Peace. [377]--In an address by the late Archbishop of Canterbury, when Bishop of London, delivered at the Polytechnic, Regent Street, [378] we are presented with an argument of Christian apologetics, the weight of which rests upon the presumption that Christ did not wish the Church to begin with any bloodshed! "It is sometimes questioned," said Dr. Temple, "by those who would throw discredit upon the narrative, that our Lord tells them [the disciples] to go into Galilee, and yet He intended to see them that evening. But the whole thing is perfectly clear to those who consider the circumstances. Our Lord appeared to them in the evening, and there can be no doubt that He intended to do so even when He told these women that they were to desire all the disciples to go down into Galilee. But it was of great importance that there should be no gathering of the disciples in Jerusalem, because the inevitable result would have been an alarm on the part of the Jews, and Pontius Pilate would have been compelled, in order to keep the city perfectly quiet, to disperse such an assembly by force; and it is likely enough that the Church would have begun with bloodshed. But our Lord did not choose to have any such beginning. He told them all to go into Galilee." Are there any grounds for this presumption, any grounds for presuming that God ever wishes to prevent bloodshed? None whatever from a study of history. None whatever from a study of the Bible. None whatever from a study of Christ's own words: "Think not that I am come to send peace on earth; I came not to send peace, but a sword." Look at the present day! "We live in a time," exclaims the Kaiser, [379] "in which every young German capable of bearing arms must be ready to step forward for his Fatherland." "The signs of the times make it the duty of the nation to strengthen its defences against unrighteous attacks." [380] "History, viewed as a whole," says Major Stewart Murray, [381] warningly, "is nothing but a succession of struggles for existence among rival nations, in which, in the long run, only the strong armed survive." Similar notes of warning are echoing and re-echoing through the length and breadth of Christendom. Is this no reflection upon Christianity's power for good? Look at the picture! Christian nations all armed to the teeth, with their "powder dry" and their "swords keen," each distrustful of the other, each ready to spring at the other's throat.