What is militarism?

Samuel gives them in detail a description of the king that should rule them. It was not God's ideal of what a king should be, but the manner of the king of their choice that would be given them as a punishment for their wilful rejection of God's rule through Samuel. He would be a despot, fierce, cruel, a "raiser of taxes," a binder of burdens heavy and "grievous to be borne" upon the backs of the oppressed people. Without faith in God, he would be a pronounced "militarist," taking the choicest of their young men to fill the ranks of his standing army, and require a tenth of all they produced for the support of all this pomp and empty show; for instead of using his hosts in defeating and driving out of the land the invading Philistines, they were occupied more in hunting David, the man of God's choice, "as one doth hunt a partridge in the mountains," or as David himself sarcastically puts it, "The king of Israel is come out to seek a flea!" (1 Sam. 26:20). Dignified and important occupation, indeed, for "the king of Israel!" "He will take, he will take," Samuel says repeatedly — six times in seven verses. And what did he give them in return? "He will give," Samuel says, not to them, but "to his officers and to his servants." To them it was given to pay and to yield up to his kingly requirements their "goodliest young men" and their "daughters;" the boys to be slaughtered by the uncircumcised Philistines through Saul's mismanagement, and "Zion's fair daughters" to slave it in his kitchens as "confectionaries, and cooks, and bakers."

And until that day there shall be no improvement in the relation of kingdoms, one to the other. The entente allies are fighting against militarism, and expecting to crush that spirit in the German nation, but instead of producing this result, every nation will find that, to safeguard its own interests, it will have to nourish and stimulate that very spirit in its own people; and every individual in every kingdom upon earth will find it to be a necessity that he should take his place among the fighting forces of his country. This war is frightful to contemplate, but it is not even “the beginning of sorrows” (Matt. 34:8). Worse is coming.

Finally, I would draw attention to the fact that the ten toes of the image were partly of iron and partly of clay—an element of power and an element of weakness. This was strikingly illuminated by a remark I saw the other day that Europe was fast becoming a combination of militarism and socialism, the former standing for iron, the latter for clay. And this war will help on both in a wonderful way. Already a flood of militarism has passed over this land, where up to now it had little hold.

The nations see it is their only hope of existence. At the same time the crushing burdens of taxation it entails and the subjection to authority it involves will surly ferment discontent and socialism, which will become manifest when the patriotic wave has passed.

One reason why people are deceived into supposing that this is the great war that shall end war is that certain features of the beast of Revelation 13 — the head of the to-be-revived Roman Empire — seem to be present in Prussian militarism and its head. But this is not singular, nor is it the first time that these features have appeared. Wherever there has been great power without the guiding wisdom from on high, and ambition for world empire, they have been present. The great characteristics of the Spanish Empire of the sixteenth century — arrogance, persecution of God's people, lust for power, and the determination to crush out or enslave all who opposed its will, are all to be fully developed in the beast. In the seventeenth century Louis the Great of France, perhaps in a lesser measure, exhibited these same features. In the nineteenth century Napoleon appeared, and though he was not a persecutor, yet he, more than any who went before him, exhibited features associated with the beast in so much that he was popularly supposed to be he; but he was not, nor is the Prussian Kaiser; indeed, his country lies outside the bounds of the Old Roman Empire over which the beast is to be head. It is interesting, and not a little remarkable, that Britain, in the providence of God, should have been the power largely responsible for the defeat of all these great forces of the past.

But while all show enmity, some are more expressive of the spirit that now dominates the world — the spirit of Mammon. A special phase is commerce. Commerce is influenced by covetousness, and covetousness is idolatry. For the sake of Mammon war is decried. At the same time is it not worthy of the Christian's notice that war is cultivated as a science, and standing armies are maintained in christendom where the gospel of peace is professed? What a proof of the rule and power of the prince of this world! The crust of peace spread over the civilized world is very thin. Underneath are armed millions and new warlike inventions. Nations are saying Peace, peace, and yet preparing for war, and rumours and signs of it are not wanting. How blessed that amid all the commotions and strifes of this world, believers can look beyond and say, "we, receiving a kingdom that cannot be moved!" But, whatever the dominating spirit, all men who have not the truth are hoping and seeking to maintain the present system of the world. And they dream that they will perpetuate it, and they will continue to dream, until the judgment of God awakens them. Then in their alarm they will call on the mountains and rocks to hide them from the wrath of the Lamb.

