What Is War?

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Tacoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Jul 25, 1907

ONE does not wonder that an embarrassing silence ensued at The Hague recently when the Chinese military delegate said he wished he could find out what war really is. Several European nations had attacked the forts and occupied the capital of China with troops, at the same time insisting that they were not at war. He also wanted to know what would happen if one of the powers declared war against another, and the latter would not fight. Would that be war? No one volunteered to answer his questions. If the so-called Christian nations were really Christian, what an excellent opportunity was here afforded their delegates to impress the teaching of Christ to “love your enemies,” and “do good to them that hate you.” Universal practising of these precepts would soon preclude the necessity of war, as well as the definition of it.