Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1870-09-30
spurgeon ON the war Path.

That original and unique preacher,
Spurgeon, has lately made one of his
characteristic fulminations. The Eu-
ropean war has exercised him to that ex-
tent that he has addressed letter to
Napoleon and King William, in which
he takes those bellicose gentlemen tartly
to task for their little quarrel and scrim-
mage.
Spurgeon rises above the nice ques-
tions of court diplomacy, and sticks TO
his Bible-taught humanity. He is emf
nently practical. He makes a stiff ar
gument, dd hominen,, that will bear re-
production. He thus quoths:
Did either of you ever think of what
war means2 Did you ever see man S
head smashed, or his bowels ripped open?
Why, if you are made of flesh and blood,
the sight of one poor wounded man, with
the blood oozing out of him, will make
you feel sick. | don't like to drown a
kitten; | can't bear even to see rat die
or any animal in pain. But a mani
where's your heart if you can think of
broken legs, splintered bones, heads
smashed in, brains blowed out, bowels
torn, hearts gushing with gore, bitches
full of blood, and heaps Of limbs and
carcasses of mangled men?
Do you say my language is disgusting2
How much more disgusting must the
things themselves be- And you make
theml How would you like to get a
man into your palace garden and run a
knife into his bowels or cut his throat2
If you did that you would deserve to be
hanged; but it would not be half SO bad
as killing tens of thousands, and you
know very well that this is just what you
are going to do. Do you fancy that your
drums and flies and feathers and fineries
and pomp make your wholesale murders
one whit the less abominable in the sight
of God2 Do not deceive yourselves; you
are no better than the cut throats whom
your laws condemn,
Better2 why, you are worse, for your
murders are SO many. Think, pray
you, for your poor people will have to
think whether you do or no. Is there so
little want in the world that you must 60
trampling on the harvest with your horses
and men2 Is there so little sorrow that
you must make widows by the thousands2 ?
IL death so old and feeble that yog must
hunt bis game for him, as jackals do for
the lion9 Do you imagine that God
made men foF you 10 play with2 Are
they only meant for toys for you to
break? o, Kingsl a plowman tells you
that their souls are as precious in God S
sight as yours; they suffer as much pain
when bullets pierce them as ever you can
do; they have homes, and mothars and
sisters, and their deaths will be as much
wept over as yours, perhaps more.
How can you sit down to eat when you
have caused war2 Does not the blood
rise in your throats and choke your Or
are you only devils with crowns on
creatures that were never suckled at a
woman breast. and therefore have no
human feeling2 1t will be hard for you
to think of the blood you have shed
when you lie dying, and harder still to
bear the heavy hand of God when He
shall cast all murderers into hell. Which
ever it is of you that has been the cause
of this wicked war, ] say you smell of
blood; you ought to be more hated than
the common hangman, and instead Of
being called His Majesty you ought
to be hooted as demon.