The Cruelties of War by Editor

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Oakland, California · May 27, 1897

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 23, No. 21.

The Cruelties of War.

By Editor

They can not be pictured. No pen can portray them. They can only be felt and known by the accumulated experience of those who die, and those who remain to suffer, and those who suffer—the widows and orphans—because of those who die and who suffer. And yet it is a sad fact that some of the loudest clamors for war have come from the religious press and professed ministers of the Gospel of peace. Would they demand war if they had to do the fighting, if they were placed in "the forefront of the battle"? This demand for war is an evidence of the fierce spirit which is inspiring men everywhere. Men who repudiate prize-fights and bull-fights and cock-fights are hounding their fellow-men to battle, with the resultant widows and orphans and general impoverishment. Far from the scene of conflict men who may be reaping commercial advantage or gaining brief popularity in fanning the flame of human passion may laugh, but in the war-desolated countries strong men fall and groan and die, while women and children suffer. O, it is pitiful; and it is more pitiful to see the professed ambassadors of Jesus Christ, the Prince of peace, clamoring for war! It makes one long for the time when Christ shall reign over those who are willing that he should reign, and war shall forever cease. That will be true when Christ shall come.