Clinch Valley news. [volume] (Jeffersonville, Va.) 18??-2019, 1917-12-14
THE WARS Fatal BLOW"
(The Literary Digcst.)

Observation-Disclosures is dead!" No
declaration could be more positive
than this, made by The Christian
World (London), which refers, of
course, to religious bodies in Eng
land. II is the war that has dealt the
fatal blow to what was SLOWLY dy-
ing before" This paper foresees that
Il mumiied body may linger long
among the churches. but it will not
enable them to make any response to
the aims and aspirations of the new
world now in the making" The writ
CT here protests against being thought
to speak cas- if principles for which
the fathers stood were 10 longer Of
value to the chruchcs and the nation;
the facing the facts. he sees that "the
whole drift of things mas left dcnomi
nationalism stranded" for the "ncw
world will have problems too many
and terrible to spare energy for mere
dcnominationalism differences" He
proceeds to pick out Il number of the
causes working out this result:
Before the war there was decay
of the spirit that held principle as Il
vital thing, an cnnui that was une-
qualed to thinking out personal con-
viction, Il mental slacknCss That re-
treated OIL loudly asserted authority,
or readily took cover in the plea that
one form of religion ia as good us
another, and that none of tEcEl, how
ever useful to society. is personally
urgent An attitude of slovenly ag-
Mysticism toward things religious had
crept over the spirits of men. Doubt
less the multitude of interests claim
ing attention and crowding full the
days had something to do with what
X. ii. Hutton called the spiritual ia
;igue of The world. and, he might
have added, of the churches also AZ
ter all, there are only twcntyfour
hours in the day, 10 meet which the
average man has only Il measure Of
energy, and nothing produces fatigue
of soul more quickly than the pursuit
of scattering interests. If monotony
drains the spiritual energies. so also
does frivolity. hcwcver cleverly dis
guised rs necessity.
again, the controversies that made
the sects have now largely had their
meaning hidden by the flight of time.
Most of the old arguments, too, have
lost their cutting edge and are blunt
ed weapons now. With new times,
and necessary changes in the church
cs to meet them, the causes Of quar-
rel have largely withcrcd away. To-
day, for example. there is no ground
in principle why all the Methodist
churches should not be one. Practical
and personal difficulties in the way of
union there may be, but with meas
urc of goodwill these ought tc van
ish before the inestimablc gain of a
united Methodism. Nor is there rea-
son why Congrcgationalists and Pres
byterians should not come to u work
ing agreement, for the former tends
to Presbyterianism in many of its
schemes, and the latter is Congrega-
tional in much of its practice While
as regards Baptists and Congrcga-
tionalists, only bad scholarship, or
an assertive individualism that would
fain keep not only its own conscience
but its brothers also, or the spirit
of self-willed segregation, can make
them unholy competitors. With any
measure of the spirit of Christ, even
the established church and the Free
churches could cooperate in large
measure of Christian service. They
might even learn to pray together"
Looking at the trenches, one thinks
of no such things as Congrogationlists
and Mcthodists, but only "BritonS and
brothers" The one thing necdful is
that religious men should be white
men," We read:
forgiveness of sins and life eter-
nal in Christ Jesus are themes that
move end hold men out there, SO that
even clerics are getting their hori-
IONS widened. In spite of deeply in
grained military prejudice against
non-conformity, weight and worth Of
Christian character are winning their
way and putting ignorance and preju-
dice to shame. Alas, there have been
startling cases of bigotry-Anglo-C Ca
tholicism at its worst, with instances
of all uncharity; and one has heard
of consecrated huts, the claims of
priests and other senseless puerili-
ties even amid the smoke of guns and
the agonics of men; but there has
also been so much of Christian COM
radeship at it's best that one hastens
to ignore these folies, and to remem-
Der that the attitude of thoughtful
men twoard them is one of mingled
pity, impotence and contempt. In the
midst Of the drawn-out agony of this
war men are seeing clearly the things
that matter, and learning to know and
love one another for Christ's sake
Moreover, the men on the field, sure
ly with right instinct, blame denom-
national squabbles for the impotence
of Christianity in the world"