But the first great preventive of war will be “Dread,” succeeded in the ultimate by the acceptance of the rule of ethics.
Man may create a Court of International Justice. God alone can create the force back of it for the enforcement of its decrees.
Out of that which appears evil, good does come. The sufferings of the battlefield will be sanctified by the generations of warless existence.
There were the burnt offerings and sacrifices of the Old Testament. They were symbolical.
The battlefields of Europe are the burnt offerings for perpetual peace.
The power of enforcement will first be practical, “Dread,” but as this is a base reason, it will gradually be changed by the light of a better understanding into the rule of ethics.
A WORLD COURT DEMANDED BY A NEW WORLD LIFE
BY
JOSIAH STRONG
There is, I think, a widespread impression that great world events of profound importance are now preparing. The break-down of time-honored theories of international relations based on armed force would seem to mark the end of the present war as a favorable time for the reconstruction of the political relations of the nations on a higher plane.