Non-Combatants by James White

The Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Jan 31, 1865

Non-Combatants.

By James White

THEIR DUTY IN REFERENCE TO THE PRESENT WAR.

"I EXHORT therefore, that, first of all, supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks, be made for all men; for kings, and for all that are in authority; that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty. For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Saviour; who will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth." 1 Tim. ii, 1-4.

The sacred Scriptures teach that Christians have duties to perform which relate to both earth and Heaven. And while the Bible dwells particularly upon the great danger of neglecting heavenly things, it does not fail to point out the Christian's duty relative to the affairs of this world. "Render therefore," said Christ, Matt. xxii, 21, "unto Cæsar the things which are Cæsar's, and unto God the things that are God's."

The Apostle very definitely states the duty of Christians to pray for civil rulers, that important results may follow—

1. He exhorts that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks be made for them.

2. He gives this duty prominence. "First of all," says he, let this be done.

3. The burden of prayer is stated to be, "that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty."

4. The result "is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Saviour, who will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth." The great object then of the prayer which should go up to the throne of grace from every Christian heart, is that men may be brought to a saving knowledge of the truth.

The Apostle does not here teach that prayer should be made for the conversion of all kings and all those that are in authority. Their conversion is not the great object he now has in view. But he exhorts that prayer should be made for them, that those who have enlisted under the Prince of Peace may lead quiet and peaceable lives.

War is not in harmony with the spirit which the New Testament especially teaches should be manifested by the disciples of the meek and lowly Saviour. The spirit of war overruns the spirit of true piety, and hinders the progress of Christian truth and holiness in any country where both exist. And unless the especial providence of God favors the cause of non-combatants, in case of drafting men for the service, they are liable to be brought where military law will demand of them what they regard a violation of the Higher Law. These, doubtless, are some of the reasons why the Apostle makes it the first duty of Christians to pray that they may be able to lead quiet and peaceable lives, and not be hindered in their efforts to bring men to a saving knowledge of the truth.

Bible history presents instances where humiliation, fasting and prayer, have moved the arm of Omnipotence to dispose the hearts of those in authority to favor the cause of the just.

The prophet addresses his captive people in Babylon, as recorded in Jer. xxix, 7, thus—"Seek the peace of the city whither I have caused you to be carried away captives, and pray unto the Lord for it; for in the peace thereof shall ye have peace."

Jesus taught his disciples the duty of prayer relative to their escape from Jerusalem, at the time of its destruction. "But pray ye that your flight be not in the winter, neither on the Sabbath day." Matt. xxiv, 20. And is it not possible that the impressive petition of the angel, Rev. vii, 3,—"Saying, Hurt not the earth, neither the sea, nor the trees, till we have sealed the servants of our God in their foreheads,"—symbolizes earnest prayer on the part of God's loyal people, at the present period of this dreadful American war?

To this point we would call particular attention. If the present be the period for the message to go forth which bears upon its very front the Seal of the Living God; if the four angels have at this time, been losing their hold of the winds of political strife and war, so that they are now blowing, and if the ascending angel with the Seal of God, symbolizes the rising, spreading message of the third angel, which has taken a strong hold upon the hearts of thousands of men and women at this time, then may we not conclude that the earnest petition of the ascending angel represents the united prayer of all interested in the message, for God, in the execution of justice and judgment upon our nation for the high crime of slavery, to so manifest his power, as to speedily bring to a close this terrible war. Upon this point we wish to speak with becoming modesty, but cannot leave it without stating that the foregoing suggestions are our settled convictions. We certainly think it worthy of the immediate attention of all our people.

The present condition of our country calls for fervent prayer from all those who, like Jacob, have power with God, through faith, to prevail in prayer. Can those who are striving to be loyal to the Constitution and Laws of High Heaven come nearest to the throne of grace? then let them, in the name of Jesus our merciful High Priest, come with humble boldness and fervency in this time of the nation's agony.

Hundreds of thousands of brave men have entered the service, and have suffered, and bled and died upon the field of battle, in hospitals, and in southern prisons. Oh! the sum total of human agony which has been wrung from the nation! This causeless rebellion of those whose hands were stained with the sin of slavery, has caused this tide of woe to flow onward for nearly four years! Great God! when will it cease?

"The weapons of our warfare," says the Apostle, 2 Cor. x, 4, "are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds." But no American Christian, however spiritual may be the weapon of his warfare, should feel that he has no other interest in this war than to clear himself from its responsibilities and liabilities by only paying a trifling sum into a safety insurance treasury. He has really as much interest in this old world as any man. Although it has been sadly changed from its primeval glory by the curse, and by the flood, and has been rent by inward commotion, and has waxed old like a tattered garment, and has been crimsoned by war and bloodshed, and everywhere is seen resting upon it the blight and mildew of sin, yet here he must stay and act his part until the Prince of Peace shall come and reign.

Seventh-day Adventists believe that they have committed to them a message that is yet to shake the world, and bring out of it a consecrated people, loyal and true to the God of Heaven. The triumphant closing of this grand work, they believe is symbolized by the angel of Rev. xviii, 1, 2, "having great power, and the earth was lightened with his glory." To be permitted, in the providence of God, to lead quiet and peaceable lives in this time which is marked in prophecy as a special period of war, and act a part for God in the promulgation of his burning truth, attended with power and glory, is an exalted privilege. For this let every believer most fervently pray. God rules and reigns in Heaven and on earth. The king's heart is in the hand of the Lord, as the rivers of water. He turneth it whithersoever he will." Proverbs xxi, 1.

The apostle exhorts that "giving of thanks" also, be made for those "that are in authority," as well as "supplications, prayers, and intercessions." Every Christian citizen of the free North can thank God that he lives under the best government in this revolted and sin-cursed world. It is true that we suffer the terrible results of war. And how far government is responsible for many wrongs connected with the present war is a point we do not now propose to discuss. But in our opinion, it would be about as unreasonable to charge the war in Heaven at the time of the revolt of Satan and the angels who fell with him, upon Michael and the loyal angels, as to charge this war upon the present administration. It is also true to the history of this war, that very many of the most terrible and heart-rending disasters and sufferings of the North have resulted from the conduct of Northern pro-slavery traitors.

Christian citizens of the free North can give thanks to God for religious freedom secured to them by the government. Christ's first ministers were slain for preaching and believing Christ, and the resurrection of the dead. The millions of holy martyrs sealed

their testimony with their blood. Christian friends, we should gratefully compare the present with the past, and let our fervent thanks go up to Heaven.

As a denomination of non-combatants, Seventh-day Adventists should give thanks to God for the provision made by government for the exemption of non-combatants from bearing carnal weapons, on conditions specified by law.

In view of the foregoing, we recommend to our people that prayer and giving of thanks for those in authority constitute a proper portion of their Sabbath and other seasons of public worship, and, also, of family and private devotions. And beside this, we recommend that the second Sabbath in each month be especially set apart to fasting and prayer in view of the present terrible war, and the peculiar relations which non-combatants sustain to the government, that they may still enjoy liberty of conscience, and lead quiet and peaceable lives in all godliness and honesty.

J. W.