Anti-slavery bugle. [volume] (New-Lisbon, Ohio) 1845-1861, 1848-04-14

one DIVINE law, II is not perceived why il
may not, with equal propriety, be urged in
justification of a violation of every other Di-
vine law. III human authority may %abrogate,
or suspend one law Of God, why may not the
same authority exercise the same mower in
regard TO every other law of the Creator =
Again, IT the plea Of expediency in relation
TO Christian doctrine and practice be admis-
sible; by 1t could not the multitude Of mar
tyrs have escaped, who offered up their lives
rather than deny the Lord that bought them,
or violate his holy injunc,ions1
1t may be said-indeed it often is said,
that war, though a great evil, is an evil that
cannot be avoided in the present state of the
world and this conclusion NAV serve TO qui-
ct the consciences of many, whose feelings
revolt at the fearful realities of war. Let us
examine The correctness of the conclusion,
that war is -unavoidable-has the trial been
made, and found to be impraciicable
It's indeed 10 be regretted, that no instance
of a strictly national character has vet occur
red, 10 test the practicabiliIy of the principle
for " hich we plead-an unreasonable reliance
upon the Omnipotent Arm for protection and
defence. There is, however, a case TO which
we may refer, of a strong character, and suE-
fciently national for all the purposes of our
argument. Pennsylvania, it is known. was
settled by men who believed that Chtistiapi-
" forbade wal under any aud every pretex,.
They acted in strict accordance with this be-
lief. They planted themselves in the midst
of savages. They were surrounded by men
who knew nothing of written %ir>atics, or the
obligations Of revealed religion; by men who
we're addicted to war in its most sanrninary
and revolving forms-i0:d yet = for more than
seventy years. and up 10 the time that the
government of the Colony passed into other
hands. they enjoyed uninterrupted peace.
"The Pennsylvanians,' says Clarkson,
became armed, though without rms; they
became strong, though without strength
they became safe, without the ordinary means
Of safety. For the greater part of a century,
aud never, during the administration of Will
liam Penn, or that of his proper successors,
was there a quarrel or a war;" Whatever
the qrarrels Of the Pennsylvania Indians were
with other, they uniformly respected, and
held sacred, as it were, the territories of Will
liam Penn"
The settlers Of Pennsylvania, relying upon
Divine protection, placed themselves in the
midst Of savHges, without The means of resist
ing aggression-and even savage magnanim-
ity felt the appeal-suppresscd the war-cry-
and permitted them 10 possess the land in I'M
disturbed repose. What a lesson, may we
not ask, 10 Ch.lstian nations!
How painfully, how instTuctively, does the
situation of other American colonies contrast
with this! We will not attempt to portray
ii; but refer TO the blood-stained pages of CO.
lonial history.
Will it be said the same confding spirit,
and peaceable department., if practised in sin
cerity and truth, towards nations protesting
the benign religion Of the Gospel, would he
n,ora ,lapHorous nr loco SuccacSTnl I W.,
trust not-such a conclusion would be a libel
upon mankind-a denial of the efficacy of the
Christian religion-and an inexcusable dis
trust of the Providence and moral government
of God.
1t is not unusual 10 attempt a justification
Of war under the Gospel dispensaiion, by re-
ferring to the wars Of the Jews, under the
dispensation Of the Law. 1t is conceded that
many of these wars were authorized by the
Supreme Ruler Of the Universe, for purposes
of his own inscrutable wisdom but this high
authority cannot be claimed by Christian ma
tons; and it has been shown that the two
dispensations are essentially different-that
holy men during the continuance of the legal
dispensation, predicted, under the influence
Of the spirit Of prophecy, that the time would
come when nation should cease 10 lift IN
sword against nation, or 10 learn war any
more. We have seen that the Divine Author
and Founder of the existing dispensalion,
called the attention of his followers to those
violent and vindictive passions, the indul-
gence Of which were allowed under the Law,
for the express purpose of excluding them
from the code of morals which it was His
purpose to establish and that His immedi-
ale followers, and their successors for nearly
two centuries, firmly believed that war was
co,I; lIo, ~ tI,air ni,;oo hT..,o. W. 49,
shown that the conviction was so solemnly
sealed upon their consciencts, that when cali
ed by the rulers of that day TO serve as SOL
diers, no earthly consideration or suffering
could induce them to swerve from this arti-
Gle of primitive Christian faith.
And the early writers, I%reneus, Justin Mar
tyr, and Tertullian, affirm as their belief. that
the prophecy which declares that men should
turn their swords into ploughshares, and
their spears into pruning-hooks, was then full
filled.
With the hope of enforcing our views up
on this subject, and for the purpose of show
ing that they are neither wild nor visionary,
we here offer the sentiments of persons re-
s%pecting it, who lived at different periods of
time, and were eminent for their piety or
learning.
War" says Erasmus, "does more harm
to the morals OF men than even 10 their pro-
perry and persons :"-a and again, "They
who defend war, must defend the DISPOSE
lions which lead TO war; and these DISPOSE
tons are absolutely forbidden by the Gospel"
Richard Watson, Bishop of Llandaf, as
serts that Z" War has practices and principles
peculiar TO itself, which but i'll quadrate
with the rules of moral rectitude, and are
quite abhorren, to the benignity of Christian
ity."
Edward Hyde, Earl of Clarendon and
Lord High Chancellor of England, says tina,
War introduces and propogates opinions
and practices as much against Heaven as
against earth it lays our nature and our man
ners as waste as our gardens and habitations;
and we can as easily preserve the beauty OF
the one, as ,helntegri,y of the other, under
The cursed jurisdiction of drums and trum-
pets"
William Law, a pious minister of the
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