davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
New-York tribune., 1918-08-04

'heresy' over such teaching as the fol
lowing from an honored minister Of
the Church + Scotland:
"If their eternal destiny be not
fixed unaIteraoly in that moment Of
tiae when the soul parts from tho
body; If God be still striving to win
them to Himself and to lead them to
the clearer vlsion and the more az
ccllent glory; then. surely, they are
nor passed beyond the sphere Of our
help nor the reach Of our prayers.
They are still bound up with Us IN
the fellowship Of one common faith.
"We know regarding the dead that
they pray for the living; for We read
Of the golden vials full of odors
which are the prayers Of the saints
And this is 50 natural that We instinc-
lively know it to be true, he mother
who prayed for her cnlldren on
earth goes on praying for them in
heaven. It il Imp0s BE that death
could CONCEAL the prayers of love on
her lips. If. through their prayers,
there come 10 W. hope and Vlalop snd
guidance, how dare We cease direct
Inc the forces % praver toward
+hor1 l'av tnev ere rot vot bop
1ected. or tnem, 700, dllnculte5
may emerge, and stretches Of dim
valleys may have 10 be passed. If
they be stiu free land We cannot
think that death can so pauperize
as TO make men mere automata) +, they
may still have to face peril. For
heaven is not place where men can
not sin, but rather a place where they
DO no: want to sin. And We cannot
err in thnt-in asking for cur be
loved dead that they may never more
vypnt tn lin
New-York tribune., 1918-08-04

mght not learn if they will teach us.
and teach US quite honestly without
prejudice or loss of memory. Above
all, there IS one truth-if it be truth
and not merely the blind hope of my
own pre- that they must surely
make known from their store of great
discoveries; and that is that wars in
Europe Will one day be impossible, be
cause Europe's working classes will
insist that it be so. And this must
be done in the next ten years if it is
to be done at all-done while all men
still dwell on the horrors Of war and
the bestialities OF war before passing
time has reflected glow of sentiment
and glamor onto it, and medals and
ribbons and the colored "reminiscences
OF forgetful men alone are left to give
a vastly misleading opinion of war to
the children of generations TO come.
1t must be done. too. while the classes
still respect each other for what each
has done for his country in the time
Of her greatest need; while no class
can sling mud At any other class for
It's lack Of patriotism.
These men did not die to fill Brit
aims pockets. but to save Britain's
honor writes another. ut
was the hope Of thousands of our dead
that this war MIGHT prove TO be the
last OF wars. They were sustained
through q thousand suferings by the
faith that in this way their sons and
their sons sons might be saved from
any repetition Of these horrors. 1t
was worth while TO be victim of war
# in that way the whole insensate
folly and cruelty of war might be
ended forever
Another contributor to the same vol
ume is even more definite in self
criticism: Instead Of democracy com
ing to rs own first in Church govern
ment, and then spreading to the civil
sphere, the process has been reversed.
No one can examine the religious d Vi
sions of our country without realizing
how closely they corresp spond with GER
tain social lines OF cleavage; the ALI
ance between squire and parson in The
country lost the Church her hold on
many rural districts; the social exclu-
siveness Of Church circles repelled the
selfmade men of the industrial revo-
luton; the complacent churchmanship
of the employer has often alienated
the sympathes of the employed. who
see almost exclusively a wholly diff
ferent side of his character
Racest of all the writer's upon war
and religion is the Rev. A Herbert
Gray. before mentioned. who tells this
New-York tribune., 1918-08-04
How the Soldier
Sees the Preacher

One Of the stimulating war books IL
breezy little volume for church folk
called "As Tommy Sees Us" by the Rev.
A. Herbert Gray, a Scottish chaplain
He does not spare the churches AN
unusually efficient and able soldier
told me he felt the church was
composed chiefly of people who dis
approved of things They frowned, he
said, upon his pleasures, and even upon
his tobacco, and seemed to grudge him
the liberty to follow his own CON
science"
Soldiers do not like the thing
which they know as religion. They
look at the religious lie as they con
ceive it and say we could not stand
that They look at religious people
and say in their hearts, We do not
want to be like them Sermons mostly
bore them. The lives Of church mem
bors seem TO them dull, narrow and
colorloss. Furthermore, they
are mostly shy and reserved, and the
gugh and ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Of some
religious people lar painfully on them.
TLAy think that If they became re
New-York tribune., 1918-08-04
Church Panicky
Over Spiritualisn1

