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Easter 1919 
 
 in 
 
 America and France and Belgium 
 
 first Easter of peace 
 ;er the long agony of 
 i world war comes to 
 i Churches of Amer- 
 , as a day of joy and 
 hope. No resurrec¬ 
 tion season since the 
 coming of our Saviour has had an equal 
 significance. It brings us a message of 
 comfort for those whom we have loved 
 and lost. It commemorates the doom 
 of tyranny and aggression, the birth of 
 the new era which they died to achieve. 
 The spiritual forces of our country have 
 been quickened by untold acts of sacri¬ 
 fice and service. We are indeed fortu¬ 
 nate. 
 
 If Easter, with its promise of eternal 
 life, means so much to us, what must it 
 mean to France, with her 1,700,000 
 dead! What must it mean to Belgium! 
 Can they share the peace and the hope 
 which we feel? Can they look forward 
 to a future equally full of promise? 
 They deserve more than we, for they 
 were more sorely tried. Will their re¬ 
 ward be proportionate to their achieve¬ 
 ment ? 
 
 Our sympathy and admiration go out 
 to all the sufferers among our Allies 
 regardless of race, creed or color. But 
 we are particularly drawn at this season 
 to a small band of adherents of our own 
 faith, to our Protestant brothers of 
 France and Belgium. 
 
 Their record in the war is heroic: 450 
 of their pastors out of 900 were in the 
 army; they received 128 citations for 
 
valor; nearly 100 pastors and theologi¬ 
 cal students and 150 ministers’ sons 
 gave their lives for France. Many of 
 their pastors were imprisoned or de¬ 
 ported. 
 
 The German invasion struck a stag¬ 
 gering blow to their churches in the 
 invaded areas. One-eighth of all the 
 Protestant Churches of France were 
 under enemy fire, and these the 
 strongest. Many of them were robbed 
 of furniture and fittings, of doors and 
 windows. Others were converted into 
 storehouses and granaries, or even de¬ 
 filed as stables. Some were demolished 
 by bombs. Several were wantonly dy¬ 
 namited by the retreating foe. 
 
 Throughout the invaded areas the 
 scattered congregations of these 
 churches are now returning. On a bat¬ 
 tlefield six times taken and retaken by 
 French and American troops fighting 
 side by side, a group of reunited Prot¬ 
 estants gathered a few weeks ago to 
 worship. Let an eyewitness describe 
 the scene: 
 
 “And now we come to what remains of 
 our church of Monneaux. Much of the 
 roof is gone, the steeple tottering, the 
 pulpit overturned, a thousand and one 
 pieces of wreckage litter the ground; 
 but an assemblage of the faithful is im¬ 
 pressive by their reverence and their 
 feeling. At this service, the first since 
 the war in this house of God, three- 
 quarters destroyed, where the sun pene¬ 
 trates everywhere, Pastor lleyss has 
 taken for the subject of his sermon, full 
 of hope, this passage of. the prophet 
 Isaiah: ‘Watchman, what of the night? 
 The morning cometh!’ ” 
 
 Upon the skill of hand and strength 
 of soul of such people the future of 
 France depends. Like their compa- 
 
triots, they have been weakened by star¬ 
 vation, siekness, imprisonment. Their 
 nerves have in many cases been shat¬ 
 tered by shellfire. Tools and materials 
 essential to agriculture and industry 
 have been taken away or destroyed. 
 They must build up the structure of 
 their life slowly, painfully, from its 
 very foundations. And in addition to 
 this they must reconstruct and support 
 their church life. They are gallantly 
 struggling to solve these difficulties. It 
 is impossible for them to do so unas¬ 
 sisted. 
 
 In America great congregations will 
 celebrate Easter Sunday with music 
 and thanksgiving in their beautiful 
 churches. Shall we have the vision to 
 see beyond our chancels with their 
 masses of Easter lilies, other walls and 
 arches which are covered only with wild 
 flowers, roofed only by the sky of 
 France? Shall we hold in our hearts 
 congregations like the one at Mon- 
 neaux ? 
 
