TAT Ae Reba iene aaten pepee Hi | | a tA) 12h Aa ts iatee H Tine Ta va LE aE i Hi f WH AAR i i : 4 it ; ; ‘ i Braise) if t see al th i HI } qe HARE HER THEE Hilt See << mo ae (es ee ae ek oe Oe Oe ee ae eae ee a oe = —_ as hae wen ewan en : = et : apa <- = oars * > ISS ae I pp memes anormal HARVEY M. SHELLEY PUBLISHER AND BOOKSELLER 5513 Larchwood Avenue Philadelphia ane f i . ea 4 elG @ a 2 \ 7, Nog 5 > ~~, g * ee << all THE SAINT AND THE SWORD and the SWORD A SERIES OF ADDRESSES - ON THE ANTI-CHRISTIAN NATURE OF WAR By HERBERT BOOTH (An AMBASSADOR FOR JESUS CHRIST) Author of “The Christian Confederacy” “The Wiles of the Devil,’ “Toys and Their Teaching” “How Militarism Murders Christ,’ etc., etc. “For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war after the flesh: For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God.” (2 Cor. 10:3, 4.) NEW @8&% york GEORGE H. DORAN COMPANY ee ee eee ee ee eee ORee enna nee eeen One enEET Ee HOR eR eeS TOR ene ee en ee ae nee nna naa E eee eeeeeeen ana enone sennes sen aaeseneunessesorasence® CopyricHT, 1923 By HERBERT BOOTH To the Memorp of Hilp Beloved Father and Mother GENERAL WILLIAM BOOTH AND CATHERINE BOOTH Who taught me when a boy that the Gospel of Christ and the weapons of love were the all essential and successful equipments for the Soldier of the Cross in the good fight of faith. Qnd also to the Memory of Hp beloved Father-in-law THe LATE CARL FERDINAND SCHOCH Who when a young officer in the Netherlands army gave his heart to God and, at the dictate of an enlightened conscience, as in obedience to the com- mand of his Saviour, sacrificed his fortune and sur- rendered the sword of steel to take up the sword of the Spirit. This Book is Lovingly Medicated “One of the greatest employments of every Christian gov- ernment and community is to train thousands of men, not to fight with their fists only, in the way of inflicting a few passing sores, but with weapons capable, it may be, of killing human beings at the rate of so many per minute. It is quite a ‘scientific taste’ to study how to destroy a large vessel, with several hundreds of men on board, instantaneously. Talk of brutality! Is there anything half as brutal as this within the whole range of rowdyism? But against all this, modern Christianity, which professes to believe the teaching of Him Who taught us not to resist evil, but to love our enemies, and to treat with the utmost benevolence hostile nations, has nothing to say. All the devilish animosity, hard hearted cruelty, and harrowing consequences of modern warfare, are not only sanctioned but held up as an indespensable neccessity of civilized life, and in times of war, patronized and prayed for in our churches and chapels, with as much impudent assurance as though Jesus Christ had taught, “But I say unto you an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth, and, return evil for evil, hate your enemies and pursue them with all the diabolical appliances of destruction which the Devil can enable you to invent.” CATHERINE BooTH. The Mother of the Salvation Army in “Popular Christianity,” pages 134-5. a = ‘ ae dec CONTENTS PESTS # NOT Ry a ie Cre tetas lots aie bie wh ela als eae: TREVORDI Ti cie eb oeoele a shale Wiehe UEP HUSrO PING ytUW te, aN ale UR vy, PREPRODUCTION? ciicda sates ei thai iee PERRIS, btn Dt We ANN Part [I War 1s ANTI-CHRISTIAN BECAUSE, FOR THE CHURCH PTETS POR BIDDE Nye atc lol Cia elas be eh hw . Carnal War is forbidden for ie hunch be- cause it is out of its proper time....... 2. Carnal War is forbidden for the Chard ee cause she is told to fight with the weapons of NOME PRS EOC ed eet oe ita oe ae tas Whale help Part II War is ANTI-CHRISTIAN BECAUSE IT IS ANTI- JUDICIAL 06) 6. a Oe 66: 81/6. 856-0 (670, 8.8 SC 2 @ FC 418Ce), SOO 7S). ORS Part III War 1s ANTI-CHRISTIAN BECAUSE IT IS IMMORAL.. 1. Its rules and standards legalize and popularize Re PUM co P Vets Yate ote Whee] o apes lay ania: shea 2. Its weapons are deceitful and cruel........... 3. The actual uses made of these weapons are still WEPERPETTFICTALISCLALD C1 a gig altel cl oan te, oa tesa dar tze a ei 4. War is immoral because it condones murder... 5. War is immoral because it condemns itself.... 6. War is immoral because it appeals to hatred and Rerenek. Ceth eda g a BAYS pe a AG ae 7. War is immoral because it forces those to fight who have no real quarrel.......... SA ae 8. War is immoral because it demoralizes those who are engaged in it.......... hie EY A Part IV War 1s ANTI-CHRISTIAN BECAUSE, FOR THE CHRIS- RIAN TPIS) (UNPATRIOTIC «515 cro: cusps Gig ohe\biels° 3 PAGE 41 41 84. 105 219 CONTENTS . Because it is detrimental to his Earthly Home- Rat ie ee eee 2 elk lee ee eee eee . Because it violates the laws of his Heavenly Cifizenship (utp. . 6 yn) tela ete ena ee . Because for the Christian to destroy his fellow- Christian is the highest form of treason to Christ 1 /u/o lin 'chs eaters ate ane ete Rina age . Because it is an act of flagrant disloyalty to the Bible for Christians to kill and die for Nations already doomed to destruction............. . Because it can never be right for the Christian to employ wicked means even for securing a good end (o's). sce settee miatiie Sh) yap vi ae aa Part V Waris ANTI-CHRISTIAN BECAUSE IT IS PROHIBITED BY THE TEACHINGS AND EXAMPLE OF CHRIST As SHOWN By:— ; The Qualities He esteemed... 2.550. 0-2 am 2. The) Parables He used. i.). . ox: scrap iene 3. The Works He performed and the policy He laid down) .) cid Te lorie ot ds in ee . The Injunctions He uttered and the Reproofs He administered |... 6c sen 1 eee . The Gospel He preached and the conduct He condemned |. )e4 istaed cea pate oe . The Service He demanded and the Plan He explained #) 0) SSC Pale ace ne . The Endowments He bestowed and the Com- forter He promised iin << .\s.0 ++ ss clean anes . The Kingdom He introduced..............- 9. The Methods He emphasized and the Tests He 10. applied (o5°s\.'s's vielsle «tele slike orp ak ea eee The Example He gave... arguments). seus cee takes ALA: Self defence argument. (2014). 4oe a ednisic ce ienens 46030 “Fight for the Fatherland” argument........... 49 ae AUTHOR’S NOTE This book was written during the Great War. It was prepared as a protest and a testimony which, had the United States Government so decreed, the writer cheerfully offered to seal with his imprisonment. It was offered to a number of publishers likely to be in- terested in the subject. Some of these at first took it up enthusiastically but later, in face of ever tightening legisla- tion, withdrew. As a last resort the writer had the manu- script put into type hoping to distribute the book through the mails. But this avenue, too, was quickly closed and there were indications that the first impressions would be seized by Secret Service Agents. Nothing remained, therefore, but to hold it over till the rage for militarism, ever the silencer of conscience and the destroyer of freedom of speech, had subsided. A four years’ campaign of continuous Missions in Aus- tralasia has rendered it impossible to make the necessary cor- rections for bringing it to date until the present time. The stern logic of events since the signing of the armistice has abundantly confirmed what I have written. The Church of the Living God if she is to be effective in opposing war must take her eyes off the schemes of unregenerate men, try- ing to save themselves from the strife which is the inevitable consequence of their selfish natures, and she must concen- trate her efforts on bringing her own children into line with the teachings and spirit of her divine Lord. What is most needed, to bring about a League of Nations or a World Court is a League of Thoroughly Christianized Christians, gathered from the midst of every Denomination, pledged to preach and practice the principles of Christ, and ready to give notice to all governments that, unless they can discover some better way of settling their disputes than the barbaric method of war, they may reckon, not only on its 7 8 AUTHOR'S NOTE constitutional opposition but on its refusal to participate in any military service whatsoever or in any service at all where the gospel of love cannot be preached. While the govern- ments know they can rely on the sanctions and support of the Church in times of war they are not likely to pay much attention to their preachments of pacifism im times of peace. I now send forth this book with prayer that it may help some of the Lord’s true people to get, as regards this vital subject, better anchored to God’s Word, and thus prepared. for the days of violence still ahead and which the Lord Jesus predicted should herald His return. HERBERT BOOTH. © An Ambassador for Christ. rH Cor.V 720: Yonkers-on-Hudson, N. Y. August, 1923. FOREWORD es is a red-hot book on a blazing-hot theme. I make no apologies to any one for handling my subject without ambiguity or compromise. If ever, in all the world’s history, there was a time when it was vitally im- portant to be definite and fearless, this is the moment. As a CHRISTIAN speaking to CHRISTIANS I re- gard war as no subject to be dealt with in a ginger-bread, half-frightened, apologetic, may-it-not-be-possible-that-I-am- right-and-you-are-wrong fashion. ‘That is no way for a man to deal with what he considers legalized murder. For “pussy-foot’ pacifist literature I refer the reader elsewhere. At a time when the Christian Church is tumbling over itself to secure the services of men who, in evangelistic cam- paigns, employ the most extravagant slang; breathe out denunciations little short of swearing in their attacks on dancing, theater-going and booze, one who, with General Sherman, regards war as hell itself, may be permitted to strike straight from the shoulder when talking about that same hell let loose. Especially so when “great Church leaders’ are busy trying to prove that such ghastly hell- ishness finds in some way its causes, as its approval away up in heaven. If drunkenness is a crime, what shall be said of the crime which has turned half of Europe into a quagmire of youthful corpses—a shambles running with hu- man blood—over which the bishops of the world have been holding forth holy hands in benediction! The fact that hitting “booze,” dancing, card-playing, theater-going, no longer involves, as it used to for some of us, a boycotted business or a broken nose, while hitting war means the organized opposition of most of the forces 9 10 THE SAINT AND THE SWORD of earth and all the powers of hell, is a pretty sure indica- tion that, in this hour, war is the thing to hit. The Line of Attack Note carefully, however, this book is not an attack on earthly governments. It is an attack on the pugilistic Chris- tianity of the modern Church. The governments of this age are not Christian governments. The vast majority of their subjects know nothing of the “new birth” which, Christ said, was the first essential to citizenship in His kingdom. Being under the rule of Satan, they are not subject to Chris- tian law. It is to be expected, therefore, that these unchris- tian states will exercise their power to make war on each other when and where they please. They will do this as it suits their selfish ends, their imperialistic ideas, or their purely humanitarian conceptions of justice and “honor.” It is my earnest hope that by publishing this book I shall drop a literary shell, rough and ugly though it may: be, into the midst of the CHRISTIAN camp which will set some, at least, of Christ’s professed people talking, question- ing, protesting, many of them probably shrieking vengeance. If I can achieve this I shall have done something worth while. Anything is better than the deadly stupor or the utterly false arguments on this vital question, everywhere manifest under the paralyzing sway of worldly governments and an apostate Church. I want also to respond to the cry of the sheep, the youth- ful, most hopeful sheep of the FLOCK OF CHRIST, who, almost shepherdless in the wilderness of ignorance as re- gards this question, shrink at the dictate of a sensitive Chris- tian conscience from the assassin’s profession. These are look- ing for help that will enable them to give a reason for the faith that is in them. “He That Hath an Ear” There are certain people who will not understand this book. ‘They will very likely attack it. Among these will THE SAINT AND THE SWORD II be those who have lost faith in the inspiration of the Bible; who deny the deity of Christ; who mix up the Old and the New ‘Testaments without regard to the dispensations to which they primarily relate; who repudiate the truth about man’s fall, his lost condition and God’s scheme of atonement, which in type, prediction or achievement is the predominant theme of God’s Word; who do not believe that God has a plan as well as a Gospel for this world; who do not think that Christ will reign victorious over Satan in a sinless and deathless age; who value the prophecies mainly as useful epistles out of which to extract texts for sermons; who think that the race, while rejecting Christ, is all the time growing nearer perfection; who accept the theory that man, by de- veloping his better qualities, will, through the process of “evolution,’ work out his own redemption; who have no use for the doctrine of the second coming of the Lord; who, while centering all their thoughts on a far distant and visionary heaven, regard the Bible-predicted millennial kingdom as a more or less mythical Utopia; who treat Christ’s doctrines, the Scriptures, the Prophets, the Saints, the life, death and resurrection of the Lord, as an excellent system of religion upon which to build Churches, Sunday Schools, Societies, Organizations, Institutions, the interests of which must be considered of more importance than the reign of the Saviour and the establishment of the Kingdom of Heaven —none of these will understand this book. On the other hand, those who believe the very opposite of all these things will doubtless, on that account, possess the “ear to hear... what the Spirit,” during these tremendous days, “says to the Churches,” and will be able to judge wisely and arrive at correct conclusions concerning the things I have written. Theology and Do-ology As a CHRISTIAN there is, of course, for me a theology, just as for the student of the heavens there is an astronomy. In that theology there are articles fixed as the stars, lasting as 12 THE SAINT AND THE SWORD eternity. One of these is the Sixth Commandment. It has never been annulled; on the contrary, I find it reiterated and reinforced on the lips of Christ. It is also confirmed by the teaching on almost every page of the Epistles— “Thou shalt do no murder.” Another chapter in my theology is the Sermon on the Mount. The more I read it, the more it seems to say what it means, to mean what it says. The ingenious mental acro- batics of the commentators have not yet succeeded, despite their frantic efforts, in making the Saviour teach the very opposite of all He declared. Masterly as have been their attempts at interpretation, modification, adaptation, they have not yet achieved the feat of making any one really believe that when the Lord said, “Love your enemies,’ He meant to imply that the proper thing to do with a foe was to stick him through the ribs. No! The Sixth Commandment still stands. It is read every Sabbath in the Morning Prayers of the Church of England, the Church where the bishops, having repeated it and having listened to the sol- diers’ response,—“Lord have mercy upon us and incline our hearts to keep this law’’—proceed at once to give them their “blessing” in going forth to break it. Having regard, then, to the light thrown on the Bible by the Spirit enlightened scholarship of this age, and to the fact that the Sixth Commandment and the Sermon on the Mount are still on the statute-book of the Christian Church, for me there seems no escape from the conclusion that the professed follower of Jesus must say frankly if he will obey them, and be a Christian, or ignore them, and be either an Old Testament Jew or a heathen. Topsy-Turvydum Of course I know all about the professional sophism, which has sprung from sources perilously near to earthly thrones—theories which have created a sort of habit of mind, by which it has become excusable for Christians to give the THE SAINT AND THE SWORD 13 lie to their strongest convictions and, as regards this matter of fighting, call black white, and white black. I know how such sophistry, reinforced by earthly powers, by the instinct of fear, and the incentive of self-interest, will lay the Chris- tian conscience prostrate before the dictates of worldly potentates. It is astounding to see how such professed Christians, just because a little clique of statesmen cry “war,” will at once proceed to turn upside-down the most vital tenets of their faith and morality. Because a few “diplomats,” who are supposed to have no authority of any kind in the Church of Christ, and hardly any of whom know anything of real con- version—because these announce that certain national inter- ests must be sought, certain policies pursued or wrongs righted by an antichristian method, which involves the killing of tens of thousands of men, then bishops and divines, deacons and elders, will start in to call ghastly, dastardly crimes by plausible and even picturesque names. Premedi- tated, wilful, and wholesale murder becomes “the conquest of the enemy;” highway and daylight robbery is “capture of treasure;”’ devilish pride and skilfully fostered hatred masquerades as “a commendable patriotism; venomous, envious, red-hot rage is only “‘magnificent courage and fight- ing force; consummate lying, that would outclass the low- est-down perjured scoundrel, is described as “brilliantly clever intelligent work;’’ ditches filled with gory and rotting corpses are the ‘‘quiet resting places of the heroic dead;”’ and hospitals full of eyeless, armless, legless, footless, ruined men are “‘the bases of the splendid work of Red Cross So- cieties.”” All this wild topsy-turvydom of everything that makes Christianity Christian and morality moral, has been going on in the CHRISTIAN CHURCH with a monstrous hypocrisy and a sickening sentimentality before a wonder- ing world for a hundred years or more, and all because the statesmen of Europe, some of whom profess to be prominent 14 THE SAINT AND THE SWORD Christians, have decreed that the only way to safety, right- eousness, peace and prosperity is zot the way of Jesus Christ, but the way through the hell of hate and destruction. As for me, I cannot, for the life of me, bring such a sudden revolu- tion of ideas to square either with conscience or Christianity. Nor can I join with the “Church dignitaries” of Berlin, London and Washington and defend this moralizing of rank immorality on the ground that a greater peril, be it of na- tional extinction, commercial greed or merciless autocracy, justifies the saints of this era in resorting to such measures. Commercial enterprises, political schemes, even the oppres- sion of tyrannical emperors are, for the Christian no justi- fication of war. ‘The early Church, which was born and cradled in the midst of cruelties and iniquities more shame- ful and vile than any yet charged against the Prussians, re- fused to retaliate or to bear arms. ‘This is indisputable. The Bayonet versus the Ballot Moreover, if it is right for the Christian to make war with carnal weapons (which of course it never can be), there are causes which would have a far stronger claim upon the use of a sword in his hands than the aggression of a “for- eign” power. For him the pre-eminently important spheres are the religious and moral spheres. In the religious sphere, and from the Protestant point of view, for instance, it would be far more justifiable to kill Roman Catholics than it is to kill Englishmen or Germans, and from the Roman Cath- olic viewpoint the same would be true as regards Protestants. With God, heresy is worse than imperialism. The Church made a fatal pilgrimage up that street, and found “no thor- oughfare” there. It led to the bloody “Roundheads” of Cromwell, and the gruesome terminus of the Spanish In- quisition. In the moral sphere it is the same. If it is legitimate for Christians to arm themselves and shed blood in a good cause, why crawl along with the slow process of constitutional LHE SAINT AND THE SWORD 15 agitation? ‘The sword is at least a quicker method than oratory and votes. Why not march through the land shoot- ing down saloon-keepers, white-slave traffickers, boodlers, as “Christian” soldiers now shoot down citizens of a “for- eign” land. If the “Christian” citizens of Germany, England and the American Republic feel justified in kill- ing each other as the children of the Devil, it is well for them to remember that there are other armies of booze- distilling, graft-seeking, money-hunting, woman-degrading, property-swindling, negro-lynching immoral monsters whom they should also get after with their bayonets and their guns. These also are the offspring of his Satanic Majesty. With the Christian, things are not as they are with world- lings. If it is right for him to employ carnal weapons at all, he is most justified in employing them against the things that most matter. He cannot be consistently condemned as a murderer because he uses a six shooter in putting a brewer out of business, and then be commended for using a bayonet to stick another fellow through the bowels because he is an autocrat. In his estimation the booze scourge is every bit as bad as the scourge of Prussianism. John Barleycorn has done and is doing every bit as much to strangle the human race as could ever be achieved by the tyranny of the worst despot who ever wore a crown. The Acid Test Again, war today is no longer a side issue. The whole world is cursed with the fighting spirit. Nations, until lately the opponents of great armies if not of great navies, have succumbed to militarism. Under the pretex of abolishing war they have become intensely war-like, doubling their navies, adopting hitherto undreamed of methods for raising vast armies and adopting instruments appallingly greater in destructive power. Universal military training is openly ad- vocated. Even socialists are appealing to the sword. “Thou- sands of Christians are being challenged by the pistol and the 16 THE SAINT AND THE SWORD rapier of the anarchist to put to the test the teachings of Christ. Money flows like water in the course of blood- shed. The tide of militarism is therefore exactly at that high-water mark which the Lord Jesus said it would reach in these last days—affecting every nation, afflicting every home, right against the heart of every Christian. We Christians cannot ignore it. We cannot evade it. What are we going to do about it? Moreover, militarism has not only become the supreme question, but the test question of the hour. What the “acid test” is to cloth, and to gold, such a test has the war ques- tion become to Christianity. Just as a grain or two of anti- pyrene placed in a solution of iron chloride will instantly change the color of the whole from a white yellow to a deep crimson, so the “war question” introduced into a religious gathering will immediately indicate whether the Christianity there professed and experienced is the Christianity of Christ or a Christianity permeated with the spirit of this world. Im- port the topic of ‘armies and navies” into a religious “con- vention,” a Christian institution of learning, a Christian home, a Christian pulpit, and it will iramediately indicate whether the religion there professed is a plausible philosophy, based upon only a partial acceptance of the teachings of Jesus, commendable to the minds of unregenerate men, comform- able to this age—a religion adaptable to the reasonings of the carnal mind and supported by material weapons—or whether it is the religion of the crucified Saviour, which the world hates as much today as it did when He introduced it and sealed it with His blood. Go into a “General Assem- bly,” “Conference,” “Union,” “Convention,” of any of the great denominations, stand up to address even a “Scripture School” or “Bible Institute,” or ‘“Officer’s Council” and thunder against once popular, but now unpopular sins, like booze, immoral theaters, dancing, white-slavery, and you will get your eloquence endorsed by thunders of applause. Wicked as they are, the nerve-center of the sin of the world is not THE SAINT AND THE SWORD 17 there just now. But you say just one word against war; war, not of course in the abstract, not unjust war or war afar off in South Africa or Prussia as other nations practice it, but war itself as an anti-christian method; war when it is decreed by our leaders in our own land, as it affects our country, our business, our boys, our interests, our homes, just try and say one word against that kind of war and you will find you have dropped the “‘acid test” into the very doubtful solution of this world’s Christianity. It will im- mediately turn to its true color. How many of us discovered that it was one thing to denounce war prior to May, 1917— before the New Decalogue was issued from Washington— but quite a different thing afterwards! As soon as you try to show that the Christian must stand by the words of Jesus Christ before the words of any tem- peral potentate; that his heavenly citizenship must take prec- edence over his earthly citizenship; that he must trust God for his protection, even though it involves suffering for His sake, instantly you do this, the sympathetic atmosphere of that gathering will turn to frigid coldness, and though one who has learned to read the language of men’s hearts as it is written in their eyes may discern many troubled con- sciences, only a few will dare to express with their lips what they inwardly approve. You have touched the “Jive wire’ along which the Devil is most effectively operating in this hour of the world’s history. The Challenge of the Hour But since this is the test, here also is the great call to true holy courage. Once again the Church is confronted, as we should expect her to be in the closing hours of this age, with a condition of things which, though perhaps different in its presentation is yet similar in essence to that which sur- rounded the Church of the first centuries. “The opposing forces which closed in upon her then as now afforded, and are affording, a supreme opportunity for confessing her Lord, 18 THE SAINT AND THE SWORD or denying both His teaching and His plan of operation for His people in this dispensation. The situation has every ap- pearance of the repetition of history. In the earliest age the Church stood by her Master, kept herself absolutely dis- entangled from the world’s political quarrels, and triumphed, though “with persecutions,’ both materially and spiritually, beyond the wildest dreams of man. Later on she sold her- self to kings of the earth, drew the sword with the armies of the world, and began at once the sure decline into the ~ fatal apostasy in which we see her today. In this “latter time” the same opportunity brings a new challenge to the “remnant”’—the true Body of Christ—found within as well as without the organized Church, which, as a whole, constitutes this great apostasy. This challenge con- fronts us with two questions of supreme importance. First, what is to be done to save this inner Church from repeating the error of the early Christians, and thus bringing about the tragedy of her own suicide? Second, and even more im- portant, what is to be done to save the Gospel from being lowered in the public estimation to the level of the mock evangel which has been preached before a puzzled humanity in war-ridden Churches and in the armed camps of Europe and America? “If the foundations be destroyed, what can the righteous do?’”’* It is with the hope of “doing my bit” for God and my country and with the desire to guide and sup- port some within the ranks of this true Church, during a time of misconception and danger, that this book is written. Militarism then, in which is centered all those world- powers which crucify Christ, is the Devil’s supreme chal- lenge to the Church today; the call for the witness against it is her great opportunity. Many of the godliest Bible- scholars of recent times have declared this dispensation almost closed. Certainly the signs are everywhere. If so, then this is the Church’s Jast call before her Lord returns. How 2 Pas. 1533. THE SAINT AND THE SWORD 19 will she respond to it? Alas! with what deep sorrow we have to add, how fatal, till now, has been her reply. Still there are a faithful few. Multitudes more are being taught, by sorrow and tears, their error. Will they rally to their Master? It is a vital matter. The opportunities of winning, by suffering and self-sacrifice, the honored places in the coming kingdom are rapidly passing. The Lord is at hand! Impartiality and the Universal Autocrat The following pages have grown out of addresses which, since the beginning of the late European war, I have given from time to time, in connection with my evangelistic cam- paigns. While they constitute the outline and provide the main points, they have, especially toward the latter part of the book, been much enlarged. In order to make my meaning as clear as I could, I have thought it best to keep to the form of public speech. The urgency of the occasion has rendered literary merit difficult. Such addresses must of necessity contain a certain amount of repetition. ‘This, however, will help rather than hinder the argument. I have written purely from the CHRISTIAN STAND- POINT. I have tried to write impartially, for I feel abso-. lutely impartial. My experience in different nations has helped me here. I love them all. For years I worked with my father in an organization which perhaps more than any other then existing proved how great was the unifying power of the Cross. We had a flag which, with only one exception (consequent upon an unhappy division in the United States), has been carried, unaccompanied by any other flag, through the streets of almost all the nations on earth. It stood for the King of Kings, for an eternal country, for a full Gospel of love and mercy. Its followers, many of whom were raised from the lowest depths, have risen to the truest kind of citi- zenship. I know something of the faults and the graces of most of the peoples comprising the nations of Europe. I have found 20 THE SAINT AND THE SWORD human nature, as regards its fundamental characteristics, about the same everywhere. From the national, family and individual standpoints, SELF is the imperial and merciless autocrat wherever the sun shines. No one deplores the withering blight of Prussian, French, Italian, Austrian mili- tarism more than I do; nobody more than I the unchristian policy of British navalism. I see the same evil root beneath them all. They all exist either for aggression or preserva- tion—that the governments which control them may either. get more or (and this is important to remember as regards those who have most) may keep what they've got. They all justify their operations in the name of Christ, though they all employ methods which are diametrically opposed to all He taught. | Shepherds Who Kill the Sheep In this book I have spoken, not to un-regenerate soldiers, multitudes of whom have been trained to believe that war — is a heroic duty, I speak almost entirely to the Church— especially to the Jeaders of the Church. It is upon us, who have taken the responsibility of teaching and leading the flock of Christ, there rests the great obligation to seek out the truth and stand by it at all costs. The spectacle recently presented to a godless world, by the shepherds of Christ’s flocks throughout the earth, standing, as it were, with butcher’s knife in hand, dripping with the blood of the sheep of each others’ folds, is a gruesome anomaly which should surely stir some one to lead the way back to a love and service | of the Great Shepherd by which, to say the least, archbishops, bishops and nonconformist divines might be spared the horror of urging their followers to blow off each others’ heads and tear out each others’ eyes. If it were not so ghastly a tragedy, the screaming comedy on the world’s stage today would be this bloody Christianity, performing a farcical homage to a patient, unresisting, cruci- fied Christ. THE SAINT AND THE SWORD 21 No Axes to Grind In the preparation of these addresses I have been greatly assisted by a peculiar experience which has brought me into a place of absolute independence. I am attached to none of the denominations. I love and work with them all. No one is responsible for anything I have said but myself. I have therefore no particular axe to grind; no Church or in- stitutional “interests” to uphold; no occasion for interpreting the world’s events in such a way as to secure “open doors,” “new opportunities,’ etc., for any particular organization. I am in no sense subject to the insidious temptation to “speak softly” about hellish disaster, because it opens the way for “making another mark” in the world for any one or for increasing the popularity of some much “boosted” Christian Society. “The Christian should have one interest at heart. It should be the interest of the Lord Jesus Christ. He should be sure that one supreme personality stands before his vision, Whose approval transcends all other praises, as the noonday sun outshines the stars—that one is his Lord, his Master, his coming King. What He said, what He thinks, how He rewards should count supremely with him. Discretion and Valor Before deciding to publish this book, and when the late war was declared in Washington, I suspended by public work, and retired into the mountains of northwestern Carolina, to get alone with God. . Three-fourths of these pages have been written there. I felt another crisis had been reached in my life. Was it possible that I might, after all, be mis- taken? Ought I to follow the example of some esteemed champions in the cause of peace and suspend the expressions of my antagonism to war till the war-clouds passed over? Would it not be better to lay aside my lecture on “The Prince of Peace,” extract from my sermons those parts which laid such emphasis on love and forgiveness as fundamental to the religion of Jesus, and join with a godless majority 22 THE SAINT AND THE SWORD and a war-whooping press in swelling the chorus for “patri- otism’’? Such a course offered large opportunities for me. Would not such chances for doing good out balance the necessary compromise? Did not loyalty as a Britisher to country and king, as well as sincere affection for America, the land, for me, of so much liberty, so many kindnesses, such im- measurable spiritual blessing, require at this time a passive acquiescence? Could I not offer myself as an evangelist for - the military camps, fall back on Old Testament standards, and exalt the God of war? Could I not substitute Joshua for Jesus for a little while, and preach stirring “patriotic” sermons from such texts as—‘“The sword of the Lord and of Gideon”? Was it not possible that there might be a ~ loophole in New Testament theology through which I might crawl and stand with the Bible in hand to justify the Chris- tian in drawing the sword? Divesting myself of all prejudice, I decided to devote whatever time might be necessary to a fresh investigation of the whole subject. I determined that, without flinching, I would settle, for myself, the question one way or the other forever. God’s Blue Book With several translations of the Bible, a good harmony of the Gospels, a concordance and a few good works of reference, I set myself to the task. I went right through the New Testament, marking carefully every passage that re- ferred in any way or had any possible bearing on war—those for it with red, those against it with blue. When I got through I found that the New Ttestament was a “blue book” straight from the government of God. I want to bear testimony that after three months’ careful, prayerful study of its pages, working at it on an average of ten hours a day, I could not find a single passage that would justify the use of the sword, for the purposes of war, in the hand of the Christian. I could not find an argument of any kind that THE SAINT AND THE SWORD 23 would enable me to get in with the war crowd without sell- ing my conscience and betraying my Lord. Of course I found and carefully marked the few passages which seemed at first sight to offer me a place as a Christian in the butchery of Europe. They were the few familiar texts around which the great leaders of Christendom gather, like buzzing bees around a honey-can, whenever the bugles summon to war. But on close examination these apparent breaches in the defenses of the anti-war argument turned out, in the light of the clear interpretation the Lord gave me, to be almost the strongest of all the positions in the non- resistance policy. Nothing could be further from the truth than to suppose that because I attack what I call “Bloody Christianity” I am in any sense an advocate of “bloodless” Christianity. All my hopes for myself, for mankind, for this world and the next, are based on the precious blood of the Saviour once shed for the remission of sins. ‘The fact that the higher critics of the German, English, American and_ other schools have sneered so contemptuously at the doctrine of the atonement—which many of them have called “the creed of the butcher's shops’—was not the least of the causes of the most colossal butchery the world has yet seen. Theological Microscopics Next to the teaching of the Holy Spirit through God’s Word I am indebted to nothing, both for suggestions and confirmations of my convictions, quite so much as I am to the arguments propounded by the Christian defenders of war. More particularly is this the case as regards those teachers of “advanced” Bible-study who, when they write on the Wwar-question, seem to me to dishonor their splendid record and refute much they have taught concerning dispen- sational and premillennial truth. All such defendants when under the cross-fire of the war zone’s. remorseless events bring to the Bible a microscopic inspection which destroys 24 THE SAINT AND THE SWORD and distorts their outlook over the great mountain ranges of verity. They turn their minds from the safe and sane instruction which comes by a survey of the whole body of truth and fix their mental gaze on incidental atoms. ‘They are like misguided zoologists who seek to interpret the nature of the whole animal by the character of the cells which com- pose some excrescency on the tip of its tail. With such advocates the overwhelming mass of Christ’s teachings concerning non-resistence are lost because of a concentrated gaze on His little sheep-whip in the Temple. There is no room in their military articles for even a mem- tion of the great outstanding spectacles of His self-abnega- tion—His matchless endurance at Calvary—because all the space is occupied by long drawn-out arguments, which at- tempt to convert the manifestation of His divine majesty before which the soldiers fell back in Gethsemane, into the kind of “force” which, in the trenches of Europe, smashes men’s faces into bloody pulp. The solitary sentence on the lips of Christ about “selling a cloak and buying a sword” is made of far more importance than the hundred-and-one expressions which forever take the sword from the armory of the saint and place it in the hands of those who perish with its use. The fact that the Centurion, though a soldier, got his son healed and that Cornelius was an officer (they forget it was before they became Christians) are of infinitely more importance just now to these hardly pressed defenders of fury, than the numberless exhortations to pa-' tient endurance of wrong, to forgiveness of injury, to the practice of never-failing love, which fill to the brim the pages of the New ‘Testament. War Texts versus the Bible It would seem that it matters little to those preachers and theological professors that the New Testament, as indeed the history of the early Christian Church, is one long record of saints who, just because they refused to obey the God- THE SAINT AND THE SWORD. 25 dishonoring dictates of earthly potentates, were like their Old Testament forerunners, “tortured, not accepting de- liverance—had trial of cruel mockings—scourgings—of bonds and imprisonments—were stoned—torn asunder— tempted—slain with the sword;” all this would appear to matter little! In war time, what, in their estimation, matters supremely is that a possible escape from a very awkward and threatening situation presents itself, since St. Paul speak- ing of the magistrate used that, for them, most fortunate sentence in his Roman Epistle—“He beareth not the sword in vain.” “The proper thing to do,” say all these Christian advo- cates of salvation from Prussia by Prussianism—‘“is to be less particular about anti-war contexts and to seize and magnify the few isolated war-texts, such, for instance, as those which insist on the honor and obedience due to all authorities. Upon these they fasten with the tenacity of horse-leeches—more especially upon those which refer to Paul’s magisterial “minister of God” armed with his reeking sword. It never seems to occur to them that in doing so they prove a little too much, for it was precisely this sword, in the hands of a magisterial scoundrel, which chopped off the apostle’s head outside Rome. ‘To all these Christian defenders of the doctrine of pugilism, fire and bloodshed I am, then, deeply indebted. ‘The weakness and ingenious sophistry of their contentions has confirmed my belief that truth is to be found in the opposite direction. b] Quitters and Converts This book is not written to aid “quitters.” It is not intended to help any one in shirking duty. It is a call to service for Christ and mankind quite as strenuous and far more important than any military service could ever be. I am not oblivious to the fact that the same arrant cowardice which has kept thousands of professing Christians from ever attempting to carry a single cross for Christ or the Church, ~ 26 THE SAINT AND THE SWORD will, whenever war is declared and their lives and goods are in danger, prompt them to take shelter behind a “‘conscience’’ which has suddenly and amazingly asserted itself; a “con science” which, for the first time in long years, has developed a “sensitiveness” about anything of any kind. Since all such have loved the world and still intend to live for it (none more so than many of the members of those Societies which have been exempted from Army Service)—rejoicing in its pleasures, grasping at its gains, sharing its emoluments— they ought to fight for it. On the other hand, I do not mean to imply that those whose eyes have been opened by the recent ghastly war to the true nature of things—to the truth as it is in Jesus; who, in the lurid light of the battle-fields have discerned the saving Gospel of Christ; who understand the bearing of that Gospel, not only om war, but on all the things of this life; who shall determine to separate themselves wholly to the service of Christ—I do not mean to imply that such as these should not boldly attest that fact before the world, take up their crosses, follow the Lord Jesus, and refuse in all future wars to slay their brother man. For all such this book is also written. The Dispensation of Grace did not close, as it would appear to have done with some of the “exempted” Churches of the U. S. A. in May, 1917! The Call for a Midnight Cry If in these pages I have spoken strongly, critically, with a seeming dogmatism, I have done this reluctantly but with a purpose. It is because I have felt myself overwhelmed with the terrible seriousness of the situation, the urgent need there is for warning of a startling nature. It is not my fault that I have found myself confronted with the anomaly of almost the entire Christian Church throughout the civilized world arming itself for self-destruction. I cannot help it that the voices, so eloquently raised in times of peace, in behalf of “pacifism” and the methods of the Master, were THE SAINT AND THE SWORD 27 when the peril was upon us and it cost something to stand by such principles, hushed into a deathly silence or raised in cowardly opposition. I have spoken strongly because I feel that a clarion call is needed to summon Christians, and espe- cially Christian Leaders, to at least a faithful study of this vital subject. To leave it alone; to raise no light of guidance in this black hour of hate for the thousands who, over- whelmed by doubt, are everywhere calling for it—this has seemed to me the cruelest, most cowardly traitorship of which the servant of Christ could possibly be guilty. And so I have said straight out all that my heart—con- stantly under the influence of prayer and the study of God’s Word—prompted me to say. Nor have I said it without counting the cost. I know full well what it may mean for me not only as concerns an angry world and an aggrieved Church, but as regards those I love most on earth. But I can do no other. If the contentions of this book are wrong I am open to conviction and ready for recantation. Let then my antago- nists come forward. Discussion can but help the truth, and it is the TRUTH that sets us free. INTRODUCTION The Scripture quotations in this book have been taken from the authorized, the Revised and the American Revised, versions of the Bible, as they appeared to the author to be most correct. If the wording is found to be inaccurate according to one version it will be found correct by referring to others. : tant question, I do so without due recognition of the fact that it is both a delicate and a difficult one. I wish to approach it with all the care, as regards both demeanor and argument, which it demands. I know something of the sorrow which has stricken the world; how large a proportion of mankind is at this moment mourning its dead; how mil- lions of hearts are bleeding as they think of the nameless graves of their loved ones in a foreign land; how homes which but a few years ago were bright with the sweetest fellowship are irretrievably bereft of husband, father, brother, supporter, friend. What I have to say I would say remem- bering that I speak as from the freshly erected monument of a whole generation now passed into the unseen. I am not deaf to the sighs nor blind to the tears of millions whose hopes are piteously shattered, whose dreams are sadly dis- illusioned. Nor do I forget that the colossal spectacle of human slaughter which has been, and in lesser degree, still is passing before our eyes in the world today is the consequence, not only of sin but of its twin sister ignorance. ‘The world is deluded as well as demoralized. The gross darkness which obscures the truth about war is appalling. Centuries of mis- taken teaching on this question has falsified the thinking of the races when that thinking relates to international strife. This has been true, not only of the world’s political teaching, but more especially of its religious teaching. I am convinced 28 ET no one suppose that in speaking on this all-impor- THE SAINT AND THE SWORD 29 that God, knowing the misdirection of the dark ages, has “winked” at “the times of this ignorance,”? but now, con- cerning this matter He is calling His Church everywhere to repent and learn wisdom: “But he that knew not, and did commit things worthy of stripes, shall be beaten with few stripes.” ‘Therefore to him that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is sin.” ‘Jesus said unto them, If ye were blind, ye should have no sin.’”? This is why I wish to say nothing more than I am forced, which might rob the bereaved of those bright gleams which penetrate the darkness of their sorrow at this time. They are thinking of their loved ones now in a soldier’s grave, as those who gave their lives for a good cause. They have crowned them with the laurel of heroism. Where the truth does not compel me to do so, I would not spoil the song of praise with which they cheer an otherwise unbearable desola- tion. An Intelligent Approach I desire also to approach the subject intelligently. I wish to take an all-around and impartial view of it. Indisputably, there is an advantageous side to war. It means discipline, self-denial, loyalty, courage. Though its appeal is over- whelmingly on the side of man’s brutal instincts, yet it does seem to call forth a good deal of what is good. ‘Thousands have, for the first time in their lives, been led to look at interests outside their own. There has been a subjection to training, an inculcation of obedience, a learning of respect for authority, which is becoming all too disastrously scarce in our modern life. We must carefully distinguish, however, between Christian courage and the dare-devilism which rushes wildly to assume risks of life and death, which plunges heedlessly into danger unprepared to meet God and goes at the impulse of pride to seek glory. ‘This is little better than the courage of suicide. 1Acts 17:30. *Luke 12:48. James 4:17. John 9:41. 30 THE SAINT AND THE SWORD Never forget, also, that these good qualities, credited to war, can be far more advantageously and with much greater effectiveness acquired in the service of God and the war- fare of faith. The great antidote for the war that fills is the war that saves and makes alive. The armies of destruc- tion are most effectively offset by the armies of salvation. There is every reason why I should appreciate the better side of the military system. It is the system under which, for a good cause, I have spent the best years of my life. IT know its power. My father too was a general. Our family were used of the Lord in raising up an army which has done things. On two occasions I have myself organized a little army of four hundred men, properly drilled and divided into companies, each having their officers, all equipped with neces- sary outfit of canteen, haversack, blanket, water-bottle; ac- companied by large vans for commissariat purposes, with ambulance wagons and moving headquarters. We marched seventeen hundred miles over the roads of England, bivouack- ing by the waysides for our meals; sleeping in barns, sheds and halls; marching sometimes thirty miles in a day, moving through dense crowds—sometimes very hostile—which came out to greet us; and holding evangelistic services in the great- est auditoriums with glorious soul-saving results. I know that if you want to get anything accomplished, either good or bad, there is no system which can begin to compare with the plan upon which armies are created and led to battle. A little band of people, often the most in- significant, when trained to obey orders and move together under the leadership of one enterprising spirit, will accom- plish more than fourteen committees of highly intelligent heads, each of which reckons its own thinking is the best, and varying wills, every one of which wants its own way. My message is not therefore all on the negative side. ‘There is a positive aspect. I hate the soldiership which spells gun- powder and blood, but I am an enthusiast for the Soldiers of the Cross. THE SAINT AND THE SWORD 31 A Sympathetic Approach I approach the subject also sympathetically. ‘There are other reasons why I should speak impartially. I have per- sonal interests and affections which are all on the side of militarism. One of my sons is an officer in the British Army. He has already returned four times wounded from the front. My wife, recently deceased, who was a Hollander, descended from a military family of no mean reputation. Her father, now in the Glory Land, and to whom this book is dedicated, was a brilliant young officer in the Netherland’s Army. He gave up both his commission and his fortune at the dictate of his conscience. Her uncle, one of the most esteemed men in that country today, is a general in the same army. I have a brother-in-law who was a commanding ofcer of a German automobile artillery company, besides others, both on the French and the Italian sides, who were liable to be called up in the late conflict. Both my wife’s grandfathers were colonels, one in the Swiss Guards, in the service of the King of Holland, and the other in the Nether- lands. The former fought at the battle of Waterloo. He was buried in a uniform emblazoned with medals, and a tablet exists to his honor in his native town in the Netherlands. So, you see, there is everything in my case to predispose me favorably to war, and it means something within the ranks of my own family for me to fight it. Once more, I know all about the glamour which attaches to what we call our “heritage of military glory.” It is hard to pull against because, being drummed into us from our babyhood, it has become part and parcel of our very make-up. We are swollen with pride on account of the achievements of our forefathers on the battle-fields of history. We stand on our tip-toes and use great swell words about Trafalgar, Waterloo, Valley Forge, or Gettysburg. Our poets have glorified the “Ride of the Six Hundred” and “The Charge of the Scots Greys,” while our voices have grown husky ab THE SAINT AND THE SWORD singing “Rule Britannia’—‘The Marseillaise’—“Yankee Doodle’—‘“The Watch on the Rhine’—‘‘Marching Through Georgia,” and all the rest of it. A Fearless Approach But, notwithstanding all this, and despite all the “patriotic fervor” it stirs, I want to deal with this profession of hu- man butchery with all the boldness for which the occasion calls and which my duty as a Christian minister demands. In my opinion, the hour has come as never before in the world’s history for the exercise of God-inspired courage in smiting this war-dragon, whose insatiable thirst for blood has impoverished the life of whole nations and filled the earth with mourning. If we Christians fail to make war against war with at least an equal valor as that manifested by those who risk their lives in defense of their country, we deserve to be called cowards, and we can hope for nothing but contempt for our message. I want then to say right here that, palliate it as we will, adorn it with the trappings of refinement as we may, excuse it on the grounds of sad necessity as we try, glorify it with the record of heroic achievements as we can, ameliorate its sufferings with “Red Cross” contrivances as we do, it still remains an ungainsayable fact, that war is a superlative hor- ror. As enacted before our eyes on the gory stage of Eu- rope today, it exhibits a ghastly and composite character. A character which displays itself in diabolical deceit, con- summmate cruelty, scientifically contrived agony and ruinous destruction. It breeds a flaming hate between millions who never wronged each other. It resurrects and lets loose the savage beast which lurks in the human breast till men and women, mad with revenge, cast aside every restraint of civili- zation for a wild welter in blood. It exchanges the scales of justice for the bludgeon of the bully, discards a dis- criminating reason for the dictate of an idiotic passion, and THE SAINT AND THE SWORD 33 tears eternal right from her God-appointed dominion that unreasoning might may be enthroned. When we look through history since the days of Christ, from the viewpoint of God and His Son, we can discover no single blessing brought by war that might not also have been wrought by other means. Nothing therefore which can for a moment compensate mankind for the many millions of bright young men whose bodies, it is estimated in the wars of this dispensation, have been pitched into the burial ditches of the battle-field, whose spirits for the most part, have been sent unprepared to the bar of God. Satan Does Not Destroy Himself Right truly spoke one of America’s greatest generals, one of the ablest strategists of the world, when he said, ‘““War is hell,” and you cannot make hell anything else than hellish. Whatever color you paint the Devil, he will still be the devilish monster he is. You cannot destroy the works of the great destroyer by invoking the powers of Beelzebub. It is interesting to note the devices great statesmen are resort- ing to in order to justify war. They always begin by de- nouncing it as an abomination, a scourge, and then go on to talk about waging it “humanely;” as if you could palliate murder by polishing the manners of the assassin or justify the cutting of a fellow’s throat by scientifically adjusting a ban- dage to the wound you had inflicted. As we shall see, this is the Devil’s own trick. He always attaches some pleasing and popular contrivance to his heels by which he hopes to obliterate the real trend of his tracks over the trail of his- tory. It is for this reason the advocates of killing armies always place such emphasis on Red Cross and ambulance work. Many a professing Christian has found a refuge from a troubled conscience in the Field Hospitals. Many a traitor to the Cross of redeeming love has hidden his shame- ful acquiescence in the gospel of hate behind the Red Cross of Geneva. Don’t misunderstand me. None could be 34. THE SAINT AND THE SWORD more thankful than I for this one ray of mercy over the otherwise impenetrable gloom of the battle-field. It is the one place in war where a true follower of Christ can be if, and always if, he takes with him no weapon but the armor of God, if he preaches the Gospel of Christ and eschews any kind of a compromise with the brutal profession, the deeds of which he tries to undo. But joining an ambulance brigade, which is part and parcel of a killing army, the ostensible cause for whose existence it is to patch up the wounds of its men in order that they may go back to inflict wounds on others, and which denies liberty to preach God’s Gospel of love, this is no business of a Christian, any more than it would be right for him to go into partnership with a distiller in order to enable the whiskey trade to continue with the least possible discredit or loss to the liquor traffic. This is why of all the preachers of the Gospel I pity most, it is the bunch who march with the butchering armies of the world as “chaplains.” Poor fellows! ‘They must often be in a tight place when called on to bury the bodies of two soldiers both of whom have been sent to fight each other by the supposed Church of Christ. It must be difficult to stand on a gun-carriage which tomorrow will be spattered with men’s brains and preach from the New ‘Testament, honeycombed as it is with exhortations to love your enemies, when your congregation is armed with rifles, bayonets, grenades, bombs and automatic six-shooters! What a strange mixture there must be in the singing of those camps—“ Jesus lover of my soul” and “Good-by, Piccadilly”—“Jesus shall reign where’er the sun” and “Rule Britannia” or “‘Deutsch- land wtber alles’—“‘Onward, Christian Soldiers, with the Cross of Jesus going on before,’ finishing in a battle-shriek, “To hell with the enemy.” It is too absurd. You cannot join the Gospel with manslaughter! To Christian ministers so situated it seems to me that God must once more be saying: “Bring no more oblations, incense is an THE SAINT AND THE SWORD 35 abomination unto me . . . the calling of assemblies, I can- not away with; it is iniquity, even the solemn meeting . and when ye spread forth your hands, I will hide mine eyes from you: yea, when ye make many prayers, I will not hear: your hands are full of blood.” War from the Christian Viewpoint But this brings me to perhaps the most important remark I have to make in these addresses. Unless you carefully remember what I am now going to say, you will not be able to understand my conviction or my argument. I am not attacking war from a political viewpoint. I am not attack- ing war from the standpoint which is generally taken by the pacifist movements of our time. I shail incidently refer to some of these arguments in support of a far stronger posi- tion. It would not be difficult for me to prove that, even from the viewpoint of expediency and common sense, war was a savage, barbarous, ruinous method of settling national disputes. But my attack is along quite another line. I con- demn war because it is ANTI-CHRISTIAN. I take my stand by Jesus Christ, Who was the profoundest thinker, the ablest teacher, the wisest administrator, of all who have yet appeared or ever will appear upon the stage of history. I believe He was not only the Saviour of the world, but that He was its greatest politician, aye He was its Creator, its true King, its Owner: “By Him were all things created that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers; all things were created by Him.”? He knew what He was talking about. He had the advantage over all modern high-brows because He under- stood, not only the significance of the events passing before Him, but He saw into the future and knew the end from the beginning. ‘That is more than King George, the Kaiser, the British Premier or the German Chancellor can do. SANT Rta at hs) 1 6.0) Col. 26. 