The daily morning journal and courier., 1900-05-07
CHRISTIANITY AND WAR
SUBJECT OF REV. MR. IRVINE'S 44D- DRESS YESTERDA AFTERNOON 4

Delivered in the Y. M. C. A. Rooms
 Good Attendance and Fine Music-Mr
 Irvine's Su bj ecs an Interesting One.
 At the Young Mems Christian associ
 ation yesterday afternoon Rev. AleXan
 der F. Irvine spoke upon the subjec
 Christianity and War; There was 2
 good attendance and the music by the
 orchestra was exceptionally fine. MT
 Irvine took for his text the passage
 from John 1S:36, If My kingdom were
 of this world, then would My servants
 fight Following is his address in full:
 "Peace on earth, good will to men,
 were the words the shepherds heard as
 the angelic throng announced the ad-
 vent of the Prince of Peace. True to
 that announcement from the hour when
 He was conscious of His Messiahship to
 the time when in the text He stands be-
 fore this representative of the kingdom
 of farce, and again announces that His Kingdom is not of the sword, If it were, He would not be standing a bound cap
 tive at the mercy of the rabble. There
 
 was either to be man of peace or a man of power in the Roman sense.
 Paganism taught that war and poli- tics were the only fit occupations for freemen, but quite different was the teaching of Christ The one thing He emphasized with His whole life was Hove one another" This was new doctrine to the world, and in the ethics of Christ it was fundamental. How
 then, could His followers love their enc
 mics and engage in war with them? How could they pray for them in the morning and get square with them on physical basis in the afternoon? How could they love and hate at the same time? During the early centuries the fathers reiterated the teaching of Jesus on war and revenge Gibbon accuses them of advising the Christian soldiers to desert their flag. No authorities are cited in proof of this, but supposing they did The choice would have been between Caesar and Jesus, between crime and innocence, murder and peace. Many did refuse to fight, because, ac- cording to Jesus, it was immoral to do so. They were put to death. They pre- ICII0d uEdLl tO iiLC anu disobedience to Christ No one with any pretention to knowledge of New Testament teaching denies the non-re sistance practiced and taught by Jesus. Men who believe in war set Christ and the gospels to one side for the time be- ing. They take refuge, like the Nor mons in their justification of polygamy, in the Old Testament. True Christian ity must be eternally opposed to war for the following reasons:
 I. Men are Brothers. Theoretically, this is accepted by most men. It might be practiced, too, but when our selfish desires are thwarted the brother man upon whom in theory we have looked as sheep suddenly becomes a wolf The great masses of men would continue to believe there was more sheep than wolf in each other were 1t not for their boss es The latter fall out, have quarrel, | and, as Carlyle put it, they send us out | to shoot each other to settle their diffi- culties. Nineteen hundred years ago | the peace manifesto from the heart of the Father was published by the mouth of the Son, and to-day, with millions upon millions of followers, Europe is an Cdi1p anu <iliiCilNd Wilh q NhClii- odist president, is waging war against a patriotc people whose sole crime is desire to be free and resistance to Probably there are no two na tions claiming such close relations as Great Britain and the United Etates- one language one blood, one religion and it was indeed wonderful to see how ready our masters were to launch us nto war over an old swamp ii South America, and also how ready we were to follow their blind lead. Brotherhood and religion were for the moment for gotten and patriotism which is rapid y degenerating into a hatred rather han love took their place. Most men when they are sane realize that there is l great universal brotherhood of which ire all a part, but we are all subject to and spasmodic insanity dur ng which yard of bunting or cory l )antic speech is sufficient to break the loliest ties and force us convulsively o clutch our brother by the throat . The world has never seen such pow ] rfu symbol as the cross. Wherever { goes it goes as the symbol of peace, ave and sacrifice. Men who wear or