The Tupelo journal., 1910-02-11

human race and no = Is now lUft.
since 1860, to lift his voice for its ex-
~istence. The owning Of man by man
is gone. and soon other indirect forms
of industrial slavery will go with 1t.
Some time ago we were In Nurem-
berg. We climbed the hill to the old
castle. and there we were shown
through the great tower where all the
torture machines are preserved. We
saw the roasting pans, the racks for
stretching and crushing bones, the
other instruments too horrible to
mention, along with the iron virgin,
who once embraced hundreds of mis-
cradle creatures in her spiked rms.
And the awful thing was not that men
practised this torture, but that they
enjoyed it and locked to see it. But
n day a prophet arose in Nurem-
berg and said: This torture is hor-
rible, utterly inhuman, against all the
sweet mercy and pity of Jesus Christ,
unworthy of our civilization. 1t must
Istop." When he had spoken 1t was
the good people who discouraged him.
They said: Yes, it is inhuman and
un-Christian, but you cannot stop 1t.
People have always tortured, there
fore they always will. 1t Is part of the
order of civilization, because it has
always been. You cannot change"
Needless to say, it was stopped in all
civilized countries in 100 years, and
where once the whole city loved 1t.
not one but who would shudder at II
now. You can change human nature
completely.
One of the last great ~barbarities,
most inhuman of all, a pagan institu-
ton to linger on in our Christian civ
ilization, is The prophetic souls
know that it is doomed and must go.
because it is an anachronism in Chris.
tianity, and because the forces are
now at work before which it needs
must fall. But the one thing that-pre-
vents its going in a generation is this
obsession of good people, that you
cannot change human nature. The
church alone could stop wars to-mor-
row did it believe its own Gospel had
power to do what it claims to do, and
did it dare believe that human nature
could be SO changed as to see the rea-
| sonableness of Christian settlement Of
national disputes as already it settles
individual differences. 1t has been
changed to do that. Once all men set
tied personal disputes with fists. That
passed, and the duel came. That has
gone, and we have the courts. More
and nor private quarrels are now adj
Indicated, before they even reach the
courts, by diplomacy. This evolution
absurd talk of not being able to
change human nature. And the
change from wars as the method of
adjudication between groups of peo-
pie to international courts is in this
inevitable evolution; but it limps and
halts because good people cling to this
o%utgrown obsessions: You cannot
change human nature. Wars have al
ways been, therefore they must al
ways he. We are writing this edi-
torial to call the attention of these
good people to the effect that this OBJ
session will prove false here as it has
everywhere. You can do away with
war soon because you can change hui
man nature. The earth is full of the
signs that human nature is changing
very fast in this regard. The calendar
of 1909 printed in our last two issues
is only a slight indication of what is
going on in the mind Of the world.
Read it carefully, and remember that
so years ago n could not have writ
ten one. World unity, international
peace, world federation, Hague courts,
arbitration treaties, brotherhood of
man-these are the growing words
everywhere. They betoken a change
coming over human nature. Link your
self up to it and hasten the transfer
nation with your Christian faith. The
change of human nature is easy to a
Christianity really believed.-The
! Christian Work and Evangelist.