The older generation amongst us will recognise these two statements as being oft-used phrases by the pioneers of the Restoration Movement to emphasise the importance of the New Testament as the basis for belief and practice.

      They were mainly used to support doctrinal exegesis, and practices relating thereto, of Biblical truth in relation to the plea for Christian Unity as understood at that time.

      Today these two 'principles' still have deep significance for our own thinking and practice, but have much deeper and wider application than when they were coined.

      For many years these two declarations formed the frequent theme in the English home of a lad where religious discussion was the rule, they were heard from the pulpit and open air meetings where the doctrinal controversies of his day predominated, and have remained in memory when much of such teaching has been forgotten or interpreted differently.

      This lad shared in the excitement, during his schooldays, of the Boer War period, participated in all the patriotic demonstrations, including the fervent singing of "Soldiers of the Queen" and the "Absent Minded Beggar," this spirit having also permeated his home life. In many schoolboy fights, both individual and group this lad enthusiastically shared.

      Then came a day when the lad discontinued attendance at Sunday School and Band of Hope, when attendance at Church services first became infrequent then ceased altogether, and the influences of a Christian home neglected. Some years of wilful neglect of all higher influences followed. Interest in sport and superficial politics included constant teenage escapades.

      But one habit persisted through all these years--an insatiable desire to read all kinds of matter in print. Many hundreds of comics, adventure stories, light novels, were read up to the later teenage, when a gradual change began towards the political pages of the newspapers, the better type of novels, and still later, to books on varied serious subjects.

      From this, almost subconsciously, was reawakened an interest in religious matters, eventually leading to re-attendance at Church services, and, finally, to acceptance of Jesus as Lord and Saviour. However, there was no ecstatic mystical experience in this 'conversion,' notwithstanding the whole atmosphere of church association in which it took place being a fundamentalist evangelical fervour. But it did effect a complete change of life, resulting in a whole-hearted interest, and active engagement, in all the services and affairs of church life.

      After about four years of this experience important events occurred in this now young man's life. He secured his first executive business appointment of a fairly responsible nature, was married a year or two later, and a first child was born in September 1914, one month after declaration of World War I. Throughout, all his free time from business was given to some church activity, and the reading habit persisted.

      During the early months of World War I this young man declared to the Church congregation his personal

attitude to the question of military service, and, guided by his understanding of Christian teaching, then claimed unreadiness to take part in the war effort. This was accepted, at that time, as the logical attitude for all Christians to adopt, but, following the increase of patriotic fervour which dominated most of life as the war progressed, and casualties increased so enormously, the popular attitude gradually permeated his own local church fellowship, and his active part in Church affairs was progressively limited, then ceased altogether.

      This was the general background of this young man and his wife with which to face the National Military Conscription Act of 1916.

      Now, the declarations relating to scriptural interpretation, so frequently heard during the years, particularly the demand to have a "Thus saith the Lord for all we do and practise" came to have a vitally new meaning and application. So, with the loving and loyal support of his wife, the young man decided not to obey the military call-up, and after a number of official Court hearings his conscientious objection was accepted by the authorities conditional upon other work of national importance being undertaken, and thus began a period of farm work until some time after the war ended.

      Was this decision of this young Christian man the right one?

      Let us endeavour to evaluate this from the principle stated by Bertrand Russell that "A war cannot be judged by its causes, but only, if at all, by its effects," and from that more penetrating comment by Jesus "By their fruits shall ye know them," together with the positive statement of the Apostle Paul to the Galatians "The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith."

World War I--1914-18.

      "It is with awe that one looks on the silent Hohenzollern system now, where trenches for many days were choked with dead . . . The dead lay as if emptied out of sacks into the pits, into the trenches, some head downward, some with legs alone visible. Whilst in London crowds glided along . . . talking of anything and everything happily, snugly--away out there in the darkness lay such a scene."

      "It used to be a common saying that from the moment you stepped off at Havre you were a slave. You walked in the chains of the war. Men's hearts hardened . . . Their minds fell victim to a dull passivity or false boisterousness. They grew more and mor e dirty and came out in boils . . . The war was a Bacchanalia for the animal in man."

(Stephen Graham--1921)

      "War is not glorious, though oftentimes in war men are. One who knows what really is happening on European battlefields today and calls war glorious is morally unsound. Says an eye-witness--'Last night, at an officers' mess there was great laughter at the story of one of our men who had spent his last cartridge in defending an attack. "Hand me down your spade, Mike," he said; and as six Germans came one by one round the end of a traverse, he split each man's skull open with a deadly blow.' That is war."

      "War is not the gay color, the rhythmic movement, the thrilling music of the military parade. War is not even killing gallantly as knights once did, matched evenly in armour and in steel, and fighting by the rules of chivalry. War now is dropping bombs from aeroplanes and killing women and children in their beds . . . it is launching clouds of poisoned gas and slaying men with their own breath . . . It means men with jaws gone, eyes gone, limbs gone, minds gone . . . it means mothers who look for letters they will never see, and wives who wait for voices they will never hear, and children who listen for footsteps that will never come . . . It's heroisms are but

      glancing sunlight on a sea of blood and tears--and a man who calls it glorious is mad."

