198 THE REV. CANON JAMES O. HANNAY, M.A.^ ON 



St. Paul meant more than comradeship, which he elsewhere calls 

 " brotherly love/' But he did mean comradeship. Are not our 

 soldiers inspired by this spirit ? " Joy/' Call it cheerfulness. 

 Give it, if you like, an expression which sets your teeth on edge : 

 "Pack up your troubles in your old kit bag, and smile, smile, 

 smile/' But it is the same thing ; a thing the soldier has, 

 admires and wants. " Peace." Have not men got inward peace, 

 passing all understanding, who can go forward without repining 

 or fear into a future of which only this is known, that it is full of 

 pain, hardship and horror ? " Longsuflering." There is a jingle 

 which Wolfe Tone scattered broadcast over that strange auto- 

 biography of his : " 'Tis but in vain for soldiers to complain.'* 

 I never heard one of our men use the words. I very seldom met 

 one who did not face hardship and even injustice in exactly that 

 spirit, without anger or resentment, or much impatience. I 

 suppose that is longsufEering. " Gentleness, Goodness." The 

 most wonderful thing I have ever seen — more wonderful even 

 than the sympathy of the poor for the poor — is the tender care 

 of the soldier for his sick or wounded comrade. And he shows 

 the same tenderness to a wounded enemy. It is a thing that 

 amazes the observer afresh each time he sees it, though he sees 

 it every day. " Meekness." At the first glance it is the least 

 soldier-like of virtues. Yet consider and you will find that it is 

 the inward spirit of all discipline, to submit to another's will, to 

 prefer another's judgment, to reckon obedience the first of duties. 

 This is to be meek. 



If that list of St. Paul's is indeed a catalogue of the qualities 

 which go to make up Christ-likeness ; if Christ Himself gives us 

 the supreme example of them and is the hero of those who admire 

 and strive for them, then the soldier, the average man in the 

 Army, is up to this point Christ-like. If the soldier knew Jesus, 

 he would be a worshipper of Jesus, a hero-worshipper of Him 

 Who possessed and displayed all these qualities which the 

 soldier admires. 



You have noticed that I have left out two words in St. Paul's 

 list: "Faith" and "Temperance." Of faith I have already 

 said something at the beginning of this paper. Of temperance — 

 by which, of course, St. Paul did not mean total abstinence from 

 alcohol — there is this to be said. There is a kind of emasculated 

 Puritan who mistakes life for vice. He (or she) has from time to 

 time grossly exaggerated the amount of immorality among our 

 soldiers. There have been scares got up about " War Babies,'"^ 



