,that is why we are going to have a national mission this autumn1 and we are preparing for it now4 ,the ,church is going to preach this great national mission1 and--please ,,god--our ,non-conformist brethren will fall in on their own lines and do the same4 ,we have great national sins1 and we have to put those away if we would shorten the war4 ,what a disgrace it is still to have a ,national ,drink ,bill of #ahj millions6 ,what a disgrace it is that we have not yet more thoroughly mastered immorality in ,london6 ,what shame it is that still there is so much love of comfort1 and that there are people making all they can out of the war6 ,we have to get rid of all this2 we must have the spirit of sacrifice from one end of the nation to the other4 ,we have to ask the great ,potter to remake the country1 to give the ,empire a new spirit4 ,why was it that1 when ,i had myself pressed a ,bill to diminish the licensing hours on ,sunday from six to three--a harmless reform1 you would have thought--to give the barmen and barmaids a chance of ,sunday rest1 that was shelved in the long run8 ,why was it that we could not raise the age for the protection of girls even to eighteen8 ,there is much to be purged out of our country1 and there could be no greater calamity than for this war to end and ,england still to be left with her national sins4 ,therefore the great ,potter must remake us4 ,he may have to break some nations to pieces like a potter's vessel4 ,it is possible for a nation to be so stiffened in national sins that there may be nothing for it but to break it in pieces4 ,we pray ,,god that we may not be so far gone as that1 that we may still be plastic clay in the hands of the ,potter4 ,that is our prayer1 that is our ideal1 to be a new ,england1 a new ,british ,empire1 and that ,,god may use us as ,his instrument in freeing the world4 #c4 ,but--and let this be my last word--we ourselves individually must be re-created4 ,have you ever thought1 brother or sister1 that the great ,potter had a design for you8 ,that1 when ,he planned you1 ,he planned a devoted man who would be a powerful influence in the world2 that ,he planned you1 my sister1 to be an example of attractive goodness4 ,how many people have you brought to ,,christ8 ,how powerful a witness do you give in this city8 ,suppose that you1 who were meant individually to be powerful instruments in ,,god',s hand1 vessels ,he could use1 have become middle-aged cynics1 or sneer at the religion you profess to believe in1 there is only one thing to be done4 ,you must get back to the design the great ,potter had for you4 ,we have all some reason to admit that we have been marred in the hands of the ,potter1 and to ask the ,potter to make us into another vessel as it may seem good to the ,potter to make us4 ,in this there are only two conditions--to look up and to trust heaven's wheel and not earth's wheel4 ,look not thou down1 but up6 ,to uses of a cup1 ,the festal board1 lamp's flash and trumpet's peal1 ,the new wine's foaming flow1 ,the master's lips aglow6 ,thou1 heaven's consummate cup1 what needst thou with earth's wheel8#b #b ,browning4 ,rabbi ,ben ,ezra4 ,we have to realise this1 that we can be remade1 that ,,god',s power can do anything2 but that we may go on for ever as we are unless we really put ourselves in the hands of ,,god4 ,what1 then1 ,i ask every one of you1 is to take the clay of your nature with the prayer1 ,just as ,i am1 without one plea1 and place it in the great ,potter's hands1 that ,he may re-create you into the man or woman ,,god meant you to be4 ,nothing can more effectually shorten the days for our boys in the trenches4 ,,ii ,,the ,,splendour ,,of ,,god ,o ,,god1 wonderful art ,thou in ,thy holy places3 ,thou wilt give strength and power unto ,thy people4 ,blessed be ,,god4--,ps4 lxviii4 #ce4 ,at the great ,convention of all the clergy of ,london in ,advent1 #aiae1 we saw reasons for thinking that what the world had been losing sight of was the majesty of ,,god2 the lowered sense of sin1 the neglect of worship1 the uppishness of man1 the pessimism of the day1 and the querulous impatience under discomfort1 are all signs of the loss of the sense of the majesty of ,,god4 ,but ,i want now to go farther than this2 ,i want to prove that the only way to revive praise1 hope1 peace1 sacrifice1 and courage1 is to revive a belief1 not only in the majesty1 but in the splendour of ,,god4 ,it was said not long ago that even good ,christians believed all the ,creed except the first clause of it4 ,but if we leave out the first clause1 ,i believe in ,,god1 see what happens4 #a4 ,prayer becomes unreal4 ,it is only a delight when it is felt to be communion with a very noble and splendid person4 ,,lord1 what a change within us one short hour ,spent in ,thy presence can prevail to make6#c is only true if that short and glorious hour is spent with an inspiring and glorious personality4 ,when1 like ,moses1 our faces should shine as we come down from the mount4 #c ,trench4 #b4 ,praise becomes practically impossible4 ,sometimes we say1 ,we really must praise ,,god more4 ,but we cannot make ourselves praise1 any more than we can move a boat by swinging up and down in it4 ,we must pull against something to make it move4 ,what we want is an adequate idea of the splendour of ,,god4 ,when we come in sight of ,mont ,blanc or ,niagara1 or when we hear of some gallant deed on the battlefield1 we say ,how splendid6 quite naturally4 ,we shall praise quite naturally when we catch sight--if only for a moment--of the true character of ,,god1 or believe ,he has done something great4 #c4 ,religion1 which means something which binds us to ,,god1 becomes an uninspiring series of detailed scruples about ourselves4 ,self-examination is most necessary2 but it was well said by an experienced guide of souls that1 for every time we look at ourselves1 we ought to look nine times at ,,god4 ,do some of you feel as ,i speak that your religion does not help you2 that1 while you have not given up your prayers1 or coming to church1 it is rather a burden than a help1 or at any rate not such a help as it might be8 ,it is because you have lost sight of the splendour of ,,god4 #d4 ,or1 again1 are you suffering from depression8 ,you hardly know why1 but everything seems to go wrong2 you seem oppressed with what old writers called accidie4 ,your will has lost its spring2 the note of your life has lost its hope and its joyousness4 ,you drag through life rather than rise up with wings like an eagle or run1 or even walk4 ,this is all because you have lost faith or never had faith in the splendour of ,,god4 #e4 ,or1 on the contrary1 you are busy from morning till night1 and you are too busy for prayer or church2 you are immersed in a thousand schemes for making money for yourself or for your family or for the good of mankind4 ,and yet1 with all your business abilities1 you don't inspire people2 you are conscious of a want yourself1 and other people are more conscious of it4 ,it is simply that you are without the one thing which matters2 you are the planet trying to shine without its sun2 you are ignoring the splendour of ,,god4 ,i4 ,for consider how splendid ,,god is6 ,these writers of the psalms had many limitations4 ,they had a very inadequate belief in the life after the grave2 they knew nothing about the ,incarnation2 they had no ,christmas ,day1 ,easter ,day1 ,ascension ,day1 or ,whit ,sunday1 to inspire them4 ,but they are bursting with glorious song1 because of their sense of the splendour of ,,god4 ,before the mountains were brought forth1 or ever the earth and the world were made1 ,thou art ,,god from everlasting1 and world without end4 #a4 ,he is splendid1 first1 in ,his wonderful ,power4 ,i should not think of arguing with you as to the existence of ,,god2 although1 to any thinking mind1 the marvellous intricacy of the whole creation1 from the largest sun to the smallest insect1 demands a ,thinking ,mind2 the thunder of the four hundred million consciences of mankind demands a ,righteous ,person4 ,and a ,creator who is at once wise and good is a ,,god4 ,no6 it is not only ,his existence which should mean so much to us1 but ,his astonishing power4 ,i remember when ,i was at ,niagara being taken down to the great power-station1 and through that power-station the power of ,niagara ,falls lighted1 among other things1 the whole of the great province of ,ontario so that the solitary worker in some small town was working with the light from a great power-station which he had never seen1 and in which he only1 perhaps1 partly believed4 ,but think of the ,power-,station which works the whole universe2 which gives the light to twenty million suns which have been counted and ,,god knows how many which have never been seen1 and yet which gives strength to the boy far from home as he leaps across the parapet into the battle4 ,well may another psalmist cry3 ,o ,,god1 wonderful art ,thou in ,thy holy places3 ,thou shalt give strength and power unto ,thy people4 ,blessed be ,,god4 ,and1 surely1 even if there were no other characteristic of the splendour of ,,god1 this ought to encourage us more than it does4 ,to believe that in prayer you are in touch with unfathomable strength2 that if you co-operate with ,,god you have at your disposal ,his unrivalled and incomparable power--this ought to put heart into the most timid4 ,we understand what ,archbishop ,trench meant when he said3 ,we kneel how weak2 we rise how full of power6 #b4 ,but the power of ,,god is really only the beginning of it4 ,the next characteristic of the splendour of ,,god is in ,his ,generosity4 ,thou openest ,thine ,hand1 and fillest all things living with plenteousness1 says the psalmist4 ,you could scarcely get a more beautiful description of the open-handedness of ,,god1 and the ease with which ,,god showers ,his gifts upon the world4 7a7 ,when you come to think of it1 there is no explanation of man's possession of life1 except the open-handedness of ,,god4 ,he simply gave him life1 and there is nothing more to be said about it4 ,it is at present still a scientific truth that ,life only comes from life4 ,life has never been yet spontaneously generated4 ,when men thought they had succeeded in creating life1 it was discovered that some previous germ of life had been left in the hermetically sealed vessel4 ,but even if1 in the years to come1 some sort of life was produced from apparently dead matter1 would it really have any bearing on the age-long belief that this free1 joyous life of man and animal has come from ,,god8 ,when you ask why ,he gave life1 there is only one answer3 ,that so many more living1 sentient beings might sun themselves in the sunshine of ,his own happiness1 ,he opened ,his ,hand and life came out4 7b7 ,but ,he was not content with giving life4 ,he gave all the colour of life2 ,he painted the most glorious world out of the riches of ,his marvellous imagination2 every variety of flower2 every plumage of bird2 every species of tree--often brought to the best by the slow process of evolution4 ,he gave it all2 ,he flung it out in all the exuberance of delight in what was very good4 ,he gave colour to our own life4 ,he gave us our warm friendships2 our keen intellectual interest in problems2 the love of mother1 wife1 husband1 father1 child4 ,he flung it all out1 like a joyous giver2 ,he filled all things living with plenteousness4 7c7 ,but not content with this life1 ,he had another ready when this was over4 ,he knew the boys wanted life1 and that this life would not be enough to satisfy them1 especially if they died early2 so ,he had another ready for them4 ,and here1 again1 another psalmist dashes in with his word of praise3 ,he asked life of ,thee1 and ,thou gavest him a long life1 even for ever4 ,this is our glorious hope to-day4 ,it is only when we have grasped the splendour of the generosity of ,,god that we can really appraise the meanness of man4 ,nearly all the ills of our life on earth--the poverty1 the class hatred1 the wars--come from an unfair grasping at an unfair share of the gifts of the generous ,,god4 ,they ask no thrones2 they only ask to share ,the common liberty of earth and air1 some poet sang of the gipsies4 ,,god gave plenty of land1 and plenty of water1 and plenty of air1 and if the ,new ,testament motto had been followed1 ,having food and raiment1 with these we shall have enough1 the generosity of ,,god would have been mirrored in the generosity of man4 #c4 ,but even this marvellous power and generosity would not excite the passionate love of mankind1 but for ,his ,humility4 ,power may only awe2 the merely generous ,lord or ,lady ,bountiful1 kind as they often are1 are sometimes felt to do it in a spirit of patronage and self-pleasing2 they like to be thought bountiful and kind1 and have their reward in the grateful looks and even obsequious demeanour of the recipients of their bounty4 ,but it is ,christmas which really stirs the blood4 ,that this powerful1 generous ,being should manifest ,his power and shower down ,his gifts was wonderful2 but that ,he should give ,himself--this was sublime6 ,this is what stirred heaven to its depths--,glory to ,,god in the highest6 ,the crowning splendour of ,,god was ,his ,humility4 ,he was great when ,he said1 ,let there be light1 and there was light4 ,he was mighty when ,he opened ,his ,hand and filled all things living with plenteousness4 ,but ,he was greatest of all when ,he lay as a babe in the manger4 ,well may the adoring ,christian look up at ,christmas and salute this third revelation of the splendour of ,,god3 ,thou didst leave ,thy throne and ,thy kingly crown ,when ,thou camest to earth for me4444 ,oh1 come to my heart1 ,,lord ,,jesus3 ,there is room in my heart for ,thee6 ,,ii4 ,what1 then1 ought this belief in the splendid power1 generosity1 and humility of ,,god to produce in us8 #a4 ,it must produce ,praise4 ,it must make us say3 ,praise ,,god in ,his holiness2 praise ,him in the firmament of ,his power4 ,you have caught sight of ,mont ,blanc and you have seen ,niagara1 and you say quite naturally1 ,how splendid6 #b4 ,it produces ,hope4 ,war1 slaughter1 misery1 can't be the end1 if such a ,,god exists4 ,it may be inevitable from man's lust1 ambition1 and greed2 but it can't be the end--if ,,god',s people work with ,,god3 there must be a kingdom coming at last in which dwelleth1 not ambition1 tyranny1 or cruelty1 but righteousness1 peace1 and joy in the ,,holy ,,ghost4 #c4 ,it produces ,peace4 ,once believe in the splendour of ,,god1 and you get the peace of ,,god1 which passeth all understanding4 ,thou wilt keep him1 says the prophet1 in perfect peace1 whose mind is stayed on ,thee4 ,the world is not out of ,,god',s ,hand1 as some people would persuade us1 nor any individual in the world4 ,the very hairs of your head are all numbered1 and ye are of more value than many sparrows4 #d4 ,and it produces answering ,sacrifice and ,courage4 ,what we want to-day is the warrior's mind1 which gives and does not heed the cost1 which fights and does not heed the wounds2 and we can only be nerved for this by the splendid self-sacrifice of ,,god ,himself4 ,if man is ,,god',s child1 then it must be a case of ,like ,father1 like son1 and the splendour of ,,god must be answered by the nobility of man4 ,to know such a ,,god is to live1 to serve such a ,,god is to reign2 with such a faith1 death loses its sting1 and the grave its terrors4 ,for to die is to pass into the presence of ,one who has shown ,himself powerful and generous and humble4 ,and the response of the grateful soul1 with ten times the conviction of the psalmist1 when he thinks of what happened on ,christmas ,day1 will be the same words uttered so many thousand years ago3 ,o ,,god1 wonderful art ,thou in ,thy holy places4444 ,he will give strength and power unto ,his people4 ,blessed be ,,god4 ,,iii ,,god ,,the ,,king ,,of ,,the ,,world#d #d ,preached in ,st4 ,margaret's ,church1 ,westminster1 in connection with the ,annual ,conference of the ,national ,union of ,women ,workers4 ,,god is my ,king of old2 the help that is done upon earth ,he doeth it ,himself4--,ps4 lxxiv4 #ab4 ,,god is either non-existent or ,his existence is the greatest fact in the universe4 ,either the secularist is right1 and there is nothing but the strong hand and the keen brain of man and woman to better the condition of world1 or1 if there be a ,person who created the great blazing suns that we call stars1 whose imagination is so vast that ,he controls the movements of history1 and yet whose knowledge is so detailed that the welfare of the smallest child in a great city is of infinite interest to ,him1 then the existence of that ,person is the greatest fact in all the world4 ,no question is so urgent as what ,he thinks about a problem2 nothing is so vitally important as to know what ,his mind is1 for instance1 as to the issue of a great war4 ,no one is quite so foolish as the man or woman who either plans his or her own life1 or who propounds schemes for the improvement of the world1 without taking the greatest ,fact in all the world into account1 or keeping in touch with what must be on this hypothesis the ultimate ,source and ,fount of all power and the ,mainspring of all energy4 ,if there be such a ,person at all1 the wires might as well expect to convey a message apart from the electric current as for the human instrument to avail without ,,god4 ,now1 ,i think it is quite likely that among so many busy people1 whose brains are all full of practical schemes1 there may be some whose minds may have but little hold on ,,god1 and may be troubled by doubts1 such as ,i remember my own mind was in the days of my youth4 ,after all1 one mind is very much like another2 and in speaking to women ,i have long learnt to speak as if ,i was speaking to men1 and in this ,i never found myself very much astray4 ,if ,i tell you1 then1 how the reality of ,,god gradually dawned upon one mind1 it is only in the hope that through what may be similar clouds of vagueness and doubt the light may shine upon another4 #a4 ,i think undoubtedly that ,nature was1 and always will be to most minds1 the first help4 ,it does seem more and more impossible that the ordered universe can have been produced by chance4 ,to use an illustration ,i have often used1 especially on ,sunday afternoons at the open-air meetings in the parks of ,east ,london1 if a box of letters cannot throw themselves into a play of ,shakespeare because there is clearly the mark of mind in the play1 how little credible is it that the atoms of the universe have thrown themselves into the universe as we see it to-day6 ,we feel inclined to add to the trenchant questions in the ,book of ,job the further question3 ,who wrapped the atmosphere round the earth and made life possible1 and stopped the friction8 ,was the beauty of the earth the surprise1 or the gift to ,his children of a ,being with a beautiful mind8 ,can the ordered course of the silent stars be produced by any amount of juggling with chance out of the atoms of the world8 ,in other words1 ,nature drives us not only to ,,god1 but to a very strong ,,god and a very present ,,god4 ,if the great astronomer ,herschel is right1 and every atom has the appearance of a created thing and every law of ,nature requires1 as he says1 the continual application of force1 we are up against--to use a cant phrase of the day--we are up against the most powerful ,person the world has ever known4 ,to swing the smallest planet on its orbit is beyond the power of the greatest superman ever present to the brain of a megalomaniac4 ,but to swing twenty millions of blazing suns1 and to swing them every day and every night1 and to swing them1 as far as we know1 for millions of years1 requires a ,person of surpassing strength and most present power1 for it is clear that of this wonderful thing which is done upon earth every day and every night ,he doeth it ,himself4 #b4 ,but if the philosopher ,kant was right in saying that the first thing which filled him with awe was the starry heavens without1 he went on to say that the second was the moral law within4 ,and if the minds of you women are like my own1 the path of the discovery of ,,god lies next through the conscience4 ,what is it1 this indistinct knocking1 this voice1 which though it can be stilled can never be silenced8 ,if it is only a product of mingled self-interest and heredity1 as some would uphold1 why does it persistently urge us1 sometimes in almost bitter tones1 against our immediate self-interest8 ,why must the boy leave his brilliant prospects and put himself under the bullets and shells in the trenches8 ,why must the mother let him go8 ,it is only a shallow thinker1 ,i believe1 who can remain long under the impression that the categorical imperative1 as ,kant called it1 or1 as we might say1 this insistent1 imperious voice1 can be produced by any process of evolution at all4 ,it speaks like the voice of a person2 it argues like a person2 it refuses to be silenced like a person4 ,and the argument is more than justified that1 if there is a ,person who made the world and still carries it on1 it is more than probably the same ,person who is speaking to us in conscience4 ,the fact that by ,his warnings and encouragements ,he clearly cares so much for righteousness is a standing witness that the ,person who swings the stars is more than a strong and clever devil1 which the author of the material universe alone might conceivably be1 but a ,person with a passion for goodness4 ,otherwise1 as ,dr4 ,chalmers said1 ,he would not have placed in the breast of every one of ,his children1 of every one of ,his created beings1 a reclaiming witness against ,himself4 ,we have come1 then1 a good way out of sceptical vagueness when we have arrived at a ,person of appalling power1 and yet of equally appalling righteousness1 who is thundering ,his will through every conscience in the world1 as though standing in the midst of the universe and striking at the same time four hundred million gongs2 not leaving it for someone else to do1 but doing it ,himself4 ,but1 alas6 we are still far from loving ,him1 for indeed ,he is still far from being lovable4 ,love is the only thing which we cannot command at will and which we cannot give at will2 and the world would be in a sorry plight so far as loving ,,god is concerned1 if nothing more had been done by ,,god than this4 #c4 ,after all1 there are many things which might make us inclined to hate this immensely strong and righteous ,person4 ,with all ,his strength and with all ,his righteousness1 there is a terrible amount of suffering in the world4 ,the old question that some of your children may have asked you who are mothers has far more in it than appears upon the surface3 ,oh1 mother1 why does not ,,god kill the devil8 ,the world is filled with injustice and cruelty1 and especially so to-day4 ,ypres ,cathedral and the ,cloth ,hall1 as ,i have seen with my own eyes1 are in ruins4 ,so are thousands of homes in ,belgium1 ,france1 and ,poland1 and yet not one single thing was done by the innocent inhabitants to deserve this fate4 ,who is going to give life again to the hundreds shot in cold blood in ,louvain and ,aerschott and elsewhere1 and seen shot by one of the clergy of the diocese of ,london2 or honour again to the outraged women and girls2 or restore the dead children--born and unborn--to the mothers who lost their children in the last ,zeppelin raid8 ,where is the ,,god of the fatherless and of the widow8 ,it is all very well to say1 ,it is ,,god in ,his holy habitation4 ,but why does ,he sit up there in ,his holy habitation while such things are being done upon earth8 ,is ,he reclining1 as ,tennyson pictured the ancient gods1 ,on the hills1 like gods together1 ,careless of mankind8 he may stay there2 but if he does1 who is going to love him8 whom do we love in england to-day8 is our popular hero the man who1 while he remains safe in the shelter of his home1 suggests that someone else should go and do something to save the country8 for myself1 if i thought god was like that1 i should not love him4 browning1 with that piercing insight which has helped so many1 puts the matter in a sentence4 is it possible1 he asks in that great argument contained in the poem saul1 ,here the parts shift1 ,here the creature surpasses the ,creator8 ,would ,i suffer for him that ,i love8 cries ,david1 as he looks with love and pity on stricken ,saul4 ,would ,i suffer for him that ,i love8 ,so wouldest ,thou1 so wilt ,thou4 ,and it is an argument that no petty quibbles can affect4 ,for instance1 if the boys in the trenches every day and every night so give their lives for their friends2 if the mother every day so loves the world that she gives her only begotten son1 and ,,god either cannot or will not1 then man is greater than ,,god2 then the creature surpasses the ,creator2 the parts in the great drama have changed indeed4 ,and that brings us straight up to the ,new ,testament1 expecting the very story--yes1 asking for the very chapters--to carry on the great witness of ,nature and of conscience4 ,and there we find the story just as we should expect1 only more so4 ,to use ,archbishop ,temple's phrase1 the character depicted in the ,new ,testament educates our conscience instead of merely satisfying it4 ,it is a more glorious exhibition of the character of ,,god than we had any right to ask1 and all carried out personally by ,himself4 ,the help that was brought to earth1 ,he brought it ,himself4 ,and just as1 on a gloomy day1 when bright sunshine bursts through clouds1 it changes everything1 so this revelation changes everything4 ,it does not do away with difficulties2 it lights them up4 ,it does not do away with suffering1 but lights it up4 ,it is quite another thing to suffer or to see suffering if ,,god suffered4 ,then ,i can feel the bullet tear out my eyes and still believe1 as a young officer to whom this happened still believes4 ,it does not do away with the crime of the men who have wantonly produced this unnecessary war1 and who have trampled underfoot every law of chivalry and humanity in carrying it out4 ,but it does give great inspiration to those who die for what has been called the nailed hand against the mailed fist4 ,as ,,christ died for the salvation of the world1 my two boys have died according to their lights for the same cause4 ,may ,i not think--asked a ,colonel who lost both his sons in one week--that ,,christ counts them as ,his comrades in arms8 ,and what that thought did for him it will do for others4 ,it does not do away with the inequalities of human life1 but like a trumpet note it summons every man and woman to come and rally round ,him who sprang into the midst of them and gave ,his life1 and who1 while employing human minds and hearts for ,his work1 means that the help that is done upon earth ,he doeth it ,himself4 ,what1 then1 has all this to say to a conference of women workers8 ,it suggests a warning1 and flashes an inspiration to you4 ,it suggests a warning4 ,it is possible that the keenest1 ablest women1 like the keenest1 ablest men1 may make a mistake which might more clearly be seen to be ludicrous if it were not so common1 that they imagine they can accomplish great things without ,,god4 ,history is strewn with the failures of those who have made this tragic and hopeless mistake4 ,many humble and noble souls who in infinite distress have found faith impossible have been really in touch with this wonderful and righteous and loving ,person without knowing it1 and have left behind them on earth the work which ,,god did through them1 and who acknowledge now in a clearer atmosphere that the work that they had done ,he did it ,himself4 ,but the merely busy men and women1 the man or woman who deliberately believes like ,nebuchadnezzar3 ,is not this great ,babylon that ,i have built by the might of my power1 and for the honour of my majesty8 have been the failure1 the laughing-stock of the world2 they have been out of touch with the ,source of all power1 and wisdom1 and grace1 and the world1 when they have passed1 will be the same as it was before4 ,but if it suggests a warning1 what inspiration1 dear sisters1 it flashes before you6 not so much to do something you have never done before1 but possibly to do it in a different spirit2 for the first time in your life1 perhaps1 to be consciously fellow-workers with ,,god1 to come again and again to ,,god1 and to fill yourselves