James 4

James 4:1

THE OF TROUBLE James 4:1OUR last study was concluded with a comfortable sentence, “The fruit of righteousness is sown in peace of them that make peace”.The sudden turn in thought in the opening sentences of this fourth chapter is due to the fact that James was writing to a people who knew neither the personal experience nor the social practice of peace.The Jew, even when converted, does not lose all the traits of his father Jacob. The tendency of the natural man to take advantage of his fellow is so strong in the descendants of the Supplanter, that even when regenerated, the newly implanted Spirit must war against this particular lust of Israel’s flesh. When James wrote to these Christian Jews, he could not, either in justice to the church of which they were members or to the Name of Christ which they had confessed and the character which he longed to see them attain, pass over this inborn sin with all of its natural consequences.He sets in order before them, therefore, three or four thoughts to which I call your attention: The Springs of War, The Friendship of the World, Dependence upon Divine Favor, and then concludes by, An Appeal to Christian Patience.THE SPRINGS OF WAR He here uncovers the very veins from which war flows.The will of the flesh.“From whence come wars and fightings among you? come they not hence, even of your lusts that war in your members”? If one will follow this term “flesh” through the Scriptures he will soon find how God regarded it. The Psalmist says, “There is no soundness in my flesh” (Psalms 38:3). Paul confesses to the Romans, “In me (that is, in my flesh) dwelleth no good thing” (Romans 7:18), To the Galatians he writes:“Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these; Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, “Idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, “Envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like: of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the Kingdom of God”. It is little wonder, therefore, that James makes the will of the flesh one of the springs of war, for I am persuaded that the war of which James speaks here is not a battle with guns, but rather a conflict of tongues. Speech is the poisoned sword of the flesh. Even thus early, there existed in the Church, pride of opinion, love of authority, disposition to dogmatism, the spirit of caste, conflict of creed— each and everyone so eloquent as to convert some churches into very babels of confusion. To such an extent did this quarrelsome spirit obtain as to justify the language of James, and he charged them with lusting, coveting, and even killing—not perhaps that they carried their anger so far as to spill a brother’s blood, but that in covetousness they might forget Deuteronomy 24:6 and take from another “the upper millstone to pledge”.And more likely still was it that they were guilty of the very conduct of which Christ spake when He said:“Ye have heard that it was said by them of old time, Thou shalt not kill; and whosoever shall kill shall be in danger of the judgment: “But I say unto you, That whosoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment: and whosoever shall say to his brother, Raca, shall be in danger of the council: but whosoever shall say, Thou fool, shall be in danger of hell fire” (Matthew 5:21-22), Or, as John reports him, “Whosoever hateth his brother is a murderer” (1 John 3:15). Truly the will of the flesh is one of the springs of the war.The neglect of prayer, the Apostle names as another of these springs.“Ye lust, and have not: ye kill, and desire to have, and cannot obtain: ye fight and war, yet ye have not, because ye ask not”. Herein is the explanation of much spiritual poverty; men “have not”, because they “ask not”. Jesus said, “Men ought always to pray” (Luke 18:1). What multitudes seldom pray! How great a host never pray! In this country where there is a Bible in every house, men treat its promises as a miser does his bank bills, namely, they keep them safely laid away; they know what they are; but they put them to no use whatever. It is a very ignorant man who does not understand the stamp upon the five dollar bill or the pound note, and how to so use it as to get good to himself; but alas for the spiritual ignorance that looks upon the “exceeding great and precious promises” of God, to apprehend nothing of their value, to go on in spiritual penury when all one needs to do is to present them to God, and ask in exchange all riches of soul; and yet they have not ‘because [they] ask not’.Would that the Apostle were permitted to stop with even this arraignment of our conduct. His next sentence is more serious still and uncovers another spring of war.The prostitution of prayer.“Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss, that ye may consume it upon your lusts”. I can think of but one man whose conduct toward God is more reprehensible than that of the prayerless brother, and that is the man who asks and receives not, because he asks amiss, that he may spend it upon his own pleasure.James Corbett claimed an inability to understand his defeat at San Francisco, saying, “I went up into a hillock and prayed God to help me whip that man.” James wanted the honor of being the champion bruiser of the world; and then James still more desired the stake of a few thousands that he might spend it in gratifying the flesh. And James is not the only man guilty of such mental immorality. Every man who is asking God to prosper him in business, intending when he gets more money to live in a finer house, wear better clothes, and move in a gayer circle and enjoy higher honors, lord it the more over his less-favored fellows, is a fresh illustration of the Apostle’s thought,“Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss, that ye may consume it upon your lusts”. Such petitions are conceived in sin and shapen in iniquity. There are not many prayers that one can voice with any hope of answer except they be animated by a desire to advance some holy cause, as against that of securing some personal profit. The natural man knows not the temptations of riches. If he could appreciate the peril, as God appreciates it; if he could understand the Apostle’s sentence, “The love of money is the root of all evil”, he would not be able to ask that he might have it to spend on his pleasure. Our forefathers proved themselves good students of the Word of God, as well as men of some observations, when they placed in the Litany a petition for the well-to-do, “In time of our wealth, good Lord, deliver us.” There is no change of the general theme when James passes from speaking of the Springs of War to a discussion ofTHE OF THE WORLD The language in James 4:4-12 is at once striking and strong, and makes certain things with reference to friendship with the world exceeding clear.It means enmity to God.“Ye adulterers and adulteresses, know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God”. “Ye adulterers and adulteresses” is not more an awful charge against the conduct of some of the Christians of James’ time, than it is a gentle reminder of the sweet relationship the Lord longs to sustain toward His own.An adulterer (or adulteress) is a faithless spouse. In this very word is an expression of God’s claim upon us as members of His Bride. It becomes, therefore, His tender remonstrance with them whom He has wedded to Himself in Christ. God has not left us in darkness regarding His judgment of the world. He says, “The whole world lieth in wickedness” (1 John 5:19) and again, “Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him” (1 John 2:15).People of advanced Christian experience see clearly that there is almost as much danger in worldliness as in outright wickedness.

