Evening journal. [volume] (Wilmington, Del.) 1888-1932, 1914-11-03
PASTOR SAYS Love
WILL lessen WARS.
DR.. Dole Discussing Ger
many and the Next War,
Differs With Bernhard
REASONINGS
UNCHRISTIAN

was from Math. xxi 81; "Thou shalt
love the Lord thy God with all thy
heart. and thy neighhor as thy self.
The pastor said that he was not TO
consider the right or wrong Of either
side in the present war of nations, but
to review a book, and answer the
question, Are its reasonings Chris
tian."
DR.. Dole said: Bernhard regrets
the peace-loving tendency of the Ger
man people, saying that they are al
most too peace LOVING and that "a
rude shock is needed to awaken their
warlike instincts. He reasons that
war is the greatest factor in the fur
therance of culture and power; that
aspirations for peace threaten TO poi
son the soul of the German people; I
that war Is an Indispensable factor
of culture; that the desire for peace \
has rendered most civilized nations
anaemic, and marks a decay of spirit 4
and political courage that it Is the 1
exhausted ages which have played ,
with the dream OF perpetual peace
/ have no way OF knowing how many
approve of such teachings as these,
but that they are eminently un-Chris-
tian is clearly evident; for the Bible
promises as the worlds final and
greatest blessing a state In which the
swords shall be beaten into plow-
shares and the spears into pruning I
hooks and nations shall study war /
no more. The Lords kingdom is one |
in which the increase of peace shall /
know no end. Bernhardis fundamen- !
tai error here is that peace derived |
| from the absence of war causes de- |
cay. It is not this peace, but the
peace of worldliness, sense-satisfac-
/ ton, and indulgence that causes de-
generation. Against this peace Of
self-satisfed indulgence the Lord
came to send a sword-the sword Of
truth and Righteousness.
Bernhard reasons from evolution
that life is a struggle in which the
mightiest survive; therefore there must
be war to determine which the might
lest is. He concludes that weak nations
have not the same right to live as have
stronger nations, and that war is BIZ
illogical necessity that war gives a
biologically just decision, and that war
is not only a biological law but
moral Obligation. II this were true,
} ]
/, vocate perpetual peace is q positive evil
and that might makes right are cor.
rect. Bernhard fails to get other thar
a most superficial notion. of the theory
of evolution. He sees might only
might winning the right to live. liz
fails to see that the might in natures
struggles is subject to the might OF
God, who has brought TO survive not the
brute strength Of the age Of mastadons.
but the might Of the human mind, of
truth, and love. He that taketh the
sword shall perish by the sword but
the righteous shall inherit the earth.
Mightier than all powers is the power
of righteousness, which. in rejecting the
sovereignty of God, is not seen.
Bernhard errs in assuming that
the State IS the sole Judge OF right,
because no power exists which can
judge between states and the state
is sovereign. He forgets that God
judges the nations of the earth The
state is nothing other than the people
of the state. People individually and
collectively are subject TO the truth,
and the state is subject to justice and
the laws of God To the assertion
that German culture cannot become
world power without drawing the
sword We would reply that any cul-
ture that has not in II the power TO
extend itself by the appeals Of its
own virtues is not worthy of extern
sion. And any civilization or doc
trina that argues the sword for its
extension publishes the fact of its
own sterility, and needs to be rele-
gated to antiquity along with Mo-
hametanism.
mo greater mistake could be made
than when Bernhard says the law
Love God above all things and thy
neighbor as thy self can
claim no significance for the rela-
ton OF one country to another be-
cause the love showed to another
country as sucn implies want of love
for his own countrymen' What a
perversion of common sense this
statement Is. We are not civilized If We
do not love the welfare of every ma
ton as our own. In the degree that
one loves justice, he will love all
nations to the extent that they are
= just. Love cannot be confined within
I state lines and be love. A nation that
loves justice will not attack another
nation; yet it is In duty bound c
protect itself when unjustly attacked
because it is then protecting justice
Bernhard is right in saying tha
treaties cannot insure peace. No, We
cannot insure peace by treaties, bu
the love of justice can and eventual,
will secure universal peace. Peace
cannot be secured either by treaties Of
by the might of a State. II must CONF
another way, namely, by the exten
sion of the love OF justice and o
mankind until justice reigns. Thu
Lord conquered the world by love
Love Is the power omnipotent in i
are all virile powers, all that perfec
man can desire. AS Gods love pos
sesses mankind, the possibility Of wal
| Il -