EARTHLY PEACE AND THE PEACE OF GOD.
Certain classes of temperance people are making a great ado over the proposition to christen the new U. S. war ship Kentucky with a bottle of Kentucky whisky broken over her bow. The general custom has been to use champagne, but the suggestion of Kentucky patriots to use the far-famed product of their State has called out a temperance protest against the use of any intoxicant for such a purpose. As far as propriety is concerned, it would seem that for the christening of such an engine of death, the worst dynamite whisky that could be invented would be the most consistent. The most incongruous custom in vogue is that of the Japanese, whose new cruiser, recently launched at Philadelphia, was christened by the release of half a dozen doves from a basket at the bow of the vessel, the harmless emblems of peace scattering flowers as they flew away. True, the nations of this world have a theory that the best way to preserve peace is to prepare for war; but a true peace never will be secured through fear of an antagonist. The vast accumulation of death-dealing implements in the hands of ambitious men will sooner or later tempt their use, merely to test their utility, if nothing else. And once the great magazine has begun to explode, it will not be in the power of man to squelch it. There is a peace “which passeth all understanding” (Phil. 4:7), but it is not secured by carnal weapons. It is the peace of God, the only enduring peace there is. This peace is proffered in love and accepted by faith in Him who alone has power to make good the offer. This is why it is not understood; the carnal mind can not comprehend the things of God. Therefore the human idea of peace is to enforce it by a menace of war. The element of love finds no place in the administration of civil government; and this is why the kingdom of Christ can not be a kingdom of this world.