 Help us rebuild the churches of these 
 stricken people. French Protestants 
 have played a glorious part in the his¬ 
 tory of their nation and of ours. We 
 have the power to aid them in their hour 
 of distress. There are Protestant pas¬ 
 tors and congregations in France and 
 Belgium who have lost all that they had. 
 Let us make this Easter in very truth 
 for them a day of resurrection and of 
 life. 
 
THE FRENCH AND BELGIAN 
 PROTESTANT LOSSES 
 
 450 of the 1,000 pastors were mobilized dur¬ 
 ing the war. 
 
 100 ministers and theological students were 
 killed and 150 ministers’ sons. 
 
 Many pastors are returning from the war 
 broken and prematurely aged. 
 
 35 churches were damaged. 
 
 All pastors’ incomes were seriously affected. 
 
 THE PLAN 
 
 To rebuild the devastated churches, manses 
 and missions. 
 
 To refurnish every Protestant manse with 
 such necessities as carpets, furniture, 
 books, etc. 
 
 To supplement the meager income of the 
 pastors and through the pastors to as¬ 
 sist needy Protestant refugees now neg¬ 
 lected by other humanitarian organiza¬ 
 tions. 
 
 To help widows and fatherless children of 
 ministers, evangelists and missionaries not 
 actually killed in battle, and therefore not 
 entitled to a pension from the state. 
 
 To assist in evangelizing the French people, 
 about twenty-five million of whom are now 
 open-minded to the Gospel and not vitally 
 connected with any church. 
 
 To assist the Protestant hospitals and asy¬ 
 lums. 
 
 THE FRENCH ARE DOING THEIR 
 PART 
 
 The German indemnity will not be available 
 for Churches for years. 
 
 The French cannot raise this money unas¬ 
 sisted. They are giving to the extent of 
 their resources. A joint campaign just 
 conducted by the French and Belgian 
 Protestant Churches has only netted 
 $200,000, or less than one-tenth of what 
 is needed. There is no help left except in 
 America, and the American Red Cross is 
 leaving France this month. 
 
A RESPONSIBILITY AND AN 
 OPPORTUNITY 
 
 These thousand French Protestant pastors 
 and their families and seven hundred thou¬ 
 sand Protestants look to the Christians of 
 America for sympathy and for help. At 
 this Easter time they have asked for 
 money to rebuild their churches and an 
 emergency fund to prevent great suffer¬ 
 ing among their people. Protestantism 
 must not die out in the land of the Hugue¬ 
 nots. 
 
 This appeal has come as the result of an 
 appeal from all of the Protestant organ¬ 
 izations in France and Belgium to the 
 Federal Council of the Churches of 
 Christ in America. An inter-denomina¬ 
 tional committee known'as the Committee 
 for Christian Relief in France and Bel¬ 
 gium are undertaking to raise $3,000,000. 
 The members of the Executive Committee 
 are: 
 
 Rev John Y. Aitchison 
 Prof. Jean C. Bracq 
 Rev. Arthur J. Brown 
 Rev. W. I. Chamberlain 
 Rev Francis E. Clark 
 Rev. Chas. S. Cleland 
 Rev. Henry S. Coffin 
 Mrs. James C. Colgate 
 Rt. Rev. J. H. Darlington 
 Rev Wm. H. Foulkes 
 Rev. James I. Good 
 William A. Harbison 
 Rev. William I. Haven 
 
 Rev. Hubert C. Herring 
 Rev. William S. Holt 
 Mrs. Frank B. Kelley 
 Rev. Frederick Lynch 
 Rev. C. B. McFarland 
 Rev. H. G. Mendenhall 
 Paul G. McIntire 
 Rev. Frank M. North 
 Rev. W. W. Pinson 
 Rev. R. C. Reed 
 Edmond E Robert 
 Wm. Jay Schieffelin 
 Rev. Charles J. Smith 
 
 Director of the Campaign, George 0. 
 Tamblyn; Treasurer, Alfred R. Kimball. 
 
 Headquarters: 289 Fourth Ave., New 
 York City. 
 
 Won’t you express your belief that the res¬ 
 urrection of the world is a practical un¬ 
 dertaking by making an Easter gift to the 
 committee endeavoring to resurrect the 
 hopes, the faith and the buildings of 
 France and Belgium?