(Dr. Harry Fosdick--1917)

      "And now we come to the battle (Passchendaele) which, with the Somme and Verdun, will always rank as the most gigantic, tenacious, grim, futile and bloody fights ever waged in the history of war. Each of these battles lasted for months, None of them attained the object for which they were fought . . . Taken together they were responsible for the slaughter or mutilation of between two and three million of brave men . . . The tale of these battles constitutes a trilogy illustrating the unquenchable heroism that will never accept defeat, and the inexhaustible vanity that will never admit a mistake. It is the story of the millions who would rather die than own themselves cowards--even to themselves--and also of the two or three individuals who would rather the millions perish than that they as leaders should own--even to themselves--that they were blunderers . . . The gigantic casualties of Passchendaele pressed down the Allied end of the grisly scales appreciably. Our military leaders had acquired the habit of prodigality in their expenditure of life."

(D. Lloyd George--War Memoirs--1938)

      The total casualties of Allied and Enemy countries in World War I are quoted by. Kirby Page in his book "War, Its Causes, Consequences and Cure" (1923) as follows:--

      Mr. Page pointed out that based on official estimates of the percentage of "Prisoners or Missing" that could be presumed to be dead, the total death roll should be increased by 2,991,800, making the total dead 12,990,571, and that these figures include only the casualties of 'men under arms.' Mr. Kirby Page further quotes, Professor Bogart as saying:

      "It may fairly be estimated that the loss of civilians due directly the war, or to causes induced by war, equals, if indeed it does not exceed, that suffered by the armies in the field. In view of the facts cited, such an estimate must be regarded as conservative."

      This, adds Mr. Page, would add 13 million to the death roll of the war, and continues the quotation from Professor Bogart as follows:--

      "One of the most serious costs of the war is found in its biological aspects. The 13 million dead soldiers included an extraordinary high percentage of the best manhood of the nations. The weaklings and degenerates were rejected. The strongest, keenest, and the most upright, lost their lives in appalling numbers. It is too soon to measure the cost of this sacrifice of the best young life of the world."

      A statement published by the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace gives the direct costs of the War to all belligerents as amounting to the fantastic sum of 208,405851,222 dollars, or approximately 42 thousand million pounds sterling in the value of the dollar to the pound sterling at that time. This, as pointed out in the statement, is equivalent to £4000 for every hour since Christ was born or £1,800,000 per hour of the war's duration.

      Professor Nicholas Murray Butler estimated that the money cost of World War I "could have built a 2,500 dollar house, furnished it with 1,000 dollars worth of furniture, placed it in five acres of land worth 100 dollars an acre, and given this home to each family in the U.S.A., Canada, Australia, England, Wales, Ireland, Scotland, Prance, Belgium, Germany and Russia. We could have given to each city of 20,000 inhabitants

and over, in each country named, a five million dollar University. Out of what was left we could set aside a sum at five per cent that would provide a 1,000 dollar yearly salary for 125000 teachers, and a like salary for 125,000 nurses."

      What an uplifting prospect against the wastefulness of the war!

      Was the Christian young man we refer to right or wrong to avoid complicity in such happenings? Now we should bring to mind the professed aims of the First World War. Pages of quotations from varied sources could be given in this connection, but suffice it to indicate these aims by one or two widely used phrases constantly heard in the Press, from the Public Platforms and the Pulpits during the War. Even many of the present generation will recognise these phrases in connection with World War I.

      These slogans epitomise the general appeal to the allied peoples by the State and other authorities. The Church also used them but added religions appeals, as illustrated by a quotation or two from sermons by high Church Leaders.

      The Bishop of Bristol in October 1914 stated:--

      "Nothing is more encouraging than the realisation by so many people that this war is spiritual in character. Many of us have prayed for a religious revival. We have longed for it. It is startling if we have only eyes to see it. The opportunity is great. We must foster that spirit."

      Canon Scott Holland in January 1915 declared:--

      "The war has come to us in open and honorable fashion. It brought us a perfectly clear charge, to defend the right, to stand up for freedom, to shield the weak . . . We have been caught up into the flame of the Eternal Will."

      Is it not fitting that we ask ourselves whether the monstrous sacrifice of life and prodigious expenditure of treasure, indicated above, achieved the ideals expressed by State and Church, remembering the principle "By their fruits shall ye know them?"

"A World sale for Democracy."

      The Armistice of 1918 was arrived at on the universal acceptance of President Wilson's Fourteen Points, which promised a reasonable peace. The snap General Election in Britain immediately following the war elected the last Lloyd George Government on a planned campaign to capitalise the unnatural emotions developed during the war, by use of such degrading catch-cries of "Hang the Kaiser" and "Bleed Germany until the pips squeak." From such sources Lloyd George was led to support 'Tiger' Clemenceau, the French Prime Minister in preventing President Wilson including the spirit of the Armistice terms into the Peace Treaty of Versailles, a treaty which showed neither common sense, reality or any spirit of true democracy.

