Cruelties in the European War
WHEN this war subsides, and impartial judges are permitted to get hold of the facts to present them to some international peace court, as will without much doubt be done, we will learn of barbarities that will seem unbelievable. It will be difficult for us to realize that such things could have been done in the civilized world of this twentieth century. When this war started among the nations of the Old World, none of them could realize what they were getting into. After the strife had begun, men, in the very nature of things, in order to crush the enemy, have been driven into deeds the thought of which, a few months ago, would have filled them with shuddering horror. Without much question, they are horrified even now by what they are doing; but they do not know how to avoid it. They seem to be driven on by some unseen demoniac power that has caused them to lose all sense of humanity and judgment. For instance, a paragraph reported from one of the battles says, “Some of the slightly wounded who came out of the firing line said they were using their dead as shields, and the shrieks of the wounded who also were used for this purpose were terrible to hear.” This report may or may not be true. It may be overdrawn; but similar barbarities will be practiced, and the truth should be impressed upon mind and heart that civilization is not a sufficient bulwark to shield the individual from the atrocious cruelties of barbarism. There is just one power that can save men from cruelty, and that is the power of the tenderness of the life that is imparted through the blessed Christ of God. A mere profession to know Christ will not save us. We must come in contact with Him by a living experience. We must taste and see that the Lord is good. We must know Him through the living power that He imparts to the life by the divine Word. Theological speculations about Christ and about the Bible are mere husks. What we need to know is the life-giving truth of the living word of the infinite God as imparted through the gospel of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.