International War as criminal, and little worthy of honor as Civil War. Erasmus dealt a blow at the distinction, still preserved among Christians, between civil war and foreign war. Plato civile bellum esse putat, quod Græci gerunt adversus Græcos. At Christianus Christiano proprius junctus est, quam civis civi, quam frater fratri. (Erasmi Epist. Lib. XXII. Epist. 16.) But even here he seems to recognize, rather the Brotherhood of Christians than the Brotherhood of Mankind. Assuming the latter, all international war becomes as criminal, and little worthy of honor as civil war. It is a war among brothers. Who can think of the contest between the two brothers, Eteocles and Polynices, without feeling that both sides were wrong? Who would think of awarding Glory to Abel, if he had succeeded, in selfdefence, in slaying his hostile brother, Cain? There is a play of Beaumont and Fletcher, in which two brothers are represented as drawing swords upon each other. When finally separated, they are addressed in words that might be applied to the contests of nations: Clashing of swords So near my house! Brother opposed to brother! But these unnatural jars Arising between brothers, should you prosper, The Elder Brother, Act V. Sc. 1. The unreasonableness of expecting any True Glory in such a contest is felt by all, at the present day, though there have been monsters or barbarians who gloried even in a kinsman's blood. Massinger, in his play of The Unnatural Combat, has portrayed such a character. A father and son are represented as fighting with each other. The father is victorious. His exultation in the death of his son is not unlike that which often attends the victories of Christian nations: Were a new life hid in each mangled limb, I would search and find it; and howsoe'er to some I may seem cruel thus to tyrannize Upon this senseless flesh, I glory in it, The father, with hands wet with a son's blood, is thus address ed: The conqueror that survives Must reap the harvest of his bloody labor; Sound all loud instruments of joy and triumph. The soul revolts from such a triumph; but how does this differ from the triumphs of war? Surely the Christian morality of our age must confess that it is equally wrong to commemorate, by thanksgiving or holiday, any bloody success, even in a just contest, over our brother-man. THE LAW OF HUMAN PROGRESS. AN ORATION BEFORE THE PHI BETA KAPPA SOCIETY OF UNION COLLEGE, SCHENECTADY, JULY 25, 1848. Secta fuit servare modum, finemque tenere, LUCAN. |