      The League of Nations was set up with many hopes that it would achieve amity amongst the nations and a large measure of general disarmament, both factors desired by the mass of people of every country. Conference after Conference was held. Quibbles amongst the Service experts upon details of armaments, tonnage of ships, took months of discussion, and being mainly kept from the peoples, no satisfactory solutions were found. A major defeat for Democracy affecting the whole world!

      A further General Election in Britain brought the first Baldwin Government into being largely on the promise of disarmament, the electorate. however, in the last stages of the election, being stampeded by the anti-Russian cry and the Russian

Zinoviev letter which was later found to be a forgery. And then, against the election promises, began talk of rearmament, not only by Britain, but by all nations, including the ex-enemy Germany, the latter being assisted by extensive loans from Britain and America. Again, a defeat for Democracy!

      The situation in this connection is reflected by Francis Nitti, a former Prime Minister of Italy, stating in 1923:--

      "Countries which were democratic until yesterday are now pervaded by the spirit of reaction and violence. These are countries of Europe which were free until yesterday and in which there is no longer a Parliament or a free press."

      Also by Sir Norman Angell who, later in 1937, could say:--

      "But the war which was fought to make the world safe for democracy has been followed by a veritable epidemic of dictatorships; by a more definite repudiation of the whole principle and theory of democracy than at any period since Athens."

"A War to make the World fit for Heroes to live in."

      Was this achieved? The defeat of Democracy ensured that this aim also was not achieved. Most who read this cannot have forgotten the 1921/2 economic depression and the much greater 1929/33 economic upheaval with its tragedies, individual and mass, throughout the wide world. Unemployment queues; the miserable pittance as dole; the hunger marches; the heart-breaking frustrations; the fears and bitterness. Whole industrial areas closed down. All the aftermath of the war, and the misconceived peace treaties. The Heroes neglected!

"A War to End War."

      Is it necessary to write anything at all under such a heading as this? Without mentioning the number of minor conflicts the world experienced between the two World Wars, we had the Turko-Greek War, the Italo-Abyssinia War, and the China-Japanese War. The bitterest disillusion of all, and the greatest indictment of World War I is surely the failure to justify the heroism and sacrifice of the millions who believed the leaders of the nations really meant what this slogan so specifically promised.

1923-1939.

      The young man previously referred to, now mature with two children, migrated to Australia in 1923 in the hope of commencing a new life freed from associations so intimately tied in with the war and it effects. But continued interest in international and national affairs intensified his concern regarding the trend towards further major disturbances. It now became apparent that one vital factor, developed during World War I, the significance of which was not generally appreciated, was again revealing itself in peace time. The 'Propaganda' weapon was now used to turn friends into enemies and enemies into friends, instead of using its power towards the reconciliation of all peoples, and fulfilment of the declared war aims, in an increasingly developing interdependent world.

      The anti-communist cry became prevalent, leading to the rearmament of Germany as a 'bulwark against communism.' Japanese Italian, Spanish and German aggressions were condoned and rationalised. Disarmament Conferences were soft-pedalled to the public and largely sabotaged by the giant armament interests, as evidenced by the British Royal Commission on the Private Manufacture of and Trading in Arms held in 1936, and the Hearings of the Nye Commission in the United States of earlier date. One quotation from Mr. Philip Noel Baker, who was British Parliamentary Secretary for Foreign Affairs in 1929/31 and personal Assistant to the President of the Disarmament Conferences of

1932/3, in his book "The Private Manufacture of Armaments" (1936), is sufficiently authoritative to justify this contention, where he categorically states:--

      ". . . we have absolute proof that one Armament Firm was prepared to give its agent leave of absence to attend a Disarmament conference and work against its success. We have proof that considerable groups of vested interests did for several years actually employ an agent to work against Disarmament, arbitration and all the policies labelled Pacifist."

      Every effort was taken by the man we have referred to in the limited sphere available to him, particularly amongst his church associations, to emphasise the evils of war and militarism, and the growing menace to the peace of the world.

      During these years a growing general awareness of this menace apparent, mainly through secular sources and the increased emphasis given the matter amongst the churches throughout the world. Synods and Conferences of almost all Protestant communions regularly passed resolutions denouncing war as "incompatible with the Spirit of Jesus Christ."

      Unfortunately, the rapid increase of armaments of all Western and some Asian countries continued apace, and "propaganda" to justify such was unsparing.

      International and national social and economic problems were not negotiated in any spirit akin to the Christian teaching of the Universality of mankind but in national sectional interests. So, by acquiescence of peoples misled by the 'Propaganda' weapon, and the direct assistance of powerful States, the ideologies of Fascism and Nazism developed and grew to a terrifying extent in West and East. And with all the millions of treasure and billions of man hours spent on armaments to ensure Peace, September 1939 came with a shock to the whole world.

      Again the young man previously referred to, now in his late middle-age, was required to take a major decision. Had anything transpired during the intervening years to cause a modification of his earlier convictions, or his decision to keep free from any direct participation in the struggle? The very failures emanating from World War I, the dire consequences seen as arising from dependence on armaments, and above all his desire to remain loyal to his conception of Christ's will, gave added pertinence to his earlier convictions, and again steps were taken, with the continued loyal support of his wife, to avoid any form of direct participation in World War Il.

World War II--1939-1945.