36 THE SAINT AND THE SWORD Understanding this, I believe He has a plan for this old world. His plan will be carried out. His words will come true. Heaven and earth will crumble into dust before one syllable of the statements He made shall pass away.1 That is why I want to stand four-square with Him. Remember always, then, that I am speaking of war from the Christian standpoint. If I were not a Christian I think I would be a militarist. It is, I admit, an insane system, but all sin leads to insanity. I would have sense enough to. see that history, if it shows anything at all, shows that un- regenerate man has never yet devised nor is ever likely to devise any method by which he may overcome racial pride and national greed. I would not be so blind as not to see that all wars have been brought about by one or both of these two causes. Rights of the Unregenerate So I am not dictating to ungodly nations concerning their right to make war on each other. I recognize the fact that there are, so to speak, rights of the unregenerate. Men who are not real Christians—who have not experienced the change of heart which distinguishes a carnal from a spiritual being —cannot be expected to shape their deeds by the Christian standard. God’s chief reason for condemning such men will not be because they made war on each other, but because they rejected His Son Jesus Christ as their Saviour, Lord and King. If they wish to remain rebels and live only for their own selfish ends, then I can understand why they — should deceive and fight. If they want to settle their griev- ances in this idiotic manner they must go their own way and do so. If this is the best scheme their boasted civilization can invent for settling their quarrels, I suppose they must continue to blow each other to bits. As for me, notwith- standing the tomahauk and the scalping, I prefer, if you are to have war, the old Red Indian savage type. I prefer the painted and feathered warriors of the Soudan or Zululand, 1Matt. 24:35. THE SAINT AND THE SWORD 37 who, crafty though they were, came out into the open, faced each other with little but their skill of aim and steadiness of nerve to rely on and fought it out, leaving the strongest on the field to proclaim the victory. I say if you are to have war I would infinitely prefer that kind, because it is im- measurably less sneakish than the warfare of our eternally trumpeted “‘civilization,’ which relies less and less on the qualities of men and more and more on the pitiless exacti- tude of machinery. The Savage Warrior and the Scientific Sneak The romance of war, as it once existed—its freedom for swift movement of armies, for skilled maneuvering by able and daring generals, for brilliant attacks on flank or rear of the enemy—all this has now departed. In its place we have hundreds of miles of human warrens with millions of men either swimming in liquid mud or skulking behind sand-bags, tree-stumps, rocks, squinting through peep-holes and squirt- ing bullets, six hundred to the minute, through the muz- zles of “machine-guns.” ‘This colossal butchery has given us all a taste of what “‘science’ can do when devoted to the “most noble art of war.” If this is how the idolized “law of evolution” works out, then it will not be the “fittest” who will “survive” in the battle of life, but the most ‘“‘unfit.” It will be the “survival” of something even worse than the creatures with the longest claws and the sharpest teeth. It will be the survival of the brains best adapted to the lowest kind of deceit, most skilled in the art of substituting a nerve- less mechanism for personal character and courage. No. If you want to see war at its best—war most calcu- lated to draw out the true metal in a man—you must no longer go to the modern soldier, who envelops himself with all kinds of devices for self-protection while seeking the de- struction of his foe, you must go to the defenseless savage, whose breast is bared, whose courage keyed for an unequal fight with his enemy. Many a British regiment has stood 38 THE SAINT AND THE SWORD aghast at that wonderful fearlessness as wave after wave of magnificent humanity has leaped, with bare shining skins, to meet the bullets from a thousand rifles.. Well did Kipling voice the sentiment of many a Tommy Atkins when he put these words into his mouth: “So ’ere’s to you Fuzzy-wuzzy at your ’ome in the Soudan; You’re a pore benighted ’eathen, but you’re a first-class fightin’ Andee. to you Fuzzy-wuzzy with your ’ayrick ’ead of ’air, You big, black, boundin’ beggar—for you broke a British square! Now having cleared the ground for the argument, I want to ask you to consider this subject with me as it lends itself to the following divisions of thought. I have five indict- ments to lay against war: 1. WAR IS ANTI-CHRISTIAN BECAUSE, FOR THE CHURCH, IT IS FORBIDDEN. 2. WAR IS ANTI-CHRISTIAN BECAUSE IT IS ANTI-JUDICIAL. 3. WAR IS ANTI-CHRISTIAN BECAUSE IT IS IMMORAL. 4. WAR IS ANTI-CHRISTIAN BECAUSE FOR THE CHRISTIAN IT IS UNPATRIOTIC. 5. WAR IS ANTI-CHRISTIAN BECAUSE IT IS PROHIBITED BY THE TEACHINGS AND EX- AMPLE OF CHRIST. PART I WAR IS ANTI-CHRISTIAN BECAUSE, FOR THE CHURCH IT IS FORBIDDEN pcos pe Sid = Se -- 14» gh ‘ M ‘ f { Ry AAs Nite is At t TEL ae ty 7 ryt } oat via) es Seog et weds r A i “a ee rms ied hg The ee A ra cial 7 tN . > t a x pyre ha, i) v Ks hi) vert aed, Pehla fa) ayTi ¥ y A "7 1h WAR IS ANTI-CHRISTIAN BECAUSE IT IS ANTI-JUDICIAL WHEN in the Garden of Eden our first parents had dis- obeyed God’s command, when sin had entered the world and the Devil had seized the scepter of earthly dominion, God mercifully overruled that disaster, not only by prom- ising to provide a sacrifice for sin, but by intervening to pre- vent the forces of evil from developing into anarchy and chaos. So, in order that His eternal purposes for the world’s redemption might not be frustrated, He ordained that Satan, while allowed to rule until his final overthrow, should never- theless control the world according to fixed principles of order and government. ‘To use an illustration, it was as if the owner of a railroad had said to its manager, ‘‘Since you have seized the System you are permitted to operate it, but you must run the trains on tracks which I have laid and from which I will make it overwhelmingly disastrous for you to deviate.” Hence, from the earliest ages of earth’s history, the principle of authority, order, government, is in evidence. It is of vital importance to a right understanding of the nature of war that we should get this fact firmly rooted in our minds. Order, authority, government, are in themselves of God. “There is no power but of God. ‘The powers that be are ordained of God.’ I am not speaking of any par- ticular kind of government, of good government or bad government; of government rightly administered or wrongly administered, I am speaking of the principle of government itself. I am referring to that instinct of order which prompts men for their own benefit, quite apart from their relation- ship to right or wrong, to set up a seat or center of authority in their midst. To appoint leaders, be they savage chiefs of 7Rom, 13:1. 105 106 THE SAINT AND THE SWORD tribes, leaders in racial conflicts, generals of modern armies, judges of courts, kings of monarchies or presidents of repub- lics. ‘This principle of orderliness does not come from the Devil. It is, in fact, the very opposite of what the Devil would have. It originates in God. Order versus Anarchy If you can imagine what the world would be without any such principle; what it would become if every man was left to follow the bent of his own evil nature, unhindered by restraining influences; if each was allowed to gratify as he would his own fiery passions, to pursue, without regard for others, his schemes for self-aggrandizement; if all were to be law-makers, judges for themselves—then you will know something of what this world would be without constituted authority. ‘The worst of governments is better than no government at all. But, as regards this matter, God has arranged something more, He has placed in the breasts of all men, not only this instinct for government, but He has bestowed on them the gift of conscience by which they are able to distinguish be- tween right and wrong, to acquiesce in what is good, to dis- approve what is bad. ‘The lowest-down blackguard knows that honesty, truth, justice, are better than thieving, lying, or unfairness. However much of a cheat a man may be himself, he looks for an honest servant. “The most aban- doned criminal prefers, in the first place, an ordered society to a lawless mob; in the second place, he would rather have a righteous government than a government by scoundrels. Hence, we see how this prompting of consciences—this in- stinct for good government—has resulted in the creation of a judicial system, now a feature of all civilized nations. This is according to the purpose of a benevolent God, Who wills — not that men should perish, but that all should have the fullest opportunity of knowing and accepting His Gospel. THE SAINT AND THE SWORD 107 Through all ages also and for the sake of His own people, that they might have the best possible opportunity for spread- ing His truth throughout the world, this principle has been guarded, The Christian and Government This is why we are so ardently exhorted to ‘“‘be in sub- jection to rulers and authorities,” and we are reminded that “Whosoever resisteth the power resisteth the ordinance of God.”? The “power” may be democratic or autocratic; it may be of our own nation or what we call a “foreign nation,” but if it is the constituted authority of that nation, we as Christians are to support it, for it is a manifestation of that principle of organization which God has decreed. It is in this sense that God says, ““By me’’—that is, by this principle which I have ordained, “kings reign and princes decree justice. By me princes rule, and nobles, even all the judges of the earth.”* ‘This does not mean, of course, that God identifies Himself with, or approves of, the abuses men often make of this power, it means the “power” itself. It is worthy of careful note that the Revised Version marginal readings of the passage in Romans thirteenth, refer to this “power” as something quite impersonal. ‘They read, “It is a minister’ —“Jt beareth not the sword in vain” —“The power.” ‘This principle, then, is not to be resisted. What the Christian’s individual relations to these powers should be, other than his obligation to support them, I am not speaking of here. Whether or not he is to turn to them for protection or to appeal to them when he suffers wrong, is not the question before us. “The matter we are consider- ing is his obligation to defend this governmental system as he finds it in the world today and to oppose, with all his might, any policy, whether it be of individuals or nations, which is not based upon it. I am going to show you that this is one of Siat.eest. *Rom. 43:2. *Prov. 8:15. 108 THE SAINT AND THE SWORD the strongest arguments for the Christian against all partici- pation in war. Let us look for a moment a little more closely into this system of government as God has permitted it to develop in our time. Essentials of Civil Government First of all, then, we find there is a constituted authority whose duty it is to make laws for the right ordering of society, for the guidance of the state and its individual citi- zens. What the character of that authority may be is, I say again, of no matter to the argument. It may be the arbitrary rule of an emperor, the reign of a king-in-council, the direc- tion of a president, a parliament, or a congress, it makes no difference. ‘The important fact is the existence of a properly constituted authority for making and amending law. ‘This is an all-essential feature of what St. Paul calls the “powers that be” as they exist today and as they existed in his time. Then there is a code of laws, brought thus into existence, and accepted generally as binding upon the citizens who are subject to the authority in question. It may be good law, it may be bad law. As a matter of fact it is, on the whole, good law founded on the Ten Commandments, but that is neither here nor there, the truth to be remembered is that — the law itself is a recognized thing. No honest person ever thinks of disputing it or attempting to set it aside even when it happens to clash with his own interests, or when he would have anything to gain by so doing. Everybody, not excluding criminals, admit their obligation to that code of law; everybody knows that to oppose or ignore it involves punishment which, although it may not always be just, is nevertheless necessary; hence they submit to it. Officialism and Legal Restraint The next fact to be noted about the God-ordained govern- mental system, or “the powers that be,” as they exist today, is_ the organization of an “executive” whose duty it is to see that THE SAINT AND THE SWORD 109 laws are carried into effect, to bring to trial those who break them, and to put into execution punishments determined upon for their violation. But there is a very important limitation to the powers of this ‘“‘executive’ which I want you to carefully notice. Whatever names or name those officials constituting that “executive”. may go by—be he a bailiff, a sheriff, a policeman, a hangman, or be they a posse of mounted and armed men—they have all, while in per- formance of their duties, to act within limits of carefully defined laws. They are not left with unlimited power to use their authority at the dictate of their own sweet wills. They cannot, because they are officers of law, act illegally. They are to use no force or restraint which is not absolutely essential. If they strike you, they are liable to be called in question themselves before the courts for unnecessary assault. If they touch you, you can make them take you, and you can thus force them to prove their charges, or lay themselves open to counter-indictment for unlawful arrest. Many a spite- ful authority has found himself in the same place with Paul’s persecutors. These men discovered it was easier to fling him into prison than to get him out again. Paul, knowing this, refused to extricate his traducers from the dilemma into which their illegal treatment of him had brought them; ‘“‘But Paul said unto them, they have beaten us openly, uncon- demned, being Romans, and have cast us into prison; and now do they thrust us out privily? nay verily; but let them come themselves and fetch us out.’””* We see, then, how careful law-makers have been to pro- tect citizens from the overbearing masterfulness of bom- bastic officialism. Outside the ‘“‘sanctions of law,’ jack- boots, spurs, helmets, swords, are no more potent than eve- ning shoes, buckles, top hats and walkingsticks. No officer, either of the Crown or the Republic, can arrest any one without laying a definite charge or taking out a warrant. In the most highly civilized countries, even in serious dis- 1Acts 16:37. — 110 THE SAINT AND THE SWORD turbances, the riot act must be publicly read before arms can be used. I want you to keep well before you the fact that this “executive,” whose powers are best defined by the duties of policemen, is part of the political system which we are told to respect and uphold. It is the only kind of force, outside the confines of the Jewish nation, or acting strictly in connection with that nation, which the Bible has ever sanctioned. Trial Before Judgment Again I want you very carefully to notice another feature of the “powers that be” and which are “ordained of God.” This is the principle of trial before judgment, the verdict of a properly constituted court of inquiry before punishment. We find evidences of this principle away back in the earliest ages of the world’s history. It is based on the eternal attrib- utes of the Creator Himself. ‘Justice and judgment are the habitation of Thy throne.” We read also that “Moses chose able men out of all Israel and made them heads over the people, rulers of thousands, rulers of hundreds, rulers of fifties and rulers of tens. And they judged the people at all seasons; the hard causes they brought unto Moses, but every small matter they judged themselves.”* We see in these early days of Israel—whose national constitution, mind, was for all time God’s pattern for the nations—how urgently the government was enjoined to administer rewards or penal- ties only in strictest conformity with the decisions of these judges. She was never to act without them; “And thou shalt do according to the sentence, which they of that place which the Lord shall choose shall show thee; and thou shalt observe to do according to all they inform thee; according to the sentence of the law which they shall teach thee, and according to the judgment which they shall tell thee, thou shalt do: thou shalt not decline from the sentence which they shall show thee, to the right hand, or to the left.’ tPsa. 89:14. *%Ex. 18: 25, 26. "Deut. 17: 11, 12, THE SAINT AND THE SWORD III Any system, then, in this dispensation, which inflicts pun- ishment on the accused before they are properly tried by a tribunal qualified to afford an impartial hearing, and pro- nounce a just sentence, is obnoxious to God. ‘That de- fendants, before a verdict is given against them, should have opportunity for proper defense concerning those things whereof they are charged, is His arrangement. Hence, we find in every civilized country a Department of Justice and Law. We see this principle still further developed and ac- centuated when—as in the matter of criminal offenses, which involves men’s personal liberties, or life itself—there is trial by jury. Now ‘et us look at what constitutes a competent court of justice. Let us examine the procedure which we have all come to feel is proper and essential in order that righteous decisions may be arrived at concerning the thousand and one contentions brought to trial every day between our fellow- citizens. What Constitutes a Court Such a court must then, in the first place, be presided over by competent judges. ‘These men must be qualified for the office they hold. ‘They must know the system of law they administer, as they must be practiced in the art of applying it to particular cases. “They must be, as far as possible, ex- perts in making allowances for what might be termed those extravagances of anger which render men unreasonable, and for that excitement, bred of fear or greed, which prejudices the arguments of those appearing before them. ‘This is why judges are appointed from the ranks of those who have already had long experience in the profession of the bar. They have learned the ways of witnesses and the tricks of lawyers. Again, such a court must be presided over by impartial judges. Anything of the nature of bias in a judge, for or against those appearing before him, would disqualify him at See Deut. 16:18. "See Deut. 16:19. s 112 THE SAINT AND THE SWORD once as an adjudicator in a hall of justice. Whatever else he is, or is not, there must be no suspicion of his partiality. He must have no personal interest in the one whose case he tries. There must not be so much as a remote understanding which would make him lean towards either of the attorneys to whose pleading he listens. For a judge to be prejudiced through fear of powerful influences, or because of the “pull” of personal gain, would, in the minds of all true citizens, disqualify him for his office. I am not saying that such things do not sometimes happen, I am speaking of what are the universally required qualifications of a reliable adminis- tration of justice. No citizen would consent to be tried, if he could help it, by a judge who he knew could be bribed or bullied. It is this conviction which has created that “etiquette” in the British Courts which prompts a judge to at once withdraw from a case in which he discovers he has either directly or indirectly any personal interest. It is — this also which makes it possible for plaintiff or defendant to appeal for what is called a “change of venue,” if he can show there is ground for fearing that a judge will be preju- diced against him, or if the community surrounding the place where he is to be tried is so antagonistic, as to be likely to influence the court in his disfavor. The Witness and the Advocate Once more a properly constituted court must be a place where witnesses for both sides are heard.’ As, along history, God’s principle of equity has been practiced it has come to be more and more recognized, that the testimony of wit- nesses is of greater value to the cause of justice than the eloquence or argumentative ability of pleaders. It is not what lawyers say but what they can prove which tells in a court of law. It isn’t what theorists think but what wit- nesses know which constitutes the ground for decisions. Many a brilliant advocate has lost his case because the other 1See Numbers, 35:30. Deut. 17: 6, 19: 15. tl ee ee THE SAINT AND THE SWORD 113 fellow, though by no means such an artist at employing the “gift of the gab,” could nevertheless “deliver the goods’ on the witness stand. But note, these witnesses must be heard on both sides. To adjudge a case on the testimony of evi- dence submitted on the side of the plaintiff, without calling witnesses subpoenaed by the defendant, would turn any judicial inquiry into a mockery. Remember also that all these witnesses must be put on oath, or affirmation, so that what they say is under the restraint of serious responsibility. ‘Telling lies on the wit- ness stand is no joke. It means perjury and may involve im- prisonment. Again, witnesses are to say only what they snow. Their angry feelings, their prejudiced opinions, go for less than nothing. ‘They are also confined to the case before the court. They’re not allowed to impart a whole lot of facts and theories which might prejudice the jury against their op- ponent while they may have no real bearing on the question at issue. And last, but most important of all, they are to be cross-examined. All the skill of the opposing advocate is to be brought to bear on the things they say, so that their reliability may be put to the proof and their testimony may be tested by the laws of evidence. Let us briefly review these requisitions of modern justice. There must be a recognized authority for making law. There must be a legal code with penalties for its breach, accepted by all concerned. ‘There must be a properly author- ized executive acting strictly within certain legal bounds, to enforce the law and to punish those who break it. There must be a permanent court, where every case in dispute is brought to trial, whose decisions are accepted as final. There must be an exact execution of that court’s decrees; neither more nor less of punishment or reward being administered than the verdict of that court calls for. Presiding over that court there must be judges, properly qualified by learn- ing and experience. ‘They must be strictly impartial, in no 1See Deut. 19: 16-19. Matt. 19:18. 114 THE SAINT AND THE SWORD way prejudiced in favor of either of the litigants, not sub- ject to high influence, and with no personal interests to serve. ‘There must be witnesses appearing for both sides alike, sworn to speak the truth, forbidden to impart any evidence foreign to the case, and tested by cross-examination. International Lawlessness These, I say, are the qualifications imperatively demanded by the judicial system of our time. Without them any penalties laid upon any one, by any kind of government, would be considered a flagrant injustice. ‘They are the safe- guards men have come to realize are essential wherever force is resorted to. But has it, my friends, never occurred to you that war— that most disastrous penalty ever imposed upon the human race—is declared without the slightest regard to any of these essential principles of safety and equity? ‘To begin with, there is 2o international authority to draft and pass laws for the nations. ‘True, there is an elegant palace in Holland, built with the millions of a mam whose hope for the world’s redemption would seem to have been centered more in the wealth extracted from the Bethlehem Munition Trust in Pennsylvania, than it was in the “riches of grace” first mani- fested toward the world in the Bethlehem stable in Palestine. But that palace has no constitutional authority back of it. That palace has been a gilded toy of nations, where they have deceived each other with plausible words at The Hague, while building dreadnaughts and piling up armaments at home. While, without doubt, it has served a good purpose in settling minor differences, not convenient for governments to fight about, yet, under the first real test of national self- interest we have seen that palace vanish like a castle in the air. There is no super-government. No International Law As to international law. There is none. ‘There never is when war looms above the horizon. Every nation inyolved THE SAINT AND THE SWORD 115 in the great war, tore it to ribbons. While national character and the craze for “patriotism” remain what they are, there can be no reliable international law. From the beginning, the world’s history has been one long record of broken pledges whenever one empire has found it possible to eat up another. As yet the only prevailing law between nations has been the law of self-interest. The law of getting, regard- less of what is right, their own ends by the merciless process of might. Men tell us—they have been saying so for quite a long time—that society will ultimately get this interna- tional law and this court of nations established. It is very likely that the outcome of the recent world strife may lead to some such “federation of powers,” and that thereby there may be created later on the place and the opportunity for the Anti-Christ to assert himself. But such a universal dominion will not mean the peace of the world. On the con- trary, Jesus told us it will be the introduction of that “great tribulation” such as the world has never known. Nor will it do away with wars, for Jesus also told us that there shall be “wars and rumors of wars” to the end, and that this age should close with the greatest clash of arms in all history, the battle of Armageddon. He taught that the true, perma- nent, universal law would come only when His kingdom came, and that His kingdom would never come till He came back to establish it. No International Judges And just as there is no international law, so there is no international judge or set of judges. Each nation is not only a law unto itself, but constitutes its own tribunal and judges its own cause. These judges are just everything that the stipulations of a civil court demand they should not be. They are incompetent for the simple reason that there is no standard of international doctrine or international law to which they can apply their minds. One cannot become proficient in a system of jurisprudence which does not exist. 116 THE SAINT AND THE SWORD One cannot graduate as a jurist in a college which has no science of law to teach. As we have just seen, international law is a misnomer. When, therefore, this momentous ques- tion of war has to be considered; when the justice or in- justice of it has to be carefully discussed, there are no well- recognized judicial balances in which to weigh the “pros” over against the “cons.” ‘There are no generally accepted legal standards by which to measure the arguments of the jingos. ‘That twisty wriggling procedure called “diplomacy” takes the place of the civil judge’s well-ordered and properly regulated adjudication. | Nor are these arbitrators who decide for or against war in any sense impartial. They are, in fact, the very opposite of impartiality, for they are themselves either the plaintiffs or the defendants in the causes which they take it upon themselves to decide. They are even more, for they are the prime movers in those national policies or political intrigues which, during the years preceding the world’s wars, have surely led up to their outbreak. “The men, therefore, who decide for war are almost always the very men who make it possible. Could any judges be more unsuited, by reason of antecedent acts or preconceived ideas and prejudices, for so serious a deliberation as that which may involve the plung- ing of a whole nation into blood ? Neither can it for a moment be said that these war-court judges are free from the “‘pull” of powerful influences. They are the prime movers in party politics. They are influenced by exaggerating and sensational newspapers, as also by the excitement always engendered by their dangerous and wicked appeal to a brutish, fighting instinct. They are in- fluenced by the lure of popularity, the opportunity to pose as the patriotic defenders of their nations; and, frequently, alas! less worthy influences than these are present to assert their powerful sway. There are even rich and influential men, supporters of parties and controllers of votes; men whose fortunes are made or whose millions augmented, not THE SAINT AND THE SWORD 117 only by the supply of food and ammunition for the armies, but by the increase of prices and the manipulation of stocks and bonds—these men are always on hand to get in their “pull,” nor do they scruple to exert their power to the utmost limit. Blood-Money Trusts I do not believe we have any idea of the extent to which politicians are influenced, either consciously or unconsciously, by cliques of wealthy men who have “axes to grind” at the national millstone. I hold in my hand a pamphlet entitled, “The War Trust Exposed,” by J. IT. Newbold, M.A. It is published in England, and I have seen it quoted, as a reliable booklet, by authors of repute. “The facts it discloses concerning the munition makers of Britain are enough to stagger mankind. It exposes a net-work of firms which work hand and glove with each other. ‘These firms have ramifications—in quite a number of instances, they have branch establishments—which extend to alien countries. Thus Englishmen who boast their “patriotism” have for long years been raking in fabulous profits by ships, guns and shells supplied to foreign governments; ships, guns and shells, mind you, which they knew were more likely one day to be used against their “beloved country” than in her defense. As only one example, take the case of Italy. Most of the dreadnaughts and guns of the Italian navy have been built by branch concerns of British firms established in Italy, or by munition factories which, since the vast majority of their shares are in possession of British ‘‘patriots,” are entirely controlled by them. And yet these “‘patriots’’ knew perfectly well that every ounce of ammunition supplied to Italy was an aid to the then existing ‘“Iriple Alliance” which they never ceased to tell us England would, one day, have to fight. No Christian wishing to keep a white soul concern- ing this matter of war ought to rest till he has, by hook or by crook, gotten hold of that booklet and studied its damn- ing facts under the blaze of God’s eye. I am sorry to have 118 THE SAINT AND THE SWORD to say it exposes a strange and startling community of legis- lators, high officials, titled gentlemen, admirals, generals, divines of the Established Church and leading noncon- formists who have joined together in unholy co-operation to make money by the shedding of human blood. And mark, this business is not confined to Italy. ‘These stockholders in this wholesale human butchery have so ar- ranged matters that their profits accrue whenever or wher- ever there is war. It matters little where armies march out to kill each other, or where dreadnaughts and submarines move through the sea, the diabolical weapons forged in their foundries, the powder and shot made in their factories, will, by doing their deadly work, easily bring the coveted but blood-stained dividends. So we see that the judges who decide for war are the very men who have often their own or their kindred’s personal ends to gain, and who are always surrounded by those whose principles and policies are shaped by the consideration of their pocketbooks. What a burlesque such a judge would be in a civil court! Such a tribunal as that, I take it, is not, as regards this matter of war, one of “‘the powers that be” which was ever “ordained of God” or which when it con- cerns killing his brother man the Christian is under any obligation to obey. The Sanctions and Limitations of Law As for the “executive,” appointed by these governments, to carry into effect their declarations of war, the antithesis is startling, the contradiction complete. Everything is ex- actly reversed. ‘The policeman, or, as his name really im- plies, the “peace-man,” is, so far as his avocation is concerned, distant from the soldier as the poles are apart. Immediately war is declared soldiers march out to do not only almost everything forbidden to policemen, but they have the sanc- tion of their officers for breaking, so far as the “enemy” is concerned, just about every law the magistrates in their own THE SAINT AND THE SWORD 119 countries are sworn to uphold. On the battle-fields they get medals for deeds, which if done at home would result in their imprisonment. What, then, are the practices of the soldier and what the duties of the policeman? I want you to give particular at- tention to this comparison because the advocates of war are constantly telling us that, when the Apostle Paul wrote in support of the magistrate, “Who beareth not the sword in vain,” he vindicated the use of arms as we see them employed today in the settlement of national disputes. Assuming that the word “sword,” as it is used here, implies a real weapon rather than a figure of speech—an emblem of the magis- trate’s authority—I will say that to build up an arugment on this text and a few others in the thirteenth of Romans, betrays a somewhat superficial study of the Scriptures. A little thought will suffice to show that the sword in the hand of the magistrate and the sword in the hand of the war-lord, are by no means the same thing. As we have seen, force exercised under sanctions of recog- nized law, with limitations imposed by that law, is the very opposite to force behind which there is no such judicial au- thority or control. In one case the use of force is of God, in the other it is of the Devil. In one case killing is capital punishment, in the other it is murder. War is a sudden revolution of the accepted jurisdicture of civilized society— a jurisdicture resulting from the experience of centuries and which has the confirmation of the Bible. War ruthlessly tears down the standards of righteousness and truth. One well-worn excuse for its iniquity is the saying, “All is fair in war.” In dealing with the enemy, honor, honesty, in- tegrity, justice, are flung to the winds. Soldiers are con- trolled by nothing and no one but the will of their generals, and generals have one sole object—to win the victory. How they achieve their victories, whether by means honest or dis- honest, is a matter to them of supreme indifference, 120 THE SAINT AND THE SWORD The Policeman and the Soldier And so we find the soldier acting constantly in exactly the reverse order to the policeman. ‘The policeman is the servant of civil law subject to its restrictions; the soldier is the servant of national interest, national pride and national vengeance. The policeman stands for the security of life and property ; the soldier trespasses on the enemy’s lands, bom- bards his cities, seizes his homes, steals his belongings. The policeman discourages or prohibits the use. of all arms, ex- cept in cases of urgent necessity for preservation of peace, and only then with severest restraints and in ever decreas- ing quantity; the soldier employs, to the utmost, the cruel- est, most destructive, death-dealing instruments which scien- tific genius can create, and always in increasing amount. The policeman guarantees immunity from danger of vio- lence; the soldier takes the terror of fury and slaughter wherever he goes. The policeman insures the protection of the family, of women, children, the aged and the feeble; soldiers, for the most part, have always been associated with wrecked homes, the violation of womanhood, an appalling death-rate among the young, and a quick extermination of the feeble. Among other reasons, the policeman is on the streets for the prevention of cruelty to animals; the profes- sion of the soldier necessitates inconceivably horrible suffer- ing on the part of helpless dumb creatures. The policeman represents the principle of equity, settlement of disputes by impartial tribunals; the soldier appeals to the arbitrament of the sword, exalts the brute force of dragoon government, — and acts on the preposterous theory that might is right. The policeman stands for the sacred prerogatives of the individ- ual, for liberty of conscience, freedom of speech, the power of the press; but as soon as the soldier comes on the scene there is a suspension of individual liberty, personal rights are subordinated to political interests, free speech is forbidden and the power of the press is destroyed by a lying censor- ship which distorts news, and prevents healthy criticism. CO THE SAINT AND THE SWORD 121 Along the beat of the policeman one sees wealth, health, pros- perity, opportunity, and the prospect of better things to come; along the trail of the soldier one sees poverty, misery, despair, disease, destruction and death. ‘The profession of the policeman is to prevent and punish crime; the soldier’s demoralizing butchery encourages every villainy out of Hell, it justifies murder by applauding and rewarding the “‘valor” which slaughters the other fellow. Policemen extend a helping hand to the unfortunate, they represent municipali- ties which make provision for the homeless and the starving; soldiers go about poisoning wells, cutting off supplies of cities and starving the inhabitants of whole nations. Police- men never fight each other, even national barriers do not prevent them working in co-operation; soldiers are trained to fight other soldiers. ‘The policeman operates within his nation by an authority ordained of God; the soldier operates outside his nation in an international sphere controlled by no constituted authority and eternally disturbed by greedy diplo- mats whose grasping policies are responsible for nearly all the battles he goes to fight. Lastly, the policeman stands for good will toward all, and malice toward none, while the soldier fights by the spur of passion or fear, and leaves be- hind him a legacy of hatred for future generations.’ What indeed, then, has the Christian to do with the pro- fession of the soldier? Could any system be further from that “ordained power” of God which he is told to support? Could any calling be more in keeping with the evil princi- palities and powers he is commanded to oppose? Scandalous Injustice To continue our comparison between the essentials of a civil court of justice and the tribunal which decides for war, I want you to notice further, that there is a scandalous dis- proportion between the punishment inflicted upon an oppos- 1For some of these contrasts between the policeman and the soldier I am indebted to a booklet entitled “Judge, Policeman and Soldier,” by Joseph Edmundson. Me 122 THE SAINT AND THE SWORD ing nation, and the offense with which it is charged. Nowa- days, in a civil court it would be deemed preposterous bar- barism to pronounce the sentence of death upon a prisoner for trespassing on a rich man’s preserves, stealing a neigh- bor’s goods, or insulting some member of a lordly estate. But that is exactly what War-Lords do when they declare war against another power. Nine out of every ten of the wars, which have sent hundreds of thousands to the grave, were waged for reasons which could never justify a national death sentence. Either “national honor,” which, ninety- nine times out of a hundred is another word for national pride, has been insulted, or “national rights” have been in- vaded, or perhaps some distant frontier has been violated. Possibly the reason was some stupid offense against an obscure citizen, or because somebody had stuck up a flag- pole and claimed possession where some other nation con- sidered it had “influence” or “‘special interests,” as in the case of the ‘‘Fashoda Incident,”’ which only a few years ago, brought England to the verge of war with France. Mind, I don’t say these are the real reasons, but these are the most plausible excuses which the war-makers of the world can invent. ‘They have no better justification to offer. At the most such trespasses would, in a court of law, be atoned for by a few years’ incarceration. What kind of justice is it, then, which inflicts fire, blood and tears on a whole nation for such offenses as these? Is this the sword in the hand of the magistrate which Paul tells the Christian he is to revere? No self-respecting atheist, to say nothing of a child of God, enlightened with the mind of Christ, could for a moment uphold such a palpable misinterpreta- tion. The magistrate “who beareth not the sword in vain,” and whose authority is commended to our esteem, does not sit in his place to give decisions, reached by a process of adjudication which is in direct antagonism to the system of justice he is sworn to administer. He cannot command our allegiance if, while holding the office where it is required THE SAINT AND THE SWORD 123 of him to judge men after the law, he condemns them not only contrary to that law, but contrary to the principle of judicial government. Paul knew something about that by his own personal experience.* And Jesus Himself was up against a power of that kind when He called Herod a “*fox.’’2 False Witnesses Now let us look at the witnesses by whose testimony the war offices of the nations support their appalling verdicts. Who are they? Where are they? Strange to say, one hardly ever hears of them. There is, in fact, no properly ordered inquiry at which any reliable evidence could be taken. There is no witness stand, no administration of oath or affirmation. The facts are rehearsed by a few paid officials in the “diplo- matic service,” whose interests are all too frequently on the side of making a row, whose views are even more prejudiced than their governments at home. No attempt is mc \e to hear advocates and witnesses on behalf of both sides of the dispute. Indeed, such a procedure would be impossible under the present ridiculous method of international adju- dication. Until the nation is hopelessly committed, there is no attempt even to bring the matter before the representa- tives of the people. The public do not get to know the points at issue until it is too late. How, then, is the fatal verdict, fraught with such gigantic consequences for two great populations, arrived at and given? ‘The summing up is done by those whose ambitious pride renders it most difficult for them to consider fairly the rights of the other side. “The verdict is rendered by the very men whose policies have brought about the quarrel. That verdict is bolstered up by ex-farte statements made, without cross-examination, by their own witnesses. Nor is the decision pronounced in an impartial court where silence and dignity are preserved for the voice of justice. No, the Acts 23:3. 2Luke 13:32. For the magisterial use of the sword, see pages 260 to 266, 124 THE SAINT AND THE SWORD decree is delivered amid the clash of arms, the fanfare of trumpets, the singing of national anthems and a roaring tempest of blind, frenzied excitement, skilfully provoked by an expert war-whooping press. To put only one citizen to death, within the borders of any civilized nation, for a charge of murder, which was adjudicated upon by a farcical, iniquitous system of that kind, would be sufficient to overturn a government and to pro- voke an indictment for manslaughter against a minister of justice. Yet there are even ministers of the Gospel who will urge their young men to go out and slay thousands of their fellows, for a cause which has nothing better in the way of a judicial inquiry back of it than that I have described. Putting a man to death without proper trial is the foulest murder. It is just as much murder for a nation as it is for an individual, for the nation is made up of individuals, and God has not one law for man and another for communities of men. Who is to Judge? Do you ask me, “Who, then, is to be the judge between these nations and who is to say when they are justified in drawing the sword?” I reply God alone can be such a judge. But these nations are not godly nations. ‘They do not recognize His authority over their international policies. They do not even consult Him about them. The interests of His Church, His kingdom on earth, are not the concerns which lead to their differences and quarrelings, hence they have not, like the Jewish nation, the Almighty as the director of their pursuits and the instigator of their wars. Don’t you see, then, your peril as a Christian in going to slay your brother at their behest? Who but God can trace the subtle currents of national pride, national arrogance, and national aggrandizement to their sources and thus unravel the tangle of diplomacy, trick- ery and intrigue which, along the years, has marked the THE SAINT AND THE SWORD 125 policies of nations in dealing with each other in the struggle for ascendancy throughout the world? Take, for instance, the recent war. Where is there a true Christian who dares say that he knew for a certainty that the cause of either of the nations he served was just? Each of those nations pleaded what it considered an “excel- lent case.”” When one had digested the contents of the “blue book,” the “yellow book,” the ‘“‘pink book,” the “green book,” the “white book,” issued by those governments their argu- ments resembled the hues of the spectrum which mingle and dissolve back again into one and the same ray of light, and one felt like saying of them: ‘Six of one and a half dozen of the other,” or, as we say in America, ‘‘fifty-fifty.”’ In Vienna, one heard of “the peril of Serbian intrigue;” in Petrograd the cry was, “the peril of Austrian tyranny ;” in Berlin they talked of little but “the peril of British navalism”’ and “the peril of French revenge;” in London the cry of alarm concerned the “peril of Prussian militarism’’—though one did not hear so much as before the war about “the peril of German competition ;” and in Paris it was always “‘the peril of German invasion.” According to their governments they were all fighting a just war, a war of defense against an ambitious and shameful aggression, and for a legitimate and desirable expansion of empire. It is also interesting to ob- serve how all the statesmen of these countries, while pre- paring vigorously for war on land or sea, were, as they for- ever must be, eloquently talking peace. b] Hypocritical Love for “Little Nations” ’ Concerning “the integrity of small nations,” in the inter- ests of which more than one of the powers declared they went to war, it is no part of my business to judge any of them; I am not dealing with politics, but with Christian principles. But I would remind you that the servant of Christ cannot swallow all these protestations of national devotion to small and defenseless powers without at least 126 THE SAINT AND THE SWORD a grain or two of salt. It is well to recollect that there are other names on the map of the world than Serbia and Bel- gium. Roumania, for instance, against her solemn protest was also violated when Russia, like Germany in Belgium, marched her armies through her neighbor’s territory to reach the Turks. None of the other nations protested then. It did not suit their purposes to do so! Something, too, of an en- lightening nature might be said about the Transvaal and the Orange Free State; about Persia, Morocco and Finland ; about Herzegovina, Greece, Ireland, and even Mexico! One might also speak of China, whose helplessness—far from making her the object of this heroic “protection”— has made her, under that very pretext, an easy prey for Eu- — ropean diplomatic plunderers. Nor must we forget how the — bodies and souls of millions of her people have been destroyed for money. As recently as 1905 22,000 tons of opium were sent into China by England! ‘There is a very recent his- ~ tory pertaining to all these countries which does not strik- ingly attest, on the part of the nations recently at war, a very unselfish disinterestedness in, or a particularly chivalric protection of, “brave little nations,’ when their own inter- ests do not demand it. Armenia and the Congo! As for the picturesque oratory with which the statesmen of London and Berlin have entertained us, concerning the urgent necessity for putting down “British imperialism” or — “Prussian autocracy,” it lost, with some of us, much of its © force because of the long unheeded cry from poor, down-trod- — den Macedonia to “come over and help.” All this talk in London and Berlin about the dangers to mankind which ~ lurked behind the English crown or the Kaiser’s scepter, — sounded ominously near the hypocritical when in the mouths of men who have fought for a generation, as England has done, or during the recent war, as Germany did, to keep, for their own selfish purposes, the sword in the hand of the — THE SAINT AND THE SWORD 127 bloodthirsty Turk. Which of these nations had moved a dreadnaught or opened the breech of a gun in order to snatch “poor little Armenia” from the relentless grasp of the Otto- man assassin? ‘The smouldering ashes of burning and plun- dered cities brought no tears to the eyes of diplomats, whose gaze was fixed on Constantinople, and whose interests were all on the side of keeping the Dardanelles closed to battleships which might prove a menace to the Suez Canal. The death cry from hundreds of thousands of innocent and defenceless Christians fell upon ears which were already more impor- tantly concerned with the warnings of Indian nabobs and princely civil servants, whose territories and millions had to be safeguarded from the possible attack of Russia even if by the friendship of the abominable Sultan.* Tell me, which of the powers, who, during the war, trumpeted their disinterested championship of the weak, ever recruited a regiment to save the multitude of dark-skinned toilers who, in the rubber forests of the Congo, fell in pools of blood under the lash, or by the bullets, of merciless money-grabbers? ‘This cash went to the Royal House of Belgium and comprises a substantial part of the fortune of the present king of that country. ‘This is the king whose image has been on every newspaper in this land as the idolized hero of the allies, but his country, recently in the hands of the enemy, has been ravaged by fire and sword. God does not forget! Mind, I am not for a moment saying that the Church ought to have sanctioned war to fight these wrongs. As a Christian I don’t believe war, during this dispensation, is ever the right way to rectify evil. What I say is that we Christians have every cause to accept with extreme caution the reasons put forward by all the powers for the last great _ war, when they are so palpably off the square with their actions in the past. I do say, more positively still, that these *Since the Armistice was signed, Armenia, the Christian “little Nation” has been left to the mercy of the Turks, 128 THE SAINT AND THE SWORD manifest inconsistencies show the Christian how impossible it is for him to find in the decrees of politicians justifiable cause for killing his fellow-man. Scraps of Paper But you say, “What about the treaties? Is it not the will of God that nations should keep their promises and fulfil their obligations to each other?” To which I answer, “It all depends on the nature of the treaties.” ‘There are some treaties a Christian has no right to consent to. A Christian has no authority from God to sanction any treaty for any kind of commercial advantage which involves the shedding of human blood. Incivil life a citizen, be he a Christian or other- wise, has no business to make a contract with another which stipulates that, unless certain things are done, he will com- mit murder. Such a contract would be an illegal transac- tion and to make it would be an indictable offense. Should such a treaty have been made for a Christian without his knowledge—a treaty which in some way made him a party to the slaying of his brother man—it would be his duty, in- stantly he became aware of it, to disavow it. I take my stand on the Bible and I say that there is no conceivable ad- vantage that could come, by any of the treaties, which any one of the ungodly nations around us have made with each other, that would warrant the breach of the Sixth Com- mandment by a follower of Jesus Christ. The treaties these Christless nations make with each other are solely for their own material welfare. ‘They concern territories, extension or maintenance of empires, markets, commerce and right-of-way over land and sea. ‘They are made to preserve certain dynasties, to safeguard certain sys- tems of earthly governments, to protect particular fortunes, to prevent partiality toward aggressive competitors, to check- mate the diplomacy of dangerous antagonists. But these are not causes for which Christians should kill. THE SAINT AND THE SWORD 129 Non-Christian Treaties No Warrant for Christian . Blood-shedding Frequently the ostensible reason for making a treaty— the reason given out to the public—is not the real cause for the contract. Sometimes it is quite the opposite. ‘Thus far, in most cases, this has been true as regards the treaties which big powers have made with “small nations.” ‘Though such “little nations” have been repeatedly made to think so, it has not been a commendable ambition to protect the weak which has, in the majority of instances, inspired these treaties. On the contrary, they were shrewd contrivances, devised by the big nations, for self protection by the creation of what are called “‘buffer states.” These “buffer” territories serve the purpose of “neutral zones” between the gigantic armies of the great powers; the instinct of self-preservation has made the populations of these “zones” impartial watchmen for any approach of danger, and their territory has offered a convenient area in which to fight out some of the bloodiest battles of all time. This is the reason why these much championed little countries, which are supposed to be under the protection of everybody, have so often become the cock- pits of Europe. But the Christian will surely see that all these treaties are not matters for which he ought to die—and do not for- get that to lay down your life for a cause not sanctioned by Christ is swicide—or in defense of which he ought to kill. They have nothing to do with the vital concerns of the Church of God. ‘Though they may incidently or indirectly seem to benefit the material progress of that church, they were in no sense instigated to aid the Kingdom of Christ. In God’s sight the whole lot of them put together are not worth the immortal soul of one little drummer-boy. As a Christian you had better lose every earthly advantage coming to you, by virtue of any kind of a treaty, than take such an advantage at the price of the blood of those for whom your Saviour died. That you are entitled, just because you are 130 THE SAINT AND THE SWORD a Christian, to every righteous privilege this world can offer you, I shall show later on, but when you are asked to prove your worthiness of such privileges, by committing murder, you are to prefer to let them go rather than enjoy them on any such terms. They Are All Guilty Nor can you march off .with armed battalions to spread destruction and death, and vindicate your action by an appeal to the “honor” of statesmen, even though they talk about “the sacred obligations of treaties.” Make no mistake you'll be leaning on a broken reed if you rely on the resourceful artifices of modern statecraft for your standards of “honor.” There isn’t a nation existing which has not reckoned treaties as “scraps of paper” when it considered the “imperative re- quirements” of its best interests demanded that it should do so. Every power in the recent war tore to shreds the most solemn bonds, once signed and sealed with all the ratifica- tions of law and all the paraphernalia of state. Keeping within the period of that war, we see how Germany did it in Belgium; England did it on the high seas and in Greece; Italy did it when she broke loose from the Triple Alliance. Looking further back into quite recent his- tory we know how Russia went back on her solemn vow to Finland; how France by a shameful subterfuge broke her contract with Morocco, and how both England and Russia flung to the winds the most solemn obligations into which they had entered with Persia. To some of us, it would seem as if the Constitution of the United States itself had been violated under the pressure of the recent war.* Before you pin your faith to the integrity of Foreign Office diplomats, my Christian friend, it will be well for you to *Christians should remember all that was said by allied Statesmen during the late war and study carefully their astonishing contradictions concerning treaties since the armistice was signed. As this book goes to press Mr. Lloyd George cables American newspapers that “‘the League of Nations has abdi- cated” and, referring to Italy’s rejection of its jurisdiction and its powerless- ness to enforce obedience he exclaims ‘‘What is left of the Covenant of Versailles!” THE SAINT AND THE SWORD 131 study carefully such works as Bertrand Russell’s ‘“‘Justice in War-time,” and Frank Bullard’s “Diplomacy of the Great War.” Read what they tell us, on the ablest authority, about the intrigues, secret treaties, lying tricks and diplo- matic double-dealing of the statesmen of Europe during the last half century, and you will see what has led up to the late war. You will also discover that all these nations keep waste-paper baskets—not excluding the astute agents of John Bull. If one could examine the contents of these repositories for the last hundred years one would find many torn-up “scraps of paper” which once bore the impress of very imposing constitutional seals. Berlin is not the only place on this planet where treaties have been reckoned as worth little more than the material on which they were written. It is shameful but it is true. Keep then ever before you that you are to oppose war as a Christian because it is anti-judicial. ‘The teaching and practice of the whole New Testament requires you to do so. When war-advocates argue that because St. Paul justifies the majesterial use of the sword for enforcing God-ordained law amongst the ungodly he therefore approves its use by the Church as a means of settling the disputes of nations, you must show them how the argument is exactly the reverse. You must show them that the very conditions under which the Apostle permits the employment of the sword—which are strictly judicial—constitute the strongest possible case for its prohibition to the Christian in war—which is both lawless and unconstitutional. You are to fight against the sword in the hand of the soldier for precisely the reason that Paul sanctions it in the hand of the magistrate. In one case its use is lawful compulsion to do right, in the other its em- ployment is lawless license to do wrong. The Christian and Law Before leaving this part of my subject I desire to add a few words about the Christian’s individual relationship to 132 THE SAINT AND THE SWORD this political system which I have been showing is of God. First of all, then, there can, I think, be no doubt about his right, while he is engaged in the lawful pursuits of life, to its protection. Mind, I don’t say he should appeal to it, that is a matter of his faith, but I do say he is entitled to the general benefits of security it has brought to the community. Since the magistrate is a “minister of God” for the preservation of order and the suppression of lawlessness; since all kings and rulers are permitted by Him, for the express purpose of insuring such a condition of orderliness as will make it pos- sible for the Gospel to be proclaimed; Christians, above all others, are entitled to any benefits accruing from that orderli- ness. T’o say that because a Christian profits as regards either his home or his business by the existence of the police force, or because he pays his taxes, or casts his vote for the best avail- able government of his country—to say that on that account he gives his sanction to the use of the sword in the lawless wars of the world, is to confuse the legitimate blessings of civil government with the illegalities of anarchical strife. The Christian pays his taxes in support of “the power” ordained of God, not for the unlawful use men make of that power. If righteous law and order are of God, then no one is so entitled to the benefits that result from them as the Christian. On the other hand, for the follower of Christ to make use of this system of law in order to right his personal wrongs and to be avenged on those who do him injury is a totally different matter. Note well, however, that whenever the law can be ap- pealed to or used to defend, or extend, the interests of God's kingdom, and to prevent the suppression of the Gospel, the Christian is certainly entitled to its aid. He is, without doubt, justified in refusing to submit to illegal attempts to suppress the truth, or to destroy his opportunity for use- fulness as a servant of God. Under such conditions he has the warrant of Scripture for exhausting all constitutional THE SAINT AND THE SWORD 133 methods to prevent such wrong. ‘The judicial system exists primarily by God, for God, and to aid in His work. It may be used just as lawfully as any other of God’s creations. Paul’s Appeal to Cesar Here is the reason why Paul appealed to Cesar. He acted out the principle of his epistle to the Romans and appealed to “the power” which Czsar represented, which “power” was a “minister of God for good,’ to him. He was using it for a “good” purpose. The Jews had handed him over to the Romans so that, in fact, he already “stood at Casar’s judgment seat.”? But when Festus suggested that he should take him back to Jerusalem, Paul, knowing that to take him back there was an illegal act, and that it would surely mean the suspension of his ministry before he had been given his coveted opportunity of preaching the Gospel in Rome, de- cided to avail himself of every privilege the law gave him as an aid to the completion of his witness for his Master. His passion to reach Rome and his conviction that it was God’s purpose to get him there, is surely evidenced in the first chapter of Romans, where he writes: “I long to see you” — “oftentimes I purposed to come unto you’—‘I am ready to preach the Gospel to you that are at Rome also.’” Hence he answered Felix: “If I have committed any- thing worthy of death I refuse not to die’—in other words, “T don’t resist the law’—‘But if there be none, of these things whereof these accuse me,” and since already “I stand at Casar’s judgment seat’”—‘‘no man may deliver me unto them. I appeal to Czsar.”? In other words, “I have been handed over to Czsar though I have done no wrong, I claim the rights and the protection which Cesar affords me, since they will enable me to preach Christ at Rome and before the imperial throne.” 4Acts 25:10. *Rom. 1:11, 13, 15. *%Acts 25:9, 10, 11. PART III WAR IS ANTI-CHRISTIAN BECAUSE IT IS IMMORAL + Hey i ae ; f, ae as ee | 4 hk te WAR IS ANTI-CHRISTIAN BECAUSE IT IS IMMORAL As a Christian, you know, of course, that morality is one thing and Christianity is another, that there is an important distinction between them. Morality is not always associated with religion, because there are some religions which, in their ideals and practices, are exceedingly immoral. But it is possible to be an ideal man from the standpoint of morality, and yet know nothing of the saving power of Christ in the heart. It is true, therefore, that you may have certain kinds of religion without morality, and you can have morality without Christianity, but it is equally true that you cannot have Christianity without morality. Everything, therefore, that is immoral is essentially unchristian. War is immoral, therefore it is unchristian. Any system, any avocation, any amusement, any profes- sion, which invites or encourages or necessitates wrong-doing cannot be Christian. War does all this, therefore it is unchristian. Any agency, call it what you may—for whatever purpose It operates—which compels men and women to cross the barriers established by God, the conscience, the Bible, as the boundary lines between what is right and what is wrong, is immoral and is therefore unchristian. Any profession which obliterates the lines of demarcation between what is honorable and what is dishonorable; what is just and what is unjust; what is merciful and what is cruel; what is con- ducive to health and what is productive of disease; what is pure and what is impure; what is helpful to life and what is destructive of life, any pursuit that does all this is immoral, and must therefore be unchristian. 