Our Duty Relative to the War.
By O. Nichols
BRO. WHITE: Is there any precept or example in the New Testament that Christians should engage in war for Cæsar's cause, especially for unrighteous purposes? Is it the Christian's duty to violate the precepts of the moral law, in obeying magistrates and rulers? In resolving these questions, we shall refer to the gospel of Christ. We start on the fact that "Christians are under Christ and not under Moses." Acts iii, 22, 23. "Christ is our example that we should follow in his steps." In the Old Testament we find the Lord's people often engaged in war. But the spirit of the gospel is opposed to wars and fightings? Why is this so? The gospel of Christ is a new dispensation. Paul calls it "the gospel of Peace." Rom. x, 15. The angels that announced the Saviour to the shepherds, declared, "on earth peace, good will to men." Christ commissioned his disciples to go into all the world and preach the good news of peace unto every creature. It was his desire that all nations should believe and obey the requirements of the gospel; had they and their rulers complied with the terms of the gospel, wars and fightings would have ceased, and a general peace followed? John, the harbinger of Christ, was ordained to guide our feet into the way of peace, Luke i, 79, by preaching repentance and reformation, "to prepare the way of the Lord, and make his paths strait, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand." The Saviour soon followed, saying, "Repent, and believe the gospel, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand." What are we to understand by the kingdom of heaven at hand? The Jews were expecting the Messiah to come to restore unto them the kingdom of heaven, according to several prophecies in the Old Testament. The pious Jews believed Christ had come to fulfill these prophecies, particularly Isa. ix, lxi, and to restore the government of heaven to their nation, and deliver them from the rule of Gentile powers, and "from the power of all their enemies, that they might serve God without fear, in holiness and righteousness before him all the days of their life." Luke i, 71–75; ii, 38; xxiv, 21; Acts i, 6. If the Jews and their rulers had believed Christ and obeyed the requirements of the gospel, as he commanded them to do, then the kingdom of heaven would have been restored to their nation according to Isaiah's prophecy, and the Gentile nations, with their kings, converted unto Christ, or submitted to the government of heaven under the Jews, "to repair their waste cities, the desolations of many generations, to feed their flocks, and be their ploughmen and vine-dressers;" and the nation that would not serve them should perish, be utterly wasted away. Chap. ix, 12; lxi, 4, 5. Says the prophet, Arise, shine (or be enlightened, margin), for thy light is come, and the glory of the Lord is risen upon thee; and the Gentiles shall come to thy light, and kings to the brightness of thy rising. The abundance of the sea shall be converted unto thee, and the forces of the Gentiles shall come unto thee. They shall call thee the city of the Lord, the Zion of the Holy One of Israel. "And the sons of strangers shall build up thy walls, and their kings shall minister unto thee. I will make thy officers peace, and thy exactors righteousness. Violence shall no more be heard in thy land, wasting nor destruction within thy borders." Vs. 1–18. These prophecies have not been literally fulfilled. The kingdom, or government of heaven, has never been restored to the Jews. Christ "came to his own" people and would have fulfilled his promises if they had believed, but "his own received him not." John i, 11. These prophecies cannot refer to the future kingdom of God, after the resurrection and judgment, for they relate to a period of probation. Therefore Isa. ix, 1–18; lxi, 1–7 were conditional prophecies of blessings unto the Jewish nation, and the Gentiles also, upon their believing and obeying the requirements of the gospel of Christ. "But they have not all obeyed the gospel; for Esaias saith, Lord, who hath believed our report?" Rom. x, 16. Wherefore God was under no obligation to restore the kingdom to them, nor fulfill these promises. The blessing of the gospel, which was intended for all nations, has not been realized, excepting to true believers in Christ; and it is through much tribulation that they enter the kingdom of God. Wars and fightings have continued, and will continue, until Satan, the instigator of evil, is bound. As God had a foreknowledge of all future events, and knew that the nations would not obey the gospel of Christ, therefore there are absolute prophecies also, relating to their future condition; and if we would avoid confusion in explaining them, we should distinguish between the conditional and the absolute prophecies. In your remarks on "The Nation," you admit that war does not harmonize with the requirements of the law of God, but in the case of drafting, it is the duty of our people to comply with the laws, and engage in the war to put down the rebellion. The war has dragged on for more than a year and a half. The country has given the government over a million of men, and all the money they could possibly use; yet we have not made scarcely any progress toward crushing the rebellion. The rebel armies still menace the capital; their privateers defy our navy. During this period we have disabled and lost nearly four hundred thousand of our men. It is evident that God is against our armies and is overruling this war for the chastisement of our nation. Should our people who believe Christ's coming is "even at the doors," engage in this war? If our religious