with great heartfuls of ,his power and love1 to unite yourself in sacramental union to ,him who came to seek for the lost1 to lift up all work into a new atmosphere1 and to find a joy in it which the world can neither give nor take away4 ,that is the glorious prospect which opens out before us all4 ,,god has no favourites2 ,he is the same for all1 and invites all to join in the great comradeship which changes life4 ,it is the chance of our life to accept ,his offer4 ,the help that is done upon earth ,he doeth it ,himself2 and as you find the reality of that help at your disposal more and more1 day by day and year by year1 you will look up as trench after trench is taken in a power obviously not yours1 to gladly acknowledge3 ,not unto us1 ,o ,,lord1 not unto us1 but to ,thy name give the praise4 ,,iv ,,missionary ,,work ,,the ,,only ,,final ,,cure ,,for ,,war#e #e ,preached in ,westminster ,abbey on ,advent ,sunday4 ,they shall not hurt nor destroy in all ,my holy mountain3 for the earth shall be filled with the knowledge of the ,,lord1 as the waters cover the sea4--,isa4 xi4 #i4 ,it is with a pathetic wistfulness we hear described by the prophet this ,advent picture of the reign of peace1 in which the wolf is to dwell with the lamb1 and the leopard to lie down with the kid1 and the calf and the young lion and the fatling together1 and the sucking child to play on the hole of the asp1 and the weaned child to put his hand on the cockatrice' den1 and in which the special feature of the holy mountain was to be that they should not hurt nor destroy4 ,for we look round after nineteen hundred years of the religion which was to bring this peace on earth and good will among men1 and we see an outpouring of more blood and an outbreak of viler passions than has been seen in this world for a thousand years4 ,one can little wonder that the cynics scoff1 and those who refuse or fail to look below the surface speak openly of the breakdown of ,christianity1 and that some of the most earnest and loving of ,,god',s children are deeply moved and disturbed4 ,is this beautiful picture a ,will-of-the-wisp8 they ask4 ,is it a mirage in the desert8 or are the longing eyes of ,,god',s children some day to see it realized8 ,i4 ,they shall not hurt nor destroy in all ,my holy mountain4 ,and first we see ,belgium stabbed in the back and ravaged1 then ,poland1 and then ,serbia1 and then the ,armenian nation wiped out--five hundred thousand at a moderate estimate being actually killed2 and then as a necessary consequence1 to save the freedom of the world1 to save ,liberty's own self1 to save the honour of women and the innocence of children1 everything that is noblest in ,europe1 everyone that loves freedom and honour1 everyone that puts principle above ease1 and life itself beyond mere living1 are banded in a great crusade--we cannot deny it--to kill ,germans3 to kill them1 not for the sake of killing1 but to save the world2 to kill the good as well as the bad1 to kill the young men as well as the old1 to kill those who have shown kindness to our wounded as well as those fiends who crucified the ,canadian sergeant1 who superintended the ,armenian massacres1 who sank the ,lusitania1 and who turned the machine-guns on the civilians of ,aerschott and ,louvain--and to kill them lest the civilisation of the world should itself be killed4 ,and no doubt for many to-day this belief in ,christianity is trembling in the balance2 the world seems to have returned to the primitive chaos of paganism from which it came4 ,there's nothing left to-day ,but steel and fire and stone4#f #f ,kipling4 ,but this awful nightmare only besets those who fail to look below the surface4 ,two small publications will help those who are in this frame of mind2 one is an excellent lecture by the ,dean of ,westminster 7,dr4 ,ryle71 entitled ,the ,attitude of the ,church towards ,war1 and the other a brilliant little book by the well-known ,american writer1 ,owen ,wister1 called ,the ,pentecost of ,calamity4 ,in the first it is clearly shown that1 although ,christianity and ,war are ideally opposed to one another1 and although when the world is wholly ,christian there can be no war1 yet the writers of the ,bible and the ,fathers of the ,church have always held that1 until that ideal time arrives1 a ,christian man might have to go to war4 ,in the ,new ,testament itself1 as the ,dean points out1 we must balance ,they who take the sword shall perish by the sword with the words from the lips of the same ,divine ,teacher1 ,he that hath no sword1 let him sell his garment and buy one4 ,later on1 ,christians are found in the ,roman ,army in increasing numbers1 and ,st4 ,ambrose's and ,st4 ,augustine's words quoted by the ,dean may be taken as typical of the teaching of the early ,church4 ,the courage which protects one's country in war against the raids of barbarians is completely righteous1 says ,st4 ,ambrose 7,de ,offic41 i4 #fa74 ,and ,st4 ,augustine says 7,ep41 #bbg73 ,provided they are really good men1 those who are fighting are unquestionably engaged in the pursuit of peace1 even though the quest be prosecuted through bloodshed4 ,and in ,mr4 ,wister's brilliant essay1 after a delightful picture of ,germany as it appeared to be on the surface in ,june1 #aiad1 with its efficiency1 its comfort1 its culture1 and after especially describing a delightful children's festival in ,frankfurt to celebrate the bicentenary of ,glck1 he then portrays the awful horror which seized him and all the educated ,americans who had learnt to love their holiday in ,germany1 when the wild beast suddenly appeared from among the flowers1 and1 to use his own words1 made his spring at the throat of an unsuspecting1 unprepared world4 ,suppose a soul arrived on earth from another world1 wholly ignorant of events1 and were given its choice1 after a survey of the nations1 which it should be born in and belong to4 ,in ,may1 ,june1 and ,july1 #aiad1 my choice1 he says1 would have been1 not ,france1 not ,england1 not ,america1 but ,germany4 ,it was on the seventh day of ,june1 #aiad1 that ,frankfurt assembled her school-children in the opera-house to further their taste and understanding of ,germany's supreme national art4 ,but exactly eleven months later1 on ,may #g1 #aiae1 a ,german torpedo sank the ,lusitania1 and 7this was the awful revelation7 the cities of the ,rhine celebrated this also for their school-children4 ,he then gives the ,prussian creed1 sentence by sentence1 compiled from the utterances of ,prussians1 the ,kaiser and his ,generals1 professors1 and editors1 of which ,i can only quote these sentences3 ,war in itself is a good thing4 ,,god will see to it that war always recurs4 ,the efforts directed towards the abolition of war must not only be termed foolish1 but absolutely immoral4 ,the peace of ,europe is only a secondary matter for us4 ,the sight of suffering does one good2 the infliction of suffering does one more good4 ,this war must be conducted as ruthlessly as possible4 ,now1 ,i do not quote this 7and you will find four pages of similar sayings7 to stir up unchristian hatred of the ,german race1 many of whom as individuals would repudiate such sayings as their own personal belief1 but ,i do it to defend ,christianity4 ,i only heard just before coming here1 in the home of one of the many mourning families ,i visit1 that a son who had died in ,germany testified in his last letter to the great kindness with which he had been treated in hospital4 ,such teaching as this is not ,christianity2 this is the spirit of ,antichrist4 ,you1 poor brother and sister1 who are allowing your faith to be shattered by the war--you are not looking deep enough4 ,only one nation wanted war1 as the pathetic want of preparation of every other nation proves to demonstration2 only one nation has set at naught the ,christian principles which have slowly been gaining ground in the conduct of war2 and only one spirit has produced the war1 and that a spirit avowedly and in so many words passionately opposed to the ,spirit of the ,new ,testament4 ,and1 therefore1 it is the grossest injustice to lay the blame on religion for what has been produced by its avowed opposite1 and to talk about the breakdown of ,christianity for what is due to the revival of avowed paganism4 ,,ii4 ,but ,i can imagine my distressed brethren saying3 ,the answer is good as far as it goes1 but it does not go far enough4 ,why1 after nearly two thousand years1 has ,christianity not progressed farther8 ,why is not the world more completely ,christian8 ,why was the wild beast left among the flowers8 ,nay1 why is the wild beast still so active in our midst8 ,why did the ,drink ,bill of our country go up eight millions in the first six months of #aiae8 ,why have the scenes in the streets of darkened ,london been worse than they have been for twenty years8 ,you do not meet me fully1 he says1 when you prove that it was not ,christianity which produced this war2 what ,i want to know is why it was not strong enough to stop it4 ,and my answer shall be given to that1 not in anger1 but in sadness3 ,and have you during this last twenty-five years fought the wild beast yourself in this great city8 ,have you yourself practised strict self-denial to the point of sacrifice1 in dealing with the drink question1 to help the weak brethren for whom ,,christ died8 ,have you crushed down the wild beast of lust in yourself1 and grappled with the haunts of vice1 as many in ,london have done for twenty-five years8 ,have you seen that there is a ,mission ,church among every eight thousand people as they have come into ,london1 and given of your substance to plant one8 ,have you done your best to see that every sailor that goes from our ports is a ,christian1 and that every trader who trades throughout the world1 and every bank clerk who has been to work in ,berlin or ,paris1 lives up to his religion8 ,have you given every available penny to spread the ,gospel1 the failure of which you now deplore1 throughout the world8 ,or have you spoken of 'sending money out of the country1' of the uselessness of ,christian servants1 and repeated the travellers' tales about ,missions of those who have never visited a missionary station in their lives1 when you have been asked to support ,mission work abroad8 ,then1 until you have done that1 ,i refuse you the right to speak of the weakness of the religion which you have failed to support4 ,it is only promised that they shall not hurt nor destroy in all ,my holy mountain when the earth is filled with the knowledge of the ,,lord as the waters cover the sea4 ,but what if we have never really attempted to fill the earth with the knowledge of the ,,lord8 ,what if we have only very feebly attempted to know this ourselves8 ,what if1 as a consequence of spending less than a million a year on ,foreign ,missions1 we are now having to spend five millions a day on a war made necessary by the neglect of our ,christian duty8 ,no one believes more absolutely than ,i do in the righteousness of the present war2 as ,i have said a thousand times1 ,i look upon it as a war for purity1 for freedom1 for international honour1 and for the principles of ,christianity4 ,i look on everyone who fights for this cause as a hero1 and everyone who dies in it as a martyr2 but1 at the same time1 ,i believe that if every ,christian throughout the world had fully risen to his responsibilities and had fully lived up to his ,christianity1 for the last hundred years1 we might have done more to avert it4 ,you cannot say more than that4 ,slavery was undoubtedly as much opposed as war to ,christianity1 but it took eighteen hundred years to abolish that2 it may take another eighteen hundred years to abolish war4 ,we must not hurry ,,god1 but we must not fail to help ,him2 we can hasten the kingdom4 ,it is no good praying ,thy kingdom come by itself2 we must also make it come1 and the only sure way to make the kingdom come1 and with the kingdom the extinction of war1 is to spread throughout the world the knowledge of the ,,lord1 as the waters cover the sea4 ,we were beginning to find this out before the war4 ,a striking pamphlet by ,canon ,holland1 ,the ,white ,man's ,burden1 has been published by the great ,society which for two hundred years has tried1 amidst much indifference1 apathy and discouragement1 to propagate the ,gospel throughout the world4 ,he showed how our skilled and devoted ,governors and statesmen throughout the world found after a time that their ability and hard work reached a point at which they could go no farther4 ,for instance1 quite naturally their system of education broke down the old beliefs of ,india2 quite naturally the ideals and ideas of freedom and personal responsibility which they taught produced a desire among individuals also to be free1 and a longing in every nation to realise itself4 ,the great statesman rubbed his eyes2 he couldn't quarrel with this result of his own teaching4 ,but who was to bind this transformed nation with new cords8 where was he to find the new restraints to take the place of the old ones which had been broken through from sheer life and vigour8 ,where were the new wine-skins to hold the new wine8 ,and1 pathetically1 even before the war such men were turning to the religion which they had been partially taught at their public school1 but which in their blindness they had half despised1 as having no bearing on a practical workaday world2 but1 lo6 practical common sense had broken down2 could the secret be1 after all1 in what they had heard in their ,confirmation preparation1 in that school sermon to which they had only half attended1 in the prayers which they had said rather as a matter of form ever since they were taught them at their mothers' knees8 ,from end to end of the world the revelation was coming1 and1 as one of those who has borne this white man's burden1 ,lord ,selborne1 in his preface to the pamphlet1 endorses what it says4 ,there is only one set of rules which will hold the new nation1 and only one set of wine-skins which will hold the new wine2 and that is the rules of ,,god',s ,commandments as interpreted and extended in the ,new ,testament1 the ,beatitudes and the ,sermon on the ,mount2 and the only wine-skins which will hold the new wine are those produced by the ,gospel of the ,incarnate1 ,risen1 and ,ascended ,,christ1 with the miracles which ,he worked believed1 and the ,sacraments which ,he gave accepted and used4 ,let the new wine be put into new wine-skins1 and both are preserved4 ,all this was before the war4 ,but since the war began1 just as you see against the dark thunderclouds the brilliancy of the sunshine1 which even lights up those clouds and turns them into a glory and a radiance themselves1 so all that was chivalrous and noble in ,europe has suddenly leaped to light4 ,christianity has been rediscovered4 ,censors have been converted by reading soldiers' letters4 ,many a man who professed himself an atheist has now seen what ,christianity really means4 ,even an atheist must have believed if he had seen my father die1 wrote a young officer of a father who was buried yesterday4 ,could you sing me a hymn8 asked a young officer1 dying in the last battle1 of the chaplain1 who in the very thick of the shells and the bullets was at his work4 ,and1 with his arm round him1 the chaplain sang with him ,,jesu1 ,lover of my soul1 until he died4 ,in this great ,day of ,,god1 things are beginning to appear as they are1 and not as they are represented4 ,greater love hath no man than this1 that a man lay down his life for his friends4 ,that simple and sincere ,christian1 the ,czar of ,russia1 went to the heart of things at the beginning of the war1 when he gave that as the motto of the war to his troops2 and every boy since then1 who1 as depicted in the picture entitled ,the ,great ,sacrifice1 has laid down his life1 with his dead hand resting on the foot of the crucifix1 has sealed with his life the great saying of ,sir ,henry ,newbolt3 ,life is not life to him that dares not die1 ,and death not death to him that dares to live4 ,it comes round1 then1 to this3 the ,advent picture is not a mockery2 it is not a mirage in the desert2 it is a true picture let down from heaven to cheer us to-day with a prophecy of what some day shall be4 ,let that picture at once encourage us while it shames us4 ,as we watch it1 away with all those foolish old sayings about not believing in ,foreign ,missions1 sending money out of the country1 converting ,whitechapel and ,bethnal ,green before we attempt ,china or ,japan2 for the knowledge of the ,,lord--before war can be no more--is to cover the whole earth as the waters cover the sea4 ,but1 on the other hand1 let it encourage us3 ,far out of sight while sorrows still enfold us ,lies the fair country where our hearts abide1 ,and of its joys is nought more wondrous told us ,but these few words--,we shall be satisfied4 ,we may behold the land1 although it may seem at present very far off4 ,once crush for ever the revived paganism1 which perhaps for the last time has challenged the supreme claim of ,christ to ,his own world2 when that is in the dust1 once astonish the world by the beauty of a chivalry and ,christian manhood which shall be seen by contrast to be as day compared to night1 and light to darkness2 once placard ,,christ through every tribe in ,africa and ,asia1 and preach ,him effectively in every island of the sea2 and as the last hand slipped down in death the flagstaff of the ,black ,flag at ,omdurman1 so shall the last hand at last be lifted1 in this world1 of one man against a brother-man in fratricidal strife1 and the great picture shall be true at last3 ,they shall not hurt nor destroy in all ,my holy mountain3 for at last the earth is filled with the knowledge of the ,,lord1 as the waters cover the sea4 ,v ,,god ,,the ,,champion ,,of ,,righteousness#g #g ,preached in ,st4 ,martin's-in-the-,fields on ,trafalgar ,day1 #aiae4 ,o ,,lord1 ,thou hast been our refuge from one generation to another4 ,before the mountains were brought forth1 or ever the earth and the world were made1 ,thou art ,,god from everlasting and world without end4--,ps4 xc4 #a1 #b4 ,the story is told of ,archbishop ,temple that as he was walking away from the ,house of ,lords1 after the defeat of the ,bill he had brought in for the advancement of ,temperance1 some well-meaning person was endeavouring to comfort him in his natural disappointment1 although1 needless to say1 he was himself as strong and brave and confident as ever4 ,was he looking1 asked the questioner1 to the verdict of posterity8 ,no4 ,was he looking to the gradual change of public opinion8 ,no4 ,was he looking to a verdict in another ,house which would influence the opinion of the house which he had just left8 ,no4 ,what was it he looked to1 then8 ,i look to ,,god4 ,it was the answer of a true1 brave1 and believing ,christian man2 if the ,,god of the ,christians exists at all1 ,he is so strong and so powerful and so wise that to be on ,his side is worth all other aid in the world1 and to defy ,,god1 apart from its blasphemy1 is the most colossal mistake which can be made4 ,there is a sense1 of course1 in which the cynic was right when he said that ,,god is on the side of the strongest battalions1 for the raising of those battalions means a self-sacrifice and a self-denial which ,,god honours and recognizes2 but to imagine that those battalions by themselves represent ,,god1 and can be used successfully to further causes which ,,god has beforehand denounced and proclaimed1 is to make1 in the long-run1 the mistake of the ages4 ,now we are keeping ,trafalgar ,day in a most critical week of the greatest war waged in the world for a thousand years4 ,i have visited the long battle-line mile by mile in ,flanders4 ,i have also seen the grey ,dreadnoughts watching1 watching1 watching day and night2 it is idle bluster for the enemy to say that the ships of the ,fleet are hiding from them2 they know only too well where to find them when they want to meet them4 ,as in great ,nelson's day1 the ,fleet is the girdle of the ,empire2 the seas which ,nelson swept are clear to-day2 not an enemy flag dare show itself from one hemisphere to the other2 under the mighty gis of the ,grand ,fleet1 transports in hundreds carry troops all over the world1 food-ships pour in from every port2 even when the submarine danger was formidable there was no appreciable slackening of the wonderfully brave mercantile marine1 and now that the ,navy has that peril1 too1 well in hand1 men sail the seas to-day1 except for the necessary restrictions with regard to contraband1 with greater freedom and security than they sailed the seas long after the ,battle of ,trafalgar4 ,in this great conflict on what are we to found our hopes8 ,to what are we to look8 ,are we to trust only to the strength of our battleships and the perfect training of our sailors8 ,are we to look to the new armies produced with such marvellous skill by ,lord ,kitchener's patient hand8 ,are we to look to the three millions whose services will be asked for1 and no doubt offered1 in the next six weeks8 ,no doubt we are to look to all these things2 ,,god does only help those who help themselves4 ,but1 standing before you as your ,bishop1 ,i tell you frankly that my belief in the final victory of our arms is founded on something far beyond these things4 ,i am full of unshakable confidence and hope1 because1 like ,archbishop ,temple1 ,i look to ,,god4 ,i try to say with the psalmist every morning3 ,and now1 ,,lord1 what is my hope8 ,truly my hope is in ,thee4 ,,lord1 ,thou had been our refuge from one generation to another4 ,notice ,i do not claim that ,,god is some tribal deity who with partial favouritism supports our side2 but ,i claim1 with the great ,lincoln1 that we are on the side of ,,god4 #a4 ,i do so in the first place 7and this comes out the more clearly the more you study the previous history of the question71 because this is a wantonly provoked war1 planned and desired and finally launched by one ,power1 and one ,power alone--that is1 ,germany4 ,now1 if ,,god is a ,god who makes men to be of one mind in a house1 if ,he made of one blood every nation in the world1 and meant them to dwell at peace together2 if the teaching of ,,christ is really the teaching of ,,god',s own ,,son--then the nation which wantonly plans and provokes war1 and war on such a scale1 must be against ,,god4 ,you have only to read two such books as ,j',accuse1 said to be written by a ,german1 and ,ordeal by ,battle1 by ,mr4 ,oliver1 to see that this is no idle assertion or party statement1 but the literal truth4 ,if ,i mistake not1 ,j',accuse will be for all time the accusing finger of the civilised world pointing at ,germany as ,nathan pointed at ,david1 saying1 ,thou art the man2 and as to ,ordeal by ,battle1 while it suggests many political questions which ,i should not think of discussing here and now1 as to why we were so unprepared after the warnings given us1 the fact stands out as plainly as daylight that ,russia1 ,france1 and ,great ,britain one and all made every effort short of national dishonour to keep the peace4 ,this1 then1 is my first ground for claiming that we are on the side of ,,god4 ,those who wantonly provoke war act against ,,god1 and those who honestly try to prevent war act on ,his side4 ,but this is only the beginning of the matter4 #b4 ,there has always1 up to now1 been a kind of chivalry in war which has lighted up the more terrible aspects of it4 ,all through history there have been bright flashes of this chivalry even among non-,christians3 the conduct of ,saladin in the ,crusades1 the chivalrous bearing of the ,black ,prince to the captured ,french ,king1 and many similar incidents1 testify to the fact that you need not cease to be a ,christian or a gentleman because you have to fight4 ,many of these laws of chivalry were embodied by the great ,christian nations in the ,hague ,convention2 certain modes of warfare were not to be allowed2 women and children must be tenderly and chivalrously treated2 the wounded of the other side must be treated as fallen comrades2 the dead must be decently buried2 the ,red ,cross must be respected2 civilians must be spared2 the rights of neutrals guarded4 ,no one can doubt that ,,god must have approved of such humane regulations1 for they are all founded upon the ,new ,testament2 they are a softening1 and a valuable softening1 of the horrors of war4 ,all other nations began the war by scrupulously respecting them3 ,mr4 ,stanley ,washburn1 who has closely followed the ,russian armies1 described the kindness and consideration which they displayed to the peasantry of ,poland2 our own soldiers have never even been accused by the enemy of violating any of them1 and one of the ,generals at the ,front told me with pride that1 though his great brigade had been out from the beginning1 no accusation of injuring a ,french woman or girl had been brought against a single member of it4 ,but1 on the other hand1 while time shall last the iniquities committed in ,belgium by the ,germans1 as attested by ,lord ,bryce's ,committee1 will ring through history2 the very invasion of ,belgium itself was a breach of international faith4 ,a friend of mine saw with his own eyes1 while a prisoner among the ,germans1 forty civilians shot in cold blood in one town alone2 the gallant ,cardinal-,archbishop ,mercier has recorded a damning list of other murders in his famous charge4 ,the sinking of the ,lusitania will always stand out as one of the greatest crimes in history1 although1 if ,i am not mistaken1 the judicial murder of a poor ,englishwoman#h for harbouring some poor refugees will run it hard in the opinion of the civilised world4 ,there is one thing about that last incident which perhaps was not taken into account by those who perpetrated the crime3 it will settle the matter once for all about recruiting in ,great ,britain2 there will be no need now of compulsion4 #h ,this was preached the day after the judicial murder of ,nurse ,cavell4 ,i wonder what ,nelson would have said if he had been told that an ,englishwoman had been shot in cold blood by a member of any other nation2 he would have made more than the diplomatic inquiries which have been made by a great neutral nation into this crime1 right and proper as those inquiries are4 ,he would have made his inquiries with the thunder of the guns of the ,british ,fleet1 and pressed the question home with the ,nelson touch which won ,trafalgar1 as indeed our ,fleet at this moment is only too ready to do4 ,but is it possible that there is one young man in ,england to-day who will sit still under this monstrous wrong8 ,there is a famous old rhyme which has come down from the time of the imprisonment of the seven ,bishops who risked their lives for the liberties of ,britain1 as1 please ,god1 the ,bishops of to-day are still prepared to do3 ,and shall they scorn ,tre1 ,pol1 and ,pen1 ,and shall ,trelawny die8 ,there's twenty thousand ,cornish men ,will know the reason why4 ,the spirit of ,nelson must indeed have died out of our young men1 which it certainly has not1 if the answer is not the same to-day2 the three millions of new recruits asked for will be there4 ,why was she put to death8 ,why was she murdered8 ,three thousand thousand ,englishmen--ay1 and ,scotsmen and ,irishmen1 too--will know the reason why4 ,my second reason1 then1 for trusting to ,,god is that1 according to the whole revelation of ,his character and will1 ,his curse is on the nation1 however disciplined and efficient1 that tramples underfoot and openly defies the laws of chivalry which once relieved the horrors of war2 and that ,his ultimate blessing must be upon the nation or nations which1 however foolishly unprepared1 and therefore1 for a time1 suffering from the want of preparation1 in the main are fighting for the weak against the strong4 #c4 ,but if this is the negative side what about the positive8 ,i am almost ashamed to ask and answer the question in public again1 ,for what are we fighting8 ,if we are fighting for the freedom of the world1 for the right to live for the small nations of the earth1 for nationality against pan-,german tyranny1 for international honour as the essential condition of a future brotherhood of nations1 then the ,,god who has been the refuge from generation to generation of the down-trodden and oppressed1 who planted in us the love of liberty1 