      Nothing would now need to be said to emphasise the activities and effects of this period were it not that our minds seem to, so easily forget past history in this connection, and appear so easily prevailed upon by the continued 'Propaganda' weapon, which so early after the war ended again used its power to turn enemies into friends and its friends into enemies--emphasising discord instead of reconciliation.

      So, as with World War I let us remind ourselves of some factors of these six years of the world's travail, and try again to evaluate the happenings by the statement "By their fruits shall ye know them."

      "The Blitzkreig burst on London last night . . . Dockland was again attacked, but for the most part the bombing for several hours was indiscriminate . . . Nevertheless much damage was done, and the casualties were high,--the first estimate is about 400 killed and between 1300 and 1400 seriously injured.

      "Many heavy bombs were dropped in central London. Three hospitals

      are among the institutions bombed.

      "During the first half of September about 2000 civilians were killed and about 8000 wounded by air bombardment. Four fifths of these casualties were in London."

(London Sunday Times--8th, 9th, 17th, Sept. 1940).

      ". . . we reached the suburbs of Warsaw. The factories and working class houses were in ruins. Debris obstructed the streets causing bottle-necks of traffic jams, where the drivers abused and cursed each other . . . The air was foul with a horrible smell of decomposition. Fifty thousand bodies were still under the ruins or hastily buried in the public gardens . . . Gangs of men worked ceaselessly to recover the bodies which were afterwards cremated or buried in common graves . . . Out of 18,000 houses no less than 8,000 had been completely destroyed. Amidst these terrible ruins wandered crowds of miserable, trembling, and hungry people."

(Marcel Junod--a Red Cross Doctor, in his book "Warrior without Weapons"--1951).

      "When dawn broke over the great German port of Hamburg on August 3rd, 1943, it revealed a city of the dead. Hamburg--a city the same size as Melbourne--had been the target for 8,600 tons of Royal Air Force bombs. In four mammoth raids R.A.F Bomber Command almost wiped out the city. About 42,000 people were killed in this most terrible blitz of the European war . . . Hundreds were blown into the flames by the wind . . . The most agonising fate was suffered by the victims of phosphorous bombs, who were plastered by burning globules that ate into their flesh . . . The dead totalled the staggering figure of 42,000, and the injured 37,439, many of whom died later from burns, wounds, and carbon-monoxide poisoning. In one week, Bomber Command had poured into Hamburg 1200 huge land mines, 25,000 high explosive bombs, three million incendiaries and 100,000 phosphorous bombs."

(Melbourne 'Herald'--16th Oct. 1956).

      ". . . the enormous number of factories wrecked (in the Soviet Union), nearly half the State farms and machine and tractor stations destroyed, 98,000 out of the 236,000 collective farms wrecked and plundered of all their property, the tens of thousands of railway stations, hospitals, clinics, schools, and libraries burned down or blown up, the millions of horses, cattle, sheep, and pigs killed or driven off by the Germans, the 4,700,000 dwelling houses destroyed in town or country . . . the more than 7,000,000 soldiers dead . . . "

(Andrew Rothstein--"History of the U.S.S.R.", Pelican Edition--1950).

      "On Monday August 6th 1945, a new era in human history opened . . . By a decision of the American authorities, made, it is said, in defiance of the protests of many of the scientists who had worked on the project, an atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima. As a direct result, some 60,000 Japanese men, women and children were killed, and 100,000 injured; and almost the whole of a great seaport, a city of 250,000 people, was destroyed by blast or by fire."

(Introduction to 'Hiroshima' by John Hersey--Penguin Edition--1946).

      "Suddenly a glaring whitish pinkish light appeared in the sky accompanied by an unnatural tremor which was followed almost immediately by a wave of suffocating heat and a wind which swept away everything in its path. Within a few seconds the thousands of people in the streets were scorched by a wave of searing heat. Many were killed instantly, others lay writhing on the ground screaming in agony from the intolerable pain of burns

". . . Horses, dogs and cattle suffered the same fate as human beings. Every living thing was petrified in an attitude of indescribable suffering . . . Up to about three miles from the centre of the explosion lightly built houses were flattened as though they had been built of cardboard. Those who were inside were either killed or wounded . . . And the few who succeeded in making their way to safety generally died twenty or thirty days later from the delayed effects of the deadly Gamma rays. About half an hour after the explosion, (from the cloudless sky) a fine rain began to fall on the town . . . It was caused by the sudden rise of overheated air to a great height, where it condensed and fell back as rain. The violent wind rose and the fires extended with terrible rapidity . . . By the evening the fire began to die down and then it went out. There was nothing left to burn. Hiroshima had ceased to exist."

(Quotation from eye-witness account by Marcel Junod, Red Cross Doctor in "Warrior without Weapons"--1951).

      "One of the brutal truths of war is that it places defenceless children in the front line of battle. After World War II the United Nations Children's Emergency Fund had on its hands at least thirty million starving ragged homeless pitiful waifs."

