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II
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CHRISTIANITY AND VV AR
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jJt H B A I( P 11 B A
III
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CHRISTIANITY AND WAR
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JIt II B A ~ P Ii B A
IV
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C}-IRISTIA NITY AND WA R
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jR 11 B A ~ P Ii B A
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CHRISTIANITY j-\ND VV AR
v
But look, nly Friend, how wonderful is this! Be-
sides the hunlility of 111an to 111an that has been shown in
this \Var, there has arisen another kind of hunlility,-
even the hunlility of nlall to all Nature. A whole year
now have 111en been close to their aniIllals, sleeping by ,
their horses and eating alongside their oxen. A whole I
year now have l11i11ions of the healthiest nlen in the
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jlt II B A u: P Ii B A
world sat and lain under the earth, with their face rest-
ing on the so il and e111bracing the wood and stones in
their sleep. }\ whole year now have tnen looked at
herbs an d plants, and even the roots of plants, touching
thenl in th e closest intimacy, breathing in the111, living
\vith them, a nd whispering with thenl . FrOln this in-
tilnacy of 1nan with Nature nothing is excluded: neither
\va ter nor light, neither the starry heavens, nor rain nor
fog; nor height of Carpathians, nor depth of the Atlan-
tic. In this close fell owship with Nature, every nlan has
experienced the sanle disappointment that the Professor
of whom I spoke told nle he had felt anl0ng the Serbian
peasants in the trenches at Belgrade. That is to say,
every 111an has looked deeper into Nature; into her life,
into her very soul; and, looking deeper, he has perceived
that Nature also lives; lives, and suffers and thinks;
even thinks by some secret transcendental organ, as he
hilllself does,-he, the boasting king of nature. And
further, every nlan who puts his ear to the heart-beat
of Nature perceives yet nlore: that the life of Nature
is more healthy and harnlonious than the life of nlan.
And this precious experience leads to humility. I per-
sonally have had this experience-and so, as I have
found inquiry, have 111any and many who have spent at
least some weeks of intilnacy with the earth and her
silent children-the eleillents. Nature silently suffers. I
was in the trenches as a nlilitary chaplain. I listened to
the breathing of the earth, and I felt the harnlony of
1ife a1nid the plant-world; I felt, too, the pain of the
trees torn and ripped by lead and iron, and I understood
the infinite submission of ox and horse to higher, foreign
\vilI. And as I had listened to all, felt all, understood all,
I put to myself the question which many others have
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CHRISTIANITY AND WAR
VI
I I
m II B A 1\ P It nA
back to hinl just before his death. In general, however,
nlen in the trenches live exclusively in the present, and
have in eye only two things: Ii fe and victory. But these
t\\"o thing s of worth are so little dependent upon the n1en
thenlsel yes ! They feel it; they are convinced of it.
They feel that these two values are valueless before SOIne
Third which d0111inates all. That is an age-long ex-
perience of the human race in \Var. In ancient tilnes
God was called "the Lord of hosts",-the Lord of ar-
I11ies, in Illodern speech. And indeed nowhere else does
one feel so intensely that God is near as on the field of
battle; that He is so overwhelming, so irresistible, so
omnipotent. Even the man who in tin1e of peace never
believed in God feels that a Third, one unknown, is in-
tervening in hU111an life and is taking into His hands
the bridles of all hU111an 1110venlent. I personally have
experienced this, that vVar has converted nlany of the
Inost fierce unbelievers into believers. The Socialists in
Serbia fought as bravely as the Ill0St ardent Nationalists.
