El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1914-11-21


-, IN short, We have been selfish,
.i i Cehary, bOastfuI, naughty This is
- S - ue OF one nation alone, but of all,
~ ~ 81 Ihoeed that have professed to be
natiorai Look, for instance, at our
t r1IoHdt lie. Our very slogans tell the
49, ~ oI our spirit. Even our patriot
~ a. - IIhctured with selfishness. The
aI1St Vi one nation being the servant of
---otIier mas scarcely had an advocate
among political leaders
AS a rule the nations have thought
~ themselves under the terms Of in
uCPSHVeAI lnd1vidualism and have pro-
oSeued according to the law of the sur
VlEaI Of the fittest
ina a1lSeeh 10. 10 this from writer of prom
IneIIce' II two nations grow, there
may De conflicting needs of EXPANSION.
80 In may need strip of land, a har-
DoI; an island, an outlet to the coast,
IL icy are 10 develop their resources"
o1,,Iior dSaIn one Is forced to the con-
Diu9iQ Ina mat according to this philosO-
pny there Is but one law that really
oIul's' ana that is the law of the jun
Germany's Attitude.
Germany is STEPPED in the material
Isllc PhlIosophy Of Netzsche as inter-
PreIeu by Bernhard And Netzsche's
superman' when he is seen at full
Iength Is "cOmbater," a ruthless
fighter. This is the way thew have
been writing about war: "War is the
SLTdtesI FACTOR In the furtherance OF
culture as well as of power" WAR
Is the father Of all things" might
makes right; it is at once the supreme
right, and the dispute as to what is
right Is decided only by the arbitra-
ment Of war"
There you have it, and Germany is
Dy no means alone in the acceptance
Of this philosophy. All of it is not only
not christian, but pagan through and
through.
The same charge may be as fairly
laid to our commercial life The sys-
tenn of ruthless competition that has
been followed for generations has its
origin and sanction not in Christ, but
in such pagan expressions as the oft
repeated statement Competition is the
life Of trade" It is not true; nay, more,
1t is not wholesome. There are many
men who have seen its unhappy results
and have deplOred the system, but have
scarcely known the way out without
personal ruin and financial disa ster.
and this fact in itself proves the ruth
less selfishness and greediness of the
system. 1t is all so utterly unchristian
as to he devoid of the first simple
conceptions of the kingdom of God as
Jesus set it forth.
Social Life UnchristIan.
In our social life we are likewise un-
christian and pagan. Let me present
two examples only. In industry we
have been anything and everything but
christian. On the one hand the rich
and powerful have oppressed the poor
and weak with low wa ges, long work
ing hours, unsanitary shOO conditions
and arbitrary rulings until the cOudt-
tons became, in many cases, intolera-
bic. On the other hand, the people thus
oppressed, rising in the might and feel
ing their strength, have themselves be-
come selfish, greedy and naughty, and
q war is on that again and again sur
prises us with its magnitude. I know
Of no place where our unchristian Snd
antichristian attitude has been more
apparent than in this Wer between
capital and labor, and thus EAR neither
side has much the advantage over the
other in the exhibition of pagan quail
ties of life.
Church Saturated With Pride.
But there is even a more tragic ex-
hibitiOn Of these qualities in our social
life. The sacred institution that wears
the name Of Christ is itself guilty The
church is saturated with pride and
haughtiness. If proof IS wanted, 1
point you to her unhappy divisions md
the lack of love that exhibits itself IN
refusing fellowship to people who do
not pronounce her shibbOleths, how
ever pure and christian they may be in
life.
Our sectarianfsm is but the ripe fruit
age of our intellectual pride We nave
been interested in a lot of things that
much about. We have been kicking up
a great fuss about our doctrinal stand
ards our UNCONVENTIONAL traditions and
all that, not one of which is worthy OF
defence OF 100 lines Of printed matter
When dying, the late pope sorrow
fully exclaimed as he thought Of tho
war, THE church is helpless" And
the church is helpless because she is
divided, and she is divided because
there is still so much of seltishness
and pride in the human heart
1 hope 1 have not seemed too severe
I am not blind to the good there IS IN
the world, but homehOw it seems TO
me that we must be made - reallze
the bad that is in U.s. the bad that we
have been so easily eNcuSing or over
looking under one preteXt or another
Let no one say 1 am preaching a ser
mon on the war. That would be 10
lose the point What I have said is IN
tended to arouse US to consciousness
these sins which, taken together. pic
ture the beast whose presence always
and everywhere prOvokes war
All Are Guilty.
We are all guilty in the sight of God.
We have, half uncOnsciOusly perhaps,
been maintaining the outward form OIL
but have refused to be lnIlu-
enced by it, and what we see in the
world today is the inevitable result OF
what we have been in our inner lives
If we can be frank enough with our
selves to recognize these facts in the
case, to see the guilt that rests upon
us all, however appalling the results
of this war may be, it will be well
worth all it costs
II we can only be disillusioned, II
the shock and horror of it all will en-
able us to see to what deep tragedies
our selfishness, our greed and our
pride lead, and if. on the other hand,
we may be led to see what is evidently
true, that the fundamentals of the
christian religion are not doetrinal
but love, service and sac
rifice, then out OF it all, as out Of the
darkness Of the night will be ushered
in q new day, for the son or righteous
ness will arise and shed his warm rays
Of love everywhere. 1t may be that
Christ will be born again out of the
womb Of the worlds woe Already II
seems to me 1 can see his star in tho