The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1899-07-17

A timely discourse was delivered
yesterday morning. at the Third Pres
byterlan church, by the pastor, Rev.
R. R. Bigger, Phi. D.. who took from
the peace conference at The Hague, a
theme which was productive of an in
teresting and instructive argument in
favor of the abolition of the arbitra-
ment of arms. Rev. Mr.. Bigger dis
cuszed his subject thoroughly and prac-
tlcally. He spoke us follows, his text
being:
Nation shall not lift up sword
against nation; neither shall they learn
war any more" Isaiah 2:4.
1t seemed that the reign of Uzzlah
was famous for the invention of new
weapons of war. Isaiah observing this,
contrasts with 1t the good time coming,
when righteousness rules the relations
of kings and kingdoms; and when the
Messiah, the Prince OF Righteousness
and therefore the prince OF Peace, .
Judges among the nations. II Christ
really reIgned and held the allegiance
of every man and OF every nation, all
disputes could be settled by arbitration.
| II each man and each nation, only
wants what Is right and what Is kind,
| there need be no more war. Matthew
Henry well says: "The design and
tendency Of the gospel are to make
peace and to annihilate all enmities. It
has in 1t the most powerful obligations
and inducements to peace, so that one
might reasonably might have expected
It should have this effect: and II would
have had 1t II It had not been for those
lusts Of men from which come wars
and fightIngs." Christianity had, in
some measure, already triumphed over
war and the war spirit. And Just as
the truth OF God has banlshed slavery
and feudalism and the tyranny Of kings,
so in time as David snys In Psalms
1853; ! believe God will make wars
to cease" and speak peace upon the
nations" The love of war, the institute
lions OF war, the readiness to have re-
course to war, the pride and glory in
military achievements which even
Christian nations are not ashamed to
own-thIs will disappear as the Will Of
God takes Its due, its exalted place
among mankind.
The sword shall give place to the
plough-share and the spear to the prun-
ing knife. And instead Of a country
wasting its strength and lavlshing its
energy in the cultivation Of the science
Of war and In the construction Of the
engineering Of war. 1t will devote its
mental power to the acquisition OF
those arts which heal and bless and
raise. believe that God is back of
the cars disarmament proposal, and
that the pence conference now in sess-
ion at The Hague is under the direc-
ton Of Almighty God. who rules the
nations" fulfilling in part the prophecy
contained in our text. This prophecy
must be fulfilled and Christ's peace on
earth" will come. That day will come
when truth will be crowned. and 'uni-
versal peace" shall
"I.ie like shaft OF light across the land,
And like lane OF beams athwart the sea,
Thro' all the circle OF the golden year"
DR.. w. w. Council, in 1.-THE Arena"
says: war settles nothing 1t can
neither free n people nor make them
great. It is not the flash of the Baby
lonlan scimltar which we see shining
from the banks Of the Euphrates, but
the master minds which made Babylon
the mother OF learning" It Is not the
glitter of the Grecian spears and
shields. which lift up all Europe, and
has thence flashed across the Atlantic,
but the brIlliancy Of the Grecian intel
lect. Not Leonidas nor Alexander, but
Homer and Socrates, who more than
twenty centuries ago kindled the flame
Of Greece, which is still lighting the
world OF thought. Buny1n through the
old gray walls Of the Bedford prison,
Milton through his slghtless eyes, have
sent more light Into the world than all
the military forces OF the British en-
plre. note that where wrong has
been vanquished by the sword OF truth
there the monuments are the highest"
A few years ago when our relntions
with Great Britain had reached an
acute stage OF dispute over the Venez-
uelan boundary question. and hot
heads on both sides Of the Atlantic
were conjuring up the spectre Of war,
the New York Independent said: War?
MOI A thousand times, no! God for
bid II Is n thought too monstrous to
be seriously entertained, War means
slaughter. frightful slaughter. It
means the killing OF men In untold
numbers. It means the making OF
widows and orphans by the thousand
and the breaking up Of families. It
means the destruction Of property,
great injury to commerce, and the
wasting of millions Of treasure. II is
not a gay navnl parade. nor grand
military review, but n deliberate, vim
dIctive and remorseless duel TO the
more fierce and terrible the war"
War with EnglRnd7 1mposslblel She
is our mother country. We are Of one
blood. one race, one Language, one civil
lizatIon. War with the United States,
with whom the bonds OF pence have so
long remained unbroken7 England
cannot tolerate the Wrought. II ought
to be impossible We are too far ad-
Vnnced in Christian civilization to
think OF war. God has given us reason
and have We cultivated reason during
all the centuries since we left the
shades Of barbarlsm TO dethrone II
now for nm appeal to the sword. Those
who welcome war talk like fools; those
who grow hilarious over the prospect
Of II are merry with insanity.
War is the very last thing any nation
ought to think of. It should be the
very last resort. When diplomacy ut
terly falls: when reason and common
sense become useless, as was the case
with Spain In her treatment OF the Gu
bans; when peace is no longer possible
and II Ia either tyrnny and injustice or
war resulting In liberty. then only is
fighting justlhnble. Wars are intrin-
sically n curse. but In the degenerncy
OF nations as In the case Of Spain or
Turkey who butchered Christians by
the thousands, war mny be the lesser of
two evils. The rupture Of an abcess is
better than the occult diffusion Of dis
ease, causing death. II is on this prin-
cIple alone that war can be justltlable.
But wish to show you that already
our text has been fulfilled in part.
First, the horrors OF war have been