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 The Messiah Pulpit 
 
 A Statement To My People 
 On the Eve of War 
 
 By 
 Rev. John Haynes Holmes 
 
 Minister of the Church of the Messiah 
 
 
 
 May, 1917 
 
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 (Third Edition) 
 
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 PRICE, FIVE CENTS. 
 
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 Published by the 
 
 
 Ch 
 
 urch of the Messiah 
 Park Avenue and 34th Street 
 New York City 
 
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 NOTICE 
 
 The Messiah Pulpit, by tradition and practice, is a 
 free platform, dedicated to the ideal of truth. Its ser- 
 mons, in both their spoken and written form, are the 
 utterances of the preacher, who accepts for them ex- 
 clusive responsibility. 
 
 The publication of these sermons is made possible by 
 a private fund for this purpose. Contributions to this 
 fund are needed, and may be sent to Rev. John Haynes 
 Holmes, 61 East 34th Street, New York City. 
 
 ^ 
 
A Statement To My People 
 On the Eve of War 
 
 To-morrow morning (April 2), there will assemble in 
 the capital city of the nation the Congress of these 
 United States, called together in special session by 
 proclamation of the President, to consider matters of 
 grave moment in the life of the Republic. This as- 
 semblage of the chosen representatives of our people 
 promises to be the most fateful in our history. Unless 
 events now unforeseen, unexpected and in the highest 
 degree improbable intervene, the Congress will either 
 affirm that this country is in a state of war, or will do 
 the more formal and decisive thing of issuing a declara- 
 tion of war against the Imperial German Government. 
 In either case, the destinies of this nation will be im- 
 mediately and irretrievably committed to the operation of 
 forces which have long since passed beyond the control 
 of those who first released them. What this impend- 
 ing action of our governnient means, what consequences 
 of triumph or disaster it will bring down upon us, to 
 what ends of civilization or barbarism it will lead us, 
 no man can say. We are entering blindly upon hidden 
 ways, of which the direction and goal lie altogether be- 
 yond our ken. But that the character of our Republic 
 will be fundamentally altered for better or for worse, 
 and the higher interests of humanity irreparably dam- 
 aged or immeasurably glorified by our entrance into the 
 Great War, is certain. Nothing either in this country 
 or in Europe will ever be the same again. What we 
 bear or forebear in this coming week changes the cur- 
 rents of human destiny forever. To say that we are 
 facing the most fateful moment that America will ever 
 know, though a score of centuries be added to her pres- 
 
 3 
 
ent span of years, is only to state a fact as obvious as 
 it is awful. 
 
 It is in anticipation of the world-shaking events which 
 a week or a day may bring upon us in this country, and 
 in fulfillment of the duty which I conceive these prob- 
 able events impose upon me as a religious teacher, that 
 I have chosen this morning, as on the Sunday follow- 
 ing the severance of diplomatic relations with Germany, 
 to lay aside my sermon, and speak to you as simply and 
 directly as possible upon the state of the nation. I do 
 not deceive myself into believing that what I say here 
 will influence public affairs, reach any other ears than 
 your own, or even be long remembered by you who are 
 my friends. But I am not unmindful of the fact that 
 there are obligations of my high office which must be 
 discharged even amid the crash of worlds. Thus I can- 
 not forget, in times like these, what I owe to my own 
 soul — that it shall not be hidden away from the knowl- 
 edge of men's minds, but be revealed so fully and so 
 clearly that not a shadow of misunderstanding shall 
 abide. At the moment when I was ordained to be a 
 minister of God, I conceive that I was commanded to 
 throw wide open the portals of my heart, that all who 
 cared might see its innermost recesses of conviction ; 
 and I do not propose that even the terror of this hour shall 
 bar that threshold from the public gaze. Furthermore, 
 I cannot forget what I owe to you, my beloved people. 
 You have a right to know what I shall say and do in 
 the event of war, upon what road of doctrine I shall 
 set my feet, into what hazards of pain and peril I shall 
 lead this church. The pew is always entitled to the full 
 confession of the pulpit, but never so urgently as at 
 the time when sivch. confession touches the deep issues 
 of life and death. If there be any here who is tempted 
 to question the wisdom or the sincerity of what I am 
 now doing,! let him think for a moment of how easy it 
 would have been for me to keep silent, avoid the ques- 
 tions v/hich are to-day setting the son "at variance 
 against his father, the daughter against her mother, the 
 daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law," and trust to 
 