If the latter degrades character, the former deadens the finer emotions, destroys conscious communion with God, and paves the way for grosser sins. For a long time after I became a man I thought my church fathers in the South were fossils, and through pure prejudice made distinctions where there was no difference.

For instance, they were perfectly willing we should go to the old-fashioned square dance and sing ourselves hoarse in making music by which to trip “the light fantastic”, but if a fiddle appeared upon the scene, and we rested our throats while continuing to educate our heels, they declared it godless and cited us to appear before the church, and, unless we humbly confessed, they excluded us.Dr. Dale tells us that in his time it “was worldly to play at billiards; but the most eminent professor incurred no censure by playing at bagatelle. Scott’s novels, which were tales of prose, were forbidden; Scott’s poems, which were tales in verse, were permitted.” And many young people of his time began to feel that there was a want of reality in these things “where a pack of cards was regarded as a clear proof of worldliness; but chess and draughts and dominoes were not inconsistent with shining piety.”But I have lived to justify the opinions of his fathers and of mine. Not that I have been persuaded that the devil was in the fiddle; but I do know perfectly well that wherever the fiddle went in Kentucky, accompanying the dance, thither the drinking men and women whose characters were not above suspicion, quickly gathered. And so common was the violin in all their feasts that my fathers insisted that professing Christians should not behave so much like the children of the adversary that people would find it difficult to distinguish which crowd made up the gathering. For the very same reason, cards were tabooed and chess permitted.

The former were constantly in the hands of the devil’s children; the latter had not been the custom of the more abandoned. It is also equally certain that novel-reading is the practice of the most sensual, but whoever imagined these same to be as surely addicted to poetry?

I have maintained also that the billiard-table afforded the most delightful and innocent amusement, and I am convinced that in itself it has no evil tendencies, and yet the billiard-halls of this city are of such a character, and the people who play at them, in many instances, of such a kind, that it does raise a problem for Christians, when it is remembered that “the friendship of the world is enmity with God”.The tendency of human nature is to the liberalism of license, and unquestionably, Christianity is better expressed by the man who eschews everything that has the semblance of sin, than by him who walks hand in hand with the world to the last point possible without committing spiritual suicide. The great Apostle was inspired when he wrote:“Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with darkness? “And what concord hath Christ with Belial? or what part hath he that believeth with an infidel? “And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? for ye are the temple of the Living God; as God hath said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people. “Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing: and I will receive you, “And will be a Father unto you, and ye shall be My sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty” (2 Corinthians 6:14-18). Again, this friendship with the world means: The jealousy of the Holy Ghost.“Do ye think that the Scripture saith in vain, The spirit that dwelleth in us lusteth to envy? “But He giveth more grace. Wherefore He saith, God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble. “Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. “Draw nigh to God, and He will draw nigh to you. Cleanse your hands, ye sinners; and purify your hearts, ye double minded. “Be afflicted, and mourn, and weep: let your laughter be turned to mourning, and your joy to heaviness. “Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and He shall lift you up”. “Lusteth to envy”? Or better still, perhaps, “Lusteth to jealousy?” It is the yearning of the husband over his bride; it is the jealousy that is of God. Remember how the great Decalogue was introduced, “I the Lord thy God am a jealous God”. Listen to Jehovah as He has charged His people with going “a whoring from Thee” (Psalms 73:27); and as He charges them with “lewdness” (Ezekiel 23:27); when He practically divorces Himself on account of Israel’s adultery (Hosea 2:2); and becomes like a broken-hearted husband, mourning (Isaiah 57).Christ Himself charges God’s people with the same sin (Mark 8:38), and in the closing volume of the Scriptures His Church at Thyatira, where worldliness was so characteristic, is charged with “adultery”, and adjudged to great “tribulation” except she repent of her works.Oftentimes we use this word “jealous” in a bad sense. But I tell you, beloved, it is a word which can mean more than any of those who have never endured it can imagine; and its experience may be as righteous as the offense against plighted love is iniquitous. No true husband can keep his heart from breaking when once his bride, pledged at the altar, passes from the path of rectitude and refuses to accept righteous love, and to give the same unstintedly in turn.

