How we cite our quotes: (Letter.Section.Paragraph)
Quote #1
Most of them took me to mean they were spared the trenches and the mustard gas, but what I really meant was that they were spared the act of killing. It was just like a biblical plague, just exactly. (1.2.89)
Ames takes after his father, a pacifist. He wrote a sermon explaining that a terrible sickness prevented many men from serving in the war—a blessing in disguise, as the saying goes. For Ames, killing in a war is worse than dying in one.
Quote #2
But my courage failed, because I knew the only people at church would be a few old women who were already about as sad and apprehensive as they could stand to be and no more approving of the war than I was. (1.2.91)
Ames doesn't deliver the sermon he was planning—he doesn't see the point. It would only bring pain to mothers and wives and widows. They don't need to hear more words about the war; they're already experiencing it enough as it is.
Quote #3
Most of the young men seemed to feel that the war was a courageous thing, and maybe new wars have come along since I wrote this that have seemed brave to you. That there have been wars I have no doubt. I believe that plague was a great sign to us, and we refused to see it and take its meaning, and since then we have had war continuously. (1.2.94)
Ames perceives the continuous nature of war as punishment from God for ignoring the signs he has given—specifically a command not to fight. Ames usually isn't one to speak about divine providence so openly and certainly, but he shows no qualms here.