p. 8 | WAR CHAPLAINS by T.

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Oakland, California · Jun 30, 1898

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 24, No. 26.

WAR CHAPLAINS.

By T.

A man who holds the office of chaplain is supposed under all circumstances to be a minister of the Gospel. When he accepts that position, he claims to step into it as a representative of the Prince of Peace. Most of the armies of the so-called “Christian nations” have a full quota of chaplains. And the chaplains of the contending armies claim to be each under the banner of the same Prince of Peace.

Now it must seem queer to a chaplain when he considers that he is praying for the success of the army he is with, while his brother chaplain with the enemy’s forces is fairly storming heaven with his warlike prayers, asking a directly opposite result. Is the Master—the great Prince of Peace—thus so double in His dealings? Will He send chaplains with the forces on one side and bid them pray for the success of their armies and the destruction in cruel death of their enemies, while at the same time He sends other chaplains with the other side and bids them pray that all the soldiers with those other chaplains may be killed or captured? The simple asking of the question ought to be enough to show that true Christianity can not be such a mixture of inconsistencies.

It would seem that the genuine “fighting chaplain” had only gone so far in his knowledge and experience as to have heard the rumor spoken of in Matt. 5: 43, “Ye have heard that it hath been said, Thou shalt love thy neighbor, and hate thine enemy.” The Saviour does not say that it actually hath been said, but He states that “ye have heard that it hath been said, Thou shalt love thy neighbor, and hate thine enemy.” Then this doctrine of hate was only a wicked rumor that had been set afloat, and they “had heard,” and, worse than all, the majority of the Jews believed it and were acting upon it. And every one knows that when their principles of hatred were fully developed, they clamored for the life-blood of the very Messiah that they all professed to be looking for and praying that He might come. What an awful object lesson is thus given to those who allow enmity or hatred to be cherished in the heart!

In what striking contrast to this doctrine of hatred for our enemies, is our instruction from the Lord Himself: “But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you; that ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven; for He maketh His sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust.” Matt. 5: 44, 45.

The unjust are the enemies against the Lord, but He does not withhold His blessings from them. He sends His rain and sunshine upon them the same as He does on the just. And if we are to be “the children of our Father which is in heaven,” we are to learn from Him how to love our enemies, bless them that curse us, do good to them that hate us, and pray for them which despitefully use us, and persecute us.

No one can live up to the standard of these words of the Lord and go into the field to kill his fellow-men or to pray that they may be killed. Force is the basis upon which the civil government rests. And while time lasts, armies there will be to maintain it. But leave this science of killing people to those whose hopes center in this life, and let all Christians give themselves to the great work of pointing men away from the perishing to that which shall endure.