You are willing to share the affections of a friend with another, but not the affections of your wife. How much more painful would be the experience if one discovered that the wife’s illicit love was bestowed upon his enemy— and that is the experience of our God!

Who can tell what His infinite heart has endured as His people have lusted after the adversary.Dr. Alfred Plummer reminds us of how in one of the conferences between the Northern and Southern States of America, during the war of 1861—1866, the representatives of the Southern States stated what cession of territory they were prepared to make, provided that the independence of the portion that was not ceded to the Federal Government, was secured. More and more attractive offers were made; the portions to be ceded being increased, and those to be retained in a state of independence being proportionately diminished. All the offers were met by a stedfast refusal. At last President Lincoln placed his hand on the map so as to cover all the Southern States, and in these emphatic words delivered his ultimatum: “Gentlemen, this government must have the whole.”The constitution of the United States was at an end if any part, however small, was allowed to become independent of the rest. It must be kept in its entirety, or it was not kept at all.Just such is the claim which God, by the working of His Spirit, makes upon ourselves.

He cannot share us with the world, however much we may offer to Him, and however little to His rival. If a rival is admitted at all, our relation to Him is violated, and we have become unfaithful.“Submit yourselves therefore to God.

Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. “Draw nigh to God, and He will draw nigh to you. Cleanse your hands, ye sinners; and purify your hearts, ye double minded. “Be afflicted, and mourn, and weep: let your laughter be turned to mourning, and your joy to heaviness. “Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and He shall lift you up”. Yet again, this friendship of the world means unwarranted judgments. It is almost impossible for one to walk hand in hand with its wickedness and not partake of its spirit.“Speak not evil one of another, brethren. He that speaketh evil of his brother, and judgeth his brother, speaketh evil of the Law, and judgeth the Law: but if thou judge the Law, thou art not a doer of the Law, but a judge. “There is one Lawgiver, who is able to save and to destroy: who art thou that judgest another”? One sin never justifies another, or in anywise condones it; but if I had to make my choice between the questionable card table, the polluting theater, or the sinful dance, and the custom of slandering a brother or speaking evil of a sister, I should count the former the smaller sins. James has served both the world and the Church better than either appreciates by his excoriation of him that speaketh in judgment upon his fellows, or of her that speaketh slander against her sister. How these words of his remind us of a speech of his glorious Brother, “Judge not, that ye he not judged”.How also they suggest the awful thought that Henry Ward Beecher referred to when he said, “Society is full of cruelty. Dore’s hideous pictures from Dante in which men are represented as gnawing skull-bones in the infernal regions, in which men are represented as feeding off their victims— these are enough to shock us and drive us from all pictorial illustrations of that kind; but, after all, we see these things in life. There is cannibalism around about us all the time and everywhere. Not a bird’s leg is taken up and counted a more delicious morsel, and is more deliberately picked and chewed and relished in all its juices, than a person’s reputation is taken up, and cut, and bitten, and sucked dry, and cast out. It is wicked; it is damnable; it is treason to God; and yet such things are common.”But the man who would turn from the friendship of the world must see another great truth, namely, UPON DIVINE FAVOR “Go to now, ye that say, To day or to morrow we will go into such a city, and continue there a year, and buy and sell, and get gain: “Whereas ye know not what shall be on the morrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapour, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away. “For that ye ought to say, If the Lord will, we shall live, and do this, or that. “But now ye rejoice in your boasting: all such rejoicing is evil. “Therefore to him that knoweth to do good, and do eth it not, to him it is sin”. Then, one dare not plan, apart from God. He is as central in all human affairs as is some mighty, far-off planet to the physical universe, or the sun to our section of that infinite system. Whatever you propose, therefore, take God into your plans. If you are to be a scholar, a statesman, a physician, minister, or if you are to be a merchant, an inventor, a husbandman, whatever your plans, take God into them. Christ said, “Without Me ye can do nothing”. Every man should be a member of a firm; whether there be any of his brothers or sisters engaged with him in business.

