The Lancaster news. [volume] (Lancaster, S.C.) 1905-current, 1914-11-13
DOES GOD CAUSE WAR?
Sermon Preached by Rev j. H. Thayer, TIL d.. Pastor
of the First Baptist Church. Last Sunday Morn
ing from I. Chron 5:22.

the ancient people SO unhesitatingly
the fact that their .dea OF the future
life was dim. Not that their great
men did not have 2 glimpse at the
truth But that the vast body of men
thought OF this lie IS THE life, and
of the life to come but as n mere sha-
dow. In other words, if God was GO
ing to bless a man at all he would
do il i'm this life. You can easily see.
therefore, how the mind, particul-
arly when war had brought some
great temporal gain to the nation
could assert that the war was
caused by God.
But let us go little farther. 1t
might be objected that we are
here dealing with the Old
! Testament. Now it must be
! admitted that the Old Testa-
men, has great deal to say about
war. You never get very far away
from its rumble and it's roar. 1t is
ever before you. But il would be un-
wise to discard the book merely for
| that Because if YOU look at Eng
iish history, American history. in
deed the history oi any nation which
has distinguished Itself in the world
YOU Will find great deal about war.
So we ought TO accept it just rs it is
written, and ask ourselves what we
can learn from il.
But more than that is true. Look
at the New Testament. 1t is true
that in the Second Covenant. in the
Gospel, very little is said about war
But we find this to be true, John the
Baptist was approarhed by soldiers
on service, those in actual warfare
perhaps, and asked BY them what
they should do. He tells them. but he
does not make the occasion one to
deliver homily against war. Jesus
himself, without commenting on tho
quest on, draws lesson from the
kings who went against each other
and how they would sit down and
hrst count the cost. while i'm that
description of the destruction of the
Holy CITY, he pictures the gathering
OF the Roman hosts, but never seems
to turn aside to condemn it. In fact
he prophesied that it would happen.
ana one cannot resist the inference
that 1T was coming with all of its
terror because of the way the people
had acted toward him.
But a futher examination OF the
New Testament will bring out other
facts. The Apostle Paul was familiar
with the soldier and his accourtre-
ments. He spoke Of the Chrisa an
soldier. of his warfare and the fight
or faith. And when you look
further into the matter, you find that
the New Testament itself ends in a
perfect whirlwind of war. as it is
pictured in beautiful apocolypr C
form in the Revelation.
So. in the face Of all this. / take
it, that one OF the most pertinent
questions which we can ask is:
Does God Cause War;" And as I /
intimated at the outset, / am not go |
ing to try to settle the question. but
rather to point out some lines OF
approach.
In the first place, therefore, sup
pose that we will all agree that the .
Bible represents God as a God OF !
conflict. Even Jesus said: Il came /
not to bring peace but a sword "
Taken in broad way, the Old /
Testament, ever since the exclusion
or man from the Garden, represents
God in conflict with the evil forces of
the world. There is no intimation
mere that God tries to shun the bat
tie. He IS represented as hating
evil, and as desiring to destroy It.
And our hearts do not for one in
stant deny this picture We cannot
thlnk OF Cod as peacefully regard
ing the giant evils of the day.
For instance, we all admit now that
while there was no command in the
New Testamen against human slay-
cry. that God was against it. The
principles OF the Master we're IN
ceaseless conflict with the spirit OF
the world. until at last human slay-
cry was doomed. And the same
might be said Of all OF the gaint
moral evils OF the day. Our papers
but a few days back recorded the
triumph OF the forces OF temperance
over the forces OF intemperance.
Ihat Is one way to view It, Another
4 wav Ia IN COO In 60 tho ho..,1 A., -