New Britain herald. [microfilm reel] (New Britain, Conn.) 1890-1976, 1918-04-22

! with the Kaiser as his prophet.
The stand Of Methodists in the wal
! was ably expressed today In the re-
| port of Rev. G. J, North of Bristol
! reporting for the conference commit
| tee on the state of the church, The
| report expresses the feeling Of the
| church towards the Kaiser, refers to
| the war work being done by the
church and approves the American
ization movements The future Of the
church is anticipated.
The Church and the War.
The state Of the church today must
be described in terms of war, be-
cause the world to which God COM
missions us to minister is at war.
Patriotism and religion are making
harmonious adjustments. Happily the
war aims of the United States, as ex-
pounded by our president are SO
| noble and CHRISTIAN that the church
has been Bile to adopt them a s part
of her Gospel message and program,
To the church Gods kingdom must
always be first. Righteousness, how
ever, is always first in Gods king
dom; and the cause of international
righteousness is what we are fighting
for in the war against Germany.
We are aware that our enemy pro-
fesses to go forward with Cod;
but such claim is either cant or
camouf1age, deserving the rebuke of
the Master who said. 'fWhy call ye
me Iorl, Lord and do not the things
which | say" The Christ of the
Gospel. who has glorificd all this
Christian centuries. is not their God.
The convincing evidences are too
numerous and obvious to need rectal l.
by their fruits We shall know them. -
Germany has corrupted the God of
the Gospels with false PHILOSOPHERS,
hypocricies and unchristian ambi-
tons, substituting the worship of
might for right and hate for love.
For whatever is put first by person
or nation, and whatever commands
their life and substance is their Cod;
and mon become like what they wor-
ship. We know what the German
God is like, with the kaiser as his
prophet.
BY way of contrast with their war
aims America has also undertaken to
go forward With God. but to cnthrone
among the nations mercy and truth.
righteousness and good WILL We are
willing that our aims be subjected to
the acid test Of Christ. II will only
make our supreme purpose the more
manifest. Therefore, the call of our
national leaders that the one business
Of today is TO win the war; is met
by the true churchman with the con-
viction as religious as it IS strong
that to win this war is a vital part
of the task Of extending the kingdom
TO all nations. and hence as church
| people we may we'll support the war
with our most earnest prayers and
efforts. If We accept Donald Hankcy' s
definition that "true religion is bet
ting ones 1tfc there is Cod then
tho nterna tional bet is on, and as
american Christians We show our
loyalty to our Invisible King only
as we give ourselves without stint
and limit TO this crusade for world
Democracy.
We rejoice that the church has en-
tered heartily into this crusa de. We
utterly repudiate the charge that
the church. like faithless Peter, Is
warming itself by the fire in the
enemys palace. The church is noblH
bearing its part in the great world
conflict, and through the Young
Mems Christian Association and Red
Cross agencies is functioning most
efficiently We do not claim for the
church a monopoly Of this good work.
It is so we'll conceived and conducted
and is proving SO valuable that all
| Patriots flock to its support It is
| we'll however. to remind some peo-
| pie that the Y. NJ G. \. is an institu-
| ton of evangelical Christianity, and
| the noble J. NJ. G. A. leaders. Mott
and Fosdick. are outstanding church,
men, while the officers all down the
line are active church members
We are thankful that when this
great war broke out the united church
had such\an efficient agency ready for
action. Indeed. while the United
States government was utterly unpre.
pared in many Of It's departments, tn g
church, through the Y. NJ. G. A., was
ready, with slight notifications, to
esta blish Christian social centcrs in
every camp at home and abroa d,
and man them with ministers and
lavmen for efficient recreational
moral and spiritual uses. thereby
helping to equip the cleanest army
tho world has ever seen.
The Red Cross impulse and its