Yes, death's last hope, his strongest fort and prison,
Is shattered, never to be built again;
And He, the mighty Captive, He is risen,
Leaving behind the gate, the bar, the chain.
We are praying constantly, earnestly, that we "may be brought through strife to a lasting peace"; and that "the nations of the world may be united in a firmer fellowship for the promotion of Thy glory and the good of all mankind." No conditions of peace are worth accepting unless they will, humanly speaking, secure this result. Germany on the one side, and the Allies on the other, both realise that this is a "fight to a finish." Singularly enough the object of both sides is similar—to render another great European war impossible: but the ideals in respect to its attainment are by no means the same; one looks to the setting up of a world dominion; the other, to the establishment of a state of balanced power and mutual interests among European nations. We are fighting essentially for the principle of "live and let live," and therefore have to face unflinchingly all the sacrifice that still lies before us. When peace is concluded it must be upon terms which will make results permanent! Should Germany, in the mysterious providence of God, be allowed to become supreme, there will be peace, but, alas! only the peace of desolation and the numbness of despair. But, as we have already said, it seems disloyal to all our deepest instincts, all our truest feelings, even to contemplate such a possibility.
But when the Allies triumph, what then?—the discipline of victory. Think for one moment of what the victory of Christ meant, as the ratification of the treaty signed upon the Cross, in the very hour of apparent defeat. It meant for you and me all that is included in the words "the redemption of the world by our Lord Jesus Christ; the means of grace and the hope of glory." The resurrection puts the seal to the great charter, commenced at Bethlehem, indited page by page through the wondrous life of three and thirty years, closed, as to its earthly side, on Calvary, sealed, signed and delivered on Easter morning. In the power of that treaty of peace you and I live, day by day; secure except for our own carelessness; beyond all possibility of hurt from spiritual enemies, unless by our own traitorous dealings with them. The victory was complete! "He hath put all enemies under His feet"; the victory is permanent, for, "death hath no more dominion over Him."
In these Addresses we have said much about those large results which God is allowing us already to see as obviously coming out of the war; on our Day of "Humble Prayer to Almighty God" we solemnly thanked Him:
For the laying aside of controversies at home, and for the unity of the Nation and Empire;
For the loyal and loving response of our fellow-subjects beyond the seas;
For the full harmony between our Allies and ourselves, and for the success which has already been granted to our common efforts;