Editorial October 22, 1904 Issue

"Blessed are the peacemakers"

The echoes of the recent Peace Congress can never cease, for we may be sure that whatever of truth was embodied in its deliberations and utterances, — that will live on and touch to new and higher issues the silent chords of humanitarian sentiment and unselfish aspiration. It is noteworthy that in the formal appeal to the nations which represented the spirit of this Congress, we find a significant reference to the spiritual element which alone can insure true success to any movement for the uplifting of the race. It says, —

"The Congress at the conclusion of its deliberations appeals to the peoples of all nations and of all classes to arouse themselves to a finer and more adequate conception of their relations one to another, to a deeper sense of their mutual dependence and duties, to the community of both their material and spiritual interests."

The present unhappy strife in the Orient could not well have passed unnoticed, and it gained additional prominence when two men, representing Russia and Japan respectively, sat together on the platform, and it must surely have seemed a happy augury, when those two stood with hands clapsed in token of amity and of a desire for the realization of universal brotherhood. This incident may well recall Isaiah's graphic picture of the mortal strife existing when the Christ ideal appears, — "For every battle of the worrior is with confused noise, and garments rolled in blood." Then there suddenly comes a changed strain, "Unto us a child is born, . . . and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace. Of the increase of his government and peace there shall be no end."

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