p. 7 | War Inevitable by F. M. W.

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Sep 14, 1911

War Inevitable

By F. M. W.

A GREAT world war is the inevitable historical climax of the future. We must believe this if we believe the evidence of our own eyes and ears. We must expect it as the outcome of the hard, stern facts of war preparation which we see in every nation. The war spirit is coming to be the predominant spirit of the age. It not only pervades the military camp, but penetrates into every avenue of business and industry as well; and its spirit is surcharging not only the heart and mind of the soldier, but even of the boy and girl. The organization of high-school cadets, the carrying forward of military parades in schools of various grades, the enthusiasm attending the extension and organization of the boy scouts movement,—these and scores of other movements and organizations which might be mentioned, show the extent and working of the spirit of militarism. As never before, the avenues of industry are taxed to support the department of war, and the nations of earth are groaning under the burdensome taxation imposed upon them by the continually increasing expenditure for new armament, larger battle-ships, and the general maintenance of the military organization.

We must believe that a great world war in the future is inevitable from the statements of the prophetic word. Joel 3:9-16, Rev. 16:16-18, as well as other scriptures, clearly indicate that this will be the climax of the extensive preparations now going forward. Nor will the creation of peace treaties, the building of peace temples, or the adoption of resolutions by peace societies, prevent the predicted outcome. These things may check the rising tide for a little time, but they can not change the human heart, nor can they prevent the bursting forth of the pent-up passions of men. So long as human passion bears sway, so long as the nations of men are controlled by the spirit of pride and worldly achievement, so long as the governments of earth are bent upon national glory and expansion, so long as in the minds of the multitude might makes right, just so long will the nations of earth vie with one another, each seeking advantage over its fellows, and each determined to gain every possible advantage at any possible cost. These are the conditions which exist today, and they will continue to exist until the kingdoms of this earth are swept away, and righteousness covers the earth as the waters cover the sea.

The nations of men are looking for this struggle. This is forcefully shown by the very fact that they are preparing for it. They may express pleasing sentiments and platitudes in favor of peace and arbitration, but the steady grind of war preparation goes on from day to day.

Speaking of the present situation in Europe with respect to the controversy between Germany and France over the state of affairs in Morocco, the North American (Philadelphia) of August 30 says:—

Conditions in Europe are grave. We do not foresee this year, nor next year, nor at any given time, the date of the Armageddon that will rewrite the map of the world. That map is bound to be rewritten, either by diplomacy or with guns. We hope for the former method. We see no present basic reason for the latter.

But the conditions in Europe and Asia and Africa are such as to demand sober study by Americans, and the establishment of a sane estimate of the theoretically admirable folly of the Mohonk peace conference, the self-advertising silliness of an Andrew Carnegie undertaking to end war with a $10,000,000 check, and the dangerous nonsense of the Taft administration drafting treaties of universal peace, properly stigmatized by the United States Senate as “breeders of war.”

There is much more than mere “rattling of sabers” in Europe. There is fire very close to the powder-magazines of England and Germany. France is just the stalking-horse. The truth about the critical diplomatic situation is revealed by the bellicose comment of the German newspaper, the Lokal-Anzeiger, which is commonly supposed to express the unofficial sentiment of the German government:—

“The one important lesson which the Germans must learn from recent events is that our most incorrigible and most restless enemy is not France, but on the other side of the North Sea. Our real peril is in the policy of England, which misses no opportunity to embarrass us and to hinder our progress in every direction.”

When, in connection with this, the German kaiser declares in public speeches that his royal sons are ready to sacrifice their lives on their country’s altar “if things become grave,” and that “if we understood the enthusiasm of the people of Hamburg aright, I think I can assume it is their opinion that our navy should be further strengthened, so that we may be sure that no one can dispute with us the place in the sun that is our due;” when French reserves are ordered to the colors, and England is warned by Lord Brassey that “contingencies may arise in regions of the world in dealing with which naval force might be necessary in support of diplomatic action,” it is impossible to avoid the conclusion that, in spite of Taft, Carnegie, and Mohonk, the war-cloud is rather blacker than in the days of Fashoda and Algeciras.

The editor, while expressing his abhorrence of the thought of war, admits with reluctance “that there is historical basis for the reasoning of Harold F. Wyatt, in the Nineteenth Century and After magazine that”—

it is only among decaying peoples that Christianity is discovered to be incompatible with the military spirit. When a nation is young and expanding, no such scruples are felt. But when its energies begin to wither, when self-indulgence takes the place of self-sacrifice, when its sons and its daughters become degenerate, then it is that a spurious and bastard humanitarianism masquerading as religion, declares war to be an anachronism and a barbaric sin. Efficiency in war, or rather, efficiency for war, is God’s test of a nation’s soul. By that test it stands, or by that test it falls.

Speaking of Germany and Japan, the editor continues:—

There are two rich, strong, virile nations, overpopulated, “cribbed, cabined, and confined.” The stars in their courses are not more certain than the expansion of Germany and Japan. Yet the elder nations “in their harness rise up against their path,” whenever a movement toward expansion is made by either of those bursting peoples.

What can the answer be but war sooner or later—war of the minds of great diplomats, we hope, but always the possibility of the more horrid war. We are not alarmists. . . .

Nor are we “seeing things at night”

in the shape of Germany setting up an autonomous government in the province of Brazil, where three hundred thousand carefully colonized Germans are ready to act whenever the word comes from Berlin. That word can not come until England’s power is irretrievably diminished. . . .

It seems to us that there is no need for a year or so for alarm about a war on the other side of the world, nor for a longer time about a war in which America would be concerned to the extent of shooting. We are just citing some certainties to-day to call attention to what we do consider a real danger. And that is the belief growing in too many American minds that a few well-meaning men can sit down in Washington or The Hague, move up the progress of the universe a hundred years in a day, and with pen and ink create an Elysium, with the possibility of war utterly and permanently eliminated.

Again and again it has seemed that war is inevitable, as the war-cloud has hung dark and heavy over the European sky, but the nations have been held in check. Men of the world have marveled that again and again when an open clash seemed unavoidable, peace has been restored. The student of prophecy, however, knows that God is holding the winds. He has a great gospel message to go to earth’s remotest bounds. He has a work to accomplish among the nations of earth. The world is not yet ready for the final harvesting. Until this time has been reached, and the work of God has been accomplished, the angels of God have been commissioned to hold the four winds. Rev. 7:1-4. In the time of peace still allotted to us, may we make sure work of bringing our own characters into harmony with the requirements of God’s Word, and of doing all in our power to carry the gospel message to those around us. To engage in this double work for ourselves and for others, is the only way in which we shall be prepared to meet, by God’s grace, the things which shall finally come upon the earth.

F. M. W.