The Discipline of War

ipline o

SUNDAY

ohn v

n, not to do Mine own will, bu

ar sense, as set over against the body, but in the script

but would be eminently unpractical. Suffice it to say that when S. Paul speaks of the "body, soul and

with the animals; spirit (πνευμα) the higher one which th

is leading, in the home, the business, the pleasures, the relaxat

. All secular affairs, rightly conducted, have their sacred side; and conversely all sacred m

h is responsible for much of the mor

acred, and so they have no pract

Holy Communion is sacred; therefore there is no link between them. Whereas the prayer

certain features of the so-called secular life of the

f the nation has been growing

ake countless ears deaf to the call which the country, through that magnificent Christian soldier, Lord Roberts, and many others, has been making to manhood of the land. Week-ending, meals in

n enjoy myself and get my own way, why should I vex myself with the outworn question

a vast number of seamstresses, shirtmakers, artificial flower makers, boot-closers, and the like, are working seventy hours for 5s. to 8s. a

und to supply the full living wage to each one engaged in its production: and if the wearer interested herself keenly in social problems, a

hatever cost, because it is a debt of honour. All the while a hard-pressed tailor, a famished dressmaker and her children

tude towards life, the lack of serious, sustained interest in literature, in music, in art, in the legitimate drama; witness the theatres being turned into cine

d, but none can deny that they have eaten deep into a large part of

, and it has come suddenly, sharply, but

a tremendous opportunity, for we were

. You have no concern with Servia, throw ov

rices to the rest of the world. Magnificent prospect! We went to war, and, by a strange paradox, secured peace with honour: peace of the national conscience. Had we forsaken Belgium we could never again have held up our heads among civi

discipline h

we have always deemed to be the one absolutely secure spot in the whole world? Five months ago an earthquake in London would have seemed a far more li

place, to be sent headlong to the bottom of the sea by torpedoes or mines; possibly sometim

rn conditions. It does not make us ignore the magnificen

ts, trains, trams, all telling of the awful possi

ment, can go on just as usual in luxury, self-indulgence, and ea

a callous people, but we needed a strong, stern discipline of the national soul; some stirring

ts are obvious; but what ar

eeks back, thus soundly

or suppers at Cremorne. But human nature is easily frightened into propriety by a crisis; it is not so easy to maintain the new way of life when the fright is safely over. The things that are amiss in our national life, and above all that lack

nd that can only come through the effort o

ry of the disciples in regard to the few loav

little life among the teeming mill

for it is a direct t

lijah cried out, "I, I only am left," that God revealed to h

nd contra mundum, against the world, that th

ves as to the use we are making of o

espect to ourselves, and only incidentally as it affec

the text, "I came down from Heaven, not to do m

rst moment to the last, to one stupendous cause: th

way towards that perfect standard; but it is

we must ask ourselves

of my time is

e to philanthropic or religious work; or do I just, in a casual wa

ne ought to do), would be shocked if at the end of a year they could see the enormous disproportion between the vas

educed an already paltry allowance made to a de

on of it gone long ago to Hospitals obliged to close their wards, Waifs and Strays Societies compelled to refuse poor little outcasts? The money was there; it

else? We might multiply these questions indefinitely, but enough has been said to enable us seriously to take in hand the disciplining of the soul, remembering that this life of ours is a p

tations during the