Page:The Psychology of Jingoism.djvu/63

This page has been proofread, but needs to be validated.
Christianity in Khaki
51

of war as a school of discipline and an instrument of beneficent rule.

It might occur to some that these doctrines are too distinctive of Old Testament beliefs and manners, and conflict with the New Testament and its gospel of love.

There is something particularly instructive in the calm audacity with which any such distinction is repudiated. Here is Canon Carmichael, of the Protestant Church of Ireland: –

The Bible hardly seems to see any evil in war at all. ... The Lord Jesus never says a word against war. John the Baptist gives advice to soldiers, but never condemns their profession. St. Paul revels in military phrases. The history of the world is full of wars, thus must war be congenial to the mind of God in His evolution of humanity. What does God care for death? What does God care for pain?

Assuredly we must be, in a peculiar sense, 'His children,' for we do His work with such good heart!

There is, of course, nothing new in this. The press during the Crimean War furnishes plenty of similar convenient doctrine, which may be summarized in the following passage from a sermon of Charles Kingsley in support of that 'just war': –

For the Lord Jesus Christ is not only the Prince of Peace. He is the Prince of War too. He is the Lord of Hosts, the God of Armies; and whosoever fights in a just

This article is issued from Wikisource. The text is available under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 unless otherwise noted. Additional terms may apply for the media files.