The voice of freedom. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1839-1848, 1844-01-11
COM M U MICA TI0N
For the Voice of Freedom
PRINCIPLES OF PEACE.--NO.'3.

of the moral perfec,ions of the Holy One
and that by which we are all to be judged
in that day when "every mans work
shall be tried, of what sort it Isl" Who
then is bold enough TO bring to the test Of
this law the principles and the practices o.
war with its long detail of massacre and
horrors2 Who, in view of this law can
accredit its false honors and its fig leaf de-
f.use2 Who can read the first great
commandment of the law" Thou shalt
love the Lord thy God with all thy heart,
and with all thy soul, and with all thy
understanding, and with all thy mnd,'
and call upon Him as the common Fa-
Their who has made of one blood all ma
lions of men," to prosper them in bell
gerent capacity; in doing each other call
possible harm!' Or who can read "the
second like unto it, thou shalt love thy
neighbor as myself" in the middle OF this
nineteenth century, when by facilities 10:
interchange, the whole human family are
brought into one neighborhood, without
Welding to the selfevident truth, "love
worketh no i'll to his neighbor; therefore
lore is the fulfilling of the law2" And
vet according 10 the law of nations, a
neighborng nation may take the attitude
of war, and perpetrate lis horrors, in con-
sideration of national insults, itself being
Judge; or from an apprehension of over
growing power in another, or from the
consideration of injury Of any kind either
done or threatened
Or if we test the practice Of war by the
commandments in detail we shall find
them all, and several!y violated by it,
The first and second recognise the one liv-
ing and true God, and assert his exclusive
claim 10 the worship and homage of his
creature man. The practices Of war vio-
late these claims. With what regard for
these commandments can the soldier take
an oath to obey the order Of the officers,
which shall from lime to time be set over
him, we'll knowing that such orders ars
expected to countermand the law Of Code
The.third command requires veneralion
for the name of God. The customs of
the camp are a never-failiog violation Of
this command, while the name of the off.
cers must be treated with veneration.-
The fourth respects the sacredness of the
sabbath. The customs and incidents of
war multiply its violations. The fifth en-
joins duty to parents. In support of this
command the Savior rebuked the scribes &
pharisees, for teaching that the service to
the sanctuary might absolve from parental
claims, saying-"In vain do we worship,
teaching for doctrines the commandments
of men," Yet in the war system, that the
call of ones country, or TO speak more
the call of military despot, may
supercede parental authority is an every
day maxim. The sixth commandment is
81 Thou shalt not kill" And can Ian.
guage illustrate the fact that the violation
of this command is the business of war ?
Its equipage, its everything declare it: To
write the history of its slain, would be lit.
lie else than to re-write the history of man.
Some have by computation and conjecture
recorded the slain in war, at seventy times |
he present population of the earth, or ev.
IN more. Suffice it to say, their numbers ;
ire without computation. By what eth t
cs may we exhonerate the perpetrators of
me of these slaughters, from guilt in the c
light Of God! II human enactments blind
he eyes and pervert the judgment; yet he
Who respecteth not the person OF princes, =
loes, and will Judge Of it according to His
plain and simple enactment, Thou shalt
lot kill" And Though hand join in r
land, the wicked shall not go unpunish- e
3D." What can be more absurd than to a
suppose that two large assemblages of o
men (armies) equal in their nature, and
having the same supreme attachment to e
life, without any previous personal knowl- t
'dge of each other, or perhaps not even of !
he cause at issue, may and must, in the :
performance of their duty, proceed delib. t
srately TO imbrue their hands in each 9th. g
er's blood while neither they nor their |
commanders are guilty in all this2 Yet :
such is the naked absurdity of war. The S
greater the slaughter, the greater the glo. G