M9-NRLF UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA ANDREW SMITH HALLID1C: PEACE, PERMANENT AND UNIVERSAL ITS PRACTICABILITY, VALUE, AND CONSISTENCY WITH DIVINE REVELATION. H. T. J. MACNAMARA. LONDON: SAUNDERS AND OTLEY, CONDUIT STREET. 1841. RIGHT HONOURABLE LORD VISCOUNT PALMERSTON; THESE PAGES ARE RESPECTFULLY DEDICATED BY HIS LORDSHIP S MOST OBEDIENT AND MOST HUMBLE SERVANT, THE AUTHOR. 103898 INTRODUCTION. THE present work was undertaken in consequence of the following circular : PRIZE ESSAY. The Committee of " the Society for the Promotion of Permanent and Universal Peace," offer a prize of ONE HUNDRED GUINEAS for the best essay, and another of Twenty Guineas for the second best essay, on the following subjects : First To show that "War, under all circumstances, is inconsistent with the precepts of the Gospel, and the spirit of the Christian Dispensation. Second To point out the duties of Magistrates and Peace Officers in cases of Tumults, Insurrections and VI PREFACE. Invasions, with the most effectual method of preventing such calamities. Third To show the best means of settling all Dis- putes between Nations, without recourse to Arms. * * * * The award will be given on the 1st January, 1841. The Committee are happy to announce that the following gentlemen have kindly consented to become Adjudicators : REV. J. PYE SMITH, D.D., LL.D., F.G.S., Homer- ton College. REV. THOS. PYNE, M.A., St. John's College, Cam- bridge. REV. JOHN HARRIS, D.D., President of Cheshunt College. The copyright of the essays to be the property of the authors. On behalf of the Committee, JAMES HARGREAVES, T NUN MORGAN HARRY, I ** 91, BISHOPSGATE WITHIN,* LONDON, December 30, 1839. The reverend adjudicators honoured the present essay by awarding to it the first prize. * The Office is now at 19, New Broad Street. PREFACE. Vll The sincere thanks of the writer are due both to the adjudicators, who have kindly suggested several improvements, and also to the Commit- tee of the Peace Society, for the interest which they manifested in the publication of these pages, and for their liberality in offering to take one hundred copies. 1, ELM COURT, TEMPLE, May 18, 1841. PART I. WAR, UNDER ALL CIRCUMSTANCES, IS INCONSISTENT WITH THE PRECEPTS OF THE GOSPEL, AND THE SPIRIT OF THE CHRISTIAN DISPENSATION. ANALYSIS OF THE FIRST PART. CHAPTER I. CAUSES OF INSENSIBILITY TO THE HORRORS OF WAR. SECTION 1. Prejudice of Education and Custom. 2. Frequency of War. 3. BeHef that the Right of War belongs to the Civil Government. 4. Blindness to Claims of Human Nature. CHAPTER II. CAUSE OF A WANT OF ACTIVE EXERTION AGAINST WAR. CHAPTER III. EVILS OF WAR. SECTION 1. Physical. 2. Moral. CHAPTER IV. ANSWER TO OBJECTIONS FROM THE OLD TESTAMENT. SECTION 1. Cases not parallel. 2. Jewish Doctrines on this subject expressly changed. CHAPTER V. PROPHECIES AND EVENTS, PREVIOUS TO THE COMING OF JESUS, IN FAVOUR OF PEACE. ANALYSIS OF THE FIRST PART. 6 CHAPTER VI. SPIRIT OF THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION IN FAVOUR OF PEACE. SECTION 1. Teaching Duty to God. 2. Teaching Duty to Man. CHAPTER VII. LETTER OF THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION AGAINST OFFENSIVE WAR. SECTION 1. Christian Meekness. 2. Christian Charity. 3. Christian Love. 4. Christian Peace. CHAPTER VIII. THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION FORBIDS DEFENSIVE WAR. CHAPTER IX. OPINIONS AND PRACTICE OF THE PRIMITIVE CHRISTIANS FOR THE FIRST THREE CENTURIES. CHAPTER X. SECTION 1. Summary and Review. 2. Effects of the Present Conduct of Professing Chris- tians on their Religion. B 2 O Earth, Earth, Earth, hear the word of the Lord !" Jeremiah xxii. 29. " Forgive your enemies ; do good to them that hate you." " My kingdom is not of this world ; if my kingdom were of this world, then would my servants fight." " Follow peace with all men." New Testament. PEACE CHAPTER I. CAUSES OF INSENSIBILITY TO THE HORRORS OF WAR. THERE is not a theme so deeply affecting the hap- piness both spiritual and temporal of man, as the question of peace and war, and therefore it is entitled at the least to our sincere and devoted attention. A serious appeal to Christians on a subject intimately connected with their religion, will not, we feel convinced, be treated either with levity or contempt. The very fact of a doubt having been raised with regard to the consistency of so prevalent a custom as war with the prin- ciples of our faith, should of itself be sufficient to invite reflection from all who profess to be fol- lowers of Jesus. It is time for Christians to awake and behold the danger by which they are threat^ ened ; it is time for them to shake off all apathy, O CAUSES OF INSENSIBILITY and, rousing their energies, to examine our doc- trines, so that if false, they may oppose them ; if true, they may adopt them ; but in the name of religion and of humanity, we beseech of them not to sink into a state of inactivity, while war is threatening or destroying their fellow men. We have enough to overcome; every obstacle that can possibly be brought to impede a human undertaking, lies in our way. There are two classes of persons that do not exert their in- fluence in the cause of peace : first, those who are insensible to the evils of war : and secondly, those, who, notwithstanding their conviction of these evils, do not see the necessity of making any special effort for their abolition. SECTION 1. Prejudice of Education and Custom. An insensibility to the horrors of war, arises from several causes : first, the strong bias of edu- cation and custom ; from the cradle to the grave, every thing in favour of