War Inconsistent with the Religion of Jesus Christ

The writer is well aware that this inference, however just, will be looked upon with contempt by worldly political Christians whose dearest interest is involved in the kingdoms of this world, and especially by those who are clothed in purple and scarlet and have a golden cup in their hands. He has no expectation of being candidly heard by such, but it is God’s own dear children who have ignorantly mingled with the world, having been blinded by their education, from whom he expects a candid hearing. “If any man have ears to hear, let him hear.”

It is not common for a lewd woman openly to avow to the world her character; neither can it be expected that the mother of harlots will own her name. The writer is of opinion that very few have understood the full dimensions of this mystical city; she appears to him in her greatest extent to be bounded but little short of the whole visible church of God. She is styled “the great City, which spiritually is called Sodom and Egypt, where also our Lord was crucified.” “And in her was found the blood of prophets and saints and of all that were slain upon the earth.” But a dreadful judgment awaits her: “She shall utterly be burnt with fire: for strong is the Lord God who judges her.” Being mingled with the nations and supported by their power, when they become like stubble before the devouring fire, she will be consumed with them. The whore is represented as riding upon a scarlet-colored beast, and upheld by him.12

When he, with all his heads, are cast into the lake of fire, she will likewise be given to the burning flame. But before this great and dreadful day of the Lord shall come, which will burn as an oven, when the whore shall be consumed with the nations of the earth, God will call to his people to come out of her, saying unto them, “Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues.” As God’s ancient people were carried captives into literal Babylon, so God’s dear people will be found captives in mystical Babylon, until they hear the command of their Lord to come out of her that they be not partakers of her sins and that they receive not of her plagues. The captive daughters of Zion are very numerous. O that they may soon arise and shake themselves from the dust! “Shake thyself from the dust; arise, and sit down, O Jerusalem: loose thyself from the bands of thy neck, O captive daughter of Zion.”

5. If the Mediator’s kingdom is not of this world, and the kingdoms of this world are under the dominion of Satan, and if Christ’s subjects cannot unite themselves to the kingdoms of this world, without committing spiritual whoredom, then we may infer the great impropriety of the subjects of the Mediator’s kingdom becoming political Christians and enrolling themselves with the men of this world. They cannot serve two masters: for they will either hate the one, and love the other; or else they will hold to the one, and despise the other.

How humiliating is it to see subjects of the King of Zion engaged in the drudgery of the prince of darkness, laboring and struggling to support his tottering throne! Satan’s kingdom is divided against itself and must, therefore, come to an end. But how lamentable is it to see the sons of the living God, the subjects of the Prince of Peace, taking sides in the cause of the adversary of souls, and actually opposing and fighting each other under his banner! They do it ignorantly and will, therefore, obtain forgiveness, for they know not what manner of spirit they are of. They are commanded to have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove them.

Before our Lord departed from this world to go to the Father, he gave laws to his subjects for their rule of life until his second coming. All these laws contemplated their residing as a holy nation in the midst of a wicked and benighted world, to reflect the rays of the Sun of righteousness on the thick darkness which covers the people. They were to be a city set upon a hill and a light to the world. The apostle exhorts them to “do all things without murmurings and disputings: that ye may be blameless and harmless, the sons of God, without rebuke, in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation, among whom ye shine as lights in the world.” They must be a peculiar people to show forth the praises of God. How inconsistent is it, then, for the citizens of the heavenly Zion to be mingling with the politicians of this world and uniting in their processions, feasts, and cabals, when they ought rather to be praying for them, that the very sins they commit in these scenes may be forgiven them! Dear brethren, is it not high time to come out from the world and be separated? “Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with darkness? and what concord hath Christ with Belial?” “Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you, and will be a Father to you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty.”

6. In view of what has been said, we finally infer that every interest which is not built upon the sure foundation stone which God has laid in Zion will be swept away when the storms of divine wrath shall beat upon our guilty world. “For, behold, the day cometh, that shall burn as an oven; and all the proud, yea, and all that do wickedly, shall be stubble: and the day that cometh shall burn them up, saith the Lord of hosts, that it shall leave them neither root nor branch.” “For the day of the Lord of hosts shall be upon every one that is proud and lofty, and upon every one that is lifted up; and he shall be brought low.” “The lofty looks of man shall be humbled, and the haughtiness of men shall be bowed down; and the Lord alone shall be exalted in that day.” “The Lord at thy right hand shall strike through kings in the day of his wrath. He shall judge among the heathen, he shall fill the places with their dead bodies; he shall wound the head over many countries.” “For, behold, the Lord will come with fire, and with his chariots like a whirlwind, to render his anger with fury, and his rebuke with flames of fire. For by fire and by his sword will the Lord plead with all flesh: and the slain of the Lord shall be many.” “For the indignation of the Lord is upon all nations, and his fury upon all their armies: he hath utterly destroyed them, he hath delivered them to the slaughter. Their slain shall be cast out, and their stink shall come up out of their carcasses, and the mountains shall be melted with blood.” “For this is the day of the Lord God of hosts, a day of vengeance, that he may avenge him of his adversaries: and the sword shall devour, and it shall be satiate and be made drunk with their blood.” The nations must drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which shall be poured out without mixture, into the cup of his indignation; and they will be trodden in the great wine press of the wrath of God Almighty. And the great whore which has drunk the blood of the saints and the blood of the martyrs of Jesus will have blood to drink; for she is worthy.

