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| Alexander Campbell: Address on War, 1848 |
Campbell concludes his address making his most powerful appeals to reason and emotion:
JESUS' FOLLOWERS
"So far as any indignity was offered to them or any punishment inflicted upon them as His followers, or for His name's sake, they were in no way to resent it. But in their civil rights He allows them the advantages of the protection of civil law, and for this cause enjoins upon them the payment of all their political dues, and to be subject to every ordinance of man of a purely civil nature, not interfering with their obligations to Him."
"If a heathen man, or persecutor, smite you
on one cheek, turn to him the other also. If he compel you to go with him one
mile, go two. If he sue thee at law, and take away thy coat, let him have thy
mantle also," etc. These and whatever else of civil treatment they might
receive, as Disciples of Christ, they must, for His sake, endure without
resistance or resentment. But if in their citizen character or civil relations
they are defrauded, maligned, or prosecuted, they might, and they did, appeal
to Caesar."
"They paid tribute to civil magistrates that
they might protect them; and therefore they might rightfully claim their
protection. In this view of the matter, civil magistrates were God's ministers
to the Christian "for good." And also, as God's ministers, they were
revengers to execute wrath on those who did evil. Therefore, Christians are in
duty bound to render to Caesar what is Caesar's, and to God what is God's - to
reverence, honor, and support the civil magistrate, and, when necessary, to
claim his protection."
"But as respects the life peculiar to a
soldier, or the prosecution of a political war, they had no commandment. On the
contrary, they were to live peaceably with all men to the full extent of their
power. Their sovereign Lord, the King of Nations, is called "The Prince of
Peace." How, then, could a Christian soldier, whose "shield" was
faith, whose "helmet" was the hope of salvation, whose
"breastplate" was righteousness, whose "girdle" was truth,
whose "feet were shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace,"
and whose "sword" was that fabricated by the Holy Spirit, even "the Word of God." I say, how could such a one enlist to fight the
battles of a Cesar, a Hannibal, a Tamerlane, a Napoleon, or even a
Victoria?"
"Jesus said, "All that take the sword
shall perish by the sword." An awful warning! All that take it to support
religion, it is confessed, have fallen by it; but it may be feared that it is
not simply confined to that; for may I not ask the pages of universal history,
have not all the nations created by the sword finally fallen by it? Should
anyone say, "Some few of them yet stand," we respond, "All that
have fallen also stood for a time; and are not those that now stand tottering
just at this moment to their overthrow?" We have no doubt, it will prove
in the end that nations and states founded by the sword shall fall by the
sword."
"When the Savior, in His figurative style, indicating the trials just coming upon His friends, said,
"You had better sell your outside garments and buy a sword," one
present, understanding him literally, as some of the friends of war still do,
immediately responded, "Lord, here are two swords." What did he say?
"It is enough." Two swords for twelve apostles! Truly, they are dull
scholars who thence infer that He meant they should literally use two swords to
fight with!"
"When asked by Pilate whether He was a king,
He responded that He was born to be a king, but not a king of worldly type or
character. Had He been such a king, his servants would, indeed, have used the
sword. But His kingdom neither came nor stands by the sword. When first
announced as a king by the Jewish prophets, more than seven centuries before He
was born, the Spirit said of His reign, "He shall judge among the nations,
and decide among many people. And they shall beat their swords into
plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks; nation shall not lift up
sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more." (Isaiah
2:2-4.)
"Two prophets describe it in almost the same
words. Micah, as well as Isaiah, says:
"Out of Zion shall go forth the
law,
And the word
of Jehovah from Jerusalem;
And He shall
judge among many people.
And decide
among strong nations afar off;
And they
shall beat their swords into plowshares,
And their
spears into pruning-hooks;
Neither shall
they any longer learn war;
But they
shall sit every man under his vine,
And under his
fig-tree, and none shall make him afraid;
For the mouth
of Jehovah of hosts hath spoken it."
