A LEAGUE OF PEACE 403 



they observe it among themselves and make it observed by others. 

 What he says at his death, he confirms after his resurrection. ' Peace 

 be with you.' These are the first words which he addressed to his 

 Apostles. Peace is the expression of that love which is the fulfilling 

 of the law. What is more contrary to love than the quarrels of men ? 

 Born of hate, they destroy every bond of affection; and shall he who 

 loves not his neighbour love God ? " 



Erasmus declares, " If there is in the affairs of mortal men any 

 one thing which it is proper to explode, and incumbent upon every man 

 by every lawful means to avoid, to deprecate, to oppose, that one thing 

 is doubtless war." 



Luther declares, " Cannons and firearms are cruel and damnable 

 machines. I believe them to have been the direct suggestion of the 

 Devil. If Adam had seen in vision the horrible instruments his chil- 

 dren were to invent, he would have died of grief." 



Nothing can be clearer than that the leaders of Christianity im- 

 mediately succeeding Christ, from whom authentic expressions of doc- 

 trines have come down to us, were well assured that their Master had 

 forbidden to the christian the killing of men in war or enlisting in the 

 legions. One of the chief differences which separated Eoman non- 

 christians and christians was the refusal of the latter to enlist in the 

 legions and be thus bound to kill their fellows in war as directed. We 

 may well ponder over the change, and wonder that christian priests 

 accompany the armies of our day, and even dare to approach the Un- 

 known, beseeching his protection and favor for soldiers in their heinous 

 work. When the warring hosts are christian nations, worshipping the 

 one God, which, alas, is not seldom, as in the last gigantic orgy of 

 human slaughter in Europe, we had the spectacle of the rival priests, 

 praying in the name of the Prince of Peace, to the God of Battles for 

 favor. Similar prayers were offered in the churches, where in some 

 instances battle-flags, the emblems of carnage, were displayed. Future 

 ages are to pronounce all this blasphemous. There are those of to-day 

 who deplore it deeply. Even the pagan, before Christ, direct from 

 human butchery, refrained from appealing to his gods without first 

 cleansing himself of the accruing pollution. 



It is a truism that the doctrines of all founders of religions have 

 undergone modifications in practise, but it is strange indeed that the 

 doctrine of Christ regarding war and warriors, as held by his immediate 

 followers, should have been so completely discarded and reversed in the 

 later centuries, and is so still. 



Bentham's words can not be overlooked : " Nothing can be worse 

 than the general feeling on the subject of war. The church, the 

 state, the ruling few, the subject man, all seem in this case to have 

 combined to patronize vice and crime in their widest sphere of evil. 



