What then is the tragedy? Not the rape of Belgium, not the cynical butchery of Armenians and Syrians, not the agonies of the battlefield, the squalor and want of the prison camp; but the age-long warfare between good and evil, the rebellion of man against his Maker. Calvary portrays the climax of its awfulness, the indescribable outrage and blasphemy of it, but its full reality is only declared in the thoughts, words and deeds of the whole sinful human race, as heaven knows them.

There are many millions of souls of men to-day who are consciously disobeying God, defying conscience, and wilfully pursuing the way of worldly selfishness. Do I mean the German, Austrian and Turkish peoples, and their rulers? Aye, but not less the great mass of the world's population, just such common folk as you and I.

An unending file of souls is passing from the stage of this earth's existence day after day. Naturally you think first of that pathetic list of brave men who are, without a moment's holding back, offering their life-blood for their country on the battlefields of Europe. Besides all these there are many more, men and women and children, death's regular daily toll of humanity. One by one they are brought face to face with their Judge. This man is found to have entered the spirit realm without a wedding garment. When asked how he had presumed to do so, he is speechless. Hear his sentence. "Bind him hand and foot, and take him away, and cast him into outer darkness; there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth." This one was an unforgiving servant, who, after being released from an enormous debt, would thrust a fellow servant into prison for failure to return a trifling loan. With him his Lord was wroth, and delivered him to the tormentors, till he should pay all that was due unto Him. These five were foolish virgins, who had neglected to take oil in their vessels with their lamps, when they went out to meet the Bridegroom. To them, knocking for admission to the wedding feast, the Lord answers: "Verily I say unto you, I know you not." These zealous workers in the kingdom, as they stand before the judgment seat, protest: 'Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Thy name? And in Thy name have cast out devils? And in Thy name done many

wonderful works? And He will profess unto them, I never knew you; depart from me, ye that work iniquity." Of one of the twelve Apostles, our Lord said, "Good were it for that man if he had never been born." We do not know the number of the lost souls in hell. We do know that there are many saved, a great multitude that no man could number. What then are we to think of the Master's warning: "Wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat; because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it."

In such solemn sayings of our Lord as these we have the real tragedy of life, the utter loss in hell of a terribly large proportion of the race. Very likely it may be true that in the past three years a larger number of souls have been cast out, because of their sins, and their impenitence, into the outer darkness, forasmuch as the number of men summoned by death into judgment has been enormously increased by the war, but there is no reason we should suppose that the proportion of the lost to the saved is larger than at other periods in the past. The natural man points with horror to the atrocities of which our enemies are guilty. The spiritual man recalls the Master's words: "Suppose ye that these Galilaeans were sinners above all the Galilaeans, because they suffered such things? Or those eighteen upon whom the tower in Siloam fell, and slew them, think ye that they were sinners above all that dwelt in Jerusalem? I tell you, Nay! but, except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish." The tragedy is that everyone who has died impenitent is perishing everlastingly, and that everyone who is now unfaithful to God, is surely on the way to eternal woe, unless he shall repent before death. There is reason to suspect that a very large proportion of men do die impenitent. In view of that fact the temporary horrors of the war as we know them, sink into insignificance.

The startling thing is that we Christians are very little concerned about the sinfulness and impenitence of the larger part of mankind. Before the great war broke out most of us would

have maintained that our earth was a very tolerable place to live in. No doubt there was then a great deal of sin, and misery following it, but at least the most outrageous forms of sin were frowned upon by decent people, and were compelled to hide themselves. Bishops and priests were not weary of telling us that the human race was growing better by leaps and bounds, that the day was already dawning which should see the kingdoms of this world become the kingdoms of our Lord and of His Christ. The war has opened our eyes. It has proclaimed with startling distinctness that poor humanity is very far gone from original righteousness. The world lies in sin and wickedness as it always has since Adam fell. This awful catastrophe of our day is but the eruption of the volcano, which discloses the hidden fires at the world's heart, and which are ceaselessly raging there beneath the crust on which we dwell.

