Page:War and the Christian Faith.pdf/13

Rh children, have seen those poor faces tortured and grow dim with the shadow of death, have seen unmerited anguish stilled only in the grave. The mothers have listened to the cries for help and comfort of these poor little ones; and there is no help and no comfort, save only death. And the children have not offended in anything; but their portion is torture and death.

That has been so from the beginning, that ever will be so till the end. It is as intolerable as time that it should be so, as unintelligible as space that it is so. But it is the order of the world; and I cannot admit for a moment that the apparent contradiction between this order and the mercy of God is in any way changed by the horrible circumstances of the present war. Water, in certain cases, drowns. That is the proposition. It is not rendered