The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1896-04-23
CAN WAR BIZ STOPPED.

lfrom a sermon freacneu ~ Nos,iii
Last Sunday by Rev. Dr. Tennis >. Ham
lin in Anticipation OF the Meeting Oh 'ne
Arbitration COnference.l
Hobbies says that "the natural state or
man is war" The history OF the world
| seems TO confirm the dictum. TINS, now
uance of war; but for its discontinusnce.
For the law Of evolution certainly applies
here, and means that man Is to move Tor.
ward out of this natural state. as OUT OF
the natural state of savagery In general:
And this conforms to the teaching OK
| the Bible land especially OF our LORD. He
evidently regards war as a necessary lnci-
| dent of human progress. but not as a
permanent and final condition.; as an eVil
| Inevitable among sinful men, but that Ills
| salvation when fully accepted Will fuiiy
cure. So he was foretold under the tue
| of THE Prince of Peace" Of whose peace
| full government there should be no end,
and In whose days men should beat their
swords into plOwshares and their spears
| into pruning hooks, nation not hftlng up
the sword against nation. nor learning war
any more" The warlike spirit Is a sore
| evil, but 1t Is unavoidable as step on the
way to an immeasurable good; as PAIN
in the process Of birth or Of healing; rs
decay in the seed that Is to reproduce
| Itself an hundred fold. II mans mat
ural state is war" his gracious state un-
der the full Influence Of Christianity is
thus predicted to be peace.
Are there any signs Of that prediction
being fulfilled? and are there any steps
| that Christian nations may and should
! take toward it's fiultillment? Sir Henry
Maine thinks that the one. fact that
| emerges from the darkness Of prehistoric
primitive mankind He concludes that
war is as old" as the race. while peace
| the Biblical account Of strife between Cain
and Abel, ending in the latter's death.
The resort to violence was originally the
only nss means srs Of settling ,s fe asps ndsr And
| straints Of law or authority. Christianity
drove out the duel; but in so doing opened
the way for universal perjury. To check
ths Gopde5aId a,ni. king Of sursTndy in sol
peal to heaven to discriminate between
right and wrong by giving victory to the
right 1t was thus founded upon supersti..
religion. But It rapidly spread over all
Europe At first applied only to criminal
cases, 1t soon was extended to civil, Louis
TX permitting combat only when the
But the cases, were so numerous of this
adjudication by force being afterward
found incorrect that 1t was bound to dis
appear before growing intelligence. The
1922 The Council of Trent, in l5l5, in
pronouncing against 1t, only reflected the
verdict which Hallam calls that mon
strous birth of ferocity. and superstition"
!
not till 1919 that the British parliament
formally abolished this trial by combat !;
long before, however. 1t had lost its char
| acter as an appeal to heaven, and become
merely a method of avenging insults. real
| or fancied. AS such. II continued under
the name of the duel, until very recent
days. 1t seems incredible that skill with
the sword, or quickness with the pistol,
could ever have been soberly believed 10
determine whether one or other Of the
combatants had lied, or cheated at cards,
or was or was not gentleman. Yet such
was was the faith o. our % ancestors, ae and when
| test of courage As such II was not
wholly bad; II meant the creation and
maintenance OF many useful qualities that
go, with courage. The duel lost it's final
excuse fer being when other means were
found of keeping men truthful. chivalrous
sensitive as to their honor; when civiliza-
tion and religion succeeded in teaching
that there are finer tests of bravery than
death in case one cannot stab or shoot
to death his accidental, or reluctant, or
unoffending adversary.
Now war Is just duel on large scale
Indeed the words bellum and duellum are
from the same root. Charles Sumner, i'm
one of his latest orations, calls the war of
1870 1.-The duel between France and Ger
many And war has had history paral-
lei to that of the duel in this respect at
least. that 1t was long held to be an APP
peal to heaven. Says Lord Bacon: WARS
are no massacres and confusions. but they
are the highest trial Of right, when princes
and states, that acknowledge no superior
on earth. shall put themselves upon the
justice Of God for the deciding of their
CONTROVERSIES by such success as 1t shall
please Him to give to either side.' From
this naive faith the world swung over
to Napoleon's sneer. GOD Is on the side
dogged persistency,, II shall fight It out
on this line II 1t takes all summer" No
doubt God is thus too much eliminated
from the gage OF battle. but our matter
offact minds regard Ii as an appeal to
force rather. than to heaven. So It has
been invoked to settle the most trivial. as
well as the most mcmentous questions
Angry states. like angry men. have alb
| regardless of the indescribable losses,
wounds. sufferings. and deaths known to
be involved N every contest. What soil
impoverished by war? What family has
not been robbed of Its noblest members :?
Flve-sixths Of human history Is the record
| OF men flying, like tigers. at each others
| throats.
The battle Of Sedan was fought only
twenty.six yeass ago. yet this Is how an
masses Of colored rags glued together with
blood and brains. and pinned into strange
bodies, without heads, legs without bod
les. dismembered, corpses In unlform
| dies: dislnembered corpses in unlform
| bodies lying about in all attitudes, with
| skulls shattered, faces blown Off, hips
smashcd;. bones. flesh. and gay clothing
all pounded together as II brayed In a
these facts for a basis the most vivid
imagination cannot come up to the reality
of that butchery." A German soldier in
Indifference to death. and his Joy at seeing
his enemies fall, says: Zone ceases to be
| Il human being, and turns into brute"
Certainly, II 1t is possible, such scenes, as
SHOULD be banshed from the sight and
thought and even the memory OF man
kind, But is It possiblep Not yet The
leaven is working. but the whole being is
less frequently and ferocious'y than afOre-
time but II is by no means yet rusting