war, and in concealment of its actual tendency, is brought into operation. Children, innocent children, are presented with warlike weapons in miniature, as their toys, and are taught to associate the idea of pleasure and reward, with that of a soldier's occupation. There is scarcely a book put into their hands, from Nur- sery Tales to Homer's Iliad, but it abounds in the praises of warriors. TO THE HORRORS OF WAR. 7 The mode of education pursued at the present day, is too often a systematic corruption of the youthful dispositions, rather than the exercise of rational and of moral powers. The absurd and pernicious principles of Pagan morality, the san- guinary and criminal scenes narrated in the Iliad, the zEneid, and similar compositions, are usually impressed on the tender mind with far greater zeal than is bestowed on the mild and peaceful doctrines of Jesus. These books may be read as noble specimens of poetry, but surely with circum- spection, and comments should be made, pointing out the new species of virtue, and preferable rule of moral conduct introduced by Christianity. The deceptive costume in which war is arrayed, misleads the youthful as well as the more matured. They behold the various regiments, dressed in the gayest colours, and marching with their fluttering banners and their glittering bayonets to the sound of music ; they do not see those men on the field of battle engaged in deadly strife ; they do not see them returning, pale, sick, and wounded ; the widows and the fatherless are not there, for the children of woe make no parade of their sorrows; the martial drum and fife do not call to mind the shrieks of the wounded and the dying ; the shin- ing arms do not remind the spectators of bay- onets dripping with gore. " To one who reflects," observes the eloquent Channing, " there is some- thing very shocking in these decorations of war. 8 CAUSES OF INSENSIBILITY If men must fight, let them wear the badges which become their craft. It would shock us to see a hangman dressed out in scarf and epaulette, and marching with merry music to the place of punishment. The soldier has a sadder work than the hangman ; his office is not to dispatch occasion- ally a single criminal: he goes to the slaughter of thousands as free from crime as himself. The sword is worn as an ornament, and yet its use is to pierce the heart of a fellow creature. As well might the butcher parade before us his knife, or the executioner his axe or halter. Allow war to be necessary, still it is a horrible necessity, a work to fill a good man with anguish of spirit ; shall it be turned into an occasion of pomp and merri- ment ? To dash out men's brains, to stab them to the heart, to cover the body with gashes, to lop off the limbs, to crush men under the hoof of the war-horse, to destroy husbands and fathers, to make widows and orphans, all this may be necessary ; but to attire men for this work with fantastic trappings, to surround this fearful occu- pation with all the circumstances of gaiety and pomp, seems as barbarous as it would be to deck a gallows, or to make a stage for dancing beneath the scaffold."* Thus men delude one another. They give to * " Lecture on War," by W. E. Channing, p. 33. The friends of peace should congratulate themselves on the possession of this TO THE HORRORS OF WAR. 9 murder the more softened title of war, to the mur- derer that of soldier; while statues and monu- ments are raised in all directions, even in our churches, to the insatiable demon of strife, as if he were a deity to command the worship of man- kind. Our prejudices render us blind to the crimes of warriors. Let them but meet with success in the field of battle, and they are supposed to ensure honour on earth and happiness in heaven. The vices of the man are buried under the praises of the hero. Is it then wonderful that youth should acquire notions of glory totally false, and altogether at variance with a Christian spirit ? "War, pestilence, and famine/' says Cicero, " have been the great scourges of mankind. The two latter are always mentioned with horror; while the former is so blazoned with the trophies of heroism and valorous exploits, that while patriots exclaim loudly against the conduct of war, and all complain of its expenditure, and wish for peace, but few are found who object to its principle." Were it not for these delusions, were the mul- titude duly aware of the true nature of war, even children would shudder at its very name. Though the hero be praised and honoured ; work, replete as it is with argument and eloquence, and emanating from one who has devoted his powerful mind to the benefit of his fellow beings. B 3 10 CAUSES OF INSENSIBILITY though in life he be loaded with wealth and rank ; though after death his fame survive, and the costly monument display his courage and success, yet the true Christian would prefer to spend his existence in humhle labour, or in calm retirement; and, at its close, rather than have such mockery over his mortal remains, he would choose his rest- ing-place under the green sod with the lowly and the poor. The poet Southey, when describing Pizarro, observes " A mighty realm He overran, and with relentless arms Slew or enslaved its unoffending sons, And wealth and power and fame were his reward. There is another world beyond the grave, According to their deeds, where men are judged, O reader ! if thy daily bread be earned By daily labour, yea, however low, However wretched be thy lot assigned, Thank thou, with deepest gratitude, the God Who made thee, that thou art not such as he." SECTION 2. Frequency of War. Another cause of this insensibility to war is undoubtedly its frequent occurrence. This it is that has made history a mere catalogue of miseries and murders, and that has dried up the sources of human pity. If war had been a rare evil, if the world had enjoyed peace since its creation, until at one period a battle suddenly took place, with TO THE HORRORS OF WAR. 11 what horror should we regard the men who en- gaged in it, the time at which it occurred, and the very spot where it was fought ! It would be a deserted, desolate place, marked as the scene of a terrible murder.