Week 48 Sunday
Week 48 Sunday
Why We Go to War
Isaiah 32:14-18; 57:20-21; 58:10-12
We studied last week the incompatibility of war and the Way. Many—shall I say most?—people will agree with me that the Way and war are incompatible, but they ask, “What’s the alternative to war?” Are we to sit down and let evil overrun us? Is that the answer of those who repudiate war? No, a thousand times, no. We don’t want evil to overrun anybody, least of all ourselves. We are against evil in all its forms, against it so much that we do not believe in creating one evil—war—to get rid of another evil. Two evils never make a good. A war poster says, “Whoever wins the war, the kids lose.” Yes, but everybody loses, victor and vanquished. No one can win a war. It’s not a matter of which side loses most; everybody loses.
For two or three years during the war, I said to audiences something like this, “There is a difference between this war and other wars, and the difference is profound. It is this: Nobody believes in this war. Even those who support it don’t believe in it. Their mood is “Yes, we are caught by the war; we’re in a jam; we’ve got to go through with it; it’s a nasty mess to clean up; but this isn’t the way—this isn’t the way to settle international disputes. Why should we bum down the house of civilization periodically to get rid of a few rats? Can’t we build a house of civilization that is rat proof?” That is the mood. When I first began saying that, I thought that I would get a comeback. I bowed my head for the recoil. Not one person has ever come up to me and said, “You’re wrong. I believe in it.” Not one. Why? Well, we don’t believe in it. This is sheer gain. Humanity has come to the place where it doesn’t believe in its chief occupation: making war.
Then if we don’t believe in war, why do we go to war? The answer is simple: We have no alternative. There is no other method to settle international disputes. There is no world government over us to which we can refer international disputes for settlement. With all the good will in the world, we will continue to go to war until we get a government over us. International anarchy is the cause of international war.
O God, you are teaching us, slowly teaching us in spite of our costly stupidities. Open our minds, that we may see, and seeing, help us to act and to act with decisiveness and fearlessly. For mistakes and prejudices cost blood. Help us. Amen.
AFFIRMATION FOR THE DAY: It is love, as the outward expression of one spirit within, which is the means of making oneness of humankind a genuine reality.
Week 48 Monday
Everything That Makes for War
Isaiah 60:17-20
We left off yesterday at the place where we said that we go to war because we have no world government over us to which we can refer our disputes. In these United States, we have everything that produces war between nations: sectional differences, religious tensions, racial clashes, class differences, vested interests, and selfish people wanting power. Besides, we have a heterogeneous people out of many racial backgrounds with a history of hate and war in Europe. And yet with all that we do not go to war. Why? Because we have a government over us to which we can refer our disputes for settlement. That government has three things: moral authority, courts of justice, and police power sufficient to bring the culprit before the bar of justice to be tried by a tribunal of right.
Before government was established in the sparsely settled West of the United States, people went armed; and when any dispute arose, they shot it out. Were they more warlike than others? No, but they had no alternate method of settling disputes. When government was established, those pistols dropped away, and people argued it out before tribunals instead of shooting it out. The thing that stopped the shooting was not mere goodwill but organized goodwill in government. That is lacking in international affairs; we have no government over us. And we will continue to go to war until we do.
That world government will take one of these two forms: a world state or federal union. I do not believe that an undifferentiated world state is possible or desirable. Had we tried that in this country, had we wiped out all state boundaries and functions and amalgamated them in one state governed from Washington, we would have failed. And rightly. For the one undifferentiated state doesn’t provide for state rights, for local differences and responsibilities and freedom. Federal union does. It provides for union with local self-expression. It fulfills two instincts: the desire for union with the whole, and the desire for local self-expression through local self-government. It harmonizes two apparently opposite instincts: union and difference. Federal union is therefore founded on human nature.
O God, we thank you that you are leading your children everywhere to a union that will not wipe out our differences but will provide that they exist in a deep and fundamental union. You are teaching us. Help us to learn. In Jesus’ name. Amen.
AFFIRMATION FOR THE DAY: Love must be organized into corporate relations.
Week 48 Tuesday
The Meaning of Federal Union
Ezekiel 11:16-20
We saw yesterday that federal union holds the only promise of a world union. Note that we say “federal union” and not “federation.” A federation is a league of sovereign entities; they have delegated no sovereignty. Federal union is not a league of sovereign entities, but a union of those who have delegated sovereignty to that union. Under that union, they have freedom, but the union is supreme and sovereign.
The United States is not a federation; it is a federal union. We came near forming a “League of Friendship” among sovereign colonies. Had we done so, what would have happened? We would have had forty-eight sovereign states, each with its sovereign government, its foreign office, military establishment, border defenses, tariffs, customs, fears—and wars. We would have been the cockpit of this Western world—the Balkans of the Americas. We refused that and asked the colonies to delegate that sovereignty to the union, to lose their lives to find them again in a fellowship. How they were led to do it, I cannot see, except by divine providence.
