IT is difficult to conceive of a more laudable desire than that of the peace of the world. The effort to secure that peace is most noble; and to the ardent peace advocates and peace societies that have labored and toiled for so many years and expended so much of means to educate the people, we accord due honor.\n\nThe burden of war has always been immense. From the days of the old Assyrian kings down thru Persia, Grecia, and Rome, to the present age, that burden has not lifted. And to-day it is tremendous and crushing in its weight. Think of the awful debt of the world,—to war and war preparations it may all be charged,—amounting to the colossal sum of over 36 billion dollars, with an annual interest of one and one-half billion dollars.\n\nThink of the annual war expenses of Europe, increasing at the rate of 350 million dollars a year! Think of the increase of army expenses in six nations of the world as given in our last week's issue! And the ratio of naval expenses is still greater. And this is the world at peace!\n\nThe Hague Conference, as will be seen by our own reports and many others, is a gigantic failure. Instead of propositions for peace, instead of any action looking toward limitation of armament, or arbitration of those questions which involve national honor (the only questions over which nations go to war), the "Peace" Conference has legislated on the better regulation of war, disappointed its friends, and made itself the laughing-stock of the world.\n\nAnd every one who knew the temper of the nations of earth knew that this must be so. "The limitation [not the reduction] of military burdens . . . was greatly desirable." Of course it was. But this conference representing nearly half a hundred nations with government-appointed delegates, could go no further than this. It ought to be "studied" we are told. It has been for a half century, but we are no nearer the solution.\n\nAnd then the conference crowns this gigantic farce by laying the corner-stone of a temple, dedicated "To peace to be established thru righteousness." And an enthusiastic peace architect has projected the plan for the "International Capital of the United States of the World," on a magnificent scale. A beautiful dream, isn't it? But in the words of the prophet of old, "It shall be as when a hungry man dreameth, and, behold, he eateth; but he awaketh, and his soul is empty: or as when a thirsty man dreameth, and, behold, he drinketh; but he awaketh, and, behold, he is faint, and his soul hath appetite."
From this pipe dream of peace the world awakes to mark the new battle-ships ordered, to note the world-wide preparation for war, augmenting the national debts by untold millions.\n\nBut is it not declared in the scrolls of divine prediction that there shall come a time when swords shall be beaten into plowshares and spears into pruning-hooks?—Yes, there are words to that effect. They are worthy of our examination, as are all of the prophecies of His word. But mark, kind reader, that the prediction comes not from God. It is in His Book. It is recorded by His prophet, but it is there given, not as a declaration of God's message thru the prophet, but as a declaration of what others will say. It declares that "many peoples" and "many nations" will note the wonderful strides that the religion of the Bible is making, the position it has won in the world, and tho its spirit has not been accepted, they will hope that its principles will triumph, and therefore raise the cry of a future peace. Listen:
"And it shall come to pass in the latter days, that the mountain of Jehovah's house shall be established on the top of the mountains ["at the head of," Micah 4:1, margin], and shall be exalted above the hills; and all nations shall flow unto it [nominally accept it]. And [because of this outward acknowledgement] MANY PEOPLES ["many nations," Micah 4:2] SHALL GO AND SAY:
"Come ye, and let us go up to the mountain of Jehovah, to the house of the God of Jacob, and He will teach us of His ways, and we will walk in His paths; for out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of Jehovah from Jerusalem. And He will judge between the nations, and will decide concerning many peoples, and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning-hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more. O house of Jacob, come ye, and let us walk in the light of Jehovah." Isa. 2:1-5, A.R.V.
Mark, reader, that it is the "MANY PEOPLES," the "MANY NATIONS," which declare all this; who see in some particular spot of earth that which a decadent religious faith always sees, a place more sacred than any other; who see in some humanly constituted court or potentate there the representative of God to give laws to the world. It is the "MANY PEOPLES" who declare that swords will be beaten to plowshares and spears into pruning-hooks.4
Yet the prophet of God declares of this very people who profess such allegiance: "For ["therefore," A.V.] Thou hast forsaken Thy people the house of Jacob, because they are filled with customs from the east, and are soothsayers like the Philistines, and they strike hands with the children of foreigners." Isa. 2:6.
Other prophecies speak of just such a power as this great apostate Christian church, mystical Babylon, the great center of all which is the Papacy. That power will again be restored, and all the world shall worship and wonder. Rev. 13:3, 4. No Hague conference has as yet given the proper recognition to papal delegates which that power demands. The adherents of the Papacy feel that one of the great elements of peace, the strongest diplomatic power on earth, is unrecognized; and no peace on earth will be assured or can be secured till the great head of the Roman Catholic population of the world is recognized and given the place he claims as "arbiter of the nations."
One of the reasons why the civil powers of the world have not done this is the jealousy of Italy. They do not wish to offend Italy, whose civil subject the pope is. The matter can never be settled till the pope is given recognition. But the pope can never be given recognition while upon Italian soil.
