The Universalist. [volume] (Chicago [Ill.]) 1884-1897, 1888-08-11
THE GOSPEL OF CHRIST"

aye, terribly saddened to see the strange,
and even in some cases, base uses to
which this word Gospel is put. In
some instances the beautiful, the
tender, the solemn meaning of the
word has been entirely ignored and
have felt shocked at the way in which
it was applied.
For instance, l have read, and in not
few cases either, of the "Gospel of
War" Now what "good tidings of
great joy to all people, can there be in
reference to war? What does war sug-
gest but wholesale murder? 1 know
| quite well we do not call it that. At
news of great battle the triumphant
army is crowned with laurels, the
| officers in command advanced in title,
if advancement be possible; in mon
archical countries the COMMANDMENT
| chief is often dubbed an earl, or per-
haps even duke. Bells are rung in
victorious tones; bonfires are built and
flash their crimson light over miles of
country; balls and parties and recep-
tions are given, while outdoor festivi-
ties of every kind abound for the poor
or classes. Poems are written and
sometimes set to music; the press
comes out in eulogistic articles; the
pulpit offers up prayers of gratitude,
and after the organ has rung out its
notes of triumph, the preacher, in a
wonderful rhetorical effort, blazens
forth the grandeur of the victory. And
yet, if looked at calmly, what is bat
tie but wholesale murder? If one man
kill another he is hung, and his name
goes down to posterity with an eternal
stigma, while even the grave that hides
his throttled throat is Stunned spot.
But if fifty thousand fight fifty thous-
sand, the more you kill the Drawer man
you are, and your hand stained with
the blood OF score of men, is hand
that even Queen will take kindly,
reverently within her own; and that
wholesale murderer will go down to
posterity crowned with fadeless laurels
and after his death stately marble
will tell where lies his hallowed dust.
The "Gospel Of War;" when war
makes widows, makes orphaus, makes
old men and old women childless and
young girls brotherless and sweetheart
less! o, have never forgotten those
words of Elizabeth Barrett in her poem
on Napoleon"
"And widows spake it with moan,
When questioned why they sat alone"
The Gospel of WarI" When the battle
| field drinks the life blood of the bravest
and the best, and leaves so many
SCARED and bruised and MANNED! It is
proclamation of the word Gospel to at
tach it in any way to the word war. 1
know that God in his mysterious prov
licences overrules the horrors of war
sometimes, perhaps always. l know
that through war, cruel war Of eight
years, my own country achieved indie
pendence. I know that through war,
cruel war of four years, three millions
of my colored countrymen were freed
from their shackles, and we, the whites,
relieved forever of the odium of slavery.
But with all the beneficial results that
may come from war, as an instru-
mentality of freedom; / could never
find it in my heart to speak of the
"Gospel of WARP, who with so many
tn ousands of mothers lost their first
born son because Of war. would say
solemnly of the words Gospel and war,
what God hath put assunder let not
man join together.
Then l have seen lately an article
on the Gospel of cheapness, -one writ
ten in reference to the dreadful revela-
tions made of the wearisome hours and
famine wages of workpeople in the
large warehouses of London. And
strange to say, this writer spoke of it
as the ''infernal Gospel of cheapness.
He was in downright earnestness and
1 sympathized with his denunciations
against the meanness and cruelty
even of the employers, and the wicked
greed of the purchasers; but was
shocked to hear the word Gospel
coupled with Internal as an adjective,
and with cheapness as the particular
element. / do feel sometimes as if
this desire to get everything cheap was
an internal desire, but do not think
there is any Gospel in it. Ihate cheap
things myself, and am always suspic-
ious of shop that prides itself in keep
ing cheap goods, for always feel as if
they we're the price of blood. The
long lines Of white garments which 1
see in some windows, with their tickets
of marvellous cheapness, seem to me
like the shrouds Of the poor, pale-faced,
hollow-eyed, half-starved workers, and
l would not buy one and wear it, any
more than l would buy garment
which some ''resurrectionist' had
stolen from the body he had lifted to
sell to college of doctors. "Live and
let live," is my motto. Where there
70 auaouoixa obaa,paoo Honaa1