This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1914 Excerpt:... functions of the soldier cannot be his, because they are utterly incongruous with his mission of peace. "Look at it from the layman's point of view. Do we suppose the laity desire paragraphs in the papers such as thie: 'The Archbishop of Blank opened a murderous fire upon the trenches. The regiment was deeply indebted to the terrible havoc wrought by his death-dealing mitrailleuse.' Can we imagine in the midst of this a dying soldier's appeal to our Archbishop so engaged, 'Cease your firing and come and hear my confession '? "Or would the moral sense of the Church approve this confusion of functions? "The nobler a layman's conception of ministerial duties the more incongruous it will appear to him that the clergy should wield the sword. And it is difficult to exaggerate the pain that would be caused to many of the most devout if ministers of Christ became the inflicters of death. "In an age when militarism seems to dominate the civilised world, it is peculiarly beneficial that a class should exist to represent the methods by which the world was and is to be redeemed. They form a saving clause, a standing protest for other ideals than those of force. They are a small minority, but prophetic of better things. Let them not descend to the levels of violence. Whatever excellence of motive prompt the clergy to desire to take the sword, they would render themselves thereby wholly incapable of restraining the military spirit. No eloquence, no influence, no cogency of argument against war can neutralise the deeds of a priest who has driven his bayonet, in the fierceness of the charge, through the bodies of his fellow-men." "The clergy," remarks the Bishop of Birmingham, "could add but little to the fighting force if they went...