War is Unwise | 3

3. War Is Unwise,
Because It Destroys Property

Property is what a great proportion of mankind is struggling to obtain, and many at the hazard of their lives.

Though in some instances they may misuse it, yet it is the gift of God, and when made subservient to more important things, it may be a blessing to individuals and communities.

It has in it, therefore, a real value, and ought not to be wantonly destroyed while it may be used as an instrument for benefiting mankind.

It is a notorious fact that war does make a great destruction of property:

Thousands of individuals on sea and on land lose their all, for the acquisition of which they may have spent the prime of their lives.

Ships on the high seas are taken, often burnt or scuttled, and valuable cargoes sent to the bottom of the deep, some possibly laden with the necessaries of life and bound to ports where the innocent inhabitants were in a state of famine.

Whole countries are laid waste by only the passing of an immense army:

houses are defaced, furniture broken to pieces, the stores of families eaten up, cornfields trodden down, fences torn away and used for fuel,

and everything swept in its train as with the besom of destruction more terrible to the inhabitants than the storms of heaven when sent in judgment.

Beautiful towns are often literally torn to pieces with shot and shells.

Venerable cities, the labour and pride of ages, are buried in ashes amid devouring flames, while in melancholy grandeur the fire and smoke rise to heaven and seem to cry for vengeance on the destroyers.

Notwithstanding an avaricious individual or nation may occasionally in war acquire by plunder from their brethren a little wealth, yet they usually lose, on the whole, more than they gain.

On the general scale the loss is incalculable.

It is not my object to examine the subject in relation to any particular nation or war, but upon the general scale in application to all warlike nations and all wars under the light of the gospel.

If war does destroy property, reduce individuals to beggary, and impoverish nations, then it is unwise to engage in it.