OF THE WAR ON RELIGIOUS LIFE IN GREAT BRITAIN. 189 



mastering and all-compensating sense. How pathetically 

 significant was the saying of the wounded soldier, who had lost 

 a leg and an eye in the war, that he had gained more than he 

 had lost; for he had found God! Men such as he will have 

 penetrated to the heart of religion. Henceforth they will 

 disdain and despise the trivialities which have so largely 

 occupied the minds of clergymen and Churchmen, in ritual and 

 even in doctrine. If the Church is still concerned, when they 

 come home, with questions of vesture and posture, they will, not 

 improbably, turn their backs upon her. Even the differences which 

 part one Christian Church from another, they will have come to 

 regard as insignificant. It is the relation of the individual soul 

 to God through Christ, which, as they will feel, alone matters 

 in religion. They will look for a Church more practical, more 

 serviceable, more beneficent to human bodies as well as souls — 

 a Church at once more divine and more human. The wonder- 

 ful success of the Young Men's Christian Association in all 

 parts of the world, where men of British birth and blood have 

 fought, is a witness to the correspondence between the spirit of 

 man, when it is deeply moved, and the clear, simple, practical, 

 dogmatic presentation of the Christian faith. It has been 

 sometimes thought that the Church of Rome would gain an 

 influence over Protestants, and even over Anglicans, who, in 

 countries such as France, have been brought under the shadow 

 of her organization. But the revelation of the Churches of the 

 East will, I think, more powerfully affect the future of Christ- 

 endom than familiarity with the Church of Rome. Still, the 

 war has tended to mitigate, if not, in some cases, to obliterate, 

 the distinction between Christian Churches: it has afforded 

 occasions for sympathy and courtesy, even between the Church 

 of Rome and other Churches ; and, when it is over, there will 

 be a general demand for a Christianity more catholic than 

 Roman Catholic, such as accords with the spirit of Christ's own 

 words, " By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if 

 ye have love one to another." 



But it is impossible that the war should not awaken reflec- 

 tions, painfully distressing and confusing, in many Christian 

 hearts. What is to be said, for instance, of the contrast between 

 Germany and France ? Germany has posed as a great Protest- 

 ant power in the world. France has, officially, cast off, not 

 only the Church of Rome, but the Church of Christ Himself. 

 The Kaiser has in the past been held to be the champion of 

 reformed Christianity: he has been a man of exemplary 

 personal and domestic virtues ; he has spoken out boldly and 



