plain delusions from the devil. Spain, a small and poor country, deceived into thinking it necessary to keep 120,000 men constantly under arms. That such a military force is necessary for the safety and welfare of the Spanish people is a very plain delusion. Austria, another small country, deceived into thinking it necessary to keep 400,000 men always under arms. Russia exceeds all, with over 1,200,000 fighting men in its armies. That such a military force is necessary for the safety and welfare of the Russian people is to day a more transparent delusion than Adam and Eve yielded to when they lost their goodly estate and inheritance of Eden. Such conditions as militarism imposes are beyond question injurious to the moral, material, and physical welfare of nations. After the Napoleonic wars there was a perceptible decline in stature of about two inches in the French people, from which they have not to this day fully recovered. Were the church, in faithfulness to both God and man, to proclaim Christ as King, and that the golden rule applies not only to individuals, but also to the government of nations, it would help dispel these delusions of the devil, to the very great benefit and welfare of the people. XI. DISARM THE NATIONS. Suppose an individual among us were to spend his time manufacturing explosive bombs, filling them with dynamite and giant powder, employing his family in the work until they were not properly fed or clothed or educated. At times some of them would explode and destroy a large factory employing hundreds or shatter a railroad roundhouse indispensable to the transportation system of a city or State. Were this to occur would we not insist that the public authority should not only ferret out and punish the offender but also prohibit the manufacture of such engines of destruction? Why not apply that same principle to nations and insist that beyond a reasonable amount for defense they must not pile up guns, fortifications, dreadnaughts, and standing armies so as to become a peril and menace to their peaceable neighbors? In the Dark Ages every petty lord was allowed to gather up a band of retainers, build a castle, from which they sallied out to rob, burn, and plunder without any restraint or hindrance. The only way they could have a town was to build walls about it and station a force of armed men every night at the gates sufficient to repel any attack that might be made. It took Europe centuries to learn if they would suppress the marauders and level their castles then their towns would be safe without walls or guards at the gates, and they would avoid all that labor and expense. We to-day look back with astonishment at those times and wonder they were so slow to understand and apply principles of such vital importance to their welfare and happiness. It is highly probable that future generations will look back on us with still greater wonder and astonishment that with the superior advantages we now have in knowledge and means of communication we are so slow in removing the cause for fortifications, fleets of dreadnaughts, and vast standing armies, with their crushing weight of taxation. XII. GOLDEN RULE. This is a world age such as the earth has never before witnessed. People in the Dark Ages knew but little beyond their own immediate neighborhood. Facilities for travel and communication were wanting. The art of printing did not exist. Not more than one in five hundred could spell their way through a psalm. The most learned among them did not know if it was the earth or the sun that did the rising and setting. With us it is different. Schools, telegraphs, newspapers, railroads, steamships, missionaries, and commercial intercourse acquaint us with the people and conditions in all nations. Inquire from the Standard Oil if they are doing any business in Java and they will tell you their wagons run there the same as in Kansas. Inquire from the McCormicks in Chicago if they sell reapers and harvesting machinery in Siberia and they will tell you their agents cover that territory the same as the wheat fields in the Dakotas. Inquire from the typewriter companies if they are sending out their goods to Africa or South America and they will tell you they have their general offices sending out canvassers from Capetown and Rio Janeiro the same as from Omaha and Boston. Inquire from the missionary societies where they have schools, hospitals, publishing houses, and are erecting churches and sending out teachers, physicians, and evangelists, and they will tell you to the four quarters of the globe. Now, then, in this world age could there not be under the aegis of this great Republic a gathering of the nations as clearly foretold by the prophet Isaiah and for this very purpose of promoting peace? The sooner it is held the better for the peace of mankind and the welfare and prosperity of all nations. The only principle on which they can come together is the Golden Rule. On that all nations can meet and form treaties of peace until The war drum throbs no longer In the Parliament of man The Federation of a world. XIII. UNITED STATES. In this chosen Nation, set apart for the triumphs of peace, we are in some respects going backward. Militarism has of late come into this land like Milton's devil that took a seat Hard by the throne of God And with his darkness