Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1918-07-26

AS crusade the present war far
outshines the crusades of the Middle
Ages. Not only is it vaster in eX-
/ tent and in its forces, but 1t also
has greater goals and nobler inspir-
ati4ns. 1T is the will of Cod"
shouted the soldiers marching to
Palestine to recover the empty tomb
of their Lord from the Saracen.
With less clamor, but with pur-
pose fully as deep, reverent and holy,
the armies which have foregathered
in France from the ends of earth,
struggle toward the re-establishment
of the regnancy of Righteousness, the
will of God upon earth. The might
of this lofty motive is just what the
ambitious Central powers cannot
understand. though it is the force
which has sustained the allies
throughout four bitter years, and the
motive which drew America into the
war.
Underlying the service by our SOL
diers is the spirit of devotion to the
will of God. There is much talk of
the German higher command in the
papers; but the Higher Command
which millions of allied fighters rec
ognize is the Law of God, a power so
sacred that life itself may not be
more nobly spent than in it's support
and vindication. Hearts are made
steady and nerves strong by the
knowledge that we are obeying the
Divine. will in battling for the ideals
of Jesus and their fulfillment on
earth.
What the Soldier Knows
Anybody who really knows our
soldiers in France is well aware that
they are not swash-bucklers or pro-
fessiona1 lighting men. They do not
love war; they hate is. There is no
lust to kill in their hearts. All the
old poetical figments about the war
rior thirsting for combat, like a rest
less war-horse, are simply absurd.
Our men are in this thing because a
high and holy compulsion has band
ed civilization together to save the
world from an evil force which many
Bible students call the Anti-Christ.
These men who have crossed the seas
and the channel to France are Cru
saders in behalf of the will of God
that holy will which DEGREES right
eousness, justice, liberty, peace and
brotherhood. Even the most ire
ligious of our soldiers is sure, in his
deepest soul, that he is obeying God.
This is the one clear and supreme
conviction of the allied armies. They
are lacking in what may be called
the refnements and intricacies of
religion; sometimes they show a
shocking disregard for churchly con-
ventionalities. Theological subtle
ties are a matter of indifference or
of lest. Petty parochialism Will
never again claim them. They would
not give a button from German
prisoners trousers for the divislVe
claims of denominationalism. Many
of the things that engross the par
sons back home, interest them Tess
than ever. But the holy VIII OF COO
enlists their rifles and their hearts.
They have an expansive sense or
unitv with the divine purpose In
their present mission. Freely they
give themselves to danger and death'
because they believe that their cause
is at once humanity's cause and
Gods cause.
singers in the Trenches
Several noteworthy volumes OF
verse and hundreds of fine indiVlo-
ual poems, have come out OF tne
trenches Most strikes the splrituaI
note. The soldiers are thinking
about God and the great ideals. some
of their utterances are exquisitely
Christian. The introspective mys-
ticism of the Middle Ages has pro-
duced nothing finer than this Pray
er of a Soldier in France" by a wei
known New York poet, Joyce XII
mer, who is now a private In the
165th Infantry:
my shoulders ache beneath my
pack,
(Lie easier, Cross, upon His
back.)
I march with feet that burn and
smart,
(Tread, Holy Feet, upon my
Men nfS"rt' shout at me who may not
speak,
(They scourged Thy back ana
smoth Thy chesk
I may not lift handsto clear
NV eyes of salty drops that scar
(Then shall my fickle soul forget
Thy agony of Bloody SweatD
NY rifle hand is stiff and numb
(From Thy pierced palm RED
rivers Gomez
Lord. Thou didst suffer more for me
Than all the hosts of land and sea,
So let me render back again
This millionth of Thy gift. Amen"
Making Motives Mightier
It has taken a great motive, one
coincident with heavens law, to send
to France more than million and
half of troops from the United States
and Canada, in a steadily growing
stream Only the propulsion OF
purpose of divine proportions could
create such armies, of such spirit
as are now facing the forces of autoc-
racy in France to-day. Equal, or
greater, motives are necessary to
bring to pass in civil life the new
conditions that are Essential. For
the homeland, as we'll as for the
hghting forces, the cry must be, IT
is the will of God" The supremacy
of human obligation to obey our di-
vine Lord must grip all hearts. in
newness of present reality. GODS
right to rule, and mans right to
obey, should emerge fresh and clear
from this world of cataclysm.
Otherwise our case Is hopeless.
Except we erect sure standards for
society that will lift all the people
up to a plane approximating the
level of our fighting men, we shall
have suffered q social and religious
defeat in the war. What avails 1t
to the world If we save Belgium, but
lower the standards of chastity in
Britain and America? No battle
field glory can be a compensation for
the unrebuked rise of the profteer
and politician in the homelands.
increase among our young people at
home, our teaching of the law TO
Germany would be farce. Are we
to let our soldiers become cosmopo-
lites. while we persist in our paro-
Ill a I