p. 10 | War by G. B. Thompson

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Sep 17, 1914

War

By G. B. Thompson

At no time since the introduction of sin into the world has such a condition prevailed in the earth as the present war presents. One editor says it looks like the suicide of civilization. It has assumed such proportions that the imagination of man is staggered; and one's heart seems faint when he thinks of the awful carnage, ruin, sorrow, mourning, and desolation caused by such a Titanic struggle. When we think of the armed camps of great and mighty nations, with all the weapons of slaughter with which they are equipped, marching to the deadly conflict,—the dreadful scene is beyond description. One poet has presented it in the following forceful verses:—

“Twelve million men to be marshaled And murdered and mangled and maimed; Twelve million men, by the stroke of the pen, To be slaughtered,—and no one is shamed.

“Mountains of wealth to be wasted, Oceans of tears to be shed, Valleys of light to be turned into night, Rivers of blood to run red.

“Thousands of wives to be widowed, Millions of mothers to mourn, Thousands in sorrow to wait the tomorrow, Millions of hearts to be torn.

“Thousands of fathers to perish, Millions of children to moan, Ages of time to prepare for a crime That eons can never atone.

“Thousands of homes to be shattered, Millions of prayers to be vain, Thousands of ways to the glory that pays In poverty, panic, and pain.

“Twelve million men in God's image Sentenced to shoot and be shot, Kill and be killed, as a ruler has willed, For what? for what? for what?”

The prophet of God, centuries ago, must have been beholding some such scene as the present when he said:—

“My bowels, my bowels! I am pained at my very heart; my heart maketh a noise in me; I cannot hold my peace, because thou hast heard, O my soul, the sound of the trumpet, the alarm of war. Destruction upon destruction is cried; for the whole land is spoiled: suddenly are my rents spoiled, and my curtains in a moment.” Jer. 4: 19, 20.

These things surely are a fulfillment of

prophecy, and a tremendous call to consecration, that we may be prepared for the closing scenes of earth's history and for a home in the kingdom of God.

G. B. THOMPSON.