"Lest Heaven be for the greybeards hoary,God, who made boys for His delight,Goes in earth's hour of grief and glory,And calls the boys in from the night.As they come trooping from the WarOur skies have many a new gold star."* * * *
"Lest Heaven be for the greybeards hoary,God, who made boys for His delight,Goes in earth's hour of grief and glory,And calls the boys in from the night.As they come trooping from the WarOur skies have many a new gold star."
* * * *
The poem is too long to quote in full, but it ends with these beautiful lines:
"Oh! if the sonless mothers weeping,The widowed girls, could look insideThe Country which hath them in keepingWho went to the great War and died,They would rise and take their mourning off,PraiseGod, and say, 'He has enough.'"
"Oh! if the sonless mothers weeping,The widowed girls, could look insideThe Country which hath them in keepingWho went to the great War and died,They would rise and take their mourning off,PraiseGod, and say, 'He has enough.'"
But we have no certainty of this without religion, and, as I am conscientiously bound to say myself, without theChristian religion.
It is very interesting and very helpful that scientific men, one of whom is so leading a light in Birmingham, believe that on scientific grounds they have reason to believe in an existence beyond the grave, and in the continuity of personality. It used to help me greatly in contesting the assertion that all scientific men were opposed to all the tenets ofreligion; but as one who has often to be with the dying, as well as the mourners, I should like to bear witness to the extreme value of the belief in a real resurrection from the dead, such as the Christian Church has commemorated for two thousand years at Easter.
I should feel it quite out of place, of course, to argue with regard to its truth here and now, but to a simple mind—and, of course, religion has to be adapted to simple minds throughout the world, which largely outnumber subtle ones—a single greatEventhas ten times the power of any amount of theory; 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—nay, more than that, filling them with a bright and radiant hope, 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 away."
Well then, I must just leave the matter there. I have never written such a long address in my life, and don't expect ever to do so again; butthen it is only once in one's life one has the honour of being President of the Birmingham and Midland Institute.
I hope that I have made at least my main points clear. We who stand for Religion are not afraid of a discussion on "The War and Religion." We do not for a moment think that the War has disproved the truth of Religion, and still less of the Christian Religion; on the contrary, we believe that it has demonstrated its value and brought into clearer light its hidden depths; and we go further—we say, that if War is to cease, we must have not less but more religion, for we hope to see an old prophecy one day fulfilled, "They shall not hurt or destroy in all My holy mountains, for the earth shall be filled with the knowledge of theLordas the waters cover the seas."
PRINTED IN GREAT BRITAIN FOR WELLS GARDNER, DARTON AND CO., LTD.
FOOTNOTES:[1]Preached at St. Giles's, Cripplegate. The argument in this sermon, stated shortly during dinner-hour in a City church, is developed at length in the lecture which comes last in this book.[2]Browning. "Rabbi Ben Ezra."[3]Trench.[4]Preached in St. Margaret's Church, Westminster, in connection with the Annual Conference of the National Union of Women Workers.[5]Preached in Westminster Abbey on Advent Sunday.[6]Kipling.[7]Preached in St. Martin's-in-the-Fields on Trafalgar Day, 1915.[8]This was preached the day after the judicial murder of Nurse Cavell.[9]This sermon was preached in 1915. There has been a great improvement in 1916.[10]Shortly after this night clubs were abolished.[11]Preached at St. Mary's, Bryanston Square, at a service for the Church-workers of the Deanery.[12]Preached at the Parish Church, Camden Town.[13]By Barry Pain. Published in theWestminster Gazette.[14]Shakespeare.[15]Southey's "Curse of Kehama."[16]Preached in Westminster Abbey at the consecration of Canon MacInnes as Bishop in Jerusalem.[17]The Bishop only lived a few weeks after his successor's consecration.[18]Given first at Chiswick Parish Church to the Clergy of the Rural Deanery of Hammersmith; afterwards to the Chaplains of the Fleet, 1916.[19]See a former volume, "The Eyes of Flame" (Wells Gardner, Darton and Co., Ltd.).[20]See "The Church in Time of War," pp. 51-70: "The Treasure Committed to our Trust."[21]In giving the substance of this address at a Quiet Day for the chaplains of the Grand Fleet this summer, I felt the touching appropriateness of this illustration, as no less than sixteen naval chaplains had lost their lives during the war.[22]Robert Browning.[23]An address to two thousand girls in Nottingham.[24]Katharine Tynan.[25]Preached in Marlborough College Chapel. The text is based upon the report taken by theMarlborough Times, kindly lent for this purpose.[26]Mentioned on p. 189.