Jehovah should be the Senior in its conduct—the One to whom all questions should be referred, and by whom all propositions should be determined. Who questions that the secret of Christ’s eternal success was in the fact which He Himself stated, with reference to the Father, “I come to do Thy will” (Hebrews 10:9)? One must remember life’s limitations.“Whereas ye know not what shall be on the morrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapour, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away”. There is scarce a day that does not illustrate this thought. The notable athlete of my class at college—the strong man among us—was the first to fall and fill the grave. The Rabbinists have a story concerning a Jewish father, who, at the consecration of his son, set out seven-year-old wine to the guests, with the remark that with such wine ‘he would celebrate for years this son’s birthday. That night he met an angel and said unto him, “Why art thou wandering thus about?” “Because,” answered the angel, “I slay those who say we will do this or that and think not that soon death may come upon them. The man who said that he would continue for a long time to drink that wine shall die in thirty days.” Is that what Solomon means, “The prosperity of fools shall destroy them” (Proverbs 1:32)? Is that the occasion of his injunction, “Boast not thyself of tomorrow” (Proverbs 27:1)?Life and labor depend alike upon the Lord’s will.“For that ye ought to say, If the Lord will, we shall live, and do this, or that. “But now ye rejoice in your boastings: all such rejoicing is evil. “Therefore to him that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is sin”. It would seem that Christ did His utmost to make us know that our very breath depended upon the Divine will when He uttered the parable of the rich fool; and equally tried to impress us with the thought that our works rested with the Divine favor when He said, “Without Me ye can do nothing”. Christian men are more and more accustomed to make their engagements by saying, “I will do so and so, D. V.—God willing.” Those letters suggest a mighty spiritual truth, and we must make more liberal use of them. Let this be our daily song:“O Will, that wiliest good alone, Lead Thou the way, Thou guidest best; A little child, I follow on, And, trusting, lean upon Thy breast.” But the completion of this discourse also involves some verses from the fifth chapter, for having gone over the temptations of trouble, uncovering the springs of war, and warning against the friendship of the world, and pleading for dependence upon Divine favor, the Apostle reaches his appeal.It isAN APPEAL TO He rests it in three things.The believer’s) oppressors shall themselves perish.“Go to now, ye rich men, weep and howl for your miseries that shall come upon you. “Your riches are corrupted, and your garments are moth eaten. “Your gold and silver is cankered; and the rust of them shall he a witness against you, and shall eat your flesh as it were fire. Ye have heaped treasure together for the last days. “Behold, the hire of the labourers who have reaped down your fields, which is of you kept back by fraud, crieth: and the cries of them which have reaped are entered into the ears of the Lord of Sabaoth. “Ye have lived in pleasure on the earth, and been wanton; ye have nourished your hearts, as in a day of slaughter. “Ye have condemned and killed the just; and he doth not resist you. “Be patient therefore, brethren, unto the Coming of the Lord. Behold, the husbandman waiteth for the precious fruit of the earth, and hath long patience for it, until he receive the early and latter rain. “Be ye also patient; stablish your hearts: for the Coming of the Lord draweth nigh. “Grudge not one against another, brethren, lest ye be condemned: behold, the Judge standeth before the door. “Take, my brethren, the Prophets, who have spoken in the Name of the Lord, for an example of suffering affliction, and of patience. “Behold, we count them happy which endure. Ye have heard of the patience of Job, and have seen the end of the Lord; that the Lord is very pitiful, and of tender mercy. “But above all things, my brethren, swear not, neither by heaven, neither by the earth, neither by any other oath: but let your yea be yea; and your nay, nay; lest ye fall into condemnation”. These were days when rich Jews were hard masters indeed. If one would understand what oppressions had grown up with the financial power of men, let him read the major and minor Prophets. Isaiah had pronounced woe upon them (Isaiah 33:1); Habakkuk had prophesied that “the stone shall cry out of the wall, and the beam out of the timber shall answer if” (Habakkuk 2:11). Christ had