Doubtless if hell reigned on earth some strong souls would remain heavenly and rise in grandeur among the common riot.

But all outside of a madhouse ought to see that it is the duty of society to abate evil conditions, in order that men's energies should be engaged on higher planes. The more we are relieved from the brute struggles where we fight one another with fists or guns, the more we fight for better excellences, and find in civic contests, in wrestling against evil customs and intrenched fraud, in the competition of art, letters, education and public service, the better outlet for our forces.

If we are to have war to make us heroes, let us turn about and worship the devil, to whom we owe all the difficulties we overcome.

Every plea for war is a fantastic, twisted delusion; and none more than this.

Saturday, March 13, 1915.

CHRISTIANITY AND WAR

(From The Outlook, Wednesday, February 3, 1915)

MAY I be allowed, in the impartial pages of The Outlook, to state my opinion, which is directly opposed to the conclusion given in the article "Christianity and War," in your issue of January 13, 1915?

These are the reasons, to my mind, why an intelligent, twentieth-century, democratic Christian should refuse to go to war.

I. The commandment "Thou shalt not kill" is binding not only upon individuals but upon organizations. The most "damnable heresy" of these times is that Machiavellian theory that a state (also a board of directors or a corporation) is justified in doing things which in one person would be sinful. To rob a stockholder through corporate action is as immoral as to pick his pocket; so to murder by platoons under a flag is as wicked as to kill with a revolver one man in the street. As a Christian I refuse to be a hangman or a sol

dier, even as I would refuse to shoot my neighbor.

2. All war is due to the stupidity or to the malfeasance of rulers. General Grant said there never was a war where the issue "could not have been better settled some other way." I refuse to kill citizens of another country simply because my governors have blundered.

3. "Princes," said Colton, "sometimes profit by war, the people never." Wars are the acts of autocracy. No democracy ever votes for war. The populace of no country in Europe was given a chance to say whether it wanted armed conflict or not. A group of a few "statesmen" precipitated the catastrophe. As a democrat, I refuse to give my life for what plainly is not the will of the people.

4. War is the greatest conceivable crime, "the sum of all villainies," carrying with it every form of violence, inhumanity, and deviltry; to participate in it I should be personally guilty of the deepest possible offense toward Almighty God.

5. War nowadays is sustained by patriotism. That is but a phase in the evolution of conscience. First comes self-defense, then the family feeling, then the tribe, then the nation. That is not the end. The next step is the world. World feeling should be given prece

dence over national. Where the two conflict the latter should give way. "Above all nations is humanity," said Elihu Burritt. An enlightened patriotism, therefore, leads me to do all I can for my country's welfare, but this always subject to the welfare of humanity. I am a human being before I am an American. I will not kill Japanese or Germans that Americans be advanced.

6. There is no patriotism in Jesus. He was clear-visioned and saw that the only permanent social enthusiasm was humanity. Therefore his doctrines teach that I am a brother to Russians and Chinese and all the world. In this enthusiasm for humanity no war is possible. What patriotism unchecked by the larger passion leads to is seen in the horror of the present war. Millions of men, having no personal animosity toward each other, and not knowing what it is all about, butcher and maim one another. Patriotism, nationalism, with no sense of world-welfare, becomes a hideous, monstrous delusion.

7. To hope for right and justice from the arbitrament of arms is absurd. Truth is not determined by the largest battalions. War is simply a duel between nations that will not go to court. I will not engage in war for the same reason that I will not fight a duel. This

used to be called cowardice. No sane men duel to-day.

8. The opposite to war is not peace but law. There is only one way to stop war, and that is by some sort of world government, wherein law shall be between nations as well as within nations. The existing condition is simply international anarchy. To end the six thousand years of bloodshed we must have one international court, and subject to this court one international armed force to enforce its decrees. There is no other imaginable way out. Therefore it is the duty of the Christian to bend every energy to attain this end.

9. The trouble with Congress, the magazines, the newspapers, and all agents of the expression of opinion in this country is that they are pointed in the wrong direction. We talk of defense against attack and urge more ships and cannon; our talk should be of cooperation with other nations to secure federation. We have a War Department; it ought to be called a World Government Department. The object of the army and navy should definitely be to prevent war instead of to be ready for war. This can be accomplished only by coalition with other states. We might begin with a Pan-American Federation. This would absorb and submerge the Monroe Doctrine,