War is Criminal | 1
1. Going to War Is Not Keeping from the Appearance of Evil,
but Is Running into Temptation
I would have it understood that I consider every act of mankind which is palpably contrary to the spirit and precepts of the gospel criminal.
It is an express precept of the gospel to abstain from all appearance of evil: “Watch and pray that ye enter not into temptation” is also an express command of Christ.
A person desiring not only to abstain from evil, but from the very appearance of it, will suffer wrong rather than hazard that conduct which may involve doing wrong.
He will be so guarded that, if he errs at all, he will be likely to give up his right when he might retain it without injuring others.
No person, it is believed, will attempt to maintain that there is no appearance of evil in carnal warfare, or that it is not a scene of great temptation.
One great object of the gospel is to produce good morals, to subdue the irascible passions of men, and bring them into sweet subjection to the gospel of peace.
But war cannot be prosecuted without rousing the corrupt passions of mankind: In fact, it is altogether the effect of lust and passion.
In times of war, almost every measure is taken for the express purpose of inflaming the passions of men, because they are the vital springs of war, and it would not exist without them.
Those who are engaged in war, both in the council and in the field, have a feverish passion that varies as circumstances may happen to change. Those who are actually engaged in the heat of battle are usually intoxicated with rage.
Should this be denied by anyone, I would appeal to the general approbation bestowed on the artist who displays most skill in painting scenes of this kind.
He who can represent the muscular powers most strongly exerted, the passions most inflamed, and the visage most distorted with rage, will gain the highest applause. The truth of the assertion is, therefore, generally admitted.
Some men, perhaps, may be so much under the influence of pride as to have the appearance of stoical indifference when their antagonists are at some distance, but let them meet sword in hand and the scene is at once changed.
The temptations for those who constitute, or those who encourage and support, armies to commit or to connive at immorality are too various and too multiplied to be distinctly mentioned.
Who can deny that war is altogether a business of strife?
“But,” said an inspired apostle, “where envying and strife is, there is confusion and every evil work.”
If war is a scene of confusion and strife and every evil work, it is impossible for anyone to engage in it and avoid the appearance of evil or be out of the way of temptation;
those who are armed with deadly weapons and thirsting for the blood of their fellow-mortals surely cannot be said to exhibit no appearance of evil.
But, if engaging in wars is putting on the appearance of evil and running into temptation, then it is highly criminal to engage in it.