* And yet the frequency of an event will not change its nature, though it accus- tom us to its appearance. We should not allow our minds thus to be rendered torpid and insen- sible to surrounding circumstances, but reflection should be summoned to overcome the power of habit. SECTION 3. Notion of War appertaining to Civil Government. The common belief that the right of war belongs to civil government, greatly promotes an indif- ference to its evils. The sovereign, looking upon war as a right essential to his attributes, forgets that he is committing a crime, and therefore does not apply the considerations of morality. The subject, believing himself bound to obey the sovereign's command, which is exercised as a right, perhaps imputes to himself merit in the slaughter of his fellow-beings. Many who allow the precepts of Christianity to be obligatory to their fullest extent on individuals, endeavour to draw a distinction when they are * Channing on War. 32 CA.USES OF INSENSIBILITY applied to political bodies or states. It is incum- bent on those who would make an exception to rules apparently universal, clearly to prove their assertion, and to have very strong authority for introducing the exclusion; and we should be most careful of admitting trifling quibbles and idle distinctions, that may waste away the firmly knit and symmetrical body of the Christian faith into a lifeless and inactive skeleton. The argument in support of this national right to contravene the Divine commands is thus stated : No law being of general authority among nations in order to protect them from violence, each com- munity must protect itself, and must frequently have recourse to war.* The proposition is sup- ported by some such reasoning as this : an indi- vidual is enabled to obtain redress for an injury from the constituted authorities of the state to which he is subject, but no tribunal can be appealed to by nations. It might be sufficient to answer, that it is our own fault that there is no court for the settlement of disputes between nations, and that negligence will not excuse a breach of duty; but the fact is, that the above * See a very able essay on " The Applicability of the Pacific Principles of the New Testament to the Conduct of States," &c. By Jonathan Dymond. It forms the seventh tract of the Peace Society. TO THE HORRORS OF WAR. 13 argument assumes the whole basis of the dispute, for it proceeds on the fallacious hypothesis that the reason why individuals may not use violence, is because the laws will use it for them, whereas the endurance of injuries is practised by indivi- duals, because it is required by Christianity. There is no exception in the Gospel to uphold this argu- ment of our adversaries,* and it is a remarkable feature in the Christian religion, that its rules are applicable, and will be productive of the greatest benefits to every nation, and every government on the face of the earth. The duties prescribed by our Lord, are all to take precedence of those which arise from the institutions of man. No one can throw off his individual responsibility to God, in whatever situation he may be placed ; nor will the acting in an aggregate capacity change disobedience into obedience, or convert a crime into a duty. How can that be lawful for a body of men, which is unlawful for an individual ; or that which is a vice in a member of the community, become a virtue when performed by a large portion of the community, and rendered only more detrimental in extent and in force ? Let war be disguised under all its tinsel trappings, and masked under the sanction of a government, it is still a crime. * See Note A, in Appendix. 14 CAUSES OF INSENSIBILITY The veil thrown around it, like that worn by the Prophet of Khorassan, conceals beneath a deformed and frightful monster. What is a declaration of war ? It is a sentence of death against thousands of innocent beings, who have undergone no trial, and who have had 110 verdict returned against them. It is by one blow to commit a thousand murders. Too long we have disguised these horrors under mild terms. It is time to declare that wilfully to slay an in- nocent fellow-creature is murder, whether it be committed by an individual, or by a body of men, by a subject, or a government ; and whether the weapon be the assassin's knife or the soldier's musket. Men, who use their reflective powers, and choose to think for themselves, rather than to be thought for, see no difference in a crime of like degree, even though it proceed from one who wears a red coat, instead of from the poverty- stricken wretch in tatters, who may shed blood to save himself from starvation, and may expiate his crime on the scaffold. The philosophic Seneca has expressed the same sentiment in these words : ' ' Things, which if men had done in their private capacities, they would have paid for with their lives, the very same thing we extol to the skies, when performed in their war habiliments/'* And to the same effect are the well-known lines * Epist. 95. TO THE HORRORS OF WAR. 15 " One murder makes a villain, Millions a hero. Princes were privileged To kill, and numbers sanctified the crime."