The Ocala banner. (Ocala, Marion County, Fla.) 1883-194?, 1917-06-22
THE WAR AND RELIGION

very present help IN trouble. There
fore. We will not fear. Though the
earth do chance. Nations vert
in tumuit. kingdoms were moved. the
Lord OF Hosts is With rs. He
maketh wars ID cease. unrO the ends
of the earth lie breaketh the bows
and cutteth the spear in sunder.
Let lie and know that ! am God. IT.
Forty-sixth Psalm.
We are living in terrible times. fiu-
mainly is in great trouble. The soul
of man is deeply stirred. Nations are
profoundly moved. The earth under
our feet is changing The world IS
being made over
In such times the forty-sixth Psalm
with It's cry of triumph. God IS our
refuge and strength. a very present
help in trouble" is the immortal
classic that should voice a nations
Faith 1t is the outburst OF a Hebraic
spirit, whose national God was at the
same time the God Of the whole
world The God if Israel was a Lord
of Hosts. but he was also conceived
as a God who would eventually make
war cease and break the bow and cut
the spear in sunder." He was a God
of battles, and he was al the same
time q God of righteousness, of re-
deeming love and of peace. The He
brew spirit saw the whole of life and
saw through it. 1t saw its grim re-
atty and the shining light of love and
holiness which illumined it. Such a
twofold thought of God is our need
today. Cod, as Emerson somewhere
says, must not be imagined merely
as a doctor of divinity with a white
necktie, speaking always in voice
of sweetness. God is sometimes in
the earthquake and in the fire, in the
tumult of nations. in the war OF peO-
pies. He is above all. in the still
small voice of our own hearts, WOO
ing us with his message of love.
pleading with our reason for right
eousness and justice. God is every
where. And above all, in this, the
greatest conflict OF people that the
world has ever seen.
Therefore. the effect of the world
war on religion will be on the whole
beneficial 1t will not destroy mems
faith. 1t will. by Christening revive
it.
Mems views of God will be enlarg
ed. They will learn that he is a God
of law. The law OF right cannot be
trampled under foot without disas-
trous penalties. This world war is
the Judgment day of the worlds inn
perfect civilization. God and man to-
gether are building the divine king
dom of earth.
Men will learn a new human broth
erhood. They will be knit together
by suffering, by hardship, by pity. by
blood and tears. Common loyalties
and common agonies and common tri-
umphs and joys will unite them again
"a new humanity will be born.
Our own beloved nation, the Amer
lean people will certainly influence
and be influenced by this world war
for good. The world war, begun in
sordid motives, has grown and devel-
oped into a great and holy war for
liberation. The American people have
entered the war on behalf of ideal
ism. Peace would have meant for it
continued ease, comfort, business
prosperity and happiness. All these
it cast aside, and men and women are
learning through love of country. that
there are greater things than these.
Nay more, the world, because of
the methods of simplicity, economy,
cooperation for service forced upon
every nation by the war, will gain
new vision of social Righteousness.
Today the voice of profit and gain is
silenced; service is the universal
watchword. 1t is the cry echoed in
every loyal heart
We do not fear. God is not dead
In the name of God men will bravely
fight if necessary for freedom and for
right; in the name of God we will
continue to hope for the time when
every weapon of war will be broken
and cut in Sunder A more reYerent /
a more just, a more humane, a more
democratic. a more unselfish human
ity will emerge from the world wide
crucible of suffering and sorrow in
which it is being made over-Rabbi
Samuel Schulman. D. D., Temple
BETHEL New York.
The torpedoing of neutral ships
with non-combatants on board, the
of sleeping villages with (