p. 233 | THE WOULD-BE ARBITER

International Tract and Missionary Society · Oakland, California · Apr 15, 1889

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 15, No. 15.

THE WOULD-BE ARBITER.

"THERE is almost always," says the Advance, "some measure of truth and pertinence in the Pope's 'allocutions.' In one of the latest of these, speaking of the relations between Russia and the Vatican, and more generally of the position of the church in the modern world, the Pope remarks that it is now more than ever necessary for the Governments to make common cause with the church by reason of the perils by which they are surrounded. The progress of military science, he says, and the perfection of weapons of destruction, are insufficient. The surest defenses of the nations will, after all, be found neither in gun-boats nor in battalions, but rather in the development of the character of the people, and by each being careful to render unto each what belongs to the other, and closely adhering to the dictates of justice."

The evident meaning of all this is that the nations should make the Catholic Church, in the person of the Pope, the arbiter of all their differences. And it is now more than ever necessary that they should do this, since the progress of military science and the perfection of weapons has made war so much more destructive than formerly. The events are rapidly taking place which will cause all nations to "wonder after the beast which had the wound by the sword and did live."