dared to affront the light. It is but little to our credit as a Republic that we are now the second naval power in the world. Our expenditures for ships of war are not only doubling and quadrupling they are now six times what they were 20 years ago. This shows the pace we are going like the empires of antiquity and that led them downward to their ruin and destruction. There is also a similar increase for the Army. When the Nation was established under Washington we had to contend with the Indians of the Mississippi Valley, Spain in Florida, and the French in Louisiana. Since then our population has increased thirtyfold, but our current military expenditures near three hundred fold, and most of it in the last 20 years. This increase has come about after all armed resistance to the national authority on this continent has ceased, and we have the best natural defense in the world in being surrounded with 3,000 miles of ocean. In the face of these great advantages, out of every dollar now paid into the Treasury of the United States 40 cents of it goes out in current military expenditures and not at all including Civil War debt or pensions. We are now annually spending the enormous amount of $250,000,000 a year for the support of our present Army and Navy. Suppose the half, or the quarter, or even the tenth part of that amount were spent for good roads, or in irrigating the semiarid regions of Montana, Wyoming, Colorado, and Arizona. Imagine how the desert in some of these States would blossom like the rose, the parched ground become a pool, and the dry and thirsty land where no water is have grass with reeds, rushes, happy homes, bountiful crops, and abundant harvests. XIV. LIBERTY OF A MILITOCRACY. America is the land of liberty. America without liberty would be like Israel without the true religion of her patriarchs, prophets, and apostles; or like Greece without her arts and letters, and the poets, orators, and philosophers they produced. True liberty is always consistent with righteousness and confers many and great benefits. Montesquieu two centuries ago, and when the subject was but little understood, declared that "the prosperity of a nation depends less on the fertility of the soil than on the liberty of its people.' This is the trust we have here for ourselves, for our children, and also to a certain extent for the whole human race. It is for us in this Nation, both by precept and example, to prove to the world that under liberty man can advance in prosperity and civilization. In fulfilling that destiny and very high calling it may not be amiss to consider the experience of other nations. The voice of history and from all nations proclaims that liberty and a militocracy are incompatible. In proof, it points to the fact that militarism is the grave in which lie buried the hopes and desires of humanity for free government in the past. Israel was founded as a free commonwealth, but the military spirit obtained the ascendancy and liberty ceased among the Hebrews when Saul was made King over the protests of Samuel. There was much of the democratic principle in the cities of Greece, but the military spirit obtained the ascendancy, and liberty ceased at Athens when Alexander became supreme, over the protests of Demosthenes. Rome was founded as a republic, but the military spirit obtained the ascendancy and liberty ceased when Cæsar became dictator. France waded through seas of blood to establish liberty, equality, and fraternity, but the military spirit soon obtained the ascendancy and liberty ceased when Napoleon became Emperor. There is a very plain lesson in these great events, well worth considering by every patriotic American that desires liberty to continue in these United States. XV. CANADIAN LINE. That the golden rule is a safe guide for nations I will cite you to an example. One hundred years ago there was war between England and the United States. At the close a treaty was formed pledging good will and that neither side would keep ships of war on the Great Lakes. The treaty also had the effect to keep them from erecting fortifications anywhere along the Canadian line. Had we followed the counsels of militarism, fortifications would have been erected by England at Niagara, Kingston, Toronto, and every important place to Vancouver. We would be required to match them at Buffalo, Cleveland, Detroit, Chicago, and every city near the line to Seattle and Port Townsend. One hundred millions a year would be a very moderate estimate for military expenditures of each side in keeping up these garrisons, fortifications, and a fleet of battleships for the Lakes. That is the way Germany and France manage their boundary. On both sides it bristles with guns and fortifications frowning at each other. These are occupied with armies fiercely looking across the line at what are assumed to be enemies. Germany constantly keeps forty or fifty thousand soldiers at Metz and Strassburg. France does just the same at Nancy and along the Moselle. The railroad stations are also fortified and have secret passages connecting them with the nearest garrison so that they can quickly be occupied with an armed force. We have escaped all that through forming a treaty on the golden rule. You can to-day travel anywhere for 3,000 miles along the Canadian line without seeing a fortress, or even