The daily morning journal and courier., 1907-04-29
WAR AND PEACE.
POWERFUL SERMON BY THE
 RET. ". IT. M'LANE.


 War, Its Cause and Results-Peace,
 He Says, Has Also Its Victories as
 We'll as War--The Past Peace Con-
 gress in New York, and the Coming
 One at the Hague.
 At Plymouth church yesterday morn- ing the pastor, Rev. William W. Me Lane, D. D., preached a powerful ser mon on the subject of War and Peace His text was taken from Isaiah 2:4 Nation shall not lift sword against nation; neither shall they learn war any more" Dr. McLane spoke as follows:
 Paradise is under the shadow of swords" said Mahemot. Nay, said the prophet, paradise is where vines have been pruned and trees have been trim med by the implements of peace. A prophet who twenty-five centuries since could perceive this principle and see this vision must have been @ man with faith in the divine Father and with hope in humanity War, not peace, has been the habit of mankind. War has not been the unbroken custom of men, as history might lead one to suppose, for historians have dwelt long on the years of war and have passed over the years of peace; but was as d possible or as an actual condition has occupied the thoughts nd directed the energies of men in all ages. Whence come wars?' They come of that lust which leads men to fight and war and kill. They are a violation of the spirit of the New Testament and violation of the law of the Old Testament They spring, not from love, but from selfish ness; they do not obey, but break, the commandments of God. They spring from covetousness and break the tenth commandments; they issue in stealing and break the eighth commandment; they practically have indicentally dis regarded the rights and have violated the person of women and have broken the seventh commandments they have killed men as a profession and have bA prNOlA NLlC o4AlIl NplllIliclIluIlltIll, lltN have induced men to worship might more than righteousness and have broken the spirit of the first four com mandments; they have been the fruit ful source of untold evils The mo- madic herdmen who have driven off the cattle of their neighbors; the wan dering tribes who have stolen the har- vests of contiguous tribes; the nations who have invaded and conquered other nations to lay them under tribute and to enrich conquering kings; the great empires which have been built up by the subjugation of inferior powers, have all followed the inspiration of lust and have broken the law of God.
 War, however, says the student of history, has been a means of human education and has trained the mental powers and has developed the moral qualities of the race. The men of gen. jus and talent who have commanded armies have made roads built bridges, organized armies, provided provisions, planned campaigns, conducted sieges, won victories and thereby have devel- oped those qualities which so admira- bly, enlarge individuals and serve soci- ety. The common soldiers, likewise, who apart might simply act as indi- yiduals and never learn to cooperate or to combine their energies for any common end, learn respect for author- ity, obedience to command, regularity of habits, ability to cooperate, cour- age, patience fortitude, endurance and the spirit of self-sacrifce All this may be granted as an accompaniment of the art of war But it cannot be granted that war is the only means or the best means by which these quali- ties are evoked and perfected in men.
 It must not be forgotten that war may also make commanders self-wilIed, imperious, hard-hearted and indifferent to suffering and cruel. War also may make the common soldier one of a mass, unable to act alone, thoughtless, reckless, self-indulgent and inhuman. The memory of youth is retentive, and cannot forget a company of men who had enlisted, during our civil war, as good-natured, kindly country boys, and who returned, after a few months ser vice, vain, boasttul, courageous in a coWardly way, and who l saw knock down and kick almost into insensibillty until he was covered with dust and blood a simple country fellow whose crime was that he was a democrat and who was vain enough to mention that fact. q may remark here incidentally that I have commonly voted the repub- lican ticket, but acts like this which I saw in boyhood and private and public words, and acts in the judgment and treatment of certain democrats in the north during the war and in the treat ment of the south in the period of re- construction, have always made 1t inn possible for me to have that unlimited faith in the righteousness of the mo- tives and the justice of the acts of that party which some of my fellow citizens have held) Wars which have greatly exalted victorious nation in its own estimation and have increased pride and boastfulness have frequently hu- initiated and injured the vanquished until they could hardly see the virtues which belong to the arts of peace. A single example may illustrate.
 On a beautiful summer afternoon. I visited the battlefield of Waterloo where on another summer afternoon ninety-two years since Napoleon suf- fered his final defeat. A fair, undulat- ing country, rich in harvests, lay smil- ing in the sunshine. Certain monu- ments mark the battlefield, which occu- pies but small territory. A figure of a letter A with the apex towards the north will serve to illustrate the plan. You may conceive yourself standing at