Sketches From The History Of Pennsylvania C

Excerpt from Sketches From the History of Pennsylvania, &C: Intended for the Information of That Numerous Class of Christians Although the religion which teaches us to love our enemies, and not to avenge ourselves, has been promulgated more than eighteen hundred years, yet hitherto no entire nation has so far acknowledged the authority of the Gospel, as for its government to be conducted upon Christian principles. Few indeed of the professors of Christianity in the present day attempt to justify war in general. The progress of civilization and commerce, the approach to a purer standard of morality, and it may he hoped an increase of true religion - have all tended to convince mankind, that war is not only productive of much physical misery, but that it is barbarous, impolitic, and opposed to the spirit of the Christian religion. The number, however, is still small, of those who are brought to acknowledge, that even defensive war is sinful and unnecessary. The common argument of the advocates of defensive war, against the system of non-resistance taught by the Gospel, is, that it is impracticable. They say that if a nation were not to defend itself against invaders, it would soon be conquered and overrun by lawless men and savages - that it would be impossible to enforce the laws, and administer justice. The reply to this assertion might be the abstract principle, that it is the duty of the Christian, simply to do his Lord's will, without reference to the consequences. Happily, however, the history of Pennsylvania, furnishes practically a complete refutation of this libel on the Christian law. It proves that even uncivilized men will abstain from violence, when the intercourse with them is conducted on the principles of justice, mercy, and peace - that the affairs of a state may be safely conducted without any military establishment - and that individuals situated in the midst of contending parties, who believe it unlawful to use the sword in there defence, and who put their trust in the Almighty, may safely depend providential care. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.