Mr Hambly arose from his knees, opened the Book, and said:  “The portion of Scripture I have chosen for this morning is taken from Paul’s Letter to the Ephesians, vi. 10:—­”

’My brethren, be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might.  Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.  For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.  Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.’

He paused here, and for a moment seemed about to continue his reading; but, as if on a sudden compulsion, closed the book, and went on: 

“My Brethren,—­choose any of those words.  They shall be my text; they and those I read to you just now:  ’If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.’

“In entering upon this War we may easily tell ourselves that we have no sin:  for in fact not a man or a woman in this congregation—­so far as I know—­harbours, or has harboured a single thought of evil disposition against the people who, from to-morrow, are to be our enemies, in whose distress we shall have to exult.  In a few days this will seem very strange to you; but it is a fact.

“So it might plausibly be said that not we, but our Government, make this war upon a people with whom you and I have no quarrel.

“But that will not do; for in a nation ruled as ours is, no Ministry can make war unless having the people behind it.  That is certain.  The whole people—­not only of Great Britain, but of Ireland too—­ seems to be silently aware that a War has been fastened upon it, not to be shirked or avoided, and is arming; but still without hate.  So far as, in this little corner of the world, I can read your hearts, they answer to my own in this—­that they have harboured no hate against Germany, and indeed, even now, can hardly teach themselves to hate.

“None the less, the German Emperor protests, calling on God for witness, that the sword has been thrust into his hand:  and, if he honestly believes this, there must be some great confusion of mind in this business.  One party or the other must be walking under some terrible hallucination.

“The aged Austrian Emperor calls on his God to justify him.  So does the German; while we in turn call on our God to justify us.

“Now, there cannot be two Gods—­two real Gods—­president over the actions of men.  That were unthinkable.  Of two claimants to that sceptre, one must be a pretender, an Anti-Christ.

“Therefore our first duty in this dreadful business is to clear our minds, to make sure that ours is truly the right God.  Let us not trouble—­for it is too late—­about any German’s mind.  Our business is to clear our own vision.