taken these same, who were scribes and Pharisees, and excoriated them as He never condemned others (Matthew 23:13-16). James was reminding his oppressive brethren of what had been spoken for their warning; and the brethren who had been oppressed, of their encouragement. He was expressing the same thought with which the Psalmist had long before comforted himself,“Fret not thyself because of evildoers” (Psalms 37:1). “Fret not thyself because of him who prospereth in his way, because of the man who bringeth wicked devices to pass” (Psalms 37:7). “For evildoers shall be cut off” (Psalms 37:9). “For yet a little while, and the wicked shall not be: yea, thou shalt diligently consider his place, and it shall not be. “But the meek shall inherit the earth; and shall delight themselves in the abundance of peace” (Psalms 37:10-11). Again he declares, “The wicked shall perish” (Psalms 37:20). “Mark the perfect man, and behold the upright: for the end of that man is peace” (Psalms 37:37).Ah, beloved, it is to the credit of Mordecai that he never grumbled when Haman was in favor with the king and riding in his chariot. He waited, in patience, knowing the justice of God: and when its execution came, he went to the palace and Haman dangled on the gallows. If the time of martyrdom is passed, yet oppressions are not at an end. Your fortune may have been taken from you by some greedy degenerate; your child may have fallen a victim to the lust of a lewd one; your health may have been consumed by the hand of the adversary; the peace of your house may have been destroyed by the prince of the power of the air; and yet patience on your part is to be practiced since you understand that “the Lord knoweth the way of the righteous: but the way of the ungodly shall perish” (Psalms 1:6).“Be patient therefore, brethren, unto the Coming of the Lord. Behold, the husbandman waiteth for the precious fruit of the earth, and hath long patience for it, until he receive the early and latter rain. “Be ye also patient; stablish your hearts: for the Coming of the Lord draweth high. “Grudge not one against another, brethren, lest ye be condemned: behold, the Judge standeth before the door. The man of hope is not easily discouraged. This Second Coming of Christ “without sin unto salvation”, to raise the dead, immortalize the living, and gather all saints unto Himself, to reward their services, is described by the Apostle as the “blessed hope”. The men and women who entertain it ought to be the cheery souls of earth; for however dark it may be today, who knows but with another dawn we shall see His face, and be able to shout with the great Prophet Isaiah, “Lo, this is our God; we have waited for Him, and He will save us: this is the Lord; we, have waited for Him, we will be glad and rejoice in His salvation” (Isaiah 25:9).And then, as if to complete the encouragement, James says,The saints of the past provide us ensamples.“Take, my brethren, the Prophets, who have spoken in the Name of the Lord, for an example of suffering and affliction, and of patience. “Behold, we count them happy which endure. Ye have heard of the patience of Job, and have seen the end of the Lord; that the Lord is very pitiful, and of tender mercy”. Truly these Old Testament Prophets and Sages proved the power of patience. One can hardly think upon their conduct without joining with Orison Sweet Marden, “Patience is the guardian of faith, the preserver of peace, the cherisher of love, the teacher of humility. Patience governs the flesh, strengthens the spirit, sweetens the temper, stifles anger, extinguishes envy, subdues pride; she bridles the tongue, restrains the hand, tramples upon temptations, endures persecutions.”“Be thou content; be still before His face, at whose right hand doth reign Fullness of joy for evermore, Without whom all thy toil is vain: He is thy Living Spring, thy Sun, whose rays Make glad with life and light thy dreary days: Be thou content. “In Him is comfort, light, and grace, And changeless love beyond our thought; The sorest pang, the worst disgrace, If He is there, shall harm thee not. He can lift off thy cross, and loose thy bands, And calm thy fears, nay, death is in His hands: Be thou content, “Or art thou friendless and alone, Hast none in whom thou canst confide? God careth for thee, lonely one— Comfort and help He will provide. He sees thy sorrows, and thy hidden grief, He knoweth when to send thee quick relief: Be thou content. “Thy heart’s unspoken pain He knows, Thy secret sighs He hears full well: What to none else thou dar’st disclose, To Him thou may’st with boldness tell. He is not far away, but ever nigh, And answereth willingly the poor man’s cry: Be thou content.”

