8 APRIL 1916, Page 12

CONSCIENTIOUS OBJECTORS.

[To THE EDITOR OF THE "SPECTATOR.") [To THE EDITOR OF THE "SPECTATOR.") SIII,—If Mr. G. C. Armstrong's letter in your issue of March 4th means anything, it means that Christ has bidden us to resist no aggression by force, with certain rather undefined exceptions, lest the aggressor should slay and ravage. He admits that Germany is an aggressor, but suggests that, as she only wants power and wealth (Mr. Armstrong calls them

"influence, political and commercial"), it is not an extreme case, and the resistance of Belgium and her allies is therefore not venial, as it may (to use his own word) have been in the Waldensian slaughter and ravages, or in the recent ones in Armenia by Germany's ally Turkey. Some of us Christians are unable to subscribe to the suggestion that these somewhat elastic ethics can claim Divine sanction.—I am, Sir, &c.,