Marietta daily leader. (Marietta, Ohio) 1895-1906, 1899-04-23
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- A Preacher :.
= Among the People. :
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MILITARIsM.

to notify the public that liable bodied
men of good character" were wanted
for the United States army. 1t was an
act well calculated to beget serious
thought. Nearly two thousand years
of Christianity and yet only recently IL
was said "The entire globe is flaming
with military conflict. There is scarce
ly single government that is not al
this moment unusually agitated and
anxious. The menace of war is well
nigh universal" fe
Christendom has been preaching
Christ and emulating Caesar, and the
following forcible statement indicates
the fruit thereof. The nations sup
posed to be most highly civilized "are
the most warlike of the world. There
are in Europe today between 11,000,-
900 and 12,000,0 900 of soldiers ready to
take .- e field and the frontiers of every
civilized nation are protected by
breatsworks. The sea is covered with
steel-clad ships filled with missels of
death. The civilized world has i'm
poverished itself, and the debt OF
Christendom, mostly for war, is now
nearly $50 0O0, 100000. The interest on
this vast sum has be to paid. 1t has to
be paid by labor-much of it by the
POORLY those who are compelled to
deny themselves almost the necessities
of life. This debt is growing year by
year There must come a change
or Christendom will become bankrupt.
Looking at the facts as they confront
us today, on cannot escape the convic-
tion that there is a grave fallacy in the
oft repeated statement that the best
way to preserve peace is to prepare for
war. 1t was writtn down long time
ago that things shall bring forth after
their kind" and it does not require
either close or extended observation
to convince one that the written word
concerning the matter of generation is
true. Not until we gather grapes of
bhorns and figs of thistles need we ex-
pect preparation for war to result in
permanent peace. When the impul-
sive Peter drew his sword to defend
MS master, he was commanded to put
It up again on the ground that they
hat take the sword shall perish with
he sword" And that was no hurried
statement made in the midst of the ex-
element incident to his betrayal. 1t
Indicated the experience of the ages
md summed up in a sentence the fact
hat the sword begets war and not
,eace.
Spain is a good modern illustration
VI the truth of the statement made to
Peter. A man may boast of his physi-
al prowess and for time vanquish
Ill who dare challenge him to battle;
)ut sooner or later he will meet his
MASTER and by encouraging physical
ontests he will do more than anyone
Use to develop the strength and skill
hat will bring about his own humilia-
ion and defeat. TIE same principle
-pplies to nations that take up and
ling to the sword as the means where
y to advance their own interests.
France may dominate Europe for a
cries of years; but Waterloo and Sc
Ian are inevitable. Given the first
nd third Napoleans and Wellingtons
nd Won Moltkes are sure to appear.
'hings do bring forth after their kind.
he Christian clergyman who declared
Enthusiastically that long range can
on are the best arguments for peace"
orgot that figs do not grow on thistles.
4ong range cannon may postpone a
onfiict for time in order that an en-
my may construct still longer range
nd more deadly engines of destruc-
ion; but it is only postponment, and
he ~attle will be all the more fearful
'hen it comes.
ANAS . civ tWo "dJo OpCh LHC
'orld. One is the way of Caesar, the
ther is the way of Christ.
Along one road are swords, bayonets
'owder, dynamite, ruined homes, sad
carts and fields covered with many
ead and drenched in human blood
Along the other are golden barvests,
rees laden with rich fruits, beautiful
ONES, unbroken family circles, CHEEKY
ofces, glad hearts and joyous abund-
Mt life. One is the way of strife and
'ar, the other the new way, the way OF
eace and 'brotherly love. We stand
1day where l believe it is possible for
S to choose in which we will walk.
nd believing as ! do that
Were half the power that fills the
world with terror,
Iere half the wealth bestowed on
camps and courts,
iven to redeem the human mind from
error,
here would be no need of camps and |
courts"
| turn my face away from the wars
the past and present toward the fu-
Ire, hoping for better things.
Walking through art gallery
'me years ago. noted beautiful and
contrast. A part of the ex-
ibition seemed to suggest nothing but
ar. There were the Cossack Plckets
n the Daunbe, Skobeleft at Shipka,
he Road of the War Prisoners, and the
wful Apotheosis of War as drawn by