Evening journal., 1918-06-15

nations OF the world have been slow
TO understand either the inner causes
OF the conflict or the nature Of the
preparation for the struggle which sh,
has been making for half a century.
Early in the war some Of our dis
tinguished statesmen attributed the
war to trade relations between Serbia
| and Austria. Others saw in IL Ger
many's attempt TO secure TO her the
] Bagdad railway, and the linking up
/ with her possessions in China. Others
/ thought IL a Tace-war, growing out of
! Germanys fear OF the Slav. Others in
/ terpreted the war as German quest
! for territory. Others reasoned that Il
was a Hohenzollern enterprise to con-
flrm the crown by a great royal vic
tory.
Today the conflict has resolved itself
In general thought os the final battle
between aul0cracy enforced by militar-
ism and democracy enforced by the
free vote OF the people: and on this
plane. this plane Of civics, the war is
being discussed rightly by newspapers,
magazines, and statesmen, ana on This
plane the war Is being fought to a fin
lsh by the nations OF the world
Yet little by little, vision is clar-
flying and we are coming to a deeper
understanding OF the more concealed
causes Of the struggle and also OF a
most wicked and sOul-destrOylng prep
arallOn made that the war might be
supported by the goOd-natured. gener-
Gus German peasantry and lab0rers.
OFT and widely the Germans have pro-
claimed themselves to be supermen.
and therefore, by divine right that
they can destroy all other human kind
like vermln or wild beasts Of prey, and
have so persuaded the masses of their
people The time is OppOriune for Inn
pressing upon the minds Of our peo-
pie and Of Christian nations that the
Germans. in cOnceivlng themselves as
supermen, necessarily mace themselves
super-God. Their deeds and teachings
have made it possible in a few lines
10 make this fact most evident Out
wardly the cause of the war Is on the
civil plane. but rapidly our thinkers
are perceiying the underlying causes,
which are unavoidably religious
The doctrine OF the superman, and OF
might makes right, necessitated the
complete rejection Of Christianity. For
many years German leaders have as
siduously been attacking the Bible
Germany has been the high throne OF
higher criticism.
Some twenty-five years ago. Profess
sor Deliizsch. the learned decipherer Of
Babylonian tablets. delivered Sc
ries Of lectures. i'm which he showed
uat two thousand years before Moses,
the story Of creation. OF Adam and Eve
in the garden. OF the flood, and the
commandments were known TO the
Babylonians, and written by them on
their brick tablets almost verbatum.
as recorded by Moses. Professor De
litzsch, therefore, drew the following
conclusion: That the books OF Moses
were not written by him; that the
commandments were not given by God
from Sinai, and that Israel never had
any divine revelation. It is reasoned
that the priests invented the legend
that the commandments were given as
recorded In the Bible TO hold the peo-
pie In subjugation and rule them
through superstition Thus the COM
mandments. upon which hang all the
law and the prophets, and also the
teachings Of Christ, and the New Testa-
ment, are repudlated and rejected
that the commandments were known
by all nations at least three thousand
years before Moses, that they were the
civil laws Of all the nations, and that
they were given from Sanai by God
With such miraculous events that they
might be exalted from civil laws 10 /
laws OF God and Of the heart, and be /
kept, not as traffic laws, but as laws
~ fuf IA "a frnrf
a. Christian writer one hundred and
twenty-five years before Dr.. Delitzsch
we may wonder why the laws, uni
yersally known in the world, were
promulgated from Mount Sinai by Je-
hovah Himself. with so great miracle.
But hark They were promulgated
with so great a miracle, that men
might know that they were not only
civil and moral. but also spiritual laws :.
and that to do contrary to them
was not only to do evil 20 the fellow
citizen and society but was also TO
sin against God. Wherefore these laws
were made laws OF religion Doctrine
OF Life. Swedenborg.)
Before the commandments were Civ
en- from Sinai, and made lews Of the
heart, laws Of God. they were kept
lhutl as we hEtU Alhuts lufNEt NuAuh-
ing It no sin to transcend them, if the
traffic police is not watching. or there
is no danger. With advancing civiliza- |,
tlon, the commandments have been
lifted up 20 be seen as laws Of God,
according TO which He can cleanse the
heart from sin, and give all the world
OF His love and peace.
Briefly, the German teachers have re-
jected the commandments; the German
people have rejected both the Bible
and God in decreeing that the state is
supreme, and that no one can question
its DEGREES; that as the state is SUI
preme, what It DEGREES is right, II it has
the might to enforce its will. In this
doctrine is the rejection Of the COM
the Bible, and God, for no
where in the German code Is the re- I
hottest suggestion that the state Is sub
iect 10 the laws Of God and the Bible
As 10 these facts, there IS not the
'emotest doubt Adam Boeder, editor
II a paper in Karlsruhe, Germany,
'ew months ago said that IL was the
purpose Of Germany TO supplant the
semetic religion. the religion Of Christ,
which IS weak, insipid. and degenerat-
ng by kultur, the German religion,
|