 4 
 
the kindly sentiments of personal affection, conceived, 
 nourished and matured through ten years of labor in 
 this parish, to sustain the relationship between minister 
 and people unbroken, till happier times should come 
 again to earth. The easiest way, however, in this in- 
 stance as in all instances, would have been dishonorable, 
 and, in the long run, disastrous. The only honest, the 
 only safe way, is for me to ask you to look me in the 
 face this day — to "search me and know my heart, try 
 me and know my thoughts" — and then to determine 
 whether my God is your God, and we can worship and 
 work together in war as in peace. Therefore, before 
 the bugles sing and the flags are lifted high, I ask you 
 to hear me. My purpose is not to argue or persuade. 
 I would not even exhort or plead, much less instruct. 
 I propose simply to speak my whole mind on the present 
 crisis, and then leave with you my fate. 
 
 On the morning of Sunday, March 7, 1915, I de- 
 clared in this church my absolute and unalterable op- 
 position to war. ''War," I said, "is never justifiable at 
 any time or under any circumstances. No man is wise 
 enough, no nation is important enough, no human inter- 
 est is precious enough, to justify the wholesale destruc- 
 tion and murder which constitute the essence of war. 
 . . . War is hate, and hate has no place within the 
 human heart. War is death, and death has no place 
 within the realm of life. War is hell, and hell has no 
 more place in the human order than in the divine." I 
 then asked what "this means in practical terms to-day?" 
 And I answered, "It means not only that war is un- 
 justifiable in general, but that this English war is un- 
 justifiable for Englishmen, and this German war is im- 
 justifiable for Germans. It means that this war which 
 may in the folly of men, come to America to-morrow, 
 is unjustifiable for Americans." 
 
 These words spoken in this place more than two years 
 /ago, I must reaffirm this day. Nothing has happened in 
 this period of time to change my opinion of war. On 
 the contrary, much has happened to strengthen and con- 
 firm it. I do not deny that war, like polygamy, slavery 
 
 5 
 
and cannibalism, was inseparable from early and low 
 stages of social life. I do not deny that war, like pestil- 
 ence, famine and conflagration, has often helped forward 
 the civilization of mankind, for thus does God make 
 the wrath, as well as the agony of men, to praise him. 
 I do not even deny that there have been times in the 
 past when war, like the storms of the sea, has seemed 
 to be unavoidable. What I do deny is that these facts 
 of history touch in any remotest way the judgment of 
 ethics and religion that war is wrong, or should swerve 
 by so much as a hair's breadth the decision of any one 
 of us to have nothing to do with it. War is in open 
 and utter violation of Christianity. If war is right, then 
 Christianity is wrong, false, a lie. If Christianity is 
 right, then war is wrong, false, a lie. The God revealed 
 by Jesus, and by every great spiritual leader of the race, 
 is no God of battles. He lifts no sword — he asks no 
 sacrifice of blood. He is the Father of all m.en, Jew 
 and Gentile, bond and free. His spirit is love, his rule 
 is peace, his method of persuasion is forgiveness. His 
 law, as interpreted and promulgated by the Nazarene, 
 is "love one another," "resist not evil with evil," "for- 
 give seventy times seven," "overcome evil v/ith good," 
 "love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good 
 to them that hate you, pray for them which despitefuUy 
 use you and persecute you." f Such a God and such a 
 law, others may reconcile with war, if they can. I can- 
 not — and what I cannot do, I will not profess to do. y 
 But I must go farther — I must speak not only of w^ 
 in general, but of this war in particular. Most persons 
 are quite ready to agree, especially in the piping times 
 of peace, that war is wrong. But let a war cloud no 
 bigger than a man's hand, appear on the horizon of the 
 nation's life, and they straightway begin to qualify their 
 judgment, and if the war cloud grow until it covers all 
 the heavens, they finally reverse it. This brings the 
 curious situation of all war being wrong in general, and 
 each war being right in particular. Germans denounce 
 war, with the exception of course of the present con- 
 flict with England. ' Englishmen condemn war, but ex- 
 