I heard from l11any of these Socialists that during this
\Var they had COIne to believe in God. Travelling froIn
Nish to Belgrade, a Socialist soldier told 111e of the suf-
ferings he went through during the War and he closed
with these \vords: "As a Socialist I considered that I
n1ust be an A theist too. That was my 111istake. Now
I have new thoughts, a ne\v soul. Believe In~, \tVar gives
a new soul to a l11an. God, vVho had the last place in
my thoughts, now occupies the first." I anl sure that
no n1issioner has converted so I11any unbelievers as has
this \Var. \Var is the greatest lnissioner. If Heaven
seEds '\Var to Earth, it sends it as a missionary to turn
the eyes of Earth towards Heaven. And so, to the ques-
tion, '''Vhere to-day is Christianity?' we need not give a
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CHRISTIANITY AND WAR
VII
T3
JKHBA QPJl.BA
IS
jit I! B A ~ P It B A
good ~Clal \\,i11 scen1 110 10;lgcr ~ood to you, but horr ible
in the 1110illcnt of your new experience. St. Pa111 calle d
his life a racc. ;\[ethinks that thc whole hi:.;tory of
Christianity rcprcsents a race. ] 11 this race t o the best
goal in the Ko rld one should go by the bcst \\-~ys, but in
thc I011g hi story of Chri sti anity 111Cl1 have gone by bo th
good and evi l \yay s, and l1Ien have used good and evil
!11cthous. It \\-as a :;.>;reat l11i sta ke to think that Inen
could come by Pagan l11Cthods to real Chri stianity, as
it is a 11115takc to fea r tba t by Chri stian lTJeth ods \\'C are
going to Paganism. I anI sure Christianity has never
failcd in rega rd to the goal.. but she ha s sonl ct1nles
failed in her 1Jlethods. Therefo re the race of Christianity
ha s been so long. For evil 111Cthod s only seenl to bring
us near to the good goa l; ill reality they take us farther
away fronl it. For this reason, ho\yever, l11uch apparent
and 1110nlentary benefit ll1ay accrue to Christianity by
Vi ar, she cannot accord with \Var. She cannot readily
accord with \ Var either (I) regarding it a s a l\'1iracle or
(2) as Evil. Unfortunately, during nl2.11 y centuries
Chri stianity has been often supported by two ll1ethods,
lVIiracles and Evil, by 1\vo quite unnccessary and super-
fluous Inethods, which she ought 110t to have need of-
especially after 19 centuries of her existence. \Vhen
we \vere still at the University we had this c011viction-
do you renlelnber, m y Friend ?-and this conviction is
now strengthened by \Var.
VIII
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CHRISTIANITY AND WAR
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CHRISTIAl'JITY AND \\1 AR
IX
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CHRISTIANITY AND 'vV AR
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.iK nBA ~ P It B A
x
Who is against War? I could not tell you, my
Friend. When, in 1908, \Var seemed imminent bet\veen
Serbia and Austro-Hungary Tolstoy was yet living. He
wrote then passionately against War. Amid all the talk
about World War, n1any authors expressed thelTIselves.
strongly against it. But now that we have been launched
into a World \\Tar I could not give you one nan1e of any
great nlan who has openly declared himself against this'
War. I don't know \vhether Tolstoy, if he had lived to.
see it, would have been antagonistic to this \Var. 11e-
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XI
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will hope that after this starIn upon life's ocean will
COIne a peace like unto the peace of Christ, i.e. a peace
which will never be the cause of a new \Var, but the
preparation for a better and nlore God-like peace. Now
nlore than eyer true Christians feel Christ's presence
on their stornltossed vessel. They feel Hinl standing
in their I11idst; they hear His voice: '0 ye of little faith,
,yherefore do ye doubt? The end of all will still be
good.' Or as Browning sad: ((T/,ze best is 'yet to be."
Life, fronl the Christian point of view, is essentially
an optilllistic tragedy. Christianity sees the dark clouds
enveloping hlllllan life; but through these cloud-tragedies
perceives the warnl brilliance of a heavenly light. There
are in l110venlent everywhere the hosts of vVar, but over
all is the Lord of 1-Iosts, and wherever the presence of
that LORD is felt, there is OptiIl1isnl.
XII
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ble, and that the world, with all its charms, nlakes a
man who has faith half-happy. A whole happiness be-
longs not to this tragical world. All this world repre-
sents unrest, but with faith it represents the half-rest.
A whole rest belongs to another nlore godlike world. I
would write you-but let us leave that for another tilne
- I would write you how nlany, lnany men midst this
war-storm have found by faith their half-happiness and
half-rest, how nlany through the blackest clouds have
looked and seen the shining stars, and have had the same
feeling as one of the greatest men of Western Christian-
ity who said: Domine . ..... inquietu1JL est ear nostnun
donee requieseat in Te 1*)