Seeking Peace by Force
By J. W. H.
JAMES L. BARTON, D. D., recently made this interesting statement, which received prominent place in a great religious magazine: “This war is irresistibly leading to the conclusion that the only civilization which will meet the requirements of this century and of the generations to follow is that which receives its sanction and guaranty from a Christian world federation for universal good order and protection.” Such a federation, in which a leading place could not be denied to the Catholic Church, might be able to bring powerful pressure to bear on belligerents, but it would inevitably defeat its own purpose. War is an unavoidable product and accompaniment of human politics; and when the church organizes itself as a political factor, to the extent of compelling a civilization to receive from it “sanction and guaranty,” it will soon find itself involved in the war, strife, and intrigue of states. History has shown us that when church interferes with state, both become degraded. Politics have never been so bloody and corrupt as when dominated by a religious system. Christ did not give to the church a commission to judge and control the state. That authority He has reserved for Himself. If the ideals of Christ are to rule the world, it will not be because the church takes the short cut of coercion to impress them upon civilization. It will be because she patiently upholds these ideals and lives them out in long-suffering until the time when Christ Himself comes to “judge the world in righteousness,” and “minister judgment to all the peoples in uprightness.” Nevertheless, we may look for this organized religious influence, for the purpose of controlling the state, to be gradually built up; partly by well-wishing men, partly by men of evil designs. The God of heaven foretold through His prophet, eighteen hundred years ago, that this very movement of men would be one of the last developments to precede His personal return to the earth.