experience, with hundreds of others of true believers (in 1843–4) in the first message, Rev. xiv, 6, 7, is a criterion, then the believers in Christ's soon coming under the third message who engage in this war, cannot exercise a clear conscience that they are obeying the spirit of the last message; nor that they are "watching and keeping their garments," "that they may be found of him in peace, without spot and blameless." Rev. xvi, 15; 2 Pet. iii, 14. Several brethren have endorsed your position, and refer to Rom. xiii, 1–6, which is supposed to teach that Christians should yield implicit obedience to the laws of our rulers, even if, in some cases, they require the violation of God's higher law, with the exception of some special "civil enactments that shall be passed and enforced to drive us from obedience to the law of God, to join those who are living in rebellion against the government of heaven. See Rev. xiii, 1–17." Let us compare these passages, and others corresponding with them, together with the context, and learn, first, what kind of laws and civil governments God has ordained. Did he ordain that they should violate the principles of the moral law? or that Christians should yield implicit obedience to such laws? The apostle Paul says, "Let every soul23be subject to the higher powers. For the powers that be are ordained of God. Whosoever therefore resisteth the power, resisteth the ordinance of God;" for he is the minister of God to thee for good, a revenger to execute wrath upon him that doeth evil. Peter says they are ordained "for the punishment of evil-doers, and for the praise of them that do well." Chap. ii, 14. It is evident from these passages that God did not ordain civil enactments and magistrates to do evil, or to violate his own higher law; but he required that they should base their governments upon the principles of the moral law, to administer justice and equity, and to punish evil doers. We read in Rom. ii, 14, 15, that the Gentiles were not ignorant of righteous principles, but that their conscience accused or excused right and wrong, showing that the principles of the moral law were written upon their hearts. In verses 8–10, Paul enjoins upon Christians who are subject to magistrates, to keep the precepts of the moral law. And in chap. xii, 1, To "present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable, unto God, which is your reasonable service, and be not conformed to the world." Here is no evidence that Christians should obey "every ordinance of man," to do evil in any matter; for Paul in another place enjoined "to ever follow that which is good, both among yourselves and to all men." 1 Thess. v, 15. If we yield ourselves the servants of corrupt rulers, we are the servants of sin. "No man can serve two masters." "Know ye not that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey; whether of sin, unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness." I cannot see any difference between special "civil enactments that are passed and enforced to drive us from obedience to the law of God," and others that were not designed to interpose against our duties to God. It is evil to obey any civil or ecclesiastical law that requires disobedience to God. "All righteous laws should be reverenced, and those who enforce and guard the precepts of the moral law should be respected and obeyed." This is what the apostles taught, for it harmonizes with the spirit of the gospel. We are commanded "to pray for kings and for all that are in authority, that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life." "Render unto Cæsar the things that are Cæsar's, and unto God the things that are God's." Cæsar's kingdom is of the world; his subjects are also of the world. The kingdom of Christ is not of the world; neither are his servants of the world. John xvii, 16. Let Cæsar's loyal subjects manage their own affairs, and engage in the wars for their master, when required. And the servants of Christ will fight for their Lord and Master—"fight the good fight of faith." The weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strongholds. 2 Cor. x, 4. The Christian's armor is described in Eph. vi, 10–18. John the Baptist's testimony is referred to, to justify your position. John was preaching repentance and reformation, to prepare the way of the Lord. His pungent preaching alarmed the soldiers, who inquired what they should do. His reply was, "Do violence to no man; neither accuse any falsely, and be content with your wages." It is argued that "wages was for being a soldier; and that they would receive no pay for being soldiers if they refused to fight, if required." But John said, "Do violence to no man." National warfare is violence and pillage, and soldiers that obey their officers must do violence. This passage is modified as follows: "The idea is that John enjoined upon the soldiers humanity, and abstinence from all unnecessary violence and pillage;" i. e., they might do violence when their officers required it of them, but not on their own authority. But this reasoning does not harmonize with the spirit of John's preaching. He laid the axe at the root of the corrupt trees, to cut down all that would not bring forth good fruit. He told his hearers to repent, and bring forth fruits meet for repentance. If those soldiers repented and became the servants of Christ, they could not be Herod's men of war any longer, "to maintain his cause in transgressing the seventh commandment." But I prefer to understand John's testimony as it is written—do violence to no man—because it harmonizes with the Saviour's teaching, Matt. v, 39, and with Paul's testimony, Rom. xii, 17–19; 1 Thess. v, 15. It