James 4:2

WAR IS HELL James 4:2. WILSON, in his official day, in answer to the agonizing cry of Armenia, once proclaimed October 23rd as a day of opportunity for our land. He advised that people assemble in the churches throughout the length and breadth of the states and give audience to what might be said about Armenia’s need, and unite their hearts in endeavor to raise $5,000,000 to send to the relief of the wounded, starving, outraged Armenians. It was a request that no preacher who knew anything of the facts, felt even disposed to debate, much less to deny. This nation was at that time neutral, so far as taking up arms against the Austro-Germans on the one side or the Franco-English Allies on the other; but it dared not be negative, and could not be indifferent. Since the day when Cain, with bludgeon in hand, beat the life out of his own brother, the world had never seen such brutality and such beastliness as that war brought about; never heard such pitiful moans as made earth hell; and never looked upon such scenes of ruthless slaughter as characterized and cursed one-half of its people. One had only begun to consider the facts when he found his mind reeling before them, his heart sickened by them, and his whole spirit as much discouraged as disgusted.From the day Adam first broke the Law of the Lord, man has played the fool and erred exceedingly; but the acme of his folly remained to mark and forever mar the boastful twentieth century, and when final histories are written, the period of that war will be made up of pages over which human blood was spilled so thickly as to blot out all else and forever blacken the same.And yet, since there are people who justify war, I want to make my first point tonight in their behalf and speak to you onTHE DEFENSE OF WAR That finished, you will be willing to hear me for a while on The Deviltry of War, and then, not to leave you in discouragement, I propose to finish my theme with a discussion of Redemption from War.In defense of war, three or four things have been said and are being said:It is to prove “the survival of the fittest.” When Charles Darwin wrote his book, “The Origin of Species” and made his contention for “the survival of the fittest,” he little dreamed what he was doing for the world. By that contention he was driving God from His throne; by that contention he was seeking to exalt man to the place from which his theories if accepted would push God.Germany, already materialistic, accepted Darwin’s theories more greedily than did England, his own land; and Germany applied them not alone to plant and animal life, but to problems social and political, and boosted their military system upon them steadily, but, surely. In the face of all peace conferences and efforts of diplomatic adjustments, she went on strengthening army and navy alike, until she had a million of the best trained soldiers in the world, and a navy second only to that of England, and supposed by reason of the invention of the submarine, to exceed it. With such power at command, a German publicist declared that the inevitable policy of Germany must be not only unchallenged preparation for war, but the unhesitating policy of relentless war wherever it was necessary to increase her power and extend her dominion. She had never had a doubt of Darwin’s theory, regarding herself “the fittest,” nor at first any question of her survival.Go back three thousand years and you will find Absalom acting upon the same supposition; and his ambition to be supreme in governing power was the thing that shook the foundations of the government over which God Himself had set his father, David.There are some of us who believe that those who are fittest to survive are not the first in war, but rather, the first in peace; and that if there were any interpretations of Darwin’s evolution other than a physical one, it would affirm that as a fact. The savagery of war will pass when the Son of Man prevails and men begin to make real progress and the ages to mark an evolution that is worthy of the name.But there are others who say, “Self-preservation is the first law of life.” It has long been a maxim of the world; it has never been the maxim of the Church.

Of Christ they said truly, “He saved others; Himself He cannot save”.In the second, third and fourth centuries, when the slaughter of Christians was well nigh as common in the world as it has recently become in Russia, the Church never resorted to the spear and sword. To the best of their ability they cared for the weak, nursed the sick, sympathized with the sorrowing.

They saved others; themselves they did not save. Thousands of them laid their heads on the block and like the lamb, went to a silent slaughter; thousands other of them bared their breasts to the bayonets and let them drink deeply of their heart’s blood; thousands of them wandered in sheep skins and goat skins, dwelt in caves, starved and died, not only without resistance, but apparently without resentment, solely because they had caught the spirit of their Lord.When I was a lad growing up in Kentucky, our family physician killed a man. He did it in self-defense: the court .justified him and speedily dismissed him from all charge, but he went to his grave in regret. As a lad I remember to have heard him express to my father the wish that he had died rather than shed the other man’s blood. In other words, he could not believe that self-preservation was the first law of life.I challenge any Christian man to bring me from the Scriptures a defense of this world maxim. The blood of brothers may mark the trail of progress for the politician, but the blood of the martyrs has forever been the seed of the Church.The third defense of war—and in my judgment the only one that is worthy of mention—is phrased after this manner:We should battle in the interest of abused brothers.

If a big nation proposes to pounce upon a little one, kill its people, take its territory, then nations of equal power with this bully must resent it even unto blood. I confess frankly that with this defense I have the deepest personal sympathy, although I search my Scriptures somewhat in vain to justify even that.When we went to war in Cuba I felt and said that our nation did right.

Cuba had been oppressed long enough; enough innocent blood had been shed and the time had arrived to call a halt; and we were capable of accomplishing it, and did so with little loss. But when we conquered in the Philippines and refused to let the natives share with us in the honors of the hour, I protested, and of my country I was ashamed; and after all the intervening years, I have never changed my judgment one whit.The fight of the big brother in defense of the little fellow, pounced upon by bullies, has always received the world’s applause, and right or wrong it always will.When the World War broke out there were two million Armenians, mainly Christian in profession. Over half of them perished. Thousands upon thousands of them were put on board vessels, under pretense of shipping them away, carried out to sea, and the guns of the Turkish nation leveled on them and not a man left alive.Then thousands of them were shut up in compounds, starved for days, hundreds of thousands of them were deported, and as they walked their way across the deserts and climbed their way over mountains, Turkish bands set upon them, killed the men, ruthlessly slew the children, seized their beautiful women and made them the instant subjects of their insatiable lust. Mothers, in the very moment of childbirth, were refused the right to lie down at the roadside and rest until the hemorrhage was stanched, and later, with the babe in arms, were compelled to keep pace with the others until they dropped dead in their tracks. Hundreds of them fell by the roadside, refused alike bread and water, until the piteous moan was no more.