"Such was, according to prophecy, such is,
according to fact, the native influence and tendency of the Christian
institution. The spirit of Christianity, then, is essentially pacific."
"There is often a multiplication of
testimony for display rather than for effect. And, indeed, the accumulation of
evidence does not always increase its moral momentum. Nor is it very expedient
on other considerations to labor a point which is generally, if not
universally, admitted. That the genius and spirit of Christianity, as well as
the letter of it, are admitted, on all hands, to be decidedly "peace on earth,
and good will among men," needs no proof to anyone that has ever read the
volume that contains it."
"But if anyone desires to place in contrast
the gospel of Christ and the genius of war, let him suppose the chaplain of an
army addressing the soldiers on the eve of a great battle, on performing
faithfully their duty, from such passages as the following: "Love your
enemies; bless them that curse you; do good to them that hate you, and pray for
them that despitefully use you and persecute you, that you may be the children
of your Father in Heaven, who makes his sun to rise upon the evil and the good,
and sends his rain upon the just and the unjust."
"Again, in our civil relations:
"Recompense to no man evil for evil." "As much as lieth in you,
live peaceably with all men." "Dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves;
but rather give place to wrath." "If thine enemy hunger, feed him; if
he thirst, give him drink." "Be not overcome of evil; but overcome
evil with good." Would anyone suppose that he had selected a text suitable
to the occasion? How would the commander in chief have listened to him? With
what spirit would his audience have immediately entered upon an engagement?
These are questions which every man must answer for himself, and which everyone
can feel much better than express."
"But a Christian man cannot conscientiously
enter upon any business, nor lend his energies to any cause, which he does not
approve; and in order to approve he must understand the nature and object of
the undertaking. Now, how does this dictate of discretion, religion, and
morality bear upon the case before us?"
"Nothing, it is alleged, more tends to
weaken the courage of a conscientious soldier than to reflect upon the
originating causes of wars and the objects for which they are prosecuted.
These, indeed, are not always easily comprehended. Many wars have been
prosecuted, and some have been terminated after long and protracted efforts,
before the great majority of the soldiers themselves, on either side,
distinctly understood what they were fighting for. Even in our country, a case
of this sort has, it is alleged, very recently occurred. If, it is presumed,
the true and proper causes of most wars were clearly understood and the real
design for which they are prosecuted could be clearly and distinctly
apprehended, they would, in most instances, miscarry for the want of efficient
means of a successful prosecution."
REAL CAUSES FOR WARS
"A conviction of this sort, some years ago, occasioned an elaborate investigation of the real causes for which the wars of Christendom had been undertaken from the time of Constantine the Great down to the present century. From the results furnished the Peace Society of Massachusetts it appeared that, after subtracting a number of petty wars long since carried on and those waged by Christian nations with tribes of savages, the wars of real magnitude amounted in all to 286."
"The origin of these wars, on a severe
analysis, appeared to have been as follows: 22 for plunder and tribute; 44 for
the extension of territory; 24 for revenge or retaliation; 6 for disputed
boundaries; 8 respecting points of honor or prerogative; 6 for the protection
or extension of commerce; 55 civil wars; 41 about contested titles to crowns;
30 under pretense of assisting allies; 23 for mere jealousy of rival greatness;
28 religious wars, including the Crusades. Not one for defense alone, and
certainly not one that an enlightened Christian man could have given one cent
for, in a voluntary way, much less have volunteered his services or enlisted into
its ranks."
"If the end alone justifies the means, what
shall we think of the wisdom or the justice of war, or of the authors and
prominent actors of these scenes? A conscientious mind will ask, Did these 286
wars redress the wrongs, real of feigned, complained of? Did they in all cases,
in a majority of the cases, or in a single case, necessarily determine the
right side of the controversy? Did they punish the guilty, or the more guilty,
in the ratio of their respective demerits? No one can, indeed, no one will,
contend that the decision or termination of these wars naturally, necessarily,
or even probably, decided the controversy so justly, so rationally, so
satisfactorily as it could have been settled in any one case of the 286 by a
third or neutral party."
