The cost, it is said, oi one battleship, $10,* t>00,000, would put a 125,000 . agricultural school in each county of North Dakotah, endow it with an annuity of $10,500, and leave $1,000,000 for the State school. The $600,000,000 above mentioned would have done t he same for every State in the Un- ion, with a large surplus. If the millions of men and money annually sunk in the sup- port of military and naval training and es- tablishments were by agreement of "the powers" turned to the development of the world's resources, Mesopotamia,- Arabia, North Africa, the Sahara, the vast plains &nd tablelands of South America, by artesian wells, canals, irrigation, tree planting, road building, might become the most productive regions of the. earth, returning revenues be- side which even the cost of war would be a bagatelle. Famine, poverty and discon- tent, so far as material plenty could do it, would be forever banished. (d) The de- moniacal dementatlon of war. This is evi- dent in the fact that the suggested eco- nomic wisdom is not practiced by mankind. Such madness is attributable only to the god of this age, whose altar is the ba ttlefield, and his holocaust the blood of strife, jj i "And everybody praised the Duke, • Who this great fight did win." "But what good came of it a t last?" Quoth little Peterkin. "Why, that I cannot tell," said he, "But 'twas a famous victory." (e) Just war. There is such a thing as righteous war. Such were those judicial wars waged by direct command of God re- counted in the inspired record. Such are those waged In defense of country, and in protection of the weak and oppressed, but even'»these might be avoided.: And the prin- ciple on -the whole is true: "Ez fer war, I call it murder— Ther you have It plain and flat; 1 don't want to go no furder Than my Testyment fer that." II. PEAC'E. ? (1) The hope of peace. There is a good time coining when-^- "War In men's eves shall be A monster of Iniquity In the good time coming." The promise is, "they shall beat their swords into ploughshares, and their spears Into pruning hooks: nation shall not lift up a sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more" (Mic. 4:3). They shall yet do as we have imagined: turn the forces of war not to destroy but to develop the sources of wealth. (2) Whence shall peace come? It is expected through (a) "helping the peace societies do their noble work. By studying the question in Sun- day schools and public schools. By an earnest advocacy and study of missions, which do more than anything else to culti- vate the - spirit of love for other peoples, and understanding of them. By refusing to entertain prejudices against men of other races." (b) Through "an effective federa- tion of the nations, such as might fitly be called 'The United States of the World.' It will have a world constitution, a world
legislation, a' world judiciary, and a world executive, just as individual nations now have these instruments of government." All this is good In itself, and, since peace mak- ers are specially pleasing to God (Matt. 5:9), every Christian in his opportunity and ability should promote them; particularly the young who should be made advocates of those principles which ..have already settled international disputes tending to war. (c) But God's program is not this. The flesh knows no peace; cannot keep the peace. If "the United States of the World" is real- ized Antichrist will be its "executive." Though a. period comes when the doors of Janus shall be shut; when men shall say ; "Peace and safety, peace and safety," it will only be the precursor, of "sudden de- struction" (1 Thess. 5:3). For "till the end is war; . desolations are determined" (Dan. 9:26; lit.). "Nation' shall rise against na- tion . . till the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled (Luke 21:10-24). "Jerusalem shall be ; trodden down of the Gen- tiles, till the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled." No peace to the Gentiles while Jerusalem lies desolate. Our prophet Micah locates the era of peace after Jerusalem is established In the top of the mountains (Mic. 4:1); and the converted nations shall seek counsel not of Carnegie, or Roosevelt, but of the Lord; not at the "Peace Palace," but at "the house of the God of Jacob (v. 2), and "the law shall go forth" not from The Hague, but "from Zion," and the word not from Washington, or London, Come! Prince of Peace. Pith and Pivot.—T.C.H. of which they, took Gpd's Son and hung Him upon a cross. In that city the Lord Jesus, Israel's Messiah, is to establish. His throne and as King of the Jews, sitting unon the throne of David His Father, He will, rule over tli'e house' of Jacob, Luke 1:22. This beautiful picture of peace must be seen in its true setting. The first yerse of Micah's prophecy says that his prophecy c'oncerns Samaria and Jerusalem. The les- son .relates then to a future kingdom whose center is in the ancient city of God, out
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