One of our Americans, traveling at that time a distance of twenty-five miles along the line of march, saw corpses of five hundred of our Christian brothers and sisters. Such brutality is the shame of the centuries, and the nation that wipes it from the earth may be God’s instrument of righteousness.But all of that, even, in no wise detracts from theDEVILTRY OF WAR The text is true; wars and fightings come from lust; killings and envying from the same source; and Sherman was right when he said, “War is hell!” I want you to think with me tonight aboutThe waste of war. This subject has been discussed with reference to previous conflicts, but never had its full interpretation until the war of 1914—1918.Slavery was never the will of God. It ought to have been blotted from our civilization; but did you ever stop to think of the, wasteful way we accomplished it? The Civil War is said to have cost the North and South eight billion of dollars— a sum equal to one-half the entire wealth of the nation at the time of the hostilities. With this amount we could have bought the freedom of every slave on the earth and set him free, and left enough over to pay all the expenses of the Federal Government for fifty years.When the late war was finished, Europe and those portions of Asia that were involved, were in practical bankruptcy, and under the most favorable circumstances the next hundred years will be a time of tremendous taxation, and will not be long enough to recover these countries from their money bankruptcy, not to speak of the bankruptcy of men. We “fight and war” for territory, commercial advantage, monetary consideration, but when we have finished we “have not”.

Why? Because we went to war, and war is waste.But that is only a minor consideration:The wickedness of war is a major one.

A soldier, after fifty years of military experience, said, “War is devilish and I want to see no more of it.” And he was none other than the uncle of the Czar of Russia, Grand Duke Michael, who, at seventy-two years of age, was still active in endeavoring to keep Russia at peace; and who, looking back over history, was compelled to say: “No words can describe the awful sufferings and agonies of this man-made hell of war. The soldiers who have seen real war are the least anxious for it. We ought to take the emphasis off the ‘glory’ of war and place it where it belongs—on its hellishness.”In fact, you may consult whom you will, and you will find that aside from those folks who are running armor plate factories, or engaged in munition making materials, patriotic (?) magnates indeed, shrieking with “preparedness” in the interest of personal profits, few favor war.But why not let the disinterested speak? Why not listen to men and women who do not care to make their money out of the blood of their fellows, whether that blood is to be shed by citizens or opponents? I doubt if there is a company of people in all America who represent more clear and consistent thinking on this one subject than the teachers of America; and the National Educational Association, in its fifty-fourth Annual Convention, held in New York City, voiced itself upon this subject after having listened to both sides of the question, presented, the one by William Jennings Bryan, and the other by Major-General Leonard Wood. The leader among them said, “Military training in the schools is absurd from a military point of view * * and worse than absurd from an educator’s point of view.” While a year before, the whole Association had put itself on record in the following resolution: “The Association deplores any attempt to militarize this country.

It declares against the establishment of compulsory military training in the schools, on the ground that it is inconsistent with American ideals and standards.” In a later session it declared again: “While the Association recognizes that the community or state may introduce such elements of military training into the schools as may seem wise and prudent, yet it believes that such training should be strictly educational in its aim and organization, and that military ends should not be permitted to pervert the educational purposes and practices of the land.” With the educators of the world, men of letters, worthy of the description, have been in perfect line. Ralph Waldo Emerson said, “Universal peace is as sure as the prevalence of civilization over barbarism, of liberal governments over feudal forms.”Sir David Brewster said, “I feel confident that the time is not far distant when war will be as impossible among civilized nations as dueling is among civilized men.”Dr.

John Clifford, sturdy non-conformist that he was, long at the head of the battle line for religious liberty in Great Britain, voiced himself upon war of the physical sort when his own country was carrying on what is known as the Boer War, saying: “Is it treason to speak out of one’s heart on this great subject? Will you let the old Quaker speak? The war! I hate it! I hate it! It is this war I hate; hate it! I tell you it is not of God.”And in that judgment millions of his fellow-citizens concurred. Robert W.

Hall was the clearest thinker his century produced and he said: “In war, death reigns without a rival and without control. War is the work, the element, the sport and triumph of death, who glories not only in the extent of his conquest, but in the richness of his spoil.”But somebody says, “These are all men who know nothing on the subject.”Then let those who know the most speak, and put your puny opinion against them if you will. I confess I haven’t the effrontery to do it.Benjamin Franklin declared: “There never was a good war, or a bad peace.” General Sherman said, “The glory of war is all moonshine. War is hell!” Secretary John Hay said: “War is the most futile and ferocious of all human follies!” Thomas Jefferson said: “I abhor war and view it as the greatest scourge of mankind!” George Washington said: “My first wish is to see this plague to mankind banished from the earth.” General Grant said: “There never was a time when, in my opinion, some way could not have been found of preventing the drawing of the sword.” But its moral wickedness exceeds even the brutality of its butchery. It has never had but one effect on human life, and that was to lower it at every point. It lowers the moral tone of men; it has always resulted in the willing or forced destruction of women’s morality. Liquor and lust have forever walked in its wake, and they have almost rivaled the bullets of the enemy in their victims. The very men who live and come back from scenes of conflict, find evil habits have so deeply fastened their fangs that they have been unable to shake them in a lifetime. Think of the moral wrecks of the last war, in illustration.

