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Chosen no: R-5754 a, from: 1915 Year. |
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CHRISTIAN DUTY AND THE WAR
AS
THE war progresses a bitter, partisan spirit spreads. The people of
each of the warring nations are convinced that right is on their
side, and that everything to the contrary is wrong. The sense of
justice seems more and more to go blind. Any attempt to consider
matters justly, equitably, is resented as disloyalty, stupidity, etc.
The best elements of the natural man seem to be paralyzing under the
influence of the war. Germany and her allies claim that they have
maintained the world's peace for thirty years, during all of which
time their jealous neighbors, noting their prosperity, have sought to
hinder it and have awaited only a favorable moment for attempting
their destruction. To them their commercial progress and attempt to
build a navy proportionate to their population have aroused the
jealousy of their neighbors already entrenched commercially on the
sea.
They
claim that Belgium was not neutral, but conniving with their enemies,
and that, any way, the passing of German armies through Belgium was a
military necessity. Similarly they claim that the protection of their
national life against the European combination makes necessary their
submarine warfare and blockade and other things which they do not
prefer. They claim, too, that necessity knows no law, that this is
the hour of their necessity, and that the object of war is
success--to be obtained as honorably as possible, but to be
obtained.
Britain
and her allies take the contrary view. They declare that for forty
years they have noted the progress of the Germans and considered it a
menace to their rights. Accordingly, the French maintained an army of
equal size with Germany; Russia, an army of double the size; while
Great Britain has striven to have a navy stronger than that of all
the remaining nations of the world. If Germany be not crushed now,
her spirit of progress will ultimately put her at the head of the
nations, commercially and financially. This would mean that all the
other nations would be less powerful proportionately. They see in
this a terrible nightmare of militarism. Germany must be crushed at
any cost, not only for the sake of the present, but also for the sake
of future generations.
The
Bible declares, "God is not in all their thoughts." (Psalm
10:4.)
Although all the nations of the Continent, except the Turks, style
themselves Christian nations, not one of them manifests any faith in
God. They all feel that the entire responsibility, both for the
present and for the future, rests altogether upon themselves.
"FEAR
HATH SURPRISED THE HYPOCRITES"
Convinced
of having a Divine commission and with sundry forms of godliness, but
without any of its power or faith, many of these nations are only now
awakening to the fact that this war is not like other wars--that God
has let loose the winds, is no longer restraining them. The time has
come for Him to allow the angry passions of men to bring the
whirlwind of trouble, which shortly will lead on to revolution and
then to anarchy, and will thus prepare the way of the Lord and His
Kingdom.
What
a sad spectacle the war presents--twenty millions of soldiers
engaged, at a cost of over forty million dollars per day for their
maintenance! Twelve millions of men in the prime of life have already
been wounded, captured or killed. The consumption of ammunition is
astounding. One of the British ministers recently declared that in
one battle in Belgium the British forces used more ammunition than in
the entire Boer War!
National
debts were already enormous, and British consols (bonds) were selling
at twenty-five per cent. less than their face value before this war
began. Can any rational person suppose that the debts of the warring
nations represented by their bonds will ever be paid? And when the
people shall realize the meaning of all this and of the crash of
financial institutions which this will involve, the discovery will be
terrible. The only logical result to be expected of the discouraged
people will be as the Bible predicts--so great an earthquake as was
not since man was on the earth--social earthquake, revolution,
gigantic in its character.--Rev.
16:18.
WAR'S
DEMORALIZING INFLUENCE
Professed
ministers of Christ of various denominations seem to be vying with
each other in leaving the Great Captain of our Salvation and His
standard of peace and love in order to associate themselves more and
more with militarism. Appealed to by the representatives of the
Government, these professed representatives of the Prince of Peace
are making themselves popular with their governments by preaching
war. We hear only a little from Great Britain along these lines, but
the suggestion of the Bishop of London is quite sufficient on this
point. His suggestion urges boys and girls to marry early and to
raise large families, presumably for mortal combat--not to be
soldiers of the Cross of Christ and followers of the Lamb, but
soldiers of the Cross of St. George which marks the British flag.
Recently
in Canada the Editor was astounded by the activity of the preachers
there--especially those of the Church of England. One was out in
Khaki uniform [R5755 : page 260] marching through the streets
with the volunteers. Asked by a college friend, "Did I see you
in the ranks?" he answered, "Yes; I wanted to encourage the
boys." "And did you think of going to the front, to the
trenches?" "Not a bit of it!" He was merely acting as
a decoy to get others to the front; just as a bull they have at one
of the Chicago stockyards which meets the animals about to be
slaughtered and, tossing his head in the air, becomes their leader up
the gangway leading to the slaughter. There he knows his little
niche, into which he glides and is sheltered; while the others drive
and press one another forward to the slaughter. But it is in the
pulpit that the minister has his opportunity to address the
mothers--"Why not have your boy go to the front?"
MINISTERS
AS RECRUITING AGENTS
To give the matter a
religious coloring, some of these ministers have taken texts from the
Bible, which certainly have no application whatever to the subject in
hand. The text of one in preaching about the valor of the Canadians
who lost their lives in war was, "Blessed are the dead who die
in the Lord from henceforth." (Revelation
14:13.)
The text of another, intended to encourage enlistment, etc., was,
"These are they that follow the Lamb whithersoever He
goeth."--Rev.
14:4.
What
a terrible perversion! And for what a purpose! To inflame the
passions of humanity, to deceive people, to get them to do the very
thing which Christ has directed shall not be done. Such ministers may
gain favor and influence with their earthly king and his ministers
and representatives in the government, but how will they stand with
the other King, whose Empire is to be inaugurated with the great
Battle of Armageddon, to which this present war is leading? We
tremble to think of their responsibility, if they know what they are
doing.
