THE KING’ S BUSINESS 187 told time and time again that they were not doing as effective work in this war, but his own observation leads him to think that they are doinga far better work than they did in the Spanish-American war, a more definite, and more thor oughly organized, and more effective work. We have seen with our own eyes large numbers, of men taking a definite, open stand before their fellow-soldiers; end we have heard from others, in whose word we have every confidence, that very large numbers have been led to Christ. Some of the officers themselves are doing fine work. We have heard of one General who went on the platform time and again and plead with the men to definitely accept Christ. One Captain in aviation whom we know personally, and intimately; a former Bible Institute student, who is instructing others, preaches three times a week. Indeed, this officer went into aviation largely for the opportunities that it afforded him of working for Christ. Every thoughtful man’s heart is war-weary in these days. We are weighed down with the thought of the miseries, not only of our own loved ones who are at the front, but of the thousands and millions of men in all the armies who are suffering such privations, and the greater miseries of mothers jnd fathers and wives and sweethearts and others at home, and yet we are not at all :sure that it would be the best thing for the war to close at once. There are better things than peace, and there are worse things than war. There may be lessons which we as nations and individuals must learn which can only be learned in the stern school of war. Certainly as yet, in spite of all the appalling •calamities that have overtaken pretty much all civilized nations, no nation has been brought to repentance, and a comparatively small number of individuals have been brought to repentance. Oh, that the nations of the earth would repent. We confess that as we have gone thoughtfully to God in prayer we have been unable to pray unconditionally for immediate peace. We hate war. We believe it is one of the Devil’s masterpieces. We know its origin is Satanic. We know it comes from our lusts, that war in our members (James 4 :1 ), and yet there are worse things than war, and there are things more important for us as nations and individuals at the present time than immediate peace. W OULD IT BE WELL FOR THE WAR TO CLOSE AT ONCE? C HEAP AND TAWDRY PATRIOTISM. Along with the pure patriotism which is so much in evidence in our country today, there is a cheap and tawdry patriotism, a patriotism that in no sense deserves the name of patriotism, a patriotism that has cost nothing, but has often brought profit to the alleged patriot, a patriotism that has proved profitable in money or in applause to the alleged patriot, a patriotism, for example, that has tried to fatten the purse of flag manufacturers by fostering an over-use of our beautiful and glorious flag, and by uses of the flag that were not honoring, but dishonoring, using the flag, for example, as a mere decora tion, or thrown over chairs to sit on, or placed on platforms to trample on, or
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