"RELIGION CALLS FOR NO HIGHER SACRIFICE"

The following letter has just been received by the next-of-kin of the Harvard men who died in the war from Dean L. B. R. Briggs '75:

You should have from Harvard University a direct report of its decision in regard to a memorial of him and of all Harvard men who died for the cause of the Allies in the World War.

Some forty years ago, Mr. Justice Holmes, a veteran of the Civil War, spoke, on Commencement Day, of the young Harvard soldiers who "tossed life and hope like a flower before the feet of their country and their cause." Later, their comrade in arms, Major Henry Lee Higginson, dedicated Soldiers Field to "alumni of the University and noble gentlemen who gave freely and eagerly all that they had or hoped for to their country and to their fellow men in the hour of great need." The Harvard soldiers of the World War did this. In a sense they did more; for they gave all that they had or hoped for to what seemed more remote and less personal than their native land. They too heard the "voice without reply", and listened, and obeyed.

"Greater love hath no man than this": whether they had or had not formulated a religious faith, they expressed such a faith. Religious calls for no higher sacrifice than his who died to save the world.

In recognition of this truth, the University which these men have honored would make their memorial a church--a church controlled by no sect; a church in which the purest and highest life of the University shall find expression: a church in which the names and the records of these Harvard soldiers may be to all who enter if a memory constant and ennobling.

This letter is sent to the nearest kindred of every soldier whom the church will commemorate. Yours sincerely,   L. B. R. Briggs.   For the Committee.