recovery of the lost paradise, and the re-establishment of the
Kingdom of Heaven. Milton made no mistake when he chose this as the
central theme of his two immortal epics. Everything else is secondary.

Now the means which the Bible describes and recognizes for the
attainment of its supreme end are broadly two, viz., the persuasion of
love, and the compulsion of force. In the case of all those who can be
reached thereby the gentler means are employed. With what infinite
patience were the Children of Israel led throughout their chequered
career; with what divine compassion were the faltering disciples guided
along the way of salvation! But where gentler means fail or are
inapplicable, sterner measures are unhesitatingly sanctioned. The Bible
knows nothing of the pernicious Manichaean objection to the use of
physical force to attain moral ends. In the beginning the rebellious
angels were overthrown in battle by Michael and his hosts. The
consummation of all things is to be reached as the result of the field
of Armageddon. The Old Testament history is a long record of wars
undertaken at the divine command, and to the Children of Israel Jehovah
was peculiarly the God of Battles. Nor does the New Testament, with all
its insistence on the power of love, ever condemn the Old Testament
theology as false, ever repudiate force as a moral agent, ever denounce
war as necessarily evil. On the contrary, it celebrates the achievements
of the heroes of Israel who "waxed valiant in fight"; it announces
irremediable destruction to the impenitent and unyielding wicked; it
recognizes to the fullest degree the civil authorities who wield the
sword of justice, and make themselves a terror to evil-doers; it
proclaims that those who take the sword shall perish by the sword; it
admits centurions and soldiers to the company of the elect without
suggesting that they should forsake their military duties; it tells how
on one notable occasion Christ Himself used force to cleanse the temple,
and so for ever sanctified its use.

III. THE DOCTRINE AND PRACTICE OF THE CHURCH

The Church as a whole during the long and varied course of her history
has been true to the general Biblical principle that evil should, where
possible, be overcome by gentle means which give the evildoer room for
repentance, but that it should be stamped out by the force of inexorable
justice where gentle means have failed. No one can contend, I fear, that
the Church ha