There must be something wrong about the Christianity of such men.  Their over-conscientiousness seems to create a wholly wrong sense of proportion, an exaggerated sense of the significance of their own actions and characters which is as far removed as can be from the childlike humility which Christ taught.  The truth seems to be that we lay far too much stress on conscience, self-examination, and personal salvation, and that we trust the Holy Spirit far too little.

If we look to the teaching of Christ, we do not find any recommendation to meticulous self-analysis, but rather we are taught a kind of spiritual recklessness, an unquestioning confidence in what seem to be right impulses, and that quite regardless of results.  We are not told to be careful to spend each penny to the best advantage; but we are told that if our money is preventing us from entering the Kingdom, we had better give it all away.  We are not told to set a high value on our lives, and to spend them with care for the good of the Kingdom.  On the contrary, we are told to risk our lives recklessly if we would preserve them.  A sense of anxious responsibility is discouraged.  If our limbs cause us to offend, we are advised to cut them off.

The whole teaching of the Gospels is that we have got to find freedom and peace in trusting ourselves implicitly to the care of God.  We have got to follow what we think right quite recklessly, and leave the issue to God; and in judging between right and wrong we are only given two rules for our guidance.  Everything which shows love for God and love for man is right, and everything which shows personal ambition and anxiety is wrong.

What all this means as far as the trenches are concerned is extraordinarily clear.  The Christian is advised not to be too pushing or ambitious.  He is advised to “take the lowest room.”  But if he is told to move up higher, he has got to go.  If he is given responsibility, there is no question of refusing it.  He has got to do his best and leave the issue to God.  If he does well, he will be given more responsibility.  But there is no need to worry.  The same formula holds good for the new sphere.  Let him do his best and leave the issue to God.  If he does badly, well, if he did his best, that means that he was not fit for the job, and he must be perfectly willing to take a humbler job, and do his best at that.

As for personal danger, he must not think of it.  If he is killed, that is a sign that he is no longer indispensable.  Perhaps he is wanted elsewhere.  The enemy can only kill the body, and the body is not the important thing about him.  Every man who goes to war must, if he is to be happy, give his body, a living sacrifice, to God and his country.  It is no longer his.  He need not worry about it.  The peace of God which passeth all understanding simply comes from not worrying about results because they are God’s business and not ours, and in trusting implicitly all impulses that make for love of God and man.  Few of us perhaps will ever attain to a full measure of such faith; but at least we can make sure that our “Christianity” brings us nearer to it.