The commercial. (Union City, Tenn.) 190?-193?, 1915-08-20
HEROISA, WAR AND GREAT WARRIORS
By Eugene F. McSpedden.

: dred brave Spartans, fell to a ma
: at Thermopylae, but checked til
/ Asiatic invasion and saved Greece
J pity the man that does not bristl
} lat the thought of Leonidas an
!, Thermopylae. Aye, at bottom ar
| we not all patriots and heroes
} There is steel, thunder and vivi
, Tightening in the soul of each of III
. that needs but the stimulous of tn
proper occasion to set them int
, heroic action.
Man, in very natural way, |
related to the rocks, the crags of tn
mountains and the flashing blaz
that leaps from the stormy bosom O
the billowy cloud; and he bears il
his own makeup the elemental fire
force and restlessness for heroic &C
4 tivity. But these are qualities o
mans animal, not moral or spiritua
nature; and wisdom, love, a sense O
Justice, all the nobler attributes anC
impulses of the SOUL tend under or
binary circumstances to modify ant
turn these forces and qualities to thu
noble uses of peace--to material
mental, moral and religious progress
The nature of man is bottomed deer
on universal nature and universe
law; and the elements of attraction
and repulsion, of harmony and dis
cord, that belong to universal ma
ture, even to the atom, | am per.
suaded, are closely related to these
same qualities in the world of man
But as the race becomes wiser and
more and more moralized, Justice anC
love and harmony, that naturally
grows out of wisdom and morality
will predominant more and more
among the individuals and nations OF
men. Differences will be settled
| finally by the arbitrament, not OF
cannons and submarines, but of Jus
tice and reason; and the Prince OF
Peace will be the whole worlds SUI
preme man.
So we must believe that the man
in whom wisdom and the divine are
largely or predominantly operative
is powerfully biased by the very
force of his deeper grasp of the
fundamental laws and forces of real
progress, and by his deeper sympa-
thy for real progress and for all hui
man beings-is powerfully biased to-
ward peace, and will resort to war,
OF his own free will, only as the last
means of defence or of maintaining
a well-grounded honor. The man of
wisdom and large moral endowments
and culture must see clearly that in
.tellectual enlightenment and moral
and religious development are the
most powerful of all forces for up
lifting humanity; and he would op-
crate among men, if possible, these
salutary forces of peace, and not the
destructive forces of war. In the
worlds present state of mental and
moral development, however, war
may sometimes be inevitable for the
protection of property and liberty, or
for the further progress of the more
enlightening and civilizing infiu-
ences, or the establishment of toll
cradle equity and justice among peo-
pie. The wisest and best of men,
therefore, while devoutly favoring
peace as a principle, may sometimes
favor war as an expedient-as the
only available means of reaching GER
tain invaluable ends; and they may
also prove to be valient soldiers or
generals. Socrates, perhaps the
W1sest man of his age was a heroic
soldier and hard hitter in battle.
Moses, one of the worlds greatest
lawgivers, found it necessary on
some occasions to act the part of a
general. David, IsreaI's greatest
poet, was also Israel's greatest war
'ior. Solomon, however, reputed the
Wisest of all men, had no wars dur
ng his reign; and those rulers have |
always been esteemed the wisest |
whose reigns were the most peaceful
md prosperous. The devastating |
var that is now raging in Europe |
ind for which no reasonable excuse
,r just cause can be given, is sad |
comment on the wisdom of Euro
,ean rulers. And that the United |
states so far have refused to be
Irawn into the terrible and senseless
ataclysm, is highly complimentary
O the wisdom and goodness of the
american people and of their chief
xecutive. Wilson deserves much /
raise, but Bryan more
This old globe upon which we
i've, thru the past geological periods, Il
as undergone enormous commissions II
~ sui ~ AollAe3 II
lnents, with their valleys, plains,
ills and mountains, have been lift
d out of the bosom of the ocean,
nd then almost submerged and lift
d again. Great areas of North
merica have been repeatedly sunk
eneath the ocean and then lifted
bove it, as if with some powerful
'ver, operated by the Titans. At
ospheric oscillation of stupendous ,
have also prevailed in
lie far past. There was the warm
oist climate, with it's luxurious
egetation, which climate appears
} have spread over the globe, even
Ito the Arctic ATTITUDES. . This age
as followed by another widely
lomalous atmospheric condition
1own as the Ice Age, when vast
elds or sheets of ice extended far
to the temperate zone, almost to
lie site of London in England and
'ashington in America. And vol
noes and earthquake in the remote
ltiQuity were for more active, it
ems, than now. But gradually
ru all the ages this terraqueous
ODE has been settling down into
ore stable and dependable condi-
0n. So in the earlier and ruder
re 1