For His Name's Sake.

THE first statistical data indicative of the number of members of the Church of Christ who still held opposition to carnal warfare as a vital principle of the faith was obtained as the result of a suggestion made by Bro. Ponting, of Swindon, to Bro. Entwistle in the early days of 1916. The suggestion was that a signed protest be presented to His Majesty's Government; a suggestion which Bro. Entwistle heartily endorsed, having already been in correspondence with the Premier and other heads of the Government on the question.

The wording of the protest is given, as are also the letters preceding same on account of their historical interest.

The following Members of the Churches of Christ object on conscientious grounds to rendering Military Service of any kind, or to taking the Military Oath.

We beg, therefore, to protest against the suggested introduction of Compulsory Military Service, and if it is introduced we are prepared to resist it with all our powers, by the grace of God, in spite of fine, imprisonment, or, if need be, death.

We are prepared to help the country in any way not requiring us to take the Military Oath, and leaving us the freedom of conscience we claim as followers of the Lord Jesus Christ.

The following letters will show what little was done to follow up the protest and help swell the chorus raised by others:

Dear Sir - The enclosed sheets are the first batch of signed protest forms that are coming in from our members of the community known as Churches of Christ.

We hope His Majesty's Government will see its way even at this late hour, to withhold or withdraw any proposed measure of compulsion, as such a measure can only divide the country at this critical time, seeing there are thousands of men who simply cannot render military service of any kind owing to religious convictions, and on other conscientious grounds.

Dear Sir - On behalf of those members of the Churches of Christ whose signed protest I forwarded last week, and many others still signing the same protest, I wish to say that we beg the Government to make the exemption clause for the conscientious objector a real and complete exemption from rendering military service of any kind, as that only can meet our need. We object on conscientious grounds, to taking the Military Oath, and therefore, the partial exemption of the Bill now before Parliament does not meet our need..

We are not anxious to clash with the powers that be, and, of course, we eschew all violence, but we cannot violate conscience in this matter. We must obey God rather than men.

Trusting a complete measure of exemption will be granted to all such as those described above,

Dear Sir - In sending on the additional signatures to protest forms enclosed, I wish to say, for myself, and on behalf of those who have signed, that whilst we appreciate the Government's recognition that the conscientious objector has some rights, we regret to say that from our point of view, the safeguards proposed afford no adequate protection, and we beg of the Government even yet to make such amendment of the Bill before Parliament (Military Service No. 2 Bill) as will make it certain that no man will be persecuted for obeying his conscience.

We still protest against the adoption of compulsion, and if the measure is passed, we will pray and labour for the speedy repeal of an Act containing so pernicious a principle.

The protest was signed by 323 male members of the Churches, while 28 names were appended of those who were "in complete sympathy with those who signed the protest form, though unable, for various reasons, to sign themselves. In two or three cases, at least, they are names of brethren who have been compelled, by economic pressure, to attest against their own wish. Some three or four names are those of Baptist friends who desired to join in the protest."

Taking into account the unequivocal terms in which the protest was couched, the response was considered encouraging.

The next step was the co-operation of those in different parts of the country who were endeavouring to tabulate statistics and to keep in touch with individuals and groups concerned. This was effected by the United Peace Conference of August, 1916, which asked the writer to act as correspondent secretary to those who

were away from home on account of their resistance to the Military Service Acts.

Here one would gratefully tender thanks to those who have assisted in the execution of this duty.

Immediately succeeding the above mentioned Conference, The Apostolic Messenger, whose columns were always open for the advocacy of the cause of Peace, published a notice requesting those who were going through the fires of persecution, or friends of the same, to send names and particulars to the writer. The Editor of the Bible Advocate was good enough to publish a similar notice in the columns of that journal. These notices appeared in every issue of the two magazines until the trouble was past. A list was published every month in the Apostolic Messenger giving the whereabouts and movements of brethren in any way affected. In this way, we believe, "they that were scattered abroad" were enabled to establish and sustain a rich spiritual fellowship.

When, at a later date, the Government permitted conscientious objectors who had served a period in prison to accept work of national importance providing that it was at least twenty miles from their homes (assuming that they were willing to accept same, which many were not), the Apostolic Messenger readily inserted a notice inviting any member of the Churches who has such work to offer to send particulars to the writer. Unfortunately, the response to this appeal was practically nil.

Drawn from the above sources, we publish the following statistics of cases of which we have personal and in some instances intimate cognisance. We would point out that

there must be many isolated cases of which we were not advised.

Number of Brethren who were arrested as a result of resisting
 the Military Service Acts                                               61
Number of Brethren who were Court-Martialled:-
 Once                                                                    49
 Twice                                                                    5
 Three times                                                              2
 Four times                                                               4
Number of Brethren imprisoned:-
 For less than 112 days                                                  29
 From 112 days to twelve months                                          19
 From one to two years                                                   10
 Over two years                                                           2
Number of Brethren released from prison on medical grounds                2
Number of Brethren who accepted alternative service after
 a term of imprisonment                                                  43
Number of Brethren who were awarded alternative service by
 Tribunal and accepted same                                              18

In addition to the above, one brother entered the Non-Combatant Corps, afterwards withdrawing and suffering ten months imprisonment.

Also Bro. Arthur Wilson passed away whilst in Strangeways Gaol, Manchester, (see page 71), and Bro.Clifford Cartwright was sentenced to death in France, which sentence was afterwards commuted to ten years penal servitude (see page 65).