in the air around him. The environment of the soldier is against him; it is inimical to growth in purity and self-control. Some persons are ever urging that sin may be made safe. If the State rose to her duty, under the inspiration of the Church, she would make sin difficult and temptation less rife. But the claim appeals not merely to the higher motives but to self-interest. Soldiers come from civil life; they will return to it again. How shall they return to our towns and villages? Shall they come diseased and ruined, to be centres of evil wherever they go? Or will you help us in our endeavour to make them Christ's hardy soldiers, each man a standing witness to the living power of Christianity? … What is the response many people make to Christ's command to feed the soldiers with Divine Food? “Send them away. We have nothing to do with soldiers. We do not like them or their work. Send them away. We do not feel called to provide for them. They are a self-willed multitude; their calling must make them hard and callous. Nothing good can be done with soldiers. Amuse them if you will. Keep them in a good temper, for an angry Army might be inconvenient; but send them away from the Church of God. Let the State do its best to make them skilled life-destroyers by keeping them from drink and lust; but we have no concern with them. We despair of influencing them for good.” But we who know soldiers well,
Page:Distinguished Churchmen.djvu/391
This page has been validated.
THE REV. JOHN COX EDGHILL, D.D.
341
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/e/e0/Distinguished_Churchmen.djvu/page391-1024px-Distinguished_Churchmen.djvu.jpg)