I am advocating no moral prudery, nor religious bigotry. Neither do I wish to imply that heaven has not been built up side by side with hell during the last fifty years,—for it has. Those who have profited intellectually and spiritually by the revelations of modern learning, and by the new influx of power, and by the new social opportunities, have made the last fifty years the grandest in human history. Of these noble sons and daughters it should be said: their growth in the knowledge of God, their success in the discovery of man, their achievements in wresting from nature its deepest secrets, their grasp on the meaning of God's Kingdom, their accomplishments in the practical launching of everything pertaining to a new era and a finer world order have made this the golden age for all who have seen the vision and shared in the work. Yet over against this kingdom of light and love, there has grown up a kingdom of darkness and hate. These two kingdoms have grown up side by side in every civilized country. And finally the kingdom of darkness embroiled all the nations in a deadly conflict. Seeing all, and feeling all, God was the greatest sufferer in the awful carnage of the contending armies. "In Him we live, and move, and have our being;" and therefore armies live, and fight their battles in God. They fight their battles with God's own powers, and make gaping wounds in His own body. And yet, some will ask, "Where was God?" Not only was He in the thick of the fight, but the thick of the fight was in His beautiful, enfolding energies. We shall make heaven out of the selfsame energies when we are done making hell out of them. And then, as now, God will be in our midst; but He will be in our midst as a joyous, and not a suffering God.
It would have been a pity if this war had ended before the nations opened their eyes to the higher purposes of God for future civilization, or before their consciences had been cleansed for the work of advancing the Kingdom. God will come to our help with mighty power when we come to His help with mighty obedience. General Sherman said, "War is hell." This has generally been taken to mean that war is as terrible as hell; but it is more than that, it is hell literally, because hell is never anything but war. If there were no war of any kind there would be no hell. This is equally true either side the grave. If there were no individuals in the universe to oppose God's will and so misuse His enfolding energies as to harm one another, hell would cease to be. The beginning of hell is very pleasurable, and that is why men begin it. But it always grows more and more terrible until it becomes a lake of fire. It is worse than brimstone, because men have found hotter materials to use. It is curtains of fire, poisonous gases, shrapnel, bombs, machine guns, and mud mixed with blood.
War begins in selfish desire, and continues in the misuse of God's good gifts. Intensified desire diverts to its own use that which does not belong to it; and becoming powerful, arrogant, and oppressive, it brews hell without knowing it. Thinking that it knows all, it refuses instruction. To the perverted mind, imprisoned in a distorted body, Jesus looks weak, while God seems a myth, or mere brute force. Finally hell breaks loose in all its fury.
The most pathetic thing in this whole affair is that the good have to go to hell with the bad,—at least in this life. But it was ever so. Jesus truly "descended into hell," only it was before He died. The same is true of God and all His good sons. There is no other way to save the situation. Gehenna, as well as heaven, begins here and now. It may be that the rebellious sons of God have created a worse hell on the other side of the grave, but if they have, it is exactly the same in kind as that which they have made here. Every immoral and painful condition in the universe is wrought in God. God was as closely related to the recent war as a man is related to the abscess on his finger; and He is so related to all hells, in all worlds. For hell is never anything but a painful disturbance wrought in God's body by the sons whom He has enfolded in His bosom. And since there are so many discordant and vicious elements throughout all the world, it is to be hoped that the nations are being purged by the awful fires through which they are passing.
Has the earth had its last war? That is not at all likely. There is plenty of discord in society even now that the main war is over. Many wrongs must be righted and many problems solved or terror will break out somewhere. Human society and human institutions have grown about as large and complex as is possible, unless they can be dominated by a larger ideal and a more Christlike spirit. While I sympathize with all the hopes and aspirations of the noble men and women of our day for a more peaceful earth, yet I do so only on the condition that men will learn to know and obey the truth. Nothing should be left undone that will hasten the day of righteousness and peace.
God has two hands with which He is trying to save the world. The one is a crucified hand, and the other is a great steel hand. The crucified hand, which is the pledge of forgiveness and good will, is both logically and chronologically first. For nearly two thousand years God has been extending this hand. Millions have accepted it and lived; but many more have refused it, preferring the strife of the world. It is perfectly plain that society will not be saved by this means alone. Without minimizing the worth of the crucified hand, or withdrawing it, God is at last employing a hand of steel, as vast as the machinery of the world, and identical with it. God is placing His great steel fingers around men and drawing them together. No longer may men live apart, for under this new pressure nothing has value in isolation. Capital has no value without labor, neither has labor any value without capital; and these may no longer work successfully together without uplifting the weak nations of the earth. The masses and classes can no longer escape each other. Bound together by bands of steel, they may do one of two things—kill each other or love one another. There is no third alternative. I have faith that when men see themselves in the grip of the steel hand, they will choose the better alternative and, by clasping God's crucified hand, become brothers. As things have been going, scores of peoples on our little earth have lived in darkness and under the hand of awful oppression; they could have suffered and rotted for millenniums without the prosperous nations knowing or caring. At last, however, we know, and our own salvation now clearly rests on our caring. The articulate body of humanity has become as great as the nations of the earth, and that body is made up of the infinite energies of God. We now have the privilege of making this mighty body express more fully than ever before the thought and love of God, or else we shall be compelled to shape it into the most gigantic monster that ever stalked forth to do the foul deeds of hell. Were there a legion of leering and jeering devils, plotting evil against our earth, the comprehending mind could hear them say, "We wish for no more awful instruments of torture than these energies of the Infinite with which His children clothe themselves. Only let us lead them to fall out by the way, and they will damn each other by smiting with the infinite powers of their God." Men,—individuals and nations!—do we see it, do we know the simple rudiments of life, is it not clearly manifest that we must strive for the Christ life or socially commit suicide and murder?
Men have made such great mental and material growth that unlimited power is placed at their disposal. That fact makes this the greatest day in human history. I have already said that the man soul is in quest of omnipresence by progressively making the universe the instrument of his will. The hour has struck for his supreme effort in that direction; though simply creeping in the past, he may now run if only he will obey the divine law. However, if he will not obey, the hour for disintegration has arrived; and once more nations and empires must burn to the ground, and upon the ashes of the conflagration, the noble "remnant" must again begin to rebuild slowly and painfully the temple of God on earth.
If our old men are dreaming dreams, and our young men are seeing visions, let them come forth in this crisis. But thank God, they are coming! Millions are coming! We believe there will be enough to save the day. And what a day it will be if, after all this dreadful upheaval, we can reconstruct the world on such broad principles of righteousness and love that the race shall start upon a new era of peace and good will! We must not on account of ignorance or selfishness throw away this golden opportunity.
Get ye up upon the mountains, O Israel, O Church of God, and look for the day!