 6 
 
elude from their indictment the present fight against the 
 Central Empires. ,'' Americans have been vociferous in 
 their repudiation of v^^ar as a method of settling inter- 
 national disputes, but are now on the verge of accepting 
 the first chance to draw the sword which the European 
 cataclysm has offered. Therefore do I find it necessary 
 to state not only what I think of war, but of this war 
 which seems to-day so near at hand ! 
 
 To criticize adversely a war in which one's native land 
 is about to engage, or has already entered, is unusual, 
 but fortunately not unknown. On February 4, 1847, 
 amid the fever of public enthusiasm following the out- 
 break of the Mexican War, Theodore Parker, addressing 
 a great anti-war meeting in Faneuii Hall, Boston, said, 
 ''This war had a mean and infamous beginning, and is 
 being waged for a mean and infam^ous purpose. ... I 
 know but one war so bad in modern times, and that was 
 the war for the partition of Poland." Four months 
 later, in a sermon preached in the Boston Music Hall, 
 at a time when thousands of American soldiers had been 
 killed in battle, and other thousands were still pouring 
 out their life-blood on Mexican soil, Theodore Parker 
 again said, ''We are v/aging a most iniquitous war. . . . 
 We must refuse to take any part in it . . . encourage 
 others to do the same . . . and aid men, if need be, who 
 suffer because they refuse." 
 
 The Mexican War of 1847 may have been very dif- 
 ferent from the German V/ar of 1917, but the spirit of 
 free utterance here manifested by our greatest Unitarian 
 preacher, is the same in every age. It was in accordance 
 with this spirit that I stated in this place on Sunday, 
 February 4 last, the day following the dismissal of Am- 
 bassador Bernstoff, that "nothing can conceivably be 
 im.agined which can justify war between America and 
 Germany" ; and it is in accordance with this same spirit, 
 that I nov/ reaffirm this judgment. I have no desire to 
 substantiate it, since the argument raises dubious ques- 
 tions and would inevitably involve regrettable antago- 
 nisms. On the other hand, however, 3^ou are entitled to 
 know mv processes of thought and the reasons for my 
 
 7 
 
conclusion. May I say, therefore, that the impending 
 v/ar at this moment seems to me to be wrong, since it 
 has its origin in motives only less ignoble than those 
 which drove us into conflict with Mexico just seventy 
 years ago? If you tell me that this war is fought for 
 the integrity of international law, I must ask you why 
 it is directed only against Germany and not also against 
 England, which is an equal although far less terrible 
 violator of covenants between nations? If you say that 
 it is fought on behalf of the rights of neutrals, I must 
 ask you where, when and by which belligerent the rights 
 of neutrals have been conserved in this war, and what 
 guarantee you can offer that, after all our expenditure 
 of blood and money for their defense, these rights will 
 not be similarly violated all over again in the next war 
 by any nation which is battling for its life? If you 
 say that it is fought for the security of American prop- 
 erty and lives, I must ask you how and to what extent 
 it will be safer for our citizens to cross the seas after 
 the declaration of war than it was before? If you say 
 that it is fought in vindication of our national honor, I 
 must ask you why no harm has come to the honor of 
 other nations, such as Holland and Scandinavia, for 
 example, which have suffered even more than we, but, 
 for prudential reasons, refuse to take up arms? If you 
 say that this is a war of defense against wanton and 
 intolerable aggression, I must reply that every blow 
 which we have endured has been primarily a blow di- 
 rected not against ourselves but against England, and 
 that it has yet to be proved that Germany has any in- 
 tention or desire of attacking us. If you say that this 
 war is a life-and-death struggle for the preservation of 
 civilization against barbarism, I must ask you why we 
 remained neutral when Belgium was raped, and were 
 at last aroused to action not by the cries of the stricken 
 abroad, but by our own losses in men and money? If 
 you say that this war is a last resort in a situation 
 which every other method, patiently tried, has failed to 
 meet, I must answer that this is not true — that other 
 ways and means of action, tried by experience and justi- 
 
 8 
 
lied by success, have been laid before the administration 
 and wilfully rejected. 
 