"War is not now, nor was it ever, a process
of justice. It never was a test of truth - a criterion of right. It is either a
mere game of chance or a violent outrage of the strong upon the weak. Need we
any other proof that a Christian people can in no way whatever countenance a
war as a proper means of redressing wrongs, of deciding justice, or of settling
controversies among nations? On the common conception of the most superficial
thinkers on this subject, not one of the 286 wars which have been carried on
among the "Christian nation's" during 1,500 years was such as that an
enlightened Christian man could have taken any part in it, because, as
admitted, not one of them was for defense alone; in other words, they were all
aggressive wars."
"But to the common mind, as it seems to me,
the most convincing argument against a Christian becoming a soldier may be
drawn from the fact that he fights against an innocent person - I say an
innocent person, so far as the cause of the war is contemplated. The men that
fight are not the men that make the war. Politicians, merchants, knaves, and
princes cause or make the war, declare the war, and hire men to kill for them
those that may be hired on the other side to thwart their schemes of personal
and family aggrandizement."
"The soldiers on either side have no enmity
against the soldiers on the other side, because with them they have no quarrel.
Had they met in any other field, in their citizen dress, other than in battle
array, they would, most probably have not only inquired after the welfare of
each other, but would have tendered to each other their assistance if called
for. But a red coat or a blue coat... is their only introduction to each other,
and the signal that they must kill or be killed! If they think at all, they
must feel that there is no personal alienation, or wrong, or variance between
them. But they are paid so much for the job; and they go to work, as the day
laborer to earn his shilling. Need I ask, how could a Christian man thus
volunteer his services, or hire himself out for so paltry a sum, or for any
sum, to kill to order his brother man who never offended him in word or deed?
Well did Napoleon say, "War is the trade of barbarians"; and his
conqueror, Wellington,
"Men of nice scruples about religion have no business in the army or
navy." The horrors of war only enhance the guilt of it; and these, alas,
no one can depict in all their hideous forms."
"By the "horrors of war" I do not
mean the lightning and the thunder of the battlefield, the blackness and
darkness of those dismal clouds of smoke, which like death's own pall, shroud
the encounter; it is not the continual roar of its cannon, nor the agonizing
shrieks and groans of fallen battalions, of wounded and dying legions; nor is
it, at the close of the day, the battlefield itself, covered with the gore and
scattered limbs of butchered myriads, with here and there a pile, a mountain
heap of slain heroes in the fatal pass, mingled with the wreck of broken arms,
lances, helmets, swords, and shattered firearms, amidst the pavement of fallen
balls that have completed the work of destruction, numerous as hailstones after
the fury of the storm; nor, amidst these, the sight of the wounded lying upon
one another, weltering in their blood, imploring assistance, importuning an end
of their woes by the hand of a surviving soldier, invoking death as the only
respite from excruciating torments. But this is not all; for the tidings are at
length carried to their respective homes. Then come the bitter wail of widows
and orphans, the screams and the anguish of mothers and sisters deprived
forever of the consolations and hopes that clustered round the anticipated
return of those so dear to them, that have perished in the conflict...."
"But these, multiplied by myriads, are but
specimens of the countless millions slain, the solitary exiles, the lonely
captives. They tell the least portion of the miseries of war. Yet even these
say to the Christian, "How can you become a soldier? How countenance and
aid this horrible work of death? For my own part, and I am not alone in this
opinion, I think that the moral desolations of war surpass even its horrors.
