London SKEFFINGTON & SON 34, Southampton Street, Strand, W.C. Publishers to His Majesty the King 1915...

The war has introduced into countless lives new conditions, and has strangely modified, or emphasised, those already existing. These Addresses, prepared under much stress of other work, are intended to supply, in very simple fashion, hints for conduct and points for thought along the lines of our fresh or deepened responsibilities. An Appendix gives a suggested subject and a passage of Scripture for each day during Lent. May God the Holy Ghost, without Whom man's best labours are in vain, bless

Kingston House , Clapham Common. January 19th, 1915. My dear Canon,— You have invited me to say a few words introductory to the little book you are putting forth, and of which you have sent me the advance proofs. From the great excellence of that which I have read, I am convinced that your Lenten meditations on the Discipline of War, will be of pre-eminently spiritual value in a time when publications on the subject are multiplied. That the war is to leave us on a higher plane of self-discipline

Isaiah lviii. 6 "Is not this the fast that I have chosen?" Discipline is the central idea of the observance of Lent. An opportunity, rich in its splendid possibilities, comes before us this year. Much of the discipline of this Lent is settled for us by those tragic circumstances in which we find ourselves placed. God seems to be saying to us, in no uncertain tones, "Is not this the fast that I have chosen?" Our amusements are already to a large extent curtailed, maybe by our own individual sorro

1 Cor. ix. 27 "I buffet my body, and bring it into bondage." On Ash Wednesday we were considering some purely subjective realities, such as principles, motives, will—things we could not see. To-day we think about a very objective substance, ever present to our senses—our body. A man may deny point blank the existence of his soul—using the word in its ordinary acceptation—he cannot say, "I have not got a body." Even if he should conceive of that body as a mere bundle of ideas, an accumulation of

St. John vi. 38 "For I am come down from Heaven, not to do Mine own will, but the will of Him that sent Me." To-day we are going to speak of the soul not in its popular sense, as set over against the body, but in the scriptural meaning of the word as the broad equivalent of life. To enter upon a philosophical discussion might prove interesting from a merely academic point of view, but would be eminently unpractical. Suffice it to say that when S. Paul speaks of the "body, soul and spirit" (1 The

St. Luke vi. 12. "He continued all night in Prayer to God." Last week we looked at the soul as that faculty of life which, to a certain extent, we share with animals; to-day we pass on to consider, under the title of spirit, the higher endowment by which man is enabled to look up and, in the fullest exercise of his whole being, to say "my God." A man without religion is undeveloped in regard to the highest part of his complex nature. In attaining to self-consciousness, and the special powers it

St. Luke xxii. 19 "This do in remembrance of Me." Our subject of to-day flows quite naturally out of what we said last week. Religion rests on facts, and its object is God's glory, not merely our profit. Our duty, therefore, is an absolute submission to those facts—in other words, implicit obedience. This is being illustrated on all sides in regard to the War. The facts are indisputable. Lord Selborne put the matter in a nutshell when he said: "The task in front of us is colossal. We are fightin

Revelations vii. 14 "These are they who came out of great tribulation, and have washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb." Two considerations only can throw any light on the dark mystery of suffering, the problem which has baffled the intellect, the perplexity which has torn the heart of mankind from the dawn of conscious life—"I believe that Jesus Christ was incarnate by the Holy Ghost of the Virgin Mary, and was made man"; "I believe in the life of the world to come." T

1 Thess. iv. 13 "We would not have you ignorant, brethren, concerning them that fall asleep; that ye sorrow not, even as the rest, which have no hope." Of all kinds of sorrow, bereavement is in some senses the sternest, the most irrevocable, and the one in which human compassion is of least avail. All that we said last week on the discipline of suffering applies here, but with enhanced force. If suffering generally cannot be rationally contemplated outside of the doctrine of a future existence,

1 Tim . ii. 6 "Christ Jesus, Who gave Himself a ransom for all." To-day we reach the solemn climax which embraces in itself the whole idea of discipline under each of those aspects upon which we have touched. Will, body, soul, spirit, obedience, suffering, death, all summed up in the tremendous self-sacrifice declared by the Cross of Christ. The principle of sacrifice is one of those deep mysteries which seem, as it were, to be rooted in the very nature of our being. It begins in the initial fac

Romans vi. 9 "Christ being raised from the dead dieth no more." To couple the word discipline with victory may seem incongruous almost to the point of impossibility. Yet, if we look below the surface, we shall see that never is the connection more strong and the need for realising it more urgent. Lent is over, its special discipline has passed, and now the danger begins. The danger is lest any progress made, any victory won, should lead to that self-confidence which can only end in disaster. Suc

N.B.—You will find it useful to look up references in a reference Bible. Ash Wednesday : God wishes that we should be saved.—1 Tim. ii. 3, 4; 2 Pet. iii. 9. Thursday : Our natural will is in conflict with God's will.—Rom. vii. 21-25. Friday : God the Holy Ghost assists us by illuminating the will.—S. John xvi. 13-15. Saturday : What is the guiding principles of our lives?—Ps. xxxix. 7; S. Matt. vi. 19-24. 1st Sunday in Lent : The Incarnation the mission of Christ to the body.—S. John i. 1-14; Ep