 \\In its ultimate causes, this war is the natural product 
 ana expression of our unchristian civilization./! Its 
 armed men are grown from the dragon's teeth of secret 
 diplomacy, imperialistic ambition, dynastic pride, greedy 
 commercialism, economic exploitation at home and 
 abroad. In the sowing of these teeth, America has had 
 h-er part; and it is therefore only proper, perhaps, that 
 she should have her part also in the reaping of the 
 dreadful harvest. In its more immediate causes, this, 
 war is the direct result of unwarrantable, cruel, but! 
 none the less inevitable interferences with our commer- 
 cial relations with one group of the belligerents. Our 
 participation in the war, therefore, like the war itself, 
 is political and economic, not ethical, in its character. 
 Any honor, dignity, or beauty which there may be in 
 our impending action, is to be found in the impulses, 
 pure and undefiled, which are actuating many patriotic 
 hearts to-day, and not at all in the real facts of the 
 situation. The war itself is wrong. Its prosecution will 
 be a crime. There is not a question raised, an issue 
 involved, a cause at stake, which is worth the life of 
 one blue- jacket on the sea or one khaki-coat in the 
 trenches. I question the sincerity of no man who sup- 
 ports this war — I salute the devotion of every man who 
 proposes to sustain it with his money or his blood. But 
 I say to you that v/hen, years hence, the whole of this j j 
 story has been told, it will be found that we have been | ' 
 tragically deceived, and all our sacrifices been made in 
 1 vain. 
 
 Statements of this kind, made on the eve of war, 
 seem to many persons to be treasonable. The charge 
 of ''traitor" has already been flung against me, and will 
 be flung again. To such a charge, I might be content 
 to answer in the words of Patrick Henry, who, when 
 similarly accused, cried out, *Tf this be treason, make 
 the most of it." Wiser and kindlier was the reply of 
 Theodore Parker who, when denounced as a traitor be- 
 cause of his steadfast opposition to the Mexican War, 
 
 9 
 
said, "I think lightly of what is called treason against 
 a government. That may be your duty to-day, or 
 mine. . . . But treason against the people, against man- 
 kind, against God, is a great sin, not lightly to be 
 spoken of." But I desire to go farther in this matter, 
 and deny without evasion that anything that I have 
 said, or may say, can be interpreted as traitorous or dis- 
 loyal. In time of war as in time of peace, in the hour 
 of sin as in the hour of glory, I shall love my country 
 and serve her to the end. Nothing that she can do will 
 end my affection or sever my allegiance. There are men 
 who cast off their wives, if they be guilty of infidelity — 
 but I would not do so with my wife. There are men 
 who turn their daughters into the streets if they go 
 wrong — but I would not do so with my daughter. There 
 are men who refuse ever again to see sons, or friends, 
 or comrades, if they are guilty of dishonesty or crime — 
 but I would not act so in such a case. Nothing that any 
 man or woman can do, least of all the ones to whom I 
 am bound by ties of kindred or affection, shall remove 
 them from my love, deny them my forgiveness, or exile 
 them from my devotion. I will denounce sin with in- 
 exorable rigor. I will condone no fault, excuse no of- 
 fense, exact the uttermost farthing of just punishment. 
 But the one I love shall always be to me as my own 
 soul. The greater the offense, the deeper shall be my 
 offering of pity. As they that watch for the morning, 
 shall I watch with tearful eyes, prayerful lips, com- 
 passionate heart, for the coming of the day of glad re- 
 demption, and when at last it dawns, rejoice and be ex- 
 ceeding glad ! 
 
