THOUGHTS ON RELIGION
AT THE FRONT
MACMILLAN AND CO., Limited
LONDON · BOMBAY · CALCUTTA · MADRAS
MELBOURNE
THE MACMILLAN COMPANY
NEW YORK · BOSTON · CHICAGO
DALLAS · SAN FRANCISCO
THE MACMILLAN CO. OF CANADA, Ltd.
TORONTO
THOUGHTS ON
RELIGION AT THE
FRONT
BY
The Rev. NEVILLE S. TALBOT
ASSISTANT CHAPLAIN-GENERAL
LATE RIFLE BRIGADE
FORMERLY FELLOW AND CHAPLAIN OF BALLIOL
AUTHOR OF 'THE MIND OF THE DISCIPLES'
MACMILLAN AND CO., LIMITED
ST. MARTIN'S STREET, LONDON
1917
COPYRIGHT
First Edition January 1917
Reprinted March, April and November 1917
PREFACE
I send out this little and fragmentary book with the consciousness thatit calls for apology. I have had to write it hastily during a shortperiod of leave. Yet it touches upon great subjects which deserve thereverence of leisurely writing. Ought I not, then, to have waited forthe leisure of days after the war? I think not. Such days may nevercome. And, in any case, now is the time for the Church to thinkintently about the war and its issues, and to learn from them. TheChurch is far more than a department of 'the services,' the resources ofwhich it is[Pg vi] convenient to mobilise as so much more munition of war. Sheis the perpetual protagonist in the world of the Kingdom of God. War forher, if for nobody else, should be an apocalypse, that is, a vision ofrealities for which at all times she is bound to fight, of which,nevertheless, she is apt to lose sight during the engrossments of peace.It is as lit up by the cruel light of war's conflagrations that thethings concerning the Kingdom must be seized anew. If anybody hasthoughts which he feels he must share with others, he should notpostpone doing so. He should communicate his thoughts to others in orderthat he may learn from their comments and criticism. I can claim, whilstasking pardon for whatever may offend in them, that the thoughtsrepresented by the following pages have[Pg vii] not been come by hastily, buthave been growing in my mind during the long months at the front sincethe beginning of the war. They have, so to say, been hammered out asmetal upon the anvil of war.
They are thoughts about religion. Nothing is so important as religion;nothing is more potent than true ideas in religion. Deep fountains ofreal religion—of simple and unself-prizing faith—have been unsealed bythe convulsion of war. Yet this religion is weak in ideas, and some ofthe ideas with which it is bound up are wrong ideas. Men of our race arevery sure that it matters more what a man is than what he thinks.British religion is deep and rich, but it is, characteristically, deeperand richer in what it is than in what it knows itself to be.[Pg viii] It sorelyneeds a mind of strong and compelling conviction. If these pages were tohelp ever so few readers towards being possessed anew of the truth ofthe Gospel of God in Christ, their appearance would be justified.
I have written, perhaps, as one who dreads saying 'Peace, where there isno peace.' I would rather err on the side of emphasising criticism anddifficulty than the o