And amongst these I do not assign the highest place to the vulgar profanity,
brutality, and debauchery of the mere soldier, the professional and licensed
butcher of mankind who hires himself to lay waste a country, to pillage, burn,
and destroy the peaceful hamlet, the cheerful village, or the magnificent city,
and to harass, wound, and destroy his fellow man, for no other consideration
than his paltry wages, his daily rations, and the infernal pleasure of doing
it, anticipating hereafter "the stupid stares and loud huzzas" of
monsters as inhuman and heartless as himself."
"And were it not for the infatuation of
public opinion and popular applause, I would place him, as no less to be
condemned, beside the vain and pompous volunteer, who for his country,
"right or wrong," hastens to the theater of war for the mere plaudits
of admiring multitudes, ready to cover himself with glory, because he has aided
an aspirant to a throne or paved the way to his own election to reign over a
humbled and degraded people."
"I make great allowance for false education,
for bad taste, for the contagion of vicious example; still, I cannot view those
deluded by such sophistry, however good their motives, as deserving anything
from contemporaries or posterity except compassion and forgiveness. Yet, behold
its influence on mothers, sisters, and relatives; note its contagion, its
corruption of public taste. See the softer sex allured, fascinated by the halo
of false glory thrown around these worshipped heroes! See them gazing with
admiration on the embroidered
ensigns of him whose profession it is to make widows and orphans by
wholesale! Sometimes their hands are withdrawn from works of charity to
decorate the warriors' banners and to cater to these false notions of human
glory! Behold, too, the young mother arraying her proud boy "with cap and
feather, toyed with a drum and sword, training him for the admired profession
of a man killer."
"This is not all. It is not only at home, in
the nursery, and infant school that this false spirit is inspired. Our schools,
our academies, our colleges echo and reecho with the fame of an Alexander, a
Caesar, a Napoleon...Forensic eloquence is full of the fame of great heroes, of
military chieftains, of patriotic deliverers whose memory must be kept forever
verdant in the affections of a grateful posterity, redeemed by their patriotism
or rescued from oppression by their valor--the pulpit, too, must lend its aid
in cherishing the delusion. There is not infrequently heard a eulogy on some
fallen hero, some church service for the mighty dead, thus desecrating the
religion of the Prince of Peace by causing it to minister as the handmaid of
war. Not only are prayers offered up by pensioned chaplains on both sides of
the field even amid the din of arms, but for years and years, have the pulpits
on one side of a sea or river and those on the other side resounded with
prayers for the success of rival armies, as if God could hear them both and
make each triumphant over the other, guiding and commissioning swords and
bullets to the heads and hearts of their respective enemies."
"And not only this; but even the churches in
the Old World, and sometimes in the new, are ornamented with the sculptured
representations of more military heroes than of saints - generals, admirals,
and captains who "gallantly fought" and "gloriously fell"
in the service of their country. It is not only in Westminster Abbey or in St. Paul's that we read their eulogies and see their
statues, but even in some of our own cities we find St. Paul driven out of the church to make
room for generals and commodores renowned in fight. And, last of all, in
consummation of the moral desolation of war we sometimes have an illumination -
even a thanksgiving - rejoicing that God has caused ten or twenty thousand of
our enemies to be sent down to Tartarus and has permitted myriads of widows and
orphans to be made at the bidding of some chieftain or of some aspirant to a
throne."
"But it would exhaust too much time to speak
of the inconsistencies of the Christian world on this single subject of war, or
to trace to their proper fountains the general misconceptions of the people on
their political duties and that of their governments. This would be the work of
volumes - not of a single address. The most enlightened of our ecclesiastic
leaders seem to think that Jesus Christ governs the nations as God governed the
Jews. They cannot separate, even in this land, the church and state. They still
ask for a Christian national code."
"If the world were under a
politico-ecclesiastic king or president, it would, indeed, be hard to find a
model for him in the New Testament. Suffice it to say that the church, and the
church only, is under the special government and guardianship of our Christian
King. The nations, not owning Jesus Christ, are disowned by him; He leaves them
to themselves, to make their own institutions, as God anciently did all nations
but the Jews. He holds them in abeyance, and as in providence, so in
government, He makes all things work together for the good of His people,
restrains the wrath of their enemies, turns the counsels and wishes of kings as
He turns the rivers, but never condescends to legislate for the bodies of men,
or their goods or chattels, who withhold from Him their consciences and their
hearts."
