hese words, as insisted
upon by the Quakers, or of the less enlarged as insisted upon by others,
be the most consistent with the belief of the future accomplishment of
the prophecy just mentioned. And in this case the Quakers are of
opinion, that if wars were ever to cease, one ought to expect that some
foundation would have been previously laid in Christianity for this
great and important end. The subjugation of the passions, which it is
the direct tendency of Christianity to effect, would produce this end.
And so far such a foundation has already been laid in this system. But
as the admission of moral precepts into the education of man, so as to
form habits of moral opinion, is another, way of influencing conduct in
life, the Quakers think it likely that some such maxim as "that
Christians should not fight," would have been introduced also, because
the adoption of such a maxim would have had a similar tendency with the
subjugation of the passions in producing the same end. For it seems
absurd, they conceive, to suppose that wars should cease, and that no
precept should have been held out that they were wrong. But the more
enlarged interpretation of the words in question furnishes such a
precept, and therefore another foundation seems to have been laid in
Christianity for the same end. They admit, therefore, the larger
interpretation as included in the less, because it comports more with
the design of Providence, who, by the mouth of his prophets wills
universal peace, that the prohibition of public as well as of private
wars should be understood as a Christian doctrine, than that the words
in question should be confined to private injuries alone.

The last reason, which the Quakers give for adopting the larger
interpretation of the words in the sermon upon the Mount, as well as the
less, is the following. They are of opinion, that, as Christians, they
ought not to lessen the number of the moral obligations of the Gospel.
They ought not to abridge its dignity, nor to put limits to its
benevolence. If it was the desire of Jesus Christ, that men should love
their enemies, it is their duty to believe, that his wish could not have
been otherwise than universal. If it was an object with him to cure
moral evil, it is their duty to suppose, that it was his desire to
destroy it, not partially, but to the utmost possible extent. If it was
his design to give happiness to man, it is their duty to determine, that
he intended to gi