* It was the voice of reason that suggested to the barbarians the title which they so aptly bestowed on Alexander the Great, of "the mighty murderer." So the spoliation which ever accompanies war, is rapine, is robbery, though it be committed under the command of a general or of a king. " By what right," asked Alexander of a pirate, " do you infest the seas ?" " By the same that you infest the universe," the pirate replied ; " but because I do it in a small ship, I am called a robber ; and because you do the same acts with a great fleet, you are called a conqueror !" Equally just was the language of the Scythian ambassadors to the same deluded monarch : " Thou boastest that the only design of thy marches is to extirpate robbers. Thou thyself art the greatest robber in the world !" It will be asked, " Is not a subject, then, bound to fight at the command of a government ?" We answer, Certainly not ! It will be seen that we do not advocate resistance to the ruling authori- ties ; and we admit, as a general rule, that obe- dience is to be paid to them. In questions like the present, however, which so strongly affect the * Bishop Porteus on Death. 16 CAUSES OF INSENSIBILITY spiritual welfare of men, it is their duty, first to examine for themselves, and then to be guided by the result, whatever may be the consequences. No difference of opinion as to the expediency of measures will justify disobedience; and also in cases of doubt, the subject may submit his opinion to the law. But when commanded to perform an act plainly opposed to every conscientious dictate, he must not waver for a moment, but must prefer the wiU of God to that of man. " Fear God. Honour the king," expresses the chief duty in its proper order. " We ought to obey God rather than men,"* was the saying of the apostles to their persecutors, and such should be the reply of all Christians. They should be prepared, like the early followers of Jesus, to endure any penalty rather than offend their Maker. If the sovereign were to order them to slay their parents or their children, or to cease from worshipping their God, would they obey ? Why then do they murder their brethren at his command ? It is impossible for one to be Christian as a man, and yet unchristian as a subject ; and he who has truly learned the subjugation of his passions, and the duties of his being, will not be capable of slaughtering a fellow creature, even though he be styled a " public enemy' 3 He will feel that by enlisting into the army or navy, by fighting * Acts v. 29. TO THE HORRORS OF WAR. 17 against his brethren, he not only burdens his own soul with sin, but increases the national transgres- sion of the state. Let no one imagine for a moment, therefore, that he is absolved from his debt to his Maker, by entering into society, or by acting in union with others. Human commands form but a vain subterfuge for the commission of crime ; and at that day when all men shall appear before the judgment-seat of God when the peasant and the sovereign shall bow down in equal humility, do we believe that the Omnipotent Ruler of the universe, the King of kings, will admit of such an excuse for the violation of Divine laws ? SECTION 4. Disregard of Man's Nature. Another cause of insensibility to the evils of war, is our blindness to the dignity and claims of human nature. The earth has been given as a temporary habitation for millions of human beings, who have one Creator, one Father, one God. We perform our weary pilgrimage together ; together we traverse the path of life ; together we enter the portals of death. We are exposed to like infir- mities, and like hopes ; the world forms one vast family, and a universal brotherhood should reign. " Have we not all one Father ; hath not one God created us ? Why do we deal treacherously, every man against his brother, by profaning the 18 CAUSES OF INSENSIBILITY covenant of his fathers ?"* We are brethren. The poor,, the humble, the barbarous, and the heathen, are all connected by ties the most indis- putable and lasting, to the wealthy, the powerful, the civilized, and the Christian. Neither moun- tain, nor ocean, nor race, nor language, nor creed, nor colour, can break this chain ; for the soul gives man the impress of his Maker, and stamps at once his common lineage from the Divine Parent, his right to a brother's title and a brother's affection. " Behold how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity !"t I 11 a private family, discord converts the happy home into an abode of misery; how much more de- structive of happiness, and extensive in its conse- quences, is the strife of a world ! And shall we not spare a brother ? Can we inflict a needless pang on one who, subject to equal sufferings with ourselves, demands compas- sion and assistance? Can we stain our hands and burden our souls with a brother's blood? War is nothing less than one vast fratricide ! Well might Milton exclaim " O what are these ? Death's ministers, not men ! who thus deal death Inhumanly to man : and multiply Ten thousandfold the sin of him who slew His brother ; for of whom such massacre Make they, but of their brethren, men of men ?" * Mai. ii. 10. f Psalm cxxxiii. 