The Yazoo sentinel. (Yazoo City, Miss.) 1878-1916, 1914-10-08
A POWERFUL SERMON
ON EUROPEAN WAR
The War Means That Christianity Has MOI
Yet COmDktcd Its Work.
NEW GOVERNMENT SYSTEMS NEEDED
A Sermon by Rev. Albert Martin in
Trinity Church. October, 4th.
1914.

st. Mark, 1S; When We sha!
; hear of wars and rumors of wars, b.
ye not troubled; for such things mus
needs be; but the end is not yet,
10 compliance with the request o.
President Wilson that all Christian
people in this country observe thii
Sunday, the Fourth Of October, as .
day for prayer for the peace Of the
world, | have chosen the war in Eu.
rope as the theme of the sermon this
morning.
Today the great mass OF people in
our country are thinking Of the war IN
a religious manner. 1t is good to think
OF It in this way on at least one day.
For the country has been thinking
of the war in so many other ways--
particularly in financial way. Strict
ly speaking, there are no foreign ma
tions now. There may be different ma.
tions, but in these days God has surely
knit together all nations in one that
dwell on the face Of the earth. So
cially, most of the different nations
are very close together. Commercial
ny they are closer. All nations are so
completely woven and made So inti-
mately interdependent by the tele-
graph, the cable, the steamship, the
channels of trade and BY the hundreds
of things that make up modern BUSH
ness and social life. that nothing can
happen to one Of them without affect
ing the others. Commercially, the
hurt is felt at once, Throughout the
South this is exemplified. Nothing
else is thought of today except the
sudden closure Of the market for our
cotton, and the stringency thus en-
tailed. 1t brings home to US in the
most comprehensive terms-terms Of
bread and meat that all nations arc
members. one Of another, and when
one is hurt, the whole body Of nations
suffers.
But we have been thinking of the
war too much in these terms. 1t il
good to turn, even II only for an hou(
though we, as many Of US, are puzzled
at the situation as view from the
standpoint of Christianity.
The situation perplexes US. In Eu-
rope, after twenty centuries of The
of the doctrines of the
Prince of Peace, we see this greater
part of Christendom engaged IL war,
before which every struggle in the
worlds history pales into insignifi-
rance. We see neutral nations ready,
nay eager, to join the awful castra-
-rophe at the slightest excuse. We
see the far-fiung colonies of the ws--
ring nations fighting each other for
he only reason that their home coun-
.ries are at war. More than this, II is
rot a war of hundreds of thousands;
( is a war in which men are countei
~ the millions. The armies are so /
arge and the battle fronts so ex
ended, that the human mind cannot
yrasp the situation Cities, towns, vii
ages, are being laid in ruins and
ieaps; whole countries are being plac-
d under the sword. All the horror
md suffering which goes with the
var is today increased a thousand
old by the stupendity Of the thing
Iction Is continuous and men-men
rho have no quarrel with each other;
men who do not know what the war I
5 about-are being manned and dis
nembered and killed by the thous- {
nds and ten thousands. ] say that Z
he human mind cannot grasp It. ]
When one thinks that in a day or !
wo that as many men are killed as
here are inhabitants Of Yazoo City ,
nd that these battles are unremit- (
ing. one gets a sort Of mental grasp 4
n this crime against Christianity, civ Z
ization and modern progress. q
But this very civilization and mod ]
m progress. instead Of preventing (
II q - e ,,-~Io 4. ~-ea-. - 4hf- &
ar. This Is not a war Of the men in
be ranks with the rifle. The rife }
as been brought to such a state Of :
that it is horrible thing in