War is Unwise | 8
8. War Is Unwise,
As It Does Not Answer the Professed End for Which It Is Intended
The professed object of war generally is to preserve liberty and produce a lasting peace;
but war never did and never will preserve liberty and produce a lasting peace, for it is a divine decree that all nations who take the sword shall perish with the sword.
War is no more adapted to preserve liberty and produce a lasting peace than midnight darkness is to produce noonday light.
The principles of war and the principles of the gospel are as unlike as heaven and hell. The principles of war are terror and force, but the principles of the gospel are mildness and persuasion:
Overcome a man by the former and you subdue only his natural power, but not his spirit; overcome a man by the latter, and you conquer his spirit and render his natural power harmless.
Evil can never be subdued by evil. It is returning good for evil that overcomes evil effectually.
It is, therefore, alone the spirit of the gospel that can preserve liberty and produce a lasting peace. Wars can never cease until the principles and spirit of war are abolished.
Mankind has been making the experiment with war for ages to secure liberty and a lasting peace; or, rather, it has ostensibly held out these objects as a cover to its lusts and passions.
And what has been the result?
Generally the loss of liberty, the overturning of empires, the destruction of human happiness, and the drenching of the earth with the blood of man.
In most other pursuits, mankind generally gains wisdom by experience; but the experiment of war has not been undertaken to acquire wisdom. It has, in fact, been undertaken and perpetuated for ages to gratify the corrupt desires of men.
The worst of men have delighted in the honours of military fame and it is what they have a strong propensity for; and how can a Christian take pleasure in that employment which is the highest ambition of ungodly men?
The things that are highly esteemed among men are an abomination in the sight of God:
Is it not, therefore, important that everyone naming the name of Christ should bear open testimony against the spirit and practice of war, and exhibit the spirit and temper of the gospel before the world that lies in wickedness, and let their lights shine before men?
But what can the men of the world think of such Christians as are daily praying that wars may cease to the ends of the earth, while they have done nothing and are doing nothing to counteract its destructive tendency?
Alas! Too many are doing much by their lives and conversation to support its spirit and principles. Can unbelievers rationally suppose such prayers to be sincere? Will they not rather conclude that they are perfect mockery?
What would be thought of a man daily praying that the means used for his sick child might be blessed for his recovery, when he was constantly administering to him known poison?
With the same propriety do those Christians pray that war may come to a final end, while they are supporting its vital principles.
It is contrary to fact that war is calculated to preserve liberty and secure a lasting peace;
for it has done little else but to destroy liberty and peace and make the earth groan under the weight of its terror and distress.
It is contrary to the word of God that war is calculated to promote peace on earth and good will toward men:
The law that is to produce this happy effect will not be emitted from the council of war or the smoke of a camp.
Instead, the law shall go forth out of Zion, the Lord shall rebuke the strong nations, and they shall beat their swords into ploughshares and their spears into pruning hooks.
Then nations shall no more lift up sword against nation; neither shall they learn the art of war any more. Then shall the earth be filled with the abundance of peace and there shall be nothing to hurt or destroy.
It is reserved alone for the triumph of the gospel to produce peace on earth and good will to men.
- If war does actually provoke insult and mischief;
- if it increases difficulties, destroys property and liberty;
- if it diminishes happiness, injures the morals of society,
- hazards eternal for only the chance of defending temporal things, and, finally,
- does not answer the end for which it was intended,
then it must be very unwise to engage in it, and it must be wrong for Christians to do anything to promote it, and right to do all in their power to prevent it.