Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1917-12-22

came with the sword of the
spirit, to restore the kingdom of God
within the hearts Of men. In imagin-
alton we bark back over the centuries
to those later days when the Nazarene,
on the hills Of Judea and the sunny
slopes of Gallilee, impaired to his dis
ciples the tenets of the Christian faith
those principles of peace, forbear-
ance, and brotherly love. We ponder
on the untold influence of those teach
ings upon subsequent generations of
men, and upon ,he present age and its
momentous problems.
Christmas Resounds to Alarms of War
This Christmas season the hills
within which Christianity was Graded
resound to the alarms Of war. An
English army has taken Jerusalem,
that ancient city founded by David
more than 80 centuries ago-that city
which to Jew and Christian and Mos
lem alike is more than a place of
stones and mortar thrown together,
more than a question of archaeology,
but an ideal still awaiting it's realiza-
ton, while the real Jerusalem remains
battle ground of creeds, and sects,
and races. One speaks of antiquity
when some ancient city in Flanders
is destroyed and it's cathedrals laid
waste by the Hun. What shall be said
of fighting columns that tramp over
the graves of cities entombed by time;
of wireless signals thrilling beneath
the sky that looked down on the ma
tivity and the crucifxion; of the
shadows of wheeling aeroplanes that,
scouting, cross and recross in their
flight the changeless paths that Jesus
trod from Bethany to Jerusalem? The
descendants of Richard the Lion
Hearted have accomplished what he
and hundreds of thousands Of other
brave Crusaders strove in vain to ac-
complish more than 700 years ago
the rescue Of the Holy Sepulchre from
the hands of infidels.
Doubts may be raised as to the au-
thenticity of many of the traditions of
old Jerusalem, but for so generations
the few yards of earth on which the
Church of the Sepulchre stands has
been reverenced by hundreds of mill
lions of men as the scene of the cruel
fiXion and burial Of Christ And hither
through the ages unnumbered thou
sands have come, each carrying his
cross and praying that the stone might
be rolled away from the tomb of his
imprisoned spirit. Tonight the Turk
lsh custodian who formerly squatted
on his prayer rug at its portals
thumbing his Koran is gone; gone is
the Turkish garrison from out the lit
tie church at Bethlehem; and gone Is
the Moslem soldier who was wont to
stand guard by the star in the Manager
, Inc real Jerusalem is in Christian
hands 1t remains for US to fight for
and attain the Ideal, the New Jeru-
salem, and the realization among
men and among nations of those
teachings which began at Bethlehem
and ceased with Calvary. Tonight we
look across the sea to that red horizon.
We hear the thunder of guns and the
cries of the wounded and dying. We
see the success of might. Shall we,
then, close our eyes in pessimism and
doubt: No! \ thousand times no.!
Terrible as it all is. and God knows
how terrible, it is but an episode. a
tragic. dismal episode, in the forward
march Of an idea and a purpose which
no nation can withstand and no arma-
ment. however powerful, check.
Nineteen centuries ago the Prince of
Peace came to this earth preaching his
gospel OF love. He knew that the times
were not then ripe for his teachings.
that he brought not peace, but a
sword. that he enunciated rules of
conduct far in advance Of the age.
that only through misery almost UNI
endurable and endless turmoil could
tniling humanity realize among nations
tho ethical principles of the Sermon
Oh the Mount. From His coming we date
anew the history of Humanity For 1909
years His teachings have been the goal
and ideal up towards which Humanity
has steadfastly struggled. nearer which
" mas surely drawn, to which It shall ul-
timately attain.
The Goth century dawned with much of
promise. Peace brooded over Christen-
! dom There was tremendous activity
along lines of material and intellectual
progress. The Millennium had not dawn
ed put a new sense of right was in evil
dence among men and among nations lin
moral. social. political and economic life.
ana 1t was in deadly earnesU. Great So
]
had existed among us unsolved and nm
checked were being met and dealt with
with astonishing success Our sense of
responsibility had been growing individ-
ual. We were beginning to feel that what
was nobodys fault might after all be orr
own fault, and beginning to act accord
lngly. National conscience had gone to
lengths never dreamed of by reformers of
other days. Every class felt the stir of n
larger and more generous life Morality
was beginning TO mean something to ia
Daily the world gained in knowledge and
good WILL in the recognition of the broth
erhood OF man and our mutual depe Adenca
one upon the other. Sympathy for the
unfortunate was on the increase. Wher-
ever disaster came TO cause human suffer-
ing, be it food in China, an earthouake
on the italian coast a plague in Man
churia, famine in India, there the ma
tons of the world fastened to ioin in
iraternal aid and sympathy We believed.
not without reason, that the Eurone Of
the 10Th century would never be thrust
, back into the barbarism of general
war Two peace conferences had already
been held by the nations of the world
/ looking toward the settlement of all in
ternational disputes by arbitration, and
preparations were being made for the as.
sembling OF the third.