("Pix"--24th February, 1951)

      What does all this demonstrate but an extreme retrogression to barbarism of "Western" morality. In the lifetime of many of us we have seen this crescendo of the brutality of war. The Boer War commenced as a war practically solely between recognised armed fighting units only. It ended with the scorched earth and concentration camp policy of Lord Kitchener. World War I commenced more or less similarly, but ended in indiscriminate killing and bombing and use of poison gas. The part of women in war has degenerated from the Florence Nightingale aspect to active part in munition making and in the auxiliary services of the fighting units.

      World War II saw all these factors terribly intensified to the wholesale massacre of civilians, men, women and children, no part of the fighting areas being immune. Women for the first time were conscripted, not only for the auxiliary non-combatant services, but for active combatant fighting units also.

      This retrogression of morals is strikingly demonstrated by two statements of Winston Churchill as Prime Minister of Britain. In July 1940, he declared "the obliterative bombing of cities is a new and odious form of warfare," but in September, 1943 he again declared, "there are no lengths of violence to which we will not go."

      And so we saw the devastation of Europe, Japan, and later Korea, which all experienced the brutality of indiscriminate bombing with high explosives, incendiary bombs, and the fiendish napalm bombs. A generation ago all such ghoulish met hods would have shocked the conscience of humanity and especially of Christian peoples, but we now appear quite complacent about such lowering of moral standards.

      It is difficult to obtain a detailed analysis of the number of casualties or expenditure of treasure during World War II, but the following quotation from Howard K. Smith, an American Journalist of worldwide renown, from his book "The State of Europe" (1950), shows in general terms this tragic aspect:

      "World War II was more disastrously a complete world-wide war than World War I. It cost, it is estimated, more than all the past wars Europe had fought since the Middle Ages together. A provisory estimate in money terms made by the Bank for International Settlements in 1946 set the cost at £338

thousand million . . . America alone spent as much on World War II as all the nations of the world spent on World War I. In terms of casualties it cost 60 million people . . . 20 million were killed . . . By air bombings and by the Nazi policy of 'liquidating' inferior races, it is estimated that seven to thirteen million civilians were killed . . . Social disruption among those who remained alive was immeasurably greater. It is reckoned that throughout the war a quarter of the people of Europe were uprooted by removal as slave labor, by being harnessed into invasion armies or by flight from persecution."

      An estimate by General Marshall of the United States gives a figure of 15,600,000 soldiers killed, including 7,500,000 of Russia (1 for every 22 inhabitants), 760,000 of the British Commonwealth (1 for every 130), and 296,000 of the U.S.A., (1 for every 500 inhabitants). With this second experience of such monstrous sacrifice of life and prodigious expenditure of treasure, must we not again question its results. Have the aims, declared by Statesmen, Press and Church, been achieved in this second major attempt to improve civilised living by use of military force? Have President Roosevelt's Four Freedoms been achieved?

"Freedom of Speech and Expression"--Do we need reminding of the activities of McCarthyism, and the un-American Committee's activities in America; the extension of so-called Security Measures amongst Western countries; the smearing of every form of progressive ideas and criticism of the status quo as being Communist inspired; do we need reminding of these factors in our daily life to emphasise the departure from the relative freedom of pre-Nazi days?

"Freedom of Worship"--Whilst amongst the more enlightened Western nations it can be granted this freedom continues, it still does not exist in many areas of the world, not alone in the Eastern sphere, but in many areas allied in some form or another to the Western sphere. And it would be salutary for us to ask ourselves what the result would be even in the Western sphere if the Church as an institution boldly declared herself for th e revolutionary content of the full Gospel as proclaimed by a few, but individual, leading members of the Church. The outcome of the courageous attitude of all the Churches in South Africa in their witness against the Government's iniquitous racial policy should be watched with keen interest.

"Freedom from Want"--It is authoritatively accepted that at least one third of the world's population still exist below the 'bread line'; that hundreds of thousands, perhaps millions, of 'refugees' still require rehabilitation from extreme poverty and despair. Limitation of space prevents particularisation of the harrowing conditions under which millions of our fellows exist today, but readers of the religious press alone have some slight indication of such conditions from the appeals of Inter-Church Aid sponsored by the World Council of Churches. Recently we have been reminded of the 900,000 Arab refugees on the Israel border, the cause of much tension in the Middle East.

"Freedom from Fear"--With the experience of the whole period from 1945 to the present, and the dreadful potential of atomic warfare continually before us, it is surely only necessary to mention this subject to indicate the absolute failure of military force to meet its claims in this regard. Under this heading one should perhaps refer to one other major claim of the war propaganda--the

"Destruction of Militarism"

      Again in the light of events since 1945 is it necessary to elaborate upon the utter falsity of this claim?

      The rearming of Germany, Italy, Japan and Spain and many other

countries; the militarisation of hundreds of areas throughout the world; the Korean and Indo-China Wars, the activities in Algeria, Cyprus, Malaya, East Africa, Hungary, Yemen, Suez, and Oman; the military coups frequently being reported in many areas such as British Honduras, Guatemala, South East Asia; the increasing influence of military leaders in national and international affairs; all indicate beyond any doubt that Militarism has a greater hold on world affairs than ever before in modern history.

