here may be something in it."

And in the evening near the top of the brae I saw the General standing
erect with his little cane in his hand. He was talking to the
shoemaker, the greatest Radical in the parish--one of a party with
which the General has no dealings. But they talked like brothers. For
the shoemaker has a son fighting at the front, and his heart is sore
troubled within him. And the General's son is dead. And as I came up
the brae I saw the General putting his hand on the shoemaker's shoulder
and turn away, walking slowly up the brae. The old shoemaker saluted
and came down the brae. There was a tender look in the old man's eye
as he greeted me.

In our parish we have truly made the greatest of all discoveries. We
have found God, and, finding Him, we have found each other. The man
who in his madness kindled the lurid flames of war little dreamed of
this fire which he kindled.

II

The Revival of Patriotism

II

There has come to us in these days a revival of the spirit of
patriotism. That revival has come when it was sorely needed. In days
of unclouded prosperity other gods called forth our devotion and
enthusiasm, but the God of our Fathers who made us a great nation and
sent us to sow the seeds of righteousness beside all waters, bestowing
upon us empire and might, was well-nigh forgotten.

For the new man "words like Empire, Patriotism, Duty, Honour, Glory and
God" had little or no meaning. Causes for which the fathers died could
not evoke an added heart-beat from their sons. They cared so little
for the mighty empire which they inherited that they contemplated the
bloodshed of civil war--so hot was their zeal for party and so cold
their love for the state.

It was necessary that discipline should come. And that discipline
came, shaking the very foundations of our national life. Its first
fruit is that the smouldering fires of patriotism have broken forth
once more into bright flame; and that everywhere the hearts of the
people have been stirred by the call to arise and endure hardness that
the goodly heritage of empire perish not. And preachers in a thousand
pulpits have sounded the trumpet-note of duty and of patriotism.

***

It has been said that preachers should aim at making the churches
sanctuaries of peace, within whose walls the echoes of the guns and the
cries of the perishing should not penetrate. Some have even said that
Christianity, so far from foste