Part 15 (1/2)
This last plague would seem to have been sufficient to release the world from bondage to force--if so, mankind is ready to turn over a new leaf and set about the task of finding a way to prevent war.
As Christ can remove the pecuniary cause of war by purging the heart of that love of money which leads men into evil doings, the cla.s.s-conflict cause by stimulating brotherly love, and the ambition cause, by setting up a new measure of greatness; so He can subdue hatred and silence the cry for revenge.
”Vengeance is mine, I will repay, saith the Lord,” should be a restraint, but Christ goes farther and commands us to love our enemies.
That was the complete cure for which the world was not ready when G.o.d made Moses His spokesman. ”Thou shalt not,” came first; ”Thou shalt,”
came later. Christ's creed compels positive helpfulness and love is the basis of that creed.
Love makes money-grabbing seem contemptible; love makes cla.s.s prejudice impossible; love makes selfish ambition a thing to be despised; love converts enemies into friends.
It may encourage us to expect Christ's teachings to bring world peace if we consider for a moment what has already been accomplished in the establis.h.i.+ng of peace between individuals. Take, for instance, the doctrine of forgiveness as applied to indebtedness. In Christ's time debtors were not only imprisoned but members of the family could be sold into bondage to satisfy a pecuniary obligation. In Matthew (chap. 18) we have a picture of the cruelty which the creditor was permitted to practice:
Therefore is the kingdom of heaven likened unto a certain king, which would take account of his servants. And when he had begun to reckon, one was brought unto him, which owed him ten thousand talents [ten million dollars]. But forasmuch as he had not to pay, his lord commanded him to be sold, and his wife, and children, and all that he had, and payment to be made. The servant therefore fell down, and wors.h.i.+pped him, saying, Lord, have patience with me, and I will pay thee all. Then the lord of that servant was moved with compa.s.sion, and loosed him, and forgave him the debt. But the same servant went out, and found one of his fellow-servants which owed him an hundred pence [seventeen dollars]; and he laid hands on him, and took him by the throat, saying, Pay me that thou owest. And his fellow-servant fell down at his feet, and besought him, saying, Have patience with me, and I will pay thee all. And he would not: but went and cast him into prison, till he should pay the debt. So when his fellow-servants saw what was done, they were very sorry, and came and told unto their lord all that was done. Then his lord, after that he had called him, said unto him, O thou wicked servant, I forgave thee all that debt, because thou desiredst me: Shouldest not thou also have had compa.s.sion on thy fellow-servant, even as I had pity on thee? And his lord was wroth, and delivered him to the tormentors, till he should pay all that was due unto him.
If Christ were to reappear to-day he would find imprisonment for debt abolished throughout nearly all, if not the entire, civilized world. The law stays the hand of the creditor, or rather withholds from him the instruments of torture which he formerly employed. Here we have the doctrine of forgiveness applied in a very practical form. It is based on mercy, and yet in a larger sense it rests on justice and promotes the welfare of society.
But compa.s.sion has gone further; we have the exemption law which secures to the debtor the food necessary for his family and the tools by which he makes his living. Christ's doctrine has been applied further still; we have the bankruptcy law which gives a new lease of life to an insolvent debtor if his failure is without criminal fault on his part. By turning over to his creditors all the property he has above exemptions he can go forth from court free from all legal obligations and begin business unembarra.s.sed. Some who take advantage of these provisions of the law may be indifferent to the Teacher whose loving spirit has thus conquered the hard heart of the world, but the triumph marks a step in human advance and suggests possible changes in other directions as the principle is increasingly applied to daily life.
International law still permits greater cruelty in war than accompanied imprisonment for debt. National obligations are enforced by killing the innocent as well as the guilty. Ports are blockaded, cities are besieged and even bombed, and non-combatants are starved and drowned.
As imprisonment for debt has disappeared and as duelling is giving way to the suit at law, so war will be succeeded by courts of arbitration and tribunals for investigation. All real progress toward peace is in line with the teachings of the Nazarene and this progress hastens the coming of governments that shall endure.
With the conclusion of the World War our nation confronts such an opportunity as never came to any other nation--such an opportunity as never came to our nation before. We were the only great nation that sought no selfish advantage and had no old scores to settle, no spirit of revenge to gratify. Our contributions were made for the world's benefit--to end war and make self-government respected everywhere. We entered the conflict at the time when we could render the maximum of service with a minimum of sacrifice. At the peace conference we asked nothing for ourselves--no territorial additions, no indemnities, no reimburs.e.m.e.nts--just world peace, universal and perpetual. That was to be our recompense.
