The daily morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven, Conn.) 1894-1907, 1899-10-28
MISSIONS AND WAR.
AN ENGLISH JOURNAL DISCUSSES
DIR. IBBOTI'S
Recent Boston Address, Finding in 1t
Much to Condemn.


Much TO Condemn.
The proceedings of the international
Congregationalist council at Boston, the
details of which have now come to
hand, disclose as remarkable an attack
on Christian missions as any opponent
of Christianity could have wished This
attack came from no less a person than
DIR. Lyman Abbott, lately the successor
of Henry Ward Beecher in the pulpit Of
| Plymouth church, Brooklyn Doubtless
DR. Abbott would disclaim the idea of
having attacked missions, yet this is
what his words amount to- if they have
any meaning at all, and they seem to
have been applauded by about one-half
| of the lay and clerical delegates pres
emit The subject which called forth this
remarkable utterance was the relation
between the civilized and non-ciVil1zed
peoples, a subject which has naturally
taken a foremost place in American in
terests as result Of President McKin-
ley's policy in the Pacific. That policy
has divided the American churches as
sharply as the nation at large. On the
one hand, men like Bishop Potter de-
nounce it as violating every law, human
and divine. On the other hand, men
like DR.. Abbott seem to find in it
providential means of bringing enlight-
eminent to 1.-The heathen,' and to those
Catholics whom he regards as but lit
tie advanced beyond heathenism. The
startling portions of DR.. Abbott's adj
dress We're that in the first place, he
minimized in strong language the act
ual results Of missions, and in the sec
ond place said that the Christian gos-
pei which he processes to believe was
of no use in barbarous lands until the
ground had been well plowed by the
sword. In short, poor Cetawayo's IA
nous saying about the combination of
the soldier, the trader and the mission
airy stands confirmed and apologized for
by the ex-pastor of Plymouth church.
Missions" said DR.. Abbott, may save
some individual lives and will enamel
pate some fragments of some tribes, but
as far as the illumination of Africa is
concerned, the mission stations are like
glow-Worms in the midnight darkness
of a great meadow. If Africa is to be
redeemed, first must go the law, and
after that the gospel BY law DR.. Alb
bolt gave it fully to be understood what
he meant-miitary conquest. 1.-The
army is a necessary means of enforcing
obedience to law" he declared, and, in
fact, his whole argument was that So
called Christian nations should send
thteir troops into barbarous lands for
the purpose of enforcing law Gheir law
L,, -l,
those who resist and the nshould offer
the gospel of peace and love to the sur
vivors.
One would like to have had one of the
early apostles or martyrs who faced
death in the arena, and who beyed
literally the command not to resist evil,
present at that meeting at Boston, with
this curious doctrine laid down and
and with the applauding Christians
present, and to have heard his comment
on such views of the means by which
the gospel of Christ was to be propa-
gated among men. 1t sounds more like
Islam than Christianity; in point of
fact it Is the doctrine of Islam-con-
version by the aid of the sword and the
secular power. We are glad to say, for
the honor of the Christian church in
general and of the English people in
particular, that an admirable antidote
to this startling heresy was provided
by Mackennal, one of the most eminent
of the English delegates, whose excel
lent address on war should be circulated
among all Christians" of DR.. Abbott's
persuasion. 1t was not intended to be a
counterblast to DR.. Abbott; but this adj
was so in highly effective degree. DIR. |
Mackennal is under no illusion as to
any immediate reign of peace. So long,
he truly says, as the mass of men are |
more brute than really human, so long
as nations are nominaIly Christian but |
nothing more so long will war be a
permanent possibility. But, at the |
same time, 1t is horror, the sum of all |
with no redeeming feature. |
1t does not moraize men, it degrades |
them, stirring up, as it does, all moral
ify. Lying, theft, murder are not only |
permitted in war, they are even classed |
as virtues If only they are performed |
according to the rules. How reconcile
such brute relics Of the 'ape and tiger"
in human nature with the plain COM
mand to love ones enemy, to do good !
live in peace and love with all man.
kind? The answer is that there is no /
Of such opposite doctrines.
We know the difficult problem of APP
plying the loftiest ideals of life in such
4 world as ours, the clash of opposing I,
IDEAS of life, the life of the primeval
man with his instincts for self-preser-
walton with those of the divine man
with his instincts for love and sacri-
Ice of self, and we do not in the least
lnderrate this difficulty. But assured
v, if the counsels of DIR. Abbott are to
prevail and we are to take the Moslem
reed for our guidance, If we are never
% think of the gospel until we have
the sword. then we may
as well abandon the hypocritical farce
If Christian missions altogether, admit
hat the Christian ideal is too good for
he world and come down to hard
egal compulsion and to military rule
Is the final embodiment of the civili-
,ation we are propogating the world
,ver. 4
But is DR. Abbott's view true? Are
MISSIONS an entire failure? Is it posi-
lie to approach the barbarian on other