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    14 On the Consistency ( i f * the Quakers

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    cords we have of the hist&fy of mankind ; and -that , without afty sensible approximation to the end professedly aimed at , by the advocates of merely defensive vvsuy by all the sacrifices of blood and treasure which have been devoted

    to the attainment of this great object . With such a view of the stibject , independently of any eonsidera ^ tion of the positive injunctions of the Christian Lawgiver ,-or any regard to the language of prophecy respecting the peaceful character

    of all nations , when the religioi * he came to establish shall have produced the full extent of its genuine influence upon all theinha * bitants of the eajth , I confess it appears to me high time that some other means should be tried , that

    fnay be better adapted to promote the eftd aimed at , and be more in unison with that temper and disposition of mind , which the advocates for merely defensive war are professedly anxious to en *

    force . And although , sis Barcla y force . And although , * is Barclay observes , " Seeing of all things the defence of one ' s- self &eems most tolerable /* we shall not ^ ay of those who in this respect u have

    not come to the pure dispensation of the gospel , that war undertaken upon a just occasion is altogether unlawful to them . But for such whom Christ has brought hither it is not lawful to defend

    themselves by atms ^ but they ought over all to trust to the Lord . ' * Plausible as the arguments in favour of resisting evil by the swon ! , may appear ^ the ill success attending it , as a means of corroding the passions of avarice , injustice , and ambition , and of

    diminishing their influence over mankind , tot so mai > y ages * should

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    not lift up sword against nation ; neither , shall tliey learn war any more . " But the destructive implements of wax shall be destroyed as useless . 6 C Their swords shall they beat into ploughshares , and their spears into pruning hooks /* - Tbe greatest and most beneficial yeforms which have hitherto been effected among mankind , history informs us * have arisen from

    apparently small beginnings , were but slowly embraced ^ and ttieir first advocates for the most part Yjolently opposed , persecuted , and traduced . Such having been , in tke - ordering' of Providence , the "Visual course of such events , we way reasonably expect the progress of real reformation will yet he siojWj and that future reformfrs will not wholly escape similar treatment * however unexceptionable their eifoTts in its favour may be . And surely none can be more

    so , al least in the eyes © fan opponent 9 than those which have been uniformly employed by this ye spec table fraternity . Yet a want of energy and zeal in asserting and ^ commending so glorious n cause , tbe very essence of which consists in the promotion of peace on oatth , and ^ ood ^ will among men , may perhaps be justly imputtxi to them . Bat with Pbilo ' s view of the consequences of the universal adoption of sweh maxims , I was not a little surprised at his representing their present effect" highly detrimental , not to say

    monstrous . " . The experiment of opposiog force to force , > as a means of securing nations from the violence and oppression of their more warlike ' and powerful neighbours , has been long tried in a great variely of lorms , and on u very extensive scale from the earliest re-

• Citation
  • Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Jan. 2, 1810, page 14, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2400/page/14/