and who has been the champion of the free1 must be the ,god on whose side we are to-day4 #d4 ,we are right1 then1 to look for victory and help to a ,,god who through one generation to another has shown ,himself a lover of peace and chivalry and mercy and liberty1 against a delight in war1 against brutality and massacre and tyranny2 yet we should have ill-read the lessons of ,trafalgar ,day if we were to stop here4 ,nelson never dreamt that ,,god was on his side in the sense that he could relax for an instant his vigilance1 or ruin his whole settled plan by impatience1 or win a final victory without the self-sacrifice and trust of the nation behind him4 ,if we do look to ,,god1 then we must remember this bracing fact that ,,god helps those who help themselves4 ,it is a far-reaching saying that the children of this world are in their generation wiser than the children of light2 certainly it is a formidable fact to be faced that for a thoroughly bad cause1 carried out in a thoroughly bad way1 the authors of this greatest crime in history have succeeded in evoking from the hard-working people of ,germany1 who are under the impression1 doubtless1 that they are saving the ,fatherland1 a far more universal spirit of organised and efficient self-sacrifice than in the most glorious cause ever entrusted to man has yet#i been evoked from all in these islands4 ,it was one of our great statesmen who truly said that he feared what he called the potato spirit in ,germany more than all their guns and shells--the spirit1 that is1 which was content with potato bread1 content to make any sacrifice1 if only their cause would be victorious2 and it is unwise as well as ungenerous not to recognise the gallantry with which both the individual sailors and soldiers of the enemy have fought4 #i ,this sermon was preached in #aiae4 ,there has been a great improvement in #aiaf4 ,to look to ,,god1 then1 puts a great responsibility upon those who do so2 it means to rise to the level of the sacrifice of ,,god4 ,if it is true that1 as you will remember1 another great ,english statesman once quoted on a famous occasion1 ,who sups with the devil must have a long spoon1 then1 ,who fights with ,,god must have a high standard4 ,is this a time1 asked the prophet of the trembling ,gehazi1 to receive oliveyards1 vineyards1 menservants and maidservants8 ,is this a time1 we may ask to-day1 to haunt night clubs#aj or to spend separation allowances in drinking8 ,is this a time to ignore ,sunday and turn your back upon ,,god's ,house of ,prayer8 ,is this a time to spend anything which can be saved for the nation on personal comfort or extravagant dress8 ,the nation that looks to ,,god must come back to ,,god2 it must come back to ,,god at once and come back to ,him for good2 it is a question whether we at home have yet as a nation deserved the victory which our righteous cause demands4 ,the sailors of the ,fleet have deserved it2 the soldiers in the trenches have earned it2 and when the nation at home has equally deserved it1 all will receive together their well-merited reward4 #aj ,shortly after this night clubs were abolished4 #e4 ,but more than this2 those that look to ,,god must definitely and persistently seek ,,god's help4 ,how many of those here to-day pray earnestly and persistently to ,,god for help and grace8 ,how many plead in the greatest service of all the one ,great ,sacrifice1 once offered for the sins of the whole world8 ,look1 ,,father1 look on ,his anointed ,face1 ,and only look on us as found in ,him2 ,look not on our misusings of ,thy grace1 ,our prayer so languid and our faith so dim3 ,for1 lo6 between our sins and their reward ,we set the ,passion of ,thy ,,son our ,,lord4 ,how constantly the faith of our fellow-countrymen amounts to little more than a vague ,deism1 instead of a living faith in an ,incarnate ,,christ4 ,they are learning more than that in the trenches1 and ,i hope also that the same truth is being revealed to those who remain in the broad sea4 ,these beautiful lines1 entitled ,,christ in ,flanders1 the ,editor of the ,spectator gave me leave to reproduce in the diocesan magazine3 ,we had forgotten ,you1 or very nearly-- ,you did not seem to touch us very nearly4 ,of course we thought about ,you now and then1 ,especially in any time of trouble3 ,we knew that ,you were good in time of trouble-- ,but we are very ordinary men4 ,and there were always other things to think of-- ,there's lots of things a man has got to think of-- ,his work1 his home1 his pleasure1 and his wife2 ,and so we only thought of ,you on ,sunday-- ,sometimes1 perhaps1 not even on a ,sunday-- ,because there's always lots to fill one's life4 ,and1 all the while1 in street or lane or byway-- ,in country lane1 in city street or byway-- ,you walked among us1 and we did not see4 ,your feet were bleeding as ,you walked our pavements-- ,how did we miss ,your footprints on our pavements-- ,can there be other folk as blind as we8 ,now we remember1 over here in ,flanders-- 7,it isn't strange to think of ,you in ,flanders7-- ,this hideous warfare seems to make things clear4 ,we never thought about ,you much in ,england-- ,but now that we are far away from ,england1 ,we have no doubts1 we know that ,you are here4 ,you helped us pass the jest along the trenches-- ,where1 in cold blood1 we waited in the trenches-- ,you touched its ribaldry and made it fine4 ,you stood beside us in our pain and weakness-- ,we're glad to think ,you understood our weakness2 ,somehow it seems to help us not to whine4 ,we think about ,you kneeling in the ,garden-- ,ah1 ,,god6 the agony of that dread ,garden-- ,we know ,you prayed for us upon the ,cross4 ,if anything could make us glad to bear it1 ',twould be the knowledge that ,you willed to bear it-- ,pain--death--the uttermost of human loss4 ,though we forgot ,you1 ,you will not forget us-- ,we feel so sure that ,you will not forget us-- ,but stay with us until this dream is past4 ,and so we ask for courage1 strength1 and pardon-- ,especially1 ,i think1 we ask for pardon-- ,and that ,you'll stand beside us to the last4 ,what it comes to is the old truth which we have learnt from ,foreign ,missions--the centre must be converted by the circumference2 it is the self-sacrifice of its ,mission work abroad which has saved the ,church from fatty degeneration of the heart at home2 it is the growing change of mind among the defenders of our country which must permeate and ennoble the country itself4 ,do ,i look to ,,god8 ,but ,i could only see ,him in ,,christ1 for ,he says ,himself--and it is either the greatest blasphemy or the greatest truth in the world--,i am the ,way1 the ,truth1 and the ,life3 no man cometh unto the ,,father but by ,me4 ,trafalgar ,day1 #aiae1 then1 should be not only the turning-point of the world's history1 but the inauguration of a new ,britain4 ,if the war stopped at this moment1 should we really be a changed nation8--would not the old miserable internal disputes break out again8--might we not again be as we were in ,july1 #aiad1 on the verge of civil war in ,ireland1 of a revolution among women1 and of the greatest industrial strike of modern times8 ,i come back at the end of so many months of the war to the picture which ,i tried to hold up to ,london in its first week--,facing the war is drinking the cup--,the cup which ,my ,,father hath given me1 shall ,i not drink it8 ,we have to repeat the very words of our ,,lord ,himself4 ,have we drunk the cup1 and drunk it to its dregs8 ,only then will the angels come and strengthen us for victory2 we shall deserve victory then1 and we shall be ready for it1 for the cup which we shall drink will be the cup to which the ,,son of ,,god ,himself put ,his lips1 and the courage and fortitude of ,gethsemane leads on to the overwhelming victory of ,easter ,day4 ,it is then ,our ,day in an even deeper sense than those mean who so rightly ask our alms to-day for those splendid sister societies of ,st4 ,john and the ,red ,cross4 ,of course we shall pour out into their lap1 for the sake of our wounded heroes at the ,front1 all that we can2 but it is ,our ,day because it is the day when the nation is tested to the roots of its being4 ,if thou hadst known1 even thou1 in the midst of this thy day1 the things which belong unto thy peace1 but now they are hid from thine eyes4 ,they are not hid from our eyes yet2 it is still ,our ,day2 but let it pass1 and it has gone for ever4 ,,vi ,,the ,,knocking ,,at ,,the ,,door#aa #aa ,preached at ,st4 ,mary's1 ,bryanston ,square1 at a service for the ,church-workers of the ,deanery4 ,behold1 ,i stand at the door and knock4 ,if any man hear ,my voice and open the door1 ,i will come and sup with him1 and he with ,me4--,,rev4 iii4 #bj4 ,i will come unto him and sup with him1 and he with ,me4 ,i think sometimes that we dwell in our ,advent meditation too exclusively on the thought of the coming ,judgment4 ,of course we have to dwell on it4 ,behold1 the ,judge standeth before the door4 ,a tremendous truth that is4 ,behold1 the ,judge standeth before the door4 ,there is going to come a time when the door will come down with a crash1 and we shall be face to face with the ,judge4 ,and this affects every single period of our lives4 ,we sometimes imagine that we are going--dare ,i say the word8--to dodge the ,judgment4 ,not at all2 we are going to look into those ,eyes like a ,flame of ,fire1 and every man will give an account of himself before ,,god4 ,and every day is making up the ,judgment4 ,every thought1 every word1 every act1 every service1 every decision we make1 it all goes into the judgment1 it all goes into the verdict4 ,and when the ,judge who stands before the door comes inside1 ,he registers the verdict and the sentence we have been preparing all our lives4 ,we go to our own place--the place that we have prepared for ourselves4 ,now that is a tremendous thought1 and it is one that we cannot possibly ignore4 ,what is a person1 what is a ,church-worker1 to do who realises that the ,judge standeth before the door8 ,what am ,i to do when ,i realise that ,he stands before the door of my heart8 ,the answer can only be3 ,ask ,him in as the ,,saviour1 before ,he comes as the ,judge that is to be4 ,i want now to take with you another kind of ,advent--may ,i say a more delightful kind of ,advent8--that is1 the ,advent of ,,jesus ,,christ ,himself into the soul4 ,behold1 ,i stand at the door and knock1 and if any man will hear ,my voice and open the door1 ,i will come in to him and sup with him1 and he with ,me4 ,it seems at first sight too good to be true1 when you think who ,,jesus ,,christ was--the ,,lord of ,angels1 the ,,son of ,,god1 the supreme ,captain of the heavenly host1 the most perfect beautiful ,character that ever lived--that ,he is going ,himself to come4 ,think of it--that ,he is going to come within me1 within you1 to live there1 to dominate your consciousness1 dominate your mind1 your life1 so that you will speak with ,his words1 think with ,his thoughts1 judge with ,his judgment2 that ,he will live in you4 ,it seems almost too much to believe2 and yet this is precisely the thing which1 when we study the ,new ,testament1 we find is promised1 not only in this passage1 but in ,st4 ,john's ,gospel4 ,my ,,father and ,i1 ,we will come unto him and make ,our abode with him4 ,st4 ,paul's favourite motto is3 ,,christ in you the hope of glory4 ,,christ in you1 through the ,,holy ,,spirit4 ,he1 of course1 brings ,,jesus with ,him4 ,it is said in ,st4 ,john's ,gospel3 ,he is with you1 but ,he shall be in you4 ,and when ,i speak to a number of ,confirmation candidates1 ,i believe it is perfectly true to say before the ,confirmation3 ,he is with you1 but ,he shall be in you4 ,for that is the great gift of ,confirmation1 the falling of the ,,holy ,,ghost4 ,then laid they their hands on them1 and the ,,holy ,,ghost came upon them1 for as yet ,he had fallen on none of them4 ,there is no doubt that this tremendous gift is the special promise given by ,christianity4 ,,christ wants to live in me4 ,he wants to come inside4 ,he stands outside the door1 but if ,i ask ,him ,he will come inside4 ,and notice1 secondly1 that this tremendous promise is not made to a few selected people4 ,you might suppose that it was meant for a few ,sisters of ,mercy1 very devoted1 who live their lives among the poor1 or to a few particular saints among the clergy4 ,but you all have this promise4 ,this tremendous promise comes in the midst of the message to the ,church in ,laodicea1 the people who were neither cold nor hot1 the people who were uplifted when they ought to have been humble1 the people who had to be chastened and rebuked that they might be made humble1 the people who had not a chance of overcoming in their own strength--in fact1 people just like you and me4 ,and it is just because we know this1 that ,i have to give this message of love to you4 ,it is just because we know that we are neither cold nor hot1 but lukewarm--the churchwardens1 workers1 sidesmen1 ,sunday-,school teachers--it is just because we are conscious1 and because we know that we do want chastening1 that we may be perfected and purified2 in fact1 it is just because we are like the people to whom that message was given that we need to pay heed to the warning of the message4 ,,christ says3 ,i stand at the door and knock1 and if any of you will open the door and hear ,my voice1 ,i will come in and sup with you1 and you with ,me4 ,and1 therefore1 you see1 that sets us thinking1 does it not8 as to what this knocking at the door can mean4 ,is it possible1 you say1 that ,,christ has been knocking at the door1 and ,i never knew it was ,he who was knocking8 ,the whole thing is wonderfully symbolised at the consecration of a church4 ,perhaps you have not seen the consecration of a church4 ,the ,bishop1 representing ,,jesus ,,christ1 knocks three times at the door1 and says3 ,lift up your heads1 ,o ye gates1 and be ye lift up1 ye everlasting doors2 and the ,king of ,glory shall come in4 ,the churchwardens and sidesmen say3 ,who is the ,king of ,glory8 ,and the ,bishop outside replies3 ,the ,,lord of ,hosts4 ,he is the ,king of ,glory4 ,then the doors are flung open1 and the ,bishop enters1 symbolising the entrance of ,,christ into ,his ,church4 ,that happens every time a new church is consecrated in the diocese of ,london or anywhere else4 ,who is the ,king of ,glory8 ,who is ,he8 ,is it possible that ,he has been knocking at my heart and ,i have never known8 ,how does ,he knock8 #a4 ,first of all1 and perhaps most commonly1 by what we call smiting the conscience4 ,you notice we use the very words in our popular language which represents knocking--smiting the conscience4 ,is it possible1 for instance1 that even now some of you have been conscious that you are not what you ought to be1 that your life is not what it ought to be1 that there is something wrong with you8 ,people sometimes come to me and say3 ,bishop1 ,i want to see you4 ,i am not right4 ,there is something not right with me2 something tells me ,i have not done my work as ,i ought4 ,there seems to be something between me and ,,god4 ,well1 you must cherish that smiting of the conscience4 ,do not ignore it or despise it4 ,it is the knocking1 knocking at the door1 of ,,jesus ,,christ ,himself4 ,there is not a doubt about it4 ,sometimes ,he knocks the door very loudly4 ,sometimes ,his knocks are soft1 just like taps4 ,when some pure-hearted boys or girls are going to be confirmed1 it is a very gentle knock that ,,christ makes at the door of their young hearts4 ,he feels sure they will attend4 ,he does not have to rouse them by loud thundering knocks4 ,he comes quietly because that heart is made for ,,jesus ,,christ1 and ,,jesus ,,christ is made for that heart4 ,and therefore at a ,confirmation of well-prepared candidates it is lovely to think how ,he comes up and knocks at the young soul1 and the soul recognises the knock1 and says3 ,come in4 ,no loud knock is wanted4 ,we were meant to grow up with our days bound each to each by natural piety4 ,,christ1 who has taken us up in ,his arms at ,baptism1 is made to come gently1 quietly1 and happily1 into the young soul at ,confirmation4 ,there is not meant to be some great break in our lives4 ,we are meant to grow in grace and in the knowledge of our ,,lord and ,,saviour ,,jesus ,,christ4 ,but if there comes this knocking1 a smiting of the conscience1 ,i do pray you to remember that it is meant in love1 that it is ,,christ who wants to come within us4 #b4 ,sometimes the knock is a very heavy one1 the heavy dull knocking of a great sorrow4 ,i have seen a great deal of it1 when people have lost their dear ones in this ,great ,war4 ,one who had lost the light of her eyes said to me the other day3 ,i somehow feel nearer ,,god in spite of it all4 ,no doubt in that heavy1 sad knock at the door you can hear ,,jesus ,,christ',s own knocking4 ,he may come into the soul through the sorrow in a way in which ,he has never come when all is right and bright and happy4 ,if some of you have heard that heavy knocking at the door1 do not think ,,god has forgotten you and forsaken you4 ,rise and open the door1 and ,,christ will come into your soul in a way in which ,he has never come before in all your life4 #c4 ,sometimes it is the quick happy knocking of joy4 ,someone wrote to me the other day that he had had a great joy4 ,all the darkness seemed now to have cleared away4 ,he said3 ,i see my path in the light of ,,god',s love4 ,there was the quick knocking of joy1 and ,,christ came in with the joy4 ,the clearer knock of joy was the knocking of ,,jesus ,,christ4 #d4 ,sometimes it is some friend who comes into the life1 some influence1 perhaps a parish priest1 who knocks at the door4 ,perhaps only too unwillingly at first you open the door1 and you find that in the parish priest who comes you have found your best friend on earth1 and he by his coming in brings ,,christ to you2 he brings ,him with him1 and he leaves ,him with you1 if he is a faithful steward4 ,if the parish priest is a faithful steward1 he leads you to the ,master4 ,then1 perhaps1 the sudden call comes4 ,i have seen this happen to many young soldiers4 ,i lately spent two months with those who were just going out--they are now in the trenches4 ,they crowded in every evening to have a talk or they lay down on the ground and drank in every word at some ,church ,parade service4 ,i could see1 as ,i watched their faces1 that they were hearing the call of their country to risk their lives1 their all4 ,it brought them near to ,,jesus ,,christ4 ,in the knocking of their country's call ,,jesus ,,christ knocked1 and ,i believe there are many fighting in the trenches now every day borne up by a faith they did not have until this summer--a belief in the immediate presence of their ,,saviour with them4 ,it would not have happened but for this sudden necessity of facing the ordeal of their lives4 ,is it possible that all these things1 or some of them1 have been happening to you--or something different that ,i have not mentioned--and you have never recognised it as yet as being what it is1 ,,jesus ,,christ knocking at the door8 ,now what are you to do8 ,what are any of us to do1 for ,i am just one among you8 ,it seems clear there are three things that we are bound to do1 if this great miracle 7and it is nothing else7 is to take place4 ,the first thing is to listen for and recognise the voice of ,,jesus ,,christ outside the door1 that we may be ready and prepared to open the door4 ,and do you not think that the reason that many of us never hear ,,jesus ,,christ',s voice is that we never listen for it1 that we have no quiet time1 that we have provided no time for meditation and prayer8 ,we are too busy4 ,we get up in the morning just in time to start off for our work2 we never have this quiet time1 or only a very few moments to think1 in which the voice will be heard4 ,now1 ,i cannot tell you how much ,i believe in what ,i call listening to the voice of ,god4 ,we pray1 indeed--we all of us pray4 ,but it is the ten minutes after prayer that matters1 it is the ten minutes' listening to what ,he is going to say back1 and often we do not give that time at all1 and so we never get the answer4 ,is it not fair to say that some of you ,church-workers just kneel down for a few hurried moments1 and then are up again from your knees1 off to some duty on earth1 and that possibly a few minutes each day would constitute all the time we devote to listening to the voice of ,,god8 ,if that is all1 can you wonder when you take your ,sunday-,school lesson that it is rather dry1 or that your mission sermons do not seem to have much inspiration about them1 and gradually the voice of ,,jesus ,,christ fades away and becomes very vague8 ,you do not give time4 ,do not tell me that in the twenty-four hours you cannot find time for the most vital thing in this world4 ,we are only here for a few passing years4 ,five minutes after death it matters more than ,i can say--these quiet times in our lives1 they are worth more than gold1 quiet times when we listen to the voice of ,,god4 ,after death how still it is6 ,i hear no more the busy beat of time1 ,nor in me feel the fluttering pulse nor faltering breath4 ,one moment will not be different from the next in the stillness and quiet of ,paradise4 ,and in the quiet of the other world how much we shall regret having had so few quiet times on earth6 ,why1 one of the very busiest merchants in the ,city used to be very regular at a daily service4 ,i said to him once3 ,how can you find time1 you1 one of the very busiest merchants in the ,city1 to attend daily service8 ,he said3 ,i am so busy ,i must go to the daily service4 ,he felt his business would simply sweep him away if he did not get a quiet time4 ,and ,mr4 ,gladstone1 you will remember1 kept his ,sundays in unbroken quiet1 waiting upon ,,god during the very busiest period of his life4 ,without it he would have lost the quiet and strength of his soul4 ,therefore make your first resolution4 ,i will listen to what the ,,lord ,,god will say concerning my soul4 ,speak1 ,,lord1 for ,thy servant heareth4 ,if you want to have strength and happiness in your spiritual work1 wait upon ,god4 ,and in the silence you will hear the voice of ,,jesus ,,christ2 you will hear ,his knock4 ,then1 when we have heard the voice and recognised the knock1 the next thing to do is to open the door4 ,how simple that sounds1 does it not8 and how difficult it often is6 ,picture some who have had the door of their souls closed tightly for years4 ,you have to prise the door open1 and you have to break down the fixed habits of the man who has never prayed except for a few moments or two in his life2 how hard he finds it to reverse the habits of a lifetime6 ,someone who has an old quarrel1 through jealousy or something else1 with another worker--how hard it is to forgive and begin all over again6 ,but it has got to be done1 the door has to be prised or forced1 because if ,,christ is to come in we have to open the door--that is our part in it--and ,,christ will come in4 ,and if only we realised how eager ,he is to come in1 and what a power ,he has to change the heart and control the thoughts and purify the conscience1 we should all want ,him to come1 and we should not spare any time and trouble to get the door open4 ,and when ,he has come in1 notice this wonderful phrase3 ,i will sup with him1 and he with ,me4 ,he does not come in as a transient guest to stay for a little while1 and go away1 but ,he comes on a permanent visit1 to take up ,his permanent residence4 ,and although we should not have dared to use the words ourselves1 the words ,i will sup with him1 and he with ,me1 describe the most delightful friendship4 ,do you desire ,his presence8 ,how often do you come to ,holy ,communion1 how carefully do you prepare for the great gift of the presence of ,,jesus ,,christ in your soul8 ,why1 ,i would press this on you1 that the supping with ,,jesus ,,christ and ,he with you which takes place in the ,holy ,communion is the most glorious moment of your whole day4 ,the first ,christians never thought of spending ,sunday without going first to ,holy ,communion4 ,it was the special service on the ,lord's ,day4 ,it may be that some of you who used to be regular have drifted away from this way of receiving the presence of ,,christ into the soul4 ,we know no better way for cherishing the presence of ,,christ in the soul than being regular at ,communion4 ,the humblest communicant comes away from his ,communion with the thought3 ,,christ lives in me2 ,i live1 yet not ,i1 but ,,christ liveth in me4 ,will you1 then1 take from me these three thoughts1 ,listening1 ,opening1 and ,cherishing the ,presence3 ,devotion1 ,consecration1 ,communion8 ,and if you do1 ,i tell you what will happen to your deanery4 ,it will gradually become the most ,christian fellowship in ,london4 ,you will be drawn to one another in a way in which you never have been before4 ,we want more unity in every deanery1 so that the parishes may take an interest in one another1 and that all ,church gatherings may be keen and well attended as by a band of brothers and sisters4 ,this service now may be the beginning of a new life for the deanery1 not only of a new fellowship1 and of far greater devotion in your work1 and of a joy which you never had before4 ,christmas in war time is not going to be a merry ,christmas for any of us4 ,but there is no reason1 if we understand what happiness means1 why it should not be a happy one4 ,if these three lessons are taken home1 you will as a deanery and individually and as parishes have a joy which the world can neither give nor take away4 ,,vii ,,immortality#ab #ab ,preached at the ,parish ,church1 ,camden ,town4 ,,jesus said unto her1 ,i am the resurrection1 and the life3 he that believeth in ,me1 though he were dead1 yet shall he live3 and whosoever liveth and believeth in ,me shall never die4--,,st4 ,,john xi4 #be1 #bf4 ,whosoever liveth and believeth in ,me shall never die4 ,if a man die1 shall he live again8 ,there is no time in our history when that has been a more pressing question than it is to-day4 ,men are dying in hundreds4 ,i can think myself of some as dear to me as if they were my own sons1 whose bodies are lying to-day in some ,belgian or ,french grave4 ,and ,i spend much of my time in going to comfort the widows and the mothers4 ,if a man die1 shall he live again8 ,i wonder whether you have ever read or heard read this little poem called ,the ,army of the ,dead3#ac #ac ,by ,barry ,pain4 ,published in the ,westminster ,gazette4 ,i dreamt that overhead ,i saw in twilight grey ,the ,army of the ,dead ,marching upon its way1 ,so still and passionless1 ,with faces so serene1 ,that scarcely could one guess ,such men in war had been4 ,no mark of hurt they bore1 ,nor smoke1 nor bloody stain2 ,nor suffered any more ,famine1 fatigue1 or pain2 ,nor any lust of hate ,now lingered in their eyes-- ,who have fulfilled their fate1 ,have lost all enmities4 ,a new and greater pride ,so quenched the pride of race ,that foes marched side by side ,who once fought face to face4 ,that ghostly army's plan ,knows but one race1 one rod-- ,all nations there are ,man1 ,and the one ,king is ,god4 ,no longer on their ears ,the bugle's summons falls2 ,beyond these tangled spheres ,the ,archangel's trumpet calls2 ,and by that trumpet led ,far up the exalted sky1 ,the ,army of the ,dead ,goes by1 and still goes by4 ,look upward1 standing mute2 ,salute6 ,and will they live again8 ,i think that what chills our faith1 and forms really the only argument that they will not live again1 is the dead appearance of the dead4 ,i am perfectly certain it is that that chills the faith of hundreds4 ,the dead look so dead4 ,there is no voice nor any that answers1 nor any that regardeth1 and all the attempts1 foolish1 often even mischievous1 to reach those in the other world have ended in utter failure4 ,and1 therefore1 when we are facing the dead appearance of the dead1 we are facing the only argument there is that they do not live again4 ,i want to say now one or two things that ,i hope will help you to have a happy view of death1 to make you absolutely certain that when a man dies he does live again4 #a4 ,and1 first of all1 remember how deceptive are appearances in ,nature4 ,we might be absolutely certain1 might we not8 if we did not know to the contrary1 that this earth was quite still4 ,it does not seem to move in the slightest degree1 but we really know that the earth is travelling at the terrific speed of nineteen miles a second through space--nineteen miles every second4 ,it does look1 does it not8 as if the sun was going round the earth quite quickly4 ,but actually the earth is going round the sun4 ,again1 when you blow a candle out1 it does seem as if you really put it out4 ,but do you8 ,it is just the one thing you do not do4 ,you do not blow it out4 ,the force in the flame passes into another form4 ,the conservation of force or energy is one of the great truths of science4 ,you do not blow the candle out at all4 ,therefore even from this lowest ground there is nothing whatever in science that makes it improbable that when a man dies he shall live again4 ,but you may go farther1 without leaving what we are taught by scientific knowledge4 ,a man's body is changed every seven years4 ,yet the man does not change4 ,i look back and remember myself perfectly well as a boy who went to a certain school4 ,and yet not a fragment of my present body went to that school4 ,there must be someone in me that persists1 that goes on when the body changes4 ,if ,i were to cut off my hand ,i should still be myself2 if ,i were to cut off my arm1 my leg1 still ,i should remain4 ,and so if the whole body goes1 ,i am still myself4 ,if we had not anything more than this1 we could not prove that men live after death2 but there is nothing whatever in the whole teaching of science to disprove that we do4 ,you might1 for instance1 notice that an instrument in a room is perfectly silent1 but that may be because he who has been playing upon it has gone into another room4 ,there would be no argument in the silence of the instrument for the non-existence of the player4 ,i say that because one of the most touching incidents in my life was when a poor little girl said to me 7,i have often quoted this73 ,i feel so afraid of death4 ,i seem to see it coming down on me like a great shadow4 ,for a moment or two ,i prayed for the right word to say to her1 and it seemed to come to me1 as it does come at these moments1 from the ,,holy ,,spirit4 ,i said to her3 ,you would not be afraid if ,i were to come and carry you into the next room4 ,no1 she said1 ,i should not4 ,well1 then1 ,i said1 would you be afraid if someone ten thousand times kinder1 and with ten thousand times more strength1 should carry you into another room8 ,when ,i next saw her she was dead1 with a smile on her face4 ,if the player has gone away into the next room1 no wonder the instrument does not sound4 ,and therefore1 if the body seems dead1 it only seems dead because the owner of the body has gone into the next room4 ,it is said in the hospital1 as the nurse comes out from behind the screen3 ,he is gone4 ,he is gone--quite so1 he is gone--therefore no wonder his body looks dead4 #b4 ,and this becomes all the more certain when you notice that ever since man has existed he has always believed and felt perfectly certain that he is going to survive death4 ,this is one of the great instincts in humanity4 ,such convictions always point to some great truth that corresponds to them4 ,for instance1 the prayer instinct in man demands ,,god4 ,it has been beautifully said that1 just as the fin of the fish demands the water1 and just as the wing of the bird demands air1 so the instinct of prayer in man demands ,,god4 ,man is a praying animal4 ,he always has prayed1 and that great instinct of prayer demands satisfaction4 ,he always has believed he is going to live after death1 and the very fact that that instinct has been planted in him everywhere demands that he shall4 ,there is a very touching story in ancient literature about the great ,greek philosopher ,socrates4 ,although he knew nothing about ,,christ or the ,christian revelation1 he had a long conversation1 recorded in one of the most ancient writers1 before he drank the fatal poison1 hemlock4 ,although he had not the ,christian revelation1 he gave all the arguments necessary to make everyone around him certain that five minutes after death he would be the same as five minutes before4 #c4 ,and this becomes all the more certain when you consider the character of ,,god4 ,people often do not realise how much the character of ,,god is bound up with this question of immortality4 ,no good man would implant a living instinct in a child's nature and then love to tantalise and disappoint it4 ,no good man would do it1 or think for a moment of doing it2 and do you suppose ,,god would8 ,let me read you the first portion of a beautiful letter which ,i have received from one of the highest in the land1 who lost her husband last year1 and has lost her splendid son this year in battle4 ,she writes3 ,dear and kindest friend1 ,lord ,bishop--,i have lingered in thanking you for your letter1 because it was so precious1 and is always beside me to inspire and comfort4 ,england has gone forth 'obedient unto death' in the honour that befits her1 and we must try and be worthy4 ,it does not seem lonely1 for they have gone in good company1 that great band of brave1 shining knights who have given all4 ,that beautiful trust inspires the ,farewell of the ,dead1 which was written during the early weeks of the war3 ,mother with unbowed head1 ,hear thou across the sea ,the farewell of the dead1 ,the dead who died for thee4 ,greet them again with tender words and grave1 ,for1 saving thee1 themselves they could not save4 ,to keep the house unharmed ,their fathers built so fair1 ,deeming endurance armed ,better than brute despair1 ,they found the secret of the word that saith1 ',service is sweet1 for all true life is death4' ,so greet thou well thy dead ,across the homeless sea1 ,and be thou comforted ,because they died for thee4 ,far off they served1 but now their deed is done ,for evermore their life and thine are one4 ,now1 do you suppose--this is to me an absolutely irrefragable argument--do you suppose that ,,god would have planted the love of that son in that mother's heart1 and given her that faith1 and then mean to disappoint her8 ,all ,i can say is that1 if ,he does1 ,he is no ,,god ,i could love1 nor that anyone could love4 ,the world is in the hand of some foul fiend1 who loves to disappoint and blast the hopes of his children4 ,that is not the ,,god of the ,new ,testament4 ,no1 our ,,lord says something very touching about that4 ,he says3 ,in ,my ,,father',s house are many mansions2 if it were not so1 ,i would have told you4 ,i would have told you4 ,i would not have let you live all your lives and see your sons die1 and your husbands die1 and then disappoint you4 ,if it were not so1 ,i would have told you4 #d4 ,and so we are prepared--you see now why ,i chose that particular text--we are prepared for the great revelation when it comes4 ,even science has prepared us4 ,this great instinct of the soul1 that it will live again1 has prepared us4 ,our belief in a good ,,god prepared us4 ,we were all ready to hear it1 and at last it comes from heaven4 ,i am the resurrection and the life3 he that believeth in ,me1 though he were dead1 yet shall he live3 and whosoever liveth and believeth in ,me shall never die4 ,and now we have got it4 ,it has been all led up to2 we were all prepared for it4 ,we could not have been certain till we were told it by ,one who came from heaven4 ,this is the ,christian religion4 ,it is no miserable half-and-half ,gospel about a good man that once lived4 ,that view of ,,jesus ,,christ has nothing to do with ,christianity4 ,the ,,son of ,,god came ,himself from heaven4 ,that is the ,christian religion4 ,and1 having come from heaven1 ,he knows what is in heaven4 ,and ,he speaks with the certainty of knowledge3 ,in ,my ,,father',s house are many mansions4 ,if it were not so1 ,i would have told you4 ,and ,i am the resurrection and the life3 he that believeth in ,me1 though he were dead1 yet shall he live3 and whosoever liveth and believeth in ,me shall never die4 ,and1 mark you1 to prove it1 to get the whole truth this morning1 not only for your own selves1 but for the mourners who abound in our midst1 and must abound more and more as the weeks pass--to prove this doctrine that ,he rose ,himself from the dead1 we must have the full gospel of ,easter4 ,alas6 a new theology has been whittling away the faith of some in this country4 ,but the old doctrine of ,easter was this1 ,david saw corruption1 but ,he whom ,,god raised up saw no corruption4 ,and as ,he died and was buried1 so ,he rose again4 ,why do we keep ,sunday1 do you suppose1 if there was no ,resurrection8 ,why not keep as the sacred day ,friday1 if nothing happened on ,sunday8 ,if ,,christ did not rise on that day1 why do we have at our ,eucharists the ,body broken and the ,blood shed8 ,how could any people enshrine in their ,eucharistic service the tokens of a shameful death unless the body buried had risen again8 ,how did the ,cross get to the top of the dome of ,st4 ,paul's8 ,why should we have the old gallows erected over the finest city in the world1 unless it was the symbol1 not only of death1 but of glorious resurrection8 ,therefore1 we have not got to put our reason behind our backs in believing that ,he who said ,i am the resurrection and the life raised ,himself from the grave4 ,it is with our reason as well as with our hearts that we say1 in answer to the question1 ,if a man die1 shall he live again8 ,yes1 thank ,,god1 he has never really died4 #e4 ,and what sort of life is it going to be on the other side of the veil1 the veil which hides this unseen world8 ,those young men who are dying are not always specially religious4 ,they come to church sometimes1 and some come to ,communion4 ,i had from the front the other day an account of how two hundred and fifty of the ,artists' ,corps received the ,communion before they went into battle4 ,but1 still1 we know many of our soldiers are not what we should call specially religious men4 ,what1 therefore1 are we to think of the life awaiting them on the other side of the veil8 ,well1 ,i will tell you what ,i think4 ,i pin my faith to this3 ,,jesus ,,christ knows them through and through4 ,,jesus beholding him loved him was said of one young man4 ,,jesus beheld all these boys of ours1 all these young comrades1 and ,he loved them4 ,and ,he knows what kind of life they will enjoy1 and ,he prepares them for the life that is for them4 ,he has something for each that they will be fit for1 when1 strengthened in character and purified in soul1 they are ready to inherit the kingdom prepared for them4 ,you can trust them with ,him1 you can trust your boy to ,,christ1 who understands him better than you do4 ,what shall we have in the other world which will correspond to what we have here8 ,one thing at least that we shall have is memory4 ,you remember1 in the parable of ,dives and ,lazarus1 ,abraham says to ,dives3 ,son1 remember4 ,son1 remember4 ,resolve to lay up something in your life here to which your thoughts will turn happily and find pleasure in1 in the quiet times beyond death4 ,in that stillness there must be no bitter quarrels to remember1 no bitter jealousies1 no unkindnesses4 ,make to yourselves1 while here1 friends from your use of the mammon of unrighteousness1 so that when it fails those friends may receive you into everlasting habitations4 ,and then with memory will come love1 all the old beautiful love and friendship which makes us so happy here4 ,but1 mark you1 the right kind of love--not lust4 ,love is the fulfilling of the law1 says ,st4 ,john4 ,love comforteth like sunshine after rain1 ,but ,lust's effect is tempest after sun2 ,love's gentle spring doth always fresh remain1 ,lust's winter comes ere summer half be done4#ad ,the two are absolutely different4 ,love thinks of the interests of the loved one1 and is full of self-control and self-restraint4 ,but lust only thinks of self1 and is unbridled and unrestrained4 ,love goes on into the other world4 #ad ,shakespeare4 ,they sin who tell us ,love can die2 ,with life all other passions fly1 ,all others are but vanity4 ,in heaven ,ambition cannot dwell1 ,nor ,avarice in the vaults of hell4 ,of lust these passions of the earth1 ,they perish where they have their birth1 ,but ,love is indestructible4 ,its holy flame for ever burneth4 ,from heaven it came1 to heaven returneth2 ,full oft on earth a troubled guest1 ,at times deceived1 at times oppressed1 ,in heaven it finds its perfect rest4 ,it soweth here in toil and care1 ,but the harvest-time of ,love is there4#ae #ae ,southey's ,curse of ,kehama4 ,therefore cultivate here in your ,church life1 in your home life1 this wonderful1 pure1 beautiful thing1 this love which will last for ever4 ,they sin who tell us ,love can die4 ,and1 above all1 keep that love pure1 absolutely pure and true4 ,let nothing be substituted for it which calls itself love1 but which is not love4 ,then with this love1 this unselfish1 disinterested love1 the prayer instinct goes on4 ,do not be afraid of thinking of and praying for your dear boy in ,paradise2 pray for him4 ,do you suppose the mother in ,paradise ceases to pray for her son here8 ,you know that1 in the old beautiful prayers of the ,church for her dead1 we pray that ,,god will give them eternal rest and peace1 and that everlasting light will shine upon them4 ,that prayer instinct that lies so deep here goes on behind the veil4 ,they are praying for us there as we are praying for them here4 ,as ,st4 ,augustine says so beautifully1 ,the ,church above loves and helps its pilgrim brothers4 ,and1 then1 one thing more must go on--energy and activity of soul4 ,can you imagine a man like the late ,archbishop ,temple doing nothing for ever and ever8 ,no4 ,the greatest rest is delightful exercise of the faculties of the soul4 ,and there must be in that other world work for those who have been active here below4 ,such souls when they are taken from us are being promoted to some work that they are specially fitted to do by the experience which has long worked itself into their souls4 ,i think of two cases of ,christians suffering patiently week after week1 one for thirteen1 the other for fifteen1 years4 ,the beautiful patience being worked into their character will be wanted in the other world4 ,then1 again1 man is born for a ,church4 ,he is born to worship here in companionship with others4 ,i hope that this church will be every ,sunday morning as full as it is now1 that you will more and more join in the fellowship of the saints1 and that you will more and more learn to love this spiritual home1 and to cheer one another on in your spiritual lives1 and so be ready1 when the time comes1 to worship in the other world with angels and archangels1 and all the company of heaven4 ,lift up your heads and the hands that hang down1 all ye mourners6 ,for death is not that miserable1 terrible thing which some people think it is4 ,we are born into the other world as quietly as we are born into this4 ,and the other life there is full of happiness1 full of love1 full of joyous and beautiful activities4 ,and so1 when we are called upon to die1 it will only be a gentle passing from life here to life there1 and from the fulness and the happiness of this life to the still deeper fulness and still greater happiness of the life of the world to come4 ,,viii ,,the ,,peace ,,of ,,jerusalem#af #af ,preached in ,westminster ,abbey at the consecration of ,canon ,mac,innes as ,bishop in ,jerusalem4 ,o pray for the peace of ,jerusalem3 they shall prosper that love thee4--,ps4 cxxii4 #f4 ,there is no place in the world to be compared to ,jerusalem1 if you consider its romantic position1 its historical interest1 and its spiritual significance4 ,what a relief it is to breathe its mountain air after the hot plains of ,egypt6 ,on what a glorious position it stands1 more than two thousand feet above the sea1 surrounded by hills even higher than the hill on which it stands itself6 ,truly1 still the hills stand about ,jerusalem--a true image of the way the ,,lord stands about ,his people4 ,but it is not the romantic position of ,jerusalem which gives it its chief claim to fame1 but1 even more1 its marvellous history4 ,really1 to uncase ,jerusalem1 to dig down from one ,jerusalem to another1 to be able to explain the history which would attach to each layer of it1 would be to unravel the history of the ancient world4 ,volumes have been written1 and will continue to be written1 on this entrancing theme2 but suffice it to say that the man who stands1 say1 at the centre of the ,temple site of ,jerusalem is standing on one of the most historic spots in the world4 ,but1 after all1 when one is speaking in a ,christian church at the consecration of a ,christian ,bishop1 it is neither of these things which makes ,jerusalem absolutely unique4 ,the ,seven ,hills of ,rome and its ,forum might compete with ,jerusalem from the point of view of geography or history4 ,no6 it is the supreme fact that here1 and here alone1 on the world's surface1 in ,juda and ,galilee1 the feet of the ,,son of ,,god actually trod the earth1 which makes ,jerusalem unique4 ,rightly has ,palestine been called ever since the ,holy ,land4 ,when the guardian of the traditional site of the ,ascension points out to you the spot which the feet of the ,,lord last trod before ,he ascended behind the cloud1 of course you know that such tradition is too detailed to be necessarily accurate with regard to the actual spot2 but that ,his feet did tread the earth about that spot1 that ,he did walk over the ,mount of ,olives1 that ,he did agonise somewhere near those trees in the ,garden of ,gethsemane1 that on one or other of those skull-shaped mounds ,he did die for the sins of the whole world1 that either at the traditional site or somewhere near ,he did rise again from the dead--this it is that makes ,jerusalem the joy of the whole earth4 ,with ten times the depth of meaning with which even the ancient ,jews could say it1 the ,christian will say3 ,if ,i forget thee1 ,o ,jerusalem1 let my right hand forget her cunning2 yea1 if ,i prefer not ,jerusalem in my mirth4 ,o pray for the peace of ,jerusalem2 they shall prosper that love thee4 ,i4 ,the consecration1 then1 of a ,bishop of the great ,anglo-,catholic ,church1 who is to live in ,jerusalem1 is an event which concerns the whole of ,christendom1 and especially every branch of the ,anglo-,catholic ,church throughout the world2 for it is clear that such a ,bishop in ,jerusalem has three great and important functions to discharge to the whole ,christian world3 #a4 ,in the first place1 he has to represent worthily1 by personal conduct and by reverent and dignified ceremonial1 the great branch of the ,catholic ,church to which he belongs4 ,all branches of the ,church meet at ,jerusalem2 several have their altars by the ,holy ,sepulchre4 ,how can the other branches of the great ,catholic ,church learn what is the teaching and the practice of the ,anglican branch except from the ,bishop who represents her there1 and from the cathedral over which he presides8 ,if the ,bishop himself has no dignity1 no influence1 no 1 among all those dignified and grey-bearded ,patriarchs who represent other ,churches1 the ,church of ,england will suffer in the opinion of the whole ,christian ,church4 ,if the cathedral church is poor in worship1 feeble in life1 unspiritual in tone1 the ,church of ,england loses caste among the ,churches of the world4 ,if1 on the other hand1 the ,bishop and his cathedral worthily maintain the best traditions of the ancient and apostolic ,catholic ,church of ,england1 then will the representatives of other ancient ,churches gladly acknowledge that the ,,lord is with her of a truth4 #b4 ,but not only has the ,bishop in ,jerusalem to be a worthy witness to the doctrine of his ,church1 and in his cathedral to display a winning example of its ceremonial and worship1 but he also has to respect and foster the spiritual life in the ancient ,churches of the ,east4 ,he is to be no proselytiser1 seeking to take away members of other ,churches to form his ,church2 he is rather the kindly brother1 ever ready to lend a hand to fan the embers of spiritual life in other ,churches1 or to rejoice in the fervent glow on other altars besides his own4 ,no ,bishop would be a fit ,bishop in ,jerusalem who had not some knowledge of the history of the ancient ,churches of ,christendom1 an interest in their varying liturgies1 and a deep respect for their history and the special significance each has in the life of the ,catholic ,church4 ,on the other hand1 that ,bishop would have a peculiar glory in his episcopate who most succeeded by brotherly sympathy and inspiring example in stimulating life in an ancient ,church1 where1 perhaps1 life was running low1 or was able to send up the sap once again through the fibres of an apparently withered tree4 #c4 ,but his efforts must not stop there4 ,the ,bishop in ,jerusalem must be a missionary4 ,if from the first the ,gospel was to spread throughout the world1 beginning at ,jerusalem1 ,jerusalem must never cease to be a missionary centre4 ,there must be no faithless despair as to the eventual conversion both of ,jews and of ,mohammedans2 the great heathen tribes of the ,shellooks and the ,dinkas of the ,upper ,nile1 up to which the diocese1 with its centre at ,jerusalem1 at present extends1 even though it must be exercised for the most part through the presence of an assistant ,bishop in ,khartoum1 must feel the missionary zeal of the ,bishop in ,jerusalem4 ,every missionary agency within thousands of miles must be certain of his fatherly interest4 ,i have visited myself nearly every mission station from ,el ,obeid1 five hundred miles beyond ,khartoum1 to ,beyrout1 and seen how greatly was appreciated the genuine interest of even a passing ,bishop2 but those mission stations must feel sure of the interest of the ,bishop whose sedes is at ,jerusalem1 and above all1 of course1 those must feel sure of it whose missions are connected with our own ,church4 ,few people can have visited the magnificent mission hospital of the ,london ,jews' ,society in ,jerusalem1 which is said to be the finest mission hospital in the world1 or seen the devoted work of the representatives of the ,church ,missionary ,society in ,cairo1 or watched the mission schools of the ,hosanna ,league on the ,lebanon1 without being proud of the missionary zeal and spiritual efforts of our own ,church4 ,,ii4 ,but on a day like this we are at liberty to see visions and to dream dreams1 and one can imagine missionary efforts which have their centre at ,jerusalem on a far more extensive scale than any which have been possible as yet--missionary efforts which may include the revival of the ancient ,churches of ,asia ,minor1 the linking up with the work done by the ,archbishop's ,mission to the ,assyrian ,church1 and a far more complete subjugation to ,,christ of the ,lebanon district1 to which ,canon ,parfit's and ,canon ,campbell's schools seem to point the way4 ,such1 then1 seem to be the possibilities and prospects of a ,bishop in ,jerusalem1 and we are encouraged to raise our hopes high to-day1 first by the wonderful blessing which has been granted to the work of him who is laying down the pastoral staff1 wielded with so much tact and love and winning influence by ,bishop ,blyth for a quarter of a century2 and1 secondly1 by the experience and attainments and standing of him who this day takes up the pastoral staff which ,bishop ,blyth lays down4 #a4 ,and first with regard to ,bishop ,blyth himself4 ,it was said to me in ,jerusalem of the ,bishop1 by one who has long been the superintendent of the ,church missionary work in ,palestine3 ,he has laid a splendid foundation on which a success can be built4 ,few can realise1 who have not been at ,jerusalem1 the dignity and beauty of ,st4 ,george's ,cathedral1 which ,bishop ,blyth has built1 and the charm of the daily services in it1 morning and evening1 at which the choir consists of the delightful ,syrian boys and girls who form the schools4 ,i have never seen boys more like ,english boys in their keenness for games 7they were quite invincible at football7 and their general manliness of tone1 and under the gentle tutelage of ,english ladies the ,syrian girls are being trained to be well-mannered1 and capable teachers1 whom ,i frequently found teaching either in ,palestine1 on the ,lebanon1 or in the schools of ,egypt and the ,soudan4 ,but1 in order to understand the influence accumulated by ,bishop ,blyth during these long years of residence in ,jerusalem1 you had to visit with him the ,patriarchs of other branches of the ,church2 everywhere you found him trusted and loved2 to come with his introduction was to be welcomed by all the ancient ,churches of the ,east1 and it is certain that1 just as it was said of ,livingstone that he left the door open in ,africa for all the white men who should come after1 so it is certainly true that ,bishop ,blyth has left behind him1 among all the representatives of the ancient ,churches of the ,east1 open hearts into which his successor can enter4 ,and we are glad to think that we still have the ,bishop resident with us here in ,london1 to give us his counsel and advice4#ag #ag ,the ,bishop only lived a few weeks after his successor's consecration4 #b4 ,and then1 with regard to his successor1 he is no tyro going out to learn his work for the first time2 he is already one of the best-known missionaries in the whole of the nearer ,east2 he has for years been the superintendent of the ,church missionary work in ,egypt and the ,soudan2 he has had the control of many workers1 and has had1 moreover1 thousands of pounds passing annually through his hands4 ,he is a good ,arabic scholar1 and can not only take services1 but can speak and preach freely in ,arabic1 and what that means in the ,east every traveller knows4 ,his long experience of dealing with the ,coptic ,church in ,egypt1 and the great respect in which he and his colleague1 ,mr4 ,gairdner1 are held in it1 are a certain guarantee of the respect and loving reverence with which he will treat the other ancient ,churches of the ,east2 and he has himself assured us1 in words which have been printed and circulated1 that1 so far from wishing in any way to alter the simple and beautiful service in ,st4 ,george's ,cathedral1 he will love to fan and foster the flame of devotion which will always burn1 it is hoped1 more and more brightly at the central shrine of the ,anglo-,catholic ,church in this city of ,jerusalem1 which is itself the cradle of the ,christian ,church4 ,it is therefore1 dear brother1 with very high hopes and many earnest prayers we send you forth to-day4 ,the horizon is clouded at present with the heavy clouds of war2 ,,christ',s work will be crippled for a time1 and further extension for a time will be impossible2 but when the great clouds of war have1 in the mercy of ,,god1 rolled away1 and the ,sun of ,righteousness has arisen with healing in ,his wings1 and ,christianity has been proved to be more than ever essential to the prosperity and well-being of the world1 then we believe that you are singularly fitted in the providence of ,,god to avail yourself of the mighty opportunity which will open out4 ,o pray for the peace of ,jerusalem2 they shall prosper that love thee4 ,there will be many who will pray for its peace from to-day more fervently than ever1 and they will uphold your hands as they pray it1 as ,aaron and ,hur held up the hands of ,moses2 and if1 as we believe from the bottom of our souls1 ,,god will hear that prayer1 then ,jerusalem shall once again be built as a city at unity with itself1 and from the farthest bounds of the earth there shall come1 at least in spirit1 turning their faces thitherward1 more and more every year1 the converted1 thankful and adoring tribes of the ,,lord4 ,,ii ,,to ,,the ,,clergy ,i ,,messengers#ah #ah ,given first at ,chiswick ,parish ,church to the ,clergy of the ,rural ,deanery of ,hammersmith2 afterwards to the ,chaplains of the ,fleet1 #aiaf4 ,the ,eyes of ,flame#ai are resting upon us2 we do not want to get away for a moment from that thought as our central message4 ,but get away from the idea that the ,bishop is asking us to come for a ,quiet ,day4 ,as ,i believe events have proved1 it is ,,jesus ,,christ ,himself going round the diocese in the power of the ,,spirit4 ,wonderful things have happened on these ,quiet ,days4 ,men have been so struck