Thus, instead of peace being brought about before the day of Jehovah comes, such a wide-spread gathering for war is to be as the world will have never yet seen. The desire to do great things, impatience of obligations, lust of conquest and military glory, will bring on men such a taste for war ere long that no restraints will suffice to keep them within bounds, especially as jealousy of each other will have led to the accumulation of vast stores for military purposes. So the closing scenes of this age will be found to be described in scripture. I repeat, if one's conclusion were drawn from the thoughts of men, much might be said for the contrary. Some might think the age had gained better sense, that they had too deep a conviction of their forefathers' sin and folly in this respect, and that henceforth remonstrance and arbitration would gradually supersede the more savage diplomacy of "blood and iron." But in vain is it hoped thus to control the passions and will of man. The time of peace is not yet. Men may think that they are going to succeed, but it will be with the Gentiles as of old with Israel. The Jews will try to get back into their land, and the political power of some nations will be used to establish them in peace. But when it is thought that all is going well, the work is arrested, and the Jews become once more an object of jealousy to the Gentiles. Before the harvest, as it is said in Isaiah 18, the fair promise of fruit is nipped in the bud and comes to nothing. Instead of having Christ to reign over them in that state, they but prepare a throne for antichrist. Such will be the speedy result of it, with unspeakable dishonour to God and unexampled ruin to all concerned. The fact is, that God means to bring His people Himself into His land. We see all through the Old Testament the people's blessing in the land He gave them. All attempts to anticipate the time, or change the methods of God for human means, are not only vain, but will involve ruin as the direct consequence of such presumption.

Happy is the country that has no "history" — that is, in the vulgar sense of the word, a record of wars, treaties, and conflicting dynasties. Happy is the country when a ruler's long reign can be written in two or three clauses thus: An arduous and heroic enterprise; a mighty and effectual salvation; a wise and tranquil reign. The curse of an earthly deliverer usually is that, when he has saved his nation, and finds himself with a great military force in his power, his ardour of battle and lust of conquest is so great that he then goes about carrying fire and sword into other nations; he likes a spirited foreign policy, until either he inflicts every horror of war wherever his foot treads, or else the people in a frenzy of hatred and despair combine to cast him off the face of the earth. They hurl him at last from Moscow to St. Helena. But Othniel had evidently no more lust of conquest than a Hampden or a Washington. To one like this, "the next dreadful thing to a battle lost is a battle won." He now shows himself as wise and strong to govern his own people and keep them in peaceful development, as he has already been to conquer their oppressors.

That the most sincere and hearty endeavours will never avail to establish peace among men, we have the lamentable proof before our eyes. What a cruel mockery is the saying, 'If you will have peace, prepare for war.' A far truer one would be, 'If you would have peace, beat your swords into ploughshares, and your spears into pruning-hooks.' Preparation for war must sooner or later end in war. And the war will be all the more terrible as the preparation shall have been more complete. Much as this is to be deplored, it is unavoidable. How long will this state of things last? As long as God permits fallen and rebellious man to govern this world, for he is branded with this awful character, "their feet are swift to shed blood: destruction and misery are in their ways." There will be even worse days than the present, bad enough as they are, and ominous enough too as a prelude.

Here we get a forecast of the last days—iron foreshadowing the strength of military power; the clay setting forth Socialism in its inherent weakness. Necessity, dire necessity, will make the military power inevitable, but all the time there will be the uprising of Socialism, never quite to succeed, for it has no elements of true success in it. By its very nature it is ready to split into parties, led by visionaries with different aims. The labour leader applauded today may be howled down tomorrow.

Things are shaping themselves towards the fulfilment of prophecy. The first and second Great World Wars have helped in this direction. The great cry today is for a new World Order. To this end arrangements will be made with the aim to prevent war, to see that little nations have their rights, to get rid of the necessity of armies and navies, to deliver the nations from the incubus of the taxation the present state of things renders necessary, to establish an international force, powerful enough to keep the whole world in order and introduce a peaceful millennium. This all sounds very delightful.

Three unclean spirits, like frogs, will come out of their mouths. These we are told are the spirits of demons working miracles, and by their demoniacal power they will influence the whole world, work up a Satanic holy war on a scale never before known in the history of the world. Here is the apotheosis of Spiritualism and Militarism and Socialism—strange bedfellows indeed.