Letters Addressed To Caleb Strong Esq Late Governor Of Massachusetts

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ISBN 13 : 9781331135524
Total Pages : 132 pages
Book Rating : 4.1/5 (355 download)

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Download or read book Letters Addressed to Caleb Strong, Esq. Late Governor of Massachusetts written by and published by . This book was released on 2015-07-11 with total page 132 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Excerpt from Letters Addressed to Caleb Strong, Esq. Late Governor of Massachusetts: Showing War to Be Inconsistent With the Laws of Christ, and the Good of Mankind In this country, the attention of many persons has been recently called to this important question. A careful examination of the precepts of the Gospel, and of the principles and practice of the apostolic Church, has resulted in a full and unwavering conviction in many minds, that war is incompatible with the duty and obligations of Christians. The consequences to be expected from the pacific principles of the primitive Christians, fully appears in the history of the Church during its first period. They abstained from war; they made no resistance; they offered no violence. Under this passive and inoffensive character Christianity rapidly overspread the Roman empire; and it was acknowledged by a Roman emperor, when he wielded the military force of forty legions, that, should the Christians resort to arms, their numbers were sufficient to overturn his empire. Yet, in the reign of Dioclesian, in a genera! persecution of ten years, myriads of Christians were put to death, without offering resistance or resorting to means of defence. But Christianity still gaining ground upon heathenism, and 'Uniting wealth, numbers, and influence, at length ascended the throne of the Caesars, and the empire became professedly Christian. If in the purest state of the Church, when under disgrace and persecution, many false professors were found, it may be presumed that, as she rose to power and splendour, and began to Offer allurements to ambition, and changed her robes of humility for the imperial purple, her ranks were crowded by men, who preferred to bear the sword of violence, rather than the cross of Christ, and who were more ready to pursue false honour, through blood and slaughter, than to lay down their lives as martrys for their religion, in expectation of an immortal crown in heaven. The change of the Christian Church from peace and non-resistance, to retaliation, war, and conquest, was gradual; nor was it effected by her sufferings, but by her prosperity. And who has not observed the fatal consequences often arising from the intoxication of that Circean cup? If adversity is justly styled the school of wisdom, prosperity is like the harlot's lap, on which the mighty Hebrew slumbered, and was shorn of his strength. 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.