Editorial June 12, 1943 Issue

The Bible and the Sword

Peter V. Ross

A Right study of the Bible produces fundamental changes in the individual. It has a general mellowing effect. It promotes those gracious spiritual qualities which the Golden Rule and the Beatitudes inculcate. But it does not deplete courage and stability. In a word, it does not make him soft. Rather does it develop genuine manliness. Not obstinate or inflexible does he become, nor yet unduly given to appeasement or compromise. He is prepared to give, in a Christianly spirit, a reason for his convictions.

Witness the careers of important professional men, of famous women, of outstanding soldiers. There is no experienced individual who does not have respect for an opponent versed in the Bible— whether in the courtroom, the athletic field, or the battlefront. Just the other day, so it is reliably reported, a general of high rank and proved quality and stratagem, remarked at a conference with his staff: "I read my Bible every day and I recommend you to do the same. One of my favorite texts is I Corinthians 14:8, 'For if the trumpet give an uncertain sound, who shall prepare himself to the battle?' "

In 1642 "The Soldier's Pocket Bible" was published in England for the men of Cromwell's army, designed to "supply the want of a whole Bible which a soldier cannot conveniently carry about him." Among other selected texts therein are these:

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