The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1898-04-11
OBSERVATION-DISCLOSURES
REV. MIR. DEWHURST NOT CARRIED
AWAY WITH THE WAR FURRY.
He Considers the Crisis i'm n Different
Light from other Ministers
of the City.


sarvative standpoint that war should not
be thought of until every possible effort
had been made to settle the differences by
other means. He took for a text Pauls
words to the Corinthians, found in--Cor. V,
g: Let US keep the feast, not with the
old leaven neither with the leaven of malice
and wickedness, but with the unleavened
bread OF sincerity and truth" The words
were used symbolically, reference being had
fguratively to the feast of the passover.
during which none but unleavened bread
was eaten by the Jews. and the unleavened
bread meant in this case Jesus Christ He
babe the Corinthians to put away the old
leaven of wickedness and vice and to keep
the perpetual festival of the Christian life.
After an explanation of the text, Mr.. Dew
hurst said
lin forty hours from this hour which
we meet to-day will roll round again the
anniversary of the fateful moment when the
hoarse guns of a foe within our own house
hold uttered their threat against Sumter.
The echoes of the bells of that Easter sun
day, thirty~seVen years ago. had scarcely
died away before the alarm of war had neen
sounded throughout the land, and the IRE
pressible conflict was upon US II ever WI
was begun and ended in behalf of humanity
and of liberty, If ever strife has Deen a con-
tributor to the redemption of the world thtt
terrible civil conflict was. Yet did any ma
ticn ever enter into conflict without being
compelled thereby to eat the ola ledVen III
malice and wickedness, the leaVened prSa9
Of hatred and passion and bitterness! pa
any war however high the END IL sought,
ever fail to drag in it's wake the meanest
and lowest and most Gorruptlhg Oh . r,stei
side of human life? We have not yet drunk
the dregs to the very bottom of the cup
which we put to our lips on that morning
thirty-seven years ago, when Sumter lay
smoldering and broken.
And again to-day the Easter bells are
Al. r.fa -<Rf nTfh W
en- seem repeat ting the old message or eter-
nal import. He is not here, He is risen
if then We are risen with christ seek IN, Inc
air palpitates with those hopes which make
humanity seem divine. which make Ire
seem glorious and worthy, Whlch prusn
aside the veil and give us a glimpse or the
possible humanity, which roll away the
Stone from the sepulchre OF our dead ana
buried past and point us toward our 2s ster
day is the festival of gladness, the 1estlval
of life, the festival when we purge our
houses and our hearts of the old leav zen
terness, and partake with thank1ulness
of the unleavened bread OF slhGI s
and truth Once more the world Keeps
Faster. day Whatever feelings and motives
NAV lie deepest in their hearts, the throngs
of people in American churches ana span span.
ish cathedrals alike are to-day repeating
the words so prophetic of the ultimate
triumph of what is highest, He is not dead;
He is risen.
MESSAGE ON THE MOHftOW.
Tomorrow the President sends his mes
sage to Congress, and the day after Goo
knows; and perhaps no living man does
now know whether the anniversary OF sum
ter's fall will mean the loosening once more
of the cannon's terrible wrath. Let me
once for all say frankly that the words
which I feel laid upon me as my message
to-day are not spoken from the standpoint
he n
one who believes that war is the most terri
BILE of evils and therefore to be avoided at
whatever cost. There are not many Things
worse than war when we gather up all It's
consequences and its attendant evlls, put
there are some things that are worse than
war. There have been crises when war has
focused in a nations life those moral ele-
ments which before were scattered and IN
effectual.
1T is useless and sentimental. and there
fore immoral to deny that there are ever
occasions when truth and righteousness and
social integrity must be maintained by the
application of force. Tolstoi, the great Rus
sian, has, to my mind, misinterpreted the
spirit and genius of the gospel of Christ, 1t
detracts less from the dignity of Christ to
think of Him driving the chaffering traders
from the temple than 1t does from His uni
versatility to believe that He taught a gospel
which meant the restraint of all force when
the blow of a strong right arm would repel
brutal assault upon the weak and the de-
fenseless. / would write It down in my
creed that | believe In the maniness of
Christ. Browning said that body helps soul
as much as soul helps body. and it is quite
Il legitimate application of that doctrine
of the poet to affirm that occasions have
arisen and may arise when the only feasible
a 6 en- OF al OF feel tbe vrte wo of
strong Saxon fist But is it not quite super
fiuous to say that the indignation and the
moral wrath which would find that outlet
are not the passion which is embodied in
the code of the duelist. The honor which.
the duelist defends is a mistaken name for
his vanity. A duel settles absolutely moth
ing except the ruffied plumage of the fight
ers. blow struck the villain who should
assault a weak human being. might be
very potent evidence that the love of right
eousness had not persisted from the earth.
Therefore / have no inclination to take
refuge behind the doctrine of nonresistance.
/ have not the slightest sympathy with
those peace promoters who affirm that be-
cause Christianity anticipates time when
our swords should be beaten into plowshares
should therefore send armOred ves-
sells to the foundry to be melted down to-
morrow into implements of peaceful life.
The question which / have tried to
answer to my own reason and conscience is
Il different question than that which deals
with the general theory of peace In this
grave crisis now impending and which
seems 10 threaten war what are the forces
and motives which make for conflict? AS
between all the possible courses open to us
is 1t a fact that a nation representing the
foremost ideals of modern civilization has
exhausted all the resources for an honor
able settlement of its moral obligations?
The two issues, upon the basis OF which
war is being forced as fast as the war party
among us can force ii, are these: First
the charge of barbarity and inhumanity in
the prosecution of war, and. second, the
destruction of the Maine. 1t is declared
that nation so low in civilization rs to
deal with a noncombatant element as Spain
has dealt with its reconcentrados deserves
to be driven off the face of the western
continent
BEAM IN OUR OWN EYES
1T is beyond dispute that this condition
of the noncombatants in Cuba is atrocious
and disgraceful, bat l ask you those who
CHANGED to read the account published
broadcast a few months ago describing
the condition prevailing in one of our
own federal prisons, Il condition wretched
and immoral beyond description. / ask Won
il people who live in glass houses ought not
to be careful about throwing stones. One
wrong does not right another wrong. T
know, but the perception of a wrong al
our own heart may advise us to remember
the word of Christ about first casting ont
the beam from our own eyes before we seek
to cast out the mote from our brothers
eye.
but, further. / ask. does ii really got
down TO the bottom of a moral issue to
content ourselves with driving Spain from
the western continent? Why from The
western continent Is there not therein y
itself among us in 50 many ways? Would
IT not, at any rate, seem provincial to those
beings who. perchance. inhabit distant pIan-
cts in this universe, and 70 whom our earth
is but as Mars or Neptune are to us? Spain
would not he so very far away. even across
the sea. But overlooking this. have we en-
tirely forgotten how much has already been
done by peaceful intervention That Amer