The Yazoo sentinel. (Yazoo City, Miss.) 1878-1916, 1914-10-08

modern progress, modern science
n modern invention. The genius Of IN
1 inventor is called upon to destroy
- This war was long before prepare,
for in the laboratory Of the chemis
who for years expeTimcnted with ex
II plosives to find the highest and deadli
est Of them all. From the submarin,
to the flying machine; from the great
est siege gun to wireless telegraphy
everything is the very last word Of
science. Men are called upon to usr
God-given genius and brain TO 6nd
ways TO knock down cities and TO xiii
their fellow-men by the thousand. And
the pity of II all is that there may
be men who might give to the world
greater ideas than the world has ever
dreamed, shot down as common pri-
Yates in the rank and file. The bull
let of the peasant may pierce the
brain q the genius, who, had he liv-
ed might give the world something
that would make war impossible. And
the irony Of it is that the peasant had
no particular desire to kill anybody.
And this, after twenty centuries of
Christianity Among some Of the ma
tions who have had Christianity the
longestl Is it not paradox? A cen
tradiction? A crime?
So there comes from every side,
from our newspapers, from our period
icals, from men and women in high
places the cry that Christianity is a
failure; that Christianity has broken
down; that after all, man, under the
thin veneer Of Christianized civiliza-
tion is at heart only a barbarian,
barking back to his primal and bru-
tai instincts to kill, to slay, to de-
stroyi Is this true? Has Christianity
broken down Are men savages? ? All
Of us, dare say, have been asking
these questions in perplexed DOUBT.
Is II true
/ go back to the words Of our Lord
and bid you hope. when ye shall
hear Of wars and rumors Of wars, BIZ
We not troubled. For such things must
needs be. The end Is not yet"
To me these words have a very deep
meaning. 81 long as the system Of
government, which obtains IN all but
one of the warning countries, contin-
ues, just so long will there be wars.
For a system Of government based up
on the principle Of the Divine Right
to order citizens to take up arms, Kill
and be killed is fundamentally evil
and by its fruits ye shall know it. II
is not that the nations are not Chris
tian; it is not because they have NJ
Christian instincts. II is not because
men are barbarians and savages that
this war is being fought. It Is be
cause Of the principal that one man
in a nation has the Divine Right 70
cause all his countrymen to perish in
the furtherance Of his individual
plans. The war is not the fault Of
II is the fault Of systems.
II is not war of the nations; it is
war Of rulers. A war which could
easily have been avoided; yet into
which Europe has been plunged by the
fears, the jealousies, the ambitions
Of overwesning rulers.
The man that is doing the fighting ;
is still Christian man with Christian
He is neither a brute nor a
barbarian. He was taken from beau 3
tful home life, from the following Of /
an honest Christian vocation and told e
to shoot and be shot. The German I
citizen is an honorable, upright, God L
fearing man. His honesty is proverbial. :
The rank and file of Germans come h
from a home life which is beautiful o
IN its simplicity and lovingness. The q
Russian peasant is the most simple
iearted, inoffensive. pious man, con-
ent with his church, his home, his oc
.upation. The Englishman has the
world wide reputation as lover Of y
iome, Of honesty, Of fair play. We
re apt to judge the Frenchman by
'aris, but the Partisan is not the true ir
The peagantry Of France c
re the sturdiest, the most Industrious, a
ourteous, tender hearted people on n
arth. These men do not turn savage 81
r barbarian in a single night. The T
utting on Of service uniform does ot
OF change them into brutes. RI
These men in ranks exhibit the c,
sual lack Of aninosity toward their HI
elbows in the enemies's ranks. Said ty
n Austrian officer, taken from the t.
eld with three bullets in his body, h,
You ask me how ] feel toward the ei
.ussians7 / have not the slightest 81
seling against them. It is all so very 81
II net Russian efieer. a,