Then some one says: If I felt as you concerning the depravity of the human race, I could not know a happy moment. As some strong man who has marvellously escaped in a railroad wreck, in which scores of others have perished outright, while many more have been wounded and lie pinned under the debris, and now perhaps are threatened by the flames which are roaring furiously through the broken cars, realizes that he must devote himself tirelessly to the work of rescue, never allowing himself a moment's respite till he has dragged from the flames every unfortunate whom he can reach - so ought the believer to live the hardest and most self-denying life, ever spurring himself on to undertake something further for the salvation of his fellows. Many feel that such an attitude is demanded by the conditions of this awful war. They say that one ought to deny himself everything save the barest necessities of existence, in order to have the more to give in succor of the perishing: that he should fast and pray and work without ceasing to make the sorrows of battles' victims less intolerable. It is a fine spirit; doubtless the spirit which the true servants of God feel they should seek after in view of the fearful might of the kingdom of evil in the world. Yet I do not believe that God asks such heroic service of most of His children. We are

not to forget that the cause is His; He has constituted Himself our champion, and has made our quarrel with the Evil One His own. Is all our struggling and striving then needless? If our champion can fight His fight without our puny aid, why does He require us to put on the whole armor of God, and to resist the enemy even unto death? Surely first for our sakes, in order that we may demonstrate our loyalty where such demonstration is worth while, that is, in the eyes of our fellows; and that we may develop our own loyal service by practice more and more till we become wholly our Lord's people.

The gaining of the true perspective for the understanding of the world's misery in these war times, ought to help our peace of mind, and to strengthen our faith. We need not sorrow overmuch because of the great tragedy. That which matters is the reign of sin in human souls, not the graves in France and Flanders, nor the aching hearts of bereaved ones the world over. Our constant thought should be of the souls that are passing, while our hearts should be frequently lifted up in prayer in their behalf. One likes to think that the grim experiences of the fearful conflict have sobered many a thoughtless worldling, many a reckless sinner, and made such hitherto heedless ones turn in the hour of death to God with a cry for mercy. I believe there are many more souls accepted at their judgment in these present days, than had the great war never come. Even in the cases where unthinking, perhaps sinning men, have been hurried away by shot or shell without an instant for repentance, one may feel that their spendid heroism, and unselfish sacrifice for country, home, and dear ones has weighed heavily in their favor at the bar of God.

And the multitudes of bereaved ones, widows and orphans, upon whom war's ruthless hand has fallen so grievously may be blessed, through their poignant misery, more richly than had they not been called to endure so much. "Blessed are ye that weep now," says the Master," for ye shall laugh." If their sorrows turn their souls to the Lord of sorrows, are they not blessed? It is likely that many could only be turned to Him through great tribulation.

The recognition of the true perspective of the war-tragedy ought to move us one and all powerfully to more genuine personal religion. Our eyes have been opened to the real things, and we were in no small peril of blindness to them. That which shall befall us during the few years of our sojourn here, matters little in view of the eternal realities to which we are hastening. And the particular way in which death shall summon each one of us, when God wants us, is of little moment in comparison of the issue of the trial which determines our destiny for all eternity.

The genuine heart religion which is our one security, besides the effort to have always a good conscience in the sight of God, includes a persistent striving to further the course of the divine gospel in the world. We must of course give of our means prodigally to sustain the government in the colossal expenditure of the war. We must of course give ungrudgingly of our time and energy to further the welfare and comfort of the gallant fighters at the front. But, quite as much, must we do all that lies in our power to see that priests, and the means of grace, are within the reach of all our soldiers and sailors, against the hour of their overwhelming need.

Most of all must we continually intercede, and offer the All-holy Sacrifice, on behalf of such as are exposed to death, that God may keep them close, and look favorably upon them when they appear before Him for judgment.

If we strive to think of the war after this sort, its outward tragedy sinks into insignificance alongside the vast realities of the world to come so inextricably involved in it all. And in this true perspective the servant of Christ shall not find despair but very confident hope. Arthur Ritchie.

The sacramental system of the Church, with all those external adjuncts which that system has gathered around it, points, like a great cathedral, through material to spiritual things.

Illingworth.