The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1918-09-27
INTERNATIONAL
SUNDAY SCHOOL
LESSON
BY WILLIAM T. ELLIS.

L . i
/ For September 90 is Review: What 1t
Means to Be q Christian."-1 John
3:1-24.
The Faith OF the Trenches.
One curious impression gained by
first-hand observers of the attitude
that a surprisingly large proportion
of the men COMPOUNDED religion with
a few picayune, man-made rules
, which really have nothing to do with
religion. Over and over again. as 1
rode with Canadian and British SOL
diers on top of London buses, or sat
with them in restaurants and Y. NJ.
c. A. huts and elsewhere; and as
talked with American boys in France,
from fair Brittany clear up to the
devastated regions of the trenches,
ran across this prevalent notion that
being religious means abstinence
from tobacco, cards, dancing and
ltheater-goingt Splendid. reverent
fellows, who have. entered into the
very fellowship of the cross, say
apologetically that they ARE not re-
F, Hgious, you know"-tho they have
given their very lives to God, and have
come to vital knowledge of the Sa-
viour
They are mot religious" because,
forsooth, they play cards in the
! trenches, and go to the theater II
1 they get a chance, and smoke cigar
cites. In their sublimely unconscious
nobility of soul. they do not under
stand that thep reachers and deaconS
and elders and stewards who. used to
talk SO complacently about doubtful
amusements," are now sitting at the
feet of our soldiers to be taught what
they have learned about the reality of
| religion, as they have faced death in
France. We are thru with our petty
efforts to compress the great and
glorious gospel of the Son of God in
to a few arbitrary prohibitions con-
corning social usages. Religion is
more than a matter of hooks and eyes
or fashion in dress or rules affecting
essentials of conduct. A Christian
| is infinitely more than a person who
does not do certain specified things.
| Is it too much to hope that this war
has delivered US from the bondage of
man-made sins-none of which can be
SO great as the sin of leading myriads
of young people to believe that Chris
tianity is merely an austere set of trif-
ling regulations?
As Soldiers See Christianity.
| We have come to the ending Of the
| third quarter of the years Internation-
al Sunday School Lessons. wherein we
have been assigned weekly Studies in
the Christian Life" the first strictly
topical course offered by the New Les
son committee. AS a Review Lesson
! for the present week the twenty mil
| lions of Sunday school members are
to consider, What 1t Means To Be a
Christian" Perhaps 1 shall be most
helpful if I confine my treatment of
/ the theme to an effort to chow what
| ii means to the soldiers to be Chris
tians. There are no essential differ
ences between them and the rest OF
! US. Only they have cast off, with their
ioix orh Of
| straints and conventions of their
thinking. In the unchurchly atmos-
| phere of masculine world they have
learned how to discard incidentals, and
to hold in new proportion the central
| and unchanging integrities.
First, for some things the soldiers
| faith is not. 1t is not pious phrase
4 ology: the army puts the taboo on
''the language of Canaan" Nor is it
a spirit of superiority: pharlsaisin
has suffered heavy mortality in this
I war. PHgg.shneSs and prudishneSS,
posing and pretending, quickly perish
in the army. There is no "goodin ess.
| or paraded self-righteousness. tol,r-
| ated. Soldiers do not let their reli-
gion withdraw them from comradeship
with their fellows. Their faith is not
so anaemic that it cannot stand the
blasts of the open air and of real life.
As already indicated, 1t IS not u mat
| ter of detailed rules and regulations
Where the Spirit of the Lord is. there
/ is liberty" is one of the New Tesla
ment words upon which the religion Of
the men in the trenches is a continue
| Gus commentary.
Positively, trench religion Is faith
in God, great God, supreme and i'll
telligent in His present doings. but
past finding out in all His ways. There
is no unbelief among the soldiers. Men
facing death have no time for cheap
| cynicism and prideful atheism. Sol
diers believe in God, whose other name
is love. There is new, strange, deep
reverence among the troops. One may
find more religious cock-sureness con-
corning Gods ways with man in a
single summer conference in this coun-
try than in all the armies of France.
It seems as il the soldiers believe,
without attempting to understand.
They freely disregard much conven-
tional teaching.
/ A Soldiers Rough Rhymes.
A British chaplain, who has won
the military cross, the Rev. G. A.
Studdert Kennedy, has written a lit
! tie book of poems. Rough Rhymes
of a Padre" which comes nearer to
| expressing the soldiers religion than
many a pretentious tome. Here are
revealing fragments from one Tom
my's soliloquy:
"Our Padre were a solemn bIoke
We called i'm dismal Jim.
1t fairly gave ye t'bloomin' creeps,
| To sit and ark at i'm,
When he were on wi, Judgment Day,
Abeht that great white Throne,
And 'ow each chap would ave to stand,
And answer on is own.
And If e tried to charnce is arm,
| And 'ide a single sin,
There'd be the angel Gabriel,
/ WI books to do I'm in.
| e 'ad it all writ dahn, e said,
And nothin' could be i'd,
| e 'ad 1t ali-fn black and white,
| And f would take kid
And every single idle word,
| A soldier charmed TO say.
Ed ave it all thrown back at i'm,
L court on Judgment Day"