For these colonies were often very strained in their relationships. An English visitor, after journeying a thousand miles among the colonies in 1760, reported, “Oil and water cannot mix any sooner than can these colonies.”* A delegate stood up in the assembly of North Carolina and pleaded that a Chinese wall of exclusion be placed on the northern border of North Carolina to protect the culture, the religion, the civilization of North Carolina from Virginia! Norfolk debased its currency to get the trade away from Baltimore, which in turn debased its currency to get the trade away from Philadelphia, which in turn debased its currency to get the trade away from New York. New York State declared war on Connecticut over a boundary dispute, and Massachusetts declared its neutrality. Sounds modern! And yet these sovereign colonies lost themselves, made the union supreme, and found themselves! They fulfilled the law of the kingdom of God deeply embedded in the nature of reality, “Whoever would save his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life . . . will find it” (Matt. 16:25). We found ourselves in a stable and glorious union, a federal union. Unconsciously we became the archetype of world union.
O God, whose Almighty hand has led us thus far on the way, guide us to the consummation of our destiny—a world federal union. For you are guiding us, we feel it in our bones. In Jesus’ name. Amen.
AFFIRMATION FOR THE DAY: “There’s a divinity that shapes our ends, Rough-hew them how we will.”**
*No published source was found for this quotation.
**William Shakespeare, Hamlet, act 5, scene 2.
Week 48 Wednesday
Surrender of Sovereignty
Luke 9:24; Philippians 2:2-11
We saw yesterday how we, as colonies, were guided—divinely guided, I believe—to fulfill a law of losing life to find it again. The League of Nations broke that law and broke itself in the process. Each nation in the League of Nations saved its life, refused to surrender any sovereignty to the union, and lost its life in universal chaos and war. The League of Nations didn’t fail because the United States wasn’t in it, though we should have been in it. Had we been in it, it would have come to the same end, for it was trying the impossible—trying to have a union without any surrender of sovereignty to that union.
Suppose two people intending to form a union in marriage should say, “We will have a union, but neither of us will surrender any sovereignty to the union.” How long would the union last? About as long as many marriages now last, and for the same reason!
Two patterns for peace are emerging: (1) leagues, pacts, treaties, charters among sovereign nations; (2) a federal union of the world.
The first pattern for peace will not keep us out of wars. Leagues, pacts, treaties, and charters among sovereign nations are only truces between wars. There is no government over these sovereign nations to decide matters of dispute between them. Hence, every nation has to be ready to decide the matter itself based on armed might. We had 4,800 treaties in operation when the last war came, and we broke them like Samson broke the green bowstrings binding him when Delilah said, “The Philistines are upon you” (Judg. 16:12). Leagues, pacts, treaties, and charters between sovereign nations cannot, by the very nature of things, keep us out of war. To rely on them to keep us out of war is to lean on a broken stick that, when it breaks, pierces our hands—and our hearts.
The crux of the world problem is now bare before us: will the nations delegate sovereignty to a world federal union, or will they refuse to delegate sovereignty and continue to trust in leagues, pacts, treaties, and charters? All other questions are marginal; this is central. If they will not willingly delegate sovereignty for peace, they will unwillingly delegate it for war.
O God, we have come to the crux of the world problem. Both in the individual and in the collective we must lose our lives to find them again. You are bringing us to the Valley of Decision. Help us. Amen.
AFFIRMATION FOR THE DAY: Every unit—individual, group, nation—must surrender itself to save itself.
Week 48 Thursday
We Have Already Delegated Sovereignty
Romans 13:1-7
We ended yesterday by saying that it is not a question of surrendering sovereignly but a question of doing it willingly or unwillingly. For the moment war comes sovereignty is surrendered—to war.
The fact is that we in the United States have already delegated sovereignty. There is a commission called “The International Boundary Commission,” made up of three Canadians and three Americans,* into whose hands have been placed for decision all questions concerning the boundary, water rights, pollution, fishing rights—all questions that arise concerning the boundary between Canada and the United States. For thirty years, it has functioned and has settled some knotty questions. For instance, it found on resurveying the boundary between Maine and Canada that Fort Montgomery, a United States fort on which we had expended some millions, was on Canadian territory. A fort to protect the United States from Canada on Canadian soil! But the commission, used to dealing with large questions in a large way, simply drew a line around the fort, took it in, and then dipped down on the other side and gave Canada a corresponding amount of territory. Then the United States became ashamed of that fort. Wasn’t it the only fort on three thousand miles of boundary line? And wasn’t it the safest international boundary in the world? So we tore it down and used the materials to make roads between these two countries. On the West coast, the fumes from the Trail Smelting Works on the Canadian side came over and damaged the orchards of the American farmers, who put in a bill for $2,500,000. Expert testimony assessed the loss at $250,000, which was paid. Then the fumes had to be dealt with. The fumes were used to make fertilizer for the orchards!