Alarmist church people feared Tor
tlme that Great Britain in her grief
over the wars dead would turn after
strange faiths, as spiritualism, theos-
ophy and other cults OF the Orient.
Religious publications and popular re-
views had great deal to say in the
arst Two years of the war and espe-
aially during the second year-con-
cerning the growth OF these strange
religions. Some Of the church leaders
we're bit panicky as they pictured
the people gong mad after spookism
Unquestionably. in the bewilderment
Of grief which succeeded the first
great losses Of the war, the smitten
people Of England did turn in consid-
cradle numbers to teachings that prom
ised to make the dead more real. Spir-
itualism, which offered communication
with the departed. and theosophy,
which taught reincacnation and karma,
held the lead in these spiritual fash
ions. Plain. professional claivoyance
and varieties Of Hinduism also throve
for a time, as they profassed TO fill
the empty hands that groped in dark
ness for a touch Of the dear dead
This phenomenon in British lie must
be interpreted in the Light Of The cas-
ualty lists. All Of Great Britain was
mourning. Every family. every com
munity, every church, every organiza-
ton, had been bereaved, often Of its
best. Many historic family lines had
been wiped out. A pail o. grief had
settled upon the nation Dazed BY
bereavement, many persons turned to
spiritualsm in the hope Of hearing
some message across the silences
New-York tribune., 1918-08-04

story: There was once a bishop who
was also soldier. On the field Of bat
tie he was distinguished swearel,
When challenged about il he replied
that he swore, not as a bishop, but IS
a soldier. To which his interlocutor
answered. But when the soldier goes
TO hell what Will become OF the bishop
When the hard masters and sweating
employers of the modern world receive
their deserts what viii become of some
church members VINO gave large sums
to charity?''
SO one might go on quoting columns
Of virile. clear-eyed comment upon the
Church and the social order as the war
has led all classes of men to see them.
They all point to transformations so
vast that timid spirits refuse . con
template them Chaplain Talbot. IN
his Thoughts on Religion a the Front"
sums up the situation with respect 20 The
Church. The Church has to acknowl-
edge that she is not the Kingdom OF
God. but the means to it as an end.
There are, I think, great many carts
and horses to be changed around into
their right relations. Religious OBJ
servances and organizations all the
whole apparatus of relgions-have
come TO be looked upon as ends in
themselves. whereas they are means TO
an end beyond themselves People
think that the clergy's one concern ~
the success of ecclesiastical activities
and institutions. We clergy think SO
ourselves. 1t is not for her own in
terests, which are by themselves in
curably too small to evoke the heroic
in men, that the Church IS n the world.
She Is IN the world to change tho
world. so that its whole extent may DC
illed with the glory of God and may
become worthy of the eternal destiny
of the souls of men Here is 8 high
and costly venture. She has strong
holds TO storm-the intrenchments
where the forces OF private-minded-
ness and apathy and money worship
are dug in In the attempt she can eN-
haust to its depths the capacity which
is in men for dauntless sacrifice"
New-York tribune., 1918-08-04
Many Converts
For Catholicism

The one religious body in Britain,
aside from Christian Science. which
has made definite progress during the
var is the Roman Catholic Church.
Interviews with lis leaders, clerical and
lay, how that the Church is not only
holding IT'S own with its own members
and fndr them responsive in ways
affected by the war, so that masses and
srecal prayer services for the soldiers
are unusually ' well attended, but that it
is also winning hundreds of converts
1om The non-Caeholic population
Es7ecia y among military officers
have the recruits come 10 the Catholic
Church. The priest who has had most
conspicuous success as a missionary TO
non-Cathoiics tells me that these men
want to be spiritually right before they
20 20 tne f.ont-or, In d significant
mum Der Of cases. before they return to
the front They covet the sure word
Of the Church.
Copyright. 1913. The Ellis servioe)
New-York tribune., 1918-08-04
Consecrated Duty of Doing Ap-
peals to Soldiers Whose Souls
The Trials Of War Have
Stripped Naked