137 138 THE SAINT AND THE SWORD War does all these things, therefore war is immoral and unchristian. Any profession which throws a cloak of respectability over what is disreputable; which gives sanction to what, under the circumstances of well-ordered society, would be ostracized as contraventions of well-established law; which imparts an éclat of heroism to deeds which, when judged by the standards of justice, would be regarded as outrageous crimes; which offers rewards for accomplishments of a nature which would bring an ordinary citizen to judgment, to jail or to death—any profession of this kind is immoral in the highest and most dangerous degree. The profession of war does all this, therefore war is im- moral and unchristian. Let us see if we can prove it. I. IN THE FIRST PLACE, THEN, I CHARGE IT AGAINST WAR THAT ITS RULES AND STANDARDS LEGALIZE AND PROFESSIONALIZE EVIL The very standards of this system are destructive of high ideals. Hence it must demoralize and deteriorate any Chris- tian having anything to do with it. No profession can be better than its doctrines. It is in the truest sense what it teaches. Its ethics are its essence. “The truth about it is just what its tactics display. If it is a system of lies, it is a lying thing. If it is a vocation of refined deception, it is a deceitful thing. If it is a calling which teaches how to spread destruction most efficiently, it is a destructive thing. If it is a science which produces the cruelest and most irrisist- able instruments for smashing men’s bodies or taking their lives, then it is a cruel and murderous thing. Lies, deceit, destruction, cruelty, murder, these are not the standards of morality. How, then, can they be the standards of Christianity and how can a Christian enroll himself beneath them? A British Field Marshal on the Witness Stand Let us call one of the most respected and successful sol- diers of modern times to the witness stand and hear what he has to say about the standards of his profession. It is not necessary to listen to his voice, which is now silenced in death, because we have his words in writing. To have such documentary evidence is an advantage, as all lawyers will admit, because what is written cannot be wrested from its obvious meaning nor can it be refuted. Let us then read from one or two of the editions of a handy but vary crowded and comprehensive little book, called “The Soldier’s Pocket 139 140 THE SAINT AND THE SWORD Book for Field Service,” by Field Marshal Viscount Wol- seley.t Viscount Wolseley was the soldier’s idol. His pocket book became the constant companion of all who desired to excel in the service. It ran through five editions, one of which was published in the United States at the time of the war with Cuba. Its statements have never been challenged, though they have been supplemented by others in books of the same kind which, as the ‘‘science” of war has “‘progressed” have appeared, and to some of which we shall refer. One of the first assertions which attracts our attention from the pen of this illustrious advocate of war, who, I be- lieve, was a much esteemed member of the Established Church of England, is on page 169 and reads as follows: “As a nation we are bred up to feel it a disgrace ever to suc- ceed by falsehood. The word spy conveys something as repulsive as slave; we will keep hammering along with the conviction that ‘honesty is the best policy.’ These pretty little sentences do well for a child’s copybook, but the man who acts on them in war had better sheathe his sword forever.” It would be interesting to know what the Archbishop of Canterbury would have to say concerning this indictment of the way the British nation, to which his Church is so closely allied, has been “bred up.” He doubtless knows what his late famous fighting ‘“communicant”’ seemed all too ignorant of. He knows that honesty, in the breast of a true Chris- tain, is not a question of natural “breeding” at all, but a matter of being “born again’ of the Spirit. He knows that it would be as difficult for a really converted man to delib- erately lie and have no qualm of conscience as it would be for him to hold his naked eye to the blazing sun and feel no pain. But of course to have made such an admission to the “gallant general’? would have embroiled the worthy archbishop in awkward complications, because he would then have had to say to Viscount Wolseley what Viscount Wol- seley so bluntly says to the British soldier, what, in fact, 1For a more comprehensive review of this Pocket Book, see pamphlet entitled “The Deviltry of War,” by John J. Wilson, Friends Peace m- mittee, 136 Bishopgate, London, Eng. J THE SAINT AND THE SWORD 141 Christ Himself, in a suggestively similar phrase, once said to the first bishop of the Church. He would have had to say: “General, since the principles of honesty are vital to Christianity, and since you say, ‘the man who acts on them in war had better sheathe his sword forever,’ you cannot be a Christian and a soldier at the same time—‘put up the sword.’ ” Devilish Double Dealing So far, then, Viscount Wolseley’s testimony is most help- ful to our case. Let us continue the examination: “Spies are to be found in every class of society, and gold, that mighty lever of men, is powerful enough to unlock secrets that would otherwise remain unknown at the moment. An English general must make up his mind to obtain information as he can, leaving no stone unturned in order to do so.” The inference would seem to be that an English general is to use British gold without stint to bribe men to Jie and to deceive in order to get information about the enemy. But the most important piece of the Christian’s armor, that with- out which all other parts would be rendered useless, is “the girdle of truth.” It is quite evident, therefore, according to Viscount Wolseley, that this “armor of God” is no suitable equipment for the British soldier. But let us read on: “It is important that spies should be unknown to each other. Care should be taken to make each believe that he is the only one employed. Some serve for patriotism, others for money, some receive pay from both sides; if such a one can be depended upon he is invaluable.” Think of it! A double-dyed traitor actually taking pay from the enemy while posing as their agent, giving them false information and all the time using the confidence thus ob- tained to get facts for the use of his real masters in the oppos- ing camp! When a British field marshal waves his staff approvingly over the head of an expert deceiver of this kind and calls him “invaluable,” one feels justified in concluding that the profession which sets so high an estimate on the services of such a scoundrel must be a pretty low-down affair. Perhaps this esteemed military authority forgot those 142 THE SAINT AND THE SWORD words of the Lord by the pen of the psalmist, “He that worketh deceit shall not dwell within my house: he that telleth lies shall not tarry in my sight.”* and, probably he overlooked one of the last solemn sayings of the Bible: “All liars shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone.’” Professional Stealing It is instructive, also, to note what this great “Christian” commander-in-chief of the British army has to tell his offi- cers and soldiers about appropriating other people’s property. After an attempt to “save the situation” by approving the usual custom of army officials in paying for provisions he says: “When campaigning in an enemy’s country it should without doubt be put under requisitions of money.” And then concerning the method by which these moneys are to be gotten he goes on to say: “It is best to get them collected by the regular tax collectors.” This is very like saying: 1. Take what provisions you need and can’t pay for. 2. Pay for them if you can. 3. Steal the cash to do it with. 4. Compel those you are rob- bing to get you the money. A decided advance, surely, on anything yet conceived concerning the art of robbery, even in a thieves’ den! Following this we have careful instruction concerning how requisitions may be made on townsfolk or peasantry, for feeding soldiers—‘‘one ration daily for every three inhabit- ants;” how oil, boats, utensils, farming implements may be seized and be used against the country of their owners. Churches devoted to the worship of God and jails utilized for the punishment of crime are linked together in an amaz- ingly indiscriminating manner—as though one was no better than the other—when the storage of gunpowder, for which they are recommended, is the consideration. Viscount Wolseley tells us that when defenses are needed, 1Psa. 10137. Rev. 21:8. THE SAINT AND THE SWORD 143 enemy-citizens should be compelled to do as much of the work as possible in order to “spare the soldiers,” and calmly proposes that if a town or city should resent such an in- famous compulsion for the service of the enemy of one’s homeland, ‘“‘a good way to bring it to reason is to cut off the supplies of provisions and water.’ In view of the howl which has gone up from the English Government against Germans for perpetrating exactly such an abomination in Belgium, one is enabled to see how, in the practice of war, one nation is not much better than another, after all. In- deed, how could they be, for war itself is essentially immoral. It is immoral because, on the showing of one of its ablest, most honored practitioners, it sanctions immoral acts. Out of the mouth of one of the greatest soldiers of modern times we judge it. Viscount Wolseley’s book is crowded with careful, minute instructions, urgent incentives to acts, which are against the laws of God and the acknowledged safe- guards of society. Systematized Lawlessness It is not the only book of the kind. There are others. Study them, as I have, and you will discover that these codes of military rule and procedure set their seal of approval to just about everything the civil law under which their authors were born and live, condemn as viciously immoral. They throw a gloss, which they call ‘“‘heroism,”’ over con- duct which, when judged by the Bible and at the bar of conscience, is cruel and villainous. Their pages are crowded with sickening and dehumanizing instructions. ‘They ex- plain the exact ranges, the precise elevation, the proper speed which, when shooting, will accomplish the most slaughter. “Aim low and shoot slow” is one of the dictums. They explain the bloody thrust of the bayonet, “‘first forward then upward.” “The points at which the attack should be di- rected,” they tell us, “are, in order of their importance, stomach, chest, head, neck and limbs.” “If the butt end of 144 THE SAINT AND THE SWORD the rifle is employed, the points of importance are first, head, neck, stomach and crotch.” ‘They tell us the bayonet is best used with a “ringing cheer” and in the dark, where men cannot be unnerved, or their mercy appealed to by the pitiful anguish of those whose lungs or bowels are pierced. They show the best way to burn bridges, homes and villages along lines of retreat. They give careful advice even about dead- houses, urging that they should be “in a retired spot so that funerals can take place without attracting attention,” and the men left behind may not be too constantly reminded of the loss of their comrades. “They explain how to pursue a fleeing and panic-stricken foe so as to “hammer him with guns, charge him with cavalry; and keep pushing him and hitting him from morning until night” and they show how, if the flying enemy is “shattered” the troopers may find it safe to dismount and resort to “cold steel.” The supplementary instructions of those who use these manuals are like unto them. Sergeant Empey, in his book Over the Top, tells us how when in a bayonet charge the instructions given him for releasing a bayonet from a victim came to his memory. He says: “Then through my mind flashed the admonition of our bayonet instructor back in Blighty. He said, ‘Whenever you get in a charge and run your bayonet up to the hilt into a German, the Fritz will fall. Perhaps your rifle will be wrenched from your grasp. Do not waste time, if the bayonet is fouled in his equip- ment, by putting your foot on his stomach and tugging at the rifle to extricate the bayonet. Simply press the trigger and the bullet will free it?” Legalized Debauchery A writer in one of these manuals, when dealing with the matter of womanhood and the standard of the soldier’s honor in relation thereto, does not seem to experience any embrassassment nor to be troubled over much with a sense of modesty. His advice is short and to the point: “Abstain if you can,” he says, “if not, and blacker temptations may beset you—be moderate and scrupulously careful about ~~ Ze THE SAINT AND THE SWORD 145 cleanliness.” ‘This “Christian” warrior’s standard of “clean- liness,” whatever it may be, is certainly not according to the Scripture idea of a clean heart. Nor is his estimate of the soldier’s regard for the honor of woman one jot above that of the rowé of Piccadilly or Broadway, whose one concern is to satisfy his lust, quite regardless of the welfare of his vic- tim, but supremely “scrupulous” about avoiding the penalties which Almighty God has ordained should follow those who break His commandments. Has this professor in the art of militarism, who with such light-héartedness directs the feet of the soldiers to the house of the harlot, forgotten that Solo- mon tells us, “her house is the way to hell, going down to the chambers of death.’ All I can say is this. If you want to know how a dirty, sneaking, slimy, murderous, treacherous, lying, spying, merci- less set of practices can get themselves hidden away under the military glory which goes with the razzle-dazzle of plumed helmets, gold buttons and spurred heels, then read the instructions to soldiers and the “tactics of war” written by these “army experts.” They know what they talk about and their utterances tally to a micety with the expression of another great general when he said “war is hell!” It is more than hell, it is everything that is hellish. It is victory by villainy. Mind I do not dispute that the governments of ungodly nations have a right to resort to it. Since they reject the Gospel and teachings of Jesus, it is only logical they should do so; but the Christian does not employ hellish methods for getting people into heaven. 4Prov. 7:27: Il. IN THE SECOND PLACE, WAR IS IMMORAL BECAUSE ITS WEAPONS ARE DECEITFUL AND CRUEL There is a relationship between certain tools and men of certain character. ‘There are peculiar instruments which go with particular occupations. If you stumble on a bag of jimmies, skeleton keys, devices for opening windows and blasting safes, you may be pretty sure you are on the track of a burglar. Some “outfits” are highly indicative of out- laws. Certain kinds of retorts and condensors evidence an illicit still. There are dies and crucibles which go with forgery and false coin. Laboratories of a certain nature point to lawlessness and anarchy. Even the house of seduc-. tion and the brothel have their appurtenances. ‘The char- acter of all these diabolical professions is reflected in the nature of the machinery they employ. This also is true as regards war. It is also, one may say, increasingly the truth as what is termed ‘‘the science of war’’ progresses. Consider for a few moments one or two of its instruments, Their wonderful mechanism evidences an almost demoniacal ingenuity for carnage and catastrophe. Look at the bayonet, that weapon which is ever linked with the highest type of the soldier’s courage. Its point is deadly, its edge surely sharp enough. But have you noticed the groove that runs along the blade? Do you know what that is for? ‘That is to enable the air to pass into the wound, so that the disablement of the victim may be the more certain. A nice weapon, that, for a Christian! Diabolical Ingenuity Did you ever examine a whitehead torpedo? Have you noticed its chamber of compressed air for propelling power; 146 THE SAINT AND THE SWORD 147 its tiny engines to carry it to its objective; its gyroscopic steer- ing contrivance by which it is kept in its deadly aim; its propellers, head, detonator and two hundred and twenty pounds of high explosive—here is an instrument which de- notes in every part of it devastation and death. I tell you, the automatically erecting jaws, the perforated fangs, the poison-sacs of the viper are no surer evidences of the Devil’s work, than is the accursed contrivance of that torpedo! Only satanic agents could employ such a tool against their fellow- man. Take a Springfield, a Mauser, an Enfield rifle and ex- amine them. Especially the cartridges, which, as instru- ments of assault and murder, are placed in clips of six or twelve at a time in their magazines. Could anything be more horrible? Our much boasted science has multiplied by fifty the soldier’s means for destroying life and limb. Every cartridge, as every hand grenade and bomb, bears upon its face the marks of murderous intent. ‘The brains that designed and caused their construction were, when they did so, thinking out the most efficient way to shatter human bodies. Every rifle when given without proper judicial sanction to a soldier is a warrant for wilful murder. Along its sight the eye takes its deliberate aim and by its trigger the will performs its sanguinary act. In the grasp of a Christian for the execution of worldly wars, it is a murderer’s tool, and the true saint can no more carry it in one hand and the Word of God in the other than he can carry hell-fire and the joy of heaven together in his breast. Think of the shells, the ghastly effects of which are “written up” with all the relish for the glory of battle characteristic of a war-crazed press. Could the genius of the bottomless abyss crowd more of ruin and death into the same space than the military scientists have packed within the steel case of a twelve-inch explosive?) Do you know about these shells? They are so wonderfully constructed, so exactly adjusted, so perfectly obedient to their dispatcher’s 148 THE SAINT AND THE SWORD wishes, that they will go the precise distance intended, ex- plode at the particular spot and elevation desired, spread their death-shower of lacerating metal over the heads of marching men, or burst at their feet with an annihilating concussion as directed. “They will do all the work of a dastardly army of assassins without the heart or conscience of an assassin to appeal to, aye, without an assassin’s soul to bring to account. This is a satanic art of murder by machinery. | Yes! These rifles, bayonets, torpedoes, machine-guns— like all other bloody accounterments of war, take their places with the sharp teeth of dogs, wolves, bears, lions; with the fangs of reptiles and serpents; the poison glands of taran- tulas and scorpions; the stings of wasps and hornets; they may be classed with the claws of lions and tigers while some of them may be likened to the stinking gas or the nasty | fluid emitted from the pole-cat and the scuttle-fish. All these malignant appliances for offense and defense are the results of sin, which has made man and beast alike, when driven by appetite or greed to seek their prey, or protect their belongings, both savage and merciless. They are the works of the Devil, all of them, for they will all disappear in the millennial reign of Christ. Mind, I don’t say that in the present condition of the world the earth powers around us will cease to use these weapons. We are distinctly told they will not. They are the best defenses which, “in the vanity of their mind” and “through the ignorance that is in them”? they can devise. But I do say, and my statement is supported by every tenet of the Christian faith as well as by the Word of God, that no follower of Christ can, for the purpose of killing his brother man in war, even dream of touching such arms. As regards those who resort to these weapons, the Christian will join in the prophetic utterance of the dying Jacob and say, “Instruments of cruelty are in their habita- tions, O my soul, come not thou into their secret.” 1Eph. 4:17, 18. *Gen. 49:5, 6, THE SAINT AND THE SWORD 149 Out of Sight Out of Mind There is another important fact to be noted about the weapons of modern warfare. Not only do they become more cruel as new inventions are sought out, but the more “im- proved” they are—the more awful their slaughter becomes— the more have they the effect of removing those restraints which ought to be felt by those who use them. ‘The em- ployers of such tools ought to see the immediate results of their actions. But this is becoming less and less the case, because modern arms enormously widen the area between armies which attack each other. Apart from bayonet charges, which generally take place in the dark, it is, in most cases, impossible for a soldier to know really what he is doing. There is less and less for his conscience to bring home to him. When the life of Joseph was trembling in the balance Judah, addressing his murderous brethren, spoke more signifi- cant words than perhaps he knew when he said, “What profit is it if we slay our brother, and conceal his blood?’”* God has ordained that to conceal the blood of a murdered man should be difficult, and that is why most murderers are trapped by the blood-stains of their victims. Hence, the first concern of assassins is to keep clear of the blood of those they slay. On this account it is “profitable” for a soldier, when prompted by the passion of battle to kill his brother, that he should understand beforehand that he will have to see the red blood flow from his veins, for that knowl- edge might, at the last moment, prevent him doing the deed. As in the case of Lady Macbeth, the sight of blood leaves a mark on the mind. But modern instruments of war enable their users to evade this. With a simple bow or arrow, as used in ancient times, the aggressor had to advance to where he could see his arrow pierce the flesh of his foe; today, with his magazine rifle he stands in a ditch or crouches behind a rock and fires twenty bullets a minute at a range of two 1Gen. 37:26. 150 THE SAINT AND THE SWORD thousand yards. He never knows the souls he dispatches or the misery he spreads till his account is squared before the throne of God. With the old battering ram or even the less clumsy cannon of Napoleon, the operators or gunners were face to face with the horror of their doings; but to- day a twelve-inch shell, whose terrible explosion will blow the limbs off a score of men, or bury a whole company under the ruins of a fortress, can be placed, with the utmost sang froid, in the breach of some cunningly hidden steel monster, and sent to its destination eight miles away, with a result of which those who fired it hear nothing save a voice by wire- less from some aeroplane a mile above, saying, “A bull’s eye,’ or indicating a more accurate range. Instruments which enable their employers in this way to spread damage, death, misery and tears, without the restraint which comes by knowing the effects of their actions, must indeed be the in- ventions of the Devil, for they so effectually silence the voice of conscience in the soldier. “They enable him to do the worst of wrongs without feeling the pricks of remorse. Murder without Remorse If the commanders of German Zeppelins or the captains of British aeroplanes—who have still some tender considera- tion for home and little ones—could see through the dark depths, just as they are about to release the missle of horror, if they could know of the sleeping mothers and children who, » without a moment’s warning, they were sending into eter- nity; it would not be, I think, without a qualm of conscience that they would let fall the bolt of doom. But they don’t know. ‘They’re too far off to see. ‘They justify their act by the supposition that some camp or fortress lies beneath them, and so the deed of horror is done, while they sail away to receive their rewards as brave men! It is thus that, under the cloak of war, the Devil succeeds in enabling men to break the most binding laws of God without remorse; to slaughter their brother man without hearing the voice of their brother’s THE SAINT AND THE SWORD 151 blood crying from the ground. Each nation when at war will make frantic efforts to manufacture thousands of aero- planes from which “young gentlemen” may drop bombs out of the clouds upon women and children without knowing what they do! But it may be answered: ‘“The utilizers of these modern implements witness the horror of their effectiveness within their own lines and batteries. Are they not also the sufferers by similar weapons used against them?” ‘To a certain extent this is true, but in this case the carnage rather increases than restricts the butchery, for those who fall around the guns fall, in the estimation of their comrades, as heroes not as man-slayers. ‘They perish, not as the victims they have killed in the gun-pits of the foe, whose spirits have gone to the great Bar of Justice to charge them with having been the instruments of their destruction; they fall rather as coura- geous “defenders of their country.” ‘The wounded who drop while serving the guns are tenderly carried to hospitals and extolled for their “bravery.” ‘Those left in the rifle-pits or batteries are incensed rather than subdued by the death scenes around them. ‘They go on serving the guns with a zest inflamed by a desire to avenge the death of their smit- ten comrades. Ill. THE IMMORALITY OF WAR IS PROVEN, NOT ONLY BY THE NATURE OF ITS INSTRUMENTS BUT BY THE ACTUAL USES MADE OF THEM, ALIKE, BY ALL THE WARRING NATIONS History shows that war has become ever increasingly de- ceitful. It is less and less a matter of open conflict; more and more a pursuit characterized by sneaking lawlessness and stabbing in the back. The much-abused gladiator of. ancient Rome was a gentleman compared with the modern soldier, for as the military art “progresses,” those who follow it approach ever nearer to the habits of the wolf, the fox, the snake. The strategy and the tactics aspired to today are the strategy and tactics of treachery. But treachery is the very opposite of Christianity. Hide-Peep-and-Shoot Warfare This “strategy” shows us some strange things. We see artillery and machine-guns skilfully masked behind inoffen- sive hedgerows or wreathed with the blossoms of hawthorn or lilac. One perceives the deadly mouths of pom-poms peeping through standing stoops of ripened wheat; the gaping jaws of huge mortars sunk in holes covered with grass-sods, or obscured by the density of luxuriant forest and undergrowth. In place of battalions moving swiftly into the fire-zone, or maneuvering to threaten flank and rear of the enemies’ positions; instead of regiments of prancing cavalry charging the foe at the climax of battle; there are almost limitless lines of men, stalled in endless miles of 152 on ~~ THE SAINT AND THE SWORD 153 “ditches,” “warrens,” “dug-outs,”’ with carefully concealed “communication passages,” all of which are equipped with periscopes and other devices for seeing without being seen, and perforated with slits and peep-holes for the barrels of rifles or machine-guns, so that men can shoot without being shot at. Thus, “The dark places of the earth are full of the habitations of cruelty.” Day after day, month in and month out, the armies in the summer swelter amid flies or battle with fever, and in the winter, swirl in mud and suc- cumb by thousands to tuberculosis and rheumatism. Occasionally this ground-hog kind of warfare is terrorized by an appalling and hellish rain of a million shells, which, falling on a portion of the trenches, pulverize their defenses. Hundreds of shrieking men are buried like rats in holes, after which frenzied and furious attackers rush madly across the spaces which separate the contending armies and fall by thousands. All this in order to take a few miles of territory and occupy a few more holes, which are not infrequently very soon retaken. Invariably the whole situation settles down again for another prolonged period of hide-and-seek, peep-and-shoot, kind of warfare. It would probably be no exaggeration to say that in killed, wounded and prisoners, reckoning both sides, it costs half a million or more men to take five miles of territory. Is this the way a Christian can best fight for his country? Is it in a skulking, cringing manner like this he is to carry on the warfare for his God? Sneaks of the Air and the Sea Again, consider those still more “advanced” and very much more glorified methods of modern warfare for fighting in the air. ‘True, one hears of air-battles in the open, when men come out and face each other with courage and skill, but how often is this aerial warfare a record of dirigibles and aeroplanes creeping to great heights, under cover of dark- 1Psa. 74:20. 154 THE SAINT AND THE SWORD ness, or rushing into obscuring clouds, or covering their whereabouts by emitting black gases, by means of which they are able to swoop down unseen and strike fatal blows with- out giving their enemies “‘a fighting chance.” Why, a good sportsman would spurn to treat a jack-rabbit that way! Think of dropping bombs on sleeping cities like a thief in the dark! All the warring nations have done it, or have feverishly prepared to do it. But make no mistake, a Chris- tian can’t do it. He doesn’t drop bombs out of the heavens to destroy; he sends prayers into heaven which bring down unseen powers to save and inspire. J Yet, again, consider that still more detestable manifesta- tion of the deceitful methods of modern war—the submarine. The U-boat is the much trumpeted triumph of naval archi- tecture. If it were possible to convert the Devil’s high art of duplicity into mechanism, surely the submarine affords us the most perfect example of that transformation. ‘To use a figure, one may call it a mechanical incarnation of the Father of Lies—the Devil, who was “a murderer from the begin- ning,” the representation in steel of a beast rising up out of the sea. Think of it, stealing along there in the bowels of the deep, armed with all but supernatural powers to defy the forces of destruction, which on every side, above and below, press upon it; an engine of slaughter terrible not only in driving and striking power, but mighty, almost as a thinking organ- ism, because of the shrewd, well-disciplined brains which operate its wheels, valves and levers. Now like a living creature, it rises so near to the surface that, while the approaching prey may be distinguished through its project- ing orb, yet it cannot itself be seen. Below, on the dial of © the periscope human eyes, all alert, decry the form of a mammoth ship which holds within her protecting embrace a thousand men, women and children. With diabolical delib- eration the engines are put to top speed, the range is obtained 1John 8:44. ; } . THE SAINT AND THE SWORD 155 and then swinging into position through the deeps of the ocean, the levers are raised and the ghastly torpedo is launched on its dreadful mission. Human Sharks On that threatened steamer the crew with the passengers are serenely speeding. Some are busily going about their duty; others are hardly yet awake in their bunks; others, in the saloons, are taking an early breakfast. Little children play about the staterooms in their nightgowns. All are per- fectly oblivious to approaching danger. Suddenly there is a strange thud; the ship gives an ugly lurch; there is a sound of crashing timbers, a spiteful hissing of steam, loud, fierce blasts from the fog-horn, an ominous noise of inrushing waters. ‘Then comes a rapid and appaling listing of the decks, a stampede for the boats by terror-stricken passengers, piteous shrieks through the air and finally the fatal plunge. After all this, and while two or three hundred bodies of husbands, wives, fathers, mothers, brothers, sisters, little children, sink steadily down to their graves in the ooze of the ocean, the captain of the submarine adjusts the plane of his horizontal rudder and dives into safe obscurity. ‘Then these human sharks, assured that for them all danger is past, at least for the time being, begin to congratulate each other on their “good luck” and sit down to eat their breakfast. ' That description—just as applicable to an attack on a warship as on a passenger vessel—is by no means an ex- aggeration. Worse than that has happened again and again. In my opinion, it is the dirtiest, meanest of all the con- temptible “scrapping” on this earth; infinitely worse than a dog-fight. There is not a loathsome bully among all the most abandoned and brutalized pugilists of the lowest down prize-fighting gang on this earth who would permit an an- tagonist to hit “below the belt” and run away like that! Let self-inflated, well-protected ‘Lords of Admiralty” say what they will in defense of this “most effective arm of the - 156 THE SAINT AND THE SWORD naval service,” let bishops and prominent nonconformist ministers give, as they may, their benediction to the “heroic sailors’ who man such a service, in my opinion a vessel which is constructed and used to perform a deed such as I have just described is a devilish and despicable sneak of the sea. ‘The men who operate it are little less than human fiends. From the Christian standpoint there can be absolutely nothing but condemnation for them and their infernal machine. ‘The kind of warfare it is built to wage is so deeply infamous, that even the superhuman intellect of the Devil could hardly conceive anything worse. The simple fact that such satamic devices, dedicated to such sinister uses, are considered “essen- tial to modern warfare,” should be amply sufficient to deter- mine all true Christians to leave the material fighting of the nations which make and use them severely alone. The Bible and the Submarine To those tongue-tied, fear-paralyzed preachers who, in order to justify such murderous chicanery, juggle with con- science and with the words of Jesus—to these I bring the whole Bible. The Bible has only one thing to say about all who employ or profit by an abomination of that kind. It tells us that in the day of reckoning, ““The Lord will abhor the bloody and deceitful man.”* It speaks with no uncertain note to every young Christian who finds himself being lured, by the glamour of “‘patriotic heroism” to undersea warfare, in the language of one who, by prophetic knowledge, seems to have been well acquainted with the submarine, ‘““My son,” it says, “If they say, Come, let us wait for blood, let us lurk privily for the innocent without cause; let us swallow them up alive as the grave; and whole, as those that go down into the pit . . . my son, walk not thou in the way with them; refrain thy foot from their path: for their feet run to evil, and make haste to shed blood.’ Nor does the Bible fail to remind those who enlist for this *Psa. 5:6. *Proy. 1:10, 3%, 12, 15. THE SAINT AND THE SWORD 157 undersea abomination that, as they do unto others, so it shall be done to them. It seems to give us a glimpse of the fright- ful plight of these imprisoned murderers when, searching their victims through the bowels of the deep, they find their horrible weapon entangled in the snares spread in the waters for its undoing. ‘The prophet Micah would appear to de- scribe the treacherous methods by which the sailors in these mechanical sea serpents catch each other when he tells us that, “They all lie in wait for blood, they hunt every man his brother with a net.” Rather than defend myself and my loved ones by the employment of such deviltry, I would commit all to the faith- ful care of my Heavenly Father and be riddled through with bullets. I would have no fear of consequences. My enemies might, for the moment, seem to have triumphed over me, but the Lord would do more for the cause of peace by my martyrdom than all the submarines in the sea, which can never contribute anything but hate and envy to the spirit of the nations. The Biter Bit Before passing from the consideration of the submarine and the aeroplane, I may remark that though we have heard in this country the loudest kind of denunciation of the uses the Germans have made of them, we have neither heard nor seen a single word concerning the wrong of the men who invented and created them. ‘These were all Americans. Uncle Sam has the proud (?) distinction of having launched the first of these cowardly skulkeens of the deep. He also is the perfecter, if not the originator, of the aero- plane, which all the armies alike have used to drop bombs on unprotected women and children. Both these instruments, like the machine-gun—also an American invention—have been doing exactly the kind of work they were fashioned and equipped to perform. ‘The launching of the first sub- tMicah 7:2, 158 THE SAINT AND THE SWORD marine was itself a challenge against all the laws of naval warfare, which, up to the time of its appearing, were sup- posed to be recognized by civilized nations; for the submarine is itself a naval anarchistic contrivance. ‘The only nation which, in time of war, has found an opportunity for using it is Germany and, under similar circumstances, it is not at all im- probable, it is highly probable, every other nation would have found it impracticable to use it in any other way. ‘The greater sin lies at the door of those who brought into being such devilish weapons. While this book was being written the United States was dragged into the great war because of the logical and inevitable uses which she ought to have seen the submarine she created would be put to. Submarines were not made for naval gentlemen to disclose themselves on, by coming to the surface to talk terms and be shot at, they were built for assassins whose art it is to stab in the back, hit below the belt, and then skedaddle. Having made them for this express purpose, it seems rather absurd to kick up all this fuss because they carry out their work so well !* No, no, my friends, make no mistake. ‘The Christian, for achieving his victories, resorts to no such cringing artifices as these. He has nothing to hide, he has nothing to fear, for the strength of Jehovah’s legions are back of him. He has nothing to lose, for his treasures already belong to his King, and if forfeited here and now, for His sake, will be returned a hundred-fold in the glorious age so soon to come. | *See article by Admiral Sims on uses of Submarines by Germans during late war. Current Opinion, May, 1923. IV. IN THE FOURTH PLACE I CHARGE AGAINST WAR THAT IT IS IMMORAL BECAUSE IT CONDONES MURDER It is often boasted that “civilization” has done much to ameliorate the sufferings of those who participate in modern battles. It is an assertion which needs careful testing. Con- cerning the development in deceptive tactics, and the fright- ful increase in the destructive power of modern implements, I have already spoken. Remember we do not hear every- thing. It is pretty safe to say we do not today hear, by any means, the worst things about battle-fields. Once in a while, some gruesome picture, some horrible portrayal of the hideous orgy of anguish and blood, slipping past the censor, reaches us and sends a chill down our spines. But I think if we knew all—if the people knew all, aye even if all the soldiers knew all—there would arise a shriek of vengeance, the vibrations of which would shake every War-Lord from his seat of office and topple the crowns off all the royal brows in the world. No, we don’t know all! There’s the sor- row. Satan works nearly as much havoc in the world through ignorance as he does through arrogance. But we know a little. Some time back I saw a picture which all but engraved itself on my brain. It was a photograph of a dead body, hatless but otherwise fully equipped with heavy march- ing regalia. ‘The rifle had fallen to the ground, but the hand which had grasped it, like the corpse, was suspended from a barbed-wire entanglement. The sharp spikes were so interwoven with the garments that it looked as though the poor fellow had been blown bodily by the blast of a shell on to the cruel teeth of this steel web, and hung there too fearfully wounded to extricate himself. Who shall measure the horror of the hours that may have passed ere death ended his agonies? 159 160 THE SAINT AND THE SWORD Hell on Earth During the war I read in the Chicago Daily Journal a description by a United Press Staff correspondent which, since he gives his name, bears all the marks of reliability. Let me read it to you: “One reason why the Germans retreated along the Ancre was because they were fast becoming a garrison of gibbering lunatics. Their position had become more hideous than the scuppers of hell. Mud—bottomless in places—and the ceaseless pounding of the British guns had turned their positions into stench-pits too horrible for human nerves to stand. “J zig-zagged around stagnant cesspools and interlocking shell- craters in which the water was the exact color of blood.... I found myself stepping on German bodies which littered the region. They were in all imaginable conditions and positions—sometimes piled several deep. I saw arms sticking full length out of mud that concealed all else of the bodies to which they were attached. There were legs, feet, half bodies—or heads alone—protruding. ee lay face down, some were on their backs, exactly as if asleep. “At another place, on a pile several deep, lay a boyish officer, fair as a girl, with his arms thrown back and his blue eyes staring to the sky. His sandy hair had been brushed back modishly by the rain. “Imagine scenes like this covering miles. Imagine every trace of vegetation long since blasted away. Imagine the earth powder- stained and churned up from ten to sixty feet in depth. Imagine mud so bottomless that the German prisoners claim there were men frequently swallowed up whole in attempting to cross after dark. “Such was the sink-hole occupied by the Germans.” If these are the surroundings and the concommitant effects of the Church’s “good fight of faith,’ then we might as well close the New Testament as an illusive record of lies and admit that Cesar was more in harmony with our modern tenets of Christianity than Christ. Is War Growing More Merciful? I sometimes think if we could, in some way, concentrate all the torture endured by wounded men during the last fifteen years as they have lain with broken legs, dislocated ankle-bones, fractured skulls, smashed noses, protruding eyes; all those who have waited with a bayonet wound through THE SAINT AND THE SWORD 161 the liver, or a lung exuding blood, or a gaping hole in which the imbedded lead was doing its deadly work—waited through the long drawn out hours when the cursed “‘curtain of fire’ from far distant guns cut them off from all assist- ance—I say if somehow we could put all that agony together and impress it on the heart of mankind, the world would then find out that war was never so cruel, and never in- flicted so much mortal pain as it does today. Notwithstanding all this, there are a few merciful provi- sions which do, to some extent, tend to mitigate these hor- rors. Chief among these are the Field Hospital Service and the Red Cross Societies. The vision of ambulances, rushing into danger zones to rescue the wounded, is one which touches a tender spot in all hearts. No compassionate soul could do other than thank God for this one bright gleam across war’s dark night of bitterness and bloodshed. More- over, it is the one place on the battle-field where a true Christian, providing he is faithful to his convictions, and maintains his independence, can yet find an opportunity to serve Him Who ever succored the suffering, and cared for the souls and bodies of men. The Devil’s Devices But having gladly and truly admitted this, I want to sound a note of warning to professed followers of Christ concerning this, and similar “callings,” which throw open the door of military or semi-military service to the Soldier of the Cross. I would say beware! ‘There is reason for extreme caution. If you study the histories of the Devil’s most destructive institutions, you will find he has always arranged so as to have it possible that good and decent people might patronize his greatest agencies for the undoing of men, in a way which would not necessarily entail any extravagant or outspoken: evil. By this means he has managed to cast a glamour of innocence, and sometimes even utility, over what has be- 162 THE SAINT AND THE SWORD come unspeakably wicked. ‘Thus the respectable uses, as it were, of these abominations have not only proved the means for luring Christians into their snares, but have made it possible for them to give such evils their patronage and support, Take one or two examples. Look at the immoral drama. Why do so many professing Christians patronize it? It is because—although quite foreign to its true spirit and gen- eral tenor—there are here and there brought on to the stage what are called “good clean plays.” ‘These serve to show what is described as the “uplifting influence of the dramatic art” and they provide an excuse for its defense by those who otherwise would, for no consideration, have anything to do with the theater. Again, consider that vice-inflaming pleasure—the dance. Full well Christians know what a blight this brings upon much of the young life around them. Why do they sanction it? It is because Satan has cunningly contrived to have this amusement patronized in the most ‘respectable society” as a “social function” and—the “family dance.” Here, surrounded by protecting influences of parental love, the glow of sensuous sparks in young breasts can be enjoyed, while the flames of lust may be smothered. Dancing under such conditions we are told is “‘so delightfully social,” “so innocently pleasurable in its grace of movement,” that it may be tolerated by those who, did they see only its dire and inevitable fruitage in moral corruption, would denounce and discard it forever. This deceitful method is also employed in connection with gambling. ‘The taste for this disastrous habit is most fre- quently acquired at the card table in respectable homes amid the best society. Were it not for the fact that playing for money and prizes was approved of by decent people, the human wreckage in the world through gambling would have long ago resulted in universal effort to destroy that vice. THE SAINT AND THE SWORD 163 Temperance Supporting Drunkenness Observe also the working of this policy in relation to the drink trafic. ‘Though it may seem like a contradiction to say sO, it is none the less true that temperance, a virtue though it is, has proved the most serious hindrance to the re- moval of this scourge—this scandal of modern times. I always believe the Devil had something to do with the nam- ing of the organizations established to fight drink when they were christened “temperance” societies. “Temperance is always the enemy of total abstinence. It is ever the less nervous, placid, unexcitable, “temperate” people who stand so obstructively in the way of the only policy which can save the high-strung, hot-blooded, passionate crowd who get tipsy. It is the clean, good, quiet, self-possessed well-disciplined “set” in “nice church homes,” who “say grace’ over their “little drops; who tell us how much higher it is in the scale of human character to be able to “resist”? than to shut off all possibility of temptation by “abstaining ;” these are the people who have most ably assisted the Devil in serving out distilled damnation to their weaker brothers and sisters. The moderate drinking habit, in these very proper, exceed- ingly respectable homes, has provided the most formidable argument in favor of the drink traffic. It has given so-called Christians the most plausible excuse for compromising with the trade, and it has, more than any other thing, helped to keep the dirty, whiskey-soaked “pubs” and saloons of Eng- land and America going. Other instances of this principle of the Devil’s working might be given, especially in the sphere of religion, where it will be found that every fake theology and fanatical creed finds defenders because of some great truth it has mixed with its error, or some neglected doctrine it has brought to light. But enough for our purpose here has been stated.? 1For enlargement on this subject see “The Wiles of the Devil,” by the same author, 164 THE SAINT AND THE SWORD Popularizing Bloodshed Nowhere does this very astute satanic policy more strik- ingly reveal itself than in the war-sphere. Here again, amid all the frightful hellishness of destruction and carnage, we see certain institutions which are everywhere command- ing not only the approval, but the enthusiastic applause, the heartiest support, of the very people who, on the one hand shout loudest for war and on the other are most opposed to it. Now as regards these institutions what I want most to em- phasize is this. They set before the followers of Christ a tempting snare which, if they are not very careful will entangle them in the bloody web of militarism, causing them not only to join hands with those who shed blood, but (and this is far more serious) to give the sanction of the Christian Church to the abomination of war. All that I have already said is confirmed by the extraordi- nary and universal interest in Red Cross work always mani- fested by certain “high up” sections of society immediately the “war dogs” are let loose. ‘The strange thing is that most of these people who get so busy boosting up parties, bazaars, socials, sewing and knitting classes, to make ban- dages, cushions, sweaters and garments for those they already see, in mental vision, brought home with bleeding wounds—most of these are not the parties who struggle against the enormous pressure of public passion—fostered by. all the powers of hell and a yelping press—which pushes a nation into strife. Nor are they, nine times out of ten, the people who manifest any particular interest, in either the bodies or souls of the unfortunate, at any other time. Least of all are they, with a few exceptions, the “set”? who seem to care a rap about the spiritual well-being of either soldiers or civilians. ‘The vast majority of these Red Cross people are never found at prayer-meetings and not too often at Church. They will work like Trojans, seven days a week to secure money to purchase lint and linen and all the outfit of a hospital, but they wouldn’t get off a lounge or give THE SAINT AND THE SWORD 165 a dime to help stop their country going down into a welter of blood, or to preach the Gospel of love even were it to a thousand souls. Here is a specimen of this activity which I read during the late war in one of the Chicago daily papers: “The fervor of the Red Cross spirit has taken a firm grip on the wives, mothers and daughters of the Four Hundred—to say nothing of the spirit displayed by the husbands and brothers in the face of this tremendous preparedness propaganda that has Chi- cago by the throat. “Hitherto calm, poised and leisurely women are become veritable speeders in dashing from one class to another, and on arrival at the base hospitals go at their work of rolling bandages, knitting soldiers’ garments and packing emergency kits with all the avidity of the sweatshop girl, whose wages depend upon the amount of work accomplished.” One feels like asking, “Is this real devotion to suffering humanity? Are these women actuated by a true love for the Lord Jesus, and are they so concerned about the Red Cross because of their devotion to the cause of the Cross of Calvary?” I trow not. The Danger of a Christless Service Is there not ground, then, for concluding that the Devil is resorting to the same old policy which has served him so well as regards the liquor traffic and other evil enterprises of his? Has he not, since the days when the sainted Florence Nightingale tiptoed with her lamp from couch to couch in the pestilential hospitals of Scutari, done his best to exploit such a mission of mercy, in order that the sinister avocation of bloodshed may be softened and exonerated by accompany- ing deeds of kindness? I am afraid he has. ‘This is the rea- son why, while there are doubtless a number of truly con- secrated followers of Christ, who, constrained by His love, go to serve the suffering on the battle-fields, there are a far greater number who go for the love of mere adventure or to win the halo of earthly glory. Thousands of such physicians, nurses, stretcher-bearers, ambulance drivers, know nothing of the love of God which 166 THE SAINT AND THE SWORD was shed abroad in the heart of Florence Nightingale and which, long before she saw the afflicted soldiers in the Crimea, sent her to the ragged schools of London to practice Christ’s sympathy and preach His Gospel to the poor little street urchins there. It is one thing to go into the Red Cross service out of devotion to Christ, it is quite another to go for the glamour of military distinction or the praise of influential men. For the Christian, that makes just all the difference. ‘That is why it behooves him to “walk circum- spectly” concerning this matter. Repair Aiding Destruction In the arena of war the contrast is quite startling between a system and mechanism which destroys and methods and machinery for protection and repair. “Thus we see face to face with each other, in the battle-fields of today on the one hand, Medical Science as exemplified in the administration of the most approved remedies, the performance of marvelous surgical feats, and on the other hand, Military Science, which reveals itself in the most terrible instruments of tor- ture, death and devastation ever known to man. ‘Though the contrast is sharp, these two things are not so opposed to each other as one might presume. Indeed, on reflection it will be found that in the grim game of war they compliment each other. ‘The sanitary brigades of the Army Medical Corps hide away the corpses with which the “chivalrous” infantry bestrew the landscape, and the ambulances carry back out of range for repair broken bodies smashed by the most “gallant” artillery. Each of these arms of the military service is in reality assisting each other. ‘They all earn the order of merit in the public mind. Salve for Troubled Consciences Hence the need for caution on the part of the Christian. Hospital work attached to an army may have the effect of blinding his mind to the antichristian nature of war. People ~ THE SAINT AND THE SWORD 167 who approve of war, and yet to whom the gruesome facts of pestilential trenches, fields of decomposing bodies, hos- pitals full of groaning sufferers, are “very distressing,” find relief from the prods of a troubled conscience by centering their thoughts on the “truly Christ-like bravery” of fear- less men and devoted women who, in ‘“‘our noble ambulance brigades” and benevolent hospitals, risk their lives to save others. Yet there isn’t, after all, much merit in jumping into a river to save a man whom you’ve done your best to drown, but who, in spite of you, by some accidental circumstance, is still kept afloat—more especially when you intend to pitch him into the river again! While without doubt it is better to have such a system of mercy as the Field Hospital than to be without it, yet its existence is in no sense a palliation for bloodshed. Nor does it prove that war in itself has become less barbarous or cruel. On the other hand, it is easy to see how it renders it more possible of continuance by the mitigation of consequences which would, under modern con- ditions, have long ago rendered it intolerable, at least to the Christian conscience. Decent Disposal of Disgusting Butchery Notwithstanding all the splendid achievements which must justly be credited to the medical service in war, it can- not be gainsaid that it does help the Devil to gloss over an army’s disgusting butchery to have some very effective scientific sanitary method for dealing with its gruesome re- sults. Dead bodies of husbands, sons, sweethearts, comrades, if left too long to rot in the sun, would bring home too effect- ually the horrors of the inhuman system by which kings, em- perors and governments settle their quarrels or fight for national estates. Besides, this shocking war-garbage breeds disease, and disease is a more formidable enemy than all the bayonets of the foe. Better for the military system to have these bodies, so beloved in the home-land, expeditiously smothered in charcoal and lime, and pitched into ditches. ~ 168 THE SAINT AND THE SWORD They will then be safely out of sight of their comrades, where their lacerated limbs will tell no tales. Slaughter and the “Morale” of the Army The alertness of army experts to the damaging effect of a too free exposure of war’s results to the “warriors” under their command, may be gathered from two further extracts taken from “The Soldier’s Pocket Book,” by our old friend Viscount Wolseley. Speaking of the effect of the presence of wounded men on the “morale” of their fighting comrades, he says: “The savage . . . sharpens his knife with which he means to torture and kill any of our wounded that may have the misfortune to be left behind unprotected. ...In the Soudan as each man fell wounded he had to be carried for protection inside that mov- able and livable redoubt the ‘square.’ ... This had a demoraliz- ing influence upon our men. The immediate presence among them of mutilated comrades, many of them in extreme agony from their wounds, is not calculated to improve their spirits.” And again, when speaking of the burying of the dead, he Says: “The French, who wisely studied every trifle that might affect the morale of their soldiers, used to bury the dead from the large general hospital, before daybreak in the morning. This should always be done where practicable. If on the seashore, the dead might be taken out daily a few miles and buried at sea. But care must be taken to prevent them rising to the surface or being washed ashore, a circumstance that cieated much horror in our army in Egypt when hundreds of bodies that had been buried at sea were washed ashore.” It would seem that these great generals, under whose calm and calculating direction the most horrible slaughter is perpetrated, are most punctilious about concealing, as far as they can, the “horror” of it all from their soldiers. The Military Profession and Blood Indeed so they need be, they know quite well that nothing — is so detrimental to the military “profession” as blood. One reason it thrives so well by the business of blood-shedding is because it is so skilled in the art which heals the wounds and hides the blood-stains. If the regalia in which the sol- a — THE SAINT AND THE SWORD 169 dier appears in the trenches, in the hospitals, or in the mo- ment of his dying agony could take the place of the gaudy trappings of the parade-ground; if the insignia on the buz- bies of death-head huzzars were the real bones and skulls of their victims; if the brilliant tunics of the barracks were smeared with the decomposing blood which stains them on the battle-fields; if the gay officers could walk through the halls of wealth beneath the gaze of their gentle-eyed lady friends bedecked in the ragged and gory uniforms which enshroud their buried comrades at the front; if field marshals and generals exchanged their silver-plaited swords for the physician’s scalpel and probe and enumerated the feet, legs, arms, hands, eyes, which had been cut away in consequence of engagements they had commanded; if all the blood which has been shed in battle could be sprinkled over all the sol- diers who go to fight and the discolored faces of the strangled sailors who bestrew the bed of the sea could peep through the port-holes and over the gunwales of every dreadnaught, then spectacles so sanguinary would raise the peoples of all nations in revolt against so monstrous and ruinous a system as war. Murder Hiding Behind Mercy But the Devil is far too clever to let this side of war so display itself. Hence he has seen to it that developments in the Red Cross and the medical services are kept abreast of the ever increasing power of modern destructive instruments. The ghastly fruits of battle are, even at risk of other good - lives, sought out and rushed in cushioned automobiles to hos- pitals which, being equipped with every earthly device for healing, are invested with a halo of mercy. The hospital thus becomes a kind of exculpation of slaughter. The Devil so abuses it as to make it a means by which murder may hide itself behind mercy. This is why it provides a special snare for Christians, for unless they resolve to preach the Gospel of love to those they wait upon, they may by this means find 170 THE SAINT AND THE SWORD themselves actually serving the Devil in the name of Jesus Christ. Never forget that I am dealing with this subject from the Christian standpoint. From the standpoint of the unre- generate world, the military hospital service is undoubtedly an altogether admirable institution. But what belongs solely to this age will pass with this age, ““That which is born of the flesh is flesh.” Those who seek such agencies purely for the aid they give them in pursuing only the gains of this world will verily by them “have their reward” here—not hereafter. The fact that one is allied to the Red Cross ser- vice does not prove one is a Christian. Sympathy is not Christianity. Many men sympathize with their horses. The Lord is not so much concerned about what we do as He is in why we do it. On the battle-field or in the hospital, as elsewhere, it is the cup of water given in His name—and remember you cannot separate His name from His nature, which is love, nor can you separate His name from His Gospel, which is “Love your enemies”—it is the deed done in that name which He will recognize and reward and no other. Remember, too, in this connection, that for the Christian, no snares are so dangerous as those which offer him Christian facilities without Christian forces back of them. The people who offer the fruits of Christianity while they deny their roots are those whose co-partnership, in the service of men, the Christian needs to be most cautious of. It is the Devil’s trump-card for this age to set men endeavor- ing to save the world without Christ. Like the robber he is, he seeks to steal and profit by the consequences of Chris- tianity, while denying its divine causes. Science Without Salvation Hence, in this matter of hospital service we see every method for soothing and healing the sick extolled but the healing which is by faith in Jesus Christ. We have the 14John 3:6. THE SAINT AND THE SWORD 171 systems of healing according to Harvey, Jenner, Pasteur, Lister, Koch, but hardly ever a word concerning the gospel of healing by the Son of God. We have stethoscopes, clinical thermometers, microscopes, the ophthalmoscope, the laryngo- scope and some other “scopes” for the diagnosis of disease, but the Word of God, that great searcher after the disorders of the spirit, is too often left severely alone. ‘These phy- sicians are artists at bacteriological causes of trouble, but how few of them know how to deal with that great first cause of all suffering, the virus of sin in the deceitful heart of man. Wonderful, indeed, are the appliances for the penetrating light of the R6ntgen and the Finsen rays, but how many of those who operate such instruments know any- thing about the “light from heaven,’ which the wounded soldier so sorely needs to see shining around his death bed. Here is the perilous danger for the young Christian who, shrinking from the sneers of the world, because of his ‘“‘paci- fist” ideas, sees in the Red Cross a way of escape. And truly, if he takes his Saviour with him and is resolved at all costs to speak out the truth of His teaching, there is a sphere of wonderful usefulness midst the suffering which there, as nowhere else, brings men’s sins home to them. But with a message of that kind would he be wanted ? The Geneva Cross and the Cross of Calvary Let him then be careful how he allows his testimony to be silenced by men whose profession of slaughter is as far as the poles are asunder from the spirit and practice of his Master; men who beneath the sign of the Geneva cross would profit by the beneficent fruits of the Saviour’s suf- fering while they ignore the claims on their hearts and lives of that other cross on Calvary. That the guns should never be trained on the Red Cross service is, without doubt, a most merciful provision—credit- able, when it is observed, to a humane sentiment which is itself a product of Christianity—but with God and the 172 THE SAINT AND THE SWORD angels such protection, however beneficial to the life that now is, is a small consideration when compared with that shelter from the wrath to come which the sinner who trusts in Christ finds beneath the blood which flowed from the Cross of Jesus. Christians must above all things take care that in seeking to give that service which is assured by the protection of the Geneva Convention, they don’t forfeit the higher service which can only be rendered by the terms of the contract sealed at Golgotha. | If, then, Christian workers in these war hospitals would be loyal to God, they must deal faithfully with the souls of those they serve. There is a tendency to regard the wounded under their care only as “heroes” suffering in a “noble cause.” But, though one should say so with the utmost tenderness, they are more than that. ‘They too have been ageressors. They too have brought like disaster on other brave men who are also fighting for what they too consider a “holy cause.” To condone wrong on the part of the aggressor because of the wrong he himself has suffered would not, after all, be real Christian service. A Christian cannot allow such ageressors to altogether ignore the injuries they have in- flicted on others on account of misfortunes which have be- fallen them while inflicting those injuries. This is espe- cially so when it is remembered that the men in the hos- pitals intend, if able, to continue their offensive acts. Don’t forget that, according to the latest computation, seventy per cent. of the wounded return to the fighting line. Praising the “Warrior” and Winking at War The danger in this direction is forcibly illustrated in many printed accounts and diaries published by prominent workers among the sick and wounded. As an example, I was much impressed in reading a record sent from time to time by one - of my own devoted nieces who in the late war rendered good service at the front. ‘Through the whole of her book, while THE SAINT AND THE SWORD 173 again and again she invariably speaks of the sufferers around her as “heroes,” she says never a word about the agony these very men have inflicted on the “heroes’ who fill the hospitals of the opposing armies. Had she thought of these her sympathies might have gone out, for the same good rea- son, to the wounded who, in those equally crowded wards, were being crowned with honor for the shot and shell they had poured upon her own patients. ‘To go in the name of Jesus Christ to a wounded soldier with sympathy for his suffering and praise for his ‘heroism’ while keeping a dis- creet silence concerning the suffering he has inflicted, and still intends, if he is again able, to inflict on other soldiers, will doubtless help to calm his misgivings and thus aid his physical recovery, but it will never appeal to his conscience or help his soul into the victory of the Gospel which is the victory of love. Though their praises have been so trumpeted through the world, I fear the Lord Jesus has not found many among the Red Cross attendants to carry HIS words to the sick and the dying about “doing good to the enemies who had so despitefully used them.” Getting forgiveness from Him conditionally upon their willingness to forgive those who had “‘trespassed against them,” has not, I fear, been an aspect of the truth which has received much attention. But Christ put the greatest possible emphasis upon it.t| With Him, there was no forgiveness on any other terms. Compromise the Undoing of Christianity Another application of this aspect of the question I feel it indispensable that I should make. It is, I know, an ex- tremely delicate and difficult one. But duty to the whole counsel of God demands it. Since I feel that a treatment of this vital subject, which permits no prevarication, is the supreme need of the hour, I will say a few words here even at the risk of being misunderstood. 