IT may be profitable at the present moment that we should consider a little more fully than we have yet done, some of the moral and religious aspects of the great War now raging—aspects of the matter which are fitted to impress upon individuals and nations lessons of great and abiding importance. We shall observe, first, some of the moral aspects of the War as a human conflict, and then, secondly, some of its religious aspects as a divine chastisement.
- First, then, let us notice the moral aspects of the War as a human conflict.
This leads us, to begin with, to observe the dishonourable part which Germany has played in this dreadful strife. All the evidence points to the conclusion that Germany has been the secret but deliberate instigator of the War. Military preparations on a great scale have been going on within her borders for a number of years, and her spies have been secretly spreading themselves over Great Britain for a considerable time. Her grand aim, to all appearance, has been to overthrow, if possible, the supremacy of Great Britain among the nations, and to exalt herself to the highest place of power. Influenced by an unholy lust for dominion, her representatives did not hesitate to take advantage of the Austrian crisis with Servia, and refusing to confer as to peace with Britain and France, they deliberately called for War. The unrighteous spirit which prevailed among them showed itself by their sending an army to invade France through the country of Belgium, contrary to the express terms of a treaty. This breach of obligation was acknowledged by their own parliamentary leaders, while an attempt was made at the same time to justify it on the ground of a self-made necessity. The German Chancellor contemptuously described the written and signed treaty as “a scrap of paper.” Could anything more clearly show the perfidious disposition that animated the Kaiser and his counsellors? Such falsehood and treachery, acted by the representatives of a great nation in the full knowledge of the tremendous evil consequences which would necessarily follow, present us with iniquity of the blackest dye, which cannot go unpunished. And what do we further see? The conflict, thus wickedly begun, has been carried on in the same spirit. It is not the least exaggeration to say that the ten commandments have been thrown to the winds, and that every evil which the wickedness of man’s heart could suggest, has been committed by German soldiers in the course of this fearful conflict. Nothing less than this can be affirmed, after due allowance is made for occasional false reports. Deceit and cruelty in every form have been the order of the day, and this with the express instructions of the Kaiser and his men of light and leading. The Psalmist, in the fifth Psalm, declares that the Lord will “abhor the bloody and deceitful man,” and destroy them that speak falsehood. The issue is certain.
The next thing we observe is the honourable part that Great Britain and her allies have performed in this fearful struggle. We have referred to this to some extent already in a former article. The British Government did everything in its power to maintain peace, and was only compelled in the last resort to declare war. Britain has entered the conflict as the vindicator of truth and honour among the nations, and as the champion of the weak against the strong. The representatives of our country are by no means perfect, but in this particular business they are acting the just, honourable, and Christian part, and their names in this connection will go down with honour to posterity. Personally we regard Great Britain as the representative of Christ, the righteous Prince of Peace, and Germany as the representative of Satan, the unholy prince of darkness, in the present Armageddon. France, Servia, and Russia—whatever their national defects—are also justly engaged in the conflict. Belgium, though almost wholly a Roman Catholic country, has proved herself incomparably more honourable than Germany, with her nominal rationalistic Protestantism. If she had been possessed of the same perfidious spirit she would have also broken the treaty, and allowed the Germans to pass through her territories, in the expectation of future material recompense. But instead of that, she stood in the breach, and made choice of complete devastation with untold sufferings rather than moral perfidy and shame. Whatever her previous national shortcomings, she has acted a heroic, self-sacrificing part that can never be forgotten.
Many are the lessons that these things teach, but there is one lesson that stands forth with particular prominence. Germany is reckoned the most educated nation in the world. The lesson is clearly given that intellectual culture is not Christianity. Education cannot change the sinful bias of the fallen human heart. “The heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked,” says God’s Word, and the decided truth of this dictum is written in letters of blood and fire upon the plains of Europe to-day. The newer rationalistic criticism of the Bible has not made Germany a more Christian nation, but has driven her far away from the fountain of eternal love and righteousness. Our Scottish and English theologians of the modern school will have to revise their beliefs—made and developed in Germany—and return to God’s truth in its simple purity.
- We now proceed to take a brief glance at some of the religious aspects of the War as a divine chastisement.
Though people in general are disposed to overlook this point of view altogether, no one who truly fears the name of the Lord can pass it by. To any person of discernment it is perfectly clear that the Most High has joined together, under His moral government, sin and suffering. Sin is the original, procuring cause of suffering. True it is that the greatest sufferers in this world are not always the greatest sinners—others may be equally great sinners who suffer less, at least in the present life. God is sovereign as to His steps in retribution. But the truth remains all the same that if there had been no sin there would have been no suffering, and that all the pain which God’s creatures suffer is a judicial consequence of sin. The Bible clearly leads us to expect that God will punish transgression, and the history of the race entirely justifies the teaching of Scripture in this as in other things.
Now, it must be universally acknowledged that all the nations involved are to suffer in the present strife, as, indeed, they have already suffered. Germany shall suffer for her Rationalism and Militarism. The very things in which she has gloried shall be instrumental in laying her head in the dust. She has been fighting in the most violent manner against God’s law and gospel, and waging war with Immanuel, the King of righteousness and peace. Thus she stands exposed to all the artillery on heaven’s battlements, and cannot possibly escape. Austria is an example of Popery and Militarism, and her judgment also is sure to come.
Not only, however, are the nations who are unjustly engaged in the present struggle to experience sore affliction; those who are righteously engaged in it are also to pass through the fire of chastisement. The Lord has had a controversy with Belgium on account of its Romish idolatry and its inhuman cruelty to the poor natives of the Congo in Central Africa, and Belgium has now been devastated throughout. He has also just grounds of indignation against France for her ancient persecution of the Huguenots, her modern infidelity of thought, and immorality of life. Still further, He is justly angry with Russia for her false Christianity, her drunkenness, and her cruelty to the Jews. And last, but not least, He has somewhat, yea much, against Great Britain also. If our nation has been more highly favoured than others with privileges, spiritual and material, for centuries, we have more to give an account of before God. He has exalted us to the highest place among the nations of the world; He has blessed us and made us a blessing. But still, it cannot be denied that we have greatly fallen from the moral and religious standpoint. Possibly, as bad people might be found within our borders a hundred years ago as to-day, but the righteous were then more numerous, and the attachment to truth and purity in Church and State was more general and powerful. In recent years the majority among us have been pulling down the noble flag of Protestantism by changing the King’s Protestant Declaration, and truckling to the unjust demands of the Papists in political affairs. Another evil, which is an indication of the rising tide of infidelity and immorality, is the widespread disregard of the Lord’s day. Sabbath profanation has become a crying sin—a sin calling for judgment upon a godless, presumptuous people. The Lord cannot allow this to go unpunished, and there may be more disasters on sea and land if our authorities will not show more reverence to God’s holy day of rest—one of the greatest boons ever bestowed upon humanity.
But we have exceeded our space, and must conclude. The present war is undoubtedly a great chastisement upon the nations. May the Lord make it a source of blessing, and fulfil the inspired word of His servant Isaiah—”When thy judgments are in the earth, the inhabitants of the world will learn righteousness” (Isaiah xxvi. 9).