[1]Preached at St. Giles's, Cripplegate. The argument in this sermon, stated shortly during dinner-hour in a City church, is developed at length in the lecture which comes last in this book.
[1]Preached at St. Giles's, Cripplegate. The argument in this sermon, stated shortly during dinner-hour in a City church, is developed at length in the lecture which comes last in this book.
[2]Browning. "Rabbi Ben Ezra."
[2]Browning. "Rabbi Ben Ezra."
[3]Trench.
[3]Trench.
[4]Preached in St. Margaret's Church, Westminster, in connection with the Annual Conference of the National Union of Women Workers.
[4]Preached in St. Margaret's Church, Westminster, in connection with the Annual Conference of the National Union of Women Workers.
[5]Preached in Westminster Abbey on Advent Sunday.
[5]Preached in Westminster Abbey on Advent Sunday.
[6]Kipling.
[6]Kipling.
[7]Preached in St. Martin's-in-the-Fields on Trafalgar Day, 1915.
[7]Preached in St. Martin's-in-the-Fields on Trafalgar Day, 1915.
[8]This was preached the day after the judicial murder of Nurse Cavell.
[8]This was preached the day after the judicial murder of Nurse Cavell.
[9]This sermon was preached in 1915. There has been a great improvement in 1916.
[9]This sermon was preached in 1915. There has been a great improvement in 1916.
[10]Shortly after this night clubs were abolished.
[10]Shortly after this night clubs were abolished.
[11]Preached at St. Mary's, Bryanston Square, at a service for the Church-workers of the Deanery.
[11]Preached at St. Mary's, Bryanston Square, at a service for the Church-workers of the Deanery.
[12]Preached at the Parish Church, Camden Town.
[12]Preached at the Parish Church, Camden Town.
[13]By Barry Pain. Published in theWestminster Gazette.
[13]By Barry Pain. Published in theWestminster Gazette.
[14]Shakespeare.
[14]Shakespeare.
[15]Southey's "Curse of Kehama."
[15]Southey's "Curse of Kehama."
[16]Preached in Westminster Abbey at the consecration of Canon MacInnes as Bishop in Jerusalem.
[16]Preached in Westminster Abbey at the consecration of Canon MacInnes as Bishop in Jerusalem.
[17]The Bishop only lived a few weeks after his successor's consecration.
[17]The Bishop only lived a few weeks after his successor's consecration.
[18]Given first at Chiswick Parish Church to the Clergy of the Rural Deanery of Hammersmith; afterwards to the Chaplains of the Fleet, 1916.
[18]Given first at Chiswick Parish Church to the Clergy of the Rural Deanery of Hammersmith; afterwards to the Chaplains of the Fleet, 1916.
[19]See a former volume, "The Eyes of Flame" (Wells Gardner, Darton and Co., Ltd.).
[19]See a former volume, "The Eyes of Flame" (Wells Gardner, Darton and Co., Ltd.).
[20]See "The Church in Time of War," pp. 51-70: "The Treasure Committed to our Trust."
[20]See "The Church in Time of War," pp. 51-70: "The Treasure Committed to our Trust."
[21]In giving the substance of this address at a Quiet Day for the chaplains of the Grand Fleet this summer, I felt the touching appropriateness of this illustration, as no less than sixteen naval chaplains had lost their lives during the war.
[21]In giving the substance of this address at a Quiet Day for the chaplains of the Grand Fleet this summer, I felt the touching appropriateness of this illustration, as no less than sixteen naval chaplains had lost their lives during the war.
[22]Robert Browning.
[22]Robert Browning.
[23]An address to two thousand girls in Nottingham.
[23]An address to two thousand girls in Nottingham.
[24]Katharine Tynan.
[24]Katharine Tynan.
[25]Preached in Marlborough College Chapel. The text is based upon the report taken by theMarlborough Times, kindly lent for this purpose.
[25]Preached in Marlborough College Chapel. The text is based upon the report taken by theMarlborough Times, kindly lent for this purpose.
[26]Mentioned on p. 189.
[26]Mentioned on p. 189.
Transcriber's note:Minor typographical errors have been corrected without note.Irregularities and inconsistencies in the text have been retained as printed.Missing page numbers are page numbers that were not shown in the original text.
Minor typographical errors have been corrected without note.
Irregularities and inconsistencies in the text have been retained as printed.
Missing page numbers are page numbers that were not shown in the original text.