"He announces the fact that it is by His
permission, not always with His approbation, that kings reign and that princes
decree justice, and commands his people politically to obey their rulers and to
respect the ordinances of kings, that "they may lead quiet and peaceable
lives in all godliness and honesty." And where the Gospel of Christ comes
to kings and rulers, it addresses them as men in common with other men,
commanding them to repent of their sins, to submit to His government and to
discharge their relative duties according to the morality and piety inculcated
in His code. If they do this, they are a blessing to His people as well as an
honor to themselves. If they do not, He will hold them to a reckoning, as other
men, from which there is neither escape nor appeal. What Shakespeare says is as
true of kings as of their subjects:
"War is
a game that, were their subjects wise,
Kings would
not play at."
For, were both kings
and people wise, wars would cease,
and nations would
learn war no more."
A BETTER WAY
"But how are all national disputes to be
settled? Philosophy, history, the Bible, teach that all disputes,
misunderstandings, alienations are to be settled, heard, tried, adjudicated by
impartial, that is, by disinterested umpires. No man is admitted to be a
proper judge in his own case. Wars never make amicable settlements, and seldom,
if ever, just decisions of points at issue. We are obliged to offer
preliminaries of peace at last. Nations must meet by their representatives,
stipulate and restipulate, hear and answer, compare and decide."
"In modern times we terminate hostilities by
a treaty of peace. We do not make peace with power and lead. It is done by
reason, reflection, and negotiation. Why not employ these at first? But it is
alleged that war has long been, and must always be, the ultima ratio regum -
the last argument of those in power... Illuminate the human mind on this subject also, create a more rational
and humane public opinion, and wars will cease."
"But, it is alleged, all will
not yield to reason or justice. There must be compulsion. Is war then the only
compulsory measure? Is there no legal compulsion? Must all personal
misunderstandings be settled by the sword? Why not have a bylaw-established
umpire? Could not a united national court be made as feasible and as
practicable as a United
States court? Why not, as often proposed,
and as eloquently, ably, and humanely argued, by the advocates of peace, have a
congress of nations and a high court of nations for adjudicating and
terminating all international misunderstandings and complaints, redressing and
remedying all wrongs and grievances?"
"There is not, it appears to me, a physical
or a rational difficulty in the way. But I do not now argue the case. I merely
suggest this expedient for reasons as
good and as relevant as I conceive them to be humane and beneficial. To sum up
the whole we argue:
(1) The right
to take away the life of the murderer does not of itself warrant war, inasmuch
as in that case none but the guilty suffer, whereas in war the innocent suffer
not only with, but often without, the guilty. The guilty generally make war and
the innocent suffer from its consequences.
(2) The right
given to the Jews to wage war is not vouchsafed to any other nation, for they
were under a theocracy, and were God's sheriff to punish nations; consequently
no Christian can argue from the wars of the Jews in justification or in extenuation
of the wars of Christendom. The Jews had a Divine precept and authority; no
existing nation can produce such a warrant.
(3) The
prophecies clearly indicate that the Messiah himself would be "the Prince
of Peace," and that under his reign "wars should cease" and
"nations study it no more."
(4) The
gospel, as first announced by the angels, is a message which results in
producing "peace on earth and good will among men."
(5) The
precepts of Christianity positively inhibit war - by showing that "wars
and fighting come from men's lusts" and evil passions, and by commanding
Christians to "follow peace with all men."
(6) The
beatitudes of Christ are not pronounced on patriots, heroes, and conquerors but
on peacemakers, on whom is conferred the highest rank and title in the
universe: "Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called the sons
of God."
