lls are rung to announce
victories, and sermons are preached as occasions arise, as if the places
allotted for Christian worship, were the most proper from whence to
issue the news of human suffering, or to excite the passions of men for
the destruction of one another. Nor is this all. The very colours of the
armies are consecrated. I do not mean to say, that like the banners in
the Praetorian tents, they are actually worshipped, but that an attempt
is made to render them holy in the eyes of those who are present. An
attempt is made, wonderful to relate, to incorporate war into the
religion of Jesus Christ, and to perpetuate enmity on the foundation of
the Gospel!

Now this is the policy of the world, and can it be seriously imagined,
that such a system as this can ever lead to peace? For while
discussions relative to matters of national dispute are carried on in a
high tone, because a more humble tone would betray weakness or fear;
while again, during this discussion, preparations for war are going on,
because the appearance of being prepared would convey the idea of
determined resolution, and of more than ordinary strength; while again,
during the same discussion, the national spirit is awakened and
inflamed; and while again, when hostilities have commenced, measures are
resorted to, to perpetuate a national enmity, so that the parties
consider themselves as natural enemies even in the succeeding peace,
what hope is there of the extermination of war on earth?

But let us now look at the opposite policy, which is that of the Gospel.
Now this policy would consist in the practice of meekness, moderation,
love, patience, and forbearance, with a strict regard to justice, so
that no advantages might be taken on either side. But if these
principles, all of which are preventive of irritation, were to be
displayed in our negotiations abroad, in the case of any matter in
dispute, would they not annihilate the necessity of wars? For what is
the natural tendency of such principles? What is their tendency, for
instance, in private life? And who are the negotiators on these
occasions but men? Which kind of conduct is most likely to disarm an
opponent, that of him who holds up his arm to strike, if his opponent
should not comply with his terms, or of him who argues justly, who
manifests a temper of love and forbearance, and who professes that he
will rather suffer than resist, and that he will do every thing sooner
than that the a