War and Religion.
243. It is no mere chance that the earliest piece of poetry, the oldest three distiches of the Old Testament, the Song of Lamech, is a song of triumph over the invention of the sword. (Genesis, iv., 23):—
Ada and Zillah hear my voice;
Ye wives of Lamech hearken unto my speech:
For I have slain a man for wounding me,
And a young man for bruising me:
If Cain shall be avenged sevenfold,
Truly Lamech seventy and sevenfold.
—E. v. Lasaulx, P.G., p. 85.
244. Perpetual peace is a dream, and it is not even a beautiful dream: war forms part of the eternal order instituted by God.... Without war humanity would sink into materialism.—Count v. Moltke, letter to Bluntschli, 11th December, 1880.
245. To appeal from this judgment to Christianity would be sheer perversity, for does not the Bible distinctly say that the ruler shall rule by the sword, and, again, that greater love hath no man than to lay down his life for his friend?—H. v. Treitschke, P., Vol. i., p. 67.
245a. But it is not worth while to speak further of these matters, for God above us will see to it that war shall always recur, as a drastic medicine for ailing humanity.—H. v. Treitschke, P., Vol. i., p. 69.
246. Christian morality is based, indeed, on the law of love. "Love God above all things, and thy neighbour as thyself." This law can claim no significance for the relations of one country to another, since its application to politics would lead to a conflict of duties.... Christ himself said: "I am not come to send peace on earth, but a sword." His teaching can never be adduced as an argument against the universal law of struggle. There never was a religion which was more combative than Christianity.—General v. Bernhardi, G.N.W., p. 29.
247. When here on earth a battle is won by German arms and the faithful dead ascend to Heaven, a Potsdam lance-corporal will call the guard to the door, and "old Fritz," springing from his golden throne, will give the command to present arms. That is the Heaven of Young Germany.—Weekly Paper for Young Germany, January 25, 1913.
Compare "God and the old Kaiser" No. [97].