The Lord’s Day, November 11, 2018, marks the 100th anniversary of the Armistice that brought an end to the shooting in World War I, which came into force at 11 am Paris time on the 11th day of the 11th month of 1918.
The American President at the time of this “Great War” was Woodrow Wilson (1856-1924), the son of one of the founders of the Southern Presbyterian Church, Joseph Ruggles Wilson, Sr. Woodrow was a Presbyterian ruling elder [“When Woodrow Wilson was elected as a ruling elder in the Presbyterian Church in 1897, his preacher father allegedly remarked, ‘I would rather that he held that position than be president of the United States.’" — Barry Hankins, Woodrow Wilson, Ruling Elder, Spiritual President] who studied at Davidson College and the College of New Jersey (now Princeton University) — both Presbyterian institutions — and also served as President of Princeton University.
During Wilson’s first term as President, his Secretary of State, William Jennings Bryan, was also a Presbyterian ruling elder (who ultimately resigned in 1915 because of fears that Wilson would bring the U.S. into the War). Wilson initially tried to maintain a position of U.S. neutrality in the War but ended up — following the revelation of the Zimmerman telegram in January 1917 and the German sinking of American ships in March 1917 — declaring war on the German alliance known as the Central Powers in April 1917.
In light of the historical anniversary of the November 1918 Armistice, Log College Press is highlighting a few works on our site that pertain to World War I, in remembrance of the men and women who gave their lives.
Louis FitzGerald Benson (1855-1930) - Wrote For God and Country: Hymns for Use in War Time (1918);
William Jennings Bryan, Sr. (1860-1925) - Wrote “The Causeless War” and Its Lessons For Us (1915) and “The War in Europe” and Its Lessons For Us (1915) in opposition to American involvement in the War;
Francis James Grimké (1850-1937) - Delivered a 1918 sermon titled “Victory for the Allies and the United States a Ground of Rejoicing, of Thanksgiving,” which appears in Vol. 1 of his Works;
Clarence Edward Noble Macartney (1879-1957) - Wrote Truths Tested By the World War (1917) (not yet available on our site);
John Gresham Machen (1881-1937) - Participated as a soldier during the War; his correspondence has been published under the title Letters From the Front: J. Gresham Machen’s Correspondence From World War I (2012);
John Wagner Pritchard (1851-1924) - Wrote a valuable history of the contribution of Reformed Presbyterians who fought on behalf of the Allies in World War I despite their convictions about the governments they fought for: Soldiers of the Church: The Story of What the Reformed Presbyterians (Covenanters) of North America, Canada, and the British Isles, Did to Win the World War of 1914-1918 (1919);
Henry Jackson Van Dyke, Jr. (1852-1933) - Wrote The Red Flower: Poems Written in War Time (1917) during the War and What Peace Means (1919) after the War; and
Richard Cameron Wylie (1846-1928) - His Collapse of Christless Civilizations (1918) “was directly inspired by the war.”