      It is impossible to collate the fabulous expenditure of money and man-power since the end of World War II on this build-up of a system which many millions of people died to destroy. The figures are astronomical in their extent, entirely meaningless to the average person who thinks only in the hundreds of pounds of earnings each year, yet much thought should be given to this as these vast spendings upon such wastefulness so direly affect the economic, cultural and spiritual life of the whole peoples of the world.

      The results of this expenditure, however, surely give the lie to the claim of the effectiveness of the 'policy of strength' upon which the current world system is based, a policy so entirely antagonistic to the Christian concept of life. Do the results not prove beyond cavil the truth of Jesus' question--"Can Beelzebub cast out Beelzebub?" and do they not add significant emphasis to the statement "By their fruits shall ye know them?"

      There is point, in this connection, in the quotation from Giovanni Meigge in his pamphlet "Religious Liberty":

      "Man must not presume to imagine that by his impure instruments he can help God in his battles on behalf of the truth to which God Himself is going forth. No! God's battle can be carried on only by means of God's own arms, which are the arms of the Holy Spirit."

The Church's Responsibility.

      Consequent upon this situation the Church of Jesus Christ must address herself intelligently and objectively to offer the world an alternative to military force and its allies, an alternative leading to "the fruit of the Spirit." The first and foremost necessity towards this is a clear recognition by the Church of her responsibility in this contemporary world. Ideologies of Nazism, Fascism, Capitalism and Marxism are fighting to obtain the allegiance of men. Underlying this contemporary struggle are fundamental spiritual and ethical problems. Secular propaganda diligently plays upon the intelligence and emotions of the peoples towards acceptance of false values, therefore, the Church, being the special God-ordained agency for the promulgation of true spiritual and moral values, must accept responsibility for a realistic appraisal of contemporary events, to offset any such false values. The Church must not succumb to any secular statement of these values, but must uncompromisingly measure such against the standard of her accepted authority--the revelation of God's Will given in the New Testament. And as the Church is, of course, a collection of individuals, the responsibility for this evaluation rests upon each of us who profess allegiance to Him. It cannot be evaded.

      Having accepted this responsibility we must acknowledge that we live in a scientific age mainly activated by economic aims--the profit motive measured in money values. This does not mean, of course, that the finer aspects of contemporary life are overlooked or minimised, but it certainly requires a fearless acceptance of the fact that the economic aspect of our present day bears all too largely on the policies of world activities.

      It requires acceptance of the statement of Robert Payne in "Fabulous America" that "the hope of the world lies among those who pray for change and desire it."

      A further factor that must be accepted is "that no man liveth to himself," and that no nation likewise. The shortening of distances; the ability for immediate speech with every main centre demonstrate the interdependence of all peoples. It is a revolution in human progress in this century, and a fact that must be accepted and understood in all its varied implications. We live, indeed, in One World ripe for the Universal Message of the Kingdom of God, if realistically proclaimed.

      The predominance of economic factors is undoubtedly the major cause of the current antagonism between East and West. Propaganda today blazons throughout the world that the conflict is between the so-called Western way of life and atheistical Communism, and upon this is based the Western 'Policy of Strength' with its fabulous expenditure of money and man-hours on armaments.

      The Christian Church should endeavour to appraise this by an intelligent objective examination of the political propaganda, to search for the motives behind such.

      This requires an objective examination of the chief weapon of the current propaganda inspired by the Vatican-American tie-up, namely, the question of Communism. We should be prepared to ask ourselves--What is Communism?--and examine the ideology from its friends and not only from its enemies, just as we view the present Western economic system and way of life from its friends and not from its enemies. Recognising both Capitalism and Communism as ideas fighting for the allegiance of men's minds, we should acknowledge that there is both good and bad in both ideas and offer against such, not the futile weapon of military force, but the standards of the New Testament, as the only certain method of resolving the problems that lie between them.

      It is impossible to deal adequately with this aspect in this pamphlet but it is necessary to emphasise the economic factor behind the current propaganda by matter that is rarely published in our popular Press.

      The following quotations should be considered with all their significance.

      "The end of the war came more swiftly than most of us anticipated. Widespread cutbacks in war orders followed promptly . . . This has led to a natural feeling of uneasiness."

(President Truman--6th September, 1945).

      "A major setback not only would create terrific internal hazards . . . but would also play directly into the hands of the Kremlin."

(Paul G. Hoffman, Administrator of the Marshall Plan--16th October, 1947).

      "The biggest economic danger faced by America is a sudden turn of peace by Russia."

(U.S. News and World Report--14th January, 1949).

      "At Paris last month there was some discussion as to whether to accept at all the Soviet-proffered truce and to resume, even on a tentative basis, four-Power consultation. The reason was that some feared any relaxation of the East-West tension would bring a corresponding relaxation on the part of the American people, and therefore they need to be kept artificially alarmed."

(John Foster Dulles--July, 1949)

      "The G.I.'s (in Korea) are dying not only for our country, but also, in a sense, for our prosperity. We can now breathe easily, for the depression that has been hanging over our heads since the end of the last world war has now been dispelled by the Korean War."

(New York Herald Tribune--6^th September 1950).

      "The Korean cease-fire proposals, coming at a time when business in many lines was already experiencing

indigestion . . . have intensified the feelings of uncertainty that have been spreading through the business community."