It
is quite possible that they do not realize the true situation.
Ninety-five per cent., probably, of all the educated ministers in all
the great cities have confessed for years that they do not believe
the Bible. Indirectly they have admitted that they merely use it as a
book from which to select texts because the common people have a sort
of superstitious respect for it. They have gotten so in the habit of
selecting texts without any reference to the contexts--so in the
habit of deceiving themselves and their trusting flocks--that they
probably do not realize what they are doing and how they are
misrepresenting the Word of God. We know that the Lord's judgment in
all cases will be just; we defer to it.
The
ministers of Toronto, to show their patriotism and their confidence
that the war is of God, that all the holy angels are applauding the
recruits and that they will all go to Heaven at death, etc., etc., we
suppose, have raised a purse of money for the purchase of a Gatling
gun, to be carried across the seas and used to kill German
Christians--in whose Christianity they have no confidence and
evidently believe that God has none. The viewpoint of Bible students
is that the fact that both British and Germans claim ninety-five per
cent. of their population to be Christians is no proof that they are
such really. Hence the Toronto preachers, in purchasing the Gatling
gun to kill Christians, are quite right, probably, in supposing that
they will not be killing real Christians, just as Bible students feel
doubts that all Toronto ministers are Christians, in the true sense
of the word.
THE
CHRISTIAN'S PROPER ATTITUDE
Meanwhile,
where do the true followers of Christ stand, and what is their duty?
Bible students more and more are awakening to a realization of what
the present war is, and are conscientiously inquiring respecting
their own responsibility. Some have inquired in respect to the
situation in connection with the manufacture of war ammunition. Our
advice to them has been to avoid engaging in such work as this,
except as the money would be absolutely necessary to provide food and
shelter for their families and themselves. And then, taking such a
situation merely as a matter of necessity, we recommend that it be
vacated as speedily as something else can be found, no matter how
poor the pay, if it will provide life's necessities.
We
are not unaware that this is a far-reaching subject, and that many
would class us as narrow in the giving of such advice. Some would
tell us that we carry this matter to an extreme; that on the same
principle an employee of a railroad or steamboat should avoid loading
such war munitions, the bill-clerk object to his part of the matter,
the stenographer to his, etc. We would say that so far as reasonably
possible we should avoid having anything to do with these implements
of destruction, but if compelled from necessity, should hold our
situation only until one for a better cause could be obtained.
In
SCRIPTURE STUDIES, Vol. VI., we have set forth a suggestion that the
followers of Christ seek by every proper means to avoid participation
in war. We there suggested the possibility, but that in the event of
conscription the Lord's followers should use all their influence
toward obtaining positions in the Hospital Corps or in the Provision
Department of the Army, rather than in the actual warfare. We
suggested further that if it were impossible to avoid going into the
trenches, it would still not be necessary to violate the Divine
requirement, "Thou shalt do no murder."
We
have been wondering since if the course we have suggested is the best
one. We wonder if such a course would not mean compromise. We reflect
that to become a member of the army and to put on the military
uniform implies the duties and obligations of a soldier as recognized
and accepted. A protest made to an officer would be
insignificant--the public in general would not know of it. Would not
the Christian be really out of his place under such conditions?
"But,"
some one replies, "if one were to refuse the uniform and the
military service he would be shot."
We
reply that if the presentation were properly made there might be some
kind of exoneration; but if not, would it be any worse to be shot
because of loyalty to the Prince of Peace and refusal to disobey His
order than to be shot while under the banner of these earthly kings
and apparently giving them support and, in appearance at least,
compromising the teachings of our Heavenly King? Of the two deaths we
would prefer the former-- prefer to die because of faithfulness to
our Heavenly King. Certainly the one dying for his loyalty to the
principles of the Lord's teachings would accomplish far more by his
death than would the one dying in the trenches. We cannot tell how
great the influence would be for peace, for righteousness, for God,
if a few hundred of the Lord's faithful were to follow the course of
Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, and refuse to bow down to the god of
war. Like those noble men they might say, "Our God is able to
deliver us, if He chooses so to do; but if He does not choose to
deliver us, that will not alter our course. We will serve Him and
follow His direction, come what may."
Those
Hebrews of the past cast into the fiery furnace because of their
faithfulness to God, but afterwards delivered, are a noble example.
Indeed, the millions of soldiers enduring terrible privations through
loyalty to [R5755 : page 261] earthly kings during the present
great war are wonderful examples and illustrations. May not the
soldiers of Christ well say to themselves, "If the Ancient
Worthies knew God only partially, yet were so faithful to Him, and if
these earthly soldiers are so faithful to earthly kings, what manner
of persons ought we to be who have come into the family of God by the
Spirit of begetting, who have entered the School of Christ, who are
being guided and led by the Captain of our Salvation, and who have
His exceeding great and precious promises in respect to our eternal
future! How should we stand for Him and for His teachings? Could we
lay down our lives in a better way than by faithfulness to the King
of kings and Lord of lords, our Redeemer and Head?"
We
are not urging this course. We are merely suggesting it. The
responsibility fully belongs with each individual. We are discharging
our responsibility toward many Bible students who are inquiring of us
respecting the mind of the Lord on this subject. We gave them our
best thoughts previously, but now fear that we were too conservative.
We always advocate conservatism, in the sense of not rushing into
difficulties simply because they are difficulties and would mean
trouble. But we do advocate that, while seeking to avoid trouble and
to live peaceably with all men, where duty calls, or danger, we
should not be wanting there.
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