(7) The folly
of war is manifest in the following particulars: First. It can never be the
criterion of justice of a proof of right. Second. It can never be a
satisfactory end of the controversy. Third. Peace is always the result of
negotiation, and treaties are its guaranty and pledge.
(8) The
wickedness of war is demonstrated in the following particulars:
"First, Those who are engaged in killing
their brethren, for the most part, have no personal cause of provocation
whatever. Second, they seldom, or never, comprehend the right or the
wrong of the war. They, therefore, act without the approbation of conscience.
Third, in all wars the innocent are punished with the guilty. Fourth, they
constrain the soldier to do for the state that which, were he to do it for
himself, would, by the law of the state, involve forfeiture of his life. Fifth, they are the pioneers of all other evils to society, both moral and physical.
In the language of Lord Brougham, "Peace, peace, peace! I abominate war as
un-Christian. I hold it the greatest of human curses. I deem it to include all
others - violence, blood, rapine, fraud, everything that can deform the
character, alter the nature, and debase the name of man." Or with Joseph
Bonaparte, "War is but organized barbarism - an inheritance of the savage
state," With Franklin I, therefore, conclude, "There never was a good
war, or a bad peace."
"No wonder, then, that for two or three
centuries after Christ all Christians refused to bear arms. So depose Justin
Martyr, Tatian, Clement of Alexandria,
Tertullian, Origen, and so forth. In addition to all these considerations, I
further say, were I not a Christian, as a political economist even, I would
plead this cause. Apart from the mere claims of humanity, I would urge it on
the ground of sound national policy."
"On reviewing the subject in the few points
only that I have made and with the comparatively few facts I have collected, I
must confess that I both wonder at myself and am ashamed to think that I have
never before spoken out my views, nor even written an essay on this subject.
True, I had, indeed, no apprehension of ever again seeing or even hearing of a
war in the United States.
It came upon me so suddenly, and it so soon became a party question, that,
preserving, as I do, a strict neutrality between party politics, both in my
oral and written addresses on all subjects, I could not for a time decide
whether to speak out or be silent."
"I finally determined not to touch the
subject till the war was over. Presuming that time to have arrived, and having
resolved that my first essay from my regular course, at any foreign point
should be on this subject, I feel that I need offer no excuse, ladies and
gentlemen, for having called your attention to the matter in hand. I am sorry
to think, very sorry indeed to be only of the opinion, that probably even
this much published by me some three years or even two years ago, might have
saved some lives that since have been thrown away in the desert - some
hot-brained youths -
"Whose
limbs, unburied on the shore,
Devouring
dogs or hungry vultures tore."
"We have all a deep interest in the
question; we can all do something to solve it; and it is everyone's duty to do
all the good he can. We must create a public opinion on this subject. We should
inspire a pacific spirit and urge on all proper occasions the chief objections
to war. In the language of the eloquent Grimke, we must show that "the
great objection to war is not so much the number of lives and the amount of
property it destroys, as its moral influence on nations and individuals. It
creates and perpetuates national jealousy, fear, hatred, and envy."
"It arrogates to itself the prerogative of
the Creator alone - to involve the innocent multitude in the punishment of the
guilty few. It corrupts the moral taste and hardens the heart; cherishes and
strengthens the base and violent passions; destroys the distinguishing features
of Christian charity - its universality and its love of enemies; turns into
mockery and contempt the best virtue of Christians - humility; weakens the
sense of moral obligation; banishes the spirit of improvement, usefulness, and
benevolence; and inculcates the horrible maxim that murder and robbery are
matters of state expediency."
"Let everyone, then, who fears God and loves
man put his hand to the work; and the time will not be far distant when -
"No
longer hosts encountering hosts
Shall crowds
of slain deplore:
They'll hang
the trumpet in the hall,
And study war
no more."
_____________________________________
Alexander Campbell, Address on War, Edited.
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