The Nezperce herald. (Nezperce, Idaho) 1900-1957, 1917-12-20
AND THEN PEACE, GOOD
WILL

WILL
For the fourth successive Christ
mas the words that the world has
been accustomed to associate with
Christmas seem a bitter mOekery /:
e0n earth peace, good viii toward
men. F." What more inappropriate
sentiment could be uttered2 Is
ii not, in fact, a blasphemy that
nations engaged as most OF the
Christian nations are engaged to-
day should observe Christmas at
allf
The question troubles many who
are not to be dismissed eOntemptu-
ously as pacifists- There are
many people who cannot reconcile
Christianity and the war.
We must remember that, althO
the angels announced the coming
of Christ to bring peace on earth,
good viii to men, Christ Himself
had a different conception of his
mission. tsThink not that / am
come to send peace on earth: l
came not to send peace, but
a sword. The Christ who utter
ed that tragic saying is the Christ
whose birth we must this year
celebrate.
Christ fOresaw that there could
be no permanent peace on earth
until it had been fought for and
paid for. The angels had a heav-
enly vision Of the glory and the
peace that should ultimately flow
from Christ 8 coming; but they
were angles and took no thought
of time. Christ the practical, no
dreamer, said sadly enough, 81
came not to send peace, but a
sword. :"
So long as there are powerful
rulers and nations whose spirit
and purpose are evil, whose spirit
and purpose are opposed to the
ultimate spirit and purpose of
Christ as expressed in the song of
the angles, just so long must the
civilized world grasp the sword
that Christ put into its hand.
Does anyone believe that, if the
Kaiser and the Crown Prince and
Tripitz had been permitted to ex-
ecute without resistance the plans
that they are now seeking by force
of arms to impose, there would
ever have been peace on earth,
good viii toward menq 1t is con-
ceivable that the domination by
the Hohenzollern house, first of
Europe, then Of Asia and Africa,
then of America, would have
meant the beneficent spread Of
Christian charity and humanity,
would have promoted the spirit of
cheerfulness, happiness, unselfish-
ness and love? "Ye shall know
them by their fruits and we
know the Kaiser and the Crown
Prince and the Prussian war lords
with accurate and intimate know
ledge. The rulers who in war
have perpetrated atrocities as un-
speakable as any ever committed |
by Zulu or Sioux, who have strew-
ed the seas with the bodies of |
women and babies, who have torn /
young girls from their homes and
given them over to a bestial sold
iery, who have ordered the mas
sacre Of civilians without regard
to age or sex, would be satisfied
with world at peace only if 1T
were a world enslaved.
1t is Christ Himself who. sword
in hand, leads the Allied armies.
His spirit-the spirit Of compass
sion, pity, unselfishness and love
burns in the heart Of those 4
troops that are holding back the !
Kaiser's hordes. Hatred is in Ii
their hearts, too-hatred Of the ,
murder, the ravisher, the despoil-
err; hatred such as Christ, who Ii
sent the sword, felt for the forces I
Of wickedness. This Christmas. II
and every Christmas until those I,
gigantic forces of wickedness are
we must concentrate to II
Christ, the sword bringer. So ! Z
it, we shall receive Z
rom Him new strength to swing h
lis sword. IA
Even while the world is in the a
midst Of war part of the angels s
is being fulfilled: 0