1. TO THE HORRORS OF WAR. 19 The physical formation of man in itself should be sufficient to negative the idea that he was intended for strife. He comes into the world weak and powerless. The first lesson he is taught is that of dependence upon others. He is formed with every capacity for social life. The friendship of two human beings is a source of much gratifi- cation ; the friendship, the Christian friendship of the whole family of man would produce the very highest state of mortal happiness. The human body is consecrated to the Almighty, as it is the tenement for a while of the Spirit : " Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you ? If any man defile the temple of God, him shall God destroy, for the temple of God is holy, which temple ye are." " The body is for the Lord, and the Lord for the body. Know ye not that your bodies are the members of Christ ? What ? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost, which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own ? For ye are bought with a price, therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God's."* It is not physical, it is not social man that should so powerfully arrest our attention, as the moral and intellectual being we see before us. Man is made in the image, and after the likeness * 1 Cor. iii. 16, 17 ; and vi. 13 to 20 ; and see Rom. xiv. 7, 8. 20 CAUSES OF INSENSIBILITY of his Maker ; lie possesses the divine qualities of spirituality, reason, freedom of will, and immor- tality ; he is formed ( ' a little lower than the angels, and crowned with honour and glory." "Well might the Jewish command against shedding blood, go forth in connection with the reason, that " in the image of God made he man." The soul of man was moulded by the Divine hands, and possesses faculties of a sublime and lasting nature. Chris- tianity, by establishing the claim of man to im- mortality, has displayed him as a favoured child of the Almighty, as a being of value in His sight, and an object of his special care, as one worthy even of the life and death of Jesus. The promise of an eternity beyond the grave, while it should make us endure any affliction rather than risk heavenly bliss, should also create within us a deep reverence for our fellow men, who, like our- selves, can never die. This doctrine has declared that life is sacred, and that death is followed by infi- nite consequences. It is the prerogative of the Almighty alone, to summon hence that spirit which he gave for an allotted period ; and the human creature that dares to invade with guilty and polluted touch the sanctity of life, assumes the Divine privilege, and commits the most hor- rible of all treason, treason against God ! En- lightened and instructed Christians should acknow- ledge that the future welfare of an individual is of TO THE HORRORS OF WAR. 21 greater importance than the preservation of a city, or the temporal prosperity of a nation. " The cloud capp'd tow'rs, the gorgeous palaces, The solemn temples, the great globe itself, Yea ! all which it inherit, shall dissolve," But The soul, immortal as its Sire, Shall never die !" How reckless of the future must that man be, who can rush into the presence of his Maker in the midst of human blood and crime ! What an insult is shown to the works of God in the conflict of battle, when thousands of souls are dismissed before their appointed time, and, worst of all, are dismissed in sin to receive eternal judgment. Impious man ! You dare to send the spirit of a brother to perdition ! You are destroying the sem- blance of your Maker ! You are sacrificing the child in the presence of its Father ! You cannot re- create the body, nor breathe life into the pallid and bleeding form : but, above all, you cannot restore those holy faculties which were given for the service of God, and the benefit of man; you cannot recall the soul you have plunged into eternity ! It has been truly said, "We know not the worth of a man. We know not who the victims are on whom war plants its foot, whom the conqueror leaves to the vulture on the field of 22 CAUSES OF INSENSIBILITY, ETC. battle, or carries captive to grace his triumph. Oh ! did we know what men are, did we see in them the spiritual, immortal children of God, what a voice should we lift against war ! How indignantly, how sorrowfully should we invoke Heaven and earth to right our insulted, injured brethren !"* "The visible effects of the far-famed battle of Waterloo," observes another forcible writer, " were sufficiently appalling. Multitudes of the wounded, the dying and the dead, spread in wild confusion over the ensanguined plain ! But did the Christians fully know the invisible conse- quences of such a contest could they trace the flight of thousands of immortal souls (many of them disembodied, perhaps, while under the im- mediate influence of diabolical passions) into the world of eternal retribution they would indeed shrink with horror from such a scene of destruc- tion.'^ * Charming on War, p. 34. f " Essay on Lawfulness of War under the Christian Dispensa- tion," by Joseph John Gurney, p. 21. 23 CHAPTER II. CAUSES OF A WANT OF ACTIVE EXERTION AGAINST WAR. SECONDLY That class of professing Christians who assert that they are sensible to the evils of war, support their unwillingness to use any active exertion, chiefly from their expectation that the Millennium, whose most prominent feature is uni- versal peace, will be brought about by a miracle. Thus Christians once thought that the heathen would be converted without any instrumentality of theirs ; they slumbered while millions of un- fortunate fellow creatures were descending to the grave, without ever having heard of a Saviour. The church at length awoke from its lethargy : it felt that the Almighty works his glorious changes by man, that it is the essence of human duty to perform the will of God, and that Chris- tians must be his active instruments in every good work. The happiest results have followed their exertions, whether we regard missionary enter- prise, or