What is the solution?—It is simple, and has been suggested again and again by Catholics and non-Catholics: Purchase Palestine or a portion thereof, which will include Jerusalem, the site of the ancient temple, the "Holy Sepulcher," which the Catholic crusaders fought to rescue from the hand of the hated Moslem; establish the Papacy here by world action, and the gifts which would flow to the papal treasury would make Jerusalem eclipse all the glory of St. Peter's and the Vatican, the costly treasures of which would be transferred to Jerusalem. Surely the once glorious city of Solomon would be preferable to the city of the Cæsars. The place where Jesus walked would be more to be desired than the uncertain pilgrimages of Peter. Jerusalem, the city of peace, is better than Rome, the city of war. It would be a solution of the papal question which would please all the world; and then who like the one at Jerusalem, with his cabinet of cardinals, the Jesuit-taught diplomats of the world, to whose knowledge the secrets of the world are known as to no others, would be so well fitted to judge between the nations and declare a world-peace? Then would mystical Babylon say in her apostate heart, like her prototype of old, "I sit a queen, and am no widow, and shall see no sorrow." "I am, and there is none else besides me." Rev. 18:7; Isa. 47:8. Then shall the pseudo "king of the north" place the tabernacles of his palace between the seas in the glorious holy mountain. Dan. 11:4. Then will the kings of the earth have "one mind, and they give their power and authority unto the beast," but are opposed to the Lamb. Rev. 17:13, 14. But then, too, when the siren song of peace is sung, comes destruction, world-wide—the awful waking from the deceptive dream. For when apostasy says, "I sit a queen, and am no widow [temporal power restored], and shall see no sorrow," then shall come in one day "death, and mourning, and famine; and she shall be utterly burned with fire; for strong is the Lord God who judged her." Rev. 18:8. For "when they are saying, Peace and safety, then sudden destruction cometh upon them." 1 Thess. 5:3.
Thus much in this too-limited space, long as this article is, on the peace dream. "The prophet that hath a dream, let him tell a dream; and he that hath My word, let him speak My word faithfully. What is the straw to the wheat? saith Jehovah." Jer. 23:28.
Has God's "more sure word of prophecy" spoken also of the world's mighty preparations for war?
Predictions of War.
In a prophecy of the approaching day of God, the prophet Joel (3:9-12) thus describes the feverish condition of the world:
"Proclaim ye this among the nations: prepare war; stir 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. Haste ye, and come, all ye nations round about, and gather yourselves together: thither cause Thy mighty ones to come down, O Jehovah. Let the nations bestir themselves, and come up to the valley of Jehoshaphat; for there will I sit to judge all the nations round about. Put ye in the sickle; for the harvest is ripe; come, tread ye; for the wine-press is full, the vats overflow; for their wickedness is great."
Front view of the plan of the Palace of Peace, designed by M. Cardonnier, who won the first prize. It is proposed that the palace be a permanent capital for legislating on the peace of the world.
And all this is in evidence in abundance, from the Mistress of the Sea, Britannia, to little Japan of the far Orient, or little Mexico of the West. The mighty monster of war is crushing the national giants and is sucking their very life-blood, while national disease, unrest, revolution, and anarchy are raging within the bodies politic.
Read the twenty-fifth chapter of Jeremiah for a picture of the great universal war of Armageddon, when "all the nations" shall drink of the "cup of the wine of wrath," "far and near, one with another," "all the kingdoms of the world," when "evil shall go forth from nation to nation, and a great tempest shall be raised up from the uttermost parts of the earth. And the slain of Jehovah shall be at that day from one end of the earth even unto the other end of the earth." No wonder that the prophet cried as visions of the future unfolded before him:
"My anguish, my anguish! I am pained at my very heart; my heart is disquieted within me; I can not hold my peace; because thou hast heard, O my soul, the sound of the trumpet, the alarm of war. Destruction upon destruction is cried; for the whole land is laid waste." Jer. 4:19, 20.
The cause of this wide-spread war is not of God. Said another prophet: "And I saw . . . three unclean spirits, as it were frogs; for they are the spirits of demons working signs; which go forth unto the kings of the whole world, to gather them together unto the war of the great day of God, the Almighty." Rev. 16:13, 14.
The very conditions we see are leading up to this. Already the free powers of earth, England and America, whose soldiers are volunteers, are talking of conscripts, enforced military service. In almost every other nation proscribed military service is in vogue. Soon every able-bodied man will belong to a part of the world's army, and then—Armageddon. How futile it is in the face of the world's ever increasing armies, moved by desire for military glory, and maintained by pride, fear, and jealousy, to hope for peace, to believe that carnal men will be willing to disarm, lift the monstrous burden of war, tear from their hearts the ambition of military fame and glory, and plead for peace. All history belies the dream. Man's carnal heart belies it. God's word belies it.
The Coming Reign of Peace.
But shall the world never know peace?—Yes. Thousands know it now—the peace of Christ; the peace which comes in righteousness by the putting away of sin; the peace which compromises no principles of justice or truth; the peace which the world can not give; the peace which survives the grave, triumphs over sin and death, and exists primarily in the world created anew by the Prince of Peace.
The City of Peace will then be no dream. It is already projected by the divine Architects of the universe. Its "Builder and Maker is God." It is described in the twenty-first chapter of His Revelation of His glory. A four-square city, with walls of precious stone, gates of pearl, streets of gold, with mansions of rubies and turquoises and emeralds and diamonds. It is watered by the glorious, life-giving liquid of the River of Life. Its great, broad avenue is shaded and beautified by the Tree of Life, whose fruits are free to the glad multitude who joyfully walk underneath its branches. It is lighted by the glory of the presence of the Light of Life, till the very sun, shining with sevenfold glory, is ashamed, and pales its radiance. And into that International City of Peace, the redeemed world's Capital, shall come the immortal sons of God, the nations of the saved, who shall dwell forevermore in the smiles of God and "shall delight themselves in the abundance of peace." "And the Spirit and the bride say, Come."
