The Declaration and Appeal which follows was presented to the congregation of the Church of Christ, at Erin, Ontario, on Sunday, March 31, 1935, and was unanimously ratified. We have thought your readers might be interested in knowing what we have done to prepare for war.-H. L. Richardson [on Richardson, see Butchart: 428, 482, 488, 543, 544, 551, 596, 597, 598, 608, 609, 610, 629 --EDITOR].

Know all men by these presents:-

That we, the membership of the Church of Christ (Disciples) worshipping at Erin, Ontario, Canada, hereby affirm that we firmly believe in Jehovah God and that allegiance to Him must come first. Therefore, if the laws enacted by men conflict with the laws of God and of Christ, we "must obey God rather than men."

Jesus taught us to "Love our enemies," 'do good to them that hate you," and "All things whatsoever ye would that men should do unto you, even so do ye also unto them." He declared before Pilate: "My kingdom is not of this world: If my kingdom were of this world, then would my servants fight that I should not be delivered to the Jews." We believe that when Christ sheathed the sword of Peter in the Garden of Gethsemane, He sheathed the sword of every Christian. Through the Apostle Paul, the Holy Spirit has given us this instruction: "Render to no man evil for evil, ... Avenge not yourselves, beloved, . . . But if thine enemy hunger, feed him; if he thirst, give him to drink; for so doing thou shalt heap coals of fire upon his head;" and "the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh, but mighty before God."

We hereby declare, and wish to go on record as steadfastly, conscientiously opposed to carnal warfare in all of its horror and destruction of human life; and that holding these convictions, it would be impossible for us, without direct disobedience to Jehovah our God and our Savior Jesus Christ, and without violation of our Christian conscience, to carry arms or to engage in any conflict where we would be compelled to take human life.

But we wish also to go on record that in case this Dominion of Canada be at any time engaged in war, we will gladly offer our services as non-combatants for relief of suffering and for preservation of life; and will loyally serve in any such manner that will help to mitigate the horrors and sufferings that inevitably accompany mortal combat.

Therefore, in the event of Canada becoming involved in another war, we respectfully request that our young men be granted the same immunity from combative service as that granted to the Society of Friends (Quakers) and similar groups of truly conscientious objectors during the last war.

We wish to assure our Government of our loyalty, and that we denounce all hypocrisy on the part of shirkers who would use this resolution as a cloak. We shall willingly certify members in good standing in this unit of the church.