The sword of the Lord has two edges; it will cut off the offending limbs of the church and destroy her enemies. The fire of the Lord will purify his saints but utterly burn up the wicked. He “whose fan is in his hand will thoroughly purge his floor, and gather his wheat into the garner; but he will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire.” Although the earth is thus to be desolated, and the nations destroyed, yet the saints of the Most High shall “possess the kingdom for ever and ever.” “And the kingdom and dominion, and the greatness of the kingdom under the whole heaven, shall be given to the people of the saints of the Most High, whose kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and all dominions shall serve and obey him.”

Dear brethren, these events are rapidly rolling in the fiery wheels down the descent of time; and although the nations must first drink the vials of divine wrath and the battle of God Almighty must first be fought, yet the time is at hand when we shall no more hear the sound of war, and of garments rolled in blood, for man will cease to be the enemy of man, and every one will sit quietly under his own vine and under his own fig tree; and there will be nothing to hurt or destroy in all God’s holy mountain, and the knowledge of the Lord shall cover the earth as the waters cover the channels of the mighty deep.

Dear brethren, is it not “high time to awake out of sleep: for now is our salvation nearer than when we believed. The night is far spent, the day is at hand: let us therefore cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armour of light.” And let us pray with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit for all men, not only for ourselves, our families, and our friends, and the church of God, but for a dying world, that God would in infinite compassion cut short these days of dreadful calamity for his elect’s sake; and in the midst of deserved wrath remember mercy.

“He that hath ears to hear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches; To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the tree of life, which is in the midst of the paradise of God.”

1

Says the Rev. Dr. Scott, in his Essay, p. 422: “We ought not therefore to fear our enemies because he will be with us, and if God be for us, who can be against us? Or who can doubt but he that is in us is greater than he that is in the world? This was typically intimated in the promises made to Israel respecting their wars with the Canaanites and other nations, which were shadows and figures of the good fight of faith.” Bishop Horne, in his preface to the Psalms, views the subject in the same light.

2

All these objections introduced are carefully selected from some of the ablest advocates for the lawfulness of war.

3

The last point American Christians will give up is the justification of their fathers in the War of the Revolution.

4

The earth, in symbolical language, is supposed by the writer to denote civilized nations, in distinction from uncivilized, which are symbolized by the agitated sea. Civilized nations will no longer cover the blood of the slain, under the specious idea of defending their rights and liberties.

5

If the kingdoms of this world do not belong to Satan, then it was no temptation to our Lord when he offered them to him. It is expressly said that he was “tempted of Satan.”

6

The writer has for a length of time been of opinion that no event has ever yet happened to the church which answers to slaying the witnesses. It has been given as a reason by some that the witnesses have been slain, that so much light has been diffused since the art of printing was discovered, and since the Reformation, that no reason can ever again be found sufficiently plausible to satisfy the consciences of mankind in again taking the lives of their fellow-men in matters of conscience. If our country was invaded and a law should be passed that every man capable of bearing arms should equip himself for its defense, on penalty of being considered as an enemy and to be publicly executed accordingly in case of refusal for conscience’ sake, there would not probably be wanting patriots sufficient to execute the laws; if they could not be found in our land of liberty, they might be found amongst the tyrants of the Old World.

7

If the permission given to the church under the Mosaic dispensation to engage in war has not been disannulled by the gospel dispensation (which is by no means granted), it is thought that it does not admit of the consequences which are generally drawn. The Israelites were God’s covenant people and were utterly prohibited from making any covenant with the nations around them, or engaging with them in their wars. It must therefore be totally improper for God’s covenant people now to unite with those who are strangers to the covenant of promise, and engage with them in their tumult and fightings. It is presumed that no one who has ever read our Constitution will pretend that the American nation has, in the Scriptural sense, made a covenant with God. If the analogy holds good in one point, it must in another; and in that case there is no alternative left for God’s covenant people but either to withdraw from those who are not in covenant with God, or adopt a national religion which must be defended by the weapons of the nation. It is believed that those who will not admit that the permission granted to the Israelites to engage in war was abrogated by the gospel dispensation can never fully answer the arguments in favor of a national religion.