Pretentious claims have been made
tor the growth Of theosophy in the new
war era. Il is not the California bur
indian branch OF the organization that
IS 10 be found IN Great Britain. with
Mrs Annie 'Besant at the head. Yeats.
the poet, is reputed to be theosophist.
and there are many local centres Of
me cult throughoue the land and an
organized propaga nda. The skeleton
or outline Of great national move
ment IS easily found
After seeking light at theosonhical
headquarters and attending the nrin-
ciPai meeting centre I was forced 20
conclude that this. roo. is negligible
phase Of the country's religious inter
ests. 1t IS an eddy. not current. The
rock that turns It IS the hard headed
Srnsh character. which lacks the fan
''iul imagination and easy credul;tv
mat give theosophy and its allied ma
tive religions the vogue in India. The
nation is more interested in the war
man IN its "karma" John Bull cares
more about the rationing scheme than
about the color Of his aura" Psychical
emanations mean less to him than
physical force expressed in Flanders.
Mrs. Besants activities in India
which led to her arrest as n sedition.
ist, have cast some shade Of suspicion
upon theosophy in the minds of the
great bulk of people. who in these
times judge all things by the touch
stone OF patriotism To say that
theosoPhists in general are not true to
Great Britain would be unwarranted
and unfair. They are, however. put
INTO rather delicate position by their
loyalty to Mrs. Besant, who strangely
commingIes her India propaganda for
seif-government and her esoteric
teachings. After the war when public
events of certain sort may be written
upon with less restraint. there will be
IN Interesting story to tell about the
work of the theosophical leaders in
India
New-York tribune., 1918-08-04
Christian Science
Growing Steadily

One other phase of Britain's war
time religious development. apart from
The conventional life of the churches,
Is the extension Of Christian Science.
II is grouped with the two new forms
Of expression already mentioned be
cause II is not denomination of or
thodoX Christianity That it should
grow luxuriantly IN the stony soil of
British conservation is a surprise 20
an gator. Yet there are in Lon
don today eight Christian Science
churches. and their development re
veals all the signs of healthy progress
found n the same body in America
Christian Science mas not made an
especial war appeal 1t has not
stressed the question of the dead; in
stead. 1t has offered haven to the
piritualiy unsatisiied. The general
religious unrest has contributed largely
10 the development Of the new science
organizations.
New-York tribune., 1918-08-04
Leaders OF Creeds Blend Their
Dogma Into Acts Of Service
and Sacrifice and Preach
by Simply Helping

the hearths and affairs of his coun-
try reaches this highest Of all de-
grees Of charity. He may not have
made a close analysis Of the value
ot his sacrifice. but must we suppose
that God requires of the plain sol
der in the excitement Of battle the
methodical precision of the moralst
or the theoloeian? Can we who
reVere his heroism Doubt that his
God welcomes hm with love o.
Religious leaders in Britain ant
America, found, were greatly con
eerned over this invasion of the realm
of theology by the spirit of patriotism
Expressions of alarm have been fire.
qaent, in The church press and from
the pulpit. Meanwhile, however, th
belief Itself IS undoubtedly spreading
10th among the troops and their fam
ilies.
New-York tribune., 1918-08-04
Startling RadicaIism
OF a Scotch Clergyman

Most surprising and thought com
pelling of ali the comments upon the
subject that have come to my notice is
found in one of the numerous war and
religious books. God and the Soldier"
by two Scotch clergymen, the Rev Drs
Norman MacLean and j. R. P. Sclatcr
of Edinburgh, one of whom served as
preacher and lecturer with the Scot
tish Church huts in France and the
other Of whom was director Of re-
igious services in behalf of the Y. NJ
{ A. Their book has the peculiar dis
tinction of being the substance of ad-
dresses delivered before a weekly con-
ference Of chaplains in one of the great
camps in France. 1t is against the
background Of Scotch theology that the
r.diealism of the utterances quote
nlUst be considered
This Scotch book advocates prayers
for the dead. It does not go as far as
Cardinal Mercier in proclaiming the
sure salvation OF the soldier slain, but
it strikingly voices a sentiment have
repeatedly heard among British clergy,
that this war Will reintroduce the
churches of the Reformation to the
Eucharist. to the crucifx and to
prayers for the departed.
The author introduces the subject by
picturing a service with the soldiers
wherein he had quoted Donald Hankey's 5
Men If you are wounded it is Blighty;
if you are killed it is the resurrection 4"
But at the close the unexpected con-
fronted the preacher. A killed, grim
faced Scot waited and asked this ques
ton Do you really believe that every
soldier who dies in battle goes to
heaven The spirit of all the Puri-
tans glowed in his deep set eyes. tie
made it clear that he had no use for
such a gospel He was Christian and
not Mahometan. His body was cheap
a shilling day; his life was cheap
mere fodder for guns; his self-respect
required that his soul should not be
cheap And heaven gained through a
splinter of shell would be but cheap
heaven indeed,
"The question to which the stern
faced soldier wanted an answer is this:
What does really happen to the soldier
who dies in battle? In other days the
question found a ready answer; the be-
lever went instantly to a heaven Of
bliss. and the unbeliever went instantly
to hell Of everlasting torment. It
was q clear answer, grim, but logically
unassailable on the premises.
Can we conceive the soldier hurled
from the hell Of battle into an endless
hell2 Are men who never had a
chance on earth to be deprived forever
of any chance? Doubtless many Of
them are men of sanguinary language
and strange deeds: bat they are the
products O. civilization that herds
mon in Sums and encircles them with
every evil. They lived in CRIME; how
could they be but grimy? Are they to
New-York tribune., 1918-08-04