(Monthly letter of the National City Bank of New York August, 1951).

      "We (America) are enjoying the greatest prosperity in World history. It is indissolubly tied up with our military preparation. If we accede to the suggestions of Russia and disarm, we shall have a more terrible financial crash than we had in 1930. But in order to persuade the people to tolerate their astronomical assessment for military purposes we must keep them frightened. Otherwise they will agitate for the very thing that will bring a terrible financial crash, and perhaps end in the collapse of the West."

(A quotation by Frank Laubach.--in "Presbyterian Life" 15th June, 1956).

      This economic aspect is, in a somewhat different sense, also emphasised in the statement published in the Melbourne 'Age' in March this year (1957) from reports made to a United States Senate Committee that "Forcing Red China to maintain a large military establishment might be slowing the efforts at economic growth there."

      (Having in mind the shocking conditions existing in China during the war with Japan and subsequent civil war, and her need for economic growth, we might ask ourselves whether such a statement is acceptable to the Christian conscience.)

Alternative to War.

      Emphasis in the daily press for the past few months regarding the ruthless nature of any future war with atomic weapons and its radioactive properties, makes it perhaps unnecessary to stress the major importance of preventing such a war. Life however, is not lived without struggle, and there is not wanting evidence that opinion exists amongst surprising sections of people which considers that war is good and an inevitable part of this struggle. Militarists and Neo-Malthusians hold and teach this.

      The following quotations indicate this.

      "To have peace we should be willing . . . to pay any price, even the price of instituting a war to compel co-operation for peace. We should become the first aggressors for peace."

(Francis P. Matthews--U.S. Secretary of Navy--25th August, 1950).

      "I can break up Russia's five A-bomb nests in a week. And when I went up to Christ, I think I could explain to Him that I had saved civilisation."

(Maj. Gen. O. A. Anderson, Commander of Air War College (U.S.A.) 2nd September, 1950).

      In "Rydge's" business Journal for April 1957, under the main heading 'What the Brokers Say' is a sub-heading 'War Considered Inevitable' which quotes a particular broker as stating:

      "Clients are warned to start quitting those shares which are likely to depreciate in wartime, and reinvest in those Companies which would gain by war or near-war conditions. I believe this is a must at the present time."

      It is our function as representatives of Jesus to resolutely dispute such ideas, in its place declaring that this struggle should be wholly for the uplift of man from pagan barbarism which modern life largely is, to a full spiritual, moral and physical standard akin to the Christian concept of life.

      There is outlet for our fullest creative energies, mental and physical, in this aspect of life's struggle demanding a much higher form of intelligence, courage, and determination, challenging the most adventurous spirit of youth and the balance of experience of more mature years.

      It is the Church's function to display this noble task in such obvious manner, with propaganda equally appealing to the minds and hearts of men, women and youth, that will counteract the glamour now mainly applied to National Service using the term in its fullest sense.

      The youth of today particularly must be taught to contrast the Arts of Peace with all its appeal for a graciously full life for mankind, with the Art of War with its brutality, degradation, destructiveness and its futility. Generalisations about the Love of God, the sacrifice of Jesus, His concern for man's salvation from sin, essential as knowledge of these are, is not sufficient to challenge the modern mind of youth steeped as it is with the need of 'getting a living,' and the unmoral appeal of interested institutions towards pleasure seeking and worse.

      As with the Prophets of old, and of all time, the appeal must be twofold--outspoken denunciation of wrong in specific terms, and presentation of right also in specific terms.

      War demands uncompromising denunciation, not alone because of its brutality but for its proved futility, but as stated, the alternative towards general peace must just as clearly be stated, so let us look at some of the projects that demand our attention as Christians.

      May we here call to mind the message Jesus gave to John the Baptist:

      "Go and tell John what you see and hear--that blind men are recovering their sight, cripples are walking, lepers being healed, the deaf hearing, the dead being brought to life and the Good News is going to those in need." (Matthew 11--J. B. Phillips).

      There is no reason that this message should not be accepted in its literal meaning, or explained by rationalising our interpretation to give it some merely spiritual meaning.

      Almost every year some area of Australia is devastated by floods, bringing heartache, frustration, even death to many families. This could be remedied by attention to rivers, more water conservation schemes, re-afforestation and other means. The arid regions of our land could be made delightfully habitable as instanced by the Woomera Range areas. Hospitals, schools, houses are urgently required, and are all possible if given a production and economic drive and challenge similar to that used in wartime.

      Teenage delinquency, prison conditions, need challenging and reforming. Our general cultural life demands attention. Education in the professions and trades, mainly for economic purposes, is surely not sufficient, and likewise challenges the mental and physical capacities of all of us.

      An indication of what this means in world-wide terms is given by Avro Manhattan in his "Catholic Imperialism and World Freedom" where he states:

      "The sums spent on (World War II) could have provided for every family in the U.S.A., Canada, Australia, Britain, Ireland, France, Germany, Soviet Russia, and Belgium, a 33,600 dollar house, furniture worth 11,200 dollars and 56,000 dollars in cash. In addition, every town with a population of over 200,000 could have been given a cash donation of 70 million dollars for libraries, 70 million dollars for schools, and 70 million dollars for hospitals."

