Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1899-07-17
HaGl)I PEACE CONFERENCE.
Suggests Some Thoughts on War to
the Rev R. R. Bigger.

THINKS GOD IS BEHIND THE
PEACE CONFERENCE MOVE
MENT-THE PROMISE OF PEACE
ON EARTH IS CERTAIN TO BE
FULFTLLED-WAR IS VERY Sell
DOM JUSTIFIED AS A MEANS
OF SETTLING DISPUTES AMONG
NATIONS - OTHER TIM Ell Y
THOUGHTS.
The International peace conference
which is now in session at The Hague,
suggested idea to the Rev. R. R. Bigger,
which he embraced in a very thought
full and interesting sermon that was
delivered at the morning services yes
terday at the Third Presbyterian
church.
The Rev. Mr.. Bigger spoke from the
following text: Nation shall not lift
up sword against nation; neither shall
they learn war any more" lisa. "a.
1t seems that the reign of IZaaiah
was famous for the invention of new
weapons of war. Izaaiah observing this
contrasts with it 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. If Christ
really reigned, and held the allegiance
of every man and of every nation, all
disputes could be settled by arbitra-
ton; if each man and each nation, on
ly wants what is right and what is
kind, there need be no more war. Mat
thew Henry well says: THE design
and tendency of the gospel are to make
peace and to annihilate all enmlties.
1t has in it the most powerful obliga-
lions and inducements TO peace, so that
one might reasonably have expected
it should leave this effect; and it would
have had it if it had not been for those
lusts of men from which come wars and
fightings." Christianity has, In some
measure, already triumphed over war
and the war spirit. And just as the
truth of God has banished slavery and
feudalism and the tyranny OF kings,
so in time as David says in Ps. 1879, |
believe God will make wars to cease"
and speak peace unto the nations.
The love of war, the institutions of
war, the readiness to have recourse 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, it's exalted place among man.
kind. The sword shall give place to
the ploughS hare, and the spear to the
pruning hook. And instead of coun,
try wasting its strength and 1avishing
its energies in the cultivation of the
science of war and in the construction
of the enginery 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 Peace Conference now in ses-
sion at the Hague is under the direc-
ton of Almighty God, who rules the
nations" fulfilling in part the prophesy
contained in our text. This prophesy
must be fulfilled and Christ's peace ON
earth" will come. That day will come
when truth will be crowned, and uni
yerSal peace" shall
Lie like a shaft of light across the land,
Anu llhG d lille "a UtdIlS dlIlN dl Lie SCelt
Inro' AL The cree or TIE Soluen year!
DR.. w. W. Council, in 1.-THE Arena"
says: War settles nothing. 1t can
neither free a people nor make them
great. 1t is not the flash OF the Baby
lonian simitar which we see shining
from the banks of the Euphrates, but
the master minds which made Babylon
the mother Of learning. 1t is not the
glitter of the Grecian spears and
shields, which lit 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. Bunyan, through
the old gray walls of the Bedford
prison; Milton, through his sightless
eyes, have sent more light into the
world than all the military forces OF
the British empire. | note that where
wrong has been vanquished by the
sword of truth there the monuments
are the highest.
A few years ago, when our relations
with Great Britain had reached an
acute stage Of dispute over the Vene-
zuela boundary question, and hot
heads on both sides of the Atlantic
were conjuring up the specter OF war,
the New York Independent said:
War? No! a thousand times, no!
God forbid! 1t is a thought too mons
trous to be seriously entertained. War
means slaughter, frightful slaughter. 1t
means the killing OF men IN untold
numbers. 1t means the making Oh
widows and orphans by the thousand
and the breaking up of families. IL
means the destruction OF property,
great injury to commerce, and the
wasting of millions of treasure. 1t is
not a gay naval parade, nor a grand
military review, but a deliberate, vim
dictive and remorseless duel to the
death. The greater the combatants the
more fierce and terrible the war. war
with England? Impossible. She is
our mother country. We are OF one
blood, one race, one language, one CIV
ilization. War with the United States,
with whom the bonds Of peace have SO
long remained unbroken? England
can not tolerate the thought. 1t ought