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October 7, 1914.
A FAMILY PAPER.
E D I T O R I A L
John W. Pritchard, Editor.
'imR THAT WILL MAKE FOR PEACE.
There seems to be a feeling abroad that
the present war in Europe is turning back
the hands of progress and civilization and
even Christianity at least a hundred years.
Some writers indeed state that it will take
the world hundreds of years to reach the
point that we had attained before the war
began. That there is. a great destruction of
property, much of it beautiful and costly,
everyone admits; that thousands of lives are
being sacrificed is also true; that measureless
misery will follow is an appalling truth.
Butit is well for us to take as accurate a
measure as possible of what the civilization
and Christianity amounts to, that is being
destroyed. For over forty years, the greater
part of the income of the nations of Europe
has been expended in preparations for war.
The burden of taxation has been in many
places well nigh unbearable, and revolutions
at times have been imminent, because of this
burden. People have been trained to believe
that the armaments must be increased,
rather than diminished, even if people suffer
the lack of food and clothing. If anyone
were to ask, Why were such immense armaments
needed the answers in a few cases
might be constant, that it was against such
and such a nation. But in other cases the
different alignments show that it was not any
particular nation that was counted as an enemy,
but it was in general the neighbors
round about. So a training for over a generation
has been in the spirit of war. Not
that there was any special grievance, except
it might be in the case of France, but to be
trained in the spirit of war was the most essential
thing in national life. The aggregate
of millions of years of the most productive
time of men's lives has been spent in training
for war. Very few nations of Europe escaped
this frenzy, and all the men of military
age in Europe today, have known nothing,
all their lives, except such training. This is
the high type of civilization and Christianity
that is being overthrown today. No difference
what style of architecture may have accompanied
this training, no difference if
beautiful art galleries have sprung up, no
difference if books have been printed, in so
far as they are a product of this spirit, the
world will do well to struggle along without
them after they are destroyed. The present
is merely the demonstration of the fact that
the Lord has given men over to the madness
for which they had deliberately trained themselves
through the past years, and no reason
that has been given for the beginning of the
war would hold for a moment as justifying
an attack against a neighbor. But God allowed
the training to come to its necessary
fruitage, and men fly at one another with a
violence that seems to indicate personal hatred;
and women devote their loved ones
with a fervor as intense, as if some great
principle were at stake, which indicates how
deeply the training of a generation has taken
root. It also indicates how much deeper
hold it has upon the life than the teaching
of the One who came with the announcement
of "Peace on earth," and is the fulfilment of
the principle He stated on the night of His
betrayal when he said, "All they that take
the sword, shall perish with the sword."
So let us not be over anxious concerning
the things that are being destroyed until we
have taken time calmly to measure how much
they are worth to the world; and whether
the world will not move on with lighter burdens,
and whether it will not mean much to
the quiet of the home life, and the comforts
that gather there, if the spirit of hate
and lust for blood that must accompany the
spirit of war, should burn itself out with the
fuel that it has created, and leave it possible
for fair fieldsthat have been scorched by its
breath to recover themselves and bloom
anew with the lilies of peace, under the smile
of the One whose counsels are established
on the everlasting Throne of Peace.
"PEACE, PEACE."
Sabbath, October 4th, the day appointed
by President Wilson for prayer that God
may restore peace to our war-stricken world,
has been observed. Well may our nation be
thankful for peace within all her borders,
and deeply ought she to sympathize with the
nations that are broken and bleeding in the
horrible grip of war. Prayer for peace is
continuously in order. Every thoughtful
mind is overwhelmed at the extent of the
slaughter, the multitudes of wounded, the
destruction of cities, and the distress of widows
and orphans. Prayer for the return of
peace is a permanent duty, and cannot be
limited to any specific date. The passionate
longing for peace should arise incessantly
from every heart, without waiting for or
stopping at any set time.
But prayers, to be effective, must be offered
in the name of Jesus Christ, the only
Mediator between God and man. Jesus said,
"No man cometh to the Father, but by me."
• How strange our President, so deeply trained
in the Scriptures, should omit the mention
of the name of Jesus in his proclamation for
prayer!
The omission can scarcely be regarded as
an oversight. The proclamation in this respect
took the usual form. And why Doubtless
that it might appear unsectarian. The
name of Jesus would be displeasing to the
Jew, and to some others. Therefore, the
broad ground on which our chief ruler, whom
the Bible calls the minister of God, takes
his stand. Broad ground! Nay, rather how
narrow; how extremely narrow, and crudely
sectarian! The omission of the name of
Christ is according to the creed of about
three million Jews in our country; the confession
of His name is according to the
creed of sixty million Christians. The faith
of the former is honored in the proclamation;
the faith of the latter is dishonored.
How strictly sectarian! Yet let the people
of Jesus Christ continue to pray, and in His
name, plead for peace.
But this, too, must be done in the spirit
of submission to the will of God, to be acceptable
in His sight, and to secure His
favor. The Moderators of the churches of
Great Britain are reminding their people,
that God is a prayer-hearing God, and are
urging them to petition Him to restore peace
as soon as it is consistent with His divine
plans. How Christlike the thought! The
cup they now are drinking is a bitter cup.
What pangs of sorrow in those families, that
are parting with fathers, husbands, brothers
and sons who leave for the battlefield and
whom they can hardly hope to see again"!
Yet they pray for peace, and finishthe prayer,
saying, as Jesus said, "Nevertheless, Thy
will be done." They seem to have caught a
vision of the great plan of God, which will
ultimately secure peace to our world. They
have gazed upon the prophetic revelation,
and understand the signs of the times. They
have heard the proclamation of war, not as
it comes from earthly thrones, but from the
Lord of hosts, saying, "Proclaim ye this
among the nations; Prepare war, wake up
the mighty men, let all the men of war draw
near. Thither cause thy mighty ones to
come down O Lord." They have seen, not a
war captain leading their armed hosts, but
the Lord Jesus, "crowned with many crowns,
clothed with a vesture dipped in blood, and
wielding a sword that smites the nations."
Looking from the mount of divine revelation
they have seen a coming conflict, through
which the rebellion of the nations against
Christ's rule shall be overthrown, and His
glorious kingdom established in all lands.
They have prayed, and the fathers* have
prayed, "Overturn, overturn, overturn, till
He come, whose right it is," and this prayer
is being answered by fearful things. They
see the anguish coming upon them, and upon
the world, and in this, their Gethsemane, they
pray, "Nevertheless, Thy will be done."
Whether or not, these be the beginnings of
the pains that shall give birth to the new
earth, we know that the crisis is extreme.
Let us continue to pray for peace.
THE GREAT
TEACHER.
The school year has begun and the children
of school age, and many in young manhood
and womanhood, are back in the class
room. The sanitary condition of the school
houses, the character of the teachers, the nature
of the studies and the methods of discipline
are all matters of great importance in
themselves and of deep interest to us.
It is well for us to remember in order that
we may give the subject of education its