to the heart that they have resigned their livings2 they have seen what they ought to have been1 and with the aid of the ,,holy ,,spirit1 before the ,eyes of ,flame1 have contrasted that with what they are4 ,if it is ,,jesus ,,christ coming round1 then we cannot be too quiet on such a ,day in listening to ,his voice all the time4 ,it is therefore with the ,eyes of ,flame resting upon us and with the prayer ,speak1 ,,lord1 for ,thy servant heareth1 ,i will hearken what the ,,lord ,,god will say concerning me1 that we will think over three things that we are expected to be4 ,and the first is a ,messenger4 ,you will remember that1 when we first stood before the ,bishop for ordination1 we were told of a great treasure that was committed to our care4 ,we have spent much time thinking over that treasure4#bj ,we were reminded that we were to be messengers1 watchmen1 stewards4 ,now we will simply take the title messengers4 #ai ,see a former volume1 ,the ,eyes of ,flame 7,wells ,gardner1 ,darton and ,co41 ,ltd474 #bj ,see ,the ,church in ,time of ,war1 pp4 #ea-gj3 ,the ,treasure ,committed to our ,trust4 ,let us picture the messenger2 let us forget the tame surroundings and monotonous features of the life we lead1 and picture ourselves as real living messengers4 ,we might take one of our despatch-riders4 ,few things are more really splendid than the way the undergraduates of ,oxford and ,cambridge are doing most of the despatch-riding at the front--our own boys1 we may say1 have been carrying the despatches during this campaign4 ,it is very dangerous work4 ,one of the boys whom ,i have known all his life is now a despatch-rider in the war1 having to take these messages at any cost4 ,everything depends upon the despatch getting there4 ,the whole brigade will be cut to pieces if the despatch is not sent there4 ,they only send despatches for the most urgent reasons4 ,there the despatch-riders are in the darkness1 threading their way through all the great holes made by the shells1 pushing on to take the despatches4 ,they are messengers with a vengeance1 taking their lives in their hands1 realising the vital importance of getting their message through4 ,now1 ,i am going to take a particular messenger because his character and life are very carefully described to us in detail by one of our great poets4 ,i think it will come home to us more if ,i can describe the picture of the messenger of ,athens given us by ,browning in that wonderful poem ,pheidippides4 ,it may be more familiar to some than it is to others4 ,i will just sketch ,browning's picture4 ,pheidippides tells how he started on a mission of absolutely vital importance1 and the whole problem was to get to ,sparta in time to get help4 ,he dashes off1 and stands before the ,spartan ,senate4 ,persia has come6 ,persia bids ,athens proffer slaves'-tribute1 water and earth2 ,razed to the ground is ,eretria2 but ,athens1 shall ,athens sink1 ,drop into dust and die--the flower of ,hellas utterly die1 ,die with the wide world spitting at ,sparta1 the stupid1 the stander-by8 ,it is a matter of absolute life and death1 and that is the first thing about the messenger ,i want you to notice4 ,either he got there or he did not2 either he persuaded them or he did not4 ,he gave his message1 though he did not succeed in persuading ,sparta to undertake the needed help4 ,the fate of his country depended entirely upon his effort4 ,there is something glorious in his absolute devotion to his country4 ,then1 when he had given his message1 he waited for the answer1 and he is described as quivering with eagerness3 ,the limbs of me fretting as fire frets1 an inch from dry wood4 ,that expresses the keenness with which he waited for the answer4 ,and the answer1 which1 as you remember1 was an evasive one1 counselling delay1 is thus characterised by ,pheidippides3 ,athens1 except for that sparkle--thy name1 ,i had mouldered to ash4 ,then1 having done everything he could1 he dashed back to tell them at ,athens that ,sparta was not coming4 ,we see the utter abandonment of the messenger3 ,not one word to waste1 one look to lose on the false and the vile6 ,yet ',o ,gods of my land6' ,i cried1 as each hillock and plain1 ,wood and stream1 ,i knew1 ,i named1 rushing past them again4 ,then comes the moment of his life4 ,in the midst of the hurry and race he suddenly comes face to face with his god--the great god ,pan4 ,in all his hurry and haste and keenness he hushes himself in a moment1 to listen to what the god has to say4 ,very touchingly described that is4 ,then1 when he has received the message for himself1 for his nation1 once again he is off4 ,i ran no longer1 but flew4 ,and he stands before his people1 and he gives them the full message which the god had given him1 with all its warning and all its comfort and hope and good news4 ,when that is done he fights on the ,marathon day4 ,and then1 when the victory is won1 he thinks of what the god has promised him1 and he thinks to ,marry a certain maid1 ,i know keeps faith to the brave1 and live with her for the rest of his life4 ,unforeseeing one6 ,yes1 he fought on the ,marathon day3 ,so1 when ,persia was dust1 all cried3 ',to ,acropolis6 ,run1 ,pheidippides1 one race more6' ,take the news to ,athens6 ,he takes it1 and his great heart bursts with the joy of the news4 ,pheidippides dies in the shout for his meed4 ,he sealed his message with his death4 ,now1 there is the messenger1 and we have to think over the different points about that messenger1 to compare our motives to-day with what they are expected to be4 7#a7 ,take first of all his realisation that his message was a matter of life or death4 ,i wonder whether some of us are slipping away from that--slipping away from the awe of that first sermon1 slipping into little moral essays or interminably long discourses8 ,are we still men with a message8 ,one of the tremendous revelations in ,london1 after twenty-six years of life and work there1 is the death-struggle that is going on in every human soul4 ,and even now1 as ,bishop1 ,i find that every available five minutes is taken up by the needs and struggles of some individual soul in the diocese of ,london4 ,in your parishes it must be just the same4 ,upon that message you are going to give on ,sunday morning or evening depends perhaps the salvation1 or perhaps the condemnation1 of some soul4 ,and if we once get into the way of preaching simply interesting lectures--interesting to ourselves--which we have thought out in our studies during the week1 we have lost the sense of having a message4 ,one of the most distinguished men then in the ,church said to a young preacher sadly3 ,you seem to preach as if you have something to say1 and ,i only preach because ,i must say something4 ,well1 if we are drifting into getting up into the pulpit because we must say something1 without realising the temptations and struggles of the souls in front of us1 we have lost our message2 we are no longer messengers4 7#b7 ,and then1 secondly1 what about the old keenness8 ,am ,i able to say the old keenness8 ,one honest brother came to me one ,quiet ,day and said3 ,i have never felt keen at all4 ,he could not speak of the old keenness2 he had never had it4 ,he wanted it4 ,the keen messenger stands quivering like ,pheidippides3 ,except for that sparkle1 thy name1 ,i had mouldered to ash6 ,there stands the true messenger quivering with the keenness of his message4 ,what has happened to us if we are no longer keen about our message8 7a7 ,is it because we have really ceased to believe it8 ,i say that because during this past year ,i have had some who have openly said 7the realisation of it has come to them during the day7 that they have largely slipped away from their real belief in ,,jesus ,,christ as the ,,son of ,,god4 ,they started reading ,higher ,criticism or ,german theology4 ,of course1 we must read very varied kinds of books2 we have no right to be afraid of reading anything that will enable us to help the laity in their difficulties4 ,but these brothers had been reading too many of these books speaking of our ,,lord as only a man1 in which we are told that ,he was mistaken in supposing this1 or1 ,no doubt ,he was under the impression that this was the case2 and they have slipped away from their belief in ,,jesus ,,christ as the ,,son of ,,god4 ,their faith has really for a time gone2 they have not got a message1 because they do not believe in the old message4 ,they would have said of such a meditation as we have had together on the ,book of ,revelation3 ,how do we know ,st4 ,john ever wrote it8 ,and if we meditated upon our ,,lord',s last prayer in ,st4 ,john's ,gospel1 they would say3 ,how do we know that we have the words of the ,,lord',s last prayer8 ,thus their minds are really in doubt all the time1 so that at last nothing really speaks to them at all4 ,now1 what ,i advise is a careful study of the writings of such a man as ,dr4 ,swete4 ,he tells us that in that last prayer of our ,,lord we have1 through the medium of ,st4 ,john or the writer of ,st4 ,john's ,gospel--he believes it was ,st4 ,john--as nearly as you can get them1 the actual words of our ,,lord',s prayer4 ,i am not taking any particular case1 but only trying to illustrate a state of mind4 ,if you are losing your message because you are ceasing to believe it1 then all the salt has gone out of your ministry till faith comes back4 ,if you face it1 and find it is so1 ask our ,,lord1 who has come to speak to us now1 to restore to you your belief in ,him once again1 so that ,he shall be to you the centre of the universe1 and you will be really in a position to say again1 as you once did1 ,how sweet the ,name of ,,jesus sounds ,in a believer's ear6 ,then you will be able to preach again4 7b7 ,or is it that the fault is not so much intellectual as moral1 and there is really something between you and ,,christ--something which is making your message appear unreal1 because there is something in your life which contradicts your message8 ,it has been a very blessed thing that a number of men have seen what that thing is during these ,quiet ,days4 ,is there anything in your life which contradicts your message8 ,i remember hearing--it was not in this diocese--of a priest who did not dare to speak to his young men and boys about certain things1 because his own conscience reproached him4 ,that is the sort of thing that makes your message sound hollow when you get up to deliver it1 in the pulpit or in the ,bible-class4 ,search me1 ,o ,,lord1 and seek the ground of my heart1 prove me and examine my thoughts and see whether there be any way of wickedness in me1 and lead me in the way everlasting4 ,this must be our prayer4 ,if we say that to our people1 we must say it to ourselves1 and get it put right1 though it may be like plucking out the right eye or cutting off the right hand4 ,when it is put right your message will ring true again4 7c7 ,or is it what you may call middle-aged low spirits8 ,is it something like accidie4 ,dr4 ,paget describes that dreariness of feeling that comes over some in middle age4 ,you cannot expect that amount of keenness from me at my age1 a man says4 ,i think of three men myself--,bishop ,wilkinson1 ,bishop ,king and ,canon ,body--who were to the last day of their lives as keen as when they started4 ,so when you think of these three men1 it cannot be middle age or old age that really produce this accidie4 ,i dare say it would be equally true of ,mr4 ,simeon or ,mr4 ,wesley1 but ,i only happen to know of these three men1 who were like fathers to me4 ,they were as keen up to the day that they died as ever they were in their lives4 ,bishop ,wilkinson's last words before he died--an address to a committee of his ,prayer ,union in his diocese--were the same burning words that had fired the rich people of ,eaton ,square and the miners of the ,north4 ,well1 if it is not middle age or old age1 must be ourselves who are to blame4 ,therefore let us ask for a revival of our keenness1 and not put down the want of it to old age or middle age4 ,of course1 it may be that a man--,i want to be quite frank about that--a man has been too long where he is4 ,if you knew how much prayer and thought ,i personally give to this matter1 how anxious ,i am to move men when ,i see a move would be for their good1 you would realise how distressing it is to me to keep a man in one place when he would be much better moved1 or promoted to a living4 ,but the simple fact is there are not enough livings to go round4 ,i want you to realise how urgently we at the centre feel the danger of men getting stale or being kept in one place too long4 ,but it is not from the man's point of view that we ought to look at it4 ,he may pray to have a change4 ,but while he is there he is the messenger to the people1 who are constantly changing4 ,there is a new population constantly coming in4 ,he must be there ready for them4 ,and those who remain in the parish are still depending upon him4 ,he is their messenger2 he must not let them suffer because he is tired of his particular post4 ,i cannot imagine any of those three men1 whom ,i knew so well1 in the least letting the keenness of their message be diminished because they thought they ought to be moved somewhere else4 ,a man may feel very sad because he cannot do more1 but he must not let his work fall off1 although he may be praying that in ,,god',s providence he may have a change4 7#c7 ,then comes the waiting before ,,god for the message4 ,pheidippides bowed his head even in the heat of the race1 bowed his head and listened4 ,and1 you know1 one of the things we have certainly found out lately is that the great fault of the ,church of ,england is not listening4 ,we pray1 but we do not wait for an answer4 ,it is the ten minutes after prayer that matters4 ,it is listening for the answer to come back4 ,one of the reasons why ,english clergy need a ,quiet ,day is that they are not good listeners to ,,god4 ,we talk to ,him1 we even1 as someone has said1 chatter to ,him like little children chatter to their parents1 but we do not listen for the reply4 ,we must listen for the reply when we speak to ,god4 ,we must wait for our message4 ,it must be renewed every day4 ,what is the message that ,i am to take to the people8 ,rearrange all your time so that you may have time for listening4 ,that has been crowded out4 ,it is not a question of how many visits you can make in a day1 but of the atmosphere you take with you on those visits1 and the atmosphere depends upon the previous waiting upon ,,god4 ,then when you go on your visit the ,,holy ,,spirit opens the door of the heart of those to whom you go4 7#d7 ,then notice1 fourthly1 the abandonment of the messenger4 ,i am sure ,st4 ,paul really loved the picture of the runner4 ,do you notice he is always going back to it8 ,the runner flung aside his cloak1 with his eyes fixed on the goal1 like ,pheidippides the messenger2 that is exactly what he did3 he flung everything away for speed and alertness1 in order to be there in time--the one thing that mattered4 ,do you not think that it may be true that we have become too comfortable as messengers8 ,may it not be that we have lost the alertness and keenness and the mobility of the messenger8 ,we have just settled down into our comfortable homes and creature comforts4 ,they hinder our movements1 and we do not run with the alertness of a messenger of ,,god4 ,of course1 we have to be part of a great system1 to have parishes1 to settle down in a certain place1 and to secure that no one is neglected in the parish4 ,but we must remember1 we clergy of the ,church of ,england1 that we are not working for a particular parish or country only1 but for the whole world4 ,we must not rest content in being a stolid yeomanry1 who can only fight in our own country1 but we are to be a mobile alert force for the conversion of the world4 ,we ought to be entirely and absolutely independent of our comfortable homes1 of our comfortable way of life4 ,it is good to go into camp and be content to stay there for a couple of months4 ,we ought to feel that having food and raiment1 with these we shall have enough4 ,that love of comfort is a great danger2 it greatly hampers us in our task and in our alertness as messengers4 ,and1 again1 if we are a mobile army for the world1 we ought to be ready to go to any part of the world to which the ,,spirit of the ,,lord directs us4 ,it often happens that the ,,spirit catches away some young curate1 and he is found in some unpronounceable place in ,japan or ,china4 ,he is there because the ,,spirit has taken him there4 ,therefore we have to question ourselves very strictly to-day1 it seems to me1 as to whether we are detached enough to be messengers1 or whether we have got clogged by mere custom and the comforts of life1 so that we do not move quickly enough4 ,or again1 we may be hampered in our movements by the demand for a full ,catholic service for our own solace and comfort4 ,those men at the front who are receiving the ,holy ,communion before the battle have little barns for their service1 with flickering and guttering candles4 ,when they come home they will tell us they have never had such a ,communion service in their lives as those they had with their comrades4 ,honestly ,i consider it is right to have1 if we can1 a beautiful service which uplifts our souls1 to give our people all the ,catholic privileges possible4 ,but we ought not to be dependent upon it2 we ought to recognise that the heart of the thing is also in the poor barn and the guttering candle4 ,we all ought to be content to do without many things that we have now1 if only we may be allowed to carry our message to the ends of the earth4 7#e7 ,and then1 when he comes1 he is to give the full message4 ,pheidippides stood before his people and gave it all1 the warning1 and the comfort and the inspiration4 ,do not leave anything out4 ,one part is as important as another4 ,he gave the whole rounded message1 and we must be careful to do the same4 ,we must be careful not to let the ,gospel consist of one doctrine only--for example1 the ,atonement4 ,the ,atonement is a part of the ,gospel--a glorious part of it--but it is not the whole message by any means4 ,there is the ,gospel of ,grace4 ,we are saved by the death of ,,christ1 but we are saved by ,grace and the means of ,grace--the power in the water of life to refresh the soul that is pardoned1 and the beautiful sacramental teaching handed on to us4 ,the prodigal comes back1 and he receives the robe and the ring1 and the home1 and the feast1 and the shoes for service--all these things4 ,the prodigal of to-day wants them too2 the ,,father',s kiss--the outward and visible sign of the ,,father',s love2 the ring in ,confirmation1 the robe in ,baptism1 the home in the ,church1 the feast--the ,holy ,communion--the shoes for service4 ,you have got to tell them about everything4 ,you have no right to say of one doctrine3 ,this is the whole ,gospel4 ,we must teach the ,gospel of the ,resurrection and the ,ascension as much as the ,atonement1 and the ,church's ,sacraments as well4 ,therefore we have to ask--have we not8--whether our teaching has degenerated into some little shibboleth1 which we keep repeating over and over again4 ,we must be messengers of the whole message1 and we must see that we are giving the message in its fulness1 or else there may be souls unsaved who might be saved by the very part of it which we leave out4 ,we might be astonished if we catechised our people as to what we have really taught them in ten years4 ,have we simply given them a series of moral exhortations1 or the same part of the message1 year after year1 and not the whole message8 7#f7 ,then1 lastly1 we must seal the message with our lives4 ,do you really mean to say--,i believe it was a girl who asked the question when present for the first time at an ,ordination ,service--do you mean to say that every clergyman ,i have ever met has been through that8 ,well1 apparently we do not always give the impression that we have4 ,the messenger has to seal the message by his life1 and by conduct consistent with such a trust1 but also he has got to seal it1 if necessary1 with his death4#ba ,pheidippides died ,in the shout for his meed4 ,there ought to be no hesitation about going to infectious cases if we are called to do so4 ,i am always quoting what ,bishop ,king told us in one of his pastoral lectures4 ,he was warning us against being nervous or having presentiments4 ,he said3 ,i had a presentiment that ,i should die when ,i was twenty-six4 ,and1 sure enough1 after ,i was ordained1 the smallpox came to the parish where ,i was working4 ,i had to go to the patients1 and ,i had to sit up with them1 and bury one myself4 ',here1' ,i thought1 'is my presentiment coming true2 ,i am twenty-six4' ,but1 he said to us in the lecture-hall1 ,i am here1 gentlemen1 this morning4 ,therefore we should make it a rule that what little risk there is in our profession we should take1 after seeing to all needful precautions4 ,and if it be so that we die in the course of our duty through some epidemic1 we shall die at our posts1 and be doing what a messenger ought to do4 #ba ,in giving the substance of this address at a ,quiet ,day for the chaplains of the ,grand ,fleet this summer1 ,i felt the touching appropriateness of this illustration1 as no less than sixteen naval chaplains had lost their lives during the war4 ',well1' cried he1 ',emperor1 by ,,god',s grace ,we've got you ,ratisbon6 ,the marshal's in the market-place1 ,and you'll be there anon ,to see your flag-bird flap his vans ,where ,i1 to heart's desire1 ,perched him6' ,the ,chief's eye flashed1 his plans ,soared up again like fire4 ,the ,chief's eye flashed2 but presently ,softened itself1 as sheathes ,a film the mother-eagle's eye ,when her bruised eaglet breathes3 ',you're wounded6' ',nay1' his soldier's pride ,touched to the quick1 he said3 ',i'm killed1 ,sire6' ,and1 his ,chief beside1 ,smiling1 the boy fell dead4 ,that was a young soldier1 a messenger1 who came to tell ,napoleon of the success of his arms4 ,it is called simply ,an ,incident of the ,french ,camp4#bb ,smiling the boy fell dead4 ,dear brothers1 if we are called to seal our message with our lives1 may ,,god give us grace to do so6 #bb ,robert ,browning4 ,,ii ,,physicians ,we have thought over1 or tried to think over1 our rle as messengers4 ,now--by that sort of rapid change which these titles put before us1 and this illustrates the extraordinary variety and interest of our work--we have got to picture ourselves in the sober mien of physicians--physicians in a ward1 good physicians1 celestial surgeons4 ,we must put away the picture of the rapid1 eager1 loyal messenger1 and remember that there is a side to our message quite different from this1 without which our service as messenger might degenerate into mere preaching4 ,we have much else to do besides that4 ,we are house-surgeons1 physicians in a great ward of patients1 and that ward is our parish2 and upon our training1 patience1 and skill1 will depend the safety and welfare of all this multitude of patients4 ,they are all entrusted to our care4 ,but what should we think1 for instance1 of a surgeon out at the front1 if1 with a great mass of wounded to be attended to1 nobody ever asked him to come1 but left him in a tent without a call8 ,it would not be a very strong testimonial to his skill or standing or people's belief in him4 ,and1 therefore1 we have to ask ourselves this fresh home question3 ,if in our ward we are not called in1 may it not be that the people do not believe in us1 or trust us1 or think we are sufficiently trained to be able to help them8 7#a7 ,and that brings us1 of course1 to the whole question of training for the ministry4 ,it is really humiliating when you think of it4 ,no one is allowed to be a physician or surgeon1 not even to begin as one--certainly not to have any sort of responsibility--unless he has had at least five years' course of continuous training4 ,and sometimes we think a year or two at a ,university or a ,theological ,college1 not necessarily both1 quite enough training to become surgeons and physicians of the soul4 ,i do think the ,church ought to back up the ,bishops in the efforts they are making to remedy this great contrast4 ,five years' incessant training for those who treat the body1 and a hasty two years considered sufficient for the more difficult task of surgeon and physician of the soul6 ,therefore do back us up in our difficult task of trying to get a better-trained ministry4 ,if the parish priest only theoretically believes in it1 and is quite upset if his curate is ploughed in the examination1 and writes and begs that he at least may be let through--,i am only giving an illustration of dozens of letters ,i have received--that sort of thing does not help us4 ,it is no good my speaking to you anything but true words2 that sort of thing does not help us to keep up what should be the standard of our trained ministry4 ,we must remember that the real examination comes in our parish4 ,when we arrive there1 it is the people who really examine us1 and if1 when they have got to know us1 they find that we are not worth calling in to minister to their souls--well1 it is not the fault of the people1 it is the fault of the training and the want of skill of the physician4 ,and if some were ordained quickly owing to poverty--and ,,god knows it often is owing to poverty3 many a man would be only too thankful for another year in a theological college--that is the fault of the ,church4 ,the ,church must supply the money if the men cannot4 ,we have an efficient ,board1 in the diocese to-day1 of responsible men choosing out candidates4 ,and if the ,church were a little more generous in its support1 we might have a really adequate supply of clergy4 ,we have not got by any means the full number which the ,church needs to-day to send all over the country4 7#b7 ,the second essential thing is self-knowledge4 ,physician1 heal thyself1 is an old saying4 ,of course1 ,i am not speaking from a pedestal1 but simply sitting among you1 and speaking to myself as much as to you4 ,the words ,i believe ,,christ is saying to us all are1 ,physician1 heal thyself--that is to say1 we must see what is wrong in our own lives and works2 otherwise we cannot have the insight to heal others4 ,we do not know how to do it1 unless we have cut down into our own souls4 ,the man who has done that is the man who really knows4 ,it is only the man who is frank enough to look below the surface and see the wickedness of his own heart who is the one who can deal with other people4 ,the ,,holy ,,spirit1 who alone knows us through and through1 may bring us to a deeper self-knowledge to-day1 which will make us very much better physicians4 ,if we heal ourselves first1 we shall know how to heal others4 7#c7 ,then1 thirdly1 to carry out this great task we must know our people one by one4 ,here is a great difficulty4 ,a parish priest may have ten thousand people in his charge1 but how difficult it is for him to know each one6 ,he must do it--though1 of course1 partly through others4 ,he must have a system4 ,i do not think a parish priest ought ever to be wholly inaccessible to any part of his parish4 ,he must have his curates working for him1 but the priests who work with him must have a system by which the vicar himself will know when he is wanted4 ,i am sure every parish priest feels that he must be ready for any emergency4 ,it is not easy to escape from councils and committees1 but he should be ready with the surgeon's knife whenever he is wanted all over his great ward4 ,he must not leave it wholly to anyone else1 so long as he is responsible4 ,in order to know the people1 he must be up to the last day of his life a visitor4 ,i hold it to be an absolutely wrong view of the pastoral office to say3 ,i can sit in my cassock in the church1 and the people know where ,i am1 and they can come to me if they like4 ,of course1 it is a very good thing to have times when we shall be in church1 and when the people will know that we are there4 ,there is 7let us say7 the daily service at a time which everybody knows2 they can catch us after the daily service1 and see us as we go away4 ,we make it known we shall be pleased to see them after ,mattins and ,evensong4 ,and we have a time before the great festivals when they can come to prepare themselves for the great services4 ,all that is