The Would-Be Arbitrator of the Nations
It is well known that the Papacy has had little to do with the peace congresses which have been held in later days. The pope has acted as arbitrator in one or two disputes singly; but he can not fall in with these international agreements unless he is first. The following from the editor of the "Western Watchman," in his issue of April 21, 1910, shows to some extent how this is regarded: "We have tentative international courts of arbitration for the settlement of disputes between nations; but they are mere 'mute courts,' without authority or power to enforce their judgments. They beguile the weak powers into fancied security, and enable the strong ones all the better to prepare for war. International law is what it always was since sin came into the world: 'Let him take who has the power; and let him keep who can.' Justice and right have fled to brutish hearts, and man's worst enemy is man. The world was advancing towards universal peace when the pope came to be recognized as the arbitrator of kings and courts. The Middle Ages afford us the only theory of international arbitration that this world will ever know. But the power and authority of the sovereign pontiff is now the scorn of the strong and the despair of the weak. There is no 'God of battles' any more; and the only divinity that now rules in the counsels of war is the diety that always sides with big battalions. Here is another fountain of peace, prosperity, and progress poisoned by the devil. A modern government is a Babel of confusion, and its end is dissolution." When will Protestants learn the lesson, so often affirmed and reaffirmed by Roman Catholics, that the Papacy has not changed? They still look upon the darkness of the Middle Ages as the noontide of glory for the church.