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All nature frowns upon them; the very stones cry out; some perish by quarrels in the streets; some seek a refuge on the ocean and are drowned; some are put to death by their fellow-men from feelings of revenge, some are killed in war, some put themselves to death by violent means, some die of pure remorse and anguish of spirit; and in one way or other, as sure as there is a God in heaven, who requires the blood they have shed at their hands, they all sooner or later come to a miserable end. Even the executioner, who sheds blood in compliance with the law, is looked upon with abhorrence. His office is a hateful one, as it always has been, "detestabile carnificis ministerium;" men scorn to give him the right hand of fellowship; they flee from his presence as they would from a pestilence; and it is questionable whether even he, entrenched as he is within the forms of public justice, is exempt from the fearful doom, which a righteous Providence has pronounced upon all murder

ers.

And this view of the subject is confirmed by God's treatment of Cain. When that cruel and wicked murderer slew his brother Abel, did God require the civil magistrate or any body else to put him to death? So far from it, he declared, whoever should slay Cain, vengeance should be taken on him seven-fold. Neverthe

less he was cursed from the face of the earth; like Adam when he sinned, if he did not die bodily, he died mentally; in the metaphorical sense at least, the sword was upon him, and his blood was shed; he was a fugitive and a vagabond, and he confessed, in the anguish of his spirit, that his punishment was greater than he could bear.

But, in the SECOND place, if we take the ground, as some are disposed to do, that this passage is to be interpreted to the very letter, and that it authorized and

an intercourse founded on justice and reciprocity have clearly failed, when we have nothing to expect but the reiteration of hostility and wrong, the safest course we can take if we consult our interest, and the only course, if we wish to be governed by the principles of the Gospel, is to suspend that intercourse, and leave them to themselves. This is a practice, to which we are not unfrequently obliged to resort in common life. If one of our neighbors is a man of a haughty and capricious temper, if his intractability be obviously such that he takes no cognizance of our good intentions, and is not disposed to reciprocate or even to receive our good offices, having made all the kind advances which we reasonably can, we at length feel ourselves justified in taking the resolution of breaking off all communication. The person, whom we thus discard is ready to engage in a quarrel; perhaps that is the object of his strange and refractory conduct; but we do not consider ourselves called upon by our character either as men or as Christians any longer to have any thing to do with him; least of all, in the way of bodily and personal conflict. We simply, both for our own sakes and for his, establish a system of NON-INTERCOURSE, and thus leave him to those opportunities of solitary reflection, which sometimes constitute the bitterest wages of iniquity. All moral, religious, and literary associations, formed by voluntary consent, act upon the same principle. If a member of such an association so far diverges from the line of its just and legal requisitions as to place himself in an injurious and hostile attitude, instead of taking the course of breaking his limbs and shedding his blood, they merely institute a non-intercourse, and insist, as a matter beneficial to all parties, upon his temporary or permanent removal. This is the case in churches, which are voluntary associations, formed for moral and religious purposes. When a member of a church pursues a course, ob

viously at variance with the principles on which the church is constituted, the other members, after having used suitable means to reclaim him without effect, remove him from their circle by suspending or excommunicating him. In other words, they establish a non-intercourse; a measure, the most simple and effective, as well as being in accordance with the mild and benevolent spirit of the Gospel.

The principle of non-intercourse is as applicable to nations as to individuals or to private associations; and happy and glorious will that day be, when it shall be substituted in the affairs of nations for a resort to war. It is not only a remedy, which can be applied; but a remedy, which will have effect; it will be more likely than any other to secure the object, for which it is adopted. Let us illustrate the subject. We will suppose, that France owes to the United States a certain sum of money; (say the sum recently in dispute, five millions of dollars,) and refuses to pay. Then the question before the United States is, if all other means of redress have failed, whether under these circumstances they shall resort to the pacific measure of a suspension of intercourse, or to the belligerent measure of reprisals and war. ing nothing of duty, saying nothing of the sacred requisitions of the Gospel, we may with propriety compare the two measures, on the ground of expediency. If we declare war, or make reprisals in any form, or take any truly belligerent measures, we may well inquire, what we are likely to gain by such a course.

Say

In the first place, do we gain the five millions? Not at all. If there had been no resort to warlike measures, the French might have ultimately paid the sum in question; but the resort to such measures at once puts the payment at an infinite remove. No one, who is acquainted with the character of the French nation, a people that have always plumed themselves on their warlike

spirit, will be so foolish as to suppose, (and the same may be said of almost every other nation,) that they will pay the five millions, or the millionth part of five millions, on compulsion. But is the loss of the five millions the whole loss? Certainly not. If the war is carried on with vigor, the expense will be at least fifty millions of dollars a year; and supposing the war to continue five years, which is perhaps a fair estimate of its continuance, we incur the solid burden of two hundred and fifty millions. And if we add to this the loss incurred by the depredations on our commerce and in other ways, we may safely estimate the whole expense and loss to our nation at five hundred millions. And we lose in the conflict at a reasonable estimate fifty thousand men. This is the result; a loss of five hundred millions of money and fifty thousand men, and nothing gained; saying nothing of the demoralization attendant on a state of war, and of the unspeakable sufferings, scarcely ever exposed to the public eye, which are experienced in private families.

But on the other hand, if we resort to the non-intercourse system, instead of war, we shall stand some chance of obtaining the original claim, because, while we take a course which does not render it dishonorable to the French to pay, we make it their interest to do so. And certainly if the payment of five million of dollars is the original and actual ground of dispute, we are bound by every principle of interest and of duty too, to take precisely that course, if it be a justifiable one, which will be most likely to secure the payment. And in other respects, how numerous are the advantages attendant upon this course! We incur no expense; we do not burden the people with excessive taxes; we lose no men ; we do not suffer, in their countless ways of operation, the demoralizing influences of war. The merchants of course encounter some little inconvenience in altering

the direction of their business and introducing it into new channels; but this is so trifling as to be scarcely worth mentioning.

But if these statements are correct, how does it happen, that nations have ever been so averse to adopting a suspension of intercourse, and have been so ready to plunge into war? It is owing in a great degree, undoubtedly, to the prevalence of false and unchristian notions of honor. This is the secret of their strange conduct; and it is here we find the great difficulty, which is in the way of correcting that conduct. The system of non-intercourse is regarded as cowardly and pusillanimous, while that of war is looked upon as courageous and noble; a false notion, which enlightened policy and Christian feeling are beginning to correct. Mankind are beginning to open their eyes on this subject; they have long and deeply felt the immeasurable evils of war; and are at last convinced of the futility of warlike measures as a means of redress. And the time is coming, when the nation, that shall substitute non-importation and non-intercourse measures for a resort to arms, instead of being accounted mean and pusillanimous, will encircle itself with a wreath of true glory, that shall grow brighter and brighter till the end of days.

But this is not all; as Christians, as men, who profess to be governed by the principles of the Gospel, we have no other resource. Acting on the principles of our great charter, which Jesus Christ has died to confirm, we are solemnly bound not to return evil for evil, not to give place to wrath, not to avenge ourselves; in a word, not to engage in war of any kind. The suspension of intercourse is the extreme remedy, which is allowed us; and this is to be resorted to only in extreme cases. And it is an omen of good and glorious import, that distinguished politicians begin to occcupy the position, which the Gospel here allows us. It is enough for our present

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