the moral crusades against slavery and intemperance. Yet exactly the same excuse might have been urged in these cases, as that which is brought against activity in the promotion of pacific doctrines. " The abolition of war will 24 CAUSES OF A WANT OF not be the effect of any sudden or resistless visita- tion from heaven on the character of men, not of any mystical influence working with all the om- nipotence of a charm on the passive hearts of those who are the subjects of it, not of any blind or overruling fatality which will come upon the earth at some distant period of its history, and about which we of the present day have nothing to do but to look silently on without concern and without co-operation. It will be brought about by the activity of men. It will be done by the philanthropy of thinking Christians. The sub- ject will be brought to the test of Christian prin- ciple ; the public will be enlightened by the mild dissemination of gospel sentiments through the land." Such are the inducements which urge us to- wards that period, when the will of our Father " shall be done on earth as it is in heaven." Who- ever adopts the principles of the Gospel to their full extent, already in himself enjoys the promised blessings ; to him the Millennium has come, for peace and happiness form a heaven within his own breast. Let us not then be deceived, for the Almighty will not receive so pitiful an excuse, as the expectation of a miracle, for the criminal neglect of his creatures. The fact is, that this class of Christians become weary in well doing ; they have felt sympathy for ACTIVE EXERTIONS AGAINST WAR. 25 the cause of peace, but have not acted, or acted insufficiently in its favour. " The end of all feel- ing is, or ought to be, action ;" and unless we con- vert our impressions into practice, they become each moment weaker, until they are entirely effaced. There are many other obstacles and objections which we shall notice, as they unfold themselves, in the course of this work. Sufficient has been premised to command the attention of Christians. CHAPTER III. SECTION 1. Physical Evils of War. ALL civilized nations seem to allow that war is an evil. It is true, that sometimes by its means a despotism has been destroyed, a tyrant has been taken from the earth, but these are merely incidental benefits, while the necessary fruits are crime and misery. There is probably no unmixed evil in the universe, and such benefits as these may attend an assassination, yet we do not praise an assassin. When Doctor Johnson was told of Lord Kaimes's opinion, that war was occasionally beneficial, as so much valour and virtue were ex- hibited in it, he replied " A fire might as well be c 26 PHYSICAL EVILS OF WAR. thought a good thing : there is the bravery and address of the firemen in extinguishing it ; there is much humanity exerted in saving the lives and properties of the poor sufferers. Yet, after all this, who can say that a fire is a good thing ?" We shall not attempt to describe the physical evils of war. They would fill a thousand volumes, and the details would create only loathing and disgust. Let those who are anxious to see this monstrous feature of war, read any account of a battle in a journal or history. Such scenes neither require, nor admit of, a heightened colouring ; the mere simple narration of itself is too horrible. It will be impossible for one who has perused Labaume's narrative of the campaign in Russia during the year 1812,* ever to hear of war with- out a shudder. A brief extract will show the character of that expedition. When Moscow had been fired by the Russians, and the French army marched into the burning capital, a sight dreadful to any but soldiers, met their view. "On one side," says the narrator, " we saw a son carrying a sick father ; on the other, women, who poured the torrent of their tears on the infants whom they clasped in their arms ; old men, overwhelmed more by grief than by the weight of years, were seldom able to follow * This narrative is translated by Evan Rees, and forms the fifth tract of the Peace Society. PHYSICAL EVILS OF WAR. 27 their families; many of them weeping for the ruin of their country, laid down to die, near the houses where they were born.* The hospitals, containing more than twelve thousand wounded, began to burn. The heart, frozen with horror, recoils at the fatal disaster which ensued. Almost all these wretched victims perished!" The city was then given up to pillage, and "to all the excesses of lust were added the highest depravity and debauchery. No respect was paid to the nobility of blood, the innocence of youth, or to the tears of beauty. This cruel licentiousness was the consequence of a savage war, in which sixteen united nations, differing in language and manners, thought themselves at liberty to commit every crime, in the persuasion that their disorders would be attributed to one nation alone."f We cannot refrain from adding a brief account of the more modern attack upon St. Jean d'Acre, by the British, on the third of November, 1840. After a cannonading of about two hours, " a sen- * Compare with this the destruction of Alba, so eloquently described by Livy, lib. i. f " The French troops, as they poured into the devoted city, had spread themselves in every direction in search of plunder, and in their progress they committed outrages so horrid on the persons of all whom they discovered, that fathers, desperate to save their children from pollution, would set fire to their places of refuge, and find a surer asylum in the flames. The streets, the houses, the cellars, flowed with blood, and were filled