The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1894-10-31
The Anti.War Proposal.
JOSIAH w. LEEDS.

JOSIAH w. LEEDS.
The editorial note in the Christian
Standard of Ninth month, 9Th, second
page, upon the lately inaugurated war
between China and Japan about Corea
is timely ; the reflection that ut is
time that these barbarities should
cease" is true, and has been true since
the overturningof primitive Christian
faith and practice upon this matter by
the Emperor Constantine in the fourth
century, while the very responsible
commission laid upon DR.. Stokes that
he Communicate with the Emperor
of China and Japan, and in the name
of Jesus Christ and our common hu-
manity, bid them be at peace" bears
an aspect of encouragement. For, 1t
will be remembered that 1T was one OF
the last acts of our lately-adjourned
National Legislature, in an interval OF
it's wrestling with the tariff bill ques-
ton, to reject the proposal Of an arbi-
tration treaty with Great Britain, for
the pitiful reason that our political re-
lations with Nicaragua might become
unsettled, our status under the Clayton
Bulwer treaty be disturbed by treaty
of arbitration, and hence some. posi-
BILE future decision or award In that
connection prove not altogether accep-
table to our people.
We need also to bear in mind that
the military spirit is being very prac-
tically stimulated amongst US through
the plan of detailing officers learned
in the art of war to instruct our young
men IN. the colleges and our lads In the
public schools, how to 60 through the
military drill while the same leaven,
operating in the churches, Sputs the
weapons of carnal warfare In Che hands
of youthful recruits for the army OF
the Prince of Peace. ),
We may point the pagans to what
Hudson Taylor and all his associates
of the China Inland Missi6n testify
and practice against the barberity and
non-C Christian character of war, and
so of Livingstone and Bishop Taylor
in Equatorial Africa, and MOffatt and
Coillard in Lower Africa, and Ellis
and Coan in the South Seas and Sand
vic hIslands. We may also tell them
that Charles Spurgeon, first i1 name
among the Baptists, ,disavowed altogeth-
er that "other Christianity for the
heather which came with Bible In
its knapsack and rifle in its hand :"
that DR.. Cuyler, eminent among the
Presbyterians, with no love for that
strange fire of the Boys' Brigade In
the churches, exclaims, ut is pitiable
to see the carnal weapons of butchery
in the hands of Christian youth ~
while the sanity Wesley, founder of
Methodisn, made free to put forth the
searching inquiry "Shall Christians
assist the Prince of He'll who was a
murderer from the beginning, by tell
ing the world the benefit Of WARP"
There are few other considerations
intimately related to this subject, which
were set forth in tract entitled,
fought Christians to engage in War "'
issued by me last year, three para
graphs from which 1 append. AS a
member of the appointed committee
for bringing before the churches the
appeal to be laid before the worlds
governments on the subject of war,
and commendiug the amicable deter
mination of all future international
differences, I should rejoice to have
laid before the rulers of the nations
who acknowledge not the Kingship of
the Lord Jesus Christ, the assurance
that He whose kingdom is "not of this
world" has enjoined his servants not
to fight, but to overcome the world and
all their enemies through patience,
Iong-suffering, prayer and trust IN
Him. The extract referred to is as
follows:
"Professing Christendom having for
long forsaken the simplicity OF priml,,
tive faith and practice in this regard
[by having resort to war], we need TO
turn now and learn anew a lesson from
the freshly impressed Inhabitants OF
the isles afar off. When such q thing
occurs as that of the Japanese ENJOYS
to England, charged with an examlna'
ton into the merits and practical work
ings of Christianity with a view to Its
possible general adoption in the land
Of the Mikado, making report that
what they had beheld in the way OF
preparations by the English to fight
their fellow-men were 80 opposed tc
the tenets of peace which they, the
Christian English, professed, as to dis
incline them to suggest any change III
the national religion of Japan, one may
conclude that there is just occasion foI
reviving the Apostle Pouls sorrowful
impeachment, The name of God IL
blasphemed among the Gentiles though
you, as it is written
"Said that self-denying missionary
William Ellis, referring to the Poly
nesian converts, when Christianity
was adopted by the people, human sac
rifices, infant murder and war entire
ly ceased When that fierce maraud'
er and murderer, Afrikanes, became
Christian, he and his people put to-
tally away their clubs and knives
their bows and arrows aud spears
What an amazing transformation was
that of the cannibal Fijians,. so also
that of the Samoan islanders! Con
cerning the latter people, most inter
esting statement (Which also ought te
be far more widely known than is the
case) was made two years ago at 8
Conference held at Redland Park, Bris'
tol, England.
is. J. Whitmee, a missionary, stated
that when he went to Samoa In 1858
he found the native Christians in those
islands 80 fully convinced that war was
utterly inconsistent with profession
of faith in Jesus Christ, that no person
who took any part in war, either IL
promoting it as statesman, or in en-
gaging in it as soldier, could be
member of Christian church. From
the first acceptance of Christianity in
the islands, this became the rule. II
was adopted, not in consequence, o.
the teaching of the earliest English
missionaries upon the subject, but
conclusion which forced itself upon
the minds of the people themselves as