tate of things
may and doth require."[47] A sounder and saner statement of good
Christian teaching on the matter of police and military service one
could not desire. With this admission in one's mind, one can view with
unqualified admiration the efforts of the Friends to eliminate war, and
to perfect the methods of peace in the intercourse of men. More than
most Christian people have they laboured effectively to hasten the
advent of the Kingdom of God. It is true that their attempts in
Pennsylvania and elsewhere to establish a pacificist regime have
failed--it was inevitable that they should fail--but this does not in
any way lessen the debt which the world owes to them for their powerful
and far-reaching influence in favour of love and gentleness and peace.

FOOTNOTE:

[47] I quote from J. W. Graham, _War from a Quaker Point of View_, p.
71. See also my review of this book in _Hibbert Journal_, No. 55.

VII. CONCLUSION

The sum of the matter seems to be this. Government is necessary in this
present evil world. Only by means of sovereign political authority,
based upon physical as well as moral force, can there be effective
"punishment of wickedness and vice" or "maintenance of true religion
and virtue." This is clearly recognized in the Bible, which proclaims
that "the powers that be are ordained of God," which enjoins obedience
to kings and governors as a religious duty, and which sees in the sword
of justice carried by the secular ruler a weapon directed against the
same enemies as oppose the establishment of the Kingdom of God. It is
essential for the well-being and even for the existence of society, that
crime should be suppressed. Hence, in addition to moralists and
ministers who seek to educate and convert, there must be police and
soldiers--in short, the full organized force of the community--ready to
stamp out incorrigible villainy, if need be with blood and iron.
Similarly, it is essential for the well-being and even for the existence
of the polity of peoples--the growing society of nations--that
aggression should be prevented, that treacherous intrigues should be
frustrated, that treaty engagements should be enforced, that the reign
of law should be confirmed. But, in order to realize this end, there is
need not only of pacific missions and cosmopolitan congresses, but also
of an armed might sufficient to prevent or to punish with irresistible
certainty breaches of international conventions and vi