The Pleasantville press. (Pleasantville, N.J.) 1912-1929, 1923-10-10

good name they might have held dur
ing all the future centuries of world
history. They were made hewers of
wood and drawers of water, they be-
came slaves for all time.
One of the reasons that many de-
cline to become Christians In the true
sense is that they know hat the Chris
tian life means war and conflict.
Since 1 must fight If l would reign.
Increase my courage Lord!
The individual Christian life is a
career of conflict there ear be 40
truce, no cessation of hostilities. If a
man secures relief from the battle by
declining to be a Christian he becomes
the devils newer of wood and drawer
of water.
If you apply the principle to ma
lions, is it not true that peace be-
tween nations is secured oftentimes at
too great a price? Lincoln was right
in saying: This Union cannot exist
half slave and half free" General
Grant ended the war when he said !:
I'VE will fight it out on this line if it
takes all summer" and the line was
a costly n of blood. The peace that
was secured was not a compromise
between shareholders and abolition
lists. Today the leaders of the various
nations on the earth are saying that
we must have peace; IL we do not,
civilization will be entirely destroyed,
for the next war cannot otherwise
end. 1t is urged that concessions be
made to the forces of evilg that sacred
pledges on the part of nations be an
nulled, that prosperous nations hold
themselves aloof from the nations
that are not so prosperous, that the
fittest only deserve to survive. The
nation that makes peace at the sacri-
flee of the noblest impulses of human
ity and honor and righteousness, will
soon enter stages of decline.
There are hostile parties in the
church Of God today. There are those
who hold to the things that'have been
handed down from apostolic days, and
there are the modernists or liberals.
who scout all this. Notwithstanding
these hostile parties in the church.
the constant cry or the part of some
is: Peace. peace at any price" Can
the church afford to pay the price?
The church is now laughed at by the
world, for it dares not stand for the
principles of its Founder and those
who Immediately succeeded Him. 1t
has become an opportunist body. 1t
has lost its power of testimony. It's
pews are largely empty; many of its
agencies are languishing under heavy
debts. Meroz-like 1t does not come up
to the help of the Lord against the
enemy.
In the great theological battle in
side the church today there must be
no compromise, no truce. but a fight
to the finish. The church can never
prosper while carrying the deadly
enemy in It's bosom. This fact was re-
Gently well stated in an editorial In
the ST. Louis Globe Democrat:
Records of history prove that con
ficts of opinion have but served, as a
rule, to spread and increase the in
fiuence of the church, to put 1t upon
firmer ground; and in no case have
they retarded, but momentarily, the
progress of the church. Religion be-
ing founded upon faith, which is the
outcome of belief, must be, and has
always been, affected by differences
of opinion. Almost from the begin
ming the church was the arena of
fierce discussions of theological ques-
lions that were considered funda-
mental"
If peace Is sought at the surrender
of truth, the ignOminy mat will come
to the church will be a thousand
times more shameful than that of the
Gibeonites centuries ago. By seek
ing temporary peace the church VIII
simply bind itself to perpetual slavery
and be the hewers of wood and draw
ers of water TO all institutions of the
world.
1t is well for us to remember that
The Ion If God goes forth to war.
A kinGly crown to gain;
His blood-red banner streams afar.
Who follows in His train?