unfinished stages, there the end whither they lead. To fall back on
metaphor, a city is in the building, a whole righteous social order--a
kingdom of souls. The building is going on now,--in Birmingham and
Bermondsey,--and that gives eternal importance to their perishing and
trivial affairs. What whole structure is being built, and how much of
Birmingham and Bermondsey can be built into it, is only partially known
now. It is partially known here, as days of testing and catastrophe break
in on periods of monotony, and lay bare their soul. But full knowledge
lies in the future--the great and final 'Day shall declare it.'

FOOTNOTES:

[3] Indeed we see it change, with surprising ease of adjustment, within
the limits of the New Testament itself. In its first form it was not of
the essence of the new truth.

XIX

There is also the objection that too hard things have been said here about
the turning to God under pressure of anxiety, and the expression in prayer
of the natural desire for safety. After all, as a Jesuit fellow-padre
reminded me at the front, Our Lord at His hour of trial, when "exceeding
sorrowful even unto death," prayed in agony. And further it is plain that
prayer to Him, and as He would have it be to others, was far more than a
trustful harmony of self with the will of the Father. He urged men to take
their _requests_ to God. "Ask and ye shall receive." I can imagine that
the conception of prayer at times of emergency, as suggested in earlier
pages, might be so full of resignation as to be reduced to the fatalism
extraordinarily prevalent at the front--"If it 'its yer, it 'its yer," as
the men say. Are we not to ask not to be hit?

It is nearly enough to recall the Lord's Prayer in regard to this
objection. As I have said, men on service widely associate prayer with the
expression of need or anxiety. To restrict prayer thus is to begin the
Lord's Prayer half-way through, at "Give us this day our daily bread." It
is a question of order and emphasis. Christian prayer begins with God. It
turns away from self to the glory of God. It begins with praise and
acclamation--the glad acknowledgment of what God is and is doing. It is
only in the second place and because of what God is--because He is our
Father and is at work to bring in His kingdom and has a will for us and
for all--that the prayer which expresses our need comes in aright.

Therefore I would say to a man going into battle--"Pray now if neve