of it: Colonel Ingersoll, an experienced lawyer, a practitioner and devotee of the science of jurisprudence, denying to the great Law-Giver a right inherent in and exercised by the humblest legislative body on earth! To such illogical extremes will men go, when they presume to pass judgment upon Providence. The Case of the Canaanites.-Joshua's war upon the Canaanites was a just war, designed to rid the earth of a corrupt generation, which had forfeited its right to longer remain, encumbering the soil, particularly that part which the Creator and Owner of the planet had given to a worthier people. Jehovah's command to clear the ground upon which he proposed erecting a national structure that should stand as a temple of wisdom and light for the welfare of all succeeding generations, did not impinge upon any command of his previously given. Neither is the Divine One amenable to human judgment. "Thou shalt not kill" was a commandment from God, not to him. His word is superior to all human enactments and to all man's notions of right and wrong. The war waged by Joshua and the hosts of Israel against the wicked and usurping Canaanites was in every respect justifiable, so far as it was conducted according to Jehovah's command." "The King Can Do No Wrong."-This proverb, when used by corrupt rulers to justify and cloak their crimes, is flagrantly false and pernicious. When applied to the King of Heaven, it is eminently and unquestionably true. The Author of life can send forth the destroyer and lay n. The same may be said of Israel's war upon the Amalekites, in the days of King Saul, and of similar wars undertaken by "the armies of the living God," heaven-directed and divinely empowered. Samuel's hewing of Agag "in pieces before the Lord," was not a crime, but an act of justice, a righteous retribution upon an unrighteous ruler, whose sword had "made women childless.'1. Sam. 15:33. waste his enemies, without blood-guiltiness or even the shadow of wrong-doing. He can decree wars, and allow the wicked to slay the wicked, without partaking of their evil deeds or making himself responsible for their demon-inspired atrocities. These must all be accounted for at the bar of Eternal Justice. The American Revolution. It was not Satan who caused the heroic struggle of the American colonies, giving them power to win their freedom and independence, to the end that a nation might arise upon this chosen soil with a mission to foster and protect the infant and growing Church of Christ. That was a righteous war, and the divine inspiration for it rested upon the Patriot Fathers." who, at the hazard of their lives, signed the immortal Declaration, and drew their swords to defend and perpetuate that sublime annunciation of liberty and equal rights. The World War. So with the great war that overthrew the German Kaiser, putting an end to the wicked strife that he was waging. It was a righteous against an unrighteous exertion of military force. What better motive could a nation have than that which actuated the American people in sending forth their armies and navies to check the on-rushing hordes that were bent upon crushing freedom and setting an iron heel on the neck of the world? It was a holy war, so far as America was concerned; and a just war, a war of self-defense, on the part of her associated powers. The God of Justice was in it for the welfare of humanity. Who can doubt that He upheld and sustained the arms of those who carried it to a victorious conclusion? And if the result shall be even a partial clearing of the way for the introduction or further spread of Liberty's Perfect Law among spiritually benighted nations, the mightiest and costliest of earth's conflicts will not have been in vain. o, 1 Nephi 13:16-19. ARTICLE TWENTY-SIX. God's Hand Upon the Nations. Compelling Situations.-The Lord will force no man to Heaven, nor permit Satan to force any man to Hell. Human agency remains inviolate. But while there is no such thing in the Gospel of Christ as compulsion, in the sense of fettering man's free will, there is such a thing as a compelling situation, the creating of conditions. and shaping of circumstances that have often influenced men to do, of their own volition, what they would not have done if the situation had not changed. if such conditions and circumstances had not arisen. A simple illustration is furnished in the old-time anecdote of the boy up the farmer's apple tree—refusing to come down when kindly requested; persisting in his refusal when sharply reprimanded and a handful of turf thrown; but, when pelted with stones, scrambling down in a hurry of his own accord. That is my idea of a compelling situation; the offender retaining his freedom, exercising his right of choice, but yielding to force of circumstances, and changing his mind for his own behoof. "There's a divinity that shapes our ends, The Parable of the Supper.-Force, indirect compulsion, applied without infringing upon man's agency, is undoubtedly an element of the divine economy. What else is the meaning of the Savior's parable in which he likens the Kingdom of Heaven to a feast? "A certain man made a great supper, and bade many: "And sent his servant at supper-time, to say to them that were bidden, Come, for all things are now ready. "And they all with one consent began to make excuse. The first said unto him, I have bought a piece of ground, and I must needs go and see it: I pray thee have me excused. ! "And another said, I have bought five yoke of oxen, and I go to prove them: I pray thee have me excused. 'And another said. I have married a wife and therefore I cannot come. "So that servant came, and showed his lord these things. Then the master of the house, being angry, said to his servant. Go out quickly into the streets and lanes of the city, and bring in hither the poor, and the maimed. and the halt, and the blind. "And the servant said, Lord, it is done as thou hast commanded, and yet there is room. "And the lord said unto the servant, Go out into the highways and hedges, and compel them to come in, that my house may be filled."a The inference is, that they were "compelled to come in," but not against their own freedom of choice. Fishers and Hunters.-The God of Israel has set his hand to gather his elect and prepare the world for the sanctifying reign of righteousness. He will accomplish what he has undertaken, using for that purpose every means consistent and available. Christ died to save the souls of men, and save them He will-by mild measures whenever these will avail; but by stern methods, if necessary, after the mild have proved ineffectual. First, the "fishers," with gentle, kind persuasion. Then the "hunters"-war, commotion and destruction. Such is the divine program." a, Luke 14:16-23. b, Jer. 16:16. The Day of Wrath-A Refuge From the Storm.—Joseph the Seer prophesied that war would "be poured out upon all nations." Zion, the pure in heart, are to "be the only people that shall not be at war one with another." "And it shall come to pass, among the wicked, that every · man that will not take his sword against his neighbor, must needs flee unto Zion for safety." To provide against these and other perils, the Church of Christ was founded"a standard for the nations," "that the gathering together upon the land of Zion and upon her stakes," might be "for a defense, and for a refuge from the storm, and from Iwrath when it shall be poured out without mixture upon the whole earth."e Other Judgments.—But war is not the only expression of divine wrath. The strife of nation against nation is but one of many turmoils that the last days are destined to witness. Epidemics of sickness are to play a part in the great retribution.f John on Patmos heard a voice from Heaven say: "Come out of her, my people, that ye reIceive not of her plagues." Through Joseph in America, the same dread oracle proclaimed "a desolating scourge," that "shall go forth among the inhabitants of the earth, and shall continue to be poured out from time to time if they repent not, until the earth is empty and the inhabi tants thereof are consumed away and utterly destroyed by the brightness of my coming."h Divine Participation.—And who, after reading what follows, can doubt divine participation in these troubles: C, D. & C. 87:2. d, Ib. 45:68, 69. e, Ib. 115:4-6. f, Ib. 45:31. "An overflowing scourge-a desolating sickness," to "cover the land." g, Rev. 18:4. h, D. & C. 5:19. |