Richmond times-dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1914-current, 1915-05-10
PRAYs. THAT PRESIDENT
MAY Be WISELY GUIDED
DIR. Bowie Calls Sinking of Lusitania
Climax OF Violation and
Burning.
HIGH TRIBUTE FOR WILSON
Rector OF st. Paul's Denounces Talk
Of Nobility, Under Cover Of Which
Men and Nations DO IgnobIe
Things.

Lamenting that pcrversion of con-
| science which set evil for good and
; good for evil" and resulted in the de-
| struction of the Lusitana and the
death of innocent men, women and chill
| drcn by German submarines Rev. w.
Russell Bowie, D. D.. rector OF st.
| Paufs Episcopal Church, yesterday
| morning expressed sympathy with the
lonely man in the White House
wrestling with the grave problem as to
what action the United states shall
take. and saw in the misguided course
of the German empire lesson which
! individuals and communities might take
| TO heart.
DR.. Bowie compared the stand of
| Germany to-day in it's arrayal against
| the world with the situation in which
| the Kingdom Of Judah stood at the eli
max OF its military prestige and the
enhancement OF It's national resources
| THE rulers of Judah and tho princess
Of Jerusalem" he said. refused to be-
| lieve that any serious harm could be-
| fall. They thought the nation would
be protected by Gods favor. They ex-
ulted in the belief that they were n
peculiar people, marked out for L mani
fest destiny that nothing could check;
and they turned the privilege OF their
greatness and their culture into the
presumption that these things could not
be overthrown.
TALK OF NOBILITY. AND UNDER
COVER OF IT DO IGNOBLE THINGS
| But Isaiah. like others Of Che heroic
prophet line. spoke with the terrible
planness of clear conscience against
| the false confidence of his people. They
might not dare to set aside Gods sane
ton and boast of Gods projections; they
| might not talk OF nobility, and under
| cover OF IL do iEnoblc things Yet this
was what they did. Woe unto them
he cried. that call evil good and good
evil; that put darkness for light and
| light for darkness, that put bitter for
sweet and sweet for bitter This peo-
pie were on the brink of Judgment nd
| disaster because they had become so
obsessed with the idea of their consc-
Tuence in Gods world that they had
| lost the discrimination of conscience as
! to tho things that give people right
| to endure.
LAS We look at the facts in our world
to-day. we OF America cannot but feel
| that one great nation peculiarly stands
In danger of repeating tho dreadful
| error OF Israel We shall not speak nor
think In rashness nor in unfair pre-
| Judgment OF the tragic horror OF two
| days ago. The decision of Americas
course in tho light of tho sinking of
the Lusitania rests now in the hands
OF one whom the nation trusts. Thank
God that in the seat of authority in
| Washington is a man great and sane
ana wisely patient yet most true to
| honor and to truth.
PRESIDENT WRESTIEs
| ALONE WITH HIS GOD
| There is something deeply significant
! IN the statement in the papers that the
| President had denied himself TO all
visitors-cvcn members of the Cabinet
and had set himself to think through
his problem alone-alone from human
counseliors, yet. doubtless. not alone.
For he must go to-day In the high
| solitude of his own soul 10 stand be-
| fore the face of God. and in that still
| communion to seek to find for himself
| and for us tho ways in which the ma
| tons feet should go Out Of the dceps
| of the hearts earnestness must we
pray that he may be given light 20
! choose Alright, that Amcrica-in peace
| il possible, but whether in peace or not
may he faithful TO honor and 10
righteousness and to the service of
! huma nkind
We wait. therefore. for those in au-
! thority, possessing more information
than NE, to pass upon ALL the facts in
the present tragedy. This is not the
! tine. nor are we the persons TO try
to forecast results. But this is the
time to try to read such spiritual truth
| as there may be for us TO understand
And that truth is the dreadfulncss-
| now as in the long ago days of Isaiah
| OF that spirit In a nation which makes
/ II so obScSSed with confidence in ito
| right to live and triumph that IL dares
| TO violate the moral sanctions in the
! light of which alone a people has q
| right to live.
CLIMAX OF POLICY
| OF VIOLATION AND BURNING
| The sinking of the Lusitania and
! the murder of women and children
| which that sinking meant. so awful a s
| scarce even now to be credible. becomes
| the more sinister when il is seen as the
| climax to policy in the course OF
| which the violation of Belgium and the
| burning OF Louvain were the earlier
| steps II is a policy, more than once
! voiced that makes military necessity
| an excuse for almost any ruthlessness
AN arrogant madness which fashions
| its own morality and sets evil for it's
good and darkness for its light.
Not OF the great body OF the people
! Through self-deception and the tragic
| blindness Of a misguided patriotism, n
nation may be led into self-betrayal
! But those who chose for n great people
| the policy which in this war it has
| followed. those who teach it that it's
| divine destiny is to dominate the earth,
| no matter what divine realities II
! tramples in the process. lead ii to a
| shame and disaster which, though it
| tarry, yet will come. 1t may not be
/ from the wound struck by it's enemies;
| it may he through the deeper death OF
the suicide of what is finest in a ma
! TONS soul. God is not Knocked, and
| they who think to defy the conscience
| of the universe shall find the truth of
the prophets awful words: Therefore.