1Matt. 6:14. 174 THE SAINT AND THE SWORD Not all the obstacles put together which Christianity has encountered since Christ founded His Church have been half as great a hindrance to the progress of His cause as the spirit of compromise on the part of those professing His Name. The power of the religion of Jesus lies in its abso- lute opposition to the spirit and practice of the unbelieving world. It is the sword of truth which when its edge has not been blunted by inconsistency and its wielding has been in the hands of faithful men, has cut its way triumphantly through every opposing force. Its defeats have ever been due to the dulling of its edge. Of Christianity it may well be said that the attempt to readjust its fundamental doc- trines to unbelieving intellectualism; the “re-statement” of its miracles in “terms of modern thought;” the depreciation of everything in its Bible which is not amenable to material- istic “scientific method ;” the toning down of its precepts to suit the practices of an apostate discipleship; and above all the fatal attempt to dodge the inevitable deductions of its teachings to suit the notions of a worldly and state-controlled Church—these have been the predominant factors in the in- consistency which has retarded the progress of this Chris- tianity in the world. God’s Ministers Should Preach God’s Love Nor does it need to be said to those who are enlisted in the ministry of the Gospel that its all-essential quality is love. This was the predominant note in all the teachings of Christ. This was the center and circumference, the alpha and the omega, of all He preached, as it was the all-prevail- ing characteristic manifesting itself through all His deeds. He came to reveal His Father as the passionate lover of all men and to usher in a new Dispensation under a Covenant of Grace sealed by His own precious blood. ‘The Gospel itself is God’s message of love. ‘God so loved’”—‘‘God is love” —‘He loved us and gave Himself for us.” The New Testament is packed full of exhortations to “Love one an- THE SAINT AND THE SWORD 175 other” even as Christ has loved us and gave Himself for us. Nor, according to its teaching, is the real test of our religion the fact of our affection for our friends, brethren, fellow-countrymen only, for Jesus Himself gave us that measure when He said, “Love... as I have loved you,’ and we know “God commendeth his love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners Christ died for us.”! He didn’t fight His enemies, He died for them. Now what a “Christian worker,” a Y. M. C. A. director, a Salvation Army officer, an officially commissioned and fully “equipped” chaplain of the forces, what these have to make sure of in order that their services may be recognized, is that they are there to preach God’s Gospel. They are not to go there to seek the approval of a godless press, a shallow Chris- tendom, a murder-enriched aristocracy or doomed temporal governments. From the Christian standpoint such approval matters very little. What these busy toilers on the bloody fields of war have to be certain of is that they are there in obedience to God’s voice when He says to them, ‘Preach . the preaching that I bid thee.” “These Sayings of Mine” Never were even the more devoted laborers in the Mas- ter’s vineyard up against so deceitful a trap for catching them unawares and making them the playthings of a lot of human bloodhounds as they are these days. ‘Those who long to assuage the misery of war or turn to the best advantage the opportunity which huge camps of armed men affords for doing good, need to be on their guard lest they subordinate spiritual duty to temporal service. The minister of the Gospel’s supreme business in the military camp, as every- where else, is to PREACH THE GOSPEL. To preach it in all its purity and power, subtracting nothing and adding nothing thereto. His dynamics are not the alluring comfort of sheltering “huts;” the inebriation of ‘cups of tea;” the 1Rom. 5:8, 176 THE SAINT AND THE SWORD economy of “convenient writing utensils”; the pleasure of “social intercourse ;” the relaxation of “libraries” full of fic- tion and magazines; the recreation of “entertainments” with gramophones that wind out national and music-hall love- songs; it is mot even the sentiment of “religious services’’ with catchy hymns and clever sermonettes interwoven with plenty of ‘patriotism,’ and out of which all unpleasant references to tomorrow’s beasty bloodshed and all “‘inexpedi- ent” applications of the Sermon on the Mount are carefully extracted. No! No! His dynamic is the mighty power of the Holy Ghost. He is to preach the preaching GOD HAS GIVEN HIM. The everlasting Gospel of LOVE, the blessings of which are appropriated by OBEDIENCE and faith. ‘The Gospel which plants men’s feet on the unmoy- able rock of TRUTH and not on the shifting sands of SENTIMENT. “Therefore,” said the great Master Himself, “everyone that heareth these sayings of mine’—the “sayings” of the Sermon on the Mount—‘‘and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man, which built his house upon a rock, and everyone that heareth these sayings of mine and doeth them not, shall be likened unto a foolish man which built his house upon the sand—and great was the fall of it.” Let us then beware of a sinking-sand ministry. We must be careful to see that we do not do everything for, and say everything fo the soldier but the things he most requires and the preaching he most needs to hear. ‘The question put by the Lord through His servant Isaiah to back-slidden Israel is one which I commend to chaplains and Christian workers in the camps of the world today: ‘Will ye steal, murder and commit adultery, and swear falsely (spying). Come and stand before me in this house, which is called by my name and say, We are delivered to do all these abomina- tions?’ 1Jeremiah 7:9, Io. THE SAINT AND THE SWORD 177 Certain Truths for Certain Places There are certain conditions which give the challenge to particular aspects of truth. It is better to keep away from the conditions unless we are armed with the needed message and prepared with a sufficiency of courage to give it. In the citadel of lust one must preach purity; in the stronghold of drunkenness one must preach abstinence; in the den of the thief one must preach honesty, and in the war zones, which, in addition to being the breeding grounds for every other villainy, are supremely the spheres of revenge and hate, we must preach forgiving Jove. All, of course, through Christ. ‘There is no option. Every Christian is on the horns of a merciless dilemma instantly he enters an armed camp. He must be a traitor to the teachings of his Master or he must oppose the brutalizing profession which thrives by the shedding of blood. All his surroundings sum- mon him to make his choice. The tramp of bayoneted men, the gingle of artillery, the clash of drawn sabers, the deep thunder of distant guns—all put the question as through a megaphone into his ear—‘‘Which will you preach to these teeming thousands around you, who on the morrow go to die, deliverance by gunpowder or salvation by grace? Which doctrine will you propound, redemption by the red blood of the foe wiping out insult and injury, or redemption by the shed blood of Christ?” ‘These questions must be answered. The servant of God cannot remain silent, for silence under such conditions is a cowardly traitorship. He finds him- self in the midst of conditions which he detests, which he openly admits are appalling and ghastly. He is there to try and undo something of the damage, but he finds him- self, unless very careful a creature of the very system he loathes. He has only to remain speechless, and his very presence becomes an unspoken acquiescence. He may quickly drift into the position of one who, hating the drink, never- theless helps the brewer to sell his beer. One who, detesting the moral filth of brotheldom, is all the time winking at 178 THE SAINT AND THE SWORD the dealer in white slaves, who, while upholding every- thing that is just and honorable, is none the less profiting by his friendship with boodlers. ‘To a real Christian, such a procedure would be a monstrous hypocrisy. Better far never go into the sectors where the fight is fiercest in the firing lines of the battle between truth and falsity, where the great issues in all their naked reality and relentless logic present themselves for examination and judgment, better never go there than go without the courage to face and answer them in accord with conscience and the Word of God. War Camp “Worship” To shirk these obligations not only brings those who prac- tice such equivocation into disrepute with the soldiers—who are under no illusion about the implication of the Gospel of the Lord Jesus—but imperils all religion as it is exemplified by the Church. This is strikingly illustrated by yet another quotation from Sergeant Empey’s Church-trumpeted book Over the Top. Referring to chaplains and soldier-worship, he explains how that when asked his religion he replied, “Oh, any old thing,’ and being put down Church of England, where for all soldiers worship—like war—is compulsory, he explains how he was forced to go to Church, “with rifle, bayonet and one hundred and twenty rounds of ammunition.’ Nothing could surpass this man’s description for shoaeee exactly the kind of “worship” common to war camps and the mockery it makes of Christ’s teaching while professing to exalt His authority. Sergeant Empey goes on: At the end of this field the chaplain was standing in a limber. We formed a semicircle around him. Overhead there was a black speck circling round and round in the sky. This was a German Fokker. ‘The chaplain had a book in his left hand—left eye on the book—right eye on the aeroplane. We Tommies were lucky, we had no books, so had both eyes on the aeroplane. After church parade we were marched back to our billets and played football all afternoon.” THE SAINT AND THE SWORD kT Here you have the true juxtaposition of affairs. On the one hand the chaplain, professed servant of Christ, reading the Gospel of love from the New Testament and trying to make it square with the armed men before him and the aero- plane above his head—surely a most difficult bit of the- ological maneuvering—and on the other hand the honest Tommies who, having little heart-esteem for those who try to harmonize the sort of business required of soldiers with the example of the Christ of Calvary, are concentrating their attention on aeroplanes, bayonets and the bullets in their bandeliers, having long since come to the conclusion that religion is—“any old thing!’’ Carnal Conversion One more extract in this connection I must quote from a book entitled 4 Student in Arms. Judged by the eulogies secured for this book from min- isters, and considering its enormous sale, chiefly among pro- fessing Christians, it may be regarded as a correct expres- sion of the views of the majority of the Churches. It is also a complete exemplification of the kind of gospel adaptable to war. After careful search through its pages, I cannot find one single reference to that definite work of conversion by faith in Christ’s atoning blood which Jesus Himself, with every Apostle who followed Him, insisted upon as the paramount condition of salvation. ‘The entire production is a clever treatise which, while altogether ignoring the ‘‘exceeding sin- fulness” of the human heart, attempts to prove that men who, under the ordinary circumstances of life, have mani- fested every outward sign of godlessness, are suddenly de- veloped, “evolved,” by the extraordinary occurrences of war, into true Christians without even being conscious of the fact, and without experiencing any work of regeneration at all. By a brilliant casuistry, most solemn texts in the New Testament are made to imply the opposite of their true 180 THE SAINT AND THE SWORD meaning. Purely natural traits of character, like gener- osity, comradeship, carnal bravery, sympathy for suffering pals, are classed with the “fruits of the Spirit,” which we are asked to believe are suddenly evolved, without that oper- ation of the Holy Ghost which alone can make spiritually alive. This book, under cover of a protested loyalty to Christ’s “Jargeness of heart”? and His unsympathetic attitude to a lifeless ritualism, constitutes a brilliant sneer at those funda- mental doctrines which Christ Himself emphasized and which His Spirit-filled followers confirmed concerning the condition of man “dead in trespasses and sins,’ needing, before all, to be “born again,” not by any change in his circumstances, but “from above” by the power of God. Take the following as a specimen of this mistaken salva- tion by the fury of war rather than by the love of Calvary. The author, speaking of a certain class of generous-hearted sinners, makes the fatal mistake of minimizing the state of “Jost”? souls because they are not yet “damned.” He em- phasises greatly this distinction. But the Lord Himself smashed all that theory to pieces when He said to Nico- demas: ‘He that believeth not is condemned already, be- cause he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.” Then the wrong doings of these “lost” ones are described in such a way as, either to excuse them, or to convert them almost into virtues by comparing them with the wrong-doing of other more respectable people who, in God’s sight, are, of course, equally “lost.” Then we read: “Once more the Lord has walked our streets. Once more He has called to the lost sheep to follow the Good Shepherd along the thorny path of suffering and death. As of old, He has de- manded of them their all. And as of old He has not called in vain.” Here the Lord Jesus is made to figure as the recruiting sergeant or the conscription officer; beckoning, not along the “thorny path” which leads to the meek and unresisting THE SAINT AND THE SWORD 181 death of the Cross, but to the place where every effort is to be made, by every conceivable engine of destruction, to in- flict, with a minimum of risk to one’s self, the most fright- ful “suffering,” perchance death, upon others. Jesus is pic- tured asking men to give “their all,”’ not as He gave His all, brought ‘“‘as a lamb to the slaughter’”’—“a sheep before her shearers—dumb,” but as means which, to their utmost ca- pacity, are to be used in shrieking and smiting vengeance. Regeneration by Slaughter These false premises having been set up, the reckless, daring abandon of profligates and spendthrifts, which in their citizen experiences, made them “drunken” and “loose,” is converted into the consecrated heroism of Christ’s followers who count not the cost. But “lost,” “carnal minds” can know nothing of the heroism which is esteemed of God. After this we reach the grand climax in which this book describes how, when these “lost” ones are at last “sot out” to the fighting zone, they evolve a kind of counter- feit salvation by means of the bloody scramble of the trenches. We read: “Then at last we ‘got out. We were confronted with dearth, danger and death. And then they came to their own. We could no longer compete with them. We stolid, respectable folk were not in our element. We knew it. We felt it. We were deter- mined to go through with it. We succeeded; but it was not with- out much internal wrestling, much self-conscious effort. Yet they, who had formerly been our despair, were now our glory. Their spirits effervesced. Their wit sparkled. Hunger and thirst could not depress them. Rain could not damp them. Cold could not chill them. Every hardship became a joke. They did not endure hardship, they derided it. And somehow it seemed at the moment as if derision was all that hardship existed for! Never was such a triumph of spirit over matter. As for death, it was, in a way, the greatest joke of all. In a way, for if it was another fellow that was hit it was an occasion for tenderness and grief. But if one of them was hit, ‘O Death, where is thy sting?’ ‘O Grave, where is thy victory?’ Portentous, solemn Death, you looked a fool when you tackled one of them! Life? They did not value life! They had never been able to make much of a fist of it. But if they lived amiss they died gloriously, with a smile for the pain and the dread of it... . One by one Death challenged them. One by * 182 THE SAINT AND THE SWORD one they smiled in his grim visage, and refused to be dismayed. They had been lost, but they had found the path that led them home; and when at last they laid their lives at the feet of the Good Shepherd, what could they do but smile?” But all this is the kind of bravery which two stags will manifest when fighting for a mate. It is the self-forgetful- ness of a lioness protecting her whelps, the suffering of a starving mother-bird giving the worm to her little ones. “O Death, where is thy sting??? What a parody is here on those immortal words! ‘The sting of death is not the lack of carnal bravado in facing death while killing others, no! The “sting of death is sin,” and the only remedy for sin is to turn from it—not excepting those more glaring forms of it which Christ in His strongest utterances forbids—and to rely in simple faith upon the finished work of the Cross, remem- bering the words of the Lord Jesus Himself, ‘““He that be- lieveth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned.” The Modern Goliath The giant who has been stalking through the shambles of Europe, the giant who, speaking with the roaring voice of cannon and the snarl of machine-guns, has been defying the Church of the living Christ, is the Goliath of militarism. While I do not for a moment underestimate the service, splen- did from the standpoint of this age, which has been rendered. by many of the Davids of our time, I cannot refrain from say- ing that it seems to me they have been more concerned with the machinery which deals out the “corn” the “loaves” and the “‘cheeses” for their “brethren” in the “camp,”? than they have about the audacious challenge to the Gospel of love with which this modern Goliath is mocking Christianity before an unbelieving world. Hence, the Church of God, as represented within the battle-area of Europe, in face of the material armories of nine nations, was not, so far as I could discover, able to produce, amid all the exhaustless 1Mark 16:16. *See 1 Sam, 17:17, 18. THE SAINT AND THE SWORD 183 stream of her spiritual ammunition, a single pebble of appropriate truth—nor had she among all her theological hosts within the field of military operations a solitary hero to hurl that needed pebble at the head of this war- monster whose bloody clutch was strangling the world. One thing, however, I constantly observed—the men who seemed to have gotten into David’s place of authority among the Lord’s people were busily and nervously searching for theoretical ‘‘pebbles” in defense of this horrible abomina- tion. ‘They searched with results which, both as regards their missles and the slinging of them, were painful to behold! The Christian’s Mission to the Wounded “Then,” do you say, “are we of the Church of Christ to leave the wounded and the dying to perish without our care? Are we to close our eyes to the wonderful opportunity afforded for reaching men, by these crowded camps and prison grounds, where tens of thousands, whose hearts are made receptive to spiritual truths, are ready to hear us?” No, I reply. We are to go to the wounded and the dying with the GOSPEL. We are not to allow the application of anesthetics or bandages or the administration of medicine to take the place of the ministering of the word of life. From the Christian standpoint, a soldier is little bettered because he dies as the subject of up-to-date surgical treatment if he goes to meet God with blood on his conscience and a spirit unprepared by faith in Christ’s atoning work. And yet I am afraid doctors and nurses who mixed such a mes- sage as this with their soothing words would not be welcome in the wards of military hospitals. Meetings held among fighting men are of little worth in the estimation of God, unless they are occasions for preaching the truth as it is in Jesus. Let, therefore, the Christian worker or the “chaplain” go and preach that truth by all means, and he will see how long his ministry will be tol- 184 THE SAINT AND THE SWORD erated. He will soon discover what sort of an “‘opportunity”’ is here for the REAL GOSPEL OF CHRIST. Unless I am greatly mistaken, his services will be quickly dispensed with, his “huts” abandoned, his “social” operations trans- ferred to others who, without his unpleasant and obstructive Gospel, will be only too glad to rush in with the “loaves and the fishes” and get the cheap “glory” this sensuous world is ever willing to give to those who administer the bread that perishes while ignoring the Bread of Life. Gunpowder Preachers If ever there was a palpable ‘“‘misfit” as regards men and their environment that maladjustment is exemplified in the official position of a “chaplain of the military forces.” That these officers are often brave men, sometimes risking their lives to help others; that they frequently show a true devo- tion to the moral interests of the soldiers over whose “spiri- tual” charge they preside; that they are often brotherly, sympathetic, companionable; that they are sometimes even helpful in keeping alive a “religious sentiment” among the troops which is conducive to discipline and “‘patriotic” loy- alty—all this must be freely admitted. But that they are in any sense correct mouthpieces of the message or true rep- resentatives of the method of Christ, is most certainly denied by the very fact that they remain where they are. More easily could oil mix with water, or light and darkness dwell together, than can the messenger of PEACE and GOOD- WILL, as set forth in the Gospel of the Lord Jesus, dwell in the tents of armed men. Fidelity, under such conditions, would inevitably spell immediate expulsion. It is a serious and strenuous thing to say. It is a very unpleasant thing to say, but the time has come to say it. If a chaplain would be a true “servant of the Lord,” “‘he must not strive but be gen- tle to all men, apt to teach, patient, . . . in meekness instruct- ing.” Like his Master, he is to be “meek and lowly in heart.”? He is to be one in whom “Jesus Christ might show 12 Tim. 2:25. *Matt. 11:29. THE SAINT AND THE SWORD 185 forth all long suffering.”’1 If he is to be a faithful ambas- sador of the blessed Saviour in the midst of his regiment, he must exhort the captains, lieutenants, non-commissioned offi- cers and men as they go into action to walk worthy of their vocation “as good soldiers of Jesus Christ,” “with all low- liness and meekness, with long suffering, forbearing one another in love.”? ‘To remember that ‘“‘he that saith he is in the light and hateth his brother, is in darkness even until now,’ to follow their Divine Commander and coming King, Who left them ‘“‘an example that they should follow in His steps. ... Who when He was reviled, reviled not again; when He suffered He threatened not.”* Where, I won- der, in the estimation of the commander-in-chief of an active army, would a worthy chaplain stand should he insist on en- forcing such conduct upon a regiment? ‘The one thing above all others obnoxious to a soldier girdled with horrible explosives and panoplied with steel is this talk about “‘meek- ness,’ “long suffering,” “lowliness” and ‘“‘reviling not again.” He will have none of it. It is foreign to every tenet he has been taught in the military academy, the bar- racks and the drill-ground. ‘The sentiment of modern armies is more exactly expressed in the now standardized bat- tle-cry, “Over the top and give them HELL!” Opportunity for Shirking Truth Concerning, then, the “opportunities” afforded the Chris- tian by war to extend the Kingdom of God, I say by all means let the servants of Christ seize such chances where they can, but let them be sure to tell their hearers that the “Kingdom of Christ’? can never be extended among murderers; that be- fore God will hear the prayers of those who come to their “penitent forms’ they must be reconciled to their brothers in the trenches of the enemy—‘First be reconciled to thy brother.”> Let them preach the doctrine “thou shalt do no SeUemer tone pn, 4:2. *t: John aig. 41 Pet. 2:21,' 23. *Matt: 5:22. 186 THE SAINT AND THE SWORD murder,” which is just as binding as any other of the com- mandments, and though they will get summary notice to quit, and lose the favor of an ungodly world with its apostate Church, they will get the “well done” of all heaven. Though they will doubtless forfeit the cash which so readily comes from those who are willing enough to have New Testaments distributed in the trenches among the “brave boys,” so long as they are mixed with grenades, cartridges, cigarettes, tobacco and beer (cash, by the way, which is often a bribe to a troubled national conscience), they will lay up for themselves wealth in the treasuries of the Glory Land. As to the oppor- tunity, it is well to remember that opportunities to shirk the truth are not opportunities to preach the Gospel. But never fear! Opportunities will come soon and abundantly enough elsewhere. ‘They always come with the ghastly reaction of war, and when they come these faithful ones will be ready to embrace them because they will be agents which the Holy Ghost can use and whose honesty, integrity and courage the people will have learned to respect.* *For further observations on the Christian’s duty to the wounded in battle sce “How Militarism Murders Christ” by the same author. V. AGAIN, WAR IS IMMORAL BECAUSE IT CONDEMNS ITSELF The contradictions of the military vocation are amazing! Unpardonable sins, punishable by death within the camps of one’s own nation, are, from the viewpoint of the enemy's headquarters, reckoned deeds of the highest honor. Lying, cheating, stealing, killing, if practiced against the enemy, are “feats of skill,” sometimes calling for ‘special mention” in dispatches and not infrequently winning decorations for “extraordinary valor; but let exactly the same things be done in the interests of the foe, and no words are bitter enough to describe the horror with which they are regarded. Thus on one side, what is termed “skilful and daring scouting”’ or “‘first-class intelligence work” is described on the other as “mean traitorous spying.” On one side such conduct earns a medal, on the other it is treated with a “drum-head court martial” and a dozen bullets from a firing squad. Shooting a fellow-soldier in a drunken brawl is a matter so serious as to require a judicial inquiry and a solemn death penalty, while cutting the throats of fifty fellows on the other side of yonder ditch is an achievement for hurrahs and drinks all round. In one country we find monuments erected to the memory of a warrior who in the country across the frontier is re- garded as the bloodiest tyrant who ever drew a sword. Ministers of the Gospel of Hate At St. Paul’s Cathedral in London one sees a bishop con- secrating a regiment of fusiliers to the conflict in a “holy war” and invoking the blessing of the Almighty upon their valorous intention to slay the “abominable Huns.” In the 187 188 THE SAINT AND THE SWORD stately Lutheran churches of Berlin the reverend ministers assemble with the Synods to pray over Potsdam Guards, that divine might may rest upon their arms in annihilating the audacious foe of the Fatherland—even the arrogant English- men. Chaplains try to stand at the same moment for the blood which, at the impulse of love, flowed from the Saviour’s side and for the blood which, at the impulse of hate, is drawn from the enemies’ wounds. “They appear on Sundays in drum-head pulpits and, on one side, praise the Lord for “the severe chastisement inflicted on our enemies,” etc., while on the other side, when surveying in the hospitals the havoc of this “chastisement,” they invoke the same Christ to come and heal the wounds of His afflicted “warriors” and speedily avenge His “‘elect.”’ And so the astounding incongruities continue. Lie chal- lenges lie and falsity confronts deceit until even the veracity of the blessed Saviour is itself involved. Christ is made to appear a double-dealing deity leading His creatures to tor- ment by acts of superhuman deception that would out rival the very Devil himself. ‘The eternally just and holy Jehovah is brought, by these gun-loving, state-serving, Bible-juggling war advocates, to a lower level than that of the organizer of a prize-ring; the instigator of a Lancashire dog-fight or the supervisor of a Yorkshire cock-pit, where savage beasts and birds are egged on to spill each other’s blood for the pleasure of the beholder. Let chaplains pray as they will, they may rest assured it is not the God of love who inspires the pas- sions of bloody men in opposing armies by giving His bless- ing to BOTH sides in order that He may be pleasantly excited by their death struggles. It is WAR that thus libels the Almighty and so condemns itself. War is therefore immoral. VI. AGAIN, WAR IS IMMORAL BECAUSE IT APPEALS TO HATRED AND REVENGE If you would correctly judge the causes that beget it, the atmosphere in which it generates, the nourishment upon which it thrives, go to the newspapers and read the kind of “dope” which crowds their columns when there is the slight- est opportunity of inciting to a national quarrel, or when a declaration of war is about to be made. It is mental poison. Irritating, inflaming, maddening, enraging POISON. It is as though unseen legions of lying and infuriating spirits had suddenly swooped down upon all the sources of informa- tion, the avenues of intelligence, the centers of instruction, and had inoculated them with the virus of a vicious dis- temper. ‘That prince of modern journalists, the late W. T. Stead, spoke for most newspaper editors of the world as regards their relation to war when he said: “Of all the energetic children of the Devil the London pressman, like the journalists of Paris, when the cannon-thunder is in the air, is about the worst.” Jingo Journalism Study the wars of recent times and you will find that, preceding their commencement, the press of the countries concerned assumes the diabolical duty of spreading misunder- standing, jealousy, racial bitterness, envy and hate. Every selfish interest, both political and commercial, individual and national, concerning which it is possible to foster a fight, is appealed to. Political parties whose policies have been bitterly attacked are eagerly supported immediately blood- shed becomes a plank in their platforms. Statesmen hitherto held up for criticism and ridicule are converted at once into heroes when they propose to unsheathe the sword. ‘The 189 190 THE SAINT AND THE SWORD opposing government, with the ways of the offending peo- ple which it represents, is subjected to the wildest mis- representation. ‘The vilest reports, cleverly worded so as to give them all the support of circumstantial evidence, col- ored with all the art of the word painter, are served up for every-day consumption. The artist’s provocative sarcasm of caricature is made to do its best by ludicrous cartoons which present the dignataries, soldiers and common people of the enemy’s land in all conceivable attitudes and episodes of dis- figurement and silliness. | All this idiotic admixture of falsehood, fable and foolery, five years after the war is over, is thrown on the junk heap of literary fla-fla and imbecility, while decent people won- der how it was they could be so hoodwinked by fabulously rewarded proprietors and handsomely paid editors; or how they could be so befooled by a lot of shallow-brained, bleary- eyed, tobacco-smoked, whiskey-soaked young upstarts, who run about filling note-books with opinions they’re told long before to express and call themselves “The Press.” War Slogans and Vengeance How often, too, has some slogan, the creation of injured pride, become the battle-cry by which the warring battalions have been gathered together. How strange such appeals should sound in the ears of Christians, whose hearts are supposed to be full of a loving spirit of forgiveness. “The Day’—‘“Remember the Maine’”—“Avenge Majuba Hill!” —‘“Revenge for 1870”—this is the kind of thing that inspires and encourages war. Nor is the offspring any better than its parentage. If you get a lot of men together for the purpose of avenging something or for avenging some one you are as- sembling an army of “vengeance.” And what has a Chris- tian to do with vengeance? ‘Vengeance is mine!” Mine, not yours, “Saith the Lord I will repay.” The Christian has absolutely nothing to do with vengeance. Only one people were ever justified by God in executing vengeance =" ~ THE SAINT AND THE SWORD 191 upon others. ‘Those people comprised God’s earthly nation, the Jewish nation. “True, God has permitted other nations to execute judgments sometimes even upon His own rebel- lious people. But it was not His purpose. These “judg- ments” were the logical and essential results of their wrong- doing. He simply withdrew His protecting hand because the wickedness of those He loved made it inevitable that He should do so, and the deluge of violence everywhere around, long waiting to break through His resistance and swallow them up, was allowed to overwhelm them. God permits lots of things He never ordains. ‘That is to say, He does not always step in to prevent the Devil doing his destructive work. This is because the conditions which guarantee His interference are not complied with. His hands are tied by non-compliance with His eternal laws. Where there is disobedience and unbelief the Devil has right- of-way. But only one nation, I say, again has ever been di- rectly commissioned AS A PEOPLE OF GOD, to act as God’s executive for administering vengeance or punishment by the sword upon other nations. “That was Israel, over whose destinies and battles, as has already been shown, He Himself presided. For a Christian to march off with an army to “avenge” something is to place himself with a god- less mob which is moving in exactly the opposite direction to that taken by his Saviour when He went to die on the cross rather than resist His persecutors. When the scepter departed from Israel and the Church _ took her place, revenge for the Christian was deferred till the “day of vengeance,” “when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven in flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel.’ Again and again the Bible refers to ‘“‘the vengeance of the LORD”—“The vengeance of His temple’—“To me be- longeth vengeance and recompense.’”? ‘“O Lord God, to whom vengeance belongeth.”* The Christian’s attitude in 12 Thess. 1:8. *Deut. 32: 35. °Psa. 94:1. 192 THE SAINT AND THE SWORD this matter is unmistakably set forth in the words of Paul: “Dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves; but rather give place unto wrath, for it is written, vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord.’ Appetite and Character If you will tell me what an animal feeds on I will make a pretty good guess what sort of a beast or bird it is. I know that timothy-grass and hemp-seed feed the sheep and the canary, and I know also that a stinking rotten carcass feeds the wolf and the vulture. If you will let me see where an insect alights or the nature of the thing to which it crawls, I will know pretty well the nature of that insect. How do I know the difference between a horse-fly and a butterfly? I find the butterfly sucking the nectar from the flowers, but the horse-fly will be sucking the poison from a> festering sore. War feeds on the carrion of, the utterly cor- rupt and “‘desperately wicked” heart of unregenerate man— that “cage of unclean birds’”—hence war is a dirty business. It is the avocation of a man in his nearest approach to the snarling, biting beast. Man given over to his “lust” and his “desire to have’—‘‘from whence come wars and fight- ing.”? “Out of the heart of men proceed . . . murders.’”® Devilish Dynamics And not only is war inspired by hate but it is executed in hate. I defy any military officer in the world to contradict me when I say that war can only be carried into effect by men whose very souls are aflame with angry animosity. When the moment for action comes the dynamics of bestial passion, frantic rage, frenzied terror, are just as essential to victory as nitro-glycerine and gunpowder are. ‘The men, just as much as the guns, have to be primed. ‘The guns with gun-cotton, the men with bitterness, revenge and ferocity. Sometimes this “priming” is aided by artfully ad- 1Rom, 12:19. *James 4:1, 2. %Mark 7:21, THE SAINT AND THE SWORD 193 ministered “dope.” Judging by the descriptions of those who have passed through the experience, nothing could more nearly resemble the horrors of the bottomless abyss than the whirlwind of fury, the storm of oaths, the tempest of curses, the shrieks for murder, the hideous yelpings, hoot- ings and whoopings which rend the night air when great masses of men rush upon each other with the bayonet. It is a hell so odious that, rather than enter it, any true Chris- tian should enthusiastically welcome the death of a martyr. Should any one doubt my words just put yourself in the position of a man about to plunge a sword or a bayonet deliberately through the lungs or into the bowels of his fel- low-man. I appeal to you at least who know something of the gracious influences of the Holy Spirit and of the Chris- tian religion in your hearts. Aye, I appeal to those cultured bishops and ministers whose tenderness of heart would not allow them to hurt a kitten—and yet who have been so busy putting the bayonet into the hands of the young men of their congregations—I address them also when I ask you this question: Is it not absolutely the truth to say that YOU could never bring yourselves to press that cold steel through the raw flesh of a human being unless you were worked up into such a passion as would render you either the blind, maddened slave of devilish hate, or the subject of ter- rorizing fear? Impossible! A Bayonet Charge! As further confirmation of my assertion that rage is essen- tial to war, let me read to you the following account of a bayonet charge in France as described by Charles Tardieu, in the Paris Figaro, and translated for the Philadelphia Ledger. Since this report passed the scrutinizing eye of the censor, it is doubtless only a modified representation of the more ghastly horrors which were constantly happening, but which were carefully screened from the public eye. The poetry is the translation of a phrase the French soldiers use 194 THE SAINT AND THE SWORD in describing the notes and “cadence” of the trumpet-call, Ss “Charge with the bayonet !’’— “I know what my neighbors are thinking, but an obstinate ques- tion is in my mind. Dare I plunge my bayonet into the body of a man, even up to the hilt? That square blade which pierces the flesh—a spurt of red, the frightful grimace of a man trans- paerced Vi.5)5.". “Beneath a tempest of iron with teeth clinched and breast throb- bing we hurl ourselves forward. The ranks thin out. The men slip down as if they stumbled over a tree root, but none utters a cry or raises himself. ‘The wounded fall to the earth without moving. I recognize only two or three faces about me, but my sharpshooter is always there. He has put his rifle in his bandolier and his right hand grips his shears firmly. ‘The last rush has carried us nearly to the clearing. Scarcely fifty meters separate us from the enemy’s trenches, from which the storm of iron is pouring. “How can we contain ourselves? The seconds seem like hours. We are exasperated, maddened with the desire to fire, to strike, to finish it. “Suddenly we tremble from head to foot. With a magnificent - discord which even brings a smile to our lips, a trumpet sounds the charge. Then a formidable cry, ‘Forward! With the bayonets!’ repeated from a thousand throats as if mad while the metallic notes pierce the heart and rush us on irresistibly—The bugle speaks—— ‘There is a drop to drink above! There is a drop to drink!’ “Howling like demons no object can check us. Who fails? No one knows! ‘There is a drop to drink above!’ “Fallen trees woven together, invisible holes that make us tumble, wires which entangle us, these are not enough to check our onward rush. . ‘There is a drop to drink . men hurl themselves forward. A corporal gets there first and beats the sub-officer down on his own machine-gun. The other ‘Coffee Mills’ are seized, too. But the trumpet is not still. It sounds. “ e . ‘There is a drop to drink above!’ “The Westphalians defend themselves courageously. A formid- able sergeant of marines, with a gesture quick as thought, plants his bayonet in the breast of a big devil, who falls vomiting red blood. The blade has penetrated so far that in trying to pull it out it is twisted into uselessness. Then there is a horrible melée in which the dripping bayonets are plunged into bodies, where clubbed rifles beat upon heads where men, each intent on his own task, are hurled together, breath to breath, a tangled, biting THE SAINT AND THE SWORD 195 strangling, kicking mass, from which come oaths and prayers, groanings and death-rattles. “Two men throw themselves upon each other with so much fury that their blades disappear in their bellies even to the hilt. They fall side by side with the death-sob in their throats. One of the Westphalian officers, still on his feet, hurls himself from the wires, but, in his turn, he makes a false step and falls upon his adversary. The two men struggle silently, when suddenly the soldier, disengaging himself, seizes the officer’s sword and pins him to the earth. “. , . The few remaining Prussians throw themselves on their knees. ‘Comrades!’ they cried, but the fury of carnage was on and the bayonets and rifles did their terrible work butchering the last with awful groans.” I ask you to let these gory facts impress themselves upon your minds. ‘This is the glorified “spirit of war” which is being trumpeted to the skies by our newspapers and justified by so many pulpits all around us today. This is the real thing. Not the painted, gilded, fabled, faked, ‘“‘dolled-up”’ thing, about which state-ridden preachers wax eloquent when they tell their audiences of the “heroism, self-sacrifice and undying devotion of those who go to serve their fatherland or their king.” Christian mother, I ask you to consider that this is the demoniacal affray into which war introduces your son and to remember that such infernal butchery would be impossible to him unless his very soul were first imbued with a spirit the opposite to every moral and Christian quality you have sought to instill into him. The Ethics of Cat and Dog Fights There isn’t much Christian devotion in a dog-fight! And I for one will dare to say that the scene depicted by this reporter is far worse than a dog-fight, just as much worse as man and his powers of mind and heart are greater than a terrier or panther. No wild animal could ever hate as men can hate. No lion or tiger can inflict such wounds as men inflict upon each other, which involve a lingering anguish before unconsciousness or death. God has seen to that. The claws and fangs of beasts when compared with the death instruments of man are implements of mercy, 196 THE SAINT AND THE SWORD they suspend the terror and agony of slaughter. The rifle and the bayonet are constructed, aimed and thrust by a diabolical incentive of which even the serpent and the hyena are not capable. Yes, war is immoral because it is inspired by envy or injured pride, it feeds on vengeance and it is executed by the incentive of passion and hate. VII. AGAIN, WAR IS IMMORAL BECAUSE IT FORCES THOSE TO FIGHT WHO HAVE NO REAL QUARREL It not only punishes the wrong man, but it punishes him for a purely imaginary offense. Ninety per cent. of the soldiers who do the fighting have the vaguest possible idea of what it is all about. If you were to call on them in- dividually to explain the root causes, which are the real causes of the strife to defend the justice of their contentions, they would not be able to give you any intelligent explana- tion. They know that every day they or their comrades are killing their fellow-men, but for the life of them they can- not give any better reason for doing so than the impression they have that their country is in danger and they are called to defend it. Comrades Who Kill Each Other Why it is in danger nine out of ten of them don’t know. They have as a rule an utterly mistaken idea of the char- acter of those who they go to fight. ‘They have been filled up with wicked, false, stupid notions about “the enemy” who, in ridiculous newspaper articles, by fire-brand poli-: ticians and, not infrequently by Church dignitaries, have been described as audacious scoundrels out for plunder or to ruin their fatherland. ‘They have been dubbed with degrading designations, such as ‘“‘savage Huns” or “bloody Britishers,” as the Boers called the red-jacketed Englishman. All this is the wildest nonsense. ‘These men who are killing each other are in very fact the best of friends. When in the last extremity they get heart to heart and death, staring them in the face, tears away all this tissue of lies, they cry “Comrades!” and that is exactly what they are. I am not at this moment speaking of the Christians among 197 198 THE SAINT AND THE SWORD them. From a purely worldly standpoint I repeat they are, in reality, good friends. ‘That makes it all the more criminal, from a Christian viewpoint, that they should kill each other. They have every reason to respect and to guard their common interests, for they have interests in common. They are, as a matter of fact, quite indispensable to one another’s welfare. Every day of their lives they have paid. each other the compliment of expending hard-earned cash for the things they each contribute to the other’s usefulness or comfort. ‘They profit by each other’s handiwork. ‘These opposing soldiers, who spring to cut each other’s throats, have for a long while been wearing the garments their “enemies” have woven, or the hats and boots they shaped. The pictures, ornaments, trinkets which so enrapture their wives and daughters—all these were produced by the fingers of those skilled and horny-handed sons of toil who are now set in long opposing rows, to blow each other’s brains out. War-makers Who Never Fight ‘These are not the men who make the quarrels, nor those who reap any of the advantages. “The diplomats—whose political schemes, whose bids for glory, whose love of power, so often invite these deluges of blood and tears—they are never those who do the fighting or suffer the loss. ‘The princes of commerce and finance, the holders of fat stocks in great international munition plants, who pile up more millions by the innumerable bodies they break and bury with their damnable trade—these are not the gentlemen who pull up their homes by the roots, kiss their wives and chil- dren a last good-by, and go to wallow in mud and blood. If the favored few who consider themselves the only parties capable of guiding their nation’s destinies would step into the battle lines and fight out the quarrels their policies in- volve—if the age of military service was fixed between forty-five and sixty-five, instead of eighteen and thirty-five, there would very quickly be an end of war. Kings, princes, THE SAINT AND THE SWORD 199 dukes, prime-ministers, chancellors, how so ever clever they may be at political intrigue, at parliamentary oratory, are not conspicuous personalities in the zones of fire, but they are predominantly in evidence among those who have every- thing to gain by the game of war. The toiling multitudes who are sent to kill each other have no particular interest in national quarrels which center in such enterprises as the German railway from Berlin to Bagdad or the long coveted all British line from Cairo to the Cape. The realization of such schemes are certainly not going to increase the products of their tiny cabbage-plots or add to the scanty wages which flow into their pockets. And most decidedly such schemes can never justify Christians in going to war with each other. From the Christian stand- point, what iniquity could be more monstrous than to incite great masses of men to kill each other for a national policy which, even were it realized, could never begin to compen- sate for the loss of only one eternal spirit. VIII. AGAIN, WAR IS IMMORAL BECAUSE IT DEMORALIZES THOSE WHO ARE ENGAGED IN IT When I say demoralization, I don’t mean to imply a necessary lapse from those outward and frequently very artificial qualifications, regarded as the essentials of “cul- ture,’ im. what is called ‘decent society.” Morality is not an excellency of speech; good manners, refined and artistic tastes, decorated jackets, well-cut trousers, stylish hats, eve- ning dress (or un-dress)—morality does not consist in these things. Such customs are, as a matter of fact, sometimes coverings for the worst kind of immorality. To be a robber. one does not need to expose the gains of robbery. To prosper by dishonor while concealing dishonesty is the aim of every clever thief. It is not the clumsy, slow-witted, undisciplined, self-indulgent criminal—the criminal whose rude and selfish ways every one recognizes as the habits of a low-down man—he is not the most guilty or the most dan- gerous. It is the thief disguised as the gentle-mannered, considerate, immaculate, sometimes even apparently religious gentleman, who is the expert at embezzlement and forgery. Besides, in God’s sight, one may be a thief who never yet dared to steal in such a way as to reflect upon his much boasted “honor.” One may be an adulterer in “his heart” who has never yet committed the deed only because the things that went with his false reputation were more neces- sary to him than the gratification of his appetite. Decorated Immorality When, then, I say that war demoralizes, I do not mean that it degrades all its participants in the sense that it makes ill-mannered brutes or disgusting bullies of every one alike. 200 THE SAINT AND THE SWORD 201 It cannot be denied that with the larger multitude it does act in that way. But there are many it influences for evil in another manner. I am not quite sure which are most to be pitied or which exhibit the greatest moral catastrophe. If it is essential that men should engage in the pursuit of murder, I am not certain whether, after all, it would not be best that they should carry the more objectionable brands of that bloody business. For a “dear devoted Christian brother,” just because he is called a soldier, to be able to come up from a welter of blood in the trenches where, be- fore God he has both unlawfully risked his own life and taken the lives of others, and complacently justify it all as the “sad necessity of war’ evidences, surely, a lower sense of moral rectitude than that so often manifested by the criminal murderer who, haunted, with the blood of his vic- tim, sees him in his dreams and suffers the pangs of outraged conscience. It shows how woefully the Christian conscience has been made to accommodate itself to the standards of falsely called “Christian” nations, and how an apostate Church, in order to curry favor with these godless states, has brought itself to acquiesce in a code of morals which is completely at variance with itself. Because, for example, some poor ill-cultured wretch, to extricate himself from distress, has poisoned his neighbor to get his insurance money, these states will pounce upon him with all the terror of the law and hang him as a foul assassin; but when those same states, in order to “protect some inter- est,’ extend some “imperial policy,” avenge some insult to their citizens, or steal some native nation’s territory before some other government can grab it—when to do these things they send out armies to be killed, and to kill other men like cattle, that kind of murder is counted the most worthy sort of “valor.” The surviving heroes are marched home, not as manacled assassins, but through crowded and decorated streets to banquets, where the rotting carcasses of their buried brothers of the trenches are forgotten, and where 202 THE SAINT AND THE SWORD the echoes of their groans are drowned by the flattery of admiring women and the effervescent oratory of wily diplo- mats. Ecclesiasticism and Criminality Worst of all, bishops, ministers of the Gosepl, church- men of high repute, with surpliced choirs chanting farcical praise to God for victories which no one has ever given Him an honest chance to achieve, which really belong not to Him, but to barbarous instruments in the hands of frantic men; all this imposing ecclesiasticism is brought down in the endeavor to set the seal of the Almighty’s approval on deeds which He abhors and the shame of which cause the angels to cover their faces. Looking back over history and surveying the rivers of blood spilt for causes which, in their time were vigorously advocated by the Church but which to- day no one would defend, one feels like saying that the schem- ing scoundrel who deliberately plans the murder of his wife, buries her in quicklime in the cellar, and then sits in the par- lor above complacently enjoying the comforts obtained by her money, has not sunk much lower in the moral order than the professed Church which can, on so huge a scale, break the Sixth Commandment and worry so little about it. This is doubtless severe judgment. But I speak as a Christian to Christians. These are the most solemn mo- ments in the world’s history. “Times when straight words are needed, startling and, if you will, cutting, biting words, likely to awake slumbering consciences and to send the Lord’s people to their Bibles and to their knees. The Prejudice of Personal Interest That many of us have loved ones connected with armies and navies must not blind us to the TRUTH. Here is the danger. We are prone to regard this war question, like so many others, from the viewpoint of personal inter- est—regard for friendship or family affection, We think of those we know and love who have been, or are, soldiers. THE SAINT AND THE SWORD 203 We recall the deeds of our kindred on the battle-fields of the world. We remember the graves of our antecedents who fought to bring us liberty. We reflect on those—very few, it must be admitted, but nevertheless some—who read their Bibles before they went into battle, and of certain generals who, we are told, laid their plans of campaign be- fore the Lord. All this inclines us to regard wounding and killing, with all the attendent horrors of war, as a kind of “privileged” manslaughter. But we must remember two things. During the last fifty years, while there have been wars which concerned par- ticular nations and which have, without doubt, stirred the. consciences of God’s people, there has never been a war like the recent world conflict. That colossal struggle brought the subject before the Church throughout the whole world at the same hour with a challenge which can no longer be evaded. The forces of militarism are closing in upon us and we have got to declare our attitude. Those we love and respect in the armies of the world have grown up in these times of peace and have never till now been face to face as they are today with the real thing in all its ghastly awfulness. Church and State In the second place, we must remember that war has in the past been sanctioned by Christians, because they have had little light or sound instruction on this matter. It re- flects eternal disgrace upon the leaders of Christendom that this should have been so, but it is the fact. It is only natural that false teaching through the long night of the dark ages, by an utterly corrupted hierarchy, concerning the alliance of Church and State—the propagation of the Gospel by the sword—should cling to professing Christians today. But as the end of this age approaches God has wonderfully re-opened the Bible to His true people, and light on this, as on other fearfully neglected truths, has been sweeping _ 204 THE SAINT AND THE SWORD through the world. ‘Those of us who see it must not, on peril of our souls, shrink from letting it shine. As I have said elsewhere: “For the follower of Christ, and let it be well observed we are speaking only to him, bloodshedding in the twentieth century is surely a more serious proposition than it has been in any preced- ing age. While even today there is an appaling lack of proper teaching on this subject, so that most Christians have been brought to believe that ‘God and Country’ are almost synonomous terms, and that to fight, therefore, for one’s country, even though it might be in the wrong, was commendable to God, yet many things have transpired during the last half century to awaken the true fol- lower of Christ to the real character of war. ‘The remarkable advance in Bible study, by which multitudes have been led to understand the vital importance of the dispensational teachings of the Scriptures, has accomplished wonders in this direction.” There is, therefore, every reason for great care in judging those who have not had the privilege of this teaching. As regards thousands of Christians in the armies of Europe, the red carnage of the late war and the antagonism of the spirit of battle to the spirit and example of the Saviour has brought them to see what so many of their leaders have so miserably failed to show them. But all this never alters the fact that, though it may be unconsciously, war has had and is having a demoralizing effect on even sincere Christians. How many a bright young follower of Christ has fallen before the temptations of the barrack-room, or suffered complete extinction of spiritual life through the stifling antichristian atmosphere which pervades the trenches. It is sad but it is true, AWFULLY TRUE. War’s Fatal Reaction As for the effects of war on the average soldier, the fol- lowing tragic words of Baron D’Estournelles de Constant, written in a French publication entitled La Paix par le Droit, gives some idea: “I daily see soldiers coming home on leave from the front; they talk to me without restraint or affectation. ... Those who return after a year’s warfare do not boast or complain. They THE SAINT AND THE SWORD 205 leave again with less emotion than they showed when leaving for the first time. They know where they are going ... I can- not tell you with what grief I watch this sinister education of men coming back transformed. I will not say that they have actually become wicked; but it is something much worse; they have grown accustomed to do evil unconsciously, to give the lie to all their lives, all that they believed, all that they desired hitherto. To kill has become their duty, their sole object and purpose of life. Suffering does not touch them; what formerly upset them now leaves them cold. How many a fine young lad who would not have hurt a fly is ashamed now to say that at the commencement he wept at the idea of having to strike a human being; to kill, to kill again and yet again, under pain of being killed and more than killed—conquered, enslaved... . ““What would you? One said to me with a resigned smile, ‘One gets used to everything. At first I could not listen to wounded comrades piercing the heavens with their cries, the older ones calling on their wives and the children, the young ones crying “Mother!” and now beside one who weeps, the others are sing- ing. We live in the midst of men dying, and dead bodies in a state of decay.’ “All the soldiers, even the best, have spoken to me in a like manner, and it cannot be otherwise. Their hearts are hardened; moral reaction takes place in the same proportion as scientific progress discovers new means of killing and causing destruction.” Bloody Hands and Stony Hearts If it is not an idle fiction, that conduct bears a vital rela- tionship to character, then it is impossible for men with hearts and consciences to do the kind of thing required of them in battle and not be morally affected by it. How can a man deliberately look along the sight of his rifle and take aim at his brother-men with the definite intent of taking his life without smothering every instinct of pity and justice? How can a man crouch for hours in the dark, or lie con- cealed behind tree-stumps or hedgerows, waiting with hands filled with deadly bombs or grenades, to fling upon unsus- pecting brother-men—how can he lie there, like a fox trap- ping a chicken or a panther waiting its prey, without feel- ing just what he is—a sneak. ‘There isn’t anything par- ticularly “heroic” in the way a cat catches a mouse! But 206 THE SAINT AND THE SWORD in this sneak-murder, the soldier is on a level with his cat or the fox at the door of his hen-coop. And when he isn’t sneaking like the fox, he is springing like the panther. No man can go on murdering without getting the murderer’s instinct. No man can creep about after other men in the dark and lie “like a trooper” in the light, and retain his fine sense of honor. No man can stand at a machine and cut down with a scythe of bullets row after row of men—see them fall, hear their screech of agony, and ever again have the same respect for human life which possessed him when he left wife and children at the door of his home. Absolutely IMPOSSIBLE! | I shall never forget the cold-blooded way in which a prominent Boer with whom I rode on a train in South Africa told me of the number of Englishmen he had killed. He seemed to distinguish very little between the soldiers he had shot and the springbok he had just been out shooting. It is a well-established fact that men whose grim pro- fession is in the slaughter-house, whose hands are always blood-stained, whose gaze rests eternally on the death agony —the piteous pleading in the eyes of expiring beasts—become hardened, they lose their sensitiveness of spirit, and so are disqualified for correct adjudication concerning the finer distinction between right and wrong. For this reason, under the British constitution, such men are debarred from taking office as judges. Warriors and Women As to the honor of women, that infallible test of both in- dividual and national character, it must, alas! be said that militarism and the degradation of womanhood are, and always have been, appallingly linked together. It is admitted that such a conjunction is inevitable. When prominent military experts, high officials and even statesmen come for- ward to defend such filthy legislation as the Contagious Dis- eases Act for India, there is afforded all-sufficient evidence THE SAINT AND THE SWORD 207 of the immorality of armies. Such legislation is defended on the grounds of “painful necessity.”’ “It is shameful, but it is, nevertheless, unavoidable,’ say these advocates of a sys- tem which they spare no effort to assure us is the certain way of making heroes and warriors of our young men. “If,” they continue, “certain results are bound to happen and to continue to happen every time a regiment marches into a city and while it remains there, it is better for the men— for the MEN (mark how little concern these ‘‘valiant”’ gentlemen appear to manifest for the daughters of the poor whose degradation they wink at)—“‘it is better,” they say, “that these indulgences, it is safer and more wholesome for the MEN, that these transgressions against God’s laws and the virtue of women should be committed under proper con- ditions, and that our gallant soldiers should be guarded against certain contingencies which might prove as disadvan- tageous to our armies as they have proved to the native races it has been our duty to fight and to whom we have intro- duced our vices.” And so “covered with glory” and pro- tected by those modern “indulgences” which nowadays take the form of “licenses” and “medical certificates,” the ma- jority of soldiers go their way in times of peace plagueing gar- rison cities with a scourge of immorality, and during war- time spreading a deluge of lust wherever they get an oppor- tunity. It is mot nice, of course, to say such things about the men who are supposed to be the unselfish and manly “defenders of our wives and daughters,” but it is God’s truth, as anybody who knows anything about war and gar- rison towns—and has no cause for lying—will tell you. I have no time to speak about barrack life and the conse- quences of hoarding masses of red blooded men together without the purifying influences of wives, sisters and sweet- hearts or women in general ;—the less said the purer the at- mosphere! Never let it be forgotten that there are many noble exceptions. But I speak of the rule. 208 THE SAINT AND THE SWORD Impurity the Doom of Nations Concerning this aspect of the moral question, the recent struggle has shown us, not only war’s degenerating influence on individual men, but on nations as a whole. ‘There has been a universal “winking” at vice and the breach of vital laws, the upholding of which are of infinitely greater im- portance to a people than the flag under which they live or the achievement of ultimate political or racial triumph. Judged by the Christian standard, this is a momentous truth. Germany under the British Government or England, or America under the rule of Germany, unthinkably dis- tasteful to either nation as such a contingency might be, is a small matter compared with a lowering of those barriers of morality which, under the hand of a merciful God, have held back those sinister forces of licentiousness and villainy ever the undoing of all great empires in the past. Babylon, Persia, Greece, Rome, these were not so much conquered by outward foes—they wasted away through internal rotten- ness. It was the physical decomposition which so rapidly follows after moral death which destroyed those empires. Prussianism and Parisianism In this connection it will be well for us to remember that France, our recent ally, whose praises, just because she is a republic, have been trumpeted to the skies by Church digni- taries while, at the same time, they never cease to thunder at the vices with which she has flooded the world—France, has at this moment far more to fear from immorality and race suicide than she has from Germany. For the past fifty years this has been the dread evil which has been surely wasting her very vitals. According to Paul Deschanel—a president of the French Chamber of Deputies, Germany has during the last forty-four years added to her population by natural birth twenty-five millions, while France in the same period has added a meager three millions. In 1850, France was the largest nation in Europe, she is now in the seventh THE SAINT AND THE SWORD 209 rank! At the end of the present century she will hardly number twenty millions! Professor Levy, one of the most eminent of French economists, tells us that if France had kept her bith-rate equal to that of Germany’s since 1870, she would have had, when the last war broke out, a population of sixty-five or seventy millions. He tells us also that in the year 1910, the French population remained stationary, while in that same year Germany added nearly eight hundred thousand to her people. ‘The war seems to have awakened France to these facts, and she has been swinging to the opposite extreme. Babies and their mothers, by the thousands, have been taken over and supported by the state. Offspring from women of any and every class has been received and paid for with grateful appreciation, no ques- tions being asked about the fathers of the same. Multitudes of these “fathers” were British “heroes,” whose concern either for France or their French-born progeny was a very small consideration alongside the gratification of their lusts. After all, then, France has much more to fear from her women, with all their damning devices for race suicide, than she has from Germany. Prussianism which kills on the battle- field is no worse than Parisianism which destroys in the womb. Woman, both as regards her estimation of her own duty and calling, and as regards her relationship to her con- sort and protector man—the character of women and the treatment of womanhood, I say, has always marked the glory or indicated the doom of great nations. Any institution, any practice, therefore, which degrades womanhood, belittles motherhood, or depraves girlhood must be highly dangerous for a nation and absolutely forbidden for the Church. War does all this. It has always done it. For every single woman it has protected, it has brought a hundred other women dishonor or death. Victorious armies have ever left in their wake the black ruin of licentiousness and debauchery. 210 THE SAINT AND THE SWORD Constitutionalizing Bestiality The last war lowered the standard of woman’s honor and virtue as no war ever did. It did it all the more effectively because under its sheltering license and encouraged by a quiet acquiescence on the Church’s part, events transpired, aye, even legislation was enacted which before the commence- | ment of that conflict, would have so shocked the public conscience as to raise a shriek of protest to the very heavens. In the paralyzing grip of fear that nations might go under for want of men to take the places of the sons offered for cannon-fodder, the moral restraints which have hitherto con- tributed to the sanctity of English and German homes, not to mention others, were flung to the winds. Under the impression that their kith and kin would look with tolerance upon acts which, though shameful would assist their country, tens of thousands of boys, reared in workmen’s homes, villas and mansions, where the modesty of mothers and sisters had cast a halo of sanctity about the gentler sex, went down before the demon of lust, and can never look upon a woman quite in the same way again. As an evidence of how war has always brought about this immorality and its dire results among soldiers let me mention the staggering figures quoted by Dr. M. J. Exner in an article reviewed by the Literary Digest of September 15, 1917. He states that among the American army in the Philippines the percentage of soldiers suffering from venereal diseases rose to more than 301 per thousand and was several times greater than any other malady. He tells us that the ravages of vice in all the European armies during the late war have been nothing less than frightful. At the end of the first year of the war one of the Great Powers had more men incapacitated by venereal disease than by all the fighting at the front. In 1916 the medical staff of that country said that there were seventeen thousand cases of venereal disease contracted in a single camp. THE SAINT AND THE SWORD 211 The New York Press recently startled the United States by an appalling statement concerning the young men of this country—the pick and pride of the nation—who were herded together under the sinister spell of war. Mrs. Humiston, the plucky and clever woman detective of the Metropolitan Police Force, came out with the amazing as- sertion that within a few weeks six hundred girls were expec- tant mothers on account of the immoral attentions of the soldiers of one camp alone! Mrs. Humiston, who was promptly deprived of her license for this statement, has a way of proving her assertions, Breeding Soldiers Worse, still, tens of thousands of innocent girls who before that war were hardly guilty of an act approaching to im- propriety, yielded themselves, in this wild delirium of “patriotism,” as little better than animals for breeding soldiers and tasted the deepest shame a woman can know. Hence, these war torn nations are filled with ‘“war-brides” and “‘war-babies” whose “husbands” and fathers are ashamed to show their faces, and for whose assistance, as I have shown, government schemes of patronage and support are unblush- ingly proposed. If this is not demoralization, then the Devil’s work has taken on a saintly complexion. Such comments as the following from prominent and capable public women are in themselves a sufficiently damn- ing indictment of war as a demoralizing agency. Mrs. Archibald Colquhoun, writing in the Contemporary Review, said: “The stern moralist must reflect that a country which depends on emotional appeal to raise its army, and then having secured the flower of its manhood by such appeal, sends them to train for six months or so, far from their homes and among admiring women, must expect certain consequences. ‘The consequences are coming in their thousands, and ought in the interests of the nations and in justice to our fighting men to be provided for. These, after all, are the outcome of very different circumstances and emotions from 212 THE SAINT AND THE SWORD the sordid stories of the slums and crowded streets which pre- face many illegitimate births.” This good lady appears to have a very extraordinary stand- ard for measuring moral actions. One would have thought that, judged from every possible gauge of justice, sexual indulgence in a slum attic, where eight people of both sexes are huddled together, and which resulted in an illegitimate birth, was a thousand times more excusable than such indul- gences when they are the acts of a great nation’s army com- posed of ‘‘the flower of its manhood”—men who, by com- parison, are very well cared for, well fed, well housed, well groomed, well disciplined, pretty well paid, and far better informed than the denizens of ‘darkest England” or Amer- ican slumdom. But no, these men who, at such “self- sacrifice,” have ‘“‘sprung to the rescue of their country” are excused on the ground that they are “far from home’— that their “emotions” have been appealed to—and we are thus led to regard with tolerance “certain consequences which must be expected.” More, we are told that “in jus- tice to our fighting men” the babes those “heroes” have brought into the world, and who, of course, they will never recognize as their offspring, must be provided for out of state exchequers, while the helpless little creatures wailing at the breasts of milkless mothers, in sunless hovels, are the subjects of “the sordid stories of the slums” and must be left to the cold mercy of poor-houses or the scanty doles of charity. Could anything more completely show the demoralizing effect of militarism than this? The Degradation of Motherhood But this good lady goes on, as if suddenly startled at what might be the logical consequences of her astounding argu- ment: “At the same time woman, as a sex, will be badly served if ill-judged sentimentalism elevates these ‘war mothers’ into her- oines. If marriage is to retain any place in our social system, THE SAINT AND THE SWORD 213 public opinion must continue to make the position of an unmar- ried mother inferior to that of a wife.” Madame Colquhoun should remember that it is not “pub- lic opinion,’ which has insured the sacredness of the wife and the mother, but God’s everlasting law, and that if im- mense armies cannot exist without calling forth such justi- fication of gross immorality as she would seem to condone, then ‘“‘public opinion” will soon drop to the level of the mili- tary standard, when nothing can prevent a tide of lust from sweeping away the barriers of wedlock and debasing the all but divine office of wife and mother to the level of a harlot or a concubine. When so esteemed a lady as the Countess of Warwick feels herself constrained to plead for “the abolition of a penalty upon the man who marries his unmarried wife,” things, from a moral standpoint, must have become serious indeed. Nothing but war could ever induce such a champion of woman’s honor to say anything approaching such an utterance. So much the worse for war. In a war-time number of The Current Opinion I find the following: “The moral laxity consequent to war in all the fighting nations does not escape the attention of American newspapers. ‘They note that Germany not only encouraged soldiers to take war-brides for the sake of the race before going into war, but that government provision has been made for German rearing of children born in the wake of the conquering army, as well as medical care for the voluntary or involuntary mothers. Reports from France assert that in these war times the state practically does away with ille- gitimacy; war benefits go alike to married and unmarried mothers; foundling boxes are said to have been restored in churches; and special provisions for children born of enemy soldier-fathers as state foundlings have been inaugurated to relieve burdened mothers. Alleged connivance of authorities at English training camps in excesses of the soldiers, recalled traditional provisions formally made for English soldiers when on foreign soil.” Jane Adams wrote recently: “At the present moment women in Europe are being told: ‘Bring children into the world for the benefit of the nation; for the strengthening of future battle lines; forget everything that you have been taught to hold dear; forget your long struggle to estab- 214 THE SAINT AND THE SWORD lish the responsibilities of fatherhood; forget all but the appetite of war for human flesh. It must be satisfied and you must be the ones to feed it, cost what it may.’ This is war’s message to the world of women.” After this, nothing more concerning war’s wide open invi- tation to sexual immorality needs to be said. Conduct and Character But there is another kind of immorality which calls for a word or two. We have already said something about the gruesome nature of the weapons of war. During the last great struggle where did they come from? Who made them? The daily papers, in full-page war reports, sent by skilled reporters, spared no pains to describe in lurid language the ghastly effects of those shells, bombs, bullets and destructive machines. The people read those reports, they knew how at a certain moment, in some unmentioned place, a shell crashed into a trench and scattered the heads, arms, legs, brains, hands, entrails of a dozen men in horrible intermixture— some down into mud, some up through the air. But who made these shells? Why, the people who read these reports made them. ‘They knew what they did while they made them. They actually talked about such horrors to each other with smiles and oaths. Not only men did this, that would have been bad enough, but women did it—women whose hearts a little while before were tender and sweet; women who were made to love and be loved; women with husbands, sons, lovers, some of whom had already been lost to them by means of exactly such cruel instruments as they were then constructing. ‘Think of it, women—zwomen, day after day, deliberately shaping cones, filling them with deadly ingre- dients, and adjusting the merciless fuse. Women did all this to kill other women’s husbands and sons and to break the hearts of other women. And they did it all for money. For big money—for blood money. How can men and women do all this and not suffer in their moral make-up ? If they could have walked over the battle-fields watching THE SAINT AND THE SWORD 215 those shells do their horrible work, if they could have seen the torture they inflicted, if they could have heard wounded men crying through the night, as they felt for the bullet in the festering sore—crying for home, for wife, for little ones—crying for one touch of “mother’s hand”—do you think they could have gone on making those things? Before the war I would have said impossible! But after I am afraid I would have had to say I think they could almost have done it. Their consciences were chloroformed by the speeches of “Christian” statesmen, aye “Christian” ministers. They had been told that by making these things they rendered loyal service to their country, that this was the best way of serving Christ. In a way they came to believe it. At first they shrank from it as a bloody business. And so it was. But their work had a demoralizing influence on their characters. Troubled Consciences Judged by the law of Christ the munition trade is im- moral. Murder must always be immoral. I question, there- fore, if the thousands who have toiled so hard, and taken such splendid pay to manufacture these instruments of ruin, will ever be quite the same self-respecting working men and women they once were. Magazine writers exalt the women of England and Germany as the saviours of their countries, but what shall it profit a woman if she save her country and lose her soul? What the Psalmist said of the Israel- ites who made and worshipped idols may be said to all such workers who make and rely on munitions, “They that make them are like unto them, so is every one that trusteth in them.’ Among the Christians who work in this ghastly indus- try there have been many troubled consciences. And well there may be, for only true repentance and much faith in the blood of Christ will ever suffice to wash from their hands the 1Psa, 115:8. 216 THE SAINT AND THE SWORD stains of their brother’s blood. For Christians, whose mission in the world is one of peace and good-will, who are respon- sible for scattering the glad tidings of the Gospel—for them to be laboring with feverish activity at the construction of fiendish weapons which they know will certainly end the pro- bation of many thousands of Christless souls, is surely an awful misappropriation of their energies. Christians, in this hour of the world’s midnight, forewarned of their Master to lift up their heads from the midst of warring nations, from appalling iniquity, and look for their “redemption,” which “draweth nigh’!—Christians at “such a time as this” to be throwing their Bibles on to the junk-heap of the world’s fiction, and centering their hopes in shot and shell—tt is too appalling for words! But it is war which makes all this possible. ‘The wild delirium of war will befog and befool even the Church of God. War is therefore immoral. 1Luke 21:25, 28. PART IV WAR IS ANTI-CHRISTIAN BECAUSE, FOR THE CHRISTIAN, IT IS UNPATRIOTIC WAR IS ANTI-CHRISTIAN BECAUSE FOR THE CHRISTIAN, IT IS UNPATRIOTIC WHAT is patriotism? This is the question for these times of quivering excite- ment, amid these shoutings for “Fatherland,” for “King,” for “Country; amid these huge demonstrations where orators “breathe out threatenings and slaughter,’ where great masses of men stand up and scream “Deutschland tber alles,’ ‘Rule Britannia,” the ‘‘Marseillaise’ or “Yankee Doodle,” waving flags and working themselves up into wild frenzy, by means of which they are gotten—while knowing next to nothing of the facts—to “vote unanimously and by acclamation” for each other’s slaughter. Is this patriotism? What is patriotism? ‘This is the interrogation we need to keep before us, while listening to expressions of arrogant national egoism which fall from the lips of kings and states- men, in the high places, about the things that have been done, are yet to be done, by the superiority of English blood, German blood, French blood, Austrian blood, Italian blood or American blood while at the same time (and this, to those whose eyes are on the truer indicators of history, is a thing of no small significance) not a word is ever said about the past achievements, the future prospects, of Jewish blood— the blood which, from the national viewpoint, is the blood par excellence in God’s sight—do all these great swelling words, spoken from under crowns, behind glittering regalia, from presidential chairs, constitute patriotism? Alternate Kissing and Kicking What is patriotism? Let us keep this query well in mind and resolve to get down to realities as we glance backward 219 220 THE SAINT AND THE SWORD and note its extraordinary display in history. An erratic, an altogether unstable thing, is this “patriotism” of the world. Its manifestations of love and hatred are surprising to a de- gree. The rapidity with with which it changes from effusive friendship today into blazing hot animosity tomorrow, is ‘astounding. At one time the “patriots” have nothing for their neighbor state but kisses, at another, nothing but kicks. Back yonder toward the evening of bloody Waterloo, we hear Wellington, in death-grips with Napoleon and his French armies, praying devoutly that Blucher may hurry to his help and, ere the sun goes down, we see Briton and Prussian welded in battle and exultant over their common foe—even France. Yesterday Frenchman and Englishmen were united in a “patriotism” which sought eagerly the com- plete humiliation of England’s former friend, then regarded as the accursed Hun! Today France is turning bitter because of England’s consideration of stricken Germany. Not long ago the “patriotism” of London and Paris mani- fested itself at Balaclava and Inkerman, where English and French troops were flying at the throats of Russian soldiers ; whereas but yesterday, Russian, generals and admirals were received with hilarious delight in the cities of England and France, where applauding multitudes crowded the streets to see them pass, and extragavant banquets, with after-dinner speeches, champagne and other effervescences were arranged for their féteing. "Today these nations are again foes of Russia. For three decades it was the highest British “patriotism,” to flirt with the accursed Turk in order to keep the Darda- nelles closed to the fleets of Russia; but yesterday some of the best regiments in the English and Australian armies were buried on the gory slopes of Gallipoli to smash the Turk and let the Russians through. Today the “allies” have re- enthroned the Turk in Constantinople. For nearly a hundred years it was patriotism of the best THE SAINT AND THE SWORD 221 order for each of the states now comprising the German Empire to foster the fiercest hatred for each other. As occasion served, the Saxons flew at the throats of the Hessians. Soldiers of the Palatinate wrestled with Han- overians; the traditional policy of Bavaria had ever been to fight Prussia to the last gasp; but expressions of such senti- ment today, by any of the peoples comprising the German Confederacy, would be the most accursed disloyalty. Ba- varia, whose long practiced. diplomacy had been to depend on the protection of French kings, actually sent her ruler in 1871 to propose the crowning of William of Prussia, as the Emperor of United Germany; and this he did, in the Palace of Versailles, at the moment when France, his long trusted ally, lay prostrate at the feet of Prussia, both his and her historic foe. Is this patriotism? Shooting and Boosting ‘Twenty-five years ago all the British Empire was inflamed to the fiercest pitch of ‘“‘patriotic’” fervor over the South African War. Any one daring to say a word in favor of the little Dutch republics was dubbed a “traitor.” It was a “patriotism” which evidenced itself in the smashing, on ac- count of his “pro-Boer’’ sympathies, of Mr. Lloyd George’s windows and stalked with an unpoarious and drunken im- becility through London on “Mafeking night.” ‘Today the scepter of power from Cape Town to Pretoria has, for all practical purposes, passed into the hands of the very men who fought England, who slaughtered the British troops at Majuba Hill and Spion Kop, while we have seen the late commander-in-chief of the British armies in South Africa— formerly the leader of the Boers against the British—turn upon his German friends, to be welcomed to Downing Street as one of the heroic councillors of the British Empire! Nowadays it would be highly “unpatriotic” to speak one dis- paraging word against “His Majesty’s Government at Cape 222 THE SAINT AND THE SWORD +B] Town,” though some of it is composed of the same men about whom no slander was too vile or ridiculous for pub- lication, when the “‘soldiers of the Queen”’ sailed away from England to shoot them down. For half a century or more it has been the most ardent “patriotism” for the Briton to curse the rising menace of Prussian militarism, while singing lustily the praises of the ever-increasing might of the British navy. “Britannia rules the waves” —‘“The pennants which fly from the flag- ships of English admirals lash the seas of both hemispheres” —“The guns of England keep ward and watch over the gate-ways of the ocean’”—‘Upon the white ensign of the British Admiralty, or the folds of the Union Jack, the sun never sets’—‘‘John Bull must never let slip his control of the seas’—“Nothing of any importance can ever be done without our permission,” these are the cries which have filled the mouths of men whose “patriotism” consigns the German nation to the nethermost perdition, for having said exactly the same things about her army. For it was German “patriot- ism’’—every bit as justifiable in them as in us—which insisted that her “mailed fist” should become and should remain supreme in Europe. By her armies she hoped to arrive at the place of pre-eminence which England had already reached by her navy—the place where no political decision should be arrived at, no world-policy concerning commerce or territory put into effect, without her knowledge and her sanction. So we see the “patriotism” of London is rank poison in Berlin just as the “patriotism” of Berlin was hell-fire treason in London. And yet they are precisely the same thing. Is this patriotism ? Democracy and the House of Lords : Since the war of the American Revolution, it has been the — fashion throughout the United States every Fourth of July, for her people to break into ecstasies of exultation over the “freedom” obtained from the supposed “tyranny” of British THE SAINT AND THE SWORD 223 dominance. The teaching of the school-books of this land have indelibly impressed on the mind of the average child over here the idea that England and oppression in some way go together. No American boy fires off his crackers without reawakening the memory of that much admired explosion of wrath, which, in the breast of George Washington, tore down the Union Jack to hoist the Star Spangled Banner. The very terms of American citizenship papers lead to the conclusion that loyalty to England is the quality, above all others, that should be eschewed by the good “patriot” of the United States. And never was this sentiment more emphasized than dur- ing the days when the gigantic might of Britain was, largely at the dictate of financial magnates, stamping out the in- dependence of the little Boer republics. To express these opinions and to denounce all who protested against them as “pro-British” was, for the American citizen, “patriotism” of a superlative degree. Yet a few years ago when, with Reni Viviani, late premier of the French nation (who, by the way, moved a resolution in the French Chamber of Deputies, that France should no longer recognize the existence of God, and who introduced legislation which confiscated the property of the Catholic Church, turning thousands of nuns into the streets), when, accompanied by this gentleman, the Right Hon. Arthur Balfour, now Lord Balfour, late premier of England, who during the previous thirty years—so the Liberal Party leaders told us—stood as the defender of the intolerable selfishness of the blue-blooded land proprietors of the House of Lords; who, they declared, had obstructed almost every great pro- posal for liberal legislation brought forward in the House of Commons for a quarter of a century; who was the prime mover and engineer of the South African campaign, with all its horrors of civilian “concentration camps,” blazing home- Steads and importation of Chinese labor; whose manage- ment of British affairs David Lloyd George had exhausted 224 THE SAINT AND THE SWORD the vocabulary of parliamentry language to denounce— when this gentleman comes over to this great “democracy,” so sudden and complete was the somersault of American “patriotism,” that he was hailed as one of the saviours of the world, he was taken to the tomb of Washington to flatter the hero his forefathers fought—even as their descendants are fighting, when they dare, all such heroes today—and he was honored as the representative of a “royal monarch,” by a great gathering of republican statesmen and citizens, who joined their voices in lustily singing “God save the King.” Is this patriotism? The Fatal Imbecility of Pride Truly a very topsy-turvy, tipsy sort of somersaulting thing is this much-trumpeted quality called “patriotism.” That is, of course, what the world calls “patriotism.” But the world knows little about the real commodity. It is not possible that worldly men should know much about it because worldly men are essentially proud, self-centered, and nations which are, for the most part, made up of such men are even more arrogant and selfish. On reflection it will be found that these two qualities, pride and selfishness, are funda- mental essentials of the “patriotism” of all earthly kingdoms. Pride, in the first place, is largely responsible for the dili- gence with which governments seek to instil into their sub- jects the notion of their national superiority. Hence, the national displays, feastings, celebrations, reviewing of troops dolled up in all kinds of gaudy and senseless uniforms; as- sembling of costly dreadnaughts which emit smoke and make a ridiculous noise; inflammable speeches at national con- ventions full of oratorical, shallow phrases, which seek to exalt the speaker’s nation above all others—all this fooling and deluding of the common people, by whose permission armies and navies exist, and who endure nearly all the suf- fering and do most of the killing, all this has its root in THE SAINT AND THE SWORD 225 pride. And pride is that loathsome sin which, more than any other, stinks in the nostrils of God. Nor could such appeals to the people succeed for one mo- ment, were it not for this latent vanity in the hearts of all men through sin: the vanity which feeds on national swag- geration; that likes to look, often out of individual little- ness or worthlessness, upon the altogether exaggerated pic- ture, painted by itself or others, of its national superiority, its supposed omnipotence; which, while singing the praises of its own “fatherland,” minimizes the deeds of which other “fatherlands” have a similar disposition to feel proud. The Tyranny of Selfishness So it comes to pass that the toiling masses who along all history have borne the burden of war’s horrors; who have lost at one stroke their homes and bits of treasures; whose antecedents have gone down by millions into early graves, over which unnumbered hearts have been broken and rivers of tears have been shed; these people, because of this deceitful pride hidden in their breasts, will, when that pride is ap- pealed to, come out in thousands; shout hurrahs for those who lead them to ruin; shower wild oaths upon the unoffend- ing peoples of other nations; drink themselves tipsy to the health of kaisers, kings, queens, presidents ; clap their hands as soldiers and sailors march by; stand erect with pomp when they hear the imagined “greatness” of their nations expressed in the boom of big guns or the clash of brass bands; spend their hard-earned pennies in letting off crackers; exhaust their energy in the frantic waving of flags; and yell them- selves hoarse screaming, “Long live Germany !’”—“Long live Russia!”—‘‘God save the King’”—“Vive la France” —‘America forever!”—and THIS is called patriotism ! But selfishness is also at the root of this worldly “‘patri- otism.” The only thing to which these nations are constant, are ever faithful, is their own welfare. They go in the di- rection in which this is to be gained. Their “patriotism” is 226 THE SAINT AND THE SWORD a persistent and consistent loyalty to themselves. ‘Their neighbor nations are friends today or foes tomorrow exactly as they think they will help or hinder in realizing their schemes or policies. Worldly citizens will always stand for their country’s interests, which of course, nine times out of ten, means a blind subservience to the dictatorship of a small coterie of statesmen who preside over these “interests,” sometimes create them, and always define them. ‘The “patriotism” of all such people is aptly expressed in that ex- ceedingly immoral sentence of Stephen Decatur, impudently intruded by the Chicago Daily Tribune every morning upon the gaze of its readers: “Our country in her interests with foreign nations may she always be in the right; but our country, right or wrong.” The Birthplace of Godless Patriotism There is yet another characteristic of this earthly god- less “patriotism,” which must be noticed if we are to be thoroughly honest and fearless. The truest “patriotism’’ is not that which is manifested by the newer countries, whose peoples comprise many nationalities held together by a com- mon material interest. It is an instinct in the blood. Whence then came this racial animosity between man and his brother man? Let us look at that for a moment. Unless there has been some extraneous ingrafting wrought by some higher power, you may always tell the character of the fruit by the nature of the root. What is the root of this national spirit which men, aye even Christians, make so much boast of? Was it God’s original intent that man should bar and bridge himself off into races and communities whose quarreling and cruelty toward each other should fill the earth with blood-stains and misery? ‘To put the question is to answer it, for God’s very nature forbids such a supposi- tion. This racial distinction and its consequent antagonism sprang out of wickedness and pride. Away back across the THE SAINT AND THE SWORD 227 centuries Satan’s strategy in Eden had been successfully repeated, and man, while in arrogant defiance of Jehovah, was being induced to climb to heaven, even as he is today, by the might of his own right arm—by the contrivance of his own cunning. “There was some strange and awful sig- nificance in that enterprise back there. ‘To prevent an even greater disaster God came down to the Tower of Babel, just as He did when He expelled Adam from the tree of life, and cut short the operations of those conspirators against His authority, by confusing their speech and thus smashing up their “federation of labor.” ‘The destruction of that “industrial union’’—while it postponed till the predicted time of the Anti-Christ that yet-to-be-realized effort of the combined sons of men, to bring to its limit the foul work of the prince of this world—nevertheless resulted in a bitter dislike of nation for nation, out of which has sprung so large a measure of the boastful “patriotism” of the present day. For this reason, if for no other, it behooves the Christian to be carefully on his guard concerning it. Wrongs of the Colored Races Further, it must be borne in mind that while this racial hatred was thus conceived at Babel, the nationalism of our time is the result of multiplied evils which have grown out of centuries of strife between those races. For though God in judgment thus divided the original inhabitants of the earth, yet He “hath determined the times before appointed and the bounds of their habitation.’” ‘‘When the Most High divided to the nations their inheritance, when He separated the children of men he set the bounds of the peoples.’ Much of the political entanglement which has led to modern wars has come about because these “bounds” have been vio- lated, and stronger races have preyed upom weaker ones. Make no mistake, God has not been an uninterested specta- tor of the shameful wrongs, for example, which “civilized” 1Acts 17:26. *Deut. 32:8, R. V. 228 THE SAINT AND THE SWORD peoples have practiced on the colored and red-skinned races of the earth. ‘The recent cataclysm of bloodshed had other causes than those which appeared on the surface. The cruelty and injustice practiced upon the natives of Asia, Africa, Australia and America; the way they have been swindled out of their lands; the manner in which their women have been violated; their frightful demoralization through drink or opium, and their destruction by syphilis and masacre— those were also among the causes of the world war. The Cherokees and the Sword of Sherman ‘Take, as one example, the manner in which the State of Georgia and the United States National Government, dealt with the Georgian Indians. According to Bacon’s “History of American Christianity” and Helen Hunt Jackson’s “A century of Dishonor,” no more shameful story of perfidy and oppression was ever told. We read: “The wrongs inflicted on the Cherokee Nation were deepened by every conceivable aggravation. No record is so black as the deal- ings between the United States Government and this nation.” These intelligent and progressive Indians had prosperous Churches, they had established mills for manufacturing cot- ton; their schools were flourishing; a great number had pro- fessed Christianity. “There is no instance,” the record tells us, “in all history of a race of people passing in so short a space of time from barbarism to the arts of agriculture and civilization.” But alas! Their prosperity proved their un- doing. ‘The beauty and fertility of their lands, augmented by the wealth of crops, cattle, herds, with which their in- dustry and thrift had enriched them, became known. With a venomous cupidity the pioneers of “‘civilization’”’ set their covetous eyes on so glittering a prize in the fingers of un- protected red-skins. In spite of the fact that the territory of the Cherokees “had been secured to them by the most sacred pledges with which it was possible for the National Govern- ment to bind itself,” the State of Georgia resolved to steal it. THE SAINT AND THE SWORD 229 “As a mere expedient for securing popular consent to the in- tended infamy, the farms of the Cherokees were parcelled out to be drawn for in a lottery and the lottery tickets distributed among the white voters. Then the fortified, the ‘brave’ State of Georgia, went to all lengths of outrage. Missionaries were arrested and sent to prison for preaching to Cherokees—Cherokees were sen- tenced to death by Georgian courts and hung by Georgian execu- tioners.” But the culminating deed of shame could not be carried out without the sanction of the United States Government, that government which has always boasted her champion- ship of justice, freedom and democracy. To her eternal disgrace it must be recorded that this scandalous act of spoliation toward a feeble people was agreed to after pro- longed discussion in the Senate by a majority of one. Thus by that act of long ago, another treaty was treated as a “scrap of paper.” It has ever been so. The white man has had little or no conscience about robbing the colored man. But the AlI- mighty’s principles of justice do not stop short at the color line in that way. He takes notice! May it not be said that when the sword and torch of Sherman passed, with terror- izing horror, through the fair State of Georgia, leaving behind its ghastly toll of dead, its black trail of wreckage and ashes, that the judgment which Georgia had meted to those helpless Cherokees was being “‘meted to her again.” The Christian Patriot Such, then, as regards the vastly greater part of it, is the “patriotism” of this world, and a poor, selfish, soulless, char- acterless, rotten thing it is. Mark, however, this is not by any means the patriotism of the Christian. Indeed, the Christian is the only citizen whose soul can be properly thrilled by the deeper, nobler patriotic fervor. To begin with, he is more closely related to the Jew—God’s chosen and only earthly nation—than is any other. He is “grafted in among them and with them partakes of the root and fat- ness” of that wonderful people." This is the “patriotism” 7Rom, 11:17. 230 THE SAINT AND THE SWORD which, above all others is commended by God and is precious to Him. And yet it is the only patriotism the world despises. Immeasurably more estimable to the Christian than the proudest records of his earthly birth-land, there comes along the ages to enrich his heritage, the conquests achieved by Jehovah Himself, when He led the victorious armies of Israel. For the Christian also is the subject of Jehovah. The King of the Jews is also his Saviour. The reason his patriotism so stirs the heart, is because it centers around the personality of his Lord. Never was there, nowhere ‘is there, never will there be, such a king as He. In the beauti- ful language of the Psalms the saints of today may also sing: “O give thanks unto the Lord, for the Lord hath chosen Israel for his peculiar treasure. Who alone doeth great wonders; who by wisdom made the heavens, stretched out the earth over the waters; made the sun, the moon, the stars; which remembered his people in their low. estate and redeemed them from their ene- mies; Who smote Egypt and brought out Israel from among them; Who in the day time led them with a cloud and all through the night with a light of fire; Who divided the Red Sea and caused them to pass through; Who overthrew Pharaoh and his hosts; Who led his people through the Wilderness, rained down manna and sent them meat to the full; Who cast out the heathen before them and smote great nations and slew mighty kings; Sihon king of the Amorites. Og king of Bashan with all the kings of Canaan and gave their land for a heritage to his people. Who brought them out of darkness and the shadow of death; Who sent forth his Word and healed them; Who giveth food to! all flesh; Whose throne is established of old. The scepter of whose kingdom is the right scepter. Whose mercy endureth forever. Blessed be the Lord God of Israel from everlasting to everlasting.”} Here indeed is something to shout about! Here is the supreme King of all true Christians. However much of “honor” we may render to earthly monarchs in recognition of their God-ordained temporal authority, such monarchs can never usurp the place which Jesus, as the King of Kings, has taken in our hearts. And mark it is precisely because our 1Taken from Psas. 45, 91, 107, 108, 135, 136. THE SAINT AND THE SWORD 231 loyalty to this higher kingship is so binding that we are able to practice the best possible kind of earthly citizenship. The Church and the Jew It is significant that the Christian Church—that is, of course, the true Church—which Christ said should, in this dispensation, be the subject of prosperity with persecution— and the Jewish people who, in this day of their “setting aside,’ are also prosperous though much hated of men, stand together as the only two communities in the world who have reason to know much about pure “patriotism.” The Jewish nation, though homeless, kingless, and therefore without army or navy, has behind it all the prestige, and before it all the prospects which are needed as fuel for the flames of national honor. And the Christian Church, which, for the time being, is taking the place of Israel in the world, being joined to her rejected King, has the same rich heritage behind her and the same glorious promises for her future: “At that time they shall call Jerusalem the throne of the Lord, and all nations shall be gathered unto it”’*—“And many people shall go and say, Come ye, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob; and he will teach us of his ways and we will walk in his paths; for out of Zion shall go forth the law and the word of the Lord from Jerusa- lem.”? Here, indeed, is a retrospect and a prospect which creates and inflames a real patriotism. But wherein does Christian patriotism differ from worldly patriotism in this present age and why is war inconsistent with it? piers ia:i7, 78a, 253, I. WAR IS UNPATRIOTIC FOR THE CHRIS- TIAN BECAUSE IT IS DETRIMENTAL TO HIS EARTHLY HOME-LAND While speaking for the moment from a purely earthly standpoint, the Christian is the truest and the most valuable citizen of the country in which God has placed him, his citizenship does not consist, as is the case with so many of the unregenerate, in a blind obedience to behests of men. He is no slave. He is a freeborn son of God. As possessor of that higher liberty, “wherewith Christ hath made us free,”* it is impossible that he should hand himself over, body, soul and spirit, to go at the dictate of wordly men to plunder and kill his fellow-man. If liberty, as a national heritage, is really the glorious principle it is made to appear in “declara- tions of independence,” songs of revolutions, brilliantly illu- minated statues, then such liberty-loving subjects, as are the followers of the Lord Jesus, must be constitutional pearls of great price. Conscience Counts for Nothing Hence, there is a reason why the true Christian cannot support armies and navies. They take away men’s liberties and bind their consciences. No man can join an army with- out swearing away, at peril of his life, his right to question the commands, whatever those commands may be, of those above him. One of the best known poetical glorifications of a regiment in action describes precisely the attitude of the soldier to his conscience: “Theirs not to make reply, Theirs not to reason why, Theirs but to dare and die.” 1Gal. 5:1. 232 THE SAINT AND THE SWORD 233 But this is the exact opposite of the Christian’s standard of citizenship. He is not to do or to permit anything in his life which violates his enlightened conscience. He is at all times, both as regards his belief and his transactions, to exer- cise himself “to have always a conscience void of offense toward God and toward men,”! and he is distinctly told, concerning the struggle in which he is engaged, that he is to “war a good warfare; holding . . . a good conscience.’? Most assuredly, then, he is not to kill his brother and send his soul to judgment without being able to render an account satisfactory alike to his conscience and to his God. But with war lords, field marshals and generals, such conscientious soldiers are regarded as obnoxious, dangerous traitors. The officer’s ideal fighting man, is one who oc- cupies himself entirely with the shooting and leaves his superiors to do the reasoning. ‘Though somewhat bluntly, this idea is expressed, with an absolute honesty, in a pre-war speech of the ex-Kaiser’s to a number of recruits. Here is what he said: “Recruits, before the altar and the servants of God, you have given me the oath of allegiance. You are too young to know the meaning of what has been said, but your first care must be to obey implicitly all orders and directions. You have sworn fidelity to me, you are the children of my guard, you are my soldiers, you have surrendered yourselves to me body and soul. Only one enemy can exist for you—my enemy. With the present socialistic machinations, it may happen that I shall order you to shoot your own relatives, your brothers, or even your parents—and then you are bound to obey implicitly my orders!” “Very like the hateful ‘Prussianism’ of the Kaiser!” we say, but this is actually the truth as regards all armies and all soldiering. I challenge any one to contradict me when I say that you will find this kind of teaching in the class- rooms of all military academies, all training schools for army and navy officers, as in every regimental barracks throughout the world. Some of it of course is not so bluntly said. But the logical result of the system is the same. In all these 1Acts 24:16. #1 Tim, 1:18, 19. 234 THE SAINT AND THE SWORD establishments conscience counts for nothing when it is up against the command of superior officers. Slavery! When the trimmings, tassels and gingle of armies are torn away, there lies behind them the same old grim, sinister thing called slavery. Worse in a sense than any slavery ever car- ried on by any slave-owner on a cotton or rubber plantation, for the darkies there were never bought and sold fo kill each other. From the Christian’s standpoint of citizenship, such surrender of independent thinking and liberty of conviction would be, in the highest degree, detrimental to his home- land. So far as he is concerned it would be injurious be- cause, should he submit to it, it would prevent his rendering the most valuable of all service to others. ‘To lose his liberty in Christ would mean the extinction of his spiritual power. Only on one condition could he ever pledge absolute obedi- ence to others—only because by so doing he could better follow his Master, and because a greater good might result for the world. Instantly he was summoned to any action which would violate the law of God, his contract would have to be canceled. And surely this is only the ‘reasonable service’ of any self-respecting, sincere and consistent Christian. Even the man of the world regards war as the most serious pur- suit in which he could possibly be engaged. To every thoughtful person it is also evident that the character of an act is determined by the motive which prompts it. It must, therefore, be a matter of supreme concern, that those who take the sword should be able to render a satisfactory rea- son, both to themselves and to God, for doing so. It is also equally evident that there could be no conviction that the cause for which one fights is justifiable, without a calm con- sideration of the why and the wherefore of the case by each individual concerned. A Christian cannot place upon another the responsibility of deciding whether he is justified I'HE SAINT AND THE SWORD 235 in shooting his brother-man. For him to march off to spread death and ruin, for no better reason than that he is required to “obey orders,” would involve him in worse guilt than a common murderer, who at least has it to plead that he Is acting under provocation or because of the lure of some coveted advantage. The Christian conscience is far too precious in God’s sight and far too valuable a national asset, to be handed over to the rulers of this world, who frequently dispatch whole armies to die and to kill other armies, for causes which, did they affect individuals instead of nations, no court of justice would treat as life and death matters. It is for this reason that a true Christian cannot make himself a slave of any system which demands such blind obedience. To do so would, when judged from the viewpoint of the New Testa- ment, deprive him of the free exercise of that judgment which, under the influence of the Holy Spirit, he rightly re- gards as of the highest importance to the welfare of his home- land. The Christian and National Righteousness Nor must it be forgotten that Christians, as true patriots, are bound by every law of their religion to choose the highest good for their country. Wealth, education, culture, refinement, physical energy, commercial ability, clever diplo- macy—these are endowments which, while they undoubtedly assist the nations in their struggle for material pre-eminence, are not by any means so important as rectitude. As with persons so with peoples, it is character which tells. “Right- eousness exalteth a nation; but sin is a reproach to any peo- ple.”* Corruption, be it individual or collective, inevitably invokes disaster. No fury of armed cohorts, no defiance of great armadas, ever prevented the disintegration of an em- pire once its inherent wickedness ripened into moral rotten- ness. ‘The words of the prophet concerning Sodom, are 1Prov. 14:34. 236 THE SAINT AND THE SWORD equally applicable to all nations past and present: “Behold, this was the iniquity of thy sister Sodom; pride, fulness of bread, and abundance of idleness was in her and in her daughters. ... And they were haughty and committed abomination before me; therefore I took them away as | saw good.”? Or as the Apostle Jude says: “Even as Sodom and Gomorrah, . . . giving themselves over to fornication, and going after strange flesh, are set forth for an example, suffering the vengeance of eternal fire.’ But judged by the New Testament standard, what is this righteousness which exalteth? Well, it is something more than morality, respectability, honesty in transaction and trade, it is the “righteousness which is of God by faith.’ That is to say, by faith in Christ. It is the righteousness which appertains to the coming kingdom of our Lord, and to which the Apostle refers when he writes to the Christians in the Roman Empire: ‘But unto the Son he saith, Thy throne, O God, is forever and ever, a scepter of righteous- ness is the scepter of thy kingdom.’”* The Christianity of Christ it is, then, Christ’s righteousness which exalteth nations, and their refusal to accept His atoning work which confirms them in the sin which is to prove their doom. Nor is it only Christ’s sacrifice they must accept; it is His standard. It is the rightness or wrongness of things as judged by Christ’s judgment—He Who said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life.’”® The Christian believes, or ought to believe, that the only “way” of true prosperity for nations is Christ’s way; that “truth’—which constitutes a force infinitely greater than armies and navies—finds its completeness in Christ, and that the only “life” worth living for a nation 1s” found in Him; that, in fact, outside the permission and purpose of God in Christ, a nation cannot exist at all. If, then, nations are to prosper, nothing is so important as that 1Ezek. 16:49. *Jude 7. *Phil. 3:9. *Heb. 1:8. ‘John 14:6. THE SAINT AND THE SWORD 237 they should shape their laws in harmony with His laws, their doings according to His behests. This is so far recog- nized by all civilized governments, that they have built up the fabric of their constitutions upon the foundation of His teachings, always, however, reserving to themselves the right to abrogate such of them as might obstruct their schemes of ambitious greed or racial pride. What are these teachings? As we shall see, the law of Christ is the law of love—love is the fulfilling of His law— and love is as opposite to war as day is to night. If, then, the law of Christ, which is love, is the rule for a nation’s prosperity, and war is opposed to love, war must be detri- mental to the highest interests of the nation which wages it. This the true disciples of the Lord believe, and hence in fighting war they are evidencing the most exalted type of patriotism. It is the patriotism which opposes bravely those evil forces which, as germs of disease in the body politic, threaten its vigor and its life. Rome’s Best Citizens Who were the best patriots of ancient Rome? Looking back into that distant history, no one could hesitate to reply, “The early Christians.” Yet as a conquered race, in the midst of the proudest, most triumphant exponents of force, they practiced the principles of non-resistance, refusing to join the killing armies of Cxsar. Though in their day, partly for this cause, they were regarded as a dangerous and disloyal sect and reckoned among “the offscouring of all things,” yet time has shown that they were the most esti- mable subjects of the Imperial Empire. ‘The tyranny of Nero and Diocletian, which sought to cover them with shame, resulted only in demonstrating their importance, for it brought down upon these crowned heads, and later upon their dominions, the vengeance of God. They threw the Christians to the lions and their empire “went to the dogs.” By those who today would discredit a non-killing Chris- 238 THE SAINT AND THE SWORD tian citizenship, the argument is often urged, that, to take the privileges and protection which one’s country affords, and leave others to fight for, and defend these privileges, is unjust if not cowardly. If this argument is addressed to unbelievers it is sound. Men having no better world to live for than this, no better weapons to fight with than guns and swords, should take the sword and live by it, remember- ing, however, that “they that take the sword shall perish with it.’ I am not defending cowardice. Nor am I plead- ing for “quitters.” But if the argument is addressed to Christians, it is based upon a false assumption. The Chris- tian, if he is not a mock one, is the best of all the “defend- ers” of his country. He is, in fact, already enlisted in the most effective defensive force in existence. He is in the front rank of the world’s moral police. Heroism That Suffers Nor must it be forgotten that all Christians, if they are of the genuine order and not counterfeits or caricatures, have, and will always have, their full share of suffering. In fight- ing the pestiferous and popular sins, which threaten the life of the nation, they won’t have an easy time of it. Especially so when the jingos start up their barbaric war-whoops, and the bellowing clique of newspapers begin their drum-beat- ing, saber-rattling, volley-firing policy. | The late war produced a noble host of martyrs. True the number was smaller than it ought to have been for many who had been anti-war exponents, under extreme pressure, went back on their principles and saved themselves by a miserable compromise. Nevertheless there were thousands throughout the world—notably in Germany—who cheerfully gave their lives, or languished in prisons, that they might preserve the teachings of the Lord Jesus and witness to their purity and power. Never fear, we who mean to stand true to our guns in the battle for truth, will have our full share 1Matt. 26:52. THE SAINT AND THE SWORD 239 of the fighting. Nowadays, it takes more courage to keep out of the military butcher’s shop than to go into it. A blaspheming soldier in Australia, on his way to the South African War, riding with me on the train from Bris- baine to Sydney, kept up his courage by reminding us that it took a “ton of lead to kill one soldier,” and, with the odds all in his favor, he was going “‘to risk it!’ Why, many a man walks down every day to the foundry or the work- shop, assuming as great a risk as that. For a young fellow to resist boldly the accumulated force of public opinion and stay out of the army for principle’s sake, thereby incurring the opprobrium of his friends, who reckon him a coward; for him to brave the scorn of his pretty girl acquaintances, who treat him as a “pussy-foot,” and a subject for white feathers, because he refuses to betray his coriscience—all this is a greater test of moral pluck than he would experience when, adorned with the razzle-dazzle of a musketeer, he marched, amid applauding thousands, to “take his chances.” If the poor fellows who lost out in the game had known what awaited them; perhaps their “heroism” might have waned. A “Sammy’s” Opinion of a “Tommy’s” Heroism Without wishing to deny or depreciate the bravery which has, without doubt, been manifested on the European battle- fields, it is well to remember that a great deal of this bravery is not prompted by patriotic loyalty or a passionate love for -a worthy cause. Much of it is a courage by compulsion. Men are forced into a position where there is nothing left for them but to be brave in defending themselves, or to be bold in performing a duty they would very gladly shirk if they could get the chance. This is strikingly confirmed by Sergeant Empey’s book, Over the Top, already referred to. It is difficult to find anywhere in this book any evidence of that real passion for a great cause which, we are cease- lessly told from our pulpits, is the glory of our soldiers. 240 THE SAINT AND THE SWORD Almost every time mention is made in those pages of the call to actual conflict, it is not, we are told, with a spirit flaming to get at the foe, with hearts pulsing faster to follow the advancing standards of truth and honor; it is not with these sentiments that the majority of the soldiers leap to the fray, but rather with a sense of their ill luck in happen- ing to be the ones who man the trenches when the advance is sounded. ‘The book is full of expressions which, so far as the English ‘““Tommies” are concerned, indicate an ever- present desire, manifested by many ingemious devices, to get away from the battle’s front back to “Blighty’—as the soldier’s “furlough” in his home-land is called. Here are a few which speak for themselves: [The italics are mine. ] “We received the unwelcome tidings that the next morning we would ‘go in’ and ‘take over.’ It makes all the difference whether you are ‘going in’ or ‘going out.’ ” “Never any pushing or crowding to be first up those ladders— ladders of death.” “When Tommy is wounded he does not care whether it is a gunshot wound or.a kick from a mule, just so he gets back to ‘Blighty’ ” : “Mentioned in dispatches for bravery—Tommy would rather be recommended for leave.” “Tommy has no desire for his name to appear on the ‘Roll of honor’ unless it comes under the heading ‘Slighty Wounded.’ ” “‘Sicker” Nickname for ‘Sick Report Book.’ It is Tommy’s ambition to get on the ‘Sicker’ without feeling sick.” “(Trench Feet’ ” A disease of the feet contracted in the trenches from exposure to extreme cold and wet. Tommy’s great- est ambition is to contract this disease, because it means ‘Blighty’ for him,” “ “Trench Fever. A malady contracted in the trenches... mostly homesickness. A bad case lands Tommy in ‘Blighty’ where he tries to get it worse than ever.” “ ‘Wave. In a charge the waves are numbered according to their turn in going over—viz., ‘first wave,’ ‘second wave,’ etc. Tommy would rather go over with the tenth wave!” “ ‘Victoria Cross,’ or ‘very careless’ as Tommy calls it. It is a bronze medal won by Tommy for being very careless with his j life.” Sergeant Empey ought to know what he talks of, since he was for two years with the soldiers at the front, but un- THE SAINT AND THE SWORD 241 less he has wickedly maligned his comrades, the kind of “heroism” he describes contrasts sharply with the heroism of those soldiers of Jesus who, along the ages, as today, prompted by a sense of devotion to the very highest truth, suffered, and have recently endured, derision, outcasting, im- prisonment and death itself, with an eager enthusiasm. “Ye Are the Light” Christ, when speaking of the relationship of His followers to the world, used three significant expressions. Two were uttered at the opening and one at the close of His ministry. Two were symbols and one was a direct command with a pledge attached to it. At the beginning He said, “Ye are the light” and “Ye are the salt!’! At the close He com- manded, “Go ye, therefore, and teach all nations. ... Lo, I am with you.”? As symbols, for the purpose of convey- ing the vital importance of God’s people to the community in the midst of which they live, none more perfect could have been found than these. In the first place, the Christian is light, and light is revela- tion—truth, and truth is greater than all material forces. Truth is that which appeals to the reason—the mind, and mind in the long run rules matter, for it is greater than matter. Truth appeals to the heart, to the more potent in- stincts and impulses in the human breast. It triumphs by calling into existence the mighty suasion of love, not by an appeal to the treacherous and uncertain impulses of force and fear. As we have already noticed, force and fear, when exercised judicially, have their uses; but the light of truth lifts one above the sway of force and fear. Those who know the power of reason and have yielded to it need not the in- centive of the magistrate’s intimidation or the policeman’s bludgeon. It is their choice to do right—“I will put my laws into their minds.’”*® The Christian spreads the light, and by so doing wields a sword in defense of his country 4Matt. 5:13, 14. *Matt. 28:19, 20. *%Heb. 8:10. 242 THE SAINT AND THE SWORD infinitely more protective than any blade of steel—‘“The truth shall make you free.’ Take for example the force of truth in relation to the European war. Had the Church of Christ in Austria, Ger- many, France, England and Russia taken her stand by her Master; had she declared to all the world that it was against the law of Christ; that, for the Church, quarrels of any kind should be put to the arbitrament of the sword—had she backed her argument by the declaration that under no cir- cumstances would she join the killing armies, it is probable she would, by this determination, have created such a con- science on the question that powerful societies, like the Socialists and Laborites, whose principles are completely anti- military, would have taken courage, followed after her lead, and no government would have dared to fire a gun. Propaganda Without Power The Church of Christ ought to have had the divine power, she should have had sufficient spiritual ammunition, the power of the Holy Ghost, to stand alone and face the storm, in which case she would either have stopped the war or brought upon herself such persecution, and with it such enduement of the Holy Spirit, as would have heralded the greatest revival since the early days of Christianity. It is just here she would have excelled over all the socialistic and pacifist movements of our time, some of whom “‘hold the truth in unrighteousness,’ and others of whom have “the form of godliness” while they lack “the power thereof.” It is for the Church to show these societies, which assent to the doctrines of “international brotherhood,” where they could find the love and the power to put their theories into operation. Alas! she missed her opportunity. Everywhere, thanks to the influence of the words of the Lord Jesus and His true representatives, there has been created a tremendous prejudice against war. All the great John 8:32. eee ee THE SAINT AND THE SWORD 243 movements which champion the cause of the toilers and the poor, as well as some other powerful organizations, like the various Peace Societies, are against war. Even the crowned heads, the eminent statesmen of the Old World, could not get their policies of “preparedness” past the representa- tives of the people without talking peace. They filled their arsenals with the weapons which have slaughtered or maimed ten millions of men by “talking peace.”’ No king nowadays could keep his crown for three months and talk war for war's sake, or for the sake of aggrandizment. Everywhere the anti-war conviction is latent. Mind, I do not say that this conviction is an evidence of allegiance to Christ. It is frequently expressed by those who have little sympathy with the Gospel. But I do say that the conviction concerning the futility of war was latent in every country where and when the war broke out. All that was required was some agency, some community, with suf- ficient pluck to stand in the breach, and by bold, reckless, fearless declaration, by standing resolutely to the words of Jesus, strike the spark, shed the true “light,” and refuse to fight. Had this been done, I believe that what was so power- fully latent would instantly have become patent, and there would probably have been such an expression of pent-up feeling, that every sword in Europe would have gone back into its scabbard. Passive Resistance and Passive Assistance But events transpired exactly as the Saviour prophesied. Alas! no organization dared to protest. Least of all, it must be said, to its eternal shame, did the Church of the living God, with one or two noble exceptions, raise any opposi- tion. In enlightened England the professed Church, the nonconformist part of which has of late years, concerning matters of denominational distinction, so busied itself with “passive resistance;” the conscience of which has been so profoundly stirred about ecclesiastical privileges in schools, 244 THE SAINT AND THE SWORD as to justify ministers in defying the law and going to prison—this great and powerful nonconformist community, with but few glorious exceptions, had never a word of cau- tion or protest for those who were plunging their nations into a course of wholesale slaughter. No prominent “passive re- sisters’ of that old educational quarrel have entered prison in the cause of peace. “They kept their eyes on the indicator at Westminster. When it pointed to war they decided to say devoutly “amen,” and pronounce the benediction! They buried their public school animosities, joined hand and glove with the lords and bishops who fell back, as they invariably do in the face of every war, on their State-Church policy, and finally joined with the godless mob in singing the praise of the allied armies who, whatever they may have been fighting for, were certainly not fighting for the Church or the Kingdom of Christ, any more than they were employing the weapons He told His servants to use. As we shall show later, democracy is not Christianity. In those eventful days of August, 1914, when all civilized mankind held its breath in anxious wonder concerning the fateful issues which threatened the world, I remember how eagerly I scanned the daily papers to see what stand the Church had taken. Of what statesmen were doing we were well informed. ‘They were watching their countries’ inter- ests, their “national safety.” ‘They were out for their peoples to obtain, or maintain, those “places in the sun’ they so greatly coveted or they had already so abundantly secured— places which, as past history shows, despite any “scraps of paper” which might help or hinder them, it was their inten- tion to get or to keep. But from the Church, the professed Body of the loving, suffering, resurrected Saviour—the Church universal, called to be the invincible contender for the faith as propounded on the lips of her Lord—of this Church we heard, in the way of protest,—nothing. | THE SAINT AND THE SWORD 245 They All Began to Make Excuses From the cathedrals of Austria, Russia, Britain and France; from the stately sanctuaries of Germany and even the “free”? Churches of England, there came no news of gath- ering saints for prayer; no prophetic voice was lifted to plead the efficacy of faith and love over suspicion, fear and vengeance. Reviewing the Uhlans of Berlin, the Grenadiers of Whitehall, the Cossacks of Petrograd, the Cuirassiers of Paris—looking on. all these terrible legions, ‘whose feet are swift to shed blood,’ as they marched out with Church chaplains and ecclesiastical sanctions to cut each other’s throats, many troublesome questions without doubt arose in the minds of many eminent “divines” in the several nations. It became evident that something would have to be done which, while meriting the favor of their respective govern- ments, would justify the dignitaries of the Church before the conscience of mankind. So “they all with one consent began to make excuse.” Hence, long after any protests or explanations of any kind were any good, there began to appear declarations and counter-declarations from ‘Church federations” in the dif- ferent countries. Epistles, for instance, from the leaders of the Churches in Germany to the leaders of the Churches in Britain, stating “with what regret they had been compelled to give their approval” and their blessing, not to the policy of the “pierced hand” of the Saviour, but to that of the “mailed fist” of the soldier, in striking against the menace of English world dominance’—the “shameful and unmerited attack upon their beloved fatherland.” ‘These were, of course, promptly replied to by equally convincing documents proving conclusively that the fatherland had only itself to blame for becoming the home of intolerable autocracy, shame- less aggression and merciless militarism. “There could be no more damning indictment of war than that which is afforded by these documentary “defenses,” issued by the 246 THE SAINT AND THE SWORD Churches of Christ in the contending countries. They give without any sort of palliation the direct lie to each other. They prove the utter inefficiency, the dangerous unreliability, of any existing tribunal for deciding the justice of the wars which involve the slaughter of millions of men. If the arch- bishops have no means of arriving at an equitable decision, _ where shall the diplomats and the patriots find one? Inactive Shepherds and Devouring Wolves Nor in the United States did the professed Church of Christ give forth any more illuminating light, or exhibit any greater courage on this question. “Take the Churches of Chicago as typical of those of the country. I watched care- fully through the days when events seemed to be leading up to a rupture with Germany, and when this favored land was about to be plunged into the guilt and sorrow of war. Sunday after Sunday, among the published subjects for pastors’ discourses, I failed to discover, with only one or two noble exceptions, any attempt, on the part of these pastors, to guide either their flocks or the agitated public mind. Each day the newspapers were resorting to every conceivable device for inflaming the nation with the spirit of envy, pride, and strife, but the Church here, as in Eu- rope, did nothing—absolutely nothing! One would have thought that with the world on fire, with the trenches of Europe running blood, the shepherds, whose duty it is to “feed the flock of God,” who are required to watch for dangers that beset it, would have perceived the approaching pack of wolves whose reeking fangs had already wrought such havoc in the Christian folds of other lands, and would have warned their sheep accordingly. At least one would have supposed they would have said something, either to justify all this wolf-biting or to have condemned it. But it seemed as though the Devil had gone on a special pilgrimage to all the Chicago parsonages, and had given these shepherds the lockjaw, that they might not commit them- THE SAINT AND THE SWORD 247 selves indiscreetly to the words of the ‘Chief Shepherd,” until they were assured of what the Government of the United States was going to say about it. In these momentous days, it must be said with sorrow and a sense of shame that so far as collective action in protesting against war is con- cerned, it was left to the societies outside the Church, such as the Socialists, to organize meetings against war. “They alone lifted up a standard in opposition to “the howling hub- bub of the hysterical press patriots.” Thus, in this midnight hour of the world’s history the Church, by exchanging the illuminating lamp of her Master’s teaching for the bloody tools of the assassin, has probably missed the greatest opportunity for winning eternal fame in heaven, and averting immeasurable disaster on earth which, in this age, will ever be given her. When the Lord suddenly returns to call His Bride to Himself, how many will be found with a faith sufficient to have enabled them to go all the way with His words? Not many! But thank God there are a faithful few—more than we dream of—who have not “bowed the knee to Baal’— whose lamps are trimmed and burning. ‘These are they to whom He referred when He said, “Ye are the light’ —‘‘Fear not, little flock; for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom.” “Ye are the Salt” But again, according to the symbolism of Christ, the Christian is the true patriot because he is more than “‘light,” he is “salt’’—‘Ye are the salt of the earth.” I am not of course, speaking of the salt which has “‘lost its savor,’ which is always found in the place where the Master said it be- longed—“under the foot of man;’”’ that is to say, under the feet of the worldly, godless crowd. It is.a shocking but ungainsayable fact that the vast majority of professing Chris- tians have so little of the true salt of God’s truth, that, 1Luke 12:32. 248 THE SAINT AND THE SWORD not only is their influence for good among sinners a negligible quantity, but the infinitesimal quantity of salt they have left is being continually more unsavored by the world. In times of crisis, when brave men are needed, they invariably prac- tice the art of “watchful waiting” till they see which way “the cat is going to jump,” then they promptly follow in the same direction and begin at once to use all their argumenta- tive powers to justify themselves and those who jumped before them. Christians of this type are not the “salt” I speak of. That kind of salt the Lord rightly described when He said, “It is thenceforth good for nothing, but to be cast out, and to be trodden under the foot of man.” And verily a most accommodating foot-path to hell such mock saints have ever paved for millions to walk over, with assured steps and dormant consciences. If there is one thing more than another for which God holds a withering contempt and which invokes His fierce anger, it is unsavored salt in His professed Church. No. I am speaking of the true saints who are the “‘salt of the earth.” What a wonderful symbol! Could any imagery more perfectly portray the strength of the defense which the “out-and-out” followers of Christ afford to the land of their sojourn in this age? As an agent for protec- tion, salt is infinitely more potent than gunpowder. Of all the preservatives in the world, on land or sea, none are to be compared for their effectiveness with salt. Without salt, in the hills, on the plains, in the waters of the deep, in the spheres of the animal and vegetable worlds, in the food of beast and man, the whole globe would be turned into a sepulcher of putrid corruption. It is salt which holds in check the annihilating forces of pollution. What salt is in the natural realm the true Church of | Christ is in the realms moral and spiritual. It is the agency — which prevents the contaminating forces of evil from quickly completing their work of destruction. THE SAINT AND THE SWORD 249 The Real Defenders Let those who despise the Christian, because he refuses to go down into a fratricidal carnage to defend what men are pleased to call his country’s, or some other country’s, “‘inter- ests,” let them reflect on the fact that but for the presence in this world of Christ’s Church, as the dwelling place of the Holy Spirit, the nations of the earth would have become so morally corrupt that God would have long ago ‘‘dumped the whole bunch into hell.” In that hour when the Spirit- possessed saints, who constitute earth’s preserving salt, are suddenly translated to be with the Lord, when the full fury of the powers of darkness seize upon mankind, then the sneering worlding, with the faithless, foolish, lifeless pro- fessors “left” behind, will find out how much more they owed for their preservation to the guardian ministry of God’s true people than they did to all the armed legions in the world. The true patriot is not the fellow who yells for a flag, for which frequently he has so little real regard that he will allow it to weather all storms and to hang before his house like a washed-out rag, he is the citizen who stands unflinchingly for the principles which the flag rep- resents. The Apostle understood the value of true saints to the world, when writing about the encroaching powers of the Anti-Christ he declared, “For the mystery of lawlessness doth already work, only there is one that restraineth now, until he be taken out of the way, and then shall be revealed the lawless one whom the Lord shall slay with the breath of his mouth.”* ‘The “one that restraineth” is the Holy Spirit in the hearts of the true saints who, in an unexpected mo- ment, are to be “taken out of the way.” And note further, even after they are gone and the “great tribulation,” that frightful tempest of sorrow and bloodshed, shall have broken over the world, even then the protecting influence of the saints who—though shut out from the “marriage” will have 12 Thess. 2:7, 8. 250 THE SAINT AND THE SWORD repented and turned to the Lord—shall once more be mani- fested; for Jesus tells us that “except these days should be shortened there should no flesh be saved; but for the elect’s sake those days shall be shortened.”* Oh, how contemptible is the demeaning of the Church, the Church described as Christ’s “glorious Church not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing’—‘“the Church of the first-born which are written in heaven,” the Church so armed with spiritual forces ‘“‘that the gates of hell shall not prevail against it,” what a contemptible belittling before the world of that Church it is when archbishops, bishops, emi- nent so-called ‘free’ divines, and ecclesiastical hosts of duly ordained officialdom, together with censor-scared guardians of the religious press, turn pulpits and editorial sanctums into agencies for recruiting men to go and shoot each other! What a spectacle for angels and men it is when these servants of the Most High are seen hurrying to assure their several governments that they intend to support, not the surely tri- umphant Gospel, nor the policy of confidence in the Lord as the avenger of wrong, but a policy of reliance upon “horses and chariots,’ lyddite, dynamite, and other floating, flying, sneaking, explosive damnation! The Meek Shall Inherit the Earth But glory to God for the loyal minority which, though insignificantly small, has stood unflinchingly for the truth in the midst of all this Christ-contradicting advocacy of fury. These have refused to participate in this cut-throat ecclesias- ticism, which distributes Bibles and preaches salvation while it winks at hell-fire, bombardments and assassination. Since they are not conformed to the spirit of this age, they have dared to be counted “unpatriotic” by even a goodly number of doctors of divinity, who seem to have taken to pugilism as a more effective method of correcting the world’s evils than Holy Ghost persuasion, prayer and the Gospel. 1Matt. 24:22. THE SAINT AND THE SWORD 281 Let this little flock of faithful ones count it all joy when men thus persecute them, treat them as cowards and cover them with scorn because they refuse to shed a brother’s blood. The Christian is under no kind of obligation to do wrong in order to defend governments which are controlled by godless majorities, worldly kings, or Christ-rejecting bureau- cracies. He is here to enlighten and honor them, since they are the representatives of order in the world, but he is not called to lay down his life for them. It is they rather, be- cause they have never recognized Christ as their Sovereign King, who are obligated to the Christian—‘‘Do ye not know that the saints shall judge the world?! No rebel against God has any real claim upon a square inch of this globe. “The earth is the LORD’S, and the fulness thereof.’’ Yes, this old world is the Lord’s and “‘in the dispensation of the fulness of times” He will “gather together in one, all things in Christ . . . which are on earth. ... In whom also we have obtained an inheritance,” the “earnest” of which is “sealed with that Holy Spirit of promise,” “until the redemption of the purchased possession.”? God in the mouth of His Son has declared that “the meek”—the peo- ple who by certain men of this world are called ‘“pussy- foots,” and not the men who advocate “big-stick” regenera- tion, shall inherit the earth. Let the governments of this world remember this and let them not forget the peril they assume when they afflict or prosecute the Lord’s people, for better would it be for kings and presidents “if a millstone were hanged about their necks and they were cast into the sea, than that they should offend one of these little ones.’ Peace Sentiment Without the Spirit But once more Jesus in the closing hours of His earthly ministry said: “Go ye, therefore, and teach all nations. . . . Lo, lam with you always.”® The Christian is the repre- 41 Cor. 6:2. *Psa. 24:1. ‘Luke 17:2. 5Matt. 28:19, 20. 8Eph. 1:10, 11, 14. See Isa. 49:22, 23. 252 THE SAINT AND THE SWORD sentative, and in a blessed sense, the conveyer of Christ to the world—the Christ of the Gospel. That Gospel which is more than “Light,” and more than “Salt,” because it is power—‘‘the Power of God unto Salvation.”* It does more than illuminate, it convicts—changes the hearts of men. It so alters, as it were, their center of gravity, that the attrac- tion of “old things,” for possession of which they once went to die or to kill, loses its spell, and things of an immeasur- ably higher order, and which are won not by physical fight- ing but by faith, hold supernatural sway over their souls. This Gospel force—the force of Christ in the heart, is im- measurably more removed from the force of military power than a Mauser rifle is from a catapult. It has wrought accomplishments for the world which all the arms it contains are powerless to achieve. God, knowing this, has decided that He will deal with the nations as they deal with that Gospel, and with those who proclaim it. It needs no argu- ment to show that the Christian who in sincerity fights “the good fight of faith,” is a much better defender of his coun- try than he who shoulders a rifle, and goes to spread hatred and destruction all along his path. He goes so to teach the nations, so to instruct them, that they may have “learned Christ,” and being taught religion “‘as the truth is in Jesus’? they may “put on Christ.” ‘Then, to make all this possible, the Christian takes with him the Lord Jesus as the living power of that truth—‘‘Lo, I am with you alway.’’* Here is the need of the hour and herein is that which differentiates the “peacemakers,” who win the benediction which Christ promised at the close of His Sermon on the Mount from most of the Peace Movements of the present day. These peace organizations, while excellent as far as they go, do not go far enough. They are based on principles of expediency, philosophy, political economy or other purely temporal advantages. “The seed-purpose is all right, but 1Rom. 1:16. "Eph. 4:20, 21. *Gal. 3:27. ‘Matt. 28:20. THE SAINT AND THE SWORD 253 there is nothing to germinate it. Hence, there is little fruit- age of these movements when the real test comes. The collapse of most of the organizations which have so eloquently advocated pacific policies and the diplomatic somersaults many of their champions have executed before a wondering world has been painful to behold. Instantly war is proclaimed their principles are surrendered to their patriotism. “We must support our King, our Kaiser, our President,” they say, “and wait some more convenient sea- son to advocate our cause.” ‘The principles of the Prince of Peace are discarded as soon as some earthly potentate, or parliament, declares for a policy the very reverse of all He taught. Some of the leaders even, in the conflict against war, rush off to “stand by” President or King, and so the Lord Jesus is made to stand aside while they give their allegiance to earthly kingdoms in carrying into effect an anti-christian policy. It is the Devil’s plan for this age to try and redeem man- kind without Christ—to get the desirable consequences of Christianity without their divine origin. He would steal the glory which comes by the Cross, while shirking its shame and denying its redeeming work. Hence, the cry of “peace, peace, when there is no peace,” that is to say, the attempt to get peace by methods which leave out the Gospel and which can, therefore, never secure it. The sole guarantee of peace between nations, as between individuals, is the unifying over- lordship of the Prince of Peace—He Who is first Saviour, then Lord, then coming King. War and Disobedience War and disobedience to Christ go together—‘“Thou shalt do no murder.” The remedy for one is the cure for the other. The remedy is the “love of God shed abroad in the heart” through faith in the atoning work of the Saviour. It is a peace society based on this principle the world needs. 254 THE SAINT AND THE SWORD A society resolved to maintain the principles of Jesus Christ, through the merits and power of Christ, because it is the command of Christ. Such societies have always achieved mighty things, since God has owned them and the Holy Spirit has energized them. This is the teaching which the CHRISTIAN is to take to the nations, and because he goes to teach them everything which would prevent them fighting each other, he cannot help them by joining in their quarrels. He is to baptize them, not in the name of the frightful trinity of war gods, whose armies redden the earth, whose navies plow the seas, whose air-ships cleave the sky, but in the name of the Holy Trinity—the Father of love, the Saviour of love, the Spirit of love. For the Christian to do other than this would be the rankest disloyalty, not only to his higher citizenship in heaven, but to his home-land on earth. Il. WAR IS UNPATRIOTIC FOR THE CHRIS- TIAN BECAUSE IT VIOLATES THE LAWS OF HIS HEAVENLY CITIZENSHIP This is, for the Christian, a supreme question. He has a double citizenship—one below, one above, one here, one hereafter. His spiritual citizenship, which, during this pres- ent age, until the Lord Jesus returns to establish His king- dom on this earth, is in heaven, is that which takes precedence over his obligations to all earthly kingdoms. If we are to live in this present time ‘‘as becometh saints,” we must above all things get a clear understanding of the correct relationships of these two citizenships to each other. Mal- adjustment in this matter is responsible for the Church’s loss of power and inactivity more than anything else. While Christians, as we have seen, are called to a loyal and faith- ful citizenship in the kingdoms of this age, they must nevet forget that in no sense are these kingdoms of Christ. No nation in the world can truthfully call itself Christian. Of course it may claim to be “Christianized,” for all that is most valuable in each of these nations has found its origin in Christianity. But that does not make them Christian. Only that which is in living union with Christ and is sub- servient to Him is truly Christian. A Christian nation would have to be composed of citizens the large majority at least of whom were children of God, adopted into His family by the new birth through faith in His cross. No nation today makes any such claim. ‘The vast majority of those composing the populations of the most enlightened countries make no profession of allegiance to Christ. In no practical way do they recognize His overlordship, they seldom if ever enter His courts, they know nothing of His spirit. 255 Me 256 THE SAINT AND THE SWORD Fighting for Doomed Kingdoms Even governments whose parliaments are opened with prayer, whose public celebrations are associated with ecclesi- astical ritual, are made up of men who, for the most part, have no spiritual vision, no real love for the Saviour. After parliamentary chaplains have “said the prayers,’ the name of Christ is hardly ever mentioned in the council chambers of the nations, certainly He is not regarded as an ever- present supreme authority, when interests of nations are con- sidered or their laws enacted. No representative of the people ever rises in the legislative assemblies of the world to read from the New ‘Testament his authority for moving a resolution, for introducing a bill, or for casting a vote. So completely is Christ banished from modern Parliament Houses, that were He to pass through their closed doors as He once did on a memorable occasion, in another place, and greet the assembled legislators with the salutation so appro- priate to the hour—‘‘Peace be unto you,” hardly an occupant of the government or opposition benches would recognize Him. I am afraid the majority of them would be ashamed of Him. Neither can any one who knows her true spiritual condi- tion deny that there is reason to question whether even the professed Church herself would, for the most part, hail her Lord were He to reappear within her portals. Strange to say, though He purchased her with His blood, though she has acquired all she possesses by the sentiment created by His cross, His gentle spirit is seldom found at her altars—He stands outside her gates. With the ear of the spirit one may hear Him crying, “Behold, I stand at the door and knock.”* Nor must the Christian forget that, notwithstanding the fact that God has ordained the principle of human govern- ment, the systems of this world are not God’s systems. Re- publics, democracies, unions, federations, are doubtless © safer in the present state of mankind than autocracies. 1Rev. 3:20. THE SAINT AND THE SWORD 257 Though the tyranny of the “trusts” may be even more in- tolerable than the arrogancy of kings, yet democracies have a great advantage in that they afford the opportunity for “blowing off” the force of anger which accumulates in the national breast. A pleasing sense of authority rests upon the people when, without creating a revolution, a mayor or a prime minister is turned out of office and, speaking figura- tively, is “kicked down the stairs.” To be able to do these things flatters an outraged populace, and makes it easier to go on enduring the wrongs which another crop of wire- pullers and unprincipled politicians will most assuredly rise up to inflict upon it. But what the Christian has to note carefully is that these much prized democracies are not according to God’s plan of government. When His Son comes back to govern the world, He is not returning as a president or a premier, sub- ordinate to the will of the people, He is coming as—‘‘the blessed and only potentate, the King of kings and Lord of lords.’ Their Days are Numbered Again the kingdoms of this age are passing away. ‘Their time is running to its close. God’s clock will soon strike twelve again, when they will vanish whereas the kingdom to which the Christian owes his chief allegiance is an everlasting kingdom, and it is yet to come—‘“Thy king- dom come.” ‘That kingdom is not going to be brought in by the might of bloody weapons, in the hands of proud im- perial War-Lords. Doubtless such an idea is very gratifying to those whose soldiers and sailors keep ward and watch over most of earth and sea. Notwithstanding the general expectation of “modern scholarship,” the kingdom of mil- liennial glory is NOT going to be introduced as a cul- minating tribute to the genius of fallen mam or by a process of “evolving” ideas leading up into combinations of armies, navies, and other sorts of godless federations. ‘That king- er Tim, 6:1, 258 THE SAINT AND THE SWORD dom is not going to be “brought in” or “worked out” or “made up,” but as Philip Mauro reminds us, we are dis- tinctly told it is “coming down,” the ““New Jerusalem which cometh down out of heaven.” So the Christian needs to be much on his guard against the snare of getting into wrong relations with these earthly kingdoms. ‘They are by no means the kingdoms of his Lord, and while there are cer- tain duties and obligations which he must necessarily under- take—‘“rendering to Czsar the things that are Casar’s’— yet, as regards those things which absorb the attention and capture the affections of men in this age, he is among them as a “stranger and pilgrim” and he must carefully guard against rendering to Cesar “the things that are God’s.’”? The Heavenly Citizenship and the United States Citizen We must recollect that “our citizenship is in heaven, whence also we wait for a Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ.’ This is the citizenship we have got to keep in the place of supremacy. It is in regard to that coming King and His approaching kingdom that our truest “patriotism” is to be manifested, our utmost endeavors are to be put forth. All other allegiance of whatsoever kind must be subordinated to the laws of that higher citizenship, to the command of this supreme King. Perhaps the citizenship of the United States, as regards a vast proportion of its population, affords the best illustra- tion of the Christian’s relationship both to the kingdoms of this age and the coming kingdom of our Lord. Most of the citizens of the United States are of foreign extraction, an enormous number are foreign born, not a few are of com- paratively recent naturalization. When an applicant for citizenship in this country takes out his papers, he is required — to renounce certain allegiances he has hitherto paid to the land of his birth. He must abandon certain claims upon his ~ fatherland, and abjure certain obligations which, up till that time, his king or his government have laid upon him. These — tRey. 3:12. *Matt. 22:21; 1 Pet. 2:11. *Phil. 3:20 R. VY. THE SAINT AND THE SWORD 259 allegiances, claims, obligations, are those that would affect or destroy his loyalty to his newly adopted government. But there are other allegiances and claims, which he is not re- quired to ignore or renounce, but which he is permitted to recognize conditionally upon their never being allowed to interfere with the interests of his new home-land, these must always, under all circumstances, take precedence over the concerns of all other countries. When it comes to those vital issues where choices are necessary between what is “foreign” and what is American, though they should have to fight those native instincts which run in their blood, the Stars and Stripes must be hoisted above every other flag, and if needful men must fight for America even though they have to fight their friends of former years. Mind, I am giving an illustration, I am not defending such fighting. Heavenly Before Earthly Obligations This is, however, precisely the position in which every true Christian is placed, and for which I do most emphatically contend. When by “the new birth” he is adopted into the family of God, he becomes not only a member of Christ’s Church, but a citizen of the Kingdom of Heaven. That kingdom, which although in this age, it “cometh not with observation” and is “not of this world,” is none the less a reality today in its spiritual or “mystery” form, while the Lord is gathering His Church from among the Gentile nations. We, as members of that spiritual kingdom and Church, come under the rule of higher laws than any which pertain to this dispensation. The standard of the New Testament is our code of law—the law of love. “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. On these two com- mandments hang all the law and the prophets.”? Thus the 1Matt. 22:37, 40. 260 THE SAINT AND THE SWORD Christian’s obligation to the law of his heavenly citizenship is more binding than any other. All his relationships to things of this life must be subject to that higher law. His loyalty to all earthly institutions, his reverence for, his support of, “powers that be;” his obedience to all human legislation, even his allegiance to all family ties, must be sub- jected to the teachings of the New ‘Testament, which con- stitute the requirements of the New Covenant into which he has entered with his Lord. While, as in the case of the naturalized American citizen, he continues to hold certain relationships with his old con- nections, while he is permitted to participate in the affairs of the world, to cherish affections there, to pursue earthly callings—‘“‘not slothful in business,”+ yet all these relation- ships are to be “in the Lord’—pleasing to Him, and never in opposition to His interests or His Word. Qualifying Clauses Have you not noticed the number and strength of what might be termed the “qualifying clauses” that surround those passages in the New Testament which are always em- ployed by the advocates of war in support of their case? ‘These passages can be used by such advocates only by an unjustifiable wresting of the text from the context. When the Bible refers to those points of contact with questionable earthly affairs about which there is danger of misunder- standing—where great care is required to prevent false and fatal reading—these Scriptures are illuminated by surround- ing passages which guard them, so to speak, against mistaken interpretation. Take, for instance, those almost universally misunder- stood verses relating to earthly authority, and therefore to war, found in the thirteenth chapter of the Epistle to the Romans, the second chapter of the First Epistle of Peter, the second chapter of the First Epistle to Timothy and the second chapter of the Epistle to Titus. Some of the 1Rom, 12:11. THE SAINT AND THE SWORD 261 most brilliant intellects, the most godly men in the Church, seem to me to stumble, as regards war, over these verses. Take Romans thirteen. In verses one to seven, there cer- tainly are expressions which would seem by the mention of the magistrate’s sword and the insistence on obedience due to earthly authorities, to justify war for the Christian. Concerning the distinction between the use of the sword by the magistrate and the soldier, I. have already spoken (see page 105). Here, since this Scripture and those in the Peter, Timothy and Titus Epistles are so vital to the subject, I want to place the sentences referred to by the war advocates and the qualifying passages immediately sur- rounding them, side by side. Study them then carefully. _ Were Paul and Peter Non-resistants? (All italics are mine) Passages surrounding these alleged war-texts which are anti-war and show the char- acter of the obedience the Christian is to render. (With comments. ) Passages used to defend ab- solute obedience to earthly au- thorities, when they insist on participation in war. Passages taken from Rom. 12:14-213 13:1-10 “Bless them which persecute you; bless, and curse not.” “Recompense to no man evil for evil.” “Tf it be possible, as much as “lieth in you, live peaceably with all men”’—your ability to “Let every soul be subject un- to the higher powers.” “There is no power but of God.” “Whosoever therefore resist- eth the power resisteth the ordi- nance of God.” “They that resist shall re- ceive to themselves damnation.” “For rulers are not a terror to good works, but to the evil.” “Wilt thou then not be afraid of the power?” keep peace will depend on how much of the grace of God “lieth in you.” “Avenge not yourselves, but rather give place unto wrath... vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord.” “Therefore if thine enemy hunger, feed him, if he thirst give him to drink”—don’t starve him out. 262 “Do that which is good, and thou shalt have praise of the same.” “For he is the minister of God to thee for good, But if thou do that which is evil, be afraid, for he beareth not the sword in vain.” “For he is the minister of God, a revenger to execute wrath upon him that doeth evil.” “Wherefore ye must needs be. subject, not only for wrath, but also for conscience sake. For this cause pay ye tribute also: for they are God’s ministers, attending continually upon this very thing. “Render therefore to all their dues: tribute to whom tribute is due: custom to whom custom: fear to whom fear: honor to whom honor.” THE SAINT AND THE SWORD “Overcome evil with good”— not with gunpowder. “Owe no man anything but to love one another.” “Thou shalt not commit adultery’—War winks at it. “Thou shalt not kill”—the sixth commandment was broken about six million times during the war. “Thou shalt. not steal”—ex- cept from the “enemy.” “Thou shalt not bear false witness”’—soldiers may tell all the lies they like to the “enemy.” “Thou shalt not covet,’—most wars are a fight for the be- longings of others. “Thou shalt love thy neigh- bor as thyself’—war says, “hate your neighbor and love your-. self.” “Love worketh zo ill to his neighbor’—war works nothing else but “all.” Passages taken from 1 Peter 2; 11:24 “Submit yourselves to every ordinance of man for the Lord’s sake: whether it be to the King as supreme; or unto the gover- nors, as unto them that are sent by him for the punishment of evil doers, and for the praise of them that do well. For so is the will of God. Honor the king.” “As strangers and pilgrims” —‘‘strangers” and “pilgrims” have no earthly land to die and slay for. “That with well doing ye may put to silence the ignorance of foolish men”—not with fight- ing. “As free, ... as the servants of God’—not as the slaves of ungodly and earthly men? “Honor all men. Love the brotherhood. Fear God”—not, kill the foreigner, hate your enemy, disobey God. “For this is thankworthy, if a man for conscience toward God endure grief, suffering wrong- fully ... if when ye do well and suffer for it, ye take it patiently, this is acceptable with God”—not if you avenge your- self and others for wrongs by hitting back. THE SAINT AND THE SWORD 263 “For even hereunto were ye called: because Christ also suf- fered for us, leaving us an ex- ample, that ye should follow his steps: Who, when he was reviled reviled not again; when he suffered, he threatened not; but committed himself to him that judgeth righteously . . . by whose stripes ye were healed’—then when “ordi- nances of men’ bid us do the opposite of all this we are not to obey them. Passages taken from 1 Timothy 2:1-8 “TY exhort therefore, that, first of all, supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks, be made for all men; for kings and for all that are in authority; that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty. For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Saviour.” “For all men’—we are to love and pray for all men as well as “the king” and “those in authority.” Can’t pray for them and shoot them. “That we may live a qutet peaceable life’—not engage in a roaring, riotous war. “In all godliness and hon- esty”—not possible in war. “God our Saviour who will have all men to be saved’— then how can I do His will and send them unprepared to hell? “Whereunto I am ordained a preacher and an apostle... a teacher’—not a man-slayer. “T will therefore that men pray everywhere lifting up holy hands, without wrath and doubting”—prayer and bayonet- sticking absolutely opposed. In battle men lift up bloody hands impelled by passion which is fostered by doubt and suspic- 10n.” Passages in Titus 2:6-143 3:1-5 “Put them in mind to be sub- ject to principalities and powers, to obey magistrates.” “Young men likewise exhort to be sober minded’”—sobriety and the rage of fighting don’t go together. One must lose his temper before he can prop- erly thrust his sword. 264 THE SAINT AND THE SWORD “In all things showing thy- self a pattern of good works” —not crouching in earth works waiting to rip your brother up the bowels, that isn’t a “good work.” “Uncorruptness, gravity, sin- cerity, sound speech”—corrup- tion, levity, lying and _ blas- phemy are outstanding features of all barracks and trenches. “Having no evil thing to say of you”’—never being able to say that you ever committed murder—killed any one. “Not purloining’—loot and robbery are frequent in war. “The grace of God... hath appeared, ... teaching us that denying all ungodliness and worldly lusts’—but all armies © are for the most part, godless and they have filled Europe with dishonored girls and war- babies. “We should live _ soberly, righteously and godly”—how is this possible while men are hating and killing each other? “Looking ... for our Saviour Jesus Christ’—nobody looks for Jesus Christ when on the look- out for the enemy. A battle- field is the last place in the world where the generals want to see Jesus. “Who gave himself for us” —so are we to give ourselves for others even when they wrong and ill-treat us. “A peculiar people zealous of good works—ready to every good work’—zealous in doing good, not in spreading death and destruction. “To speak evil of no man’— with armies it is “disloyalty” to speak anything but “evil” of the “enemy.” THE SAINT AND THE SWORD 265 “No brawlers”—every battle charge is a yelling, screaming, Swearing, raging rampage. “But gentle, showing all meekness unto all men’”—of all things in this universe the most despicable to a camp of armed men is “gentleness” and “meek- ness.” The only kind of “sub- missiveness” armies believe in is not that which is shown “unto all men” but to the few officers to whom the common soldier is required to sign away his soul. Justifiable Disobedience Surely any unprejudiced mind, honestly seeking the truth, will perceive that, whatever kind of obedience to earthly governments the passages so ardently quoted from these chapters by war advocates may imply, they cannot mean, that the Christian is to render such an obedience as involves the breach of many far stronger and more important in- junctions, with which such passages are inseparably asso- ciated. The Scriptures, then, which require our obedience to earthly authority must be interpreted by, and subordinated to, those others which demand a still stricter obedience to heavenly authority. We know also that Scripture cannot contradict itself. But more, these greatly-relied-upon passages indicate in themselves what kind of authority it is Christians are to obey. Let us refer first to those in Romans thirteen. The “rulers” they are to obey “are not a terror to good works but to evil.” Of course, then, it could not mean that if some Nero was to command the saints to worship idols, or tell them to go and kill each other, that they were to obey him in doing that. Again, the power of which we are to “be afraid” is to be of such a nature that if we do “that which is good,” we shall “have praise of the same; which is another way of saying, that should the power tempt us by its “praise” to do what is 66 THE SAINT AND THE SWORD bad, we are not to yield to it. Further, the power to which we owe allegiance is “the minister of God .. . for good,” and the fact that “he beareth not the sword in vain,” is to make us “afraid” when we “do that which is evil.” He is “the minister of God to execute wrath upon him that doeth evil.” But the Apostle could never have meant to imply that we were to allow governments to make us “afraid” to do good and to refuse to do wrong. It was His own disobedience to such authorities which led them to cast him into prison and ultimately to cut off his head! , Concerning the passage in Peter’s First Epistle. The war advocate’s texts are also sufficiently self-interpretive. The “ordinances of men” to which the Christian is to sub- mit, are those which he can obey—“for the Lord’s sake.” It is evident, then, that if an “ordinance” demands that he should strike his enemies when Christ told him he was not to resist but to love them, he could not obey such an ordi- nance as that—‘for the Lord’s sake.” Again the “governors” Christ’s followers are to obey are those sent “‘for the punish- ment of evil doers” and for “the praise of them that do well’ according to the “will of God.’ He is therefore NOT to follow their dictates when they would praise him for dis- obeying God, any more than he is to fear them when they punish him for doing good, in other words, when he refuses to commit murder. So it will be seen that the command to “honor the king” cannot mean that a Christian is to go to war at his behest, for in doing that he would be disobey- ing all the “qualifying clauses’ which surround this in- junction. Those who preach the doctrine of absolute and indiscrimi- nating obedience to earthly governments should remember that this argument proves a good deal too much for the bene- fit of their case, because it is just as applicable to the soldiers of an opposing army. [If it is incumbent on English, French and American Christians to go to war because God requires them to obey their rulers, it must be equally right for Ger- THE SAINT AND THE SWORD 267 man and Austrian Christians to do the same. In this case we are confronted with the grotesque spectacle of one set of Christians marching out in obedience to the Word of God, to slay another set of Christians whose sole offense against their opponents is that they are doing exactly the same thing! Scripturally defended unquestioning obedience to King George or the President is just as applicable to Kaisers. Bad Laws Repealed by Punishments They Inflict And yet always bear carefully in mind that although we, with the Apostles Paul and Peter, are not only justified in so doing, but are also required by the law of our allegiance to our heavenly King always to disobey earthly leaders when they require of us any unfaithfulness to Christ, yet we are not to resist them. Non-compliance is one thing resistance is quite another. ‘The Apostles, with all the martyrs and saints, have been called to disobey earthly powers and poten- tates, but they never resisted them. Hence, they never dishonored the function of government which is “ordained of God.” There are two ways in which the principle of law and order can be upheld. It can, under the administration of God-fearing rulers, be supported by obedience to their be- hests, in which case those doing so will “have praise of the same;” or it can, under the administration of wicked rulers, be upheld by willingly and without resistance suffering for an intelligent and conscientious refusal to comply with evil. In one case the law is honored by obedience, in the other by patient endurance of the penalty attached to its breach. Even the criminal, when he emerges from jail after a ten- year incarceration has, by his endurance of punishment, honored the law. By such suffering on the part of the right- eous many evil rulers have been overthrown and many bad laws have been repealed. When, therefore, as Christians, we are asked by temporal rulers to arm ourselves and go out to kill others, we are to reply in the words of Peter— 268 THE SAINT AND THE SWORD “Whether it be right in the sight of God to hearken unto you more than unto God, judge ye’—“We ought to obey God rather than men.”! ‘That is to say, we put the respon- sibility back on such rulers for their unjust rulership and refuse to obey them. But we are at the same time to sub- mit patiently and unresistingly to the penalties placed upon us for our disobedience. ‘Thus we honor, if not the right- eous law of God, yet the principle of law in the world which is by God, and though there is, of course, nothing of the marvelous merit in our suffering that there was in that of Christ, yet we support that principle, even as He did, when He went unresistingly to die at the hands of wicked men. Personally I have been privileged to see this policy worked out, with all the success the Lord has promised should fol- low it, in the earlier days of the Salvation Army, days when our splendid antagonism to the spirit of the world brought us into the real zone of fighting- with the powers of evil. I have myself, as others have done scores of times, inten- tionally broken the ordinance of a city, by preaching in the open air in order to get the laws repealed which closed the streets to the proclamation of the Gospel. While we always, when we could, threw back the onus of our imprison- ment upon the authorities by testing, in the higher courts, the constitutional soundness of the by-laws under which we were prosecuted, we always joined with our pleading the as- surance that we were willing to suffer, since we appreciated the principle of the law. And the fact that we had patiently and cheerfully suffered imprisonment always aided our case, sometimes with the judges, frequently with magistrates, who on some occasions have been so troubled as to rise from 4 their beds to pay the fines they themselves had imposed, thus liberating the victims of their own judgments. earthly “patriotism” infringes upon the greater obligations of the coming kingdom we are always at all costs to stand for 1Acts 4:19; 5:20. i g As Christians, then, whenever the requirements of our THE SAINT AND THE SWORD 269 our heavenly King. His commands must be supreme. For Jesus Himself said ‘Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away.” The counsel of pre- dominant importance to all who wish to follow His banner in the matter of our relationships with earthly powers, He gave us Himself when He said—‘“‘Seek ye FIRST the king- dom of God and HIS righteousness.’ The Lord Jesus and Theodore Roosevelt Further, we must not forget that the “patriotism” of the Christian is not confined to his own country. His sym- pathies go out toward all nations, for members of all nation- alities are in the Kingdom of God. Most of the “patriotism” of this godless world is nothing but a thoroughly anti-Chris- tian, narrow, selfish, greedy spirit. ‘That spirit is respon- sible for nearly all wars. If it was not so wicked it would be laughable. To see people puffing themselves up with a vain imagination that their particular race and the portion of the globe which it happens to occupy is immensely su- perior to all other races and all other lands, is absurd enough; but to travel the world, as I have, and see every nation doing the same thing, is painfully ridiculous. This spirit of exclusiveness was most accurately voiced in a war-time speech delivered by the late and lamented Theo- dore Roosevelt, who, when offering himself for a third-term presidency, gave out this message to the American people: “Don’t be for me unless you are prepared to say that every citizen of this country has got to be pro-United States, first, last and all the time, and no pro-anything else at all, and that we stand for every good American everywhere, whatever his birth- place or creed, and wherever he now lives, and that in return we demand that he be an American and nothing else, with no hyphen about him. Every American citizen must be an American first and for no other country even second, and he hasn’t any right to be in the United States at all if he has any divided loyalty be- tween this and any other country. I don’t care a rap for the man’s creed or birthplace so long as he is straight United States, and if he isn’t I’m against him.” 1Matt. 24:35. Matt. 6:33. 270 THE SAINT AND THE SWORD From the viewpoint of this world’s policy, such talk may be excellent “patriotism,” but most certainly it is not Chris- tianity. I say this of Mr. Roosevelt with all due respect for his record, his exalted station, and for the friendship he manifested toward the family to which I belong. But I say it boldly, because it is teaching of the kind expressed in this: speech which has flooded the world with selfishness and barred off man from man by barriers of misunderstanding, envy and hatred. Pro-Christians versus Pro-Americans Such national self-inflation is doubtless excellent diplomacy for governments whose policy may be described by the say- ing, “Every nation for itself and the Devil take the hind- most,” but most decidedly it is not the spirit of the Church, whose rule for nations, as for men, is, “Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.” Jesus, the King of the Jewish nation— which of all nationalities had most right to exclusiveness— never said, ‘“Don’t be for me unless you are prepared to say that every Jew has got to be pro-Israelite first, last and all the time, and no pro-anything else at all.” He didn’t say, “Every Jewish citizen must be a Jew first, and for no other country even second,” nor did He say that he didn’t “care a rap for a man’s creed so long as he is a straight Jew.” On the contrary, He gave the privileges of the chosen people to “every nation.” He loved to call Himself “the Son of Man”—man regardless of birthplace, race, or color. ‘They all had the same claim upon His love and a like interest in His great sacrifice. For this very reason the Lord was not by any means so unconcerned about a man’s creed as Mr. Roosevelt seemed to be. With Him what a man believed concerning the redeeming work of the Cross, and how he obeyed the commands of God’s only begotten Son, were mat- ters of infinitely greater importance than any question of national politics could ever be. For a Christian, then, the very thought of blowing off a man’s head because he hap- THE SAINT AND THE SWORD 271 pened to be a “foreigner,” is horrible. He believes that God “hath made of one blood all nations of men.’ He is not tied to any one flag. He finds it nowhere recorded in the Bible that he is not to be a loyal subject of Germany, or Austria, France, England, Italy, or the United States. But he does find there how excellent it is to be “all things to all men,”? and without any shadow of a doubt he does dis- cover that the Scriptures forbid him to be a murderer. From this standpoint also the “patriotism” of those who com- pose the Kingdom of God—the citizens of which are of all nationalities—is an infinitely more exalted patriotism than that which sees little but its own nation’s interests; grows rich with blood-money amassed by the misery of other people’s horrors; and then flies into rage and into arms immediately its own citizens are injured or its own trade is interfered with. If you must have war, and wish to be guided as much as possible by the teachings of Christ, it is better to fight to right the other fellow’s wrongs than your own. 1Acts 17:26. *1Cor. 9:22. Ill. WAR IS UNPATRIOTIC FOR THE CHRIS- TIAN BECAUSE FOR THE CHRISTIAN TO DESTROY HIS FELLOW-CHRISTIAN IS THE HIGHEST FORM OF TREASON TO CHRIST | As I have already reminded you, it is a strict rule of earthly nations, that citizens should have the protection of their governments in the pursuit of lawful rights. Hence, we saw the United States going to war with Germany partly and ostensibly because a handful of her hundred millions of subjects, sailing in belligerent ships, had fallen upon disaster. Wherever a reputable citizen of an earthly power may go he is supposed to take with him the protection of his nation. He is part of the body politic. Any insult suffered by him is shared, and is to be avenged by his government. But for fellow-citizens of the same country to kill each other is the rankest murder. For soldiers of the same army, fight- ing for the same government, to turn upon each other—and more especially to do so in the presence of the enemy—would be the worst kind of traitorship, punishable by instantaneous shooting. The Body of Christ But how much more important it must be to maintain this principle in relation to the Kingdom of God and the Church of Christ. The Christian is not only a citizen of Christ’s kingdom, he is a member of “the Church which is His body.’+ That “Body,” though composed of many members, is “one in Christ Jesus.” Wherever there is a humble be- liever in the Saviour there is a part of the sacred Body of the Lord. ‘For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles.”