      Again, what an uplifting prospect against the wastefulness of war!

      We hear much in general terms of vast areas of the world with multitudes of our fellows, for whom also Christ died, living in what is called under-developed conditions. Do we endeavour to understand just what these conditions are? Lord John Boyd Orr who was the first Director of the Food and

Agricultural Organisation of the United Nations, emphasised on numerous occasions that these conditions mean that approximately two thirds of the population of the world are always hungry, never having sufficient to eat and clothe themselves" and declares categorically, in contradistinction to the Malthusian theory, that with the productive methods available today this could be remedied.

      Jose De Castro in his "Geography of Hunger" (1953), a study of nutritional conditions of these underdeveloped areas, corroborates this, showing conclusively that the shocking conditions caused by hunger could be alleviated given co-operation by the Governments of the World. It would be salutary for us to consider Lord Boyd Orr's statement regarding his world food plan:

      "Such a plan as the only means of fulfilling the promise freedom from want, though welcomed by most Governments, was rejected by the U.S.A., United Kingdom, and the U.S.S.R. Governments are prepared to unite men and resources for a world war but the Great Powers are not prepared to unite to banish hunger and poverty from the world."

      The youth of the churches could be challenged to co-operate and influence their Governments towards a more humanitarian attitude. In the early post-war years Yugoslavia appealed for volunteers to assist in the rehabilitation of certain areas devastated during the war, and teams of young people of all nationalities responded in hundreds in a magnificent self-denying effort. So why not challenge Christian youth for similar purposes.

      Then there is the danger of suppression of freedom of conscience, of speech, of democratic liberties that are threatened in all countries where militarism reigns. The very fact of so-called Security Acts of Parliament existing everywhere, even in our own country, challenges the heritage left us by our Christian forebears, martyrs and fighters for liberty. The totalitarianism of Roman Catholicism is a menace to such freedom equalling anything now ascribed to Communism, as instanced in Spain, Colombia for example.

      Professor Owen Lattimore, a victim of McCarthyism, after his acquittal of charges, writes (1952):

      "The McCarthy demagogues who are working to destroy our traditional liberties have already made great gaps in the tradition of freedom which has made this country (America) unique. They have been working to strengthen, and to exploit politically, a dark tide of unreasoning, hysterical fear. McCarthyism insists constantly, emotionally and menacingly that the man who thinks independently thinks dangerously and for an evil disloyal purpose."

      Senator McCarthy may have been discredited, but what bears his name is prevalent, and demands adventurous attack by Christian people. The problem of racialism, color prejudice, as instanced in the Southern States of America, South Africa, and with our own Aborigines, also needs courageous and adventurous thinking and action.

      Again, there is a vast amount of individual goodwill in the world. This is always evidenced in the time of disaster whether in mine, by flood, fire, or earthquake, and in many less distressing day-to-day instances. A child fell into a bore hole in Western Australia. The Press of the nation was filled with accounts of the self-sacrificing efforts spread over many hours at considerable personal cost, to rescue one child. What a challenge to the Church to consolidate this individual goodwill, to educate it towards a mass demand for its outlet in the wider field of national and international affairs. Thus to demonstrate the "Fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace . . . goodness . . . "

      Then, above all, the full dynamic content of the Gospel could be a supreme challenge, and offset the claims and glamour of War. The wondrous message of reconciliation of God and Man. A down-to-earth proclamation of God's design revealed by Jesus. His compassion for the ills of individuals and of the masses. The blind beggar, the fallen woman, the unscrupulous tax-gatherer, and "Jesus looked upon the multitude and had compassion on them."

      So, the two-fold challenge comes to the Church, and each individual Christian, to fight this evil of war in as uncompromising a way as we oppose the much less wrongs of theft, gambling, liquor and sexual vice by declaration and by complete abstention from such.

      By democratic means by reasonable arguments, by appeals to the intelligence and emotions of men to demonstrate the evil thing war is, offering as an alternative, a constructive and practical interpretation of the Gospel of our Lord who declared: "Lo, I come that men might have life and have it more abundantly." This is no airy idealism but just plain realism in this thermonuclear age.

      General Sherman of the American Civil War said:

      "War is Hell" but let us remember that Jesus said: "On this rock (Thou art the Christ, the Son of the Living God) I am going to found my Church and the gates of Hell will be Powerless against it." (Matt. 16. Phillips).

      So, this once Young man now full of varied experiences looks back upon his decisions in 1916 and 1939 with confidence, yet humility, that such decisions were right and according to the injunction to obey God rather than man. He commends this essay for prayerful consideration

      With all the frustrations experienced he still believes with Dr. Aggrey, "that right will ultimately conquer wrong, virtue conquer vice, harmony take the place of discords," and joins with John Oxenham when writing:

L. O. COLLYER

has been in our Movement for more than 45 years. He has been a very faithful and effective member of our churches in Victoria and South Australia. He is a keen student of social and international affairs, and has made a great contribution to our Brotherhood life with his healthy emphasis on the practical application of Christianity to the whole of life.