a gun mounted, or an armed ship other than a revenue cutter, and they are limited to carrying not more than one 18-pound cannon. It is not only that we have saved the expense, which would have probably aggregated ten billions to each side for the century just closing, but also to a considerable extent the liability of war. It is with nations like individuals when armed, it increases the probability of war, and that on slight provocation there may be a conflict. As the poet has said: The opportunity to do ill deeds Oft makes ill deeds done. XVI. PEACE TREATIES. In the last Nations can settle their differences by arbitration. century many in that way have been adjusted. The most notable was claims for depredations committed by the Alabama, when England paid fifteen millions. It was better for England to have done that, or paid fifty, or even five hundred millions, than to have engaged in war. The essential thing in these international differences is to determine what is just and right between the parties. The way war has for finding that out is to see which of them can burn the greatest number of ships, set fire and destroy the greatest number of towns, and main, wound, and slaughter the greatest number of people on the other side. This method is surely not very creditable to the morals, intelligence, and good judgment of mankind, and in the twentieth century ought to be relegated to the past, and particularly among the Christian nations. Recently a peace treaty was signed by England and France, and only needed to be confirmed by our Senate to make it operative. Had it been ratified, it is almost certain it would also have been agreed to by Spain, Portugal, Denmark, Germany, Norway, Sweden, and about all the Christian nations, and virtually assured the peace of the world. It provided they would not make war on each other, or allow it against any nation signing the treaty until there was first a year's notice, and in the meantime the cause of difference was submitted to arbitrators-three chosen from each side, and five must agree to render a decision. The failure of the Senate to ratify leaves us still in the wilderness of guns, fortifications, standing armies, fleets of dreadnoughts, and large military expenditures, with their drain on labor and the resources of the Nation. It ought to appeal to our faith, hope, and charity to bring this up again and again until finally adopted and the peace which is the distinguishing mark of the gospel dispensation is realized; and beyond all doubt the leader in that movement should be the United States. XVII. CHRIST A KING. In view of the song of the angels and the blessings Christ pronounced on the peacemakers that they above all others shall be called the children of God, there can be no question about the doctrine. Every church in faithfulness to God in heaven and also to man upon earth should be a peace society and use its influence against war. Were I called on to point out the weakness of the modern church I would place it in the absence of a clear vision of Christ as King. Churches in general to-day see Christ as a priest atoning for sin and offering salvation to the soul; somewhat dimly as a prophet revealing what will come to pass; but scarcely at all as a King ruling in righteousness. He claimed before Pilate to be a King, and it was so inscribed in three languages on his cross. The church and ministry that does not recognize Christ as King becomes unable to produce the environments and social conditions that promotes the welfare of the people and are such an important part in the coming of the Kingdom of God among men. Probably the greatest single cause of the destruction of Israel as a nation was the unfaithfulness of their priesthood. The same unfaithfulness over the national and governmental teachings of the gospel is not any better in the ministry of a New Testament church. There is nothing taught in the Scriptures for individuals or nations that church and ministry may not bind for wristlets on their hands and for frontlets between their eyes and glory in every word that cometh from the Lord. The stars of heaven guided the wise men to render homage to Christ as King at his nativity. How much more since His miracles, atonement, and resurrection should stars in the pulpit to-day proclaim the same doctrine about him whose reign is to bring peace on earth and good will among men. XVIII. VISIONS AND VISIONARIES. God gives light, wisdom, and understanding to those who serve him. In using the gospel means of grace we may see visions, have dreams, and hear voices. A mental quickening attends the gospel that is the root cause of the intellectual superiority of the Christian nations. America has been singularly favored in this respect more than any other nation, Israel not excepted. Indeed, America may be said to have commenced with the vision of Columbus at the discovery. Since then those who did most to build up the Nation were dreamers and visionaries. Cyrus McCormick had a vision that horses could be used to cut grain. It was thought at the time to be a very absurd way of thinking; so that of the seven machines made the first year, he either had to sell them on credit or give them away. Nevertheless his idea has enriched the Nation and benefited humanity almost beyond computation. Goodyear had a vision that rubber |