with violation and carnage." Porter's Narrative, p. 170. C2 28 PHYSICAL EVILS OF WAR. sation was felt on board the ships, similar to that of an earthquake, which was subsequently ascer- tained to have been a tremendous explosion of a powder magazine ashore, launching into eternity no less than twelve hundred of the enemy." . . . After the surrender of the town, the narrator thus continues, " On landing, the place known to be strong, was found even still more so than what was conceived, and thanks may be returned to the Al- mighty, that this stronghold of the enemy has not cost the allies a greater loss of life. The town is one mass of ruins ; the batteries and most of the houses literally riddled all over ; the killed and wounded lying about in all directions ; life- less trunks cut asunder ; some without heads, others without legs and arms. Hundreds dying from the blood flowing from their wounds, and no one near to help them. The scene was truly awful !" " The scene presented by the town," says another, "is indescribably horrible; the whole neighbourhood of the explosion being a mass of killed and wounded, men and beasts tossed to- gether indiscriminately. It is ascertained that twenty thousand shot and shell were fired into the town in four hours/' Three days had not elapsed since this " glorious triumph," the British were still rejoicing at their success, when " a column at least five hundred yards in height, of thick yellow smoke and dust, MORAL EVILS OF WAR. 29 with a loud and simultaneous report, succeeded by a white smoke, and the bursting of as many as one thousand shells, spreading in all directions far beyond and all around the ships of the fleet, announced the explosion of another powder maga- zine within the fortress of Acre ! . . . . The maimed and wounded, together with the killed, are said to amount to two hundred and eighty, of whom at least one hundred and fifty are native women and children/'* SECTION 2. Moral Evils of War. The chief evil of war, however, is moral evil. Fearful tortures, the destruction of mighty cities, the slaughter of men like beasts, the sorrow of the widow and the fatherless, for " Scarce a corpse can strew the ground, But leaves some heart to bleed " poverty, famine, pestilence, are among the inci- dents to war. Blood forms the track ; desolation hovers around; gloom and ruin threaten in the distant prospect. But there exist other powers destructive to life, and capable of inflicting an- guish. The tempest lays waste the smiling lands, and hurries the voyager to the ocean's tomb ; the * Seethe Herald of Peace for January 1841. The reader is referred also to the Wars of the Jews, as described by Josephus. 30 MORAL EVILS OF WAR. earth opens one vast grave, and sepulchres the living within her breast ; the volcano hurls deso- lation far and wide. The difference between these sources of destruc- tion and of war, is, that the former are ordained by the mysterious agency of Providence. War proceeds from human crime ! It is not that on the battle field, death is the consequence to so many ; but it is that death is caused by every degrading and brutalizing passion. It is not that man is slain, but that he is slain by his brother man. Painful it is indeed to behold a human being, in the full vigour of manhood, writhing in the ago- nies of a cruel death, endeavouring to stay the life's blood which eagerly flows forth, and grasping the earth with convulsive emotions, while his angry spirit breaks forth in piteous groans; but, oh ! how much more dreadful to reflect on the murder by which these sufferings were inflicted ! We cannot endure to hear the cries of the expiring soldier, but it requires greater powers of endurance to bear the thought that they are mingled witt curses on a brother, from whom he received his death- wound. The struggle between man and man is fearful ; but more fearful is the thought, that it is the manifestation of every species of depravity and corruption struggling within the human breast. The suffering from Above is ever for some wise purpose, and frequently bears salvation on its MORAL EVILS OF WAR. 31 gloomy wings. The pangs of affliction, while they sear the heart, yet elevate and purify the soul ; grief calls forth sympathy, and while it connects man to man, binds him also more closely to his Maker. " No chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous : nevertheless afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby."* The death-bed of a loved and Chris- tian friend, is a scene not easily effaced from the tablet of memory; but the recollection, though painful, bears with it a soothing and beneficial power. We call to mind the repentance that dwelt within his breast, the prayer that issued from his lips, the sure and holy confidence, and the exalted hopes, which religion alone can inspire; we re- member that the spirit fled in peace, leaving the earthly frame calm and pleasing as a sleeping infant. Sorrow is softened by recollections like these. Every bad passion is laid to rest ; every thought is chastened and hallowed ; and we feel how good a thing it is to live and die a holy man. Turn to the dead soldier. His features con- torted by every violent impulse, his frame covered with gore and gashes, his hands clenched and teeth fixed, tell of the angry tumult, the impious con- flict both within his breast and around him, in which that man bade farewell to life. There is no * Hebrews xii. 11 ; and see 2 Cor. vii. 10. 