? How, then, can 1Eph. 1:22, 23. #1 Cor, 12:13. 272 | THE SAINT AND THE SWORD 273 a Christian destroy any part of that Body of which he is a member himself, and of which Christ is the head, without making himself guilty of the highest treason to his Lord and his King? Impossible! For two members of the Body of Christ to meet on the crest of a trench and pierce each other through with the bayonet, would be an outrageous crime against the very per- son of the Son of God, Who we know, in some mysterious way, dwells in each of His believing children. They con- stitute the limbs of that spiritual organism which is His Church, and to destroy them is to injure Him—to retard His work and to hinder His opportunity for expressing Him- self in the world. No truth in the New Testament is more precious or more wonderful than the relationship of the Heavenly Father to His children on earth. No judgment ever on the lips of Christ was more severe than that which He hurled at those who injured or persecuted His people. “It is impossible but that offenses will come: but woe unto him through whom they come!’* If such a judgment threatens the ungodly for their ill-treatment of the saints, where will the righteous who kill their brother Christians appear? Mutual Murder What could be more monstrous than that members of the _ Christian Endeavour or the Young People’s Societies, whose glory has been that they knew no national boundaries, no racial prejudices, should be shooting each other down like rabbits? ‘Think how many members of the Y. M. C. A. have, despite their bond of universal brotherhood, marched out from Association Huts in the opposing camps and shot each other dead, or sent each other to the hospitals as crip- ples for life. Just try and estimate the wickedness of two soldiers of the Salvation Army, that movement which, perhaps Luke 17:1. 274 THE SAINT AND THE SWORD more than any other in modern times, has trained its people to love and serve, with an equal fervor, the citizens of all nations, just imagine the iniquity of displaying all their wonted enthusiasm in trying to blow each other to pieces! and yet, during the war, I read in the War Cry, a letter to the President of the United States in which the boast was made that thirty thousands Salvationists were actively en- gaged at the different fronts in Europe. In a war-time issue of the American War Cry, I saw also an enthusiastic glorifi- cation of the deeds of a certain Salvation Army color sergeant, who was also a provost sergeant in the Canadian military army. ‘This brother was much praised because he had suc- ceeded in “signing up” fifteen hundred and six men for service, not under the dear old flag of that movement still precious to me and which, in my memory, stands for the good fight of faith, but for the carnal, bestial fray of the trenches. ‘This is indeed strange, for the “Army” as I knew it, and still love to think of it, stands for victory by salva- tion not for conquest by damnation. It cannot then have been God’s will that the Christians of England, Germany, Austria, Italy, France, America, should have been killing each other. But this they have been doing before our eyes and that, not only without protest from their leaders, but often at their instigation. Thousands of Churches, it must be said with sorrow, have been little better than recruiting stations for a system which has flung the Gospel to the winds and openly advocates salvation for the world’s wrongs by brute force. In this connection it is worthy of note that when, at the close of this dispensation, the Lord with His saints ‘“‘shall be revealed from heaven in flaming fire’ to make war on the offending nations at the final battle of Armageddon, the Rapture will already have taken place and the members, of His Body, being translated, will not be found attacking each other, but having been arrayed on His side, will return with Him to destroy His enemies and capture the world for His dominion. — IV. WAR IS ALSO UNPATRIOTIC FOR THE ‘CHRISTIAN BECAUSE IT IS AN ACT OF FLAGRANT DISLOYALTY TO THE BIBLE FOR CHRISTIANS TO KILL AND DIE FOR NATIONS ALREADY DOOMED TO DESTRUCTION Here I desire to say a word specially applicable to those “Bible Student”? Movements, Bible Institutes and Con- ferences which have, during the last fifty years, made prophecy and premillennial truth a special feature of their teaching. In all their instruction there is nothing they have more emphasized than the predicted destruction of the kingdoms of this world. ‘The rock-bottom foundation of the whole prophetic argument, so far as it relates to the “times of the end’—the point at which all calculations begin—is the image of Nebuchadnezzar’s dream as inter- preted by Daniel—“Thou, O king, art this head of gold.’”? ‘That image from the head downward represents a succes- sion of empires culminating in ten kingdoms, represented by its ten toes and, according to this teaching, these kingdoms, which are of an unstable mixture of “iron and clay,” are destined to fall to pieces and finish in utter destruction. The Test for Bible Teaching Very well, then, the time has now come for those who teach these things to practice this doctrine when it is going to cost them something to do it. If these kingdoms in the midst of which we are living are in reality the unstable and vanishing quantities we say they are—if they are truly doomed to utter demolition—then under what obligation is the child of God, the pioneer of that Everlasting Kingdom of 1Dan. 2:38. 275 276 THE SAINT AND THE SWORD the soon-coming Sovereign Lord of the universe—under what obligation is he to lay down his life, already consecrated to the service of his Saviour, to help bolster up their totter- ing foundations? What are we to say of those who with eloquent voice and convincing writings—those who have founded schools and issued magazines largely on this and kindred truths—when, immediately a government or a president proclaims war, on account of matters which are purely of this age and which concern the interests of these doomed nations—what shall we say of these champions of prophetic truth, if they “throw up the sponge” and join in the general hullabaloo for “patriotism !” Never Mind the Wreck, Save the Passengers So far as I can see, there is no escape from the conclusion, that the very arguments which prove the approaching end of this age and the premillennial coming of the Lord prove also that war is, in this age, forbidden for the enlightened fol- lower of Christ. He is not to give his life and take the lives of others to save the nations represented by the toes of Daniel’s image from going to pieces! God has decreed that the kingdoms of this age shall be wound up in flame and fury. The Christian’s supreme business is, not to help the governments—whether they be heartless autocracies or obedient servants of godless majorities—in their futile at- tempts to extinguish war-flames by adding more war-fuel to the furnace. ‘Their duty, as the Apostle Jude explains, is “pulling men out of the fire’+ and quenching the flare of envy with the “water of life.” ‘Their business is not recruit- ing armies to uphold autocracies or even democracies, but to arrest the attention of apostate Churches and God-forgetting nations with the startling proclamation—‘“The Kingdom of God is at hand: repent ye, and believe the gospel.”* “Be- hold, the Lord cometh with ten thousand of his saints to 1Jude 23. *Mark 1:15. THE SAINT AND THE SWORD 277 execute judgment upon all that are ungodly.” To change the metaphor, this old world is already wrecked, and it is the first duty of its Christian sailors to see that all their energies are spent in such enterprise as will enable their fellow-travelers to so live on the ship that when she goes under they may get into the life boats. Any justifiable means to this end should be employed, but Christians are not to be prostituting their powers in tinkering at the machinery of the vessel, which, however excellent in the sight of men it may be, is already doomed to sink. 1Jude 14:15. V. WAR IS UNPATRIOTIC FOR THE CHRIS- TIAN BECAUSE IT CAN NEVER BE RIGHT FOR HIM TO EMPLOY A WICKED MEANS EVEN FOR SECURING A GOOD END I must now say something in reply to a very strong argu- ment raised in opposition to the contention of these addresses and in support of war. We are asked to consider what those wars which are called “righteous” wars have accom- plished in the history of the world. ‘The deliverances from bondage, victory over tyranny, the progress of “democracy,” are quoted as evidences of the good accomplished by the use of the sword. Christianity Never Properly Tried Supposing all this to be true, it proves nothing more than that the sword has accomplished, in a clumsy and brutal manner, what Christianity has been given no opportunity to do. While we know what have been the triumphs over these evils by the employment of force, we do not know what might have been the still greater triumphs over them had the principles of Christ been put to the test. We cannot say what Christianity would have accomplished for the world in its entirety, because Christianity, of the real kind, in its uni- versal application has never yet been tried. You cannot look for the perfect results of properly applied Christianity in a world which “lieth in wickedness.” If the whole world — had accepted Christ, if it had known the regenerating, ener- gizing power of His spirit, there would have been no need | . for the tremendous upheavals, the bloody strifes which men, : in their carnal struggles, have resorted to for temporal liberty. ‘This is obviously so for the simple reason that the 278 THE SAINT AND THE SWORD 279 wrongs which oppressed them, and which called forth those struggles, would never have existed. In a world which as it neared the close of the age, Christ told us would more and more come under the influence of the Devil, you cannot expect to see the principles which He inculcated completely put into operation. You can’t look for millennial conditions in a pre-millennial dispensation. When Jesus comes back to reign in this world and His scepter is supreme, then we shall see aboundantly realized the triumphs of His doctrine. This old world will then become what it might have been, had all mankind accepted His offered salvation and put into practice the principles of His Sermon on the Mount. This, however, must not be forgotten, those great prin- ciples of justice, of liberty, of benevolence, which even a wicked world has come to see are best for the interests of mankind, for the establishment of which men have drawn the sword, are themselves the principles of Jesus. They have proved themselves mightier than the sword in. that they were the all-powerful incentives which prompted men to use it. Although, from the Christian standpoint, the for- bidden means were used to bring about these righteous ends, God has mercifully overruled “the wrath of man to praise Him’ in bringing about blessings for mankind which were not, after all, so much the results of war as they were the fruits of the unresisting suffering of His Son on the cross. Good Ends Do Not Justify Bad Means But this does not justify the CHRISTIAN in disobeying his Lord concerning the methods of his warfare, which is a warfare of faith. Whatever worldly men have accomplished by other means is neither here nor there, his plain duty is to do as his Master told him and to overcome evil with good, not with fury and chemical compounds. A criminal is not justified in committing murder because his victim is a bad 1Psa. 76:10, 280 THE SAINT AND THE SWORD man and a tyrant, and because by his death good people will come into possession of his inheritance. The Christian is not to do “evil that good may come.’”! The character and weapons of his warfare have been clearly written down for him throughout the entire pages, not only of the New Testa- ment, but when “rightly divided,’ throughout the whole Bible, and he must at all costs stand by them. Nor must we forget that the marvels accomplished—briefly referred to in these addresses—(see pages 84 to 92) by those who have had the courage to put into practice the behests of Christ, are all the more wonderfully convincing because they were applied in a world ruled by sinful men on selfish principles. Cromwell’s Gory Gospel But let us look a little more clo-zly into this aspect of the question. Are we so sure that the sword deserves all the credit it is given as regards those particular epochs in his- tory? Who, for instance, as a Christian, can study thought- fully the published biographies of the great Oliver Crom- well—especially Thomas Carlyle’s reproduction of his “let- ters and speeches,” the greatest tribute literature has yet paid him—without mingling with his admiration a sense of revulsion. One reads with a shudder how he went through Britain with fire and sword in the name of the gentle Saviour, and spoke of one of the bloodiest battles of history as “a crowning mercy.” But the “crowning mercy” was not at Worcester, it was at Calvary. Had Cromwell lived on the other side of the Cross, as a Jewish hero, one could understand it; but his rejoicings over slaughter are strikingly out of harmony with Christ’s appreciations of love as the power which was to transform the world. If Cromwell had known the proper method of Bible study as well as he knew its texts, he would have understood that the Kingdom of Christ cometh not by pikes and sabers. He would have perceived how, by a Spirit-possessed tongue 1Rom. 3:8. es THE SAINT AND THE SWORD 281 of fire, he could have accomplished more for the God he so truly revered than was possible of achievement by all his merciless “ironsides.” In that case poor Ireland, too, would have had a less bitter heritage than he left her! Thus we only know what Cromwell did with the sword—we do not know what he might have done had he relied only upon the Gospel. Would Patience Have Accomplished It? Again it may be asked, “What about George Washington and the War of the Revolution? Wasn’t that a war which achieved something? Was it not justifiable? Was it not a shaking off of tyranny and injustice? I reply, it does not by any means follow that because those liberties were ob- tained by the sword that they could not have been obtained by measures of peace. I have ventured frequently to declare that they could and would have been so obtained. The policies of oppression which afflicted the early colonists of America were not the policies of the liberal and advancing statesmen of England. ‘They were the enactments of a strong-headed, narrow-minded, autocratic king, whose tongue could not properly speak the English language, and whose sympathies were foreign to the then rising tide of liberty in Britain, the mother of parliaments. No one who knows the political history of Britain and has studied the struggles of her brave people to lead the way for all nations in the path of political freedom, can for a moment believe that the great mass of her population would have supported, for long, a régime which denied to her kith and kin beyond the seas the same privileges which had been partially obtained, and a full measure of which were being fought for at home. Certainly her statesmen, like the great William Pitt, would not have done so. Most decidedly subsequent history has proved that such a procecure would have been impossible. The history of the British colonies in other parts of the world shows how possible it has been for nations just as 282 THE SAINT AND THE SWORD free and independent—both as regards their institutions and their governments—as the United States, to grow up under the folds of the British flag, and that without firing a gun. Sometimes I think that had there been a little more patience and a bit more perseverance in exercising those wonderful gifts for negotiation, manifested by the leaders of the vari- ous colonies in straightening out their difficulties with each other, the injustice practiced by the Mother Country would have been peacefully overcome, and the United States would not only have been as happy to remain where it was as the great Dominion of Canada is today, but she might have been spared the horrors of the Civil War. In that case the British Empire might have exercised such an influence throughout the world, that no gun could have been fired without its permission. In the War of the Revolution, then, we only know what happened by the sword—we don’t know what might have been accomplished without it. Liberty and the Guillotine The same might be said of the French Revolution. When, in 1789, the States General of France were in a perfectly peaceful way advancing the principles of freedom and jus- tice; when Louis XVI had surrendered to its demands and everybody thought the Revolution was accomplished, war intruded itself on the scene and brought with it a train of suspicions, jealousies and hatreds. ‘The Reign of ‘Terror followed, with its gruesome guillotine and all its orgies of blood, which have left a crimson stain on the page of French history yet to be exhibited and requited before the Great White Throne. The one memory about the French Revolu- tion which all but pollutes the mind is the use it made of the sword. We only know what was accomplished that way, we do not know what might have been wrought by persever- ance in the methods of peace. I'HE SAINT AND THE SWORD 283 Civil and International War One more example of this argument I must refer to, which in America is a very telling one. What about Abraham Lincoln and the war for the liberation of the slaves? We answer: First. Speaking strictly according to facts, this was not war in the ordinary or generally understood sense. It was not a war of nation against nation, executed without authority in the way I have previously explained (see page 114). It was an internal war, a civil war between parties who were parts of the same constitution, and it was decided upon after much discussion by representatives of the peoples concerned and by judicial decisions. ‘There was a sense in which President Lincoln had good reason for regarding the Southern revolt as a national police affair, calling for sol- diers who, as in the days of Christ in the Roman Empire, acted more as the preservers of the peace than as aggressive fighters. ‘This is the more so because back of that revolt lay the sinister, though profitable, trade in slaves. It was the knowledge that the abolition of slavery was involved which doubtless helped Lincoln round the difficult corners with his conscience, when at times he must have considered that, had the matter of secession been the sole issue, there was not much to choose between the convention at Montgomery attempting to throw off the dominion of Washington and the convention at Philadelphia attempting to throw off the dominion of London. He might justly have argued that while independence, where the people concerned wished it was a rock-bottom principle of the American Constitution, it was by no means an independence fo perpetuate slavery which was guaranteed. Otherwise, there would, after all, have been no very great reason for calling Robert E. Lee a rebel while regarding George Washington as a hero. 284 THE SAINT AND THE SWORD What Might Have Been But mind I do not justify, from the Christian standpoint, the Civil War on this account. Though I may be saying what is intensely unpopular, I wish to stay with my Lord even here. I don’t believe He would have had Christians settle even the slave question in that way. I don’t for a moment believe that it was either the best or the only way to settle it, and I venture further to say, that had the mat- ter of union not been so involved in the slave question, another way would have been found to settle it. | I have long thought—so strong is my admiration of the great and good Abraham Lincoln—that had he been Presi- dent of the United States one term sooner than he was, there would have been no Civil War at all. The animal had stampeded before he took the reins. Nor, in the second place, and applying the same argument as before used, do we know what might have been done had Lincoln refused, even then, to take the sword. Had he him- self gone down to face the revolting Confederate leaders, and better still the people of the South, with his powerful personality, his remarkable eloquence, and above all with the divine power which, in the employment of such peace- ful methods, God would surely have vouchsafed him. If Lincoln Had Known Moreover, we must not forget that back of all the causes for that war there were vested interests and commercial — considerations. Money power. ‘That power has been the motive spring, either directly or indirectly, of every war the Gentile nations have yet engaged in. It was commercial — interest which prompted the North to abandon slavery, just © as it was commercial interest which prompted the South to cling to it. Had President Lincoln known beforehand what was going to happen, would he not have preferred to draw — on the Treasury rather than on the Armory? I think so. ; Would he have drawn the sword? I think not. Had some THE SAINT AND THE SWORD 285 prophetic voice whispered in his ear that before the sword was replaced in its scabbard six hundred and ten thousand men would lie stretched in death in the fields of war, and as many would be maimed for life; that reckoning all ex- penditures up to the present time, fifteen thousand millions of dollars would be spent; that the South would go down in ruin and blood—had he known all this, I firmly believe he would have chosen rather to offer the slave-holders five billions of dollars to liberate their two billion dollars worth of slaves; I believe they would have accepted the offer, that no gun would have been fired, and that the policy of non- resistance would have saved nearly a million lives. Slavery Was Bound to Go The trend of events as regards the slave traffic of the whole civilized world supports this contention. Slavery was bound to go. It was fast disappearing. ‘The sentiment of the English people was overwhelmingly against it. I do not believe that slave-grown cotton could have long continued to have been sold to English manufacturers. ‘The spirit of the Gospel was driving out a thing so accursed. Remember, there never would have been a “slave question,” either in the United States or anywhere else, but for the Cross of Christ. It was love, not force which created the prejudice against it. Slavery was abolished throughout the British Empire without war. Fifteen years of lawful agitation accomplished this deliverance. We must not forget that there are other names besides Lincoln’s which will be hon- ored wherever history will be read, on account of their association with the emancipation of the negro. ‘Thomas Clarkson and William Wilberforce—men whose memory is as precious to England as Lincoln’s is to America—were also great liberators of the colored races, but they never drew the sword. So once again we only know what Abra- ham Lincoln did by fighting, we don’t know what he would 286 THE SAINT AND THE SWORD have accomplished had he stood resolutely to the policy of Christ, and relied only on the sword of the Spirit. Obedience Before Liberty But I have said this much rather to confirm than to estab- lish the case against war for the Christian. And I have answered these arguments only because they are used to oppose the contention that war is anfi-christian. It is the Christian’s attitude to war I am contending for, not that of the man of this world who knows nothing of the new birth. The Christian’s supreme authority is not Oliver Cromwell, or George Washington, or Abraham Lincoln but JESUS CHRIST. His first duty is to obey his Saviour. It is well for the Christian once for all to get the idea knocked out of his head that temporal advantages, pertain- ing entirely to this age, such as freedom, democracy, civiliza- tion, are ends to attain which he is justified in resorting to methods which are prohibited by Jesus Christ. It is a worse thing to disobey God than it is even to be a slave. ‘This is the teaching of the New Testament, some of which was addressed to the thousands of Christian slaves of the early Church, who were exhorted not to resist but to obey their masters “in the Lord,’ and wait patiently for the deliver- ances which His Gospel, during the age, and His ultimate appearance in His coming kingdom, would bring to them.’ Democracy and Theocracy As to the contention that the struggle for democracy justi- fies war for the Christian, we must bear well in mind that democracy, while it doubtless affords opportunities for spreading the Gospel which are sometimes, not by any means always, denied by autocracy, yet it is not in any sense Christianity. The two things are as distinct as the poles are apart. The wickedest countries in the world today are democracies. ‘(he freest countries on the globe are not ‘4g \Cor. /ysax. , x) Tim, 652: —— THE SAINT AND. THE SWORD 287 a whit more moral or religious than are the lands presided over by kings and emperors. In fact, there is frequently the most true piety where there is the greatest oppression. The devoutest Jews are the persecuted ones of the East. ‘There are more true brave saints in Armenia than in England. It is highly probable that the negroes of America were more religious and moral as slaves than they are today. No con- stitutions in the world are freer than the states of Aus- tralasia, and yet nowhere is immorality, especially juvenile immorality, more rampant. My own work in Australasia and my conversations with the statesmen of those lands con- cerning their social problems have abundantly convinced me of that. No empire existing can rival the United States for organized chicanery, political corruption, graft and divorce. ‘To create, then, even such splendid national consti- tutions as these, does not justify a follower of Christ in a course of disobedience. Fighting for a False Issue When I am asked to fight for the destruction of ‘Prus- sian militarism,” or “British navalism,”’ I ought to be sure of my ground. I ought to be certain that the world, should it cast off the yoke of militarism, would be more likely to turn from its sin and accept the Gospel than the United States has been. For the United States, which has known, till recently, nothing of the oppressive burden of ponderous armies and navies, has not on that account become any less wicked. When I am asked to lay down my life and kill my neighbor for a “great ideal,” that “ideal” being the establishment of a “world federation of peace,” as a Christian I cannot do so, for my Bible tells me distinctly that such a federation can and will never come till Jesus returns. ‘My chief busi- ness as a citizen of heaven is not to help bring in God-for- getting democracies, by aiding in the smashing of rotten au- tocracies, but to hasten the coming of the Kingdom of Christ. 288 THE SAINT AND THE SWORD The kingdom which comes when Jesus comes—‘Even so come quickly Lord Jesus!” My Country I could not better express my patriotism as a Christian and my relationship to my country than by repeating the following words I have used elsewhere—‘“The Christian’s love for his fatherland will carry him a long way in the declarations he is prepared to make for his country. He will cry, ‘My coun- try, to serve its highest interests?’—Yes! My country, to live earnestly in it, to labor constantly for it?--Yes! My country, to enlighten and improve it?—Yes! My country, to sacrifice and suffer for it?—Yes! My country, to exhort and rebuke it?—Yes! But he will just as emphatically de- clare: ‘My country, to be a traitor to God for it?—No! My country, to lie and steal for it?-—No! My country, to debauch and commit adultery for it?--No! My country, to practice hate and revenge for it?—-No! My country, to commit murder for it?—Never!’ Pressed to the point of choosing between a so-called disloyalty to the land of his birth or adoption and obedience to the law of his Lord, the Christian will prefer to be counted false to his country that he may be true to God. He would rather be shot as a rene- geade and a traitor in the eyes of men than go, in defense of any earthly scepter, before the Great White Throne with hands strained by the blood of those for whom his Saviour died.” PART V WAR IS ANTI-CHRISTIAN BECAUSE IT IS PROHIBITED BY THE TEACHINGS AND EXAMPLE OF CHRIST WAR IS ANTI-CHRISTIAN BECAUSE IT IS PROHIBITED BY THE TEACHINGS AND EXAMPLE OF CHRIST CoMING now to the application of all that has been said in these messages, what can the true Christian do to extricate himself from the false and dangerous position into which, by the force of circumstances around him, he has been driven? On the one hand, he sees the state, of which he is a loyal citizen, bringing all the pressure of influence, all the dignity of specially enacted law, all the dread of threatened punish- ment and all the terrors of armed authority, to compel him to ignore his Saviour’s words, and take up arms against his fellow-man. On the other hand, he sees the professed Church of Christ—aye even much of that portion of it which so loudly professes itself the exponent of the advanced Bible teaching and higher spiritual life—not only hopelessly involved in this colossal butchery, but vigorously taking sides with the contending nations in their suicidal strife. He hears passionate eloquence on the lips of the leaders of Christ’s people, exhorting him to play the man, buckle on his armor and, if necessary, die bravely in the trenches for “love of Emperor, King, President or Fatherland.” He is urged to help make the world “safe for democracy,” or to rally for a cause which every contestant asserts with equal emphasis is “holy and just.” ‘To say nothing of the flood- tide of arguments in the secular press he reads in almost every religious paper columns of war reports, articles full of plausible excuses for fighting, and stories filled with flattery for those who have done exploits in slaughtering their enemies, and filling the battle-fields with carrion. Amid all this what is the Christian to do? How can he find a way of escape? 291 292 THE SAINT AND THE SWORD Back to Christ There is only one answer. ‘There can be only one answer. The Christian must go back to CHRIST. He must re- open his heart and his spiritual ears to hear, above all the distracting din of this world’s confusion of tongues, the voice of God in His eternal Word. He must go past all - earthly rulers, statesmen, theologians, Church dignitaries, even ministers of the Gospel; he must go past all human agents whatsoever “whose breath is in their nostrils,” past them all to the LORD JESUS CHRIST. He must seek out HIS teachings and the teachings of the Holy Ghost. through His Apostles, who laid down the principles of His Church. Despite all adverse circumstances, at all costs, notwithstanding threats of governments, even the scorn and excommunication of influential though apostate Churches, he must shape his conduct by the commands of the Bible, for Jesus said that heaven and earth shall pass away, but the words of God on the lips of His Son shall not pass away.* This is the issue of the hour and it is squarely up to every follower of Christ. Once more, he is required to choose be- tween the rulers of this world in their anti-christian policy of governing this earth, and Christ and His Christianity. We hear a great deal these days about “‘standing by” one’s Country, one’s King, one’s Emperor, one’s President, but | the Christian’s first duty is to stand by Jesus Christ. ‘The word of all the royal monarchs or exalted presidents on this globe, when they conflict with the commands of Christ, must, by the Christian, be unhesitatingly set aside. Let us then go back to our Saviour’s teaching concerning this war question. Let us consult the New Testament. What do we find there? After searching out all the utter- ances and acts of our Lord which have any bearing upon this question, we can discover nothing but the strongest condem- nation of war for His followers, except the war which is by 1Matt. 24:35. THE SAINT AND THE SWORD 293 love with the weapons of the Spirit. His whole life and ministry, every word, every act, is the severest possible re- buke to the deceitful, devilish bloody business which has been going on before our eyes on the battle-fields of Europe. I have classified and grouped these passages together, paraphrasing the words of Jesus and the description of His acts, so as to make them read continuously, keeping as far as possible to the exact text of the gospels. Let us now examine them. First let us notice. I. THE QUALITIES HE ESTEEMED There was no quality of all those the Master commended more precious in His sight, more indispensable to the re-- ligion He taught His followers, than the quality of humility. This was essentially so because humility is the opposite to pride, and pride is the quality which in man so wrongly ad- justs him to his Saviour that, while he is possessed of it, he cannot be brought into saving relationship. But the one quality which above all others is incompatible with militarism is the grace of true humility. While I admit there may be, here and there, soldiers who, when not actually engaged in battle, are examples of modesty, yet meekness and soldiering are the very antithesis of each other. Fighters of all ranks—the higher the rank the more so—are encouraged, aye even urged to indulge and foster their pride. They must be inflated with national pride, with regimental pride, with pride of pomp and display, with pride of deport- ment and uniform, with swagger of arms and authority. An officer, from the lowest order to that of commander-in-chief, with all the insignia of rank and consciousness of power, strutting around with sword, spurs, epaulettes, decorations, | is as far removed a figure from that pictured for us in the New Testament of the humble, self-abasing servant of the Lord Jesus as could possibly be found. Consummation of Power and Pride Where indeed, in all this world, is there a calling so calculated to inflame the vanity, to pander to the pride of man, as the position of a great commander of armies in war- time? Some time back I stood on the summit of one of the highest peaks of the Blue Ridge Mountains, and placed my- self, in imagination, in supreme command of yast military forces around and beneath me. Standing erect with assumed 294 THE SAINT AND THE SWORD 295 dignity, I threw about my person a staff of brilliant men, none of whom, at pain of death, might resist or even criticise my actions, every one of whom awaited with awe the slight- est utterance from my lips—the least sign from even a finger of my hand. At one such word—one such signal—they would leap to pass my command to other equally brilliant men who, standing with massed forces stretching along the valley at my feet, or at the head of regiments moving into positions on the hills, would instantly convert my sayings into the operations of a colossal battle, completely at the dis- posal of my will. In thought I realized that a million bayonets, in the grasp of a million hands, back of which there was the intelligence, the vigor of a million immortal spirits, were absolutely at my control. If I said, “No,” they retreated into silence and peace. If I said, “Yes,” they advanced to attack other equally enormous forces, with a clamor that reached the clouds and rent the air with shrieks of rage mingled with groans of pain. One command from me and a dozen silent peaks around would break into blazing fury, spitting all but volcanic fire on to the opposite heights. Another command, and half a dozen villages below would burst into flames. As I stood there, I thought of myself as one almost in the position of a little god. One who could say, “Let there be lightnings and thunder,” and a thousand guns would respond to my order; or, ‘Let there be fire,” and blaz- ing cities would signal the answer; or, “Let there be destruc- tion,” and the air would resound with revolving propellers, while the sky rained explosive damnation; or, “Let there be death,” and the “pale horse with his rider” would gallop through the contending masses, leaving the earth bestrewn with the slaughtered. I had only to cry, “Forward!” and a hundred thousand soldiers, every one of whom represented a whole circle of interests, home, wife, children, fathers, mothers, sweethearts—all would spring at the throats of other like multitudes for whom I had cultivated a diabolical hatred, who it was my ambition to smash, trample in the 296 THE SAINT AND THE SWORD mud, kill, bury quickly out of my sight. One word of mine could convert that inexpressibly beautiful scene of blue-hazed mountains, timbered vales, placid streams, fields of abundant fertility, into a raging hell full of roaring hate, consuming fire, blackened cinders. It was I—J, the little insignificant speck standing out against the sky-line, under innumerable starry worlds, with my gold lace and little sword and pistol —it was I who could do all this. And worst of all, I could flatter my pride, while I was thus indulging it, with that Devil’s own dope for the conscience—the idea that I was directing all this visible damnation to effect some kind of salvation for the wrongs of this world. Christ and Humility Is it possible to conceive of any position in which mortal © man could more effectually display his love of glory, his lust for power, his disgusting pride? Could man ever be placed in a position which afforded so startling a contrast to the position of the Lord Jesus when He stood on the summit of another hill confronting the mockery of the mob, the shame of the cross—the cross where, with the utmost self-abasement and humiliation, He transacted the deed which can alone suffice for the world’s redemption? Im- possible! Nor can it be disputed that pride, more frequently than anything else, brings nations to battle and keeps them fight- ing long after the ultimate issue is a foregone conclusion. In further contrast to all the pompous vanity of militarism we have the Lord Jesus telling us that he who is to be great- est in the Kingdom of Heaven is he who humbles himself as a little child, and explaining as He takes these little ones in His arms, that “of such” we must be if we would enter His glory.2 He promises that the meek shall inherit the earth and that he who humbleth himself shall be exalted, while every one that exalteth himself shall be humbled,® for 1Matt. 18:4. *Matt. 19:14. %Luke 14:11. LHE SAINT AND THE SWORD 297 that which is exalted among men is an abomination in the sight of God. How can such qualities as the following, and which Jesus so strongly commended, be made to harmonize with the spirit and practice of fighting? He pledged His blessings to the poor in spirit?—not to the haughty high-spirited; to those who mourn over the world’s lost condition’—not to those who glory in its selfish achievements; to those who hungered and thirsted after righteousness‘—not those who fought for territory and trade; to the merciful’—not to the ingenious inflicters of pain; to those who suffered, were persecuted, hated, falsely accused in a righteous causeé— not those who tried to achieve good by smiting, bruising, and killing; to those who were at peace with each other,’ and who loved to be peacemakers*—not to those who, in pursuit of their rights, caused contention and scattered the seeds of strife. And chiefest among all the qualities which Jesus commended stands love, ‘These things I command you,” He says, “that ye love one another.’”® ‘A new command- ment give I unto you, that ye love one another.’?° By no process of argument could any enlightened Christian be brought to believe that he could kill his brother-man as an act of love. ‘The qualities, then, which Christ esteemed are those which are the very opposite to the spirit of war. Luke 18:14. Matt 5:3. *Matt. 5:4. ‘Matt. 5:6. SMatt. 5:7. Matt. §:10, 11. ™Mark 9:50. ®%Matt. 5:9. °John 15:17. ?°John 13:34. Il. THE PARABLES HE USED The parables spoken by the Lord Jesus give not the slight- est hint that military tactics or the use of force was ever in ™ His mind as a justifiable method for progressing His king- dom during this Church age. It is most significant that He never once employs any analogy, symbol or illustration which conveys the idea of the propagation of His cause by means of fighting. Only twice does He use a military figure in His parables and only once in His illustrations. And then always to convey truths antagonistic to war, as we shall presently see. Among the characters employed in His para- bles we have physicians, blind guides, wise and foolish build- ers, children, debtors, unclean spirits, sowers and reapers, scribes, good and bad shepherds, a good Samaritan, an im- portunate friend, a rich fool, a foolish farmer, a rich man, a poor beggar, waiting, wise, unprofitable and unmerciful servants, an unrighteous steward, a prodigal boy, and a hypocritical son, a just man and a thief, a wicked husband- man, a porter and ten virgins. All these, but only once in these parables is there any reference to force or to a soldier. Military Illustrations Let us look at the two military illustrations (for the mili- tary parable see page 324).1 They are of course purely illus- trations used to enforce truths which, so far are they from even seeming to justify war, would rather remove every conceivable cause for bloodshed by those who accept them. Let us deal with Luke XIV first. Jesus is speaking of the pre-eminence of His authority over all other authorities— the overmastering love for Him which as a passion in the human heart will place all other affections in a subordinate position to His overlordship. He is telling His hearers that Luke 14:25-35. Read all verses, Luke 11:21-23. 298 THE SAINT AND THE SWORD 299 unless they are willing to forsake even the most sacred family affections, father, mother, husband, wife, children, brethren, sisters, “aye even his own life’ for His sake—that is, of course, for the sake of those doctrines which these same hearers had heard Him expound—they could not be His disciples. This is, of course, only another way of saying that unless a man is willing to surrender everything that ever makes war possible he cannot be the follower of Christ. For when one has already surrendered family ties and “all that he hath” in order to ally himself with the teaching of Christ in His Sermon on the Mount, he has not anything left in this world but these principles worth fighting for. Hence, the teaching of Jesus was: ‘Count the cost before making any light-hearted sentimental professions about being my dis- ciples, lest you be a hypocrite and fraud; lest you become like ‘salt’! which, having ‘lost its savor,’ cannot be ‘salted’ and is neither fit for the land, nor the dunghill” but is “cast out.” To enforce THIS truth He uses this illustration of the king, who, He tells us, sat down to do exactly that which modern kings seldom dream of doing—what, in fact, they have little means for doing—when bursting with rage and “nuffed up” with pride, they declare war on each other; that is, sit down calmly and “count the cost.” It is a pretty sure thing that if governments would carefully calculate the cost of war, in lives and money, and make it known to the people, they would find such a computation to be the death blow to their schemes for raising armies of volunteer warriors, whose glories have been the theme of war poets and the pride of national history. ‘Counting the cost” of the late war has killed the “volunteer” system—the boast of all free countries—killed it dead as a door nail. What the people have learned concerning the “cost” of war has made it impossible to raise any more armies of unpressed men. It has brought about the, until now, hated conscrip- tion plan, by which men, instead of “leaping to the call of tLuke 14:34. 300 THE SAINT AND THE SWORD their country,” etc., etc., etc., have to be “drafted” by resort to a system of wholesale gambling in lives, and at the peril of disgrace and imprisonment. The only bearing, then, this illustration can possibly have on war is: (1) That if you want to be a real follower of Jesus Christ you had better sit down and ‘“‘count the cost” before you profess anything of the kind, remembering that you must obey Him before all kings and presidents and be prepared to die rather than break His Sixth Commandment. (2) That it is better, even so far as kings are concerned, to “count the cost” before starting out to make war, and, (3) that “counting the cost” would probably lead to the “sending of an embassage” to make terms of peace before it starts—which is precisely the argument of all Christian non-resistants. The “Strong Man Armed” Argument The second example of what has been termed a military figure, is the simile of the strong man armed.’ It has, of course, nothing to do with militarism, but relates to healings, which are never wrought by violence of any kind. ‘The best way to prove this is to show the true meaning of the illustra- tion. It is employed, I think, to indicate the difference be- tween cures which are the result of satanic power and those which are the consequence of divine intervention. Our Lord is defending Himself against the accusation that His healings are the work of “Beelzebub, the prince of the devils.” In thus defending Himself, He does not deny that Satan sometimes heals, when it suits his purpose to do so. He appears rather to confirm this—‘‘If I by Beelzebub cast out devils, by whom do your sons cast them out?” ‘Then He significantly likens the Devil to ‘“‘a strong man armed” who, though he may possess demonic power to cast out devils, always uses that power for his own purposes. When casting out devils, He does not fight “against himself,” and thus “divide” his kingdom. He “keepeth his palace, his 41Matt. 12:22-30; Luke 11:14-23. THE SAINT AND THE SWORD 301 goods are in peace.” ‘That is to say, there is no strife because his healings, help on his kingdom. His house is not “divided.” His healings do not create any disturbance there. “But when a stronger than he shall come upon him, and overcome him, he taketh away from him all his armor wherein he trusted, and divideth his spoils.” That is to say, when one who is all supreme in the spiritual world, the eternal antagonist of Satan, achieves “by the finger of God,” wonders of physical healing, then the Kingdom of Beelzebub is at once in danger and the Kingdom of God is brought nigh. “If I with the finger of God cast out devils, no doubt the Kingdom of God is come upon you.” ‘The divine king- dom, is set over against the satanic kingdom. Then we have the central truth of the illustration in the twenty-third verse, ‘“He that is not with me is against me; and he that gathereth not with me scattereth.” ‘This is the same as to say that the only kind of healings which count with God are those wrought by Christ, or those done in His name, and all the seeming benefits that appear to come to “him that gathereth not with me’—with Christ—are no benefits at all, for in reality such gathering is only scattering —“He ... scattereth.” Satanic Healings and Parabolic Imagery All of which is confirmed by the verses immediately fol- lowing, where we are told how a man, out of whom an un- clean spirit had departed, might find himself in a seven- fold more miserable plight than he was before. ‘The un- clean spirit here referred to was probably some demon who made his possessor both loathsome to himself and despicable to others. Doubtless in leaving he was acting under Satanic authority, for, speaking exactly, he was not “cast out,” he had “gone out,” presumably for the same reason he had gone in. We then see this man in the imagery of a “house’— still the Devil’s house, mind—“swept,” “garnished,” and as 302 THE SAINT AND THE SWORD St. Matthew adds, “empty.” Symbols surely of that im- provement by “dead works” and worldly polish which breed pride, while at the same time there is that emptiness of the Holy Spirit which involves spiritual death. After this we see the unclean spirit exercising, when it suits his purpose, the same power to return into this man—‘“his house”—as he manifested in leaving it, but finding it possible now, since self-righteous pride had prepared the way, to take “seven other spirits . . . more wicked than himself,” so that “the last state of that man is worse than the first.” All this shows how the Devil’s plan of reformation, both by healing the body and beautifying the soul, while fighting against the regenerating work of the Holy Ghost, gives him a firmer grip upon his victims. But in all this there is not the slight- est reference to war. The “strong man armed” is Satan, the “stronger than he” is the Lord Jesus; the forces attacked are demons and the weapons used are spiritual. The same is true concerning the objects the Lord employed in His parables and illustrations. We have the good seed and the tares, the mustard tree, leaven, hidden treasure, the pearl, the net, the fig tree, seats at feasts, sup- pers, a tower, lost sheep and a lost coin, vineyards, pounds, talents, the rejected stone, the marriage feast, and the wed- ding garment,’ but among them all I can find only the two references to any army or to force above mentioned. This is the more suggestive when we recall the fact that the Saviour was King of God’s conquered and subjected people, and He was surrounded on every hand by boastful, splendid exhibi- tions of the military conquests and glory of Rome. The Good Samaritan and the Thieves When we look more closely into the teaching of these parables we find that they indicate an entirely different method, for the advocacy of righteousness and the Gospel in this age, to that of coercion. ‘Take the parable of the .,, 1 have not thought it needful to give the Scripture reference for these illustrations, as they can be found in any list of the parables. THE SAINT AND THE SWORD 303 Good Samaritan. There is no suggestion of any duty in the direction of pursuing the thieves, that any one owed to the robbed and injured man. Nothing is said about any “ven- geance” which was to requite the wrongs of this traveler or any effort to get back his goods. We are not told that the Good Samaritan felt it his duty even to report this high- way robbery to the authorities. All the attention is centered on the exercise of loving and merciful deeds from a generous spirit. “The heart of the Samaritan was moved with com- passion toward the sufferer, not with anger toward the in- flicter of his sores.* The saving power illustrated in the parables is never force. It is rather the principle of growth, persuasion, at- traction. ‘Thus we see the fig tree planted in the vineyard of a certain man whose “dresser” is busy digging about the roots and who is inducing it to bear fruit by fertilizing the soil.2 Or we see a great supper prepared by another cer- tain man who sent forth his servants—not his soldiers—at supper time to say to them that were bidden ‘“‘come’”—not “Go”—*“for all things are ready.”* Again we see the shep- herd seeking the sheep which was free to wander over the wilderness if it chose, not the keeper, mounting guard over a caged and confined flock.* In the story of the Prodigal Son and the Unforgiving Brother we see the Father “hav- ing compassion” on one and “entreating” the other. ‘There is no exercise of domineering paternal severity.5 And it is virgins who are made to watch for a bridegroom going to a marriage, not sentinels or outposts who wait for a relieving host.® In respect to the emphasis they place upon internal im- pulse and never external enforcement, as the saving princi- ple which God has chosen for this age, the other illustrations of Jesus are just as powerful and as beautiful. He told His hearers to “consider the lilies’ how they grew. ‘They were 1Luke 10:33. "Luke 13:8. ®Luke 14:17. ‘Luke 15:4. SLuke 15:20, 28. SMatt. 25:1. 304 THE SAINT AND THE SWORD not things in nature which got their beauty and fragrance by energetic toiling and spinning. ‘They were not flowers which fought for their existence, they lived out the principle of life within them.t' He pointed to the ravens. ‘The ravens didn’t even sow or reap or gather into barns.’ Anti-War [Illustrations Speakng of the relationship of His followers to the world — Christ employed illustrations which were equally inappro- priate to militarism. He said they were to be, not like unto soldiers, girded with weapons, marching out under His com- mand to enforce His dominion, but to watching men ready with loins girded for a journey, with lamps burning as those looking for ‘‘their Lord when He shall return from the wed- ding.” The quality which was to commend them to the Saviour, was not to be that they were taking part in the world’s contentions or trying, even ever so industriously, to right its wrongs in ways which He had forbidden, but that all their doings were to harmonize with His Gospel, while they were watching and waiting for that summons which should call them to leave it altogether for a time, in order that they might be united with their King in the heavens, with Whom they should return to bring about its final re- demption.* And so it is not the picture of the soldier but the steward which Jesus portrays as the pattern for those in His church. ‘The steward set over the household, not furious and terrible, but “faithful and wise,’ not endeavoring by the compulsion of law to establish a material kingdom of © God on earth during the absent Christ, but giving the por- tion of spiritual “meat”? which a true understanding of the times and the seasons call for—‘Blessed is that servant, whom his lord when he cometh shall find so doing.” Then there is the other picture of the “servant” who in his heart has lost faith in his lord’s return, and as a conse- quence takes the affairs of the household entirely into his ‘Luke 12:27. *Luke 12:24. ‘Luke 12:35-37. THE SAINT AND THE SWORD 305 own hands, resorting to forbidden measures of force by “beating” the men and the maidservants, and as a further result centers his hopes only on material means: on earthly eating and drinking and otherwise drifts into the intoxicating pleasures and preoccupations of this age.* Again, how delightfully suggestive of love and peace are the symbols employed by Jesus to convey His relationship to His Church and a lost world. He is “the light” of the world?; the “door of the fold’*; the ‘‘way, the truth, the life.”* Not as a hero gathering His legions and spoiling for a fight, but ‘‘as a hen gathereth her brood under her wings,” so He came to gather, and would still gather His erring people.® He is “the wine” of which they are ‘‘the branches,’® the “good shepherd” and they “the sheep’’;’ the “Bride- groom’ of the “bridechamber” of which they are the “chil- dren.’® ‘There is nothing in all these of war. No sugges- tion of a policy which achieves its end by deceit and slaughter. 1Luke 12:45, 46. 7John 8:12. "John 10:7. ‘John 14:6. [SLuke 13:34. John 15:5. ‘John to:11. ®Mark 2:19. Ill. THE WORKS HE PERFORMED AND THE POLICY HE LAID DOWN Again consider the works of Christ and see how, in their very nature, they are the reverse of the activities and results of war. His whole life is one long record of deeds of for- bearance, tenderness, mercy. He went about doing things which were exactly the opposite of the acts which generals and soldiers go about to perform. He healed the lame; while war fills the earth with cripples. He gave the blind their sight; while war consigns tens of thousands to total darkness. He cured the paralyzed; while war shatters the nerves and unseats the reason. ‘The fever-stricken were re-. stored by His touch; while war has destroyed more by fever than by fire. By His Word the devil-possessed were set free from bondage; while war has opened the way for more devils to enter the hearts of men than any other agency. And remember, these works which Jesus did are to be the works of His followers, for He Himself said, “Verily, verily I say unto you, he that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also.’”2 “Lambs in the Midst of Wolves” Every honest student of Christ’s policy for His Church as explained and expounded by His teachings, must admit that there was nothing in any of it akin to the policy of War Offices or Admiralty Lords. Here once again His teaching was exactly the opposite to that of all fighting men. In all His words concerning the character of, and the con- duct by which His people were to achieve their victories, we see again emphasized the importance of the spirit of low- liness—"Come unto me ... for I am meek and lowly in heart”*——“‘Behold, I send you forth as lambs in the midst 1John 14:12. *Matt. 11:28. 306 THE SAINT AND THE SWORD 307 of wolves.” His was a policy of long suffering patience. He forbade a rude uprooting of the “tares,” for He knew that would do the wheat as much harm as the weeds— “Let both grow together,” He said, “till the harvest.”2 His also was a policy of universal love. As the “Son of man” He stood in the same relationship of Saviour, brother, friend to all men. By His teaching, therefore, the very ground of international strife was removed—‘“‘God so loved the WORLD.” ‘There was nowhere on this globe any who were “foreigners” to His purpose or “aliens” to His mercy. And just as clearly and certainly did He insist upon a policy of non-resistance, of ‘“‘overcoming evil with good,” of triumph over doubt, suspicion and hate by the power of love. He Himself so loved that He gave and gave to His enemies even to His life-blood, and He called on His fol- lowers to do the same.* He told His servants not to resist him that is evil;° to turn the other cheek to the smiter;® to let the cloak go with the coat rather than go to law about it;7 to yield to the exorbitant demand on one’s labor and go with the extortioner two miles for the one he demanded;® to insure against imposition by the exercise of a free generosity rather than by a refusal to give or lend;® to conquer enemies by loving them;?° to disarm persecution by prayer ;1" to tri- umph over an oft repeated wrong by forgiving it even though it should be repeated and repented of seven times in a day ;** “Then came Peter to Him and said, Lord, how oft shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? till seven times? Jesus saith unto him, I say not unto thee Until seven times; but, Until seventy times seven.”** And that there may be no possible mistake about the importance which Christ attached to the policy of meeting wrong with mercy He says, “For if ye forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you.”4 1Luke oF 3. *Matt. 13:29, 30. *%John 3:16. ‘Rom, 5:8 Syele 5:39. Matt. $339 TMatt. 5:40. ®Matt. 5:41. °Matt. 5:42 att. 5:34 Matt. 5344. Luke 17:4. ‘Matt. 18:21, 22. Matt. 6:14. 308 THE SAINT AND THE SWORD Let any statesman stand up in any legislative assembly of the world, and attempt to apply a policy of that kind for the treatment of an offending “foreign” nation, and see where he will land! ‘The general who, supported by a thousand guns and a quarter of a million bayonets, goes forth to “avenge a wrong” or “destroy an oppressor” or “defend a nation” or progress the cause of “democracy” by fire and sword, by lying strategy and paralyzing terror, must forever disavow the policy of Christ. Moreover, Christ’s policy struck at the roots of that “pride of life,” that love of earthly possessions which, either directly or indirectly, is the cause of all wars. “This is shown in the passage already quoted—‘“So therefore whosoever he be of you that renounceth not all that he hath, he cannot be my disciple.” It was he who was willing to lose his life. for Christ’s sake who should find it.2 He forbade any anxious thought for the morrow ;* and He discouraged a lay- ing up of treasure on earth,* centering rather our energies on making purses “which wax not old, a treasure in the heavens.’’> It is quite impossible to imagine the Lord Jesus, even for all the gold or pearls or territory in this world, taking the life of one little child. Things of Cesar and Things of God Christ’s policy placed the law and the interests of the Kingdom of Heaven above the statutes and welfare of all earthly kingdoms. His children were to seek that kingdom first even when such devotion involved disobedience to the commands of earthly rulers, and if they were faithful in this respect all things should be added to them.® Again, the policy of Jesus Christ so distinguished between the Christian’s obligation to earthly things and heavenly things, as to make war impossible for him. ‘The things that appertained to Cesar could be given to Cesar, but or no consideration was the follower of Christ to render to 4Luke 14:33. Matt. 10:39. *%Matt. 6:34. ‘Matt. 6.19. ‘Luke 12:33. Matt. 6:33. : THE SAINT AND THE SWORD 309 Cesar the things that belonged to God. ‘Things that be- longed to men, like coin, the flags, which go before men to battle, and other earthly treasures, which do not bear the superscription of Christ, but of this world (His insignia is not the lion, the unicorn, the eagle, the bear, but the lamb, the dove), these things might be given to men, for they bore their superscription and image, but the things which be- longed to the immortal spirit, bore the image and superscrip- tion of God, and must be given only to Him.t The spirit of man, made and maintained only by its Creator, must be dispatched only by Him Who gave it, to Whom it must return.” Christ’s policy placed the spiritually dead in a totally different sphere to those who had experienced the new birth. He said, “Let the dead bury their dead.’”’ In other words, “Let the godless nations, already ‘dead in trespasses and sins,’ part of that world system which ‘lieth in wicked- ness *—settle their own disputes; be sure you don’t quarrel with Me by resorting to methods which I have forbidden, in order to help them straighten out their grievances with each other; you are—‘alive unto God’—in a higher sphere—‘go thou and preach the kingdom of God.’”* And concerning the ultimate success of His policy of grace and good-will, He attested it when He emphasized the failure of all other meth- ods.” Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles?’® He asked. In other words, “Can you get blessing and peace and love by revenge and murder and bloodshed? Good- will is not brought to the world by gun-firing, but by the proclamation of the Gospel.” ‘The POLICY, then, laid down by the Lord Jesus was distinctly anti-war. 1Luke 20:24, 25. *Deut. 32:39. 1 Sam. 2:6. °%1 John 5:19. *Luke 9:60. 5Matt. 7:16. Luke 6:44. IV. THE INJUNCTIONS HE UTTERED AND THE REPROOFS HE ADMINISTERED The Lord Jesus boldly attacked the FEAR which has so- often destroyed men’s better judgments, and at the impulse of which they have rushed into all kinds of anger-invoking “preparedness.” He strove to teach His disciples, and through them His Church, that the power of man was as nothing compared with the forces of the Devil—‘Be not afraid of them that kill the body ... fear him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.”’