XV.

IS WAR EVER JUSTIFIABLE?

This question is herein addressed only to those who believe in God, and from such there can be only one answer, and that is contained in the Sixth Commandment, "Thou shalt not kill." But says one, "Shall we not protect ourselves and our honor? Do we not by the very question express doubt of God's promises to do that for us? Is not the great war now raging in Europe evidence enough to convince anyone that going to war to avenge a nation's honor is the most doubtful undertaking that can be thought of? If God be for us, is it possible that any nation would be able to harm us? Let us look for a moment at the histories of some of the great wars, both Biblical and profane. Take for instance the people of Israel, under Hezekiah, when the Assyrians under the powerful monarch Sennacherib came and entered into Judah and encamped against the fenced cities and thought to win for himself a name. (II Chron. 32:1.) We are told that Hezekiah, after doing all he could in the way of defense, took counsel with his princes and mighty men and spoke to them these words: "Be strong and courageous, be not afraid nor be dismayed for the King of Assyria nor for all the multitude that is with him; for there be more with us than with him; with him is an arm of flesh, but with us is the Lord our God to help us to

fight our battles. And the people rested themselves upon the words of Hezekiah, King of Judah. Verses 7-8 and 19: "And they (the Assyrians) spake against the God of Jerusalem, and for this cause Hezekiah the king and the prophet Isaiah, the son of Amos, prayed and cried to heaven, and the Lord sent an angel which cut off all the mighty men of valor and the leaders and captains in the camp of the King of Assyria, so he returned with shame of face to his own land. Then the Lord saved Hezekiah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem from the hand of Sennacherib, the King of Assyria, and from the hand of all others and guarded them on every side."

The chapters 6-7 of II Kings not only are intensely interesting but show in a marvelous way God's power and willingness to save under all conditions, when his children cry unto him. Then coming down to our own time, one should read the history of Napoleon, who said he not only proposed but he disposed as well, (in a reply to a friend who had reminded him that man proposes but it is God who disposes) but who had to flee in disguise from Moscow, with its snow and rivers of ice, and who was conquered by Wellington at Waterloo and died in exile at St. Helena. And the invincible Armada prepared by Philip of Spain "to strike a decisive blow at the Protestant faith of which England was then the bulwark." History tells us "For many months the whole energy of the Spanish nation had been directed to the construction and equipment of the requisite ships, but storms at sea completely shattered them

and the shores were strewn with their wrecks, and when the small remnant finally returned home they were in a pitiable state from sickness and want"; and yet there are numbers of Christians today who will trust more in the arm of flesh than in God. Perhaps few of us realize how much we owe to the prayers of our good President Wilson, former Secretary of State Bryan, Henry Ford, Miss Jane Addams, "The Christian Herald," and the thousands of others of more or less spiritual endowment. The poet truly said: "There are more things wrought by prayer than this world dreams of."

While on the subject of war and preparedness, I desire to speak a word for that great and good religious weekly "The Christian Herald." It has stood firmly for peace and righteousness founded on faith in God, who is able to deliver us out of all our troubles, war included, without any of those carnal weapons made to destroy our enemies, whom Jesus told us to love. This paper also stands a beacon light against evil in every form, not in a fault finding spirit but by publishing facts such as were contained in the life of Mr. Comstock, who gave his entire time and energies to the elimination of impure literature and its passage in the mails of our time; in the prison reform conducted by Mr. Osborne in our jails and penitentiaries; by such serial accounts as those now running of "The Wicked John Good," and while it has also championed the cause of the down and outs, who are rescued by the Bowery Mission, the children of the slums, and spoken in no uncer

tain manner of the evils and abuses of Catholicism, it never resorts to abuse, but whatever the wrong or vice which it tries to eliminate, it rarely ever fails to do so in the spirit of charity and Christian brotherhood; and this is true also in a good measure of that other kindred publication "The Sunday School Times." If all religious periodicals, preachers and teachers would emulate their example the world might be won to Christ in this age.

Mr. Thomas J. Hughes, of Greenville, Ohio, is quoted in "The Christian Herald" as having stated that when the German peace proposal reached Washington, the German embassy announced that one of the most important subjects for discussion at a peace council would be that of limited universal disarmament, and added, "Thus we see as one of the results of the greatest war of all history the drift of the strongest militaristic nation toward lasting peace." If the Bible and experience teach that it is the prepared nation that goes to war, it seems strange that the United States, presumably the most Christian nation in the world, after such an experience would recommend such drastic military laws as are now being framed, when the prospects for war are greater than ever before, unless the fear of such measures will seem to other nations a menace, which they must take steps to prevent, and which we are now told Mr. Lloyd George warned his country against in 1908-but which warning was of no avail-and what is even more strange, is that a body of ministers in this country could go on record as opposed to the President's peace proposal at

this time-if they were the sufferers "it is unthinkable that they could wish the war to continue one hour," and Mr. Hughes, above quoted, also said that "There is still a Providence presiding over the affairs of men and though some who seek to bring about peace appear to have no concern as to His purpose in this war, we believe that God has a purpose concerning it and that He will bring great results from this greatest of all catastrophes with which man has afflicted himself, and which God did not bring on, is not carrying on, and is not prolonging. This last sentence seems to me to invalidate the assertion "that God has a purpose in the war" -God being all wise-knows the future as we know the past-but to say that He had a purpose in this war seems to me to declare that He has a purpose in evil, and we know that there is no evil in any of God's plans or purposes. A father may plan to raise his son to be all that is good and noble and for this purpose he sends him to college where he forms a friendship for a companion whose every influence is pernicious shall we say that it is necessary to the father's purpose that he continue to associate with this friend till one or the other is victor? Could not his purpose be achieved far more speedily by terminating at once the evil influence? But is not the influence of war, which Sherman so truly defined, at variance always with God's purposes? God never teaches that we may do evil that good may come, this seems again to be one of the sophistries of the father of all evil, that our very best thoughts of God are confused with evil. If we could