Federate to Enforce Peace
IN his Cincinnati speech, President Wilson said, “This is the last war that involves the world, that the United States can keep out of.” He assigned as his reason for making this statement, that “the business of neutrality is over,” and that “war now has such a scale that the position of neutrals sooner or later becomes intolerable.” Any man who stands at the head of a great nation like this, in times such as these through which the world is passing, is in a position to feel the pulsations of war as perhaps few of us can appreciate. With his opportunities to observe the trend of events throughout the world, Mr. Wilson reaches the conclusion, as announced at Cincinnati, that if a large part of the great nations of earth again become involved in war, it must spread to take in every nation on earth. Mr. Wilson has never, so far as we are aware, made any utterances that would indicate that he was especially studying the prophecies of the Bible; but it is certainly very remarkable that several of the strongest prophecies that the word of God presents are those which tell of this earth’s closing its history, at the second coming of Christ, in a war that will involve every nation. All nations, according to the prophet Joel, are to be drawn to the Valley of Jehoshaphat, showing that their center of contention will be in the Holy Land; and in its last phases, this war of Armageddon will be a religious war. Mr. Wilson, as a statesman, points out that the next war must be universal. Joel and John, as prophets, hundreds and hundreds of years ago pointed forward to the same thing. The predictions of ancient times and the conditions of to-day so perfectly fit together that we know that Armageddon cannot be far ahead; and Armageddon, when it is reached, will involve every nation on earth, and Christ’s coming then is right at hand. In the same address, President Wilson stated that the nations of the world must get together, and say, “Nobody can hereafter be neutral as respects the disturbance of the world’s peace for an object which the world’s opinion cannot sanction.” This also presents a demand for world federation, of which several of the prophets had a view. For instance, the prophet Micah tells us what “many nations” “in the last days” will do in order that they may bring the world into the condition where “they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks: nation shall not lift up a sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more.” Micah 4: 3. The war in Europe, which broke so suddenly upon the world, and which has continued with such indescribably awful slaughter for well toward three years, is making the world shudder with horror as nothing that has ever before entered into its history has done. And men to-day will seek expedients, through federations and combinations, that will render war an impossibility; but this dream of peace can never be realized until the coming of the Prince of peace in the clouds of heaven, as He has promised. Hence these strong efforts of the world in these “last days” to federate to overcome war will merely be the fulfillment of prophecies which show that these great international movements will take place, yet that they will come to naught. In these turbulent and strenuous times, there is much danger that the mind may become confused and terrified; but we need to stand under the strong light of divine truth, so that we may know the meaning of the things that are transpiring, and thus avoid becoming bewildered through fear. ON November 1, an earthquake shock occurred in northern New York which was sufficiently severe to throw dishes from the shelves, and pictures from the walls. No serious damage was caused. New York is said to be out of the earthquake zone; but unusual things are happening in these times, in very many parts of the world. One way to seem to get out of the difficulty is, to blind our eyes to facts, and say that these things mean nothing. A more sensible way is, to face the facts squarely, and earnestly ask, What do they signify?