* ‘That is to say, “Don’t be afraid of the Germans, the English, the French, the Austrians, the Americans; beware of that paralyzing fear of the ‘foreigner’ which makes a Christian a COWARD and a murderer.” Jesus told His followers to expect ill- treatment and injustice at the hands of apostate Church leaders as well as earthly rulers, and exhorted them not to be “anxious,” for both words and influence should be given them by the Holy Spirit.2 He bid them go cheerfully, fear- lessly, confidently, to face the tribunals of this world. Malice Worse than Misfortune The reproofs of Jesus are still more condemnatory of the © retaliatory spirit of war. ‘The injustice which the young petitioner pleaded against his elder brother was, in Christ’s sight, a small matter compared to the spirit of covetousness, which He knew was just as strong in the breast of the one who was appealing to Him as it was in his robber-brother. “Man, who made me a judge or a divider over you?” ‘That is to say, “Such judgments as you seek at my hands do not at all concern me. Beware of covetousness, which engenders injustice and strife.”* This rebuke is just as applicable to nations, whose warrings have so frequently been caused by 1Matt. 10:28. *Luke 12:11, 12. *%Luke 12:13, 14, 15. 310 THE SAINT AND THE SWORD 311 covetousness. Again the tremendous rebuke of Christ to those who made His Father’s house a “den of thieves,’ is just as applicable to those who today desecrate the Church by making it a preaching station, in the interests of temporal nations, for a gospel of revenge and a recruiting office for armies and navies, which are busy doing just everything Jesus forbids His children to do. Nor must we forget the rebuke of the resurrected Lord, which He administered to His disciples because they had failed to understand how He should triumph, not with the sword and spear of a Joshua, but by the suffering of the cross—‘‘Oh foolish men, and slow of heart to believe in all that the prophets have spoken! Behooved it not the Christ to suffer these things and’”— when the suffering was accomplished—then “‘to enter into His glory?”? You see, then, as now, it was exactly this “suffering” the leaders of the Church either did not under- stand or denied. ‘To these same deluded shepherds of His flock, who thought they could best rid the world of Him Who they mistook for their enemy—as many suppose they can best dispose of their enemies today—by the process of killing—to these He said, “Ye are of your father the Devil, and the lusts of your father it is your will to do. He was a murderer from the beginning.’® And how sharp an antith- esis to the spirit of war is that vivid picture of the unfor- giving servant, cast at the last judgment to the tormentors, because he forgave not the debt of his fellow-servant, and the lesson of which is summed up in the startling sentence— “So shall also my heavenly Father do unto you, if ye forgive not every one his brother from your hearts.”* Certainly the injunctions and reproofs of Jesus were against war. 1Matt. 21:12, 13. *Luke 24:25, 26. *John 8:44. ‘Matt. 18:35. V. THE GOSPEL HE PREACHED AND THE CONDUCT HE CONDEMNED It is surely unnecessary to do more than mention this fact. The Gospel is the “good news” of God’s fathomless love to man. Love unmerited, love despised, love spurned, love poured out superabundantly from the mighty heart of a benevolent Father. Love showing its pity and power to lost. mankind, not by driving them by the might of resistless force to surrender and obedience, but by a postponement of the “Day of Vengeance” in order that all who will, by the exercise of their free choice, may win those places of honor and authority in the coming kingdom, which can be given alone to those who choose, without coercion, to follow the Lamb, “‘whithersoever He goeth.” Hence, the great Father meets the world’s rebellion and wickedness by the gift of His own Son, by Whose humility we are exalted, by Whose wounds our transgressions are covered and by Whose stripes on Calvary we are healed. There was no force but the force of attraction, creating the impulse which results from an inward change of heart. Who that values his conscience can stand by the Cross of © the Saviour in the hour of His utmost humiliation—His im- measurable suffering—and hear Him crying there, from those lips which shall soon judge the world, “Father, forgive them’; who with such a scene and such a sound in his mind can be honest with his own heart, and go forth to avenge, to destroy, to kill? A battery of modern guns alongside the Saviour’s cross on the hill of Golgotha would have mocked every sacred act in that tragedy of love, that spectacle of divine grace, which has done more to transform the world than all the ingenious fury of all the generals who ever lived. And never forget that “God commendeth His own 312 THE SAINT AND THE SWORD 313 love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.” While, then, it is true that the Gospel preached by Christ ever emphasized the fatal and inevitable consequences of sin, while it pointed to the final judgment which shall, at the end of life’s probation and at the close of this dispensation, come upon the transgressor, yet it was a gospel which had nothing in it, while this Day of Grace endures, which would justify war for the Christian. Christ Condemns War’s Accompaniments The conduct which the Saviour condemned is also an argu- ment against war for the Church. He condemned anger without cause.* He denounced war by condemning that anger in the breast without which it is impossible to do effective killing. Nowhere in the world is there so much anger without just cause as on the battle-field. The men opposing each other have often no reason to strike but the fear of being struck. ‘The bitter hatred, the passion en- gendered in these wars, is bred in the heart as the immediate result of fighting. Jesus condemned worship without forgiveness. The idea of worshiping Him Who had freely forgiven His murderers, while all the time intending to slay one’s brother, was an abomination in His sight: ‘First be reconciled to thy brother and then come and offer thy gift.’ Jesus condemned the taking of oaths. But all soldiers are “sworn in,” and when in, they “swear” to absolute obedience, so that their consciences have neither play nor sway. But the Lord said, ‘Swear not at all.’’4 Jesus condemned the love of money and the hoarding of wealth, and it would be difficult to find a war in history, outside the Jewish nation, which had not been caused by financial interests in one form or another. Even the much boasted wars for “liberty,” like that of the American Revolu- tion, started over commercial disputes. Moreover, the few 4Rom, 5:8. *Matt. 5:22. *Matt. 5:24. ‘Matt. 5:34. 314 THE SAINT AND THE SWORD wars that did not start for money have always been ma- neuvered by moneyed men. Christ said, “How hard is it for them that trust in riches to enter into the kingdom of God,”? and “lay not up for yourselves treasures upon the earth.” Jesus condemned impurity. ‘Do not commit adultery’— “Everyone that looketh ... to lust . . . hath committed.’’* But war has always filled the world with lust, and as I have already shown, has, more than any other thing, brought womanhood to shame and degradation. Jesus condemned an unbelieving heart and a “doubtful mind,” which prompts men, through fear of privation, to resort to all kinds of brute force for self-protection. He warned us against this as the custom of “the nations of the world.’”* Jesus condemned lying and stealing and killing. He said, “Do not kill, Do not steal, Do not bear false witness.’”® No war could continue a day without the doing of all these. Jesus condemned those who heard His words and did not do them. Nor did He forget to lay particular stress on the kind of words He referred to. They were, “THESE words of mine,” the words found in the fifth, sixth and seventh chapters of Matthew’s Gospel—‘‘Everyone that heareth THESE words of mine, and DOETH THEM NOT, shall be likened unto a foolish man, who built his house upon the sand... and great was the fall thereof.’® | 1Mark 10:24. ?Matt. 6:19. *%Matt. 5:28. ‘Luke 12:29, go. STuke 18:20. *Matt. 7:26, 27. VI. THE SERVICE HE DEMANDED AND THE PLAN HE EXPLAINED The service which Christ enjoined upon His Church was also repugnant to militarism. He sent His disciples, not to overbear and terrorize like wolves, but to overcome the world’s brutality by the gentleness of the sheep and the lamb. “Go ye,” He said, “and make disciples” not soldiers, “baptizing . . . teaching them to observe all things whatso- ever I commanded you’*—not compelling. And to assure them of the effectiveness of this policy, He tells them that “all authority” was given unto Him who had set for them the supreme example of meekness, and that none other than He Himself, in all His sweet tenderness, boundless patience and forgiving love was “with them always.”? The first salutation they gave to every house they entered was to be “peace.”* And when they were rejected and ill-treated, they were never to retaliate or even denounce, but shake off the dust from their feet, as a witness against God’s enemies for that day when the Lord should come to punish those who refused His Gospel.* These disciples were to be “fishers” of men—not fighters.® They were to save their own souls by “enduring” wrong, by suffering even to “the end”—not by contending for their rights and crushing their enemies.° They were chosen and appointed that they should “bear fruit’”’’—a natural process working from within, not to capture cities by force of arms, or any other kind of force, which would be an artificial process working from without. ‘Their service was to be a love manifested toward their neighbors even as their self- love was manifested toward themselves. ‘They were to be 1Matt. 28:19, 20. 2Matt. 28:18, 20. ‘*Luke 10:5. *Matt. 10:14. SMark 1:17. ®Matt. 10:22. TJohn 15:16. SLuke 10:27, 28. 315 316 THE SAINT AND THE SWORD witnesses telling out the truth—not warriors wielding the sword. If necessary, they were cheerfully to give that greatest of all evidence of true devotion to their “friend” Jesus, as also to those around them, by laying down their lives in a cause which was for the highest and best interests of the world.? “In Your Patience Ye Shall Win” As far as the hearts of His disciples and the ears of His congregations were able to receive it, Jesus explained not only His Gospel, but His and His Father’s PLAN. This plan comprised the redemption of His people, the establish- ment of His Church, the universal dispensation of His grace, the resurrection, rapture and reward of His chosen ones, His second coming and millennial reign, the last judgment of the wicked and the ultimate bliss of the saints. This teaching put all war for His people only where it belongs— back under the old Jewish Dispensation and forward in the day of the Lord’s vengeance and authority. It precluded militarism entirely from the Church’s struggle with the powers of evil during this age. So far as His auditors had “ears to hear,” He explained all this and He promised that the ‘Comforter’ would make clear to them “the things that are to come.’® Jesus, although He found His chosen peo- ple helplessly under the heel of a mighty heathen power, never once even suggested their resorting to force in order to shake off that “‘tyranny.”’ On the contrary, He predicted the doom of their nation, the utter destruction of Jerusalem and her proud temple. In striking words He pictures the great armies which should come against her, and contrasts them with the persecuted and suffering little flock of His New Testament Church, making no attempt even at self- defense, but forsaking their homes and fleeing to the moun- tains, and He closes this description with the significant words “in your patience’—not your brave resistance, but “in 1Acts 1:8. *John 15:13, 14. "John 15:26; 16:7, 13, 14. THE SAINT AND THE SWORD 317 your patience ye shall win your souls.”! Nor must we for- get that, many years afterwards, St. John, writing to the persecuted early Christians, speaks of himself as their com- panion “in tribulation and in the kingdom and patience of Jesus Christ.” Quite contrary all this to the idea of a metropolis, the seat of His government and the home of His representatives, who should go forth to subdue the world by armed hosts and in- vincible navies. He speaks of Jerusalem as a city which should be “trodden down of the Gentiles until the time of the Gentiles be fulfilled.”? He foresees a Church which should go a whoring with the world and of which only a remnant, a “little flock,” should be left whose zeal and de- votion shall inherit the coming kingdom.‘ Christ’s Plan and Christ’s Power Concerning the dispensation which He had come to com- plete and to close, He gave utterance to expressions which are also exceedingly strong denunciations of war. His Sermon on the Mount, with its repeated, “Ye have heard” — “But I say unto you,” shows how completely changed was to be the method of His Church from that of the Jewish kingdom. Surely He showed how “the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ.’ Then looking forward, Jesus spoke of that coming mil- lennial kingdom which is to be no longer in “mystery” or in spiritual form, but established as a tangible material fact in this world when He said, “Henceforth ye shall see the Son of man sitting at the right hand of power, and coming in the clouds of heaven.”* ‘That is the kind of “power” Jesus will manifest. It will be a heavenly power, not the power of munition factories. Well may we repeat the prayer He put into our lips, “Thy kingdom come,”? and equally well must we remember that until it comes we are to rely on no tLuke 21:8-19. Rev. 1:9. *Luke 21:24. ‘Luke 12:32. ‘John 1:17. ®Matt. 26:64. ™Luke 11:2. 318 THE SAINT AND THE SWORD methods but the methods of grace and persuasion in winning men to its standard. How the Lord’s dispensational teaching broke down those barriers between nations which have been so fruitful a source of wars is shown by His dealings with the Samaritan woman at the well, who could not understand His asking any favors of her, since He was a Jew. He tried to explain to her that if only her mind was enlightened to know “the gift of God,” and how that He who at that moment stood in her presence was not only the Messiah of the Jew but the Saviour of the whole world; Whose sacrifice was to make all the nations of the earth to participate alike in Jehovah’s blessings; if she could grasp this, she would then understand that the true worshipers would not be bound to any national center for their devotions, but would be equally accepted of God wherever they knelt to pray so long as they worshiped in “spirit and in truth.’ The Gospel, then, which Jesus preached to that woman destroyed forever that false “patriotism” which is only an- other word for pride of earthly breeding, and which is so often a prop for Christless thrones. It is quite certain, so far as I can discover from the Bible, that Christ’s teaching con- cerning the plan of the ages sets aside all carnal war for the Christian in this Church age. John 4:9, 24. te > i Vil. THE ENDOWMENTS HE BESTOWED AND THE COMFORTER HE PROMISED Foremost among these was PEACE. “Peace be unto you” was His oft-repeated salutation.1 The prophecy of the aged Zacharias when he said that Jesus came “to guide our ‘feet into the way of peace,” was abundantly fulfilled in Christ, and the angles at Bethlehem sang of Him truly when they proclaimed Him as the bringer of “peace among men in whom he is well pleased.”* “Peace,” He said, “I leave with you ; my peace I give unto you.”* And He further explained that it was not peace which came by the world’s contrivances or policies, for the world could not give it any more than take it away. It was His peace, the peace that reigned in His own heart when He was martyred while refusing to de- fend Himself, and which He knew He alone could bring to the nations of this world when He came to rule them: “These things have I spoken unto you, that in me ye may have peace.”> ‘True, Jesus said He came “not to give peace in the earth . . . but rather division.”’® But this “division” was not a matter of strife, blows, bitterness, on the part of His own, but rather an exclusion which came upon them because of their refusal to join in those schemes of worldly aggrandizement which led to the world’s contentions; aye often because of their repudiation of exactly such methods as war for settling them. It was the “division” between the spirit of truth and the falsity of the world we see every- where manifested in people, Churches and homes, and which brings upon Christ’s faithful ones the persecution He told them they were never to respond to by retaliation. Peace of heart, peace of mind, peace of spirit, were God’s richest en- dowments to His people, and certainly no such peace can be possessed while engaging in the rage and ruin of war. *John 20:19. Luke 24:36, *Luke 1:70. %Luke 2:14 R. V. ‘John 14:27. SJohn 16:33. *Luke 12:51. 319 320 THE SAINT AND THE SWORD Moreover, the peace of the Christian’s life and spirit is entirely dependent upon obedience to the words and unity with the presence of Jesus. ‘These things have I spoken unto you that in me ye may have peace.” The “things” that Jesus ‘‘spoke” to His disciples forbid war, and to go aveng- ing, smiting, killing one’s enemies is to go precisely in the way where Christ cannot go with us. The Christian who, having the light, ventures to do this may be certain of losing “the peace of God, which passeth all understanding.” Equipment Jesus told His disciples that before starting on their cam- paign in the world they were to tarry at Jerusalem? and get what military men would call their “equipment.” But this “equipment” affords one more startling contrast to the kind of “equipment”? with which modern bishops, and many other “up-to-date” Christian leaders are urging young men to arm themselves today. It was power—not evolved from the genius of a Krupp or an Armstrong or a Maxim-Vickers establishment. ‘There was nothing about it akin to the ex- plosive compounds packed into shells and torpedoes. Jesus described it perfectly when He said, “Ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you.”* And He adds suggestively that this “power”? was to make them “‘wit- nesses”—not pugilists. It is a striking fact that of all the description so far given of the many and diverse forces for destruction or aggression by all the military colleges and staffs of the warring world, no one has said a word about the power of the Holy Ghost. Yet Jesus and His apostles put that power first as the all-essential of effective service in His warfare. It would seem that the Church is fully conscious of the essential antagonism between the blessed Spirit of the promised Comforter, which breaks men’s hearts, and changes their dispositions, and the chemical compounds of 1Phil. 4:47. Acts 1:4. *Acts 1:8. THE SAINT AND THE SWORD 321 war laboratories, which tear off their heads and shatter their limbs. Hence, there is little said about the Holy Ghost on the battle-fields) The power which Jesus promised His people was not a force for insisting on a hateful submission but to invoke a willing obedience, not to compel but to con- vince. “Lhe Comforter to be sent was “the Spirit of truth” —the truth which Jesus said should make men “‘free.”? Jesus told His disciples most distinctly that when they were persecuted, as they would be after He left them; when they were put out of the synagogues and when their enemies would suppose they were pleasing God by killing them, they were to rely on the aid—not of Czsar’s legions—but on the promised “Comforter.” This Comforter, although He might not always work out deliverance for them here below would, through their patience and boldness, reprove the world of sin, of righteousness and of judgment.? And note carefully, that Comforter, Jesus said, was to glorify Him. “He shall take of MINE, and shall shew it unto you.”*® ‘The Comforter, then, was to confirm the say- ings and witness of Jesus among other sayings, “‘these say- ings of mine,’ in the Sermon on the Mount. It is then a false and lying spirit and not the Spirit of Christ which goes with men into the bitter and bloody arena of war. The Holy Spirit will not dishonor Christ by having anything to do with such a hellish turmoil of hate, terror and murder. 1John 8:32; 14:26; John 16:13. ?John 16:1-8. %John 16:15. VIII. THE KINGDOM HE INTRODUCED Once more we discover the fact that in all the Master’s teaching about the Kingdom of God—while, in this Church age, that kingdom is in its “mystery”! or spiritual period— the period when it “‘cometh not with observation” or in places where men say, “Lo here! or, lo there!’ but when it is “within” the heart?—in all His teachings about the king- dom and all His parables concerning it, there is no single reference to anything that even suggests physical fighting or force. On the contrary, Jesus said in unmistakable language, “My kingdom is not of this world. If my kingdom were of this world, then would my servants fight, .. . but NOW © is my kingdom not from hence.’* ‘The time for that tem- poral kingdom had not yet come. Though it may involve some repetition, let us look again at the parables and illustrations in their direct bearing on this kingdom in the soul of man. ‘To explain it we have such images as these: “A sower went forth to sow,’* not a soldier went forth to fight. ‘“The sower soweth the Word;’”® he doesn’t deliver blows. It is “the Word of the king- dom’’*—not the interests and powers of earthly realms and rulers; and the seed is sown in the heart," in loving persua- sion—it isn’t something enforced on the will by mailed war- riors. Again the kingdom is like unto a man who started an in- explicable process of life by sowing good seed, or dropping a “grain of mustard seed,” in his field* so that it “should spring up and grow,” not as a logical consequence of any compelling force, which he himself could bring to bear on it, but in such a manner as “he knoweth not how.’ 1Mark 4:11. *Luke 17:20, 21. *%John 18:36. *Matt. 13:3. SMark 4:14. ®Matt. 13:19. ‘Matt. 13:19. “Matt. 13:24, 31. *%Mark 4:26, 27. 322 i THE SAINT AND THE SWORD 323 Force Comes When the Lord Comes The parable of the wicked husbandmen, which, in its primary interpretation, refers to the Jewish priesthood, but is just as applicable to the leaders of the apostate church of this age, is another anti-military figure. In_ this parable the kingdom is likened unto a “householder” who “planted a vineyard,”! protected it with a “hedge,” “digged a winepress in it, and built a tower, and let it out to hus- bandmen, and went into another country’’—‘for a long time.”? During this long absence, which represents the Church age, we see this “householder” sending his “servants” to “receive the fruits’*—not to take them by force, but instead of pursuing the policy of the militant churchmen, which would have battered down all opposition, seized those thieves and put an end to their iniquitous robbery of the “husbandman,” we discover it is always the “servants” and never the “‘soldiers’” who are sent. We find, moreover, it is not these “servants” who use violence and return as con- querers, but on the contrary all the violence referred to is on the side of the “wicked husbandmen,” while the dutiful “servants” submit meekly to “beating,” “wounding,” being “handled shamefully,” and finally “killed.” Then we have the story of the “beloved Son” who comes, not to “avenge” the wrongs of the servants, but to inspire loving “reverence’”’ in the hearts even of these murderous usurpers, and who allows himself also to be “killed and cast forth.”® Finally after this “long time” of patient forbearance, during which there is not even a hint of the use of force, there comes the moment “when therefore the lord of the vineyard shall come,” and these “miserable men” shall be destroyed and the vineyard be given to more faithful stewards.° Force comes back only when the Lord comes back. 1Matt. 21:33. Matt. 21:33. *Luke 20:9. *Matt. 21:34. 5Mark 12:6-8, Matt. 21:41 (R. V.). 324 THE SAINT AND THE SWORD The “Marriage Feast” Argument It is true that there is just one parable (we must, I think, distinguish between parables and illustrations) wherein is mentioned a king and his armies, but a thoughtful interpreta- tion of it strengthens once more the argument against the use of arms, in battle, for the Christian. Let us go carefully over it. The Kingdom of Heaven was likened unto “a certain king, which made a marriage feast for his son.” Here surely is represented the call of the rightful “King of the Jews’ — even Jesus. The call is given by the fact of His coming as their Messiah to His chosen people. It was an Old Testa- ment image, setting forth the condition of things in that “overlapping” period which is revealed in Scripture, between the close of one dispensation and the beginning of another. The “king” was Jesus Himself. The ‘“‘marriage feast” for which the ‘“‘oxen” and “fatlings” were killed and all things were made “ready,” stands for the “marriage’ or the uniting of all those feasts and sacrifices of the Jewish ritual, in the one supreme offering which Jesus, “the Lamb of God,” made of Himself to emancipate the bodies and souls of His people. It was to this feast they were invited to “come.” They would not respond to the first invitation when Jesus Himself during His lifetime sent forth His dis- ciples. Neither would they come after the death and resur- rection of the Lord, when, the feast being complete and all things “ready,” the door of mercy was still open to them and the Apostles and Fathers of the early Church again ex- tended that invitation. They “made light of it” and “went their ways.” ‘Then their dispensation closed, like all the other dispensations, with terrible judgment. The armies of Rome were permitted to come and destroy those murderers, and “burn up their city.” After this the parable shows us the opening of the Church dispensation, whose heralds go forth to extend the invitation to the whole world, the “wed- ding garment” of Christ’s righteousness being freely offered to all who will accept it. But, note again, no force is used THE SAINT AND THE SWORD 325, either to bring in the guests or to keep out those who fail to attire themselves in the necessary robing. Both ‘“‘good and bad” are freely admitted. The discrimination between the guests was left until “the king came.’’ It was then the man who had not the needed adornment was judged, and even then, not by the “servants” but by the king himself, the sen- tence being carried out only at His command.* “Good and Faithful” not “Valiant and Furious” Again the conditions which are to characterize the King- dom of Heaven in its “mystery” period, are likened to “a man going into another country” who “called his own ser- vants and delivered unto them his goods”? and then “went on his journey.” During his absence we see these servants “trading” with the talents and “after a long time,” which again represents the Church age, “the lord of these servants cometh”—not his armies—and there is a “reckoning,” or casting up of accounts and a statement is produced showing how much they had “gained” by this “trading.” But there is no account of how much they had conquered by fighting. Such an idea does not lend itself to the parable at all. “Trading” is not making war. ‘The servants were com- mended because they were “good and faithful”—not because they were “valiant and furious.” The parable of the “pounds” has exactly the same imagery. The command to those who received them was, “Trade ye herewith till I come;” the account rendered was “what they had gained by trading,” and surely it is worthy of careful note that the fatal mistake made by the “wicked servant,” in this parable, was that he got a wrong estimate of his lord, and instead of regarding him as a generous master devoted to peaceful “trading” he took him for an “austere man” who made a business of “taking up that he did not lay down and reaping that he did not sow.” And if war-lords do not do exactly this, then they do nothing at all.4 1Matt. 22:1-14. *Matt. 25:14-30. “Luke 19:12-24, 326 THE SAINT AND THE SWORD The figures are exactly the same in the parable of the “householder” who went out early in the morning to hire— not soldiers for an army—but “laborers” for a “vineyard,” not one of whom was forced to work. Again the characteristics and labors of those who con- stitute the spiritual kingdom, and their relations to the world, _ are likened unto those who hold ‘“keys’”’—not swords. They are to unlock the door not to push people through it; they must have, not the spirit of the proud “commander,” but of “‘little children,” for “of such” is the citizenship of that kingdom.? ‘They are likened to ‘‘ten virgins” with ~ burning “lamps,” the wiser half of whom disappear at the moment of the world’s darkest ‘“midnight’”*—not warriors forging their way with clash of arms to pinnacles of triumph, to be flattered for having “won the world for democracy” or their “fatherland,” in the earth’s noonday of glory. The Fallacy of “Righteous Wars” ‘That force is not a method of the Church, is shown again by the parable of the “three measures of meal’ being “leavened” by the influences of evil, not the “leaven” being destroyed by the good wholesome “meal” ;> and by the story of the “hidden treasure,’® which shows that the attraction of that which is esteemed to be “of great price,’ is the procedure of the Gospel Age, while the simile of the ‘“‘drag- net” shows that the process is not the enforced surrender of all, but only a “gathering of every kind,” for the great mass, though bad, is to be allowed to remain in the “‘net”’ till “the end of the world;” only then the good being sepa- rated from the bad. Finally—so far is the teaching of Jesus from the idea that the Kingdom of Heaven will be established in this age, either by the co-operation of the Church with the world in its schemes for better education, or better laws, or what it calls its “righteous wars’”—that He gives us not the slightest hint that such an era will ever be ushered in by 1Matt. 20:1. *Matt. 16:19. *%Matt. 19:14. ‘Matt. 25:1. SMatt. 13:33. SMatt. 13:44. THE SAINT AND THE SWORD 327 the slow process of “progressive thought,” “‘advanced legis- lation,” or “military achievement.” On the contrary, He tells us that “as the lightning, when it lighteneth out of the one part under the heaven, shineth unto the other part under heaven; so shall the Son of man be in his day.’’ After say- ing which He adds a significant expression, just as applicable to His afflicted Church in this age as to Himself, in the time of His humiliation—“But first he must suffer many things and be rejected of this generation.’’ ALuke) 17:24, 25. IX. THE METHODS HE EMPHASIZED AND THE TESTS HE APPLIED Once more the methods which Jesus adopted for His Church give no countenance to compulsion and can never be made to justify war. ‘There is no place in them for revenge. Judgment is postponed to the close of this Day of Grace. Punishment comes only at the end of this age. Christ re- minded His disciples that it was the appeal to the heart through the ear—not the appeal to the will by means of force, which was the method by which they shall know the truth—‘“If any man have ears to hear.”* He told them that when love failed to stop their enemies’ attacks they were to flee—not to fight—‘“Shake off the dust from your feet.”2 The early Christians in Jerusalem, when they saw the sign of “desolation” in the Temple* and the Roman armies closing upon Jerusalem were NOT to join their nation’s forces in defense of their “beloved country,” their homes and their dear ones. They were to “FLEE”—“Let them that are in the midst of her depart out.” ‘Those in the country were NOT to answer the summons of their _ national leaders to “rally to the standard” in that day of sore trial for Jerusalem. It was doubtless considered at the time the rankest kind of “unpatriotic” treason to forsake the cause and to refuse to do “their bit” in helping to kill the accursed heathen, but Jesus told them they were so to act— ‘Jet not them that are in the country enter therein.”* They were to win by “watching” and prayerfulness—“If my words abide in you”—mark well the expression, the words of Jesus mean much—“ye shall ask what ye will and it shall be done unto you.”° “But watch ye at every season, making supplications that ye may prevail” (to conquer your t1Mark 4:23. *Mark 6:11. *Matt. 24:15. ‘Luke 21:20, 21. 5John 15:7- THE SAINT AND THE SWORD 329 enemies by physical fighting? No.) but “that ye may pre- vail to ESCAPE all these things that shall come to pass and to stand before the Son of man.’ ‘They were to push the Gospel, not the interest of worldly governments, not the tenets of Christless democracies—and teach the Word of God. ‘Go ye into all the world and preach the Gospel to every creature’*—‘‘teaching them to observe all things what- soever I have commanded you,”* which of course includes the Sermon on the Mount. Love versus War’s Effects The tests Jesus applied are very simple but most emphatic and searching. It is only necessary to quote a few of them. “Ye are my friends, if ye do the things which I command you, * which is another way of saying, “If you do the things that I tell you NOT to do ye are my enemies, but Jesus for- bid us to kill our brother-man.5 “He that hath my com- mandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me... and I will love HIM, and manifest myself unto HIM,’ which is another way of saying, “Those who make loud professions of having me in their hearts while they go down to shed a brother’s blood, or support others in doing so, and thus to break the commandments which I have given them, do NOT know me in the realest and truest sense, and I will NOT manifest myself to them. “By THIS shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another’’— that is to say, LOVE is the supreme test of discipleship. Where there is no Jove there is no real Christianity. If we want to know what real LOVE is we should turn to the thirteenth chapter of the first Epistle to the Corinthians, and read it over with the causes and the effects of war in our minds as we do so. Here we find that love though it “suffer- eth long” does not at last break out in vengeance and murder, but still “is kind; love “vaunteth not” about its national ILuke 21:36. *Mark 16:15. *Matt. 28:20. ‘John 15:13, 14. SMark 10:19 and Luke 18:20. ‘%John 14:21. “John 13:35. 330 THE SAINT AND THE SWORD greatness and superiority; it does not strut around booted, spurred, panoplied, decorated with “puffed up” pride; love does not indulge in celebrations of victory by “unseemly” orgies of debauchery and drunkenness; she does not “seek her own” at all costs and sacrifices, on the principle of “my country, right or wrong;” her “dignity,” “honor,” “prestige,” is not “easily provoked,” and she does not charge her enemy with all kinds of imaginary abominations, for she “thinketh no evil.” Nor does she delight in a policy of lying and spying, for she “rejoiceth not in iniquity,” but prefers at all costs to stand by “the truth.” Love does not blaze forth in rage and bombardments, but “beareth all things,” she “hopeth all things,” “endureth all things,” and last but not least and notwithstanding the Churches’ cow- ardly abandonment of spiritual weapons as a cure for Prus- | sianism, “Love never faileth.” One needs not then to think - below the surface to discover that Christian LOVE and WAR cannot go together; and yet we once more repeat that Jesus said, “By THIS shall all men know .. . if ye have LOVE.” 4 X. THE EXAMPLE HE GAVE The Lord Jesus ever pointed to His own example as the true copy, as regards both character and conduct, for all His followers. His oft repeated injunction, ‘‘follow me,” given to those with whom He came into contact in the days of His flesh, is just as applicable to all of us today. “I have given you an example,” He says, “that ye also should do as I have done to you.”! Jesus is the example of the Church not the Old Testament saints. ‘That is to say, where the example of Jesus differs and contrasts with that of the heroes of the Jewish Dispensation, we are to follow Jesus and NOT those heroes, the last of whom was John the Baptist. It is painful to see the way venerable bishops tumble into all sorts of confusion over this matter, because they go back to such examples as David, who, they remind us, was a “man after God’s own heart” and yet used the sword. But David had several wives, he ate the passover lamb, kept the Jewish feasts and would have laid himself open to the pun- ishment of death had he been favored to have an automobile and rode it on the Sabbath Day. With a startling incon- sistency certain Bible critics of German and English theo- logical seminaries defend war by pointing to Elijah, who slew the prophets of Baal, a fact which they conveniently forget gave them serious offense until they took so vigorously to killing each other. ‘These “modern thought” divines must have gotten “floods of light” on the much debated “morality” of the Bible description of the slaughter of the Amalekites since they are now such ardent advocates of wholesale slaughter of men, women and children by fire, tempest and slow starvation. ‘They ought, then, to publicly apologize to the Almighty for criticising His right to slay a bunch, about five hundred times more hopelessly given over to crime and cruelty, than the worst citizen of either Berlin or London. 14John 13:15. 331 332 THE SAINT AND THE SWORD But to return to the point, Jesus is the only complete and authoritative pattern for a Christian. He and not David is now the “light of the world.” Looking, then, for help from His example concerning this great question of war, we can find no single instance when any word He ever spoke or any deed He ever committed— as the instigator of the Church or the herald of the New Covenant—which could give even the faintest suggestion of His approval either of the spirit, the methods, or the accom- plishments of war. The fact that He predicted wars, warned His people to prepare for them, even showed how they would be overruled so as to work out, or speaking more correctly, so as not to prevent the working out of His Father’s plan for this earth, no more proves that He ap- proved of them than His prophecies concerning His own crucifixion justified the tragedy of murder which did Him to death on the cross. Cleansing the Temple Great teachers of the Bible, as well as leaders of Chris- tendom, when driven by stern logic to confusion concerning their battle-defending sophistries, have desperately snatched from the overpowering multitude of Christ’s war-denounc- ing words and deeds the incidents connected with His cleansing of the Temple. Quite oblivious of the logical application of their argument, they forget that if driving desecraters from the Lord’s house with whips was justifiable for the present age, not a few whips, or speaking more “on time,” not a few six-shooters, in the hands of a very large force of men would be needed, and ought to be employed, to drive from modern Churches the no inconsiderable number of those who run their Christ-dishonoring mummeries, Ro- man idolatries, bazaars, and godless entertainments, in these so-called “‘sacred” edifices today. But what are the facts about the cleansing of the Temple. To begin with, it must be a weak argument which is bound THE SAINT AND THE SWORD 333 to assume that a whole regiment of renegades, grown rich and powerful by the lucrative trade they were running, could be driven out by a few knotted cords in the hand of a single man. No, the knotted cords were surely made for the beasts. At the second cleansing of the Temple no men- tion is made, by any of the Gospel writers, of this whipping at all. It is simply said that “He cast out” the intruders.’ The Whip and the Word The context in St. John’s description of the first cleansing is all in favor of the idea that it was the cattle and not the men for whom the “scourge of cords” was made. All the physical force was used against the animal and material things. The only time the “scourge” is mentioned emphasis is put on this. He made a “scourge of cords” and cast all out... “both sheep and the oxen.” He “poured out” the changer’s “money.” He “overthrew” their “tables.”? But when it came to dealing with the men the narrative goes on “and to them that sold the doves He SAID, Take these things hence.” The whip for the cattle, the “pouring out” for the money, the “overturning” for the tables and the “speach” for the men. It was the word of His authority that cast out these men with living souls, not His insignifi- cant whip. This is confirmed by what happened immediately afterwards for we read, “The Jews therefore answered and said unto Him.” ‘This was certainly not the attitude of a lot of whipped and enraged men, deprived of their gains and money-making jobs, but it WAS the attitude of those who, overawed by some mysterious supernatural power, wanted to know something more about it. Hence, the question of these expelled tradesmen, ‘““What sign showest thou unto us, seeing that thou doest these things?’* In other words, “What evidence can you produce that this strange ‘au- thority’ to which we have yielded is of God?” Then Jesus Matt 21:12, 13. Mark r1:15-18, Luke 19:45, 46. "John 2:14-22. 8John 2:18, 334 THE SAINT AND THE SWORD by His reply settles, I think, forever the kind of “force” it was He used in cleansing the Temple. Jt was the same power that would raise the temple of His own body from the grave after it had lain there for its appointed time— “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.’ Now if modern armies could drive before them their enemies by the same kind of superhuman power as this, if they could raise their dead soldiers to life from the trenches to continue fighting their battles, then no Christian could have any doubt about joining them. One thing is certain, Jesus did not get His authority and power by the use of sixteen- inch guns! Lord of the Jewish Dispensation | But supposing Jesus had employed that whip, so precious to the Church-militants, in driving out the men as well as- the beasts, how could that justify war for the CHRIS- TIAN? Jesus was then acting under the Jewish Dispensa- tion as Lord of the Jewish Temple. Until the close of that dispensation it was imperative that He should enforce its laws, by, in some way, chastizing those who broke them; just as it was impossible that the High Priest could insult the Shekinah in the Holy of Holies and not suffer for it. To use force for such a purpose, by our Lord Himself, was- perfectly legitimate in that time, while the Jewish kingdom still existed. But Jesus was acting concerning a temple which was soon to be utterly destroyed, and with the passing of which all that called for “violence” on the part of His followers should also pass. No sword till God’s appointed time can now defend that Temple, as countless lives and treasure beyond estimation, during the Wars of the Crusades, have proved. If war for this dis- pensation is justified on the grounds that Christ used force in cleansing the Temple, then the sword in our time should at once be drawn in many cathedrals! 4John 2:19, THE SAINT AND THE SWORD 335 Continuing our thoughts on the example of Jesus, looking there for light on this great question of war, where do we find Him in pursuit of His mission, using other methods than His words or the spiritual influences which flowed from His person? It was His supreme purpose to proclaim the Gospel and to herald the Dispensation of Love—‘“To this end have I been born, and to this end am I come into the world that I should bear witness unto the truth” #*—not that I should “bear the sword for it’—‘bear witness.” “Let us go elsewhere,” He said to His disciples, “into the next towns, that I may preach there also: for to this end came I forth.” ‘He went into their synagogues throughout all Galilee, preaching and casting out demons.”* He was not a little bit concerned about the casting out of Romans, though everywhere His own disciples were appealing to Him to proclaim His Kingship and throw off the tyrant’s power.® Peter and His Satanic Policy Yes! the key-note of that wonderful life was LOVE. The secret of its power and influence throughout the world was patient forbearance—grace poured out upon guilt. It was hard for His disciples at the time, even as it is hard for many of them today, to understand how this could or can be. They cannot see how greater victory is achieved through suffering than by fighting. Peter stumbled here. Like so many of our time, he did not like to hear his Master, the Messiah, the lawful King of a “little nation,’ groaning under the bondage of a huge empire, smarting beneath the scepter of a relentless emperor; he did not like to hear Him talking about the many things He must “suffer’—about being “rejected” and “killed,” thus he “rebuked” his Master for saying them. In his opinion, it would have been far better to get a few swords, start up an insurrection, meet force with force, and so ‘‘make the world safe for” theocracy. @John 18:37. *Mark 1:38, *Mark 1:39. “*Acts 1:6, 336 THE SAINT AND THE SWORD But Jesus saw the reasoning of “Satan” in all that. He bid him begone—“Thou art a_stumbling-block unto me,” He said to Peter, ‘for thou mindest not the things of God, but the things of men. ... Whosoever would save his life shall lose it; and whosoever shall lose his life for my sake shall find it.’’? All through those months of opposition from the ablest and most powerful men in His nation, when they sought to trap Him, thirsted for His blood, surrounded Him with danger, He never resisted—‘From that day forth they took counsel that they might put Him to death,” and what did Jesus do? Did He start fighting, or organizing others to do so, and thus seek by force to prevent their murderous intent? No, He simply withdrew—“Jesus, therefore, walked no more openly among the Jews.’? On another occasion, when His persecutors were hot on His track, Jesus “conveyed Him-— self away.’ The Worthiest of all Conflicts Surely, if war is justifiable at all, there never was, there never can be, in all history, a cause half so worthy of war- riors as the cause which Jesus Christ came to espouse. Surely He, above all others, was the one to fight for. Not only was He King and Messiah of His nation, then being enslaved and taxed by a huge, unscrupulous heathen power, but He was the Creator and Sustainer of all things on this earth, and therefore their rightful Owner. Yet, notwithstanding all this, Jesus absolutely forbid the use of the sword in His defense (see pages 58, 59). He distinctly stated that though He might have called more than “twelve legions of angels” to protect Him, He refused to do so. He had never a doubt that His redemptive work, as His victory in the world, was to be achieved by patient endurance of wrong—-by triumph- ant forgiving love. As He approached His death He hailed it as the supreme *Matt. 16:23, 25. "John 11:53, 54. "John 5:13. ‘Matt. 26:53. a THE SAINT AND THE SWORD 337 opportunity for demonstrating the effectiveness of that policy —‘The Son of man,” He said, “‘is delivered up to be cruci- fied” 1—“‘the hour is come,” He said again to His disciples, “that the Son of man should be glorified’’—-glorified by be- ing crucified. And when the tramp of His murderers’ feet was within hearing He looked into His Father’s face and ex- claimed: “Glorify thy Son, that thy Son may also glorify thee.” This was the “glory” which was to follow as a result of the insult and martyrdom to which He unresistingly yielded. True the Elders and the Scribes, who, like so many of their profession today, could not understand how any great catastrophe could be averted or any large achievement wrought without a resort to force, spoke more truly than they knew when they said, ‘‘He saved others; himself he can- not save,’* for it was precisely that policy of patient en- durance, both in Himself and in those who followed His example, which thrilled and captured the hearts of those who established and comprised His Church. Well may the Apostle say, “And we beheld His glory,” so unlike the fury of emperors and captains, the glory which was “full of grace and truth,” Extreme Provocation and Supreme Forbearance Lastly, think of the example of non-resistance which the Lord Jesus gave us during His last hours. Without com- plaint, without calling on those unseen forces ever at his dis- posal for protection, or the avenging of His wrongs, He bore almost every conceivable provocation to anger, hatred, strife or war. He was sold to His enemies by one He had loved and trusted ;° He was the victim of the most shameful hypoc- risy ;' He was betrayed by a kiss;* He was arrested by law- less ruffians like a highway robber;? He was unlawfully tried ;*° He was the subject of ecclesiastical bigotry and perse- 1Matt. 26:2. John 12:23. °John 17:1. *Matt. 27:42, ‘John 1:14 SMatt. 26:14-16. ‘John 18:28. ‘%Matt. 26:49. Luke 22:47-54. 20John 18:19-23. 338 THE SAINT AND THE SWORD cution ;** He was lied against by false witnesses ;12 His enemies “blindfolded” Him, “scoffed” at Him, “spat in His face;’’% He was “scourged,” “buffeted,” insulted and ‘“‘smitten;”+ He was denied by one He had most trusted ;! He was the sub- ject of “envy”? and sedition,® the victim of a foul con- spiracy ;* He was forsaken by His most intimate associates ;° He was accused of blasphemy and treason;* they ridiculed Him as a false prophet ;’ though the King of Heaven, they handed Him over to a heathen power;® they said He was a rebel ;? He was made a plaything for kings who “‘set Him at naught ;”*° His kingship was rejected ;11 an assassin was pre- ferred before Him;?? His royalty was denied;** the mob ridiculed Him;** the authorities taunted Him;** they op- pressed Him with an unbearable burden;'® they stole His belongings ;*7 laughed at His agonies'® and finally they in- flicted on Him the most shameful death—a penalty meted out only to the lowest criminals.!® All this the Lord Jesus endured unresistingly. Why Did not Jesus Fight? Should it be said that the reason He did this was because He could not otherwise have carried out His redemptive work for the race—that His policy of non-resistance being essential to His work of atonement, does not therefore apply to us—it is sufficient to answer such an argument with a very pertinent question. Was this non-resistance really essential to Christ’s atoning work? True He had to die in order to save us, but why did He choose to die unresistingly? Why could He not have died resisting? He was not com- pelled to employ those divine superhuman powers with which, by virtue of His Godhead, He was invested, and which, had He used them would have rendered His murder aratt 14:1. Matt. 26:59, 60. Mark 14:65. Luke 22:63, 64. John 1-5. Matt. 26:67. "oT Mark 14 :66-68. *Mark 15:10. *Luke 23:2. ‘Matt. 27:1. SMark 14:50. ®Matt. 26:65. "Mark 14:65. *®%Matt. 27:2. *Luke 23:2. Luke 23:11. UJohn 19:15. 2Tuke 23:18. 8 hes 19:2, 3. 4John 19: 5, 6. ‘Matt. 27:42. 6 Fohn 19:17. ath.a7, ae. 18Matt. 27, 39. Luke 23:33. THE SAINT AND THE SWORD 339 impossible. He could have fought His enemies to the limit of His human powers. He could have put up a splendid opposition as a man—a perfect man. He could have led His little company against those hypocritical, cowardly priests and their hired set of Roman bullies with a leader- ship of such courage and skill, blows of such exact precision, as could be directed and impelled only by a mind, an eye, a spirit which, like His, were unspoiled by sin. Why didn’t He fight, then? If it is right for His followers to fight for their earthly nations, why shouldn’t He have fought for the best of all causes? He had it always in His power to stop short of winning the victory, so He could still have fought and done His Father’s will. He knew His nation would not accept Him. He knew that had he decided to do the “heroic” and fight, His death would have been doubly sure, for He knew that in that case Pilate would have at once crucified Him as a rebel against Cesar. So it is certain that had He drawn the sword, He could still have redeemed the world by His death. Why, then, did he not die fighting? Doubtless He understood such a course would be more in harmony with the ideas of archbishops and bishops in His professed Church today. Didn’t He know that the cathedrals of our time would be stuffed full of blood-stained, bullet-riddled flags; of monuments, tablets, stained-glass windows, to the memories of men who had made their fame by conduct which was the very opposite to that of the Apostles and “Saints” to whose memory these cathedrals had been built? Why didn’t He die fighting instead of yielding? Just as many an army colonel has been immortalized because— standing in the midst of the remnant of his regiment, in the rake of a surrounding enemy’s fire—he had perished with the words, “no surrender” on his lips; so Christ could have won immeasurably greater fame than any fighting hero had He struggled against His murderers till overpowered and then employed His waning forces in hurling anathemas from the 340 THE SAINT AND THE SWORD cross. Such a course would have still made Him the world’s bravest hero. Why not? Nelson was a hero; Gordon was a hero; Wolfe was a hero; Stonewall Jackson was a hero. These all died fighting. More illustrious men than these, if they did not die im battle, won their high places in the world’s esteem by war. Cromwell, Washington, Lee, Lin- - coln. We place wreathes on the monuments of all these men. Had Jesus died as a LION instead of a LAMB, could we not still have brought our tributes to His cross? Why all this meekness, this humiliation, this dove-like sub- _ missiveness, this absolute surrender?—Why ? | Could we Worship a Pugilistic Christ? Is it necessary to answer? Do not our very heart-instincts reply? Could our homage ever be given to a pugilistic Christ? (pardon the liberties of speech which follow. For the logic which necessitates such seeming irreverence I refer you to the “state” churches, both “established” and “non- conformist” of this generation)—Could our heart’s affec- tion be captured by a Christ Who, with clenched fists, red with the blood of His enemies, had been the central figure in a series of furious scrambles all the way from Gethsemane to Golgotha? A Christ Who, when Judas came with his infamous kiss, had “knocked his teeth down his throat;” Who had “landed” Annas “one in the eye;” had flung the court-furniture at the heads of the false witnesses ; “punched” Caiphas’ ecclesiastical brow; sent Pilate to the hospital in Jerusalem with a broken nose, and, as punishment for their insolence to Himself, the Royal One of heaven, in the palace of the heathen, had left half a dozen bleeding and bandaged soldiers with the city ambulance? Could we sing and preach about Christ as we now do if, instead of passing up that Calvary’s “way of sorrow” with such matchless patience, He had gone there in the man- ner our soldiers’ retreat, ‘contesting every inch of the way” —‘“‘making his enemies pay dearly”—‘giving ground at a THE SAINT AND THE SWORD 341 frightful cost in dead and wounded”? Had He held out with “frantic struggles” in which He could be discerned above all His followers, urging them to thrust with swords, stab with knives, strike with staves, pound with fists, hit with stones; had He, as opportunity served, with superlative vigor, done all this Himself, executing “frightful slaughter to the accursed foe;” had all this happened could we love Him as we do now? Could we think of Jesus on the cross with the same adoration if, landing at the summit of Gol- gotha in the midst of this wild and bloody scuffle, He was at last overwhelmed “only by the superiority of numbers,” and, still screaming “vengeance” on His enemies, was nailed by sheer force to His place of sacrifice? I trow not! A Pattern for the Church But this is the image His “modern” apostles have made of Him. This is the kind of “heroism” one hears extolled ad nauseam from pulpits of today. This is the kind of thing young men are urged to go and do. And yet, strange to say, those who thus laud such conduct in Christ’s professed fol- lowers cannot yet bring themselves to worship such a Christ. Mahommed, whose temple at this moment surmounts, in Jerusalem, the ruins of the Temple of God, stands in strik- ing antithesis both to the character and principles of the Lord Jesus. For Mahommed fell back upon the sword as the motive power and his religion, and he produced—Mahom- medism. Christ relied only upom love, forbearance, for- giveness, and He produced—Christianity. The reason then for Christ’s submissiveness was because He came not only to save the world by His death, but to establish His Church by His example. His Church, just as His nation, is part of His plan for the redemption of the world. His Church is indispensable to that plan. Without the Church, the coming kingdom would not be possible. But His Church was to be founded and built on the prin- 342 THE SAINT AND THE SWORD ciples of LOVE, self-sacrifice, patience, faith. ‘These are to be the fundamental principles of His coming kingdom. ‘They are the principles which will guarantee, under His rulership, its happiness and success. ‘The reason the king- doms of this age are so great a failure, such realms of sor- row, tears, death—is because they are controlled by prin- - ciples of an exactly opposite nature. Their law is self- inter- est, greed, ambition, unbelief. ‘The Lord wants to teach His Church that the two greatest things in this world are LOVE and TRUST. Where these are, strife cannot exist. Where strife is, these are absent. Moreover, love, patient © forbearance, unquestioning obedience, humility, long suffer- ing—these are qualities the exercise of which, on the part of God’s redeemed ones, fit them for those positions of trust which in the coming kingdom the Lord Jesus has marked out for them. His concern in this Dispensation is to make officers for the next. ‘Through this Church age, He is doing exactly what the United States Government did prior to the mobilization of its new armies. It trained officers. The Lord is doing the same. The United States needed men it could TRUST for the positions of responsibility in the management of its soon-to-be-called-out legions. In the same way the Lord Jesus before He calls out and mobilizes His hosts for His conquest of the world, seeks for those He can trust for the places of power and leadership in His coming kingdom. ‘The only way to get trusted men is by festing men. Hence, the trial of our faith, by patient endurance, is more precious to Him than the finest gold. Co-Workers With the Lord Remember also that although we cannot in any sense share with Christ His atoning work we are called to be “workers together with him’ in bringing the blessings of that Gospel to the world. This is the express task of His Church, and He told us how we were to perform it. In the 42 Cor.:6, rz. THE SAINT AND THE SWORD 343 mouth of His Apostle Paul He explained how we were ever to be—‘“‘approving ourselves as the ministers of God, in much patience, in afflictions, in necessities, in distresses, in stripes, in imprisonments, in tumults, in labors, in watchings, in fastings; by pureness, by knowledge, by long suffering, by kindness, by the Holy Ghost, by Jove unfeigned.' In all this list there is nothing that suggests “by force.” We are to follow the example of the Lord. We shall bring blessings to others “‘as the sufferings of Christ abound in us.”? We are to know the “fellowship of His sufferings, being made conformable unto His death’’® and there is a sense in which we with the Apostle Paul may “fill up that which is behind of the afflictions of Christ.’’* Jesus Himself said that as He was, so are we to be in the world, for “the disciple is not above his master, nor the servant above his lord.”® And the Apostle Peter most beauti- fully points us to Jesus as, “an example, that ye should fol- low in His steps. ... Who, when He was reviled, reviled not again; when he suffered, he threatened not; but com- mitted himself to him that judgeth righteously.’® And so when the spirit of Jesus passed into the unseen His legions of fleshly warriors, clad in steel, panoplied with sword and spear, were disarmed and dismissed, and His spiritual hosts, clad in the “armor of light,’ armed with the weapons of love, were summoned to take their places. These hosts do not fight with the reeking accouterments of bloody men. The gory sword, the dripping bayonet, are not needed by those who oppose, with the sword of the Spirit, that unseen principle of hate which, intrenched in the breasts of men, makes them snarl at each other. ‘The impulse of anger and the blast of dynamite are forces quite foreign to those who know the regenerating strength of the Holy Ghost—the burning flame of the fire sent down from Heaven. No, we are warriors of the Bleeding Lamb—the 12 Cor. 6:4-6. 42 Cores 1:5. 3Phil. 3:10. €Col. 1:24. 5Matt. 10:24. 6; Peter 2:21, 23. 344 THE SAINT AND THE SWORD Lamb slain before the foundation of the world to set men free from the tyranny of lust and revenge. We serve under the banner stained with the precious blood of Christ—the price of peace and good-will among men. We do not have, by the assassinating blows of torpedoes, to send thousands of souls down to hell, in order that the way to heaven may > be made accessible to those left behind. We do not need to wear uniforms or the ornaments, which carry along with them the stench of human blood, for our breastplate is right- eousness, our shield faith, our head-piece the helmet of salva-_ tion. Nor have we, as citizens of that kingdom which is coming down out of heaven, to go down into the slimy abattoir of the murderous world, and sink to the level of the scuttle-fish, the skunk and the hyena, to fight our bat- tles; ‘for we wrestle not with flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the dark- ness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.””+ As we seem to discern the advance of the relieving heavenly hosts, led on by our blessed Lord, coming for our vindication and support—coming to capture and convert this old world to His rulership—let us do what we can to attack, by a Spirit-filled ministry, these evil powers_in the hearts of as many as we can reach, so that, for them at least, all war shall cease, since all occasion for it shall have been removed. 1Eph. 6:12. THE END iy pene t, qurre ‘ SAL Pe «, ie ae te sat | th ay iv Tw coy \s Add “1 *; Lik Oe Me it > at em Ws Lins a y han ’ fr ved?rh iF Ad iad 4 LS o/h ehh 7 45 } ‘* Miewy y ree eee Tee ght iD t Me Hee eA Fi ay 1) RR tes PT UA ou ee tte fal erate OAL an ’ f Ay " s ri an he if bend dh 5 wy " -. we: re J aCat! a) whi | ‘ : 3 uae POR” Be Write Get, yay Aare Vibe 1a Aa Beale iy! WORAE Bh, OLB caste AB AOA aren \ : f ‘a rel ¥ Mes py , ‘ +f sul if wits Ary (ao. AP 12 SP Pine . bh ‘ 34 24 ae Ae + Arete ey : ‘s Ag See LESS en eae were. Fat mh 3 4 * "Aah ‘ f Mes . . y - uy ae ey Ree ‘ "'p ey. Ye dO iY re ’ es bh Vals Erg , ‘ ays a 4 i aay + en Ss ee mn ante a at ie ” ns : A, : 4 i ; ~ s A ’ r a s > ae | ets » + i seni agi om Os a tet a JX1954 .B73 The saint and the sword; a series of Princeton Theologi iui 012 00025 9442