p. 4 | All the World for Peace by C. M. S.

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Apr 25, 1907

“All the World for Peace”

By C. M. S.

The above is the title under which the great dailies give their report of the “peace congress” which opened in New York City on April 14. It was held in the great Carnegie Hall, and everything was done that could be done to indicate the world-prevalence of the movement for peace. From a press report we quote the following:—

Two strange flags hung over the heads of choristers on the stage of Carnegie Hall to-night. They were silk stars and stripes set into a field of white satin, which enclosed the emblem on all sides. A golden angel, bearing in one hand a palm leaf, supplanted the usual war eagle or pike head on the staffs; broad bands of white, inscribed with the golden word “Peace,” depended from the feet of the gilt angel. This is the flag of the state to come, the United States of the Federated Nations of Peace.

In the audience were Jews and Gentiles, unbelievers and Christians, and the decorating of the hall consisted of the flags of all the nations of the world. The speakers professed to believe that the sword was being turned into the plowshare, and that as a result of such congresses universal peace would prevail. The actuating purpose of the movement, and some of the very words used in the addresses, Holy Writ recorded centuries ago in fortelling this very movement. See Micah 4:2-5.

In the scripture referred to occurs this significant expression, a prophetic quotation from the sayings of the people in these our days: “Out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of Jehovah from Jerusalem.” That means at least the attempt to establish some power in the ancient capital of the Holy Land which shall claim the authority to speak to the nations in the name of God. It means that Christendom will be willing to come under one leadership; that the time will come when “all the world” will recognize one person as the spiritual king of this world, to whom all must yield homage and obedience.

There was present at this “peace congress” a representative of a certain power making a bid for that very place. It was Monsignor Lavelle, who read an address from Archbishop Farley of the Catholic Church. The press report of the address says:—

Archbishop Farley, writing on “Universal Peace,” said that he was not prepared to say that war could ever be removed from society, but that much might be done to mitigate its horrors and lessen its frequency. Efforts for universal peace, he declared, would accomplish only imperfect results until the moral power and authority of organized religion were openly recognized. He spoke of what he called “a famous tribunal of peace,”—the holy see at Rome,—and expressed his belief that if the holy see were admitted to The Hague, American Catholics would look with more interest on the efforts for the abolition of war.

What the archbishop meant by “organized religion” was the religion of the Catholic Church, or Christendom organized under the leadership of the papacy. The pope has long desired the title of “arbiter of nations,” and in the above quotation there is a bid for that title and position, though veiled in diplomatic language.

Denominations in this country are making united demands upon corporations, and the corporations are yielding. It would seem but logical, then, that if united Christendom were to make demands upon nations, the nations would yield; and that is the argument that is used and will be used to induce Christendom to come under the leadership of Rome. That, they argue, would bring the universal peace. The nations would not need then to go to war—would not dare to go to war—for the “arbiter of nations” would be king of the world, and no one nation would dare to stand against the world, or oppose the dictum of its king, speaking and ruling as “Vicegerent of the Son of God,” “God on earth,” “Lord God the Pope.”

This is no dream, no hallucination, no human invention. The revelator saw the combination, and wrote of it. He says: “There was given unto him authority over every tribe and people and tongue and nation. And all that dwell on the earth shall worship him, every one whose name hath not been written from the foundation of the world in the book of life of the Lamb that hath been slain.” Rev. 13:7, 8.

Putting these things together, we have the prophecy of a combination of the nations for universal peace, under a religious leadership; we have the fulfilment of that prophecy in a movement now on foot to that end, using the very words of the prophecy in bringing it about; we have the self-styled “arbiter of nations” bidding for the leadership of that movement, and promising universal peace if given it; and we have the revelator’s declaration that that very power would attain that leadership and secure the religious allegiance of all the world save a certain small company (Rev. 14:12) who remain loyal to the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus, and whose names are written in the book of life. This striking fulfilment of God’s Word before our very eyes, indicating the culmination of God’s work for this world, should give us unbounded confidence and courage and hope.

C. M. S.