THE CRY OF “PEACE, PEACE, WHEN THERE IS NO PEACE.”
The calling of the Peace Congress at the Hague, the response to that call in the sending of representatives, by all the great nations of the earth, were hailed by many in all the earth as the glorious beginning of better times; by some as the dawning of the millennium of peace when the war-drums would be muffled and the battle-flags be furled in the Parliament of Man, the Federation of the World. Institutes or regulations were drawn up, committees were appointed, and it was hoped by many that all future troubles would be settled by arbitration.
But how futile were these hopes. Two of the great nations whose representatives contributed greatly to the results obtained, went forward with their wars of subjugation. To great, fair-play-loving England the little Boer republics must submit, even tho the price be paid that would stagger humanity. And America, liberty born and bred, must pursue her way of “benevolent assimilation” among the natives of far-off islands, who for years have been fighting for liberty, even tho she strew every wave of the broad reaches of the Pacific with her own dead, and slay thousands of those who never thought her harm till she demanded their subjection.
England faces a deficit in her South African War of more than $275,000,000. She has added to her national debt the vast sum of $300,000,000. Expenses of the present year are estimated at $938,000,000. The loss of life can not be measured by dollars either to England or the little Boer republics. Following these wars came the fearful massacres in China, with all the powers of Europe engaged. The barbarity and cruelty of this struggle, in many cases, will not bear description. The cruelty of the heathen Chinese has been equaled or exceeded by “Christian” Europe.
Members of the Peace Conference at the Hague. From a Photograph by A. van der Grient, Hague. (R. Groote & Co., Amsterdam, Publishers.)
And the great preparation for war still goes on. Men talk of peace, and declare that it is soon coming, right in the face of the expenditure of millions for slaughter weapons. But these very things are what the “more sure word of prophecy” declares will be manifest in the last days. God’s seer declares that “many people,” and “many nations,” shall proclaim peace. Isa. 2:3-5; Micah 4:2-5. But the Arbiter of nations declares that these peace-proclaimers “are soothsayers like the Philistines, and they please themselves ‘in the children of strangers.’” Isa. 2:6.
On the other hand, the same inspired Word declares what will come:—
“Proclaim ye this among the Gentiles: Prepare war, wake up the mighty men, let all the men of war draw near; let them come up: beat your plowshares into swords, and your pruning-hooks into spears; let the weak say, I am strong. Assemble yourselves, and come, all ye heathen [nations], and gather yourselves together round about; thither cause thy mighty ones to come down, O Lord. Let the heathen [nations] be wakened, and come up to the Valley of Jehoshaphat; for there will I sit to judge all the heathen round about. Put ye in the sickle; for the harvest is ripe; come, get you down; for the press is full, the fats overflow; for their wickedness is great. Multitudes, multitudes in the valley of decision; for the day of the Lord is near in the valley of decision.” Joel 3:9-14.
We see it all. The divine pencil, 2,700 years ago, limned the picture that we now see portrayed in life. The nations are preparing war, weak and strong. They are coming up to the great battle of Armageddon. The spirits of demons are stirring up the nations to war (Rev. 16:13); and just beyond lies the great day of God, and the harvest, which is “the end of the world,” or age (Matt. 13:39; Rev. 14:14, 15). And God has told us much more. “Seek ye out of the Book of the Lord, and read.” “O earth, earth, earth, hear the Word ‘of the Lord.’” Be not deceived by the solacing cry of “Peace, peace;” “for when they shall say, Peace and safety; then sudden destruction cometh upon them, . . . and they shall not escape.” 1 Thess. 5:3.