is said these passages forbade private revenge or retaliation. We admit it; but Christ rebuked Peter for violence on a public occasion. When the Saviour was arrested by a "band of men and officers from the chief priests, Peter, having a sword, drew it and smote the high priest's servant, and cut off his ear. Then Jesus said unto Peter, Put up thy sword again into his place; for all they that take the sword shall perish by the sword." Matt. xxvi, 51, 52; John xviii, 3, 10. This is a lesson for Christians to remember in all future generations. "It is an everlasting rebuke administered by the great Head of the church to all his disciples for using the sword." Just before the Saviour's arrest, he permitted his disciples to take with them two swords, which he said "was enough," that Peter might have an occasion to use them in his Master's defense, so that the Saviour's rebuke would be the more impressive, and would be remembered by all his disciples in after generations; for Peter had before signified to the Lord that he should not suffer of the chief priests, that he was ready, not only to defend him, but to go with him into prison and to death. Compare Matt. xvi, 21, 22; Luke xxii, 33, 38. Jesus answered Pilate, "My kingdom is not of this world. If my kingdom were of this world, then would my servants fight, that I should not be delivered to the Jews." John xviii, 36. This passage teaches that if Christ was a king of the world, like other kings, then his servants, being also of the world, would fight for him; but as Christ is not of the world, his servants therefore are not of the world; and hence they would not fight for the kings of the world. But Christians engaged in the war of the revolution, and the Lord prospered them. In their lack of faith in the power of God, he permitted them to fight with carnal weapons for a righteous cause; but it was attended with a great sacrifice of their lives. "He that killeth with the sword, must be killed with the sword." Rev. xiii, 10. It was the Christian's privilege "to earnestly contend for the faith once delivered unto the saints." See Jude 3; Heb. xi, 33, 34. If they had retained this faith and the spiritual gifts to the church, they could have followed the example of Isaiah and Hezekiah in subduing their enemies. Isa. xxxvii. But the present war is not a parallel with that of the revolution. The war of the revolution was for a righteous cause, to throw off the yoke of tyrants, to establish a people's government of civil and religious freedom, based upon justice and equity, so that Christians could serve God with a pure conscience without fear from their rulers. The people of that day were righteous in comparison with the present generation. They generally regarded the principles of the moral law, and Christians would not depart from them in the army, unless they were compelled by the enemy. The killing of the enemy, who were the aggressors, was not considered a violation of the sixth commandment, because the enemy commenced the hostilities by shedding their blood; and according to the ancient law of Jehovah, and the laws of all nations, "Whoso sheddeth man's blood, by man shall his blood be shed." Gen. ix, 6. Judge Marshall, of Virginia, former chief Justice of the United States, declared toward the close of his life, "that for several years after the Revolution, he had not entertained the suspicion that a legislature could act otherwise than from the purest regard to the public welfare." However, there have been different opinions among Christians formerly upon this subject, the true believers under the third message will be united again, as they were in 1843–4. When Christ's coming is "at the door," they will see the consistency of separating themselves from all corrupting influences and associations which have a demoralizing tendency, whether the popular, worldly church, civil governments, or the army. Under the first and second messages, Rev. xiv, 6–8, a large list of civil officers who believed the Judge was about to come, resigned their offices all over the land. They did not believe they were in the Christian's place while waiting for the return of their Lord. I expect it will be so again, under the loud voice of the third message. There are special reasons for so doing, more than there were in 1843–4. You believe and teach that we are now under the third and last message of mercy to the world, and that Rev. xviii, 4, will soon be fulfilled—"Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues." Babylon refers to the corrupt churches or religious associations. If it is our duty to separate from the corrupt religious bodies of the land, then it is our duty also to keep from all corrupt or demoralizing organizations, whether the navy or the army. Which is the worst place for the followers of Christ, the nominal churches of the land or the army? The army is composed of members of the religious sects of all denominations, infidels, and the vilest men of the earth. Its demoralizing tendency to Christians is far greater than the churches of the land. Let us act consistently with our belief. We cannot expect to hold the friendship of the world and the favor of God. Jesus said unto his disciples, "If ye were of the world, the world would love his own; but because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you." John xv, 19. Says Paul, Be not unequally yoked together with unbelievers; for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness: what communion hath light with darkness, or what part hath he that believeth with an infidel? Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean, and I will receive you, saith the Lord Almighty. 2 Cor. vi, 14–18.