| Show contention AND ND ITS EVILS PEACE AND ITS BLE blemings if the thing wi vere re not so very common it abuid be a matter mitter of surprise why on anybody hould take so fio much delight ji creastini erea crea ting tini dissension and causing the tho misery and unhappiness which flow now from irom them that we find pre prevailing ailing to burh bunh buch burb a very preat threat extent among mankind tf the e eils fils ils which accrue from such a course vere were not participated in by those most eager egor to call them into exist nee it might be supposed that a few ew possessed by some kind of a satanic spirit desired to wreak a fiendish ven gean upon tl c rest of humanity for sonic some real or supposed slight slig ill lil or injuries but B it this is is not the tile case A spirit broods over the earth chich impello the chil chii children dren drun of men to acts of evil and wrong ere creating dissensions fostering dis disputes putts producing pro ducin x wars and culminating in the wholesale slaughter of men who never pero personally nally wronged each other by themselves then selves this spirit puts its manifestations mania in physical form in every degree from the pugilists to the vast vaa hosts of men assembled face to face in the terrible panoply of war it manifests itself in another form in that incessant craving for disputation and argument for contention and opposition which charae charac characterizes tc the course pursued by the bulk of civilized mankind it is the spirit of destruction therefore of death an nu I 1 Us is in direct opposition to the tha spirit of the gospel which is the spirit of life and peace place pl ace many of our enemies have havo their anger increased against us apparently because wo we will not stoop to contention coil coli with them they would have more creaso i to have it increased if we did for foiled vanity at the disclosure of their lack of arguments and the emptiness of hollow words would induce chagrin that would undoubtedly intensify all the bitter feelings which they tiley betray it is easy borrowing enough of adjective adjectives from froni webster to fling filth at may differ from us in opinion but what good go od would result from it none this we ave know andave and we are perfectly willing to let all who delight deligh t ill in feeding on such putrid and unwholesome matter find food that suits them elsewhere we have la c enemies north south cast and west in this and in ma many ny other nations we have also friends and while we ave would bind the latter more firmly to us by deeds of brotherly kindness and charity we will let the tile former indulge their propensities for contention among themselves how much of happiness of prosperity of good to man of well avell being to io communities muni ties and nations has this spirit of contention ever produced none but it has lias presented the sad spectacle of a world engaged 0 in a ceaseless strife casting the blight of misery on the fairest creations of the almighty destroying the noblest of his works and spreading ruin and desolation over the face of the earth apart from the tile deadly internecine strife in which as a 0 nation we ave are arg now engaged what is the condition of the boasted lands of enlightenment and refinement in the old world in E europe drope alone nearly three millions of men are hired cloth cioth clothed eq fed and paid regularly to learn and practice the trade of human butchery when of nations engage M in conflict the greatness of the contest invests it with a certain grandeur and fictitious glory which make men inel loften often forget that it is only the working 0 of the same spirit which is manifest in other and different dif dit forms in every circle of society domestic broils petty brawls sectarian controversies political disputes rancorous newspaper discussions and the varied other forms in which it is seen and known are but the incipient stages 0 of that same moral disease dis dif sease cease which 1 leads r nen men to re slaughter and decimates nations nat loni ioni its prevalence throughout Z the world shows what a lamentable condition mankind aro arc in and liow ilow low much they lack the knowledge of those principles wa which liell produce peace and perpetuate life and because we point out these facts and would fain win lvin men to a knowledge of and participation in the blessings we enjoy those who differ from us would have us cast them thom aside after having realized their value and be smitten with the baneful contention which like a canker eats a away y their happiness the physician who wiio points out to the victim of a aser serious senious lous ious disease the peril in which ho he is standing while lie he proposes remedies wisely endeavors to avoid the contagion the tile principles odthe of the gospel teaell teach us that peace happiness and righteousness k are attainable b by tl 10 se ie who practice them and obedience obe ence to them have demonstrated the thear tr truthfulness IN e only seek to extend a knowledge of those principles that tint the happy results flowing from the practice of them may become universally felland felt feit and experienced |