hgious they would have to be willing
to talk about their feslin1s. and they
would rather live under shelldre than
do that. They feel that there is
susp'cion of efeminacy about many
religious people and that religious men
tend to be too like women"
Confessing that he never heard of
battalion where numerical majority
OF the men were willing 70 profess
faith, Chaplain Gray bears glowing
testimony 10 the Christian soldiers
who had the kind Of religion that ex-
presses itself in efficiency, in courage,
IN helpfulness, in abstinence from
boastNhg and in good comradeship
They seldom spoke about their religion,
but it spoke through their lives daily"
Il do not know that could speak
with any such pleasure of the rather
noisy and self-conscious Christians
whom one also meets in the army
A certain type of religious expert
ence seems to leave men very much
impressed by their own i.nportance
and very apt to take pleasure in de-
nounclng the sins of others. Men Of
this type can often tell to an hour
when they were saved. but famili-
arity with their lives does not all
ways leave the observer quite 50
sure that their dates are correct.
hen a man declares that he and
Tommy Jones and Bill Robertson are
the only Christians in his platoon,
one is left hoping great things from
Jones and Robertson. but rather
doubtful about the speaker. Sucn
men are often extraordinarily un-
generous in their attitude to all
types Of religious experience which
differ from their own And though
groups of these men tend to draw TO
themselves others of similar tenn
New-York tribune., 1918-08-04
Bv llliam T. Ellis

NEW theology determined by
democracy 10 emerge from this
| var, May VIC look to the con
.nsus Of popular opinion instead Of to
u. .heologians for our great IDEAS
hon. God and the soul and the future
'ife9
There are clear signs pointing that
r.,v For. as these articles have al
readv made clear, really startling
r.dicalism pervades the thinking Of the
.rmjes and of the chaplains and of
young Mems Christian Association
yorkers who have been long with the
.roops. Conventions have lost their
erin Nobody cares & cootie for "ortho-
doxv.' as such Old usages and old
crqcds seem 10 have succumbed to the
r-boats or some other force on the
yav over. All things, from the very
existence o. Supreme Being to the
light OF a church to exist, have had
70 face the challenge Of this new,
,mancipated. FREQ thinking, audacious
var mind. Whether this is as il should
ne or not am not here discussing;
this article is not statement Of the
writer's opinions, but of clearly re-
vealed conditions. Churches and SEM
uaries and religious institutions at
home do not realize it, but they, too,
are in the melting pot that is bubbling
IN France.
Our armies believe in God. There
has been no national propaganda among
the Allies, such as the Germans have
Vigorously prosecuted, to proclaim the
IDENTIFY Of our cause with the divine
purpose and viii. Nevertheless, the
home training OF the troops and the
atmosphere OF our whole previous life
have led them to face the eternal re
atty e. this time. They believe in .
great God whose ways are past finding
out, but who is manifestly doing some
thing with humanity by means OF this
cataclysm 1t IS not a little drawing
room god. fattered TO be patted on the
head by blase society faddists, nor
vet vindictive tribal deity that the
soldiers have come 70 accept. He is
Jehovah of the thunders, Lord God Of
battles
New-York tribune., 1918-08-04