It is not entirely the fault of other nations that they do not stand exactly in the same position that we do. In many respects their situations are different from ours. They have received from the past an inheritance of race and national hostility; they have their commercial ambitions; they have their military and naval groups with antiquated standards of honour, not to speak of those who, feeding on war contracts, feel that they have a vested interest in carnage. Besides these hindrances to peace they lack several advantages which we enjoy over any other nation of importance, viz., more complete information in regard to other people, a more general sympathy with other nations and a greater moral obligation to them. Our nation being made up of the best blood of the nations of Europe, we learn to know the people at home through the representatives who come here. Because of our intimate connection with the foreign elements of our country our sympathy goes out to all lands; and because we have received from other nations as no other nation ever did, we are in duty bound to give as no other nation has given.
We have given the world a peace plan that provides for the investigation of all disputes before a resort to arms--a plan that gives time for pa.s.sions to subside and for reason to resume her sway. We have subst.i.tuted the maxim: ”Nothing is final between friends,” for the old-fas.h.i.+oned diplomacy based on threats and ultimatums. We have turned from the blood-stained precedents of the past and invoked a spirit of brotherhood for the purpose of preventing wars. These treaties contain a provision which, though seemingly very simple, is profoundly significant. In former times treaties ran for a certain number of years and then lapsed unless renewed. The thirty treaties negotiated by our nation in 1913 and 1914 with three-quarters of the world, providing for _investigation_ of _all_ disputes before hostilities can begin, run for five years and then, instead of lapsing, continue until one year after one of the parties to the treaty has formally demanded its termination.
Note the difference: the old treaties gave the presumption to war--the new treaties give the presumption to peace. As our const.i.tution requires a two-thirds vote for ratification of a treaty, a minority of the Senate (as few as one-third plus one) could prevent the renewal of a treaty; under the new plan the treaty continues indefinitely until a majority denounce it.
But while we have made a splendid beginning as the leader of the peace movement in the world much remains to be done. Our nation should lead in the crusade for disarmament; no other nation is so well qualified for leaders.h.i.+p in this movement so necessary for civilization. The desire for peace, intensified by the agonies of an unprecedented war, ought to be sufficient to bring about disarmament; it should be unnecessary to invoke financial reasons. But national debts have increased so enormously as to have become unbearable and the world must disarm or face universal bankruptcy. The reaction against militarism is more advanced, but the reaction against navalism is just as sure to come--one cannot survive without the support of the other. Rivalry in the building of battles.h.i.+ps will not long be tolerated after rivalry in land forces has been abandoned.
The United States should be the champion of the Christian method of preserving peace--and the world is ready for it. The devil never won a greater victory than when he persuaded statesmen to make the absurd experiment of trying to prevent war by getting ready for it. ”Arm yourselves,” he whispered, ”and you will never have to use your weapons.” How his Satanic majesty must have gloated over the gullibility of his dupes.
John Bright, Quaker statesman of Great Britain, pointed out the fallacy of this policy. He called it, ”Wors.h.i.+pping the scimitar” and predicted that it would invite war instead of preventing it. But the din of the munition factories drowned the voice of protest and the civilized world--yes, the Christian world--went into a prepared war, each nation protesting that it was drawn into the conflict against its will.
Permanent peace cannot rest upon terrorism; friends.h.i.+p alone can inspire peace, and friends.h.i.+p has no swagger in its gait; it does not flourish a sword. Our nation has invited the world to a conference to consider the limitation of armaments; if disarmament by agreement fails we should enter upon a systematic policy of reduction ourselves and by so doing arouse the Christians, the friends of humanity and the toilers of the world to the criminal folly of the brute method of dealing with this question.
We should also join the world in creating a tribunal before which every complaint of international injustice can be heard. If reason is to be subst.i.tuted for force the forum inst.i.tuted for the consideration of these questions must have authority to hear all issues between nations, in order that public opinion, based upon information, may compel such action as may be necessary to remove discord.
It does not lessen the value of such a tribunal to withhold from it the power to enforce its findings by the weapons of warfare. In the case of our own nation, we have no const.i.tutional right to transfer to another nation authority to declare war for us, or to impair our freedom of action when the time for action arrives.
Then, too, the judgment that rests upon its merits alone, and is not enforceable by war, is more apt to be fair than one that can be executed by those who render it. A persuasive plea appeals to the reason; a command is usually uttered in an entirely different spirit.
There is another difference between a recommendation and a decree; if the European nations could call our army and navy into their service at any time they might yield to the temptation to use our resources to advance their ambitions. As the man who carries a revolver is more likely than an unarmed man to be drawn into a fight, so the European nations would be more apt to engage in selfish quarrels if they carried the fighting power of the United States in their hip pocket. For their own good, as well as for our protection and for the saving of civilization, it is well to require a clear and complete statement of the reasons for the war and of the ends that the belligerents have in view, before we mingle our blood with theirs upon the battle-field.
Our nation is in an ideal position; it has financial power and moral prestige; it has disinterestedness of purpose and far-reaching sympathy.
When to these qualifications for leaders.h.i.+p independence of action is added we can render the maximum of service to the world.