 So also with my relation to my country ! Nothing 
 that America can do, can quench my passion for her 
 beauty, or divert my loyalty from her service. She is 
 the only country I have, or shall ever have, and I pro- 
 pose that she shall be mine forever, in war or peace, in 
 storm or calm, in evil or good. In this impending crisis 
 with Germany, I believe that she is wrong. She seems 
 to me to be faithless to her own supreme calling among 
 the nations of the earth, disloyal to high interests of 
 
 10 
 
humanity long since committed to her care, guilty for 
 a selfish motive of a grievous fault. But her infidelity 
 shall not shake my faith, her disloyalty shall not change 
 my loyalty, her guilt shall not discharge my obligation. 
 I shall decline to become, or to be made, "a man without 
 a country." America has committed wrongs in the past, 
 and she will undoubtedly commit other wrongs in the 
 future. But she is mine, as Hosea's adulterous wife, 
 Gomer, was his ; and I will love her, dream of her, hope 
 for her, serve her, without ceasing. "I will betroth thee 
 unto me forever; yea, I will betroth thee unto me in 
 righteousness, in loving kindness and in tender mercy. 
 I will even betroth thee unto me in faithfulness, until 
 thou shalt know the Lord." 
 
 And how shall I, a pacifist, serve my country in time 
 of war? 
 
 When hostilities begin, it is universally assumed that 
 there is but a single service v/hich a loyal citizen can 
 render to the state — that of bearing arms and killing the 
 enemy. Will you understand me if I say, humbly and 
 regretfully, that this I cannot, and will not, do. If any 
 man or boy in this church answers the call to arms, I 
 shall bless him as he marches to the front. When he 
 lies in the trenches, or watches on the lonely sentinel- 
 post, or fights in the charge, I shall follow him with my 
 prayers. If he is brought back dead from hospital or 
 battlefield, I shall bury him with all the honors not of 
 war but of religion. He will have obeyed hi§ conscience 
 and thus performed his whole duty as a man. But I 
 also have a conscience, and that conscience I also must 
 obey. When, therefore, there comes a call "for volun- 
 teers, I shall have to refuse to heed. When there is an 
 enrollment of citizens for military purposes, I shall have 
 to refuse to register. When, or if, the system of con- 
 scription is adopted, I shall have to decline to serve. 
 If this means a fine, I will pay my fine. If this means 
 imprisonment, I will serve my term. If this means per- 
 secution, I will carry my cross. ;t No order of president! 
 or governor, no law of nation or state, no loss of repu-i 
 tation, freedom or life, will persuade me or force me to' 
 
 11 
 
this business of killing. On this issue, for me at least, 
 there is "no compromise." Mistaken, foolish, fanatical, 
 I may be; I will not deny the charge. But false to my 
 own soul I will not be. Therefore here I stand. God 
 help me ! I cannot do other ! , 
 
 And this resolution applies, let me now be careful to 
 state, quite as much to my professional as to my per- 
 sonal life. Once war is here, the churches will be called 
 upon to enlist, as will every other social institution.' 
 Therefore would I make it plain that, so long as I am 
 your minister, the Church of the Messiah will answer 
 no military summons. Other pulpits may preach re- 
 cruiting sermons; mine will not.' Other parish houses 
 may be turned into drill halls and rifle ranges ; ours will 
 not. Other clergymen may pray to God for victory for 
 our arms ; I will not. In this church, if nowhere else 
 in all America, the Germans will still be included in 
 the family of God's children. No word of hatred shall 
 be spoken against them — no evil fate shall be desired 
 upon them. War may beat upon our portals, like storm 
 v/aves on the granite crags ; rumors of war may thrill 
 the atmosphere of this sanctuary as lightning the still 
 air of a summer night. But so long as I am priest, this 
 altar shall be consecrated to human brotherhood, and 
 before it shall be offered worship only to that one God 
 and Father of us all, *'who hath made of one blood all 
 nations of men for to dwell together on the face of 
 the earth." 
 
