Year: 1861

necessary TO Fer1CCE Chr1SClan1IY


The following extracts from recent ser


mon of Henry Ward Beecher will naturally


lead the reader to suppose that the Brook


lyn divine is a firm believer in the manly


art of self-defense" We have seen it stat


ed that there is attached to Plymouth
Church a ten-pin alley, for the accommoda-


ton of the members of the congregation,


and now we expect to hear that a P. r. has
been stake d off, and dozen or two pairs OF
, boxing gloves purchased for the diversion of
| those anxious to Ego in on their muscle.
Why not !? Mr. Beecher says g no man is a


perfect man in Christ Jesus who does not


know, under appropriate circumstances, how
| to ward off and how to give blow" Hear
| him:


In the life OF a perfect Christian man
! there is a place for physical force. The
! world has been very much divided in opin-
| ion as respects the doctrine of combating
There have been great many non-combat-
| ants in the world, who have supposed that
physical force and physical violence were
inconsistent with a radical conception of
Christianity. But one of two things is Ger
| tain either there are two Gods, one of
whom made the human mind and the 9TH
er the New Testament, or else there is
place in Christianity for that which God
has put in the human soul-namely, the
physical force element. 1t is very true that
Christianity forbids physical force aud
physical violence where they are vengeful;
where they proceed merely from the impulse
of cruelty where they seek a selfish end,
and originate in a selfish motive. But
where they spring from affection, or from
moral sentiment, they not only are tolera-
ted, but they are commanded by the whole
0F ChriSti.nifv A,,H -,
feet man IN Christ Jesus t0ho does not k1aov,
Under appropriate circumstances hoD to waYd
off and hoa0 to giVs the bLot0.


[ consider that man as a kind of eunuch
who foreswea ears, on proper occasions, physi-
cal force. For, if you logically carry out
the idea that physical force must not be re-
sorted to, then the father must not whip the
boy, the officer must not arrest the thief
and the Governor and Chief Magistrate
must not employ military violence. Such
a doctrine disorganizes society. So long
as men are made up with bodies, and 80
long as they are in bodies, they will be ac-
tuated more or less by physical motives,
and there will be place and an indispensa-
BILE necessity for physical force. The only
thing required of us in this matter is, that
we shall properly use physical force for the
control of the moral faculties. 1t is to serve
justice and purity and love. 1t is not to
serve pride and envy and selishness. It is
to promote right feelings and not lawless
passions. And if men say, "How then do
you interpret the commands of our Savior
on this subject 2" | reply that l have in
terpreted them. In my personal relations
to men, if they, under the influence of an
ger, smite me, am not to smite back l
am to take the second blow without retalia-
ton. But suppose that, not in fit of an
ger but with a deliberate purpose, man
assails my house, God do so to me, and more
also, if l stand like miserable poltroon,
shaking with Christian nonsense, and not
daring to strike him Strike him?
would plunge him headlong out, and thank
God for strength to do it! And | hold that
a man is deficient of Christian traits in pro-
portion as he shrinks, in proper circumstan-
ces, from the employment of physical force
to do moral act. l take it that our sneak
thieves are the children of cowardly Chris
tian ethics.


Tt is taught as a part of Christianity that
a man must not defend himself and the
next step is the ineffably pusillanimous idea
that it is better to lie still and lose your
watch, than to get up and grab the theft
that has crept into your room to steal it, be-
cause he might shoot you that it is better
to live a coward than to die performing a
manly deed. So it is understood that as
churches and Sunday spread, crimes
can be perpetuated with greater and greater
impunity. l despise this whole idea of non
resistance. 1t is false to manhood, and es-
sentially false to Christianity, which does
not take away, but only regulates the great
law of physical force. A man is bound,
under proper circumstances to apply discip-
linary force to the child; a community is
bound to apply police force to scoundreIs in
it's midst country is bound to apply mill
tary force for its defense and as individu-
ais, we are bound to apply personal force
for the protection of our lives The com
mands of Christianity are against physical
force in its vengeful and selfish forms, but
it is not against physical force as a moral
power employed for right objects. A per-
feet man is one that has all the attributes of
courage which belong to true bodily strength
1t is very certain that these men who will
not fight are not much respected among
men. They think that the respect which
they lose in this world is made up to them
by that which they receive above but do
not believe they are bit more respected up
there than here.