The states-graphic. (Brownsville, Tenn.) 1???-1984, 1917-08-17
THE STATEs-GRAPHIC
PUBLISHED EVERY FRIDAY
THE.GREAT SACRIFICE.


adipose. Our prosperity was poison
ing us. We were fast assuming the
fatal falsehood that happiness is the
EN- of life. Our current phrases, "A
happy New Years. MANY happy re-
turns of the day" "A long and happy
life to you" were conventional, but
they expressed what was becoming a
dominant desire for ourselves and our
friends. Safety first" generally
meant comfort first. Much of the in
dustrial unrest was the struggle of
pigs at the trough over the division of
the swill. The ministers were hard
put to it to reconcile the inequalities
and unhappinesses Of life with faith in
a just and benevolent God. Glory in
tribulation was becoming a lost art.
The war is teaching US that happi-
ness is not the end of life; that the
joy of self-sacrifce is greater than
the joy of self-indulgence. This we
are learning as such lesson only can
be learned, not from sermons or text
books, but in the school of experience
Thousands of men and women have
crossed the Atlantic and are in the
trenches, the airplanes, the ambulance
es, the hospitals, laying down their
lives in self-denying services for their
fellowmen, and thousands more are
preparing to follow them. Doubtless
the spirit of adventure mingles with
and quickens the spirit of self-saci-
fee, but also the spirit of self-sacri-
flee mingles with and ennobles the
spirit of adventure.
At home boys are giving up their
vacations to go into training camps
and submit to much-needed but hith-
erto irksome discipline, and other boys
and gills are toiling in unaccustomed
labor in the garden or on the farm.
Society is simplifying its dinners, no,
tells and clubs are adopting war menus,
housekeepers are substituting two
courses for three or one course for
two; and all this is not under the pes
sure of immediate necessity, for there
is bread enough and to spare in this
country for ourselves, but that we may
have more to send to our allies. True,
we are suffering no great pinch as yet
and there may be none. The point is
that we are giving up many Injuries
and some comforts, and are finding an
added joy in life through the self-sac-
rifce.
And this is more than self-sacrifce;
it is a sacrifcial service. We are lear
ming by experience what it is to bear
the sins of the world, what it is for
the innocent to suffer with and for the
guilty, and how such suffering redeems
saves, delivers. When a nation which
has been poisoned by a century Of
pernicious teaching makes war upon
civilization, civilization is doomed I'M
less there are men and women willing
to give up all they hold dear-proper-
ty, home, husband, wife, children, life
itself-in brave battle against sins
which they never committed, for
which they are not responsible, which
they have done nothing to promote.
Europe could not have been saved
from the revival of Roman despotism,
pagan alike in its philosophy and its
spirit, if there had not been in Bel
GUM, France, Great Britain, Italy,
Russia and America men who were
willing to suffer and to die for their
faith in liberty. 1t is because there
were no such sacrifcial lovers Of lib
erty in Germany that Germany has
been given over to the spirit of autoc-
racy. 1t is because there were such
sacrifcial lovers of liberty in Russia
that Russia has been set free.
Thus we are learning the meaning
Of Christianity, both as a theology
and as a spirit.
AS a theology Christianity is the
doctrine that there is real battle IN
the universe between good and evil,
the extent and full meaning of which
we need not and cannot know, but in
which we must bear a part whether