The Washington herald., 1915-12-12

Secretary Of the Navy Josephus Daniels
declared In q recent speech to Q local
Baptist convention that indinerence fs
the deadliest foe OF the church today
| and that the European nations are writ
Ing history with the sword In blood and
| not with the pen. because Of spiritual In
difference to vital spiritual religion for
century or more.
! They have quit writing history in
Europe with pens" he said. They are
writing with swords. They arc not writ
ing any longer In ink. but in blood. This
| Is the result of century OF spiritual in
difference to vital religion.
Vital religion would have prevented it.
The answer OF the chtrch to the charge
that the European war proves that Chris
tianity is a failure. is that they have new
er tried evangelical religion and obedi-
, ence to the Word of God. They have
been trying church and state perver-
| sion of Christianity.
AT the close OF one of the most i'm
portant Cabinet meetings after consider
/ ing the gravest of international crises.
President Wilson arose and said: Gentle
men. as you go out. let Us go asking
Gods guidance In this hou. so fraught
with dangers
The administration now. and at all
times. needs and seeks the prayers Of all
denominations and all who believe in
Gods helping hand"
Indifference to vital spiritual reli-
siOn," says the Secretary, is the funda.
mental cause OF the European war.
The American Lutheran Survey COM
| ments as follows on Secretary Daniels
address: There is no disputing the cor
rectness of the Secretary's statement.
Lack Of spiritual religion is the cause OF
all sin and wickedness. II was the cause
of Israei's discontinue, again and again.
The Lord warned them most earnestly
against their indifference to spiritual
religion. their Journalism, their hypocrisy.
their forgetfulness of God and their
worldliness For the days shall come
upon thee" He tells the City of Jeru-
salem. that thine enemies shall cast
trench about thee. and compass thee
round and Keep thee in on every side
And shall lay thee even with the ground.
and thy children within thee: and they
shall not leave in thee one stone upon
another: because thou knewest not the
time Of thy visitation" The punish
ment came in a few short years by the
destruction Of the city and the expatria-
ton of the people.
The Secretary's warning is timely and
OF infinitely more significance than the
superficial man thinks. he has pointed
out the supreme most urgent need of
would radically transform human So
ciety and forever destroy blood-lust. the
pride. the injustice. the murderous hate
which are too much in evidence even in
our own land
Secretary Daniels thought is in line
with some very plain expressions found
in recent English publications. The edi-
tor of the Christian. an English paper,
writes as follows:
rs II five years ago since we We're
purchasing from our bookstslls a shilling
book. called Red Rubber which told US
how king OF Belgium and Belgian Of
ficers have ravased a great African ter
ritory and brought it almost to destruc-
ton through heartless treatment? We
must cast no stones of reproach now.
but we were compelled TO make represen-
tations then. And was il not with a
hush Of awe. and almost of horror. that
We saw that little land enduring at the
hands of cruel neighbors what its far
distant subjects had endured not very
long ago? And can We not thank God
that Belgium has had q chance Of finding
her soul and seeking her Saviour even
in this hour of her agony: Our sym
pathy is with her in the fire. but our
hopes are high for her when she emergcs
from the furnace.
Again. look at our own land. What
is the most general anxiety to which
England il exposed today. apart from the
great common shadow of suffering and
sorrow which darkens all the fighting
lands: Is il not the possibility of
shortage of money? We shall not be
ready to call this an ignoble anxiety.
when We recall the fact that in many
ways legitimate finance Is the cement of
society. But is IL not true that a year
ago England had SO much money that
sin. scarcely knew how TO spent IL, Or
how TO circulate IL lavishly enough: Yet
did she in that hour consider how much
larger gifts she might offer to her God.
how much more generously she might
support His work? Not so. II is not
hypercriticism. but simple fact. that her
extravaganza was paining her roblest
thinkers Yet today England is giving
better in the hour of her need than she
gave in the hour of the sunshine
Take the neiShboring land OF France.
Has 1t not been a distress to all God
fearing folk to see that she had POLITICAL
ly blotted out God from her sphere OF
thought. and her national HE and
considerations? And is there one of us
who doubts that by the gallant little
force OF believing England-for with all
her faults England a. a whole did be-
lieve-France was saved from i tenn
porary overwhelming from which she
might not have found il possible To re-
cover in time to save herself?
"Or again, We are distressed and per-
picked at the danger to our forces from
stupefyinE gases We are horror-strick-
EN- NJ the utter barbarity of the Zoe. Were
W. ever equally horriied when We our
selves poured tons OF stuPeiying opium
into ChinG at the boyonets point. Or GAL
Ions Of stupeIyinS gin into our African
colonies In spit" OF every protest that
could be made by man In the name OF
God?
1T may he that England will learn in
the hour Of her perpleNity to cease this
terrible import. This stup-iying spirit
which damns soul and body IL no less
horrifying than gases which torture the
body but cannot hurt the soul"
TIL. stony Crook Asse mbly >.s made up
of a company OF men who stand loyal
to the great Fundamentals of the Chris
tion religion Their organization has no
other purpose than to promulgate the
Scriptures As the irGa!lible Word OF
God. to rescue sinners through the Cos
pei of Jesus Christ. aud build UP believ-
ers in faith and holiness In the hope Of
the coming of the kingdom of our Lord
and Saviour Jesus Christ. They have
made a statement of these Fundamental
facts, which are generally accepted by
all eyangelical believers as the basic
principls OF the common faith. and the
things most surely believed among us.
There has developed In the church a
great desire to witness ana emphasize
thasa Fundamentals In order to assist