1914-08-18aa

            WAR

Curse of the nations since their birth,

   That works behind a thousand lies;

A monstrous brute that prowls this earth,

   With dripping fangs and bloodshot eyes.

The labor of a thousand years,

   The fruit of women’s travail-pain,

The father’s toil, the mother’s tears,

   Crush, blast and kill !  Pile up the slain !

Let loose the vengeful lusts of men

   And tear and rend what God made good;

And lope the wounds of Christ again,

   Till empty crawl to God for food.

JOHN STEPHEN.

 Hamilton, July 28, 1914.

          The opening days of the Great War in Europe was unsettling in the extreme for people all over the world, not less in Hamilton.

          John Stephen’s poem was filled with forebodings, fears which ministers in many Hamilton churches included in their sermons about the importance of the war.

From the pulpit of the Church of the Ascension, Rev. Canon Howitt , using Revelation xvii, 12-13 as the text of his sermon, stated that in his interpretation of the Scriptures, Great Britain would be victorious in the great European war.

The two verses, in the King James version read as follows:

“ And the ten horses which those sawest are ten kings, which have received no kingdom as yet; but receive power as kings one hour and with the beast.

“These have one mind, and shall give their power and strength unto the beast.”

Rev. Howitt began with reference to the commencement of hostilities in Europe, when the Archduke Ferdinand was assassinated and the rapid developments until ten empires were fighting with more to join: He noted that twenty million men were mustering up for battle on land, while on the seas, nearly two thousand ships were ready to do battle.

Reverend Howitt referred to the cost of the war in its earliest days as no less than 50 million dollars a day :

“ ‘But that will but a trifle of the waste. There will be millions of men killed and property destroyed to such an extent that its value cannot be estimated,’ he added.”¹

“Believes War is Beginning of the End”

Hamilton Times.    August 18, 1914.

          Reverend Canon Howitt stated that he felt the war had brought about great disillusionment in the world, no longer was the dawning of an era of universal peace even possible:

          “Of the significance of the war, he could not prophesy. No living man could

         “Canon Howitt did not claim to prophesy, but he did claim the right to read and interpret the word of God.

          “The European war was not the battle of Armageddon, in the opinion of the speaker, who next referred to Revelation xvi., according to which, he clared, the great war he had mentioned would be more awful, with the east against the west, in which the kings of the country where the sun rises would be pitted against the kings of Europe and America, and this would be the last great war.

          “But he believed the present disturbances were the first note of that awful time

“ ‘I see signs of a storm gathering in the East,’ he declared. He had been asked frequently if he thought  it possible that the Emperor was the Anti-Christ. He did not. Because the bible taught that the Anti-Christ would come out of Syria and that he would be a Jew.

“He had been asked if he thought the pope was the false prophet. He did not think so.

“ Would England come through victorious? ‘Yes, I believe she will. England is Tarsus. England as Tarsus has a great deal to answer for and must undergo a great deal of humiliation. But the Bible taught that Tarsus would be ready and prepared to meet God, and so England as Tarsus must come out all right”¹

Later that day, the war was the focus of a sermon, titled “Perilous Times” by Rev. W. E. Gilroy :

“ ‘Even when we are in the right,’ said Mr. Gilroy, ‘we should not go into the conflict with an insane desire to kill, but with a dread and horror of the war and a prayer for its speedy conclusion. If a nation is afraid and her men are cowards, then war should not be entered into under any consideration, but I thank God that this is not the case with Britain, and I also thank Him for being a man and a Britisher.

“ ‘ All of you have no doubt heard me criticize our Empire for the money which they have from time to time expended on great battleships and Dreadnoughts. I wish to state that do not regret one word that I have uttered along these lines for I firmly believe that had the nations desisted from building large battleships, the present war could have been avoided. I think this money could have been better spent in industrial enterprise, and for the furtherance of peace rather than an incentive to war

“ ‘This war, with all its horrors, may do some good. It will show the nations what modern warfare can do, and the next time a more expeditious and humane way may be devised for the settling of international difficulties.

“ ‘I ask you to join me in a prayer for the speedy termination of this conflict that is bound to cause sorrow and sufferings throughout our vast empire.

“ ‘May the will of God be done.’ ”²

^{2 “}Beware of the Spirit of War At This Time”

Hamilton Times.     August 18, 1914