If there is a good word that can be spoken for this moral monster, which was repugnant enough when he first appeared and incited conflict between Cain and Abel, but which has grown more hellish still, we have never heard it spoken.But we pass on to the wrath of war. Walter Rauschenbusch was of German birth, and yet he was an American citizen of high order.

He doubtless sympathized with the fatherland, in part at least, in the late awful conflict; but Walter Rauschenbusch affirmed that one of the awfulest things that came out of the late conflict is the hatred engendered—a hatred that will never be buried until the age ends.It is of little use for one of my dearest brethren, a man I ardently love, to have come over from Canada and say, “You know we do not hate our enemies.”History tells a different tale. I was brought up in the South. I have lived forty years in the North. I was born when the Civil War was on and I have lived sixty-five years since it ended, but I have not lived long enough to see the hate that contest created wiped entirely away; and I have little hope of so doing.How much greater the bitterness when men who are not brothers fight; when men who had no acquaintance come to contest; and when, especially, the fight is characterized by such unspeakable and hideous methods as converted the late war into a burning hell! I have seen the end of family feuds, and it has only come when the last member of the house involved was under ground. It is folly for any man to set himself forth as a prophet and at the same time attempt to declare the non-bitterness of war.

Once more I say, Sherman was right: “War is hell!”But I do not propose to conclude this talk with so poor a prospect; but rather, to finish by holding before you. FROM WAR Will it come? Yes. When? No man knows. How? If it comes at all, it must come along certain lines.First of all, from some regard for the precepts of Jesus.

It would be difficult for any man who attempted to follow the plain teachings of Jesus Christ to approve war. His acceptance of the Old Testament as the very “Word of God” is beyond debate, and in that Old Testament it is written: “Whoso sheddeth man’s blood, by man shall his blood be shed”; and the reason given is, “for in the image of God made He man” (Genesis 9:6).“The Sermon on the Mount” is universally accepted as a sort of climax of Christ’s clear teachings, and it cannot be forgotten that in the very heart of that dissertation, Christ wrote, “Blessed are the peacemakers; for they shall be called the children of God”. The law of passive resistance is also clearly the teaching of Christ. It is in the same “Sermon on the Mount” that He said:“Ye have heard that it hath been said, An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth: “But I say unto you, That ye resist not evil: but whosoever shall smite thee on thy right cheek, turn to him the other also” (Matthew 5:38-39). To be sure, the world does not recognize the voice of Christ as final on subjects of legal, national, and international interest. But the Church of God should, at least, regard His speech as final on all subjects, and its influence is great. Already it has mollified the methods of war, and, if faithful to the Prince of Peace, it can prove effective for world-tranquility.The recognition of human brotherhood would aid. To accept the Scriptures at their face value, God “hath made of one blood all nations of men for to dwell on all the face of the earth”, would profoundly affect the whole peace problem.That great Paris newspaper, “L’Universe,” never said a saner thing than when some years ago it declared: “The spirit of peace has fled the earth, because evolution has taken possession of it. The plea for peace, in past years, has been inspired by faith in the Divine nature and in Divine origin of man. Men were looked upon as children of one Father, and war, therefore, was fratricide.

But now that men are looked upon as children of apes, what matters it whether they be slaughtered or not?”It is one of those illogical products that often follow false reasoners, that the heartiest propagandists of peace today are also ardent advocates of the evolutionary hypothesis, the same utterly failing to see that the logical outworking of the theory of “the struggle for existence” and “the survival of the fittest” is war. It so comes about, therefore, that those who have parted from Christ on the question of His authority, produce by their own godless philosophy a pandemonium that eats through into their own hearts and flings them back on the very Lord they have rejected, as their one and only adequate defender.Finally, peace will come with the coming of the Prince of Peace. When He shall stand with one foot upon the earth and one upon the seas, the Ruler over both, then, and not until then, shall the Prophet’s vision be fulfilled:“And He shall judge among many people, and rebuke strong nations afar off; and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks: nation shall hot lift up a sword against nation, neither shall they learn war my more. “But they shall sit every man under his vine and under his fig tree; and none shall make them afraid: for the mouth of the Lord of Hosts hath spoken it” (Micah 4:3-4).