taunch
fighter in other fields. He has learned a new way of prayer, and the
courage that is born of faith well-founded.

The idea has been widely preached by many British chaplains that death in
battle saves. This may be good Mohammedanism, but it is surely not the
Christian message that is given to Christ's ministers to preach. The
verse most often quoted in support of this theory is: "Greater love hath
no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends." But such
a passage cannot be taken out of its context either in Christ's teaching
or in the man's own life. Our Lord had said that we were to love even as
He loved, that is, out of a pure and surrendered heart to lay down our
life for our friends; and He added, "Ye are my friends if ye do the
things which I command you." It is going far beyond the province of the
Christian minister to offer any hope other than that which is offered by
our Lord Himself. It is not death or a bullet or battle that saves.
Christ only saves, and there is no other name given under heaven. This
offer is made to all men and at all times.

But although one may not preach so dangerous and misleading a doctrine,
it is nevertheless possible to realize that many a man is unconsciously
more of a Christian than he knows, and that in the last day he may say
with surprise: "When saw I Thee an hungered and fed Thee?"

We may turn to "A Student in Arms" for his interpretation of the feeling
of the common soldier in this crisis:

"Then at last we 'got out.' We were confronted with dearth, danger, and
death. . . . They, who had formerly been our despair, were now our
glory. Their spirits effervesced. Their wit sparkled. Hunger and
thirst could not depress them. Rain could not damp them. Cold could not
chill them. Every hardship became a joke. . . . Never was such a
triumph of spirit over matter. . . . If it was another fellow that was
hit, it was an occasion for tenderness and grief. But if one of them was
hit, O Death, where is thy sting? O Grave, where is thy victory? . . .
Life? They did not value life! They had never been able to make much of
a fist of it. But if they lived amiss they died gloriously, with a smile
for the pain and the dread of it. What else had they been born for? It
was their chance. With a gay heart they gave their greatest gift, and
with a smile to think that after all they had anything to give which was
of value. One by one Death challeng