wholly to the good4 ,it is good for the house-surgeon to have a place where his patients can come and see him4 ,but something else is wanted4 ,he must be ready to go out and see them when they are ill1 and find out what is the matter with them4 ,what should we think of a physician who had always the same regimen and the same medicine for everybody8 ,it used to be a joke1 ,i remember1 at a great school at which ,i was1 that the doctor gave us all the same physic4 ,it was no doubt a libel on him4 ,but certainly such a method would be a fault in the case of the spiritual surgeon2 souls would die under such treatment4 ,we have to ask ourselves3 ,are there any patients dying under my hand1 in my ward1 because ,i have not taken the trouble to really heal them1 because ,i am not going down deep enough1 because ,i am not finding out what is the matter with them1 because ,i am not really acting the part of physician1 still less that of a celestial surgeon8 7#d7 ,and then1 when we have got the people to trust us so that they wish us to go to them1 or they come to us with their troubles and difficulties and sorrows1 we must have for our people the patience of the good physician4 ,if we have known and benefited by the patience of our own physicians of the body when we have been ill1 and have realised how patient they are1 if some of our best friends have been the doctors1 the physicians1 and surgeons1 who have attended to us1 we1 too1 have got to show the patience of the good physician to our people4 ,we have no right to give a sarcastic answer because a particular parishioner seems to be beyond the limit4 ,we must imitate the patience of ,,jesus ,,christ4 ,the old story of ,quo ,vadis8 is told in different ways4 ,one version is that1 as ,st4 ,peter was1 in a fit of impatience1 leaving ,rome1 our ,,lord met him on the way1 and he1 ,peter1 asked ,him whither ,he was going4 ,the ,,lord answered that ,he was going to ,rome to be crucified again because ,peter had left his post4 ,another version of the same story is that one of the disciples was asked where he was going1 and he said3 ,i have lost patience with such and such a man4 ,the ,,lord said3 ,i have had patience with that man for forty years4 ,whichever way you put the story1 the point is that we have no right to be impatient with our people4 ,why should we be impatient8 ,think how patient ,he has been with us all this time4 ,we must have1 then1 the patience of the ,good ,physician4 ,let me speak to the younger clergy1 nearly all of whom ,i have ordained myself4 ,do you remember that when you were undergraduates you were not particularly keen when someone came in to speak to you for your good8 ,perhaps you were a little impatient4 ,and1 perhaps1 after all is said and done1 the young men of the parish feel very much the same when you come in and want to talk to them for their good4 ,i think sometimes we forget that the young men of the parish are very much the same as we were as undergraduates1 and that if they do not come on at once to the ,bible-class or want to be confirmed1 they are not very much worse than we were at their age4 ,therefore we must pray for more patience with them4 ,someone had patience with us1 or we could not have been here in the ministry at all4 ,someone bore with all our waywardness1 and with hopefulness brought us on to something better4 ,we shall never do anything without patience4 ,it is the patience of ,,christ that will win them at last1 and they will say3 ,thy gentleness has made me great4 7#e7 ,but1 then1 while we are patient1 we must not be afraid of speaking the uncomfortable truth4 ,i mean1 there is such a thing as being too kind--too kind in the sense that we are afraid to speak out1 to cut down1 as it were1 with the surgeon's knife4 ,you remember the ,celestial ,surgeon of ,stevenson3 ,if ,i have faltered more or less ,in my great task of happiness 444 ,if beams from happy human eyes ,have moved me not2 if morning skies1 ,books1 and my food1 and summer rain1 ,knocked at my sullen heart in vain3-- ,lord1 ,thy most pointed pleasure take1 ,and stab my spirit broad awake4 ,something of what he means is1 ,i suppose1 humorous4 ,what he means is that something must pierce below the surface1 something must get home2 anything is better than faltering in our great task of happiness1 being dead to the blessings of life that ,,god gives us4 ,sometimes we have to stand up and say3 ,thou art the man4 ,it is not lawful for thee to have thy brother's wife4 ,we have got to say this whenever there is occasion for it4 ,we have got to speak out for the sake of the man's soul4 ,it is not easy1 but we must be prepared to do our part as celestial surgeons4 ,there is many a man who has lived to bless his parish priest for telling him the truth about himself4 ,he has been very angry at first1 and full of bluster1 but thankful afterwards4 ,we must never be afraid to be celestial surgeons in the sense of doing the best for our patients4 7#f7 ,well1 then1 directly you have done that1 be ready to pour in the oil like the ,good ,samaritan4 ,there he is1 delightful man1 putting off his business to look after the poor man1 and we are to remember to our shame that the priest and the ,levite had passed by him4 ,pour in the oil of sympathy4 ,it seemed a very little thing to repeat that commonplace bit of comfort to the mourners2 often you may hesitate to write that letter to the tenth man or woman who has lost his or her boy in the war4 ,that letter1 written in love1 is like the oil2 it comes as a healing balm4 ,you have poured in loving sympathy4 ,you cannot have too much of it to give away4 ,the good physician is full of pity even while he uses the drastic medicine1 and the best surgeon is wonderfully patient4 ,when ,i lost my boy1 when he hung between life and death1 then ,i found out what my parish priest was like1 people should be able to say4 ,if we have not got sympathy1 and cannot pour in the oil1 where are we8 ,the world expects us to be kindly1 loving1 sympathising1 sacrificing physicians in times of trouble and sorrow4 7#g7 ,and then1 once again1 do not forget the after-care4 ,we have after-care committees for our children when they leave school1 but we are an after-care committee for all our people's souls4 ,our ,,lord understood all about after-care4 ,when ,he healed the little girl1 ,he commanded that something should be given her to eat4 ,he at once thought of her needs4 ,he wanted to strengthen her after the strain that she had gone through4 ,and that brings us to the beautiful work of our guilds4 ,there need be no particular kind of organisation1 but we must in our parishes look round and see that everyone has what he wants--see that men and boys1 women and girls1 are looked after4 ,when they are cured1 have we provided that something should be given them to eat1 something to strengthen them8 ,do we carry out the after-care which every good physician and surgeon always displays8 ,i always remember1 from my ,east ,london days1 a little pamphlet written by the present ,bishop of ,southwell4 ,it was called ,from ,marriage to ,marriage4 ,it made a great impression on me at the time4 ,i cannot remember all he said1 but the point is this3 ,we were too much inclined to imagine that everyone had to go through a dreary course of falls and rescues4 ,but if we really shepherded the little child from the moment he was born1 it would be different4 ,let us begin with the young couple4 ,from the time they leave the church we have to look after them4 ,and then1 when their child has come1 we have to take care of that little child and shepherd it from the very start4 ,if we do not do that1 we have left out our most important work4 ,there is a great deal of work upon which we are engaged--e4g41 rescue work--which would not be on such a gigantic scale if we had real after-care committees thoroughly at work in the ,church from the time the people are married4 ,we must examine ourselves to-day1 then1 very strictly from the point of view of being good physicians3 ,what about my parish8 ,are my people dying under my hand1 through my carelessness or want of skill8 ,are there any whom ,i do not know or who do not know me because ,i have not won their confidence8 ,do ,i visit them as much as ,i can1 and find out what is the matter with them8 ,am ,i treating them with loving patience1 and yet with frankness and courage and tenderness1 looking after them right on to the end8 ,when the ,apostles healed a man they gave us the true spirit in which to do it4 ,in the name of ,,jesus ,,christ rise up and walk4 ,not in their own name1 not in their own power1 but in the name and power of ,,jesus ,,christ4 ,they did not try to be popular people and make people like them2 they had but the one idea1 to make it perfectly plain that the power of their ,,lord was present to heal2 and the result was that the man leapt up1 stood1 and walked1 and was seen afterwards in the ,temple walking and praising ,,god4 ,if in our healing work we keep out the idea of self1 and work as good physicians and celestial surgeons in the name of ,,christ1 the effect of our work will be that we shall see numbers in the parish1 perhaps paralysed before1 walking and leaping and praising1 not us1 but ,,god4 ,,iii ,,fishers ,,of ,,men ,we have meditated upon our work as messengers1 and then on our work as physicians and surgeons2 but the duties given us are so various that it ought to make us feel how extraordinarily full of interest our work is4 ,every faculty of the mind and spirit is wanted for this wonderful work4 ,we are called sometimes stewards representing the ,master to the people of the world1 looking after the menservants and the maidservants1 foraging for the food of the household and giving it out4 ,then another time we are watchmen on the walls of ,jerusalem1 walking up and down watching over the city and blowing the trumpet when the danger comes1 continually holding up our hands in prayer4 ,we do our work as messengers running with a message1 as physicians and surgeons going up and down the ward1 and then suddenly we hear a voice ring1 as it were1 from heaven3 ,follow ,me1 and ,i will make you fishers of men4 ,here we have quite a different picture--the wind-swept deck of the fishing-smack in the teeth of the tempest4 ,cast the net on the right side of the ship1 and ye shall find4 ,we are fishers fishing for men4 ,what a different picture from the others6 ,and ,i think we ask1 rather sadly1 some of us1 who have been working night and day1 whether we are successful fishers of men4 ,we say3 ,master1 we have toiled all the night and taken nothing4 ,i have this huge parish of ten thousand people to look after1 and what is the result of my work among them8 ,have ,i been a successful fisher of men8 ,and that makes us1 of course1 ask ourselves in a day like this3 ,what is the secret of successful fishing8 ,if ,i have toiled all the night and taken nothing1 and all the day and taken very little1 what ought ,i to do8 ,my time is getting on2 the evening will come1 my fishing will be over4 ,can ,i not discover in the presence of my ,,lord to-day what ,he would have me do different from what ,i have been doing1 that ,i may bring to ,his feet a greater harvest of souls than ,i have ever brought yet8 7#a7 ,and the first secret of successful fishing is variety of method4 ,there are some of us1 no doubt1 who do fish on our holidays in the literal sense1 and we know how again and again in the salmon rivers we have tried fly after fly4 ,and yet in our fishing for men we often tie ourselves down to one monotonous kind of method1 never thinking of varying it4 ,but if we have found one method fail1 surely we might try another4 ,why should we be tied down to one particular humdrum method if it has been tried for years and failed8 ,of course1 there are certain things which must be the same4 ,we have no right to complain for a moment of what some people call the monotony of ,mattins and ,evensong for ourselves4 ,mattins and ,evensong are not at all monotonous4 ,i remember thinking1 when ,i made that promise which everyone makes when they are ordained1 of obeying the ,prayer-,book and saying ,mattins and ,evensong every day1 that it would be a kind of slavery to me4 ,but1 on the contrary1 ,i find it a chain that binds me about the feet of ,,god4 ,the lessons in these services are four letters from heaven every day1 as ,canon ,liddon called them4 ,we have spent an immense time in ,convocation--nine years--in considering what variations in the authorised services of the ,prayer-,book may be admitted1 and we have almost agreed upon a supplementary book which will give an immense variety to the service3 a great many more antiphons1 a rewritten preface to the ,confirmation ,service1 the ,marriage ,service carefully revised1 and some things definitely sanctioned for the ,church at large which we have used under provisional sanction in this diocese4 ,we hope to have the new supplementary book out at the end of the war4 ,think1 for instance1 of the ,psalms4 ,has not the ,great ,war revealed to us the depth of the ,psalms--the war-songs of the ,prince of ,peace1 as they have been called4 ,the war has given to many a new meaning which we never saw before4 ,and think of all the needs of the sick of the parish1 and our personal needs1 all to be woven into these beautiful services which we use every day1 and which seem to bind us to the feet of ,,god4 ,if any of you have drifted away from your regular use of ,mattins and ,evensong1 or if you have not started it in your own churches1 make a resolution to start it from to-day4 ,when your people hear the bell ring1 that will tell them that at any rate the clergyman is at his prayers4 ,of course1 we do not want our beautiful services to be altered in substance2 but we may have variations sanctioned by authority4 ,in fishing for men we are not bound by one method4 ,if we find that one method does not succeed1 we must try another4 ,i have already sanctioned in the diocese a shortened form of ,evening ,service4 ,for those not reached by services in church we must have open-air services4 ,people will listen at the windows in the little square or street in which they live4 ,there must be1 too1 special services for such organisations as ,boy ,scouts and ,church ,lads' ,brigade4 ,for the ordinary ,sunday-,school we are now able to have new methods provided by experts for the diocese4 ,then1 if the ,sunday-,school system does not seem to suit your particular parish1 try catechising in church4 ,i am only suggesting--it is not for me to lay down this or that rule as to what is to be tried4 ,my point is this3 ,with the ,,holy ,,spirit guiding you1 and with the inventiveness of love1 you will be able to bring out of your treasure things new and old4 ,although one of the oldest things in the world1 the ,church is yet the youngest4 ,we never grow old1 and1 acting with the inventiveness of youth1 we ought to be thinking out new plans and new methods all the time2 and while ,i am speaking upon the inventiveness and freshness of the successful fisherman1 ,i need not say that ,i shall be only too happy to sanction almost any new experiment you may wish to make in fishing for men1 if you will submit to me the prayers you think of using1 and if ,i think the suggested method consistent with the teaching of the ,church to which we both belong4 7#b7 ,then there must be1 too--every true fisherman knows this--a ripple on the water for fishing1 best of all a light breeze in the morning4 ,that means that it is a fishing-day4 ,and do you not know what ,i mean when ,i say that there seems to be no ripple on some parishes at all8 ,the whole of the surface of the parish seems as dull as ditch-water--no ripple1 no fish4 ,if there is no sense of expectancy1 no keenness1 no enjoyment1 no happy spirit1 among the workers1 there will be no fish4 ,i would like you to ask yourselves whether there is such a ripple in your parish1 or whether it is all very dull and dead4 ,and ,i would like to ask anyone who seems to recognise that there is nothing going on1 and that there has been no catch1 yesterday1 to-day1 or the day before1 to ask himself if he cannot go back and create a ripple in the parish4 ,when you think over how that ripple is to be created1 of course1 it can only be by the power of the ,,holy ,,spirit brooding over the waters1 as ,he originally brooded over the waters and brought cosmos out of chaos4 ,i believe the chief way1 if ,i may reduce the metaphor to prosaic terms1 the chief way must be by constantly praying for the parish and the people1 that the ,,holy ,,spirit may come and stir the dulness by creating a spirit of expectancy and a joy in the work4 ,when you are obviously enjoying your work yourself1 and making the ,sunday-,school teachers and the workers enjoy it1 you may expect a ripple in the parish4 ,joy in the work is a most attractive thing4 ,there must be the joy throughout the parish1 among clergy and workers2 the curates and the ,vicar must be at one1 with no friction between them1 and they and the workers a real band of brothers and sisters all fishing in the same waters4 ,pray very earnestly for this4 ,i shall not bring in more at this point about the necessity for intercession4 ,remember that it is the parish priest who is perpetually praying for his people individually1 and teaching his people to pray1 who is the most successful4 ,in my experience it is the praying parish that has a ripple on the surface4 ,i see a wonderful quantity of fish caught in a parish of that kind4 7#c7 ,then think what is the cord or line by which the fish are caught4 ,i will draw them with the cords of a man1 by human influence1 by personality4 ,now this question of personality is a very difficult one4 ,dr4 ,newman is said to have stated that he dreaded personal influence4 ,well1 of course1 it is quite easy to see what he meant4 ,he dreaded such personal influence in religion which is used to make people simply like us or to draw them to ourselves and to leave them there--that is to say1 he dreaded a misuse of personal influence4 ,so misused1 no doubt1 personal influence is a dangerous thing4 ,but that does not alter the fact that people are drawn to ,,christ by personal influence1 and that we must use our personal influence if we are to be successful fishermen for ,,christ4 ,and that brings me to this personal question3 ,is there anything in ourselves that puts people off8 ,i wish to be perfectly frank4 ,is it not a fact that we clergy sometimes do put people off by our manner and appearance8 ,even the smallest thing is important if it is going to spoil the line or cord that is to draw people to ,,christ4 ,i believe we put off people more than we know by carelessness about our appearance1 or manner1 or matters of that kind4 ,so much depends on us that we cannot take too much care of our personality4 ,we should see to it that when people meet us they can see the attractiveness of goodness in us1 and be drawn to our ,,lord because they are first attracted to ,his representative4 ,and do ask yourselves--,i might seem to be personal if ,i went into details3 ,is there anything in my manner that is spoiling ,,christ',s work so that ,he cannot fish with me1 cannot draw others through me8 ,is it because ,i am not humble enough1 or is there something in me1 some unattractive feature or characteristic1 that is spoiling the fishing8 7#d7 ,and then1 of course1 there must be the hopefulness of the fisherman4 ,the true fisherman is nothing if he is not hopeful4 ,master1 ,i have toiled all night1 and caught nothing2 nevertheless1 at ,thy word ,i will let down the net4 ,the true fisherman never knows when he may be successful2 he is always expecting something at the last moment1 and he manages to infuse hopefulness into his fellow-workers2 he hopes that there is going to be good fishing in the day or the night4 ,i had a rather touching illustration of the value of hopefulness in a little hospital near where ,i was spending a holiday4 ,five sisters1 friends of mine1 who really managed the whole hospital1 sent a telegram from the village asking if ,i could come and see one of the young soldiers1 whom they could make nothing of4 ,he was absolutely in despair4 ,he had lived a bad life1 and ,i think it was the presence of these five good girls who were nursing him that made him feel the contrast between his life and theirs1 with all its purity and goodness4 ,the contrast brought him to repentance4 ,still1 he thought it was too late to change4 ,he could not be forgiven4 ,i went to the hospital4 ,there he was1 a young man about twenty-eight1 really in despair4 ,it took me a long time to get any hope in him4 ,at last1 when he had gone into his whole life1 and ,i had given him absolution1 and had a prayer with him1 ,i saw a sort of hope come into his face4 ,the change was extraordinary4 ,he said3 ,will you pray with me again1 ,bishop8 ,in all my experience ,i have not very often been asked like that to pray again with a man4 ,they are generally shy1 and satisfied with the first prayer4 ,i prayed with him a second time4 ,he wrote me afterwards a charming letter1 asking me to send him a ,bible and ,prayer-,book1 which ,i did4 ,what that man wanted was hope1 nothing but hope2 he was in despair about himself4 ,,god shall forgive thee all but thy despair4 ,we shall never catch a man like that unless we can infuse into him that glorious hope which we have ourselves4 ,i persuaded him that he was not too late1 and he was saved by hope4 ,now do let us carry back the hopefulness of the fisherman to our parishes1 whatever may have happened in the past4 ,many of you have been in your parishes very many years1 and no doubt sometimes you have felt very despondent4 ,start again to-morrow as if you had just begun4 ,though you have toiled all the night and perhaps caught nothing1 cast your net on the right side of the ship1 and the next five years will be the most fruitful years your parish has ever had4 ,people will notice a different spirit about yourself4 ,try a completely new method1 and you will have a wonderful success4 ,there will be a ripple on the water which there has not been before4 ,be hopeful about it1 and then1 if you have to stay on in the same parish five or ten years more1 it may be a wholly different story from what it has been up to now4 7#e7 ,in the next place1 a successful fisherman must have a very deep faith4 ,of course1 the ordinary fisherman must have some sort of faith4 ,the good fisherman believes certain things all the time he is fishing4 ,he believes in the laws of the wind1 studies them1 and acts according to them4 ,he sets his sail according to them1 if he is fishing in the sea1 and he knows that he must do so if he is to reap of the unfathomable harvest of the sea4 ,he believes in all these things1 and on a stormy coast he must be a man of great faith1 dealing with great unseen movements and powers all round him4 ,he learns their laws1 and he knows that if he acts according to those laws he is successful as a rule4 ,but do you not see that we are just like that ourselves8 ,really we are in touch with all kinds of unseen powers and movements4 ,we have to believe1 for instance1 in the salvability of every soul in the world2 we have to believe that every soul is meant for the ,gospel1 and the ,gospel is meant for every soul4 ,we have to believe in that man in the worst slum of our parish2 we have to realise that the ,gospel is fitted for him and he is fitted for the ,gospel4 ,no one has ever been found yet who could not be made into a bit of a saint in time4 ,and the ,gospel1 tremendously deep as it is1 is also so simple that the simplest can understand it4 ,that is the wonderful thing about it4 ,we have to believe in it--intensely believe in it2 we have to believe in the wonderful power of these tides of the ,,spirit sweeping round a parish and working wonders2 we have to believe in the influence of the unseen wind that blows over it and to pray often3 ,come from the four winds1 ,o breath1 and breathe upon them4 ,we are1 as a matter of fact1 working amidst unseen and tremendous forces4 ,we talk about the power of ,,god4 ,the power of ,,god6 ,why1 ,he keeps the whole universe going1 twenty million suns always moving on through space4 ,he alone knows whither they are going4 ,twenty million burning suns6 look at the power of that2 think what power that alone implies6 and then think of the saving power of one drop of blood shed upon the ,cross1 when you consider ,who it was that hung there4 ,think1 again1 of the wonderful influence1 the downrush of the ,,spirit3 some of you have seen it in missions2 we believe in it at every ,confirmation4 ,we are really in touch with most tremendous powers4 ,if we had more faith we should be better fishermen4 ,therefore we do want a stronger faith in our ,,lord ,himself1 always at the heart of our work1 a real living faith in a living ,,lord with us all the time4 7#f7 ,and then1 sixthly1 we must fish for men one by one4 ,of course1 we can have great concerted movements4 ,i shall never forget a midnight march through ,westminster at half an hour after midnight on a ,saturday night4 ,we swept like a net1 bringing quite twenty young men out of every public-house4 ,as we counted them in the church school1 we could see that most of them were three-quarters drunk4 ,we could see what would be prevented if the public-houses of ,london were shut earlier1 as1 indeed1 they now have been during the war4 ,it has benefited ,russia greatly that she has abolished the whole vodka traffic4 ,we could not take pledges that night from those men3 they were not in a condition to make them2 but the ,church of ,england1 with all her great organisation1 ought to be able to prevent that sort of thing1 and catch these souls one by one4 ,here comes in the need of personality2 we must talk to each of these young men1 provide somewhere else where he may spend his evenings1 and remember that you can only catch fish one by one4 7#g7 ,and the last point of all is that1 to be successful1 the fishing-fleet must be kept together4 ,you really are a fishing-fleet1 and not merely individual fishing-boats4 ,when a deanery is kept together1 it shows a brotherhood1 a cohesion1 which is a very beautiful thing to see4 ,to a large extent you are such1 but1 still1 even the best-worked deanery can resolve to work more together than they have done1 in happy co-operation1 the clergy and people of each parish taking an interest in another's parish1 rejoicing in its successes and praying for it in its troubles4 ,if the whole deanery meets regularly for united intercession1 this must have a great effect upon the mission work in the district4 ,it must have an effect also upon mission work among the heathen for the ,church at home to feel part of the same fishing-fleet as the ,church abroad1 the workers in one ship beckoning to their partners in the other ship to come and help them4 ,well1 then1 take back with you these simple thoughts which ,i am trying to put before you as your ,bishop and fellow-priest4 ,pray to be made more keen1 more alert1 more active and enthusiastic messengers4 ,pray to be skilful1 patient1 thorough1 good physicians1 and kinder celestial surgeons4 ,and1 perhaps above all1 pray to be hopeful1 faithful fishermen2 go out together as a fishing-fleet on the great ocean1 believing in all the possibilities which lie beneath the surface2 realise the presence of your ,master directing from the shore the whole fleet4 ,and then at the end of all things1 in the morning of the great day1 you will have a harvest of souls to draw to the shore to ,his feet4 ,,iii ,,to ,,girls ,,what ,a ,,girl ,,can ,,do ,,in ,a ,,day ,,of ,,god#bc #bc ,an address to two thousand girls in ,nottingham4 ,when ,i think of all the vast influence exercised by those in this hall1 ,i feel inclined to say what ,bishop ,selwyn said in the midst of ,eton ,chapel--,you can turn the world upside down4 ,but1 before ,i say anything of my own1 ,i want to emphasise what has already been said to you1 with regard to the influence at the ,front of those who are here at home4 ,as ,i went down behind the firing-line in #aiae1 and held seven or eight services a day1 before each service began ,i invariably said one thing from end to end of the line4 ,i said3 ,i have come here1 boys1 before we have any service1 to bring you the love from home of your mothers1 your sisters1 and your sweethearts4 ,and you saw the soft look that came into those boys' faces while the guns were firing--and sometimes an aeroplane was guarding the service for fear the ,germans should not be able to resist a target of four thousand men1 and a ,bishop in the middle--you would know what they think of home1 and how you have got the heart of the ,empire in your keeping4 ,one of the boys who has died the death of honour wrote home to his mother3 ,i have come here1 mother1 for one purpose--and that is1 that you and the sisters shall not be treated like these ,belgian women have been4 ,i am going to put the message at the very highest at once4 ,i have never found young people fail to rise to it4 ,i am going to put upon your lips1 as your resolution1 no less a resolution than was on the lips of our ,lord ,himself1 our great ,high ,priest1 just before ,he went to ,his own death--,for their sakes ,i sanctify ,myself1 that they also may be sanctified in truth4 ,i say ,high ,priest1 because ,i am going to put this one single thought before you as describing the function which girls are to discharge in a ,day of ,,god1 and that is1 they have got to be priests of ,,god4 ,now1 that may seem to you a strange thing to say1 but before ,i have done ,i shall have failed indeed if you do not believe it4 ,i am always trying1 in ,london1 to unite all the great ,christian bodies in common action4 ,we fight as one family1 side by side1 against evil1 sin1 intemperance1 and impurity4 ,every year all the denominations in ,london elect me chairman of the ,london ,temperance ,council and of the ,public ,morality ,council1 and it is by focussing the whole of the ,christian thought of ,london that we are as strong as we are1 when we tackle night clubs1 and living pictures1 and other abominable evils1 and destroy them in the name of the ,,lord4 ,i say that because ,i believe fully that if everyone understood what the teaching about priesthood was it would take away much misunderstanding1 and ,i believe would join together many ,christian bodies divided to-day4 ,there is only one ,priest in the ,universe1 and that is ,,jesus ,,christ ,himself4 ,but ,he says ,himself that the ,church is ,his body4 ,therefore1 the whole of the ,church is the body of a ,priest4 ,those of us who are called priests are ordained as organs of a priestly body4 ,we act in the name of the body1 and therefore the idea that we are setting ourselves up above this or that person is wholly wrong1 because we act as organs1 as hands and feet--as it were--of a priestly body4 ,and mark you1 the ,church is the great company throughout the world of all baptized persons1 baptized by whoever baptizes them4 ,if you think that out1 you will see what a powerful idea this idea of priesthood is4 ,have you ever seen a priest ordained8 ,i wish sometimes1 though ,i am afraid you would fill the whole dome of ,st4 ,paul's ,cathedral1 that you could come some day and see what to me every time is a most touching sight3 you would have seen those young men1 thirty perhaps1 as were there at a recent ordination1 brought up before the ,bishop1 who has other priests standing round1 and then on the head of each1 as he kneels in front1 we all lay our hands1 and ,i say1 ,receive the ,,holy ,,ghost for the ,office and ,work of a ,priest in the ,church of ,,god4 ,a young girl said once1 ,do you mean to say every clergyman ,i see has been through all that8 ,but now1 if that is so1 why do ,i look round on you and say you are young priests of ,,god8 ,why8 ,because you are part of this priestly body4 ,you are joined to the one great ,high ,priest1 and therefore you1 whom ,,god knows one by one1 are known and named and called4 ,of course in the ,church ,confirmation is the ordination of the lay priest1 and if you are confirmed1 ,i am going to tell you five things you are expected to do4 #a4 ,the first is to be girded4 ,i have more to do in my life1 and naturally so1 with young men and boys than ,i have with girls and women1 but that very reason gives me an added authority in speaking to you1 because ,i know what their difficulties are4 ,i speak1 constantly1 to as many young men as there are of you girls2 ,i say1 knowing what difficulty they have at their age to control their passions1 that it is like ruling a horse4 ,a horse is a splendid servant1 but a vile master4 ,when you have got the bit in your horse's mouth and the reins in your hand1 a horse is a splendid servant2 but let him off at full gallop1 with the reins round your feet and the bit in his teeth1 then he is a terrible master4 ,so it is with the boys4 ,they have got to be on the horse with the reins of ,,god's ,commandment in their hands1 and the bit of self-control in the mouth1 then their bodies are glorious servants4 ,what you young girls as priests have got to do is to help those boys and young men in the very flower of their lives not to do anything which is afterwards a stain upon their conscience4 ,you can rally round them and1 if you are young priests1 can help them4 ,there are three things of priceless value a young girl has on her side in doing this4 ,the first is her natural modesty4 ,why are we so afraid of bad companions breaking down a girl's modesty1 and why are we so afraid of rough horseplay soiling the purity of her soul8 ,because it is spoiling her first great gift1 her first great power4 ,it is just that naturally beautiful modesty a girl possesses with which she is meant to help every young man4 ,that modesty is meant to help her to be self-controlled1 and to help him to be so too4 ,then she has a most wonderful power of self-sacrificing love4 ,i say to the young men1 ,never take advantage of the trusting love of a girl2 but to you ,i say1 you have that beautiful power of true love4 ,it is that power of sacrifice and self-sacrificing love which is your great asset to the world4 ,never soil it1 and never spoil it1 or let it be dragged down by anyone4 ,and you have a naturally religious nature4 ,those three things1 those three splendid things1 you have got with which to gird yourselves4 ,allow anyone to rob you of them1 and you have lost your strength4 ,keep them and you have the first great quality of a true priest of ,,god4 ,gird yourselves with modesty1 unselfish love1 and natural and supernatural religion4 #b4 ,and when the young priest has so girded herself1 the next thing she has to do in discharge of her priestly office is to offer up every day an oblation of prayer and praise to ,,god4 ,he is looking for it every day4 ,do you remember the story contained in a poem by ,browning of a cobbler boy who used to praise ,god at his work every day8 ,he was wafted away to another sphere1 and there was silence in the workshop1 and ,,god said1 ,i miss my little human praise4 ,make then your second resolution1 that1 having girded yourself1 you will never fail to offer to ,god this sweet incense of prayer and praise1 and do it perfectly openly4 ,don't be ashamed of it being known you do it4 ,in ,studies in a ,devotional ,life1 ,canon ,peter ,green tells us how he shared a room in a little hotel in ,south ,africa with two men1 who looked like brigands4 ,not liking to say his prayers openly in their presence1 he slipped outside1 and said them on the veldt1 only to find on his return the bearded ruffians1 who proved to be ,cornish miners1 kneeling in prayer themselves4 ,this so impressed the writer that1 when on one of the ,south ,african expresses he had to sleep in the same place as three postmen1 he overcame his shyness1 and said his prayers openly4 ,next morning1 one of the postmen1 an old choir-boy who had forgotten to say his prayers for a long time1 confessed that the clergyman's action had shamed him1 and he would begin again that day4 ,so the simple influence of one example ran down the line4 #c4 ,your third duty1 and ,i get to love it more myself every year1 is not only to pray for yourselves1 but to plead for others4 ,on my prayer-desk1 there are two or three hundred intercessions for mothers1 whose sons are at the ,front1 and for the boys themselves4 ,what a beautiful task it is to intercede for them in turn1 so many a day6 ,we are promised that our prayer shall be heard1 your prayer just as much as mine4 ,begin with intercession for fathers and mothers1 brothers and sisters1 people you are next to at your work1 your parish1 or the church you go to1 and so on1 extending right out to the boys at the ,front4 ,pray to ,,god for victory2 don't be ashamed to pray for victory in a glorious1 a righteous cause like this4 ,pray that all this may be overruled for the spread of ,,god's kingdom in the world4 ,and always pray for the lonely missionaries1 so often disheartened1 so tired1 so far away4 ,and mind you1 if you have not begun doing all this1 you are going to begin4 ,when ,i went down to a parish which had not been very efficiently worked1 ,i collected a number of girls into a club1 and got them to come for their first service4 ,i had just become ,rector of ,bethnal ,green1 and the committee of the club wrote3 ,,dear ,,rector1--,we think it our duty to inform you that in our opinion our club service was a success1 and we beg you to have such a service for us every month until further notice4 ,well now1 those girls were starting their religious life2 but when ,i go down now ,i find what ,i started as a little1 tiny thing grown and grown and grown2 those people whom ,i spoke to first are now grown women4 ,it all goes on if you once make a good start4 ,therefore do take up1 if you have never taken up before1 this process of interceding4 ,i am organising all the children in ,london this year in intercession for the war1 and when we pour in a million children's prayers1 is it not going to be a power which is going to bring down the blessing of ,heaven on our cause8 #d4 ,then we come to the fourth task of the priest4 ,the fourth work of a priest is to consecrate or dedicate himself every day4 ,i do ask you to realise1 as every day comes1 what possibility there is in a day4 ,there was a young ,bishop who was consecrated the other day2 ,i think he was the youngest ,bishop consecrated4 ,i knew him very well1 and ,i had just one minute to write a note1 and ,i wrote this1 and he told me afterwards it had been more help to him than anything that had been sent to him4 ,therefore ,i pass it on to you3 ,take one day at a time1 ,i said1 and trust the ,,holy ,,spirit to see you through4 ,now ,i believe that that is the real secret of spiritual life4 ,take one day at a time4 ,don't worry4 ,don't be thinking of all kinds of difficulties in future4 ,take one day at a time1 and trust the ,,holy ,,spirit to see you through4 ,dedicate every day and consecrate every day4 ,think over those whom you are going to meet during the day4 ,be prepared beforehand for the special temptations and difficulties of that particular day2 remember that no day will ever come again1 and that every day has to be lived out as a young priest of ,,god4 ,if every girl in ,nottingham dedicated or consecrated herself every day like that--taking one day at a time1 and trusting the ,,holy ,,spirit to see her through--why1 there would be a power of strength in this city which would astonish the world4 #e4 ,then we come on to the fifth great priestly task of service4 ,i was talking to a little boy of nine4 ,his mother had turned his beautiful home into a hospital for wounded soldiers4 ,she herself was girded1 dressed as a nurse1 and the little fellow was in bed1 rather seedy that day1 and ,i sat down on his bed at his mother's request to have a chat with him4 ,he said3 ,i love1 ,bishop1 having the soldiers here2 we cannot go back to our old life after the war4 ,there is nothing so good as a life lived out in service1 every day helping other people1 and1 if we are going to carry nothing else away1 we are going to carry away this1 that there is nothing so valuable as service4 ,even the lad's mother1 a rich woman1 who had served for ten months as a nurse1 said3 ,had ,i only known1 ,bishop1 what to do before1 ,i should have done it4 ,this ten months has been the most delightful service to me ,i have ever had in my life4 ,how can you girls1 working girls many of you1 serve in your daily life8 ,all the work you do for the nation in the great factories of ,nottingham1 done honestly and straightforwardly1 as young priests1 with no bad language or bad stories allowed amongst you1 is all recognised1 and all blessed as part of your priestly service4 ,but you can do more than that4 ,i find again and again that in ,london the best ,sunday ,school teachers1 the best girl guides1 the best members of the ,league of ,honour there1 are hard-working girls4 ,their service has gone beyond their professional work1 and they also use their leisure time at home4 ,they are the best girls at home their mothers ever had4 ,i remember a father saying to me3 ,mr4 ,ingram1 ,i'm not much of a churchgoer myself--he did not come at all1 as a matter of fact--but ,i will say this1 that my boy as does go is the best boy ,i have got4 ,what we want them to say about the girl who goes to church or chapel is3 ,she is the best girl we have got at home1 the most willing1 the most satisfactory1 and the most loving4 ,there1 then1 you have the five priestly functions to discharge1 and you have got to discharge them for their sakes1 as well as for your own4 ,for whose sake8 ,first for the sake of the boys1 who are dead4 ,there is a beautiful poem about the other world1 which was given me the other day1 and which ,i pass on to you in the hope that it may bring a little cheer in the dark night to any present who have lost their brothers1 any mothers who have lost their sons4 ,lest ,heaven be for the greybeards hoary1 ,,god1 who made boys for ,his delight1 ,goes in earth's hour of grief and glory1 ,and calls the boys in from the night4 ,when they come trooping from the ,war ,our skies have many a new gold star4 ,heaven's thronged with gay and careless faces1 ,new waked from dreams of dreadful things4 ,they walk by green and pleasant places ,and by the crystal water-springs2 ,forget the nightmare field of slain1 ,and the fierce thirst and the strong pain4 ,forget8 ,,god smiles to see them merry1 ,for ,his own ,,son was once a boy2 ,they never shall be old and weary1 ,but of their youth shall have great joy1 ,and in the playing fields of ,heaven ,shall run and leap1 new-washed1 new-shriven4 ,now ,heaven's by golden boys invaded1 ',scaped from the winter and the storm2 ,stainless and simple as ,he made it ,,god keeps the boy's heart out of harm4 ,the wise old ,saints look down and smile1 ,they are so young and without guile4 ,oh1 if the sonless mothers weeping1 ,the widowed girls1 could look inside ,the ,country that hath them in keeping ,who went to the ,great ,war and died1 ,they'd rise and put their mourning off1 ,praise ,,god1 and say1 ',he has enough6'#bd #bd ,katharine ,tynan4 ,secondly1 it is for the boys who will come home that you have your five priestly functions to discharge4 ,they will come home very different to what they went out4 ,i saw this wonderful transforming power as ,i went down the lines4 ,boys came out of the trenches1 with the mud upon their puttees1 knelt down and asked me to confirm them1 thirty at a time 7of course they had been previously prepared by the ,chaplains74 ,many came to other services4 ,they sang ,when ,i survey the wondrous ,cross1 while the guns thundered close by1 with a reality which it was impossible to mistake4 ,are they coming back to irreligious girls1 to careless sweethearts1 careless sisters who neglect their religion1 to girls who would drag them down8 ,no4 ,let us have here a country and a ,church worthy of its defenders1 to which they can return4 ,let us have such a work going on at home1 side by side and step by step with what is going on in ,flanders and the ,dardanelles1 that when they come back they may find a changed ,england at home4 ,for their sakes you must sanctify yourselves--for the sake1 too1 of the little sister who looks to you as her model and her example4 ,you have more influence over her1 perhaps1 than anyone else in the house1 except her mother4 ,for her sake be a priest of ,,god1 and--,i say it without the least sense of immodesty--also for the sake of the children who are to be4 ,i speak to-night to the future mothers of the children of ,nottingham1 and it makes all the difference to the young mother1 as she looks round her children1 and1 when they grow older1 tries to influence her growing sons and daughters1 whether she can look them in the face without shame and without a blush1 and is only asking them to do what she tried to do herself before she was married4 ,for the sake of the children to be1 exercise this glorious priesthood4 ,if you do you will ennoble ,nottingham by your action4 ,you will make it a city set upon a hill2 and a city set upon a hill cannot be hid4 ,,iv ,,to ,,boys ,,the ,,effect ,,of ,,the ,,holy ,,ghost ,,on ,,human ,,character#be #be ,preached in ,marlborough ,college ,chapel4 ,the text is based upon the report taken by the ,marlborough ,times1 kindly lent for this purpose4 ,for he was a good man1 and full of the ,,holy ,,ghost and of faith4--,,acts xi4 #bd4 ,i need not tell you1 not only how much ,i look forward to my ,marlborough day1 but also how much ,i have thought as to what message ,i would give you4 ,when ,i think of the many to whom ,i have preached at ,marlborough year by year1 of the three hundred now dead1 of the hundreds more who are fighting1 and of the fact that many of those to whom ,i am speaking would soon1 if the war went on1 be in the thick of it1 ,i realise what a very solemn thing it is to come down to ,marlborough and give a message to my old school4 ,i will tell you what made me choose this message4 ,the fact that ,whitsuntide this year comes on the same day as ,st4 ,barnabas' ,day gives me a subject1 the most solemn subject ,i have ever taken at ,marlborough--viz41 the effect of the ,,holy ,,ghost upon human character4 ,st4 ,barnabas was one of the most attractive characters in the ,new ,testament1 an example of attractive goodness4 ,he was such a gentleman in all he did1 and therefore1 if we could have produced in us1 by the ,,holy ,,ghost1 the wonderful character that the ,,holy ,,ghost produced in ,st4 ,barnabas1 we might have that description used of us2 just think what it would be for men to say of us--,he was a good man1 full of the ,,holy ,,ghost and of faith4 ,what1 then1 is the effect of the ,,holy ,,ghost upon human character8 ,you might say1 ,but do we have the falling of the ,,holy ,,ghost1 too8 ,why did we have that hymn this morning1 ,our blest ,redeemer1 ere ,he breathed8 ,i was asked to choose the hymns1 and ,i chose that one because it so beautifully describes the indwelling of the ,,holy ,,ghost on your ,confirmation day1 and that is what makes the ,school ,confirmation the crowning event of the year4 ,at ,confirmation you have the falling of the ,,holy ,,ghost in exactly the same way as happened in the early ,church4 ,yesterday1 for instance1 ,i confirmed1 under the dome of ,st4 ,paul's ,cathedral1 two hundred and thirty people of all ages4 ,what is the effect of the ,,holy ,,ghost upon human character8 ,some people imagine that what is called doctrine has no practical value4 ,but is this true8 7#a7 ,the first thing that the ,,holy ,,ghost does is to convict the world of sin4 ,he shows people what they really are4 ,you may have heard of the ,national ,mission of ,repentance and ,hope1 and wondered what it was4 ,i will tell you4 ,i have just come from a tour round twenty-four dioceses in support of that ,mission4 ,i do not for one moment understand by that ,mission that we do not believe we are fighting ,,god's battles in the war4 ,i believe that those three hundred ,old ,marlburians who have fallen in the war have died as martyrs4 ,i believe the world is being redeemed by precious blood again to-day1 and that that precious blood is being mingled with the ,precious ,blood4 ,i believe also that the freedom of the world and the national honour are being saved to-day by the precious blood of our sons and brothers4 ,it is1 therefore1 not because we do not believe we are doing the right thing in this war that we are engaged in this ,mission2 it is because we believe we are called to save the freedom of the world1 and the national honour1 and to see the ,nailed ,hand prevailing over the ,mailed ,fist1 that we have to repent4 ,admiral ,beatty said1 in effect1 that we should never win the war until the nations came back to ,,god1 and it is ,lord ,roberts 7peace to his ashes1 and glory to his memory67 who1 just before he died1 said we had got the men1 the ammunition1 and the guns now2 what we wanted was the nation on its knees4 ,and it is to bring the nation to its knees1 back to ,,god1 that is the great object of the ,national ,mission of ,repentance and ,hope4 ,a messenger in connection with that ,mission will very likely be sent down to ,marlborough4 ,meanwhile let the ,,holy ,,ghost do ,his work4 ,he is the great ,messenger1 the great ,missioner4 ,ask the ,,holy ,,ghost to show you yourselves as you really are4 ,it is the hardest thing in the world to see this 7easier for a boy than a grown-up man71 but we cannot get on in the spiritual life unless we are shown ourselves as we are4 ,if a light is shown into a darkened room1 the dust is discernible on the furniture1 and stains are seen where it was thought no stains were2 and we cannot carry out the teaching of the ,gospel1 and cast the beam out of our own eye1 until we have seen it4 ,all progress really begins with humility4 ,we must therefore let the ,,holy ,,ghost show us ourselves as we are4 ,what does ,,god think of me8 should be the first question we should ask ourselves1 and the ,,holy ,,ghost will give us the answer4 ,but that is only the first thing the ,,holy ,,ghost does4 ,if ,he left us there1 contemplating our stains1 our infirmities1 and our sins1 it would not be much of a message of a ,gospel of ,hope4 7#b7 ,no1 the next beautiful work of the ,,holy ,,ghost is that ,he takes ,,christ and shows ,him to us4 ,i paid a touching visit the other day to an old clergyman who1 some people would have said1 was past his work4 ,he was ill and in lonely lodgings1 and ,i went to see him4 ,the old clergyman gave me a great lesson4 ,instead of complaining1 of saying that he had been a failure1 had been neglected and passed over1 he said3 ,i hope ,i shall live a few years longer1 ,bishop1 to preach the glorious ,gospel4 ,there he was1 lonely1 ill1 passed over by the world1 yet feeling the great joy of simply preaching the glorious ,gospel4 ,we are apt to get mechanical about our religion4 ,even in the lovely service here at ,marlborough1 we are sometimes--very often1 perhaps--wandering in thought1 and inclined to become mechanical in our religion4 ,the ,,holy ,,ghost makes it living4 ,he takes of ,,christ1 shows ,him to us1 and makes the whole thing real4 ,therefore1 our second prayer should be that the ,,holy ,,ghost will make religion a reality to us1 make us understand the glory of the ,incarnation1 that ,,god actually came to earth in mortal form1 for our sakes4 7#c7 ,thirdly1 the ,,holy ,,ghost is the ,comforter4 ,he comforts us and helps us to comfort other people4 ,i remember1 when ,i was at ,marlborough last year1 that ,i had several boys in to see me1 one of them a little fellow who had lost his father in ,gallipoli2 and ,i tried to comfort him4 ,the ,,holy ,,ghost is the only ,comforter4 ,when one goes to a mother1 as ,i have done1 who has lost1 perhaps1 three sons 7and in this connection we at ,marlborough shall always think of the father and mother of those three splendid sons1 the ,woodroffes71 one is at a loss to say anything2 one cannot comfort them oneself1 but has to depend upon the higher power2 and my experience is that the ,,holy ,,ghost brings the ,balm of ,gilead1 which no earthly agency can produce1 a heavenly balm of comfort for the mourners which enables us to go out and comfort others4 ,there is no comforter better than the younger boy of a family1 who1 filled with the ,,holy ,,ghost1 goes home in the holidays to comfort his father and mother in the loss of an older son4 7#d7 ,but1 of course1 the old words comfort and comforter1 as applied to the ,,holy ,,ghost1 meant far more than we call comfort4 ,comfort in the case of the ,,holy ,,ghost1 means far more than sympathy2 it means fortitude1 courage1 inspiration4 ,the comfort of the ,comforter always strengthens2 mere sympathy sometimes weakens4 ,we have got to bring home the bright view of death1 to produce a pride that my boy1 my brother1 my husband1 should have died4 ,i believe that we have not anything like a bright enough view of death4 ,it is the ,comforter that can make us believe that4 ,it is the ,comforter that can breathe fortitude into the splendid mothers and wives of ,england1 and to the lads in the trenches1 up to their knees in mud1 facing danger every moment1 that can bring fortitude to the nation2 and it is the task of the ,church to breathe fortitude to the nation to go on until the end4 7#e7 ,the ,,holy ,,ghost has two more beautiful things to do for us1 and is always ready to do them4 ,the first of these is to guide us4 ,the other day ,i heard the hurrying footsteps of a layman coming after me in the street as ,i was walking to a meeting4 ,the layman1 who told me that he was a churchwarden of one of the churches in the ,diocese of ,london1 and had never spoken to his ,bishop before1 asked for a message to give in an address4 ,i gave him the same message ,i had given to a young ,bishop some months before#bf3 ,take one day at a time1 and trust the ,,holy ,,spirit to see you through4 ,this is a great truth1 and one which ,i will pass on to you1 as you leave this place to take up your work in the larger world outside4 ,i remember having asked a rich clergyman1 at the beginning of a ,sunday afternoon1 whether he would go down and take a very poor parish in the ,east of ,london1 where there was no money and the credit of the parish was very much shaken4 ,he did not at first seem inclined to go1 and1 thinking nothing more about it at the time1 ,i went into ,st4 ,paul's ,cathedral1 and preached upon the text1 ,led by the ,,spirit of ,,god4 ,in the evening ,i received a pencilled note from the clergyman1 stating that he had been in the ,cathedral1 that he was led by the ,,spirit of ,,god to go to the parish4 ,he went1 and splendid work he did there4 ,there is not one of you who need be left to your own guidance2 the ,,spirit of ,,god will lead every one1 and guide you all your lives4 #bf ,mentioned on p4 #ahi4 7#f7 ,the sixth thing which the ,,holy ,,spirit does for you is to pray in you4 ,it is not very easy to pray4 ,i expect many of you get a bit disheartened about your prayers2 you kneel when ,preces are called in dormitory1 and get up feeling cold and dead1 and that it is sometimes rather a matter of form4 ,prayer does not depend upon feeling2 we ought to pray in the belief that the ,,holy ,,ghost will pray in us1 and in that way ,,god calls to ,,god1 the deep calls to the deep1 and the smallest boy in the ,school is able to share the supreme energy of ,,god4 ,you see1 therefore1 that this doctrine or truth about the ,,holy ,,ghost is the most practical thing in the world4 ,resolve to-day that you will really make your bodies temples of the ,,holy ,,ghost4 ,the boy who is filled with the ,,holy ,,ghost will be the merriest boy in the ,school and the pluckiest at games2 he will always be chivalrous and unselfish1 and there will be a something about him1 besides1 that will really breathe the presence of the ,heavenly ,spirit1 who dwells in him4 ,you must have a little more spiritual ambition1 and all of you make your prayer that you may be1 like ,st4 ,barnabas1 good men1 full of the ,,holy ,,ghost and of faith4 ,v ,,the ,,war ,,and ,,religion ,,the ,,war ,,and ,,religion ,it was not until ,i had had a little correspondence with the ,secretaries that ,i decided upon the subject for my address as ,the ,war and ,religion4 ,i was very anxious not in the slightest degree to violate any canon expressed or unexpressed with regard to the subject of these addresses1 and ,i think ,i can assure any in this audience who may have their doubts upon this matter that they will leave the hall without having their consciences offended in the slightest degree1 even if they may profoundly disagree