32 MORAL EVILS OF WAR. sign here of resignation, of peace, or of confidence. We turn away with disgust. How different is death from the hand of Providence and from the hand of man ! It is death in both instances. The tyrant has hurled his dart ; but against a portion of his vic- tims he has little power, the sting is taken away : to others the weapon is doubly piercing, it is envenomed with the most deadly poison, a bro- ther's hatred. It is death in both cases ; in the one, how peaceful, how serene; as if the spirit, prescient of its destined home, had escaped with delight : in the other, how frightful and deformed, for the soldier falls surrounded by angry and tu- multuous passions, and thus plunges into the dark and threatening future ! It is death equally before us. This scene calls forth meditation of an exalted and grateful cha- racter ; the finest chords of our hearts are touched, and, meeting with a ready response, they make sweet harmony within the breast. But from the victim to fratricidal hate, we turn with shuddering and horror, humiliated and degraded beings. Thus death is loaded with increased terrors, and sorrow is deprived of her true and proper office. " War adds to suffering the unutterable weight of crime, and defeats the holy and blessed ministry which all suffering is intended to fulfil. The ter- rible thought is, that the awful amount of suffering MORAL EVILS OF WAR. 33 which war has inflicted, has been the work of crime; that men, whose great law is love, have been one another's butchers ; that God's children have stained his beautiful earth, made beautiful for their home, with one another's blood ; that the shriek which comes to us from all regions and ages, has been extorted by human cruelty ; that man has been a demon, and has turned earth into hell."* Yes ! war is chiefly a moral evil, in origin, in nature, and in fruits. i It is the offspring of our basest passions, unil- lumined by one single ray of reason, unrelieved by one principle of justice. " From whence come wars and fightings among you ? Come they not hence, even of your lusts that war in your mem- bers ?"f This is their source. They come from those degrading propensities which reason was given to check, which free-will was allotted to guide, but, above all, which Christianity was sent to counteract. War is one grand crime. It is the concentra- tion of all crime, enlisting under its ensanguined banners, murder, rapine, revenge, hatred, lust, cruelty, avarice, injustice and treachery. It is not only a violation of the decrees of Heaven, but it absolutely repeals every Divine law. There is not a commandment in the whole Decalogue, that * Charming on War. f James iv. 1. c 3 34 MORAL EVILS OF WAR. it does not infringe. " War," says Dr. Chalmers, "reverses, with respect to its objects, all the rules of morality. It is nothing less than a temporary repeal of all the principles of virtue. It is a sys- tem out of which almost all the virtues are ex- cluded, and in which nearly all the vices are included." The consequences of war are not only opposed to the life and happiness of man, but are also de- structive to the soul, by scorching every pure foun- tain, repressing every good emotion, inflaming the worst qualities, and exciting the most evil ten- dencies. By the existence of this curse, the reign of pas- sion is perpetuated ; for every survivor in a con- quered country feels revenge and hatred against the conquerors, and he probably leaves these un- christian qualities as an inheritance to his chil- dren. The world, by such ingredients, is formed into one vast theatre for the exhibition of human infamy, and human suffering. 35 CHAPTER IV. ANSWER TO OBJECTIONS FROM THE OLD TESTAMENT. IT is difficult to discover why so extraordinary a preference has been shown for war by those who derive a plea for its continuance from the example of the Israelites, as polygamy and circumcision might be supported by a parity of reasoning. SECTION 1. To answer at any length the objec- tions which are drawn from this source, would be only a waste of time and space.* Were we ad- dressing a nation of Jews, we should probably rely on that law which they would consider bind- ing ; but no Christian can regard any authority of equal obligation with the Gospel. And were this not the case, the arguments drawn from the Old Testament are of such a nature that they would require but very little attention. It is sufficient for us to say, first, that the patriarchs evidently are not to be considered as perfect models for our imitation ; and secondly, that the wars of the Jews were by no means of an ordinary nature ; that they were undertaken under special circumstances, and attended by incidents peculiar to themselves. Any reader of their venerable history will at once * See Note B, in Appendix. 36 ANSWER TO OBJECTIONS FROM admit that the Israelites received, or professed to receive (and either admission is sufficient for this purpose) an express command from Heaven to slay certain nations celebrated for their impiety, that religious ceremonies were mixed up with these wars, and that invariable success awaited the children of Israel. SECTION 2. The clearest distinction, therefore, prevails between the battles of the Israelites, and those of modern date ; but even were they parallel, the rule to be applied to them is expressly changed by the words of Jesus himself, who, in his most conclusive precepts against all war, has drawn a marked contrast between his rule of conduct and that delivered by Moses. Many relaxations in discipline had been allowed to the Jews " for the hardness of their hearts ;" but the Almighty now condescended to bless man with a surer guide and a less erring rule of life. The prophet Isaiah described this alteration when he gave as the words of the Almighty