mean TO do after the war. He is study
ing America, Britain and the world
from the standpoint of one who is sure
that things are going TO be different"
when peace comes. Like others with
whom talked. he considers the war
the greatest social revolution of his
tory. It is teaching verybody. but
most especially the soldiers. who Will
rule the world when they return. unex-
pected lessons IN life's larger mean
ings. The conviction that they fight
for new world order runs deeper and
with wider ramihcations than is com
monty suspected. These fighting men,
who come back with new powers, ney
minds and new self-conidence, will do
things TO the old routine of life in all
its departments.
Many poets have tuned their harps
to this key. f. W. Harvey's "If We
Return" puts it we'll:
IF we return, will England be
Just England still to you and me
The place where we must earn our
bread?
We who nave walked among the dead
And watched the smile of agony,
And seen the price Of Liberty,
Which We had taken carelessly
From other hands. Nay, we shall dread,
If we return,
Dread lest We hold bloodguiitily
The things that men have died TO
free.
Oh. English fields shall blossom red
For all the blood that has been shed
BY men whose guardians are we,
II We return
Pjcturng the power of the men who
come home from the wonderful new
fraternity of war, the Rev T. V Pym
declares: There is nothing that we
New-York tribune., 1918-08-04
rench Talk
From a Padre

The lconoclastic mood Of the chap
lain-authors crops out repeatedly in a
little book o. verse. written BY one Of
them who signs himself "Woodbine
Willy the nickname he earned in the
trenches by his distribution Of Wood
olne cigarettes This startling collec
tlon Of war poems, which is called
Rough Rhymes of Padre" is warmly
indorsed by the bishop who is deputy
chaplain general of the British forces.
Hear soldiers solloquy in the pres
ence of slain comrade:
and the lovin' God. E looks down on
it all, VII
On the blood and the mud and the
smell
o God, f its true. 'ow pities YOU
For ye must be livin' + ell.
You must be livin' : ell all dav.
And Twin i ell all night.
d rather be dead, WI a ole through
my cad.
l would, by a dam long sight,
nan be llyin' WI you on your 'eavenly
throne,
Lookin' down on yon bloody cap
That were once boz full O. life and
And 'earin' is mother weep.
The sorrows o God nun be ard 70
bear
If Y really as Love in Is cart.
And the 'ardest part i the world to
play
Nun surely be Gods part
New-York tribune., 1918-08-04

perament cannot but feel that they
help 10 confirm the majority in their
attitude Of hostility.
Earlier in the book there IS a blunt
statement Of the Briton's attitude tow
a"d the church: "On the wdole the
average male Britisher of today has
not much respect for the Church. He
does not like or admire the Church.
He does not belong to it, and does not
want to. 1t is not among the national
Institutions that stir his pride. He
does not take this attitude defantly,
knowing it to be wrong and yet choos-
ing it. He regards the Church as a
negligible quantity He neither fears
nor loves It. 1t has for him no voice
of authority. He has never been i'm
pressed by its corporate acts, and its
life in detail seems to him petty and
dulI. The men he most respects are
often not in it and great many men
whom he despises are. To his virle
nature it makes no impressive appeal.
That IS the blunt truth"
New-York tribune., 1918-08-04
| ributes to
The Troops

Entire columns could be filled with
the tributes to the troops written by
the chaplains One of the scholarly
commentators, the Rev. Neville 5. Tad
bot, in "Thouehts on Religion at the
Front" makes this discriminating sum
mary:
"On the whole, | venture to say.
there is not q great revival OF the
Christian religion at the front. Yet
am eager to acclaim the wonderful
quality OF spirit winch men OF our
race display in this war, and to claim
1t as Christian and God-insp spired.
Deep in their hearts is a great trust
and faith in God, 1t IS an lnarticu-
late faith expressed in deeds. The
top levels. as it were, Of their con-
seriousness are much filed with
grumbing and foul language and
physical occupations; but beneath lie
deep spiritual springs, whence issue
their cheertulness, stubbornness,
patience, generosity, humility and
willingness to suffer ard to die. They
declare by what they are and do that
there is worth Wilderness in effort
and sacrifice.
at is grand fibre or grain of
British nature which the war has
exposed 1t is lnwrought with
Christian eXcellences Of humility,
unselfshness. fortitude and all that
makes a good comrade. 1t is precious
stuff Let there be no talk hereafter
Of the decadence of the race. Let no
one dare to disparage the masses 9
our people; nor let any one, through
class ignorance or prejudice or fear,
.
are priceless raw material. As have
hoVered in seeming prestly mpo-
tence over miracles of cheerful pa
tlenca living on stretchers IN dress