For thirty years, this commission has functioned, and never once has it failed to come to a unanimous conclusion. And the point of the story is this: The commission settles every question without reference back to the Canadian Parliament or to the Congress of the United States. In other words, we have delegated sovereignty to this commission. Nationally humiliated thereby? No, ennobled.
O God, you are teaching us that the only way to find life is to lose it—to lose it in something beyond ourselves. Teach us the supreme lesson of losing our individual and our national selves in your kingdom. Then we shall find ourselves—fulfilled. Amen.
AFFIRMATION FOR THE DAY: I shall surrender myself to ever-widening loyalties, but shall make the supreme surrender only to the kingdom.
*In 2014, the commission included one commissioner from the United States and one from Canada. See http://www.internationalboundarycommission.org/about.html .
Week 48 Friday
The Three Stages for Nations
1 Corinthians 3:1-3; 13:11
In a previous study, we saw that three stages of life for the individual were: (1) dependence—the childhood stage, (2) independence—the stage of adolescence, (3) interdependence—the stage of maturity. Nations go through those same three stages: (1) dependence—the stage of imperialism where one nation tells another nation what to do, (2) independence—the stage where nations demand freedom for themselves, (3) interdependence—the stage where, finding that independence is not all that it is supposed to be (that we are interdependent), we deliberately relate ourselves to something beyond ourselves and find ourselves in the process; we come to the stage of maturity.
Humanity is strung out in all three stages. But we are coming—and coming inevitably—to the third stage of interdependence, the stage of maturity. As the individual very often never grows up, but continues to assert independence—in other words adolescence—so nations continuously assert their independence, saying they will delegate no sovereignty to anything, thereby showing they are not super-patriotic but merely adolescent. We will come to interdependence, and the pattern for that interdependence is federal union, for in federal union there is union with local independence and freedom. We thereby do not despise independence; we fulfill it under a higher interdependence.
In the words of President Truman, “It will be just as easy for nations to get along in a republic of the world as it is for us to get along in a republic of the United States.”* One of the things that led to the formation of our federal union, we are told, was the oysters of the Chesapeake Bay. No one could decide to whom they belonged, Virginia or Maryland. Of all the dumb things leading to a wise conclusion, this takes the prize, dumb oysters leading to a federal union! It makes us hope that God will be able to use our stupidities to lead to a world union! World government must have three things: moral authority, courts of justice, and police power sufficient to bring the criminal before the bar of justice to be tried.
We in America have been God’s proving ground to prove out a principle, the principle of federal union. The British Commonwealth of Nations has also been a proving ground. The principle works.
O God, our Lord, slowly but surely we have seen the hand of destiny pointing us to federal unions. Give us courage and largeness of heart that we may follow and follow unafraid. For you are leading us. Amen.
AFFIRMATION FOR THE DAY: Only the immature and the unsure refuse to surrender to a higher loyalty.
*Harry S. Truman, “Remarks Upon Receiving an Honorary Degree from the University of Kansas City” (June 28, 1945). http://trumanlibrary.org/publicpapers/index.php?pid=75&st=&st1=.
Week 48 Saturday
A Union of Peoples
Isaiah 11:1-9
In a world federal union, there would be a common citizenship, common currency, common postage, common defense, and a common loyalty to the union. That union must have in its original nucleus the representatives of all races and all colors. We must not try to form a union of the Anglo-Saxons and then invite others into it; that would be psychologically impossible. It must be a world union, and it must not be dominated by any nation or group of nations.
But an objection arises: If this federal union has moral authority, courts of justice, and police power, will this not mean that in the exercise of that police power coercion will be used; and if states are coerced, will this not mean war? We got over that difficulty in these United States by a simple expedient. We formed a union, not of the states, but of the people of the states. “We the people of the United States . . . do ordain and establish.” This had great consequences. When a person in a state commits a crime, we do not send a federal army to smash up the whole state. Instead, we extradite and bring the criminal before the bar of justice. We use just enough force to get the criminal before the bar of justice to be tried.
We could do the same concerning world union. It would be a union, not of the states, but of the people of the states. Therefore, if a person or a group of persons went wrong in a member state, we would not send an army to smash up the whole state; we would extradite the criminals and bring them before a bar of justice. That would be a legitimate use of force, for the end is a tribunal of right. In war, the end is not a tribunal of right but a tribunal of might. Police force and force used in war are different.
When the Constitution was being signed, the delegate from Frederick, Maryland, before he signed, said, “I am a citizen of the town of Frederick, of the county of Frederick, of the state of Maryland, and now I choose to be a citizen of the United States.”* Someday, I hope I can say, “I am a citizen of Baltimore, of the state of Maryland, of the United States of America, and now I choose to be a citizen of the world.”
O God, help us not to be like the children of Israel as they viewed the Promised Land but drew back and died in the wilderness. Help us to go in and possess the land, for you are leading us. In Jesus’ name. Amen.
AFFIRMATION FOR THE DAY: “I saw thrones with people sitting on them” (Rev. 20:4 Moffatt). The people shall finally reign.
*No published source was found for this quotation.