 But if I will not, or cannot, either as man or minister, 
 have part in the operations of war, how can I talk of 
 such a thing as serving the nation? When the enemy 
 is at the gates, what is there to do but to snatch up a 
 sword, and fight? Let me tell you what there is to do. 
 Let me specify at least four things which I propose to do. 
 
 First of all, I shall make it my duty to fulfill in word 
 and deed the gracious tasks of what may be called the 
 ministry of reconciliation. In a time of raging hate 
 and brutal passion, I will keep alive that spirit of good- 
 will toward men, through which alone a durable peace 
 on earth may some day be established. When darkness 
 
 12 
 
covers the earth and gross darkness the people; I will 
 keep burning my single torch, that there may somewhere 
 still be light.] \I will keep my heart pure of all distrust, 
 vindictiveness, and fear. I will cherish confidence in the 
 integrity and devotion of the German people. I will ac- 
 cept and glorify the unselfish patriotism of my country- 
 men who believe in and sustain the war. I will hold no 
 feeling of ill-will against those of my friends and par- 
 ishioners who may rend me in anger, spit upon me in 
 contempt, or leave me in tears. When madness sweeps 
 the land, I will preserve my sanity. When passion en- 
 gulfs the people, I will retain my self-control. When 
 hatred consumes men's hearts, I will keep sweet, whole- 
 some and compassionate. If unfortunate aliens among 
 us are seized and persecuted, I will protect them from 
 the vengeance of my countrymen. If my comrades are 
 reviled and stricken, I will sustain their courage and 
 fortify their patience. If I am myself assailed in bitter- 
 ness and contempt, I will speak no evil, but "bear all 
 things" unperturbed. I will remember the starving mil- 
 lions of Belgium, Serbia, Poland and Armenia, whom my 
 countrymen may neglect for the more important business / 
 ; of killing Germans. \\ I will remember the burden-bearers/ 
 i of my land who, in"\:imes of war as in times of peace,! 
 j are still tjie victims of politkal corruption and economicj\ 
 ij injustice. l\ I will rememb^PWithout distinction the peo-' 
 1' pies of all lands who bear this day the agonies laid upon 
 i'them by the governments which deceive and use them. 
 Always will I labor to keep open the choked and defiled 
 channels of understanding, sympathy and goodwill be- 
 tween hostile nations and divided classes. And above 
 all will I remember that, as an apostle of Jesus Christ, 
 it is my business to preach and practise, not my passions 
 as a man or my prejudices as an American, but that 
 whole and perfect love which is of God. Thus in an 
 age of unprecedented discord and disturbance, I will 
 serve the ministry of reconciliation, and thus, I trust, 
 my country in her best estate. 
 
 Secondly, I will serve my country in war time by serv- 
 ing the ideals of democracy which constitute the soul and 
 --*-"• 13 
 
center of her being., War and democracy are incom- 
 patible. When war comes, democracy gge.s// /England, 
 fighting nobly to conquer" Prussianism, is herself in proc- 
 ess of being conquered by the Prussian spirit. Al- 
 ready in our own country, iDcfore the beginning of war, 
 the dread work of militarism is under way.h Already 
 freedom of thought is being denied, and liberty of con- 
 • ^science challenged, [j Already we are in the m.idst of such 
 /an orgy of bigotry,"intolerance and persecution for opin- 
 ions' sake, as American has not seen since the days of 
 I the Salem witches. The whole fabric of democracy is 
 'threatened, the priceless heritage of our fathers in peril 
 of loss. America has never been in such danger as she 
 is to-day — and the source of the danger is at home and 
 not abroad. 1 1 Hence my resolve to serve that America 
 which I love so well that I would not have her made 
 ^ over into the likeness of the militarism v/hich she clamors 
 ' to destroy. I will do v/hat I can to safeguard free 
 thought and free speech, by practising both at any cost. 
 I v/ill do what I can to preserve liberty of conscience, 
 by exercising that liberty without flinching. I will do 
 what I can to guarantee to posterity the democratic 
 ideals and institutions of America, by resisting to the 
 death every assault upon their bulwarks. One such as- 
 sault is now being made in the movement for universal 
 military training. So long as I have breath to speak, 
 or hand to lift a pen, I will oppose this monstrous thing. 
 By conscription the autocracies of Europe have stood 
 thus long. By conscription this war, perfectly prepared 
 for, inevitably came. /I By conscription the minds of men 
 are "cribbed, cabined and confined" to the bounds of 
 that narrow nationalism which is the fiercest foe of 
 brotherhood, j , By conscription the consciences of men 
 are enslaved to the mastery of those who can command 
 the sinking of the "Lusitania" and the shooting of Nurse 
 Cavell.l|By conscription, more effectually than by the 
 attack of German legions, this country can be destroyed, 
 and the fairest experiment of democracy the world has 
 ever seen brought to an untimely end.jj Therefore will 
 I fight it, and all other devices of militaristic tyranny, 
 
