Green-Mountain freeman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1844-1884, 1845-05-09
FIRST IN WAR, LAST IN PEACE.


v" We fear the time has not yet arrived when
our Navy can be dispensed with. When the long
looked for Millennium shall have arrived-when
the lion and the lamb shall lie down together, and
thsfe shall be none 10 modest or make us afraid,
Wemay abolish our Navy with safety" i
Thus speaks the Waldo Signal, and it speaks
the language ola vast majority in Christendom
We quote the expression with the greatest defer
ence, but must dissent entirely from the sentiment
Of the extract This editor is looking, as most
Christians are, for a millennium; for that glorious
time, when peace and good will to men shall per-
wade the earth. .. .-...-.
He regards our Navy as necessary evil" to
be dispensed with only when that glorious day,
long looked for by Christians, shall have been ush-
cred in.
We, too, arelooking with anxious eyes for this
latter day glory Of the Church of Christ. But what
is the position in which, even now, we find the
Christian word2 Turn we which way soever we
may, we beheld the Christian in arms, prepared
for scenes Of butchery. Even now, he is passing
before our mind, clothed in battle array, with the
implements of death, at the music of the drum, to
the field of conflict. He has made his vow, that
50 long as there is one to modest or make him a.
fraid he will not lay down his arms.
We turn oureye, and another scene we have in
view. A man-ofwar is in sight, and, pacing the
deck, is Christian soldier. His soul is painting
for a fight. And SO it is throughout the wide ex-
tent of Christendom. In every direction, there is
all the preparation for war that may be deemed
needfu in any emergency, whether real or imagi-
mary. And the world is looking on. The Pagan,
the MOhammedan and the Jew are witnesses of
onr extraordinary prowess, and matchless skill in
the science of war. They behold us in our con-
flict and turn away in astonishment remarking,
" how these Christians fight"
And, then, there comes up a voice from the press
and the pulpit too, saying, that all this is neces-
sary evil and must be endured until the Mileni-
um In other words, that the Christian must con-
tinue in arms prepared for conflicts of blood, until
our enemies shall have laid down their weapons,
and become converted to the principles of the re-
ligion of Christ. /" When the lion and the lamb
shall lie down together, and there shall be none to
modest or make US afraid, we may abolish our Ma
Wy with safey;"-yes and our Army too, and our
weapons of defence may be all thrown to the moles
and the BATS whnn Christianity shall have subdu-
ed the fierce anger of the bea ST of The forest, and
implanted within the bosom Of the Pagan and the
Infdel spirit of kindness and love.
The Christians must stand in arms, must he, un.
til he shall have sought in vain for an enemy, oil
for aught that can modest make him afraid
throughout the earh and be the last of the family
Of man to lay aside his weapons of warfare ant
the last of all animate beings to Danish from hi
bosom a spirit of revenge! Nay, Christian reader
let not yoursefbe thus deceived such doctrine i
the Christians bane. You are called of God t.
exempIify in your life the pure and lovely prnci
pie of the Prince of Peace. The same duties, ant
the same bigations OF kindness and love, that will
devove upon mankind in the day of the MIleni
UNI, are binding upon you now. And it is the priv
ilege of Christendom to enjoy, even now, iha
peace which they expect is destined to reig
throughout the earth.
But the position of Christians must be reversed
They must be first, and not last, TO EXHIBIT the prir
cipes of Christianity. 1t is most direfu delusior
that the Christian must be the last in arns,-th
very last, TO lay down his weapons of warfare
Christian nations have but to inscrbe on the
banners, " Peace on earth and good will to man,
and wars will cease upon the earth. Let our wal
ships be converted into merchu nj vessels and on
army be abolished: let our soldiers return to the
farms and their work shops and we may soon e1
pect to find ourselves in the midst of the ne
heavens and the new EARTH c. w.