Have we not, I must ask, a glaring illustration of the profound moral principles thus asserted by our Lord in the present war? The means of communication in our day enable us to realize the feelings which are at work over the face of Europe amidst this terrible convulsion; and there is one fact which is appallingly conspicuous in that manifestation. That fact is the falsehood, the hatred, the violent imputations of evil motives, the overbearing ambition which are at work in the great nation--for a great nation it is--with which we are at war. As I will presently observe, I am far from acquitting ourselves of all blame in the matter. There was never a human struggle yet in which either side was perfectly free from blame; but as to the gross misrepresentations which are eagerly disseminated abroad respecting the motives and the conduct of this country, there can be no question whatever, and no adequate excuse. Whatever faults and errors we have committed, our statesmen have not been animated in the development of our Empire by greed and selfish ambition, or by a mere desire to be supreme over other nations. So far as our enemies are acting upon these ideas of our motives, they are absolutely blind; and there is nothing more terrible in the revelations which this war affords than that individuals and nations are capable of such absolute delusions, on so vast a scale, respecting one another’s motives and characters. It is plain that what has made this war is a total absence of that Christian charity between individuals and nations which St. Paul inculcates as “the very bond of all virtues,” and which is therefore the bond of all society. The most heart-rending thing, after all, is not that we are at war, but that Christian nations should be capable, in their daily life and thought, of such an absolute negation of those principles of moral life and faith which our Lord came to establish among us. Our Lord here warns us that unless men repent of this uncharitable temper, and of the sins associated with it, war can never be abolished, and we shall all perish in some fearful conflagration. At present the conflagration, like the tower in Siloam, has wrought its destruction mainly upon others than ourselves. A modern despot, indignant, like Pilate, at opposition to the claims of his nation, has mingled the blood of Belgian men and women and children with their sacrifices, with their ruined churches and desolated homes. But it is certainly not because a people like the brave Belgians were sinners above all men that dwelt in Europe that they have thus suffered. “I tell you, Nay,” our Lord’s Voice is heard in this text; “but, except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish.” Look to yourselves; ask yourselves whether there are or have been sins prevailing among you which, under the laws of God’s righteousness, must work out their evil consequence in your social and national life; and repent, lest ye likewise perish.