 14 
 
and thereby again exalt truly the best interests of my 
 native land. // 
 
 Thirdly, I will serve my country at this time by pre- 
 paring the way, so far as I am able, for the establish- 
 [ment of that peace which sooner or later must follow 
 I upon war. This struggle, into which now we are about 
 to plunge, cannot go on forever. Some day the bugles 
 must sing truce across the fields of battle, tired war- 
 riors ground arms, and statesmen sit in guarded council 
 halls to make an end of strife. And this end must be 
 an arrangement by which Germans and English, Rus- 
 sians and Turks, must continue to live side by side iji 
 a common world, engage in the interchange of business, 
 learning and decent courtesy which make up ordered 
 life, and cooperate in the common service of the common 
 interests of our one humanity. This necessity of liv- 
 ing together cannot be escaped. Germans, even though 
 beaten to their knees, cannot be slaughtered in a uni- 
 versal massacre, and the race therewith exterminated. 
 Englishmen, even though conquered, cannot flee to 
 Saturn, Mars, or Jupiter, and colonize new planets as 
 they have in other ages colonized new continents. For 
 better or worse, this earth m.ust be the single abode of 
 all these scattered tribes and hostile peoples. Which 
 means that peace must some day come, and the ordered 
 relationships of peaceful living be some way reestab- 
 lished! For the consummation of this end, preparation 
 is necessary, and it must be initiated without delay. 
 To discover terms of reconciliation, to work out methods 
 of cooperation, to soften hate and dispell suspicion, to 
 spread abroad sweet influences of confidence and heal- 
 ing — this is a task as beneficent as it is prodigious. Be- 
 fore she herself became a belligerent, this was the task 
 appointed as by the fiat of God for America.)] But now 
 that she has cast away this sacred charge,[/it remains 
 for us who cannot take up arms at her behest, to keep it 
 in her stead. How better can we serve our country than 
 by restoring to her, or fulfilling for her, that high mis- 
 sion of peace-making, which is so uniquely and divinely 
 hers ! t 
 
 15 
 
Lastly, I will serve my country in war time, by serv- 
 ing the dream of ial£rnational brotherhood. No nation 
 is worthy the allegiance of even the meanest of her 
 citizenry, which is not dedicated to the establishment of 
 that larger and more inclusive life of universal associa- 
 tion, which is the glad promise of mankind. America, 
 for more than a hundred years, has been first among 
 the countries of the world, in recognition and service 
 of this ideal. She has been a gathering place of all the 
 tribes of earth — a melting-pot into which the ingredients 
 of every race, religion and nationality have been poured. 
 And out of it has come not so much a new nation as 
 a new idea — the idea of brotherhood. ) This idea has 
 stamped our people as a chosen people.^ It has set our 
 land apart as a holy land. It has exalted our destiny as 
 a divine destiny. And now, with the plunge into the 
 welter of contending European nationalities, all this is 
 gone. I Gone, at least, if those of us who see not to-day's 
 quarrel but to-morrow's prophecy, do not dedicate our- 
 selves unfalteringly to the forgotten vision !| 'This I am 
 resolved to do. I will serve America by serving her 
 ideal of humanity. I will open my heart, as she has 
 opened her shores, to all peoples of the earth. I will 
 give love, as she has given hospitality, to the hated and 
 hunted of God's children. And lo, from out my soul, 
 as once from out her soil, shall grow "a tree of life," 
 whose leaves are for "the heahng of the nations." 
 
