Daily capital journal. (Salem, Oregon) 1903-1919, 1918-11-02
DIR. r. n. Ayison
FIRST METHODIST CHURCH

'eThe work of righteousness shall be
peace; and the effect Of righteousness
quietEess and assurance forever" So
spake isaiah, the prophet statesman.
of the Hebrew church, over two thous-
five hundred years ago, and SO think
the enlightened and christian peo-
Pile of the twentieth century. The
world is we'll convinced today that no
other sort of peace is worth having or
will answer the needs Of our time.
The prophet used four great words
Righteousness, Peace, Yulet.,ess, Assur-
ance, these four, and the greatest of
these is righteousness; and just now
emphasis should be placed upon this a.
hove all others. The Others, as the pro-
phet suggests, is the result of a cor
rect understanding and q proper ap-
plication Of righteousness in the affairs
of life. This is as necessary in peace
considerations as IN the proper conduct
of war.
1t i well TO remember, and these
things enforce the lesson, that UNI
righteousness or wrong doing Of any
sort, carries within itself the elements
of its own destruction. There is no es-
Gaping the eternal law that what a man
OF a nation sows must be reaped, and
there is no possibility OF. escape. Ihe
most profitable investment France ev-
er made was when she sent Lafayette
to help the struggling colonists of
America, and her harvest time was
come when the military representative
of the great republic exclaimed: "La-
fayette we have come, Lafayette we
have come" The American force
steadfastly set its face toward the
Rhine, and then said to our allies
come, We are going this way. We shall
reach the Rhine and if need be Berlin.
Lafayette s coming was the seed that
has borne a glorious harvest for France
Germany too made an investment when
she snatched from the helpless hand of
France Alsace-Lorraine and for forty
eight years France has waited and God
has waited to set right that wrong
Today the form that covers at the feet
of victorious France, is a German form,
and the plea. of mercy is a German
plea. History is eloquent with the fact
sthat every wrong carries within itself
the clement of its own r%etribution.
In recognizing this great truth let
us. not forget that as r%etributive pen
atty is Of divine arrangement, that4i it il
only safe under divine control and dir
e%ction.~ "Vengeance is mine; / will re-
pay, saith the Lord" Man has never
been equal to this task. While we all
abhor a sentimental softness as VIC
would a spirit or revenge, we should
press for a just and righteousness rec.
ignition of, and atonemeht for, tse ss'
mentionable wrongs that have been
done the innocent and helpless peoples
Of Europe and Asia. If we would have
peace and ~quietness and assurance fol
the future let us lay broad and deer
a foundation in righteousness, never
forgetting that the work of righteous
ness shall be peace and quietness and
assurance forever. We are safe if we
follow to the end the leadership Of Him
whose cause we have espoused in this
war. Some would like to put us on the
Glove thy neighbor and hate thy en-
envy, and an eye for an eye and a tooth
for a tooth" basis. If we take oul
stand there we shall part company with
Him. Listen once more to Him: "Ye
have heard that it hath been said, Thou
shalt love thy neighbor and hate thine
enemy. But | say unto you love YOU
enemies, bless them that curse you, dc
good to them that hate, and pray fol
them that despitefully use you and per-
secute you. That We may be the child
rem of your Father which is in Heav.
en-" The supreme test of Christian
democracy has come. Shall we be equal
to it9 Let the Book speak once more
Therefore, if thine enemy hunger
feed him; if he thirst, give him drink
for in SO doing thou shalt heap Goals
of fire on his head. Be not overcome
of evil but overcome evil with good. ;
What an opportunity for Christian
America to feed starving Europe and
Asst, including the hypocritical Ger
man, the worthless Austrian, or inhum
an Turk. So far the unselfish motive