Honolulu star-bulletin. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1912-2010, 1915-04-24

The following sermon entitled "The
Duty Of the Hour for America" 10 from
the pen Of Rev. Charles s. mcfarland,
Phi. o. general secretary Of the Fed
eral Council Of the Churches Of Christ
In America, copies of which recently
were received in Honolulu:
Each Of the nations is fighting, IN
others, the very sins which It has itself
committed. Each is fighting now a
foe without, because each failed to
fight her foe within. l zs
More than one nation had by news.
paper and by its literature, contem.
plated this holocaust, sometimes with
criminal leyity Zach was unwilling
II should come, but not enough un.
willing Even now 1t is talked of by
more than one, with appalling com.
placeney, as more or less permanent
event.
All have, In varying degree, either
talked or acted an imperialism, and
each has constantly increased the sus-
picions OF the other. Men OF all these
nations had helped 1t to come by per-
petually reminding themselves and the
others that 1t was bound to come. "
The national snobs were not of one
nation alone. And In the final judg.
ment, while the guilt for certain i'm.
mediate acts may rest more heavily
on one or two, they will all admit their
share of guilt, and on no other as.
sumption can we hope for justice at
that judgment And one thing had
been absolutely neglected by each and
all, although If anything stands out
as the clear verdict of history ii is
that no nation was ever killed by guns
and powder, but that all who have
gone down have died of injuries inter.
nal. Our statesmen, some of them, are
telling us that Europe's war is Amer.
ica's warning; that we must get ready
and that our readiness must be very
much like that of Europe's nations;
that We must do the very things that
they for 80 years have done. They
tell US that our chiefest need and our
most permanent defense and our last
ing security is q battleship, which
costs millions Of dollars and takes
years to build, but which can be blown
to the four winds with a little torpedo
that can be made in a day or two
and costs q few dollars. But want
to approach 1t from another viewpoint
and put the warning in a different
light. They say that we must get
more guns and ships and shells. I
want to point out a different kind of
armament They are dealing with one
set OF forces. I will try to deal with
another. And one thing | admit, we
must have either theirs or mine. Our
nation must have forces either ma.
terial or moral and the only question
is-whfeh shall they be? -.
The duty of the hour for us is to
seek how we may build the new Je.
rusalem. the holy city, upon the ashes
Of the old; and most of all to ask our.
selves what should be our own state
Of mind and condition Of heart at this
moment when the world has lost its
way. Our first duty is not to condemn
the world, but to find out how it may
come again TO life and have it more
abundantly than before.
For let us forget it not, far above
this, another battle is being fought,
one of whose armies may with right
and. truth appeal to God. Let us rise
out OF this conflict into the higher
one, which is not against flesh and
blood, but against the spiritual hosts
of wickedness within the heavenly
places Of our own souls. the battle OF