with the conclusions to which ,i may come4 ,and ,i am encouraged in saying this by a little incident which occurs every year4 ,i am ,visitor of ,queen's ,college in ,harley ,street1 founded entirely by the influence of ,frederick ,denison ,maurice1 and it is my pleasant duty to give the girl members of it an annual address4 ,my subject1 at their special request1 is always ,religion2 and although quite a large proportion are ,jewish girls1 ,i find that they look upon me in after life as quite as much their friend as the others1 and come to me in their troubles1 and they prefer that ,i shall speak to them out of the deepest convictions of my heart1 rather than offer them some trite and colourless observations which mean nothing4 ,after all1 there is great truth in the proverb that the shoemaker should stick to his last1 and it cannot be entirely without purpose that apparently about once in five years an ecclesiastic is brought on to the scene here in his plain and sober raiment amid the glittering galaxy of ,generals and actors and scientists and other distinguished men who in other years fill this distinguished office4 ,i have this summer had the high privilege of visiting every battleship1 battle cruiser1 and most of the smaller ships of the ,grand ,fleet of ,great ,britain1 and the thousands of sailors ,i addressed instantly caught the idea that of course ,i came to represent ,religion4 ,i told an ,east-,end story which appealed at once to the lower deck1 so many of whom come from places like ,bethnal ,green1 ,poplar1 ,stepney1 and similar localities at ,portsmouth and ,chatham4 ,a rather shy ,east-,end curate1 on knocking at a door1 heard a voice from the wash-tub at the back ask in a shrill voice1 ,well1 ,sally1 who is it8 and was rather depressed to hear ,sally shriek back1 ,please1 mother1 it's religion4 ,but1 as ,i told the sailors1 my invariable advice to such a man is this1 ,don't be ashamed of representing religion2 you were not dressed in a pudding hat and a dog collar and a long black coat to talk about the weather4 ,i make no apology then for plunging at once into the question of ,the ,war and ,religion4 ,it is very striking to notice the different way in which the ,war has affected different minds with regard to religion4 ,while ,i have had some poor young widows throw down their ,bibles and 7for a time7 give up their prayers when their husbands were killed1 ,i have found others who in their sorrow have found the comfort and force of religion for the first time2 again1 on the battlefield1 while some express themselves coarsened by the beastly work1 as they express it1 which they have to do1 others write1 ,nothing does any good out here but prayer and trust in ,,god2 we all feel it4 ,war is a great ,purge4 ,or again1 ,there are no atheists out here2 there are few of us who do not put up a prayer in the trenches4 #a4 ,let us look then first at the case against religion1 and then the special case against the ,christian religion as deduced in many minds by the existence of the present ,war4 7#a7 ,i take ,religion1 as the word implies1 to be a ,,tie which binds us to someone1 and ,i am further assuming that to have any religion worth the name1 that ,someone must be good and just and ,righteous4 ,well1 now1 can we not easily see what a strong prima facie case could be made out against the existence of a really strong and good and ,righteous ,supreme ,being in the light of the appalling suffering and the at present unpunished wickedness on a gigantic scale which is being witnessed at the present time4 ,why did ,,god ever allow the ,war8 and if there is a ,,god1 why does ,he not stop it8 is a question which is dinned into my ears from morning to night by anxious mothers and even by men who have not had time to think very deeply over the mystery of ,,god's dealings with mankind4 ,for nine years ,i used ,sunday by ,sunday to lecture and answer questions in the great ,east ,london ,victoria ,park4 ,i can imagine the questions they are asking now4 ,either ,he cannot or ,he will not--this was always the favourite dilemma on which they sought to impale me about the suffering in ,east ,london4 ,either your ,,god cannot stop it or ,he will not4 ,either ,he is a tyrant who gloats in it all or ,he is a weak ruler who has no control of ,his world4 ,and these questions1 which were difficult enough to answer then1 are intensified in their point to-day4 ,it is difficult to select out of the horrors which have passed before our eyes one worse than another1 but probably the most hellish thing done on earth in the last five hundred years has been the attempted extermination of the ,armenian race2 even as described in the restrained pages of ,lord ,bryce1 it has more tragedy than any battlefield1 for there at least men die in the heat of battle for what they think a great cause1 but here1 in cold blood and with every circumstance of bestiality and lust1 women and children were slowly done to death4 ,and yet ,,god does nothing4 ,this is the accusation4 ,no thunderbolt comes from ,heaven2 the brave ,russians do something to avenge the hideous crime1 but ,,god--where is ,,god8 ,he is like the ancient gods described by ,tennyson-- ,on the hills1 like gods together1 ,careless of mankind1 and all this cry from sinking ships and praying hands is to ,him ,a tale of little meaning1 ,though the words are strong4 7#b7 ,but if the case against religion at all is strong owing to the ,war1 still more is the ,war supposed to be fatal to the ,christian ,religion4 ,here into the world it came two thousand years ago with a great flourish of trumpets about ,peace on earth1 good will to men1 and what is the result8 ,after two thousand years1 the bloodiest war which has yet taken place on earth2 waste of treasure beyond counting every day1 and waste of something much more precious than material treasure1 the precious blood of the best manhood of the world4 ,i have received their broken bodies into my own arms in the front dressing stations2 ,i have consecrated the graveyards where their dear bodies lie4 ,i know that tens of thousands of those who would have been the fathers of the future race of mankind are lying beneath these little crosses in ,flanders or ,gallipoli1 and that many a maiden will die childless to-day1 because those who would have been husbands in the fair days of peace are buried now in a soldier's grave4 ,and all this--and here lies the bitterness of the accusation--started by the great ,christian nations of the world4 ,the ,mohammedan ,turk joins in as the war goes on1 but then only under the influence or domination of a ,christian ,power4 ,could you ask1 cries the triumphant opponent of the ,christian religion1 for a more complete proof of the breakdown of your ,christianity than the spectacle of ,europe to-day8 ,,ii4 ,it is clear then that we who stand for religion1 and especially those of us who stand for the ,christian religion1 have got our work cut out for us to-day to answer these accusations4 ,i want the men and women whose work lies largely in other spheres to enter into our difficulties4 ,we are asking people not only to pray1 but to pray more earnestly and with greater faith and hope2 we are not sitting down with ,buddhist resignation under the inevitable4 ,if it rains1 it rains1 and if it doesn't rain1 it doesn't rain1 was represented to me as the philosophy of the ,indian troops whom ,i had the honour of entertaining for a week in my grounds at the ,coronation of ,king ,edward ,,vii4 ,on the contrary1 we are in the midst of a great ,national ,mission of ,repentance and ,hope2 we have the fullest intention of winning the nation to ,,god2 we are adopting as our text the saying of that grand old man1 ,lord ,roberts1 ,we have the guns now1 and the men and the ammunition2 what we want now is a nation on its knees4 ,we have indeed our task cut out for us1 and ,i hope that it may at least be of some intellectual interest1 if not some spiritual profit1 to the thinking men and women here to hear the arguments upon which we rely4 7#a7 ,in the first place1 we definitely repudiate the picture of ,,god as the arbitrary ruler who can do exactly what ,he likes2 at least we repudiate this as the revealed picture of the way in which ,he has willed to act in ,his relation to mankind4 ,probably the passage in the ,bible which has given the greatest colour to this idea1 and which certainly is largely responsible for the distortion of ,christianity which is associated with the name of ,calvin1 is the picture of the ,potter and the ,clay4 ,shall the thing formed say to him that made it1 why hast thou made me thus8 ,hath not the ,potter power over the clay1 to make one vessel unto honour and one into dishonour8 ,this is the passage from ,st4 ,paul's writings which is most widely quoted in this connection4 ,at the first blush this seems to confirm our worst fears2 but when we trace this illustration of the ,potter to the original passage in ,jeremiah we find an absolutely different picture2 the potter is a patient1 resourceful person who1 so far from having arbitrary powers over the clay1 is being defeated at every moment by the refractoriness of the clay with which he has to deal4 ,he attempts to make1 let us say1 a porcelain vase1 but the clay will not respond to his efforts2 there is a flaw in the material1 or the clay is not of the kind to make such a design possible2 he starts again with his ,gospel of the second best1 and this time he succeeds in making a humbler but useful bowl4 ,or again1 in the course of his work1 something goes wrong1 and the vessel becomes marred in the hands of the potter2 but even now he is not defeated2 he tries again--to use the words of ,jeremiah--he makes it again another vessel1 as it seems good to the potter to make it4 ,this is the real picture of the potter1 and it is a touching picture when you consider that it is meant for all ages to describe the dealings of ,,god with the human race1 of which we ourselves are members4 ,of course1 the question entirely hinges upon what ,,god meant mankind to be4 ,we used to discuss this question in ,east ,london ,sunday after ,sunday--,did ,he mean mankind to be like clocks1 bound to go right1 like puppets who would dance to the strings which ,he pulled2 or did ,he mean them to be what we call human fallible men1 who might go right or wrong1 but who in any case had the freewill to do either8 ,and it is a striking testimony to the common sense of a great working-class audience that1 while they started with a predilection in favour of being made to go right1 after an afternoon's discussion they invariably came to the conclusion that with all its risks it was better to be men and women2 that forced goodness was no goodness at all1 and that if ,,god did wish to have as ,his companions in eternity companions worth having1 ,he could have done nothing less than endow them with freewill4 ,now1 if this is so1 it is obvious that the metaphor of the ,potter and the ,clay has a great bearing on the question of ,the ,war and ,religion4 ,let us assume1 as we are bound to do1 that the first design of the ,great ,potter was a porcelain vase of universal ,peace4 ,he made men of one blood in every nation of the earth2 he loves to make men of one mind in a house4 ,work and trial were to be part of man's lot1 but not ,war4 ,the idea that ,war is in itself a glorious thing may be the doctrine of ,treitschke or ,bernhardi1 but cannot1 ,i believe1 be found in the ,bible4 ,this1 then1 is ,his first design1 but the clay will not take this design4 ,there is a stubborn element in human nature determined upon ,war2 there is a throw back to ,paganism with which the ,potter has to reckon4 ,it is not ,his fault4 ,to coerce1 to crush ,freewill is to crush ,his own ,image in mankind1 to make any kind of freely chosen goodness impossible4 ,he must give up for the time1 with what regret we can never know1 ,his first design4 ,he may see of the travail of ,his soul one day and be satisfied1 but1 for the present1 ,he must bring in the ,gospel of the second best4 ,he will bring good out of this evil2 ,he will produce a bowl of unselfish service4 ,the devil makes the ,war1 but ,,god will turn the devil's own weapons against himself1 for ,he will produce a spectacle of unselfish service such as the world has never seen before4 ,and that1 ladies and gentlemen1 is what we are looking at to-day1 what we are seeing portrayed daily before our eyes4 ,we have never seen such a sight in our time before4 ,with an unselfish devotion which has been the admiration of the world1 the young men have flung themselves into the battle4 ,to take our own nation alone1 to imagine that five million men would have freely offered themselves for service would have been thought incredible in the year in which ,sir ,ian ,hamilton delivered the interesting address to you1 which ,i have read1 on ,national ,service4 ,nor is it only the young men2 there is not an idle young woman in ,london to-day1 and ,i do not suppose there is in ,birmingham2 and as for the children1 a little boy of nine shall speak for them4 ,asked whether he minded his beautiful home being turned into a soldiers' hospital1 he replied1 ,i love having the soldiers here1 ,bishop4 ,we can't go back to our old life after the ,war4 ,even1 therefore1 without going further1 as we are bound to do presently with the special teaching of the ,christian religion1 this conception of the ,potter and the ,clay relieves our minds of its worst fears4 ,god does care for ,his human children2 this slaughter of one man by another is not according to ,his first or even ,his ultimate design4 ,he does not stop the mischief any more than ,he will pick off with ,his ,hand obstacles placed to-night in the path of the ,scotch express4 ,he will not stop the wreck of it by main force1 but meanwhile ,he is not inactive4 ,the moulding ,hand is hard at work2 monuments of fortitude in matrons and wives1 glorious specimens of unrivalled courage in their sons and husbands1 issue from the workshop every day1 and1 to use the words of the ,psalmist1 ,the fierceness of man turns to ,,god's praise4 ,,iii4 ,but now we have a more formidable task1 and that is to meet the charge that the very existence1 and especially the virulence of the ,war1 constitutes a breakdown of historic ,christianity4 ,i have already admitted the force of the prima facie case which can be made out to sustain this argument1 but a singular circumstance may well make us pause before we follow this specious1 but1 as ,i hope to show1 shallow argument4 7#a7 ,japan has always held a very detached view with regard to ,christianity4 ,owing to local circumstances for a time a persecutor1 our great ally soon became too enlightened to follow a policy of persecution1 and when1 later on1 an alliance was concluded with ourselves1 a natural admiration for the great ,western ,power which had become its ally led to at least a respectful attitude towards the religion which that ally at heart nominally and officially professed4 ,then occurred the ,war1 and here you might have expected the intelligent and clear-sighted watcher from a distance to have discovered the flaw in the religion which its great ally professed4 ,it is an open secret that it has had the precisely opposite effect2 never were the ,japanese more favourably disposed to give a hearing to ,christianity than they are to-day1 and the reason is not far to seek4 ,they saw a great nation act up to the principles of the religion it professed4 ,if in those critical hours when the decision hung in the balance we had decided to abide in our sheepfolds and hear the bleating of the flocks2 if we had decided to remain encircled by the silver sea and the mightiest navy in the world1 and watch at a safe distance ,belgium ravaged and the coast of ,france harried by the ,german ,fleet1 ,japan would have assessed at its proper value the ,christian sentiments which we officially professed4 ,but when it saw its great ally1 practically unprepared1 in the cause of the weak against the strong1 in the cause of international honour1 to defend the freedom of the world1 fling itself into the battle1 then it bowed its head in respectful admiration of a nation which did not wholly in vain profess to follow ,one who1 though ,he was rich1 for our sakes became poor1 and who1 again1 to use the striking phraseology of ,st4 ,paul1 being in the form of ,,god1 thought it not a thing to be snatched at to be equal with ,,god1 but made himself of no reputation and took upon the form of a slave4 ,it may seem a paradox to say it1 but ,japan was clear-sighted enough to see the truth of it1 that with all our inconsistencies and imperfections1 the good old ,british race never did a more ,christlike thing than when1 on ,august #dth1 #aiad1 it went to war4 ,and surely ,japan was right4 ,the fallacy of the argument with regard to the breakdown of ,christianity from the ,war lies in the words ,christian nations4 ,is a nation a ,christian nation which adopts as its governing policy a pagan doctrine8 ,there may be plenty of individual ,christians in the nation1 as no doubt there are1 thank ,,god1 in ,germany1 but no one who has ever cursorily studied ,treitschke or ,bernhardi1 or the utterances of the governing class of ,germany1 who have imbibed the teaching of such leaders of thought1 can imagine that the nation which has prepared for this ,war for forty years1 which has prayed for this ,day and longed for it1 is really in this sense a ,christian nation4 ,we are getting tired1 terribly tired--at least ,i am--of hearing of these wretched men who have succeeded in indoctrinating a great and powerful and efficient people with a virus which has turned them into a curse instead of a blessing to the world4 ,i only bring them in as part of my defence of ,christianity4 ,i say it is a monstrous misuse of language to talk of the breakdown of ,christianity when what has produced the ,war is the exact contrary to ,christianity4 ,there is no such precise contradiction to the doctrine of the ,cross as the doctrine of the ,superman2 there is no such absolute contrast to the principles of the ,new ,testament as the ,german ,war ,book4 ,you can say1 and justly say1 that in failing to convert the ,german nation1 ,christianity has so far failed in its world-wide mission1 and this ,i readily admit2 but so has it failed at present to convert the wild tribes of ,central ,africa and the millions of ,chinese4 ,all that we claim is that the principles of ,christianity1 when accepted and lived up to1 change the face of the world2 and we ,christians protest in the strongest way that a nation which avowedly acts at a great crisis on anti-,christian principles is not in this sense a ,christian nation at all4 7#b7 ,but we go further than this2 the progress of the ,war has opened the eyes of other watching neutral nations besides ,japan1 as to the value of ,christian principles in the conduct of ,war4 ,no one1 ,i suppose1 would deny that the whole idea of the ,hague ,conference1 and the rules which it issued for the conduct of ,war1 were a product of ,christianity4 ,it was thought two years ago that1 while the ,christian religion might not have so far progressed in the world as to render ,war impossible1 at least that it would never be disgraced by the murder and violation of women and children1 by ill-treatment of prisoners and non-combatants1 and the sinking of innocent merchantmen and trawlers4 ,just as in the origin of the ,war ,christianity justified itself1 so it has done in the conduct of it4 ,mr4 ,washburn has described the humanity with which the great ,russian advance in ,poland was conducted--not a church damaged1 except by accident1 not a civilian injured2 whereas1 while the world lasts1 the names of ,louvain1 ,aerschott1 ,lusitania1 ,cavell1 and ,fryatt will cry shame on the apostles of mere ,kultur4 7#c7 ,but1 on the other hand1 let it not be supposed for a moment that ,i am speaking as if our own nation had no national sins to repent of and no open sores to cure in this great ,day of ,,god4 ,i am myself ,chief of the ,staff of the great ,mission of ,repentance and ,hope which has already begun4 ,short-sighted people ask to-day1 ,if we have a righteous cause1 what have we to repent of8--but the true answer is1 ,because we have a righteous cause1 therefore we must repent4 ,i have spoken of metaphors from the ,old ,testament1 but there is a fine simile to which ,i have not alluded1 the simile of the polished shaft4 ,he has made me like a polished shaft2 in his quiver hath ,he hid me4 ,i fully believe that we are such a polished shaft in the ,hand of ,,god to-day2 that ,he feels down for the polished shaft which ,he has prepared by years of discipline and dearly bought freedom1 in order that ,he may save through us the ,freedom of the world2 but what if we break in ,his ,hand1 as nations have broken before8 ,what if our drinking habits1 curtailed1 it is true1 for a time by drastic regulations1 but still producing a drink bill of #aha millions1 what if the ravages of lust in our nation1 as shown in the statistics published by the recent ,commission1 what if the constant neglect of ,,god ,himself1 so rot the polished shaft that it breaks in the ,hand of ,,god8 ,it was not a ,bishop--it was one of our leading ,admirals--who wrote3 ,until ,england is taken out of her self-satisfaction and complacency1 just so long will the ,war continue4 ,when she looks out with humbler eyes and prayer on her lips1 then she can begin to count the days towards the end4 ,it is to bring the country back to ,,god1 because it has a righteous cause1 which is the object and aim of the ,national ,mission1 and ,i bespeak for it your co-operation in ,birmingham1 as well as your earnest prayers4 ,what we aim at is a new ,england1 a new ,british ,empire after the ,war1 with all its old characteristics1 with its old humour1 and its love of life1 its vigour and its brightness1 but sober1 pure1 ,,god-fearing2 and beyond the ,empire we look for a new ,heaven and a new earth wherein dwelleth righteousness4 ,why for ever shall we have bitterness between class and class8 ,why for ever1 when this accursed ,prussian spirit of militarism is laid in the dust for ever1 shall we have the constant menace of ,war8 ,why should there not grow to be a spirit of brotherhood in the world1 when not only class and class1 but nation and nation1 shall agree to share the good things with which ,,god filled the kindly earth which ,he has provided as a home for ,his children8 7#d7 ,but it would be impossible to leave the subject of the ,war and ,religion without alluding to the part religion plays in throwing a bright light on ,death4 ,i have no doubt that ,i am speaking to many to-day who have given their best and brightest in this greatest cause ever fought on earth1 who1 to paraphrase the famous words of ,ruskin1 will never see the sun rise without thinking of those graves it first gilds in ,gallipoli1 and who will never see the flowers bloom in spring without thinking over whose dear bodies bloom to-day the wild flowers of ,flanders4 ,when ,i1 an unmarried man1 think to-day of my own spiritual sons1 dear to me as if they were my own boys1 who have month by month gone to their death1 or come home maimed for life1 it is almost more than ,i can bear1 and ,i can do something more than merely sympathize with the father and mother who have given one1 two1 three1 and ,i have known even four sons in the same cause4 ,i do more than sympathize3 ,i feel with them2 ,i suffer with them4 ,and so with all the young widows whose life's hopes have been cut short in an instant4 ,i live in the midst of the mourners every day4 ,but could ,i do any good1 ladies and gentlemen1 without religion8 ,i am absolutely certain that ,i could not4 ,it is a mistake1 even with religion1 to speak as if death was not death1 and pain not pain4 ,one of the most touching things ever said to me was this3 ,we come to you1 ,bishop1 because you do not underrate human sorrow4 ,underrate it6 ,why6 my wonder and admiration is that they bear it as bravely as they do4 ,never again to have the cheery letter2 never again in this world to see the dear face2 never again to feel the loving arms around them and the strong embrace4 ,but1 while religion does not pretend to do away with pain and sorrow1 it is the one thing which makes it tolerable1 which lights up the darkness of death4 ,as ,,christ died for the world1 and my two boys have died in their humble way for the world1 may ,i not consider1 wrote a brave ,colonel who had lost his two boys in one week1 that ,,christ looks upon them as ,his comrades in arms8 ,i need hardly say what my reply was4 ,why6 to my mind1 the world is being redeemed by precious blood again1 and this precious blood mingles with the ,precious ,blood which flowed on ,calvary1 and becomes part of the redemption of the world4 ,nothing really cheers the mourners as much as to feel that their beloved ones have made a noble sacrifice1 and have not made it in vain4 ,and with that1 religion brings in the blessed hope1 nay1 certainty1 of seeing them again4 ,how many have ,i cheered this year with ,miss ,katharine ,tynan's poem called ,the ,flower of ,youth8-- ,lest ,heaven be for the greybeards hoary1 ,,god1 who made boys for ,his delight1 ,goes in earth's hour of grief and glory1 ,and calls the boys in from the night4 ,as they come trooping from the ,war ,our skies have many a new gold star4 99 99 99 99 ,the poem is too long to quote in full1 but it ends with these beautiful lines3 ,oh6 if the sonless mothers weeping1 ,the widowed girls1 could look inside ,the ,country which hath them in keeping ,who went to the great ,war and died1 ,they would rise and take their mourning off1 ,praise ,,god1 and say1 ',he has enough4' ,but we have no certainty of this without religion1 and1 as ,i am conscientiously bound to say myself1 without the ,christian religion4 ,it is very interesting and very helpful that scientific men1 one of whom is so leading a light in ,birmingham1 believe that on scientific grounds they have reason to believe in an existence beyond the grave1 and in the continuity of personality4 ,it used to help me greatly in contesting the assertion that all scientific men were opposed to all the tenets of religion2 but as one who has often to be with the dying1 as well as the mourners1 ,i should like to bear witness to the extreme value of the belief in a real resurrection from the dead1 such as the ,christian ,church has commemorated for two thousand years at ,easter4 ,i should feel it quite out of place1 of course1 to argue with regard to its truth here and now1 but to a simple mind--and1 of course1 religion has to be adapted to simple minds throughout the world1 which largely outnumber subtle ones--a single great ,event has ten times the power of any amount of theory2 and there cannot be a doubt that it is a belief in the ,central ,fact of the ,christian religion which is as a matter of fact redeeming the world of mourners from despair to-day--nay1 more than that1 filling them with a bright and radiant hope1 and a glorious fortitude to hold on with the courage of their own soldier sons or soldier husbands until the day dawns and the shadows flee away4 ,well then1 ,i must just leave the matter there4 ,i have never written such a long address in my life1 and don't expect ever to do so again2 but then it is only once in one's life one has the honour of being ,president of the ,birmingham and ,midland ,institute4 ,i hope that ,i have made at least my main points clear4 ,we who stand for ,religion are not afraid of a discussion on ,the ,war and ,religion4 ,we do not for a moment think that the ,war has disproved the truth of ,religion1 and still less of the ,christian ,religion2 on the contrary1 we believe that it has demonstrated its value and brought into clearer light its hidden depths2 and we go further--we say1 that if ,war is to cease1 we must have not less but more religion1 for we hope to see an old prophecy one day fulfilled1 ,they shall not hurt or destroy in all ,my holy mountains1 for the earth shall be filled with the knowledge of the ,,lord as the waters cover the seas4 ,,printed ,,in ,,great ,,britain ,,for ,,wells ,,gardner1 ,,darton ,,and ,,co41 ,,ltd4 99 99 99 99 99 ,transcriber's note3 ,minor typographical errors have been corrected without note4 ,irregularities and inconsistencies in the text have been retained as printed4