"IS IT PEACE OR WAR?"

Auckland Star, Volume XXX, Issue 209, 4 September 1899, Page 2

"IS IT PEACE OR WAR?"

pleaching on the above subject, the Rev. A. H. Collins, of Ponsonby Baptist C 'hurch, chose as his text St. Luke ii. 13, 14, "Glory to God in the highest, and oi i earth peace among men." The preacher said: —

One >of the oldest of the Old Testament poets declares that when creation was complete, and man its crowning glory fashioned in the image of the Eternal, "the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy." It was therefore according to the eternal fitness of things that when the new creation began with the Incarnation an. gels' song should again fill earth and sky with their pure melody, and this 'is what the angels sang-, "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth jieace among men." But in view of wa;r and rumours of war we may with some profit ask what truth this BethYehem carol enshrines, and whether w-e do in very deed believe the message true. Times out of measure have we joined in that Christian hymn; times without measure have we admired the beauity of its diction, and the blessedness oi the prospect which, it opens for the sad and weary world; perhaps we have cv.m cherished the hope that in the future, dim and distant, the prophetic strain will find fulfilment on a scale more world-wide and glorious, and this is well. Hope is sometimes a propheV- of the Lord But is that the end of the matter? Is that all we should seek after? When we name Christ "Prince of Peace and when we v c>xpross our confident expectation o.C a time of universal peace and good-will, do we mean what we say, or iU that the stuff of which our dreams are made? Is peace amongst the nations a consummation to be sought after near and now? Is brotherhood within the range of practical politics and practical Christianity, or must we .postpone all this to some far-off millennium of which certain men speak much and tell us little? "Pea-ce on earth, good-will to men"! and yet at this very moment Europe is one armed camp, witn more than ten millions of men, in the flower and prime of their manhood, equipped with the most perfect weapons of war .that fiendish and perverted skill can devise, and ready at any moment, and without the smallest personal provocation, to fly at o-ach. other's throats and fight and slam'liter till- the fields run red. And all' the hell and carnage is wrought ttttdr.* banners that have received ebisoo P<^ benediction! Ten millions of brc ther men diverted from home and in dustry, and educated in conception s of glory and honour which are essentially false and pagan! Think d i it and then say, is this the fruit of nineteen centuries of Christian teafhing. To say "Yes" wouJd W to ci ye an answer as false and as shallow as the taunt that the friends <x f peace are for "peace at any pricel." No; this is not the result of Christian teaching. The Prince of 1 Jeace has wrought marvels of Christian beneficence, and some of His fines t achievements have been in accord Avith the strains of the angels' song;. The history of the nations proves conclusively that peace principles are winning their way; that "asweeter manners, purer laws" axe being incorporated m the life and laws of the world. History can tell how tl'ie great ■Roman world, corrupt as it was, and ready to perish, endured long enough, to see the ereat reforms of which Chnst spoke initiated within its borders; how womanhood was raised and dignified, so that instead of being man s playthin°- she became his equal; how slavery has died out of civilised society and marriage become honourable; how the brutal sports of the Colliseum have come to an end, and the torture of prisoners is regarded with horror and surprise; how wreckage and piracy on the high seas have oiven place to friendly lights on every dangerous coast; how blood feud's and duelling have come to an end and drunkenness, instead of being a subject of coarse and ribald iest, is now regarded with a sense of abhorrence and shame. These are some of the witnesses that Christianity has not failed as the purifier of national life and the education of the public conscience. And if it be contended that in few of thesfe directions are the reforms complete, it must be remembered that the Son of Man has not said His last word, nor will have said His last word until the weapons of horrid war have been changed in the implements of peaceful industry. One day—God speed its coming—a blaze of moral illumination will flood the minds of men on this subject of national slaughter, and as twilight melts into common day they will come to see the profanity and crime of going forth to battle thirsting for the blood of those who like themselves ushered in the day of battle by hands clasped and eyes raised to heaven in prayer, saying, "Our Father . . . Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done on earth." Meanwhile, we do well to possess our hearts in quietness and hope. When in His sermon on the Mount Christ uttered His blessing on the peace-makers, the words must have fallen as a strange and unfamiliar sound. The Roman had conquered their land. His soldiers were among the most war-like the world had ever seen. Some of those who heard Him speak considered that happiness consisted beholding the proud and garlanded conqueror returning from the fray and seated in a trimmphal c&x% while the city throbbed with marshall music and thrilled at the shout of applauding thousands. Even the Jew who listened and caught the unfamiliar words of peace cherished the memory of heroic deeds in the wars of Joshua and Moses; and the whole nation waited the coming of a greater hero who should restore the Kingdom of God unto Israel. Yet it was on these the message fell, and has borne fruit. And now the children of a race more |

warlike than the Romans, children of the Goths, who conquered Rome and drank as wine the joy of battle, the great Anglo-Saxon race is coming to see the blessedness of peace. The world is cultivating a gentler rule. Revenge has taken flight to savage tribes. There is consideration for the weak and the defenceless. Room is found for the poor, the unaggressive, and the meek. Nations do not take vengeance as once they did* The conquered are lifted from the hoof of the battle-horse; and the Red Cross is sacred to each contending army. We have reached what has been called "the eccentric stage of happy inconsistency." We equip great armies to wound and tear one another with all the infernal skill of the Prince of Darkness, and having taken counsel with the devil we follow up our armies with the Red Cross ministers of mercy. But that is an inconsistency that cannot last. I had thought to quote some figures giving the cost of war in blood and treasure, but I am reminded that we shall not do much to hasten the reign of peace by collecting masses of statistics. As some one wittily put it, for ordinary men statistics are like grass. They need a cow to eat the grass and turn it into milk, and men then can nourish noble thoughts upon the product. Meadows of figures are turned into food for mind and heart by means of kind and Christ-like deeds of men, who assimilate them and turn them into motives, principles, acts. In this holy war against unholy strife the stars in their courses are fighting for the friends of peace-. The very perfection of the death-dealing weapons and the awful slaughter that must follow should war rage is putting wholesome restraint on kings and their counsellors. Public is more enlightened and Christian. Power has passed into the hands of Demos, and when the working-men of England come to consider that every worker in the land toils and sweats twenty-six minutes in every day to pay off the debt contracted in past wars, we may expect them to demand caution in this matter. Best of all, the teaching of Jesus Christ is beginning to be understood, and we are returning to the position ,of the primitive Christians, who suffered wrong rather than commit wrong. On the subject of war our duty is plain. We must help to drive home to men's hearts the grim horrors of war. War is hatred and murder. War is agony and death. War is deceit and falsehood. War is the negative of all civilisation and the foe of advance. War is Cain with his club and his blood-mark coming down the ages. No man would glorify war any more could he but see a battlefield after the fight is over. Above all, in times of national irritation we should advocate and exhibit a spirit of patience and calm. We must avoid the language of taunt and menace. There is no need to enter upon an academic discussion whether war is any time justifiable. It is enough we believe the prayers our lips so lightly utter, and use every form and occasion to illustrate and commend the principles of peace. Enough that we believe and proclaim that Christ our Elder Brother is actually moving amongst us, and that it is the penetrating whisper of his voice we hear calling us to learn and pass on the old and neglected truth of the brotherhood of men under the Fatherhood of God.