War is Criminal | 11
11. War Is Opposed To the Example of the Son Of God,
and Is Therefore Criminal
The example of the Son of God is the only perfect model of moral excellence, and his moral conduct, so far as he acted as man, remains a perfect example for Christians.
But did he appear in this world as a great military character, wearing a sword of steel, clothed with military finery, and surrounded by glittering soldiers, marching in the pomp and parade of a warrior?
No. He was the meek and lowly Jesus, despised and rejected of men. He was King of kings and Lord of lords, but his kingdom was not of this world.
Had his kingdom been of this world, then would he have appeared as an earthly conqueror, and his servants would have been warriors.
Though a prince, he was the Prince of Peace.
At his advent the angels sang,
“Glory to God in the highest, on earth peace, good will to men.”
“He came not to destroy men’s lives, but to save them.”
He was the Lamb of God, meek and lowly. He followed peace with all men; he returned good for evil and blessing for cursing, and “when he was reviled he reviled not again.”
Finally, he was “brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so he opened not his mouth.”
That he did this as a necessary part of his mediatory work need not be denied;
but that he intended it also as an example to his followers is fully confirmed by an inspired apostle, who said,
“If, when ye do well, and suffer for it, ye take it patiently, this is acceptable with God.
For hereunto were ye called: because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that ye should follow his steps:
who did no sin, neither was guile found in his mouth; who, when he was reviled, reviled not again; when he suffered, threatened not; but committed himself to him who judges righteously.”
Christ taught his disciples the doctrines of peace and commanded them to take up the cross and follow him, to live in peace and to follow peace with all men. His last gift to them was peace.
He said to them, when about to send them into the world, “Behold I send you forth as lambs among wolves,” thus teaching them what treatment they might expect and what character they must maintain among wicked men.
The nature of lambs and wolves is too well known for anyone to mistake this figurative representation:
Wolves are fierce, bloody, and ravenous beasts;
but lambs are mild, inoffensive, and unresisting, having no means of relief but by flight.
If a host of professing Christian warriors, marshalled under the ensign of a preying eagle or a prowling lion, clothed in all the splendour of deadly armour, and rushing forward to destroy their fellow creatures, are in figurative language but lambs, then I confess that I am at a loss where to look for the wolves!
Do these warlike Christians appear mild as lambs and harmless as doves, kind and tender-hearted, doing good to all, to friends and foes, as they have opportunity?
Can fighting be living peaceably with all men? Is it returning good for evil, and overcoming evil with good? If not, then it is not imitating the example of Christ.
If Christians were like Christ, their warfare would not be carnal, but spiritual, corresponding with the armour that he has provided. They would conquer by faith and overcome by the blood of the Lamb, not counting their lives dear to themselves.
On the whole,
- if to engage in war is not avoiding the appearance of evil, but is running into temptation;
- if it inflates the pride of men;
- if it infringes on the rights of conscience;
- if it is not forgiving trespasses as we wish to be forgiven;
- if it is not patient suffering under unjust and cruel treatment;
- if it is not doing to others as we would have them do to us;
- if it is not manifesting love to enemies and returning good for evil;
- if it is rendering evil for evil; if it is doing evil that good may come; and
- if it is inconsistent with the example of Christ,
then it is altogether contrary to the spirit and precepts of the gospel and is highly criminal.
If it is so, then Christians cannot engage in war or approve of it without incurring the displeasure of Heaven.
In view of the subject, if what has been said is in substance correct, and of this I desire the reader conscientiously to judge, then the criminality of war and its inconsistency with the gospel are undeniable.
It is admitted by all that war cannot exist without criminality somewhere, and generally where quarrelling and strife are, there is blame on both sides.
And how it is that many Christians, who manifest a laudable zeal to expose and counteract vice and wickedness in various other forms,
are silent on the subject of war, silent as to those parts or practices of war which are manifestly and indisputably criminal, is to me mysterious.
There has been a noble and persevering opposition against the inhuman and cruel practice of the slave trade, and by the blessing of God the efforts against it have been successful, probably for the time, beyond the most sanguine expectations.
When the lawfulness of this practice was first called into question, it was violently defended by professing Christians as well as by others.
Comparatively few Christians fifty years ago doubted the propriety of buying and holding slaves; but now a man advocating the slave trade could hardly hold a charitable standing in any of the churches in this vicinity.
But whence has arisen so great a revolution in the minds of professing Christians on this subject? It has happened not because the spirit or precepts of the gospel have changed, but because they are better understood.
Christians who have been early educated to believe that a doctrine is correct, and who cherish a respect for the instructions of their parents and teachers,
seldom inquire for themselves, after arriving at years of maturity, unless something special calls up their attention;
and then they are too apt to defend the doctrine they have imbibed before they examine it, and to exert themselves only to find evidence in its favour.
Thus, error is perpetuated from generation to generation until God, in his providence, raises up some to bear open testimony against it;
and as it becomes a subject of controversy, one after another gains light, and truth is at length is disclosed and established.
Hence it is the solemn duty of everyone, however feeble his powers, to bear open testimony against whatever error prevails, for God is able from small means to produce great effects.
There is at present in many of our churches, a noble standard lifted up against the abominable sin of intemperance, the greatest evil, perhaps, war excepted, in the land,
and this destructive vice has already received a check from which it will never recover unless Christians relax their exertions.
But if war is a greater evil than drunkenness, how can Christians remain silent respecting it and be innocent?
Public teachers consider it to be their duty boldly and openly to oppose vice:
From the press and from the pulpit they denounce theft, profaneness, Sabbath breaking, and intemperance;
but war is a greater evil than all these, for these and many other evils follow in its train.
Most Christians believe that in the millennial day all weapons of war will be converted into harmless farming tools, that wars will cease to the ends of the earth, and that the benign spirit of peace will cover the earth as the waters do the seas.
But there will be then no new gospel, no new doctrines of peace; the same blessed gospel that we enjoy will produce “peace on earth and good will to men.”
And is it not the duty of every Christian now to exhibit the same spirit and temper that will be then manifested? If so, let everyone “follow the things that make for peace,” and the God of peace shall bless him.