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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 individuals, because it is required by Christianity. There is no exception in the Gospel to uphold this argument 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.

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 no 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 innocent 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 povertystricken 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.

"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."

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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 authorities; and we admit, as a general rule, that obedience is to be paid to them. In questions like the present, however, which so strongly affect the

* Bishop Porteus on Death.

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 will 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." He will feel that by enlisting into the army or navy, by fighting

*Acts v. 29.

against his brethren, he not only burdens his own soul with sin, but increases the national transgression 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 infirmities, 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

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