 This is my service for the days of war— the ministry 
 of reconciliation, the defence of democracy,, the prepara- 
 tion of the gospel of peace, the quest of brotherhood. 
 It is the deliberate espousal of that higher spiritual 
 loyalty which is not so much the destruction as it is 
 the fulfillment of those lower and more carnal loyalties 
 which stir the envy and the hate of men. It is the 
 deliberate resolve to "lengthen (the) cords and strengthen 
 (the) stakes" which bind my spirit to the earth, that 
 I may "enlarge the place of (my) tent, and stretch 
 forth the curtains of (my) habitation." It is the deliber- 
 ate purpose to face the eternal paradox of flesh and spirit, 
 Caesar and Christ, kingdoms of earth and the kingdom of 
 
 16 
 
heaven, the church visible and the church invisible, 
 and choose "the better part." "For finer spirits . . . 
 there are two dwelling places," says Romain RoUand in 
 Above the Battle, "our earthly fatherland, and that other 
 City of God. Of the one we are the guests, of the 
 other the builders. To the one let us give cur lives and 
 faithful hearts; but neither family, friend, nor father- 
 land, nor ought that we love, has power over the spirit. 
 The spirit is the light. It is our duty to lift it above 
 tempests, and thrust aside the clouds which threaten to 
 obscure it, to build higher and stronger, dominating the 
 injustice and hatred of nations, the walls of that city 
 wherein the souls of the whole world may assemble." 
 
 That you will follow me upon this road of travail, 
 I cannot command and will not ask.// I reverence too 
 deeply and cherish too tenderly not only my freedom but 
 your own, to venture such an appeal to your good nature. 
 But that you will be not unwilling to have your minister 
 lead your church upon this road, I dare to hope. When 
 confusion, death and terror are about us, I like to think 
 that you will be glad to find in the refuge of this place, 
 "those things which cannot be shaken." When cries of 
 hate and lust are burdening the air, I like to think that 
 you will rejoice to hear within this sanctuary the words 
 that tell of "peace on earth, goodwill toward men." 
 Even when the boys of this church, moved by exalted 
 sense of duty, march to the front, there to slay and to 
 be slain, I like to think that they will look back fondly 
 to this altar and its priests, and thank God there is some 
 witness still of better days and happier peoples. It is 
 because I like to think these things that I hope my resig- 
 nation as your minister will be neither expected nor de- 
 manded. It is because I have faith in your understand- 
 ing of the church of God and its high mission upon 
 earth, that I hope to continue to bear truthful witness 
 in this pulpit, in war as in peace, to what I feel to be 
 the will of God. it is because I have great love for you 
 as friends and comrades, and no other desire upon earth 
 than to serve you and the cause of free religion which 
 you committed to my charge ten years 3igo,'~^k^1 hope 
 
 17 
 
God will be kind to me, and keep me still in the grace 
 of your affection. 
 
 Such is my hope! I pray that it is well-founded. 
 If not, I shall want to know. You have but to speak, 
 and I will surrender my post to one who can safer guard 
 it, and obediently though sadly go my way. The world 
 is wide — so long as I have my soul to comrade, I shall 
 not be lonely — and if I go down at last in failure and 
 defeat, I shall find comfort in the thought that other 
 and far better men than I have walked that road and 
 met that end, but none of them all for a better or a 
 grander cause. For America, for humanity, for God, I 
 shall have lived and died. Than this no man can ask 
 a happier fate. ,_^.,- " "'^ / 
 
 "They out-talked thee, hissed thee, tore thee? 
 Better men fared thus before thee ; 
 Fired their ringing shot and passed, 
 Hotly charged — and sank at last. 
 
 "Charge once more, then, and be dumb ! 
 Let the victors, when they come, 
 When the forts of folly fall, 
 Find thy body by the wall!" 
 
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