united front, to give ourselves to the task today, than would have been possible had we gone in in more hot-headed fashion. Had the American church leaders unanimously cried for war in 1914, they would have been open to the same charge of sycophancy, which is made against German preachers of "Hurrah and Hallelujah."

Christian leaders in the church have been far from warming idly by the fire during this period. If there has been a warming by the fire, it has been after the fashion of the studious Lincoln, rather than that of Peter. It is a splendid index to the vital idealism of the church in America, that she had been so concerned on the question of putting the teachings of Jesus into actual practice, in the world here and now, rather than possessing her soul "in quietness and ease," at the thought of heavenly bliss. The church in 1914, as interpreted by many of her greatest leaders, was bending every effort to the bringing of the Golden Age, by urging that international affairs should be settled, not by the use of force, but by the use of reason.

It is altogether to the church's credit, that she did ponder long and hard, and debate with cogent argument the question, as to whether or not warfare was Christian. And if it ever was justifiable, when was it?

Reverend Doctors Holmes, Merrill, Jefferson, Frederick Lynch, Cadman, Hillis, and Van Dyke, and the vigorous author of "Peter Warming Himself," and numbers of church leaders in centres

less close to the spotlight, have spoken with prophetic fire, on one or other side of this question. These are all ordained even if unmitred.

There were some able exponents of non-resistance, as being the universal Christian principle. But as Germany showed herself more and more impervious, either to reason or humanity, the spirit of the Christ, who loved little children and who came as the great proclaimer of freedom through the truth, so illuminated into the hearts of His most earnest followers, that they could not but feel that they must repel those who would heartlessly slay little children and enslave the world.

The Reverend Professor B. W. Bacon of Yale, in a recent article in the Yale Review, maintains that the doctrine of loyalty, as inherent in Christianity, makes not for pacifism, but for heroic struggle. "We shall find in it," says he, "no doctrine of nonresistance, no surrender of the chief aim of all the commonwealth of humanity, no anarchic rejection of rightful control, no substitution of lesser loyalties for justice, truth, and equal rights. We shall find rather, as its climax, a call to arms. There is to be battle, but without hatred for human foe. There is to be real bloodshed and real sacrifice of life. There is to be participation in the age-long bitter struggle of the world against an unseen foe, that makes his stronghold in the minds of men, inciting them to war and conquest, and lust of selfish power."

The Reverend Abraham Ribhany, who with his

Syrian temperament, has given new contributions to the understanding of Christ the Oriental, has produced an interesting little book entitled, "Militant America and Jesus Christ." The book is an attempt to prove that Jesus justified the use of force on varying occasions. He suggests that turning the other cheek was not so much an absolute dictum on the part of Jesus, as it was a natural criticism of the oriental method of flying into a passion and striking an opponent on the cheek at the slightest provocation. It is easy to recall Jesus' reply when Herod would banish Him from the country. Jesus sent back word, “Go tell that fox, I cast out devils, and I do cures today and tomorrow." There was not much of the pacifist spirit here, nor in His indignant scourging of the money changers from the temple, with a whip of cord.

Far from having indicated a mere idle warming by the fire, the slowness of the church of Christ to lead America into war was the means of forging a highly tempered resolution that war must be undertaken, not for all causes, not for aggrandizement, not for power, but for the establishment of justice and freedom and the protection of the weak. To the query, Shall we go forth against the Philistines?" the Christian church makes answer, "Ye shall go up at the sound of a marching in the tops of the mulberry trees." This sound of a marching in the tops of the mulberry trees is wheresoever comes the sound of the enslaving of innocent peoples, of the grinding down of women and

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children, of the fastening of the autocratic rule of the tyrant over a world that would be free. The answer comes, "Thou shalt go forth to battle, wheresoever it shall be necessary for the sake of justice, for the sake of human freedom, for the protection of the weak, for the establishment of liberty through all the world." This is the glorious cause to which the church of Christ gives the arms of America the consecration of God today.

Lecky, in his "History of European Morals," says, "The broad fact will remain, that with the exception of Mohammedanism, no other re

ligion has done so much to produce war as was done by the religious teachers of Christendom during several centuries." This conclusion on his part is all the more striking when we recall his emphasis upon the original pacific spirit of Christianity. Says he, "When a cross was said to have appeared miraculously to Constantine, with an inscription announcing the victory of the Milvian bridge; when the same holy sign, adorned with the sacred monogram, was carried in the forefront of the Roman armies; when the nails of the cross, which Helena had brought from Jerusalem, were converted by the emperor into a helmet, and into bits for his war-horse, it was evident that a great change was passing over the once pacific spirit of the church." * He further accounts for this transformation by the influence of the half barbaric northern tribes, who received the name of Christianity, when half con*Lecky, "History of European Morals," II-250.

verted, and partly by the ambitions of many bishops and abbots, who in the position of great feudal lords, were accustomed to lead their followers in battle, but most of all by the constant pressure of Mohammedanism. He adds, "The spirit of Mohammedanism slowly passed into Christianity, and transformed it into its image. The spectacle of an essentially military religion fascinated men who were at once very warlike and very superstitious. For about two centuries, every pulpit in Christendom proclaimed the duty of war with the unbeliever, and represented the battlefield as the sure path to heaven."

In realizing that the sound of a marching in the mulberry trees speaks war only for the sake of justice, humanity, and democracy, the church would ever remind Christendom to avoid the fate that overtook it in mediæval days, when fighting against Mohammedanism, and would have it beware lest a like military fate should overtake it in the twentieth century. Knowing well the unselfish purposes for which our war is undertaken, the church would give all her strength and inspiration to the success of our armies.

The church gives to the nation at war, in this noble cause, the dedication of all her sons, in supreme sacrifice. The Christian church, in its most splendid eras, has tasted of heroic sacrifice. Particularly has that branch of the church to which we belong been the guardian leader in behalf of liberty and democracy. The Huguenots that fell in France