8

Four things are noticeable from this history. First, That the subjects of the Mediator’s kingdom have no right to use carnal weapons for defense, in the most trying situation possible. Secondly, The promulgation of a decree of heaven; that all they (whether states, churches, or kingdoms) who take the sword shall perish with the sword. Every political or ecclesiastical body which is defended with the sword will by the sword be destroyed. In confirmation of this sentiment, we see while the great destroying powers were represented to St. John in the symbols of ferocious beasts, it was added, “If any man have an ear to hear, let him hear. He that leadeth into captivity shall go into captivity: he that killeth with the sword must be killed with the sword”; but in opposition to this it is said, “Here is the faith and the patience of the saints.” We would inquire how the faith and the patience of the saints appear, if they, like the nations of the earth, lead into captivity and kill with the sword? Thirdly, The weapon which the subjects of the Redeemer are to use for defense is here brought into view, viz., Prayer. Nothing which appears prevented our Lord from using this weapon when he was betrayed, but the necessity of the Scriptures being fulfilled. Had he prayed to his Father, more than twelve legions of ministering spirits would have appeared swift as lightning to discharge his will. At the time he shall come in all the glory of his Father the holy angels will be with him. He will break through the heavens in flaming fire and descend with the shout of the Archangel and the trump of God, and cleave asunder the earth beneath; and send forth his angels who will awake the sleeping millions from their tombs and gather together his elect and take them up into the air to be ever with their Lord. Fourthly, We may expect that angels will be sent to deliver the saints in the times of trouble. Angels are ministering spirits and are sent forth to minister to those who shall be the heirs of salvation. What a consolation it is that the subjects of the Mediator can apply for help in times of trouble to him who has the hosts of heaven at his command; and who has said he will never leave nor forsake them! The angel of the Lord encampeth round about them who fear him, to deliver them out of all their trouble. If God be for them, who can be against them?

9

Although it is not expected that any intelligent and candid Christian will attempt to say that the arguments which have been advanced may fairly apply to offensive but not to defensive war, yet some weak and unenlightened Christians may make the assertion. In answer to such we would observe that this would be begging the question and taking for granted the very subject in dispute. We cannot be satisfied with anything short of a candid answer, drawn directly from the spirit and precepts of the gospel. When it is fairly proved that under the gospel dispensation our Lord did draw a clear line of distinction between offensive and defensive war, and that he intended all such precepts as have been adduced to apply to the former and not to the latter, then we will acknowledge the weight of the argument. Until this is done we shall not consider our arguments as answered.

10

The writer perceives that he has made too unlimited a statement respecting the disciples who inhabited the valleys of Piedmont. Historians have generally considered those who dissented from the church of Rome during the dark ages as possessing similar sentiments. It is true they did agree in renouncing the authority of the Pope, but in other things they did not all agree. Some courted the protection of earthly powers and united with them in defending their rights by the point of the sword, and were finally destroyed by the sword. Others, instead of defending themselves with carnal weapons, fled from the face of the serpent and were, under divine providence, the seed of the church in the wilderness. It is the latter class to which the writer would be understood as referring.

11

As the writer has been for some time studying the symbolical language of the Scriptures, and intends (if the Lord will, unless some person more able should attempt an explanation) to give his views to the public, he will not be so particular at present in explaining the symbol of the great whore which sitteth upon many waters, as he otherwise should. He early perceived that the heavens and the earth, with all their furniture, were used as an alphabet, in the language of things, to represent moral subjects. His object has been to learn the true meaning of each symbol by comparing Scripture with Scripture. No language can be read until the alphabet is first learned. Symbolical language does not, like other languages, change with time and place, but represents the same idea to all nations and at all times. He is of opinion that one symbol does not represent two events, unless it first have a reference to some less event which is typical of some more important event; in that case, all together may be figurative of some great ultimate end. Although one symbol is supposed never to represent two different things, yet two or more symbols generally represent one thing. He has found by tracing back a symbol to its first use, that its true meaning is generally manifest. Since examining the Scriptures with this view he has been irresistibly drawn into the conclusions now exhibited.

12

The writer is fully of opinion that a ferocious beast is never used as a symbol of a corrupt church, but of a tyrannical warlike power. He has been for some time of opinion that the second Apocalyptic beast is rising, and that he will possess all the power of the first beast before him, and that under him the false prophet will appear; and the witnesses will be slain; and upon his kingdom the six first vials of his divine wrath will be principally poured out; and the seventh will be poured upon Satan’s kingdom universally, as he is the prince of the power of the air.