ns, on the other hand, who
deliberately engage in the wars and fightings of the world, it is a
proof, that their lusts are not yet subjugated, or that, though they may
be nominal, they are not yet arrived at the stature of true or of
full-grown Christians.

[Footnote 7: 2 Cor. x. 3, 4, 5.]

[Footnote 8: James iv. I.]

A third quotation, made by the Quakers, is taken from St. Paul
exclusively.[9] "Now if any man have not the spirit of Christ, he is
none of his." That is, if men have not the same disposition which Jesus
Christ manifested in the different situations of his life, the same
spirit of humility and of forbearance, and of love, and of forgiveness
of injuries, or if they do not follow him as a pattern, or if they do
not act as he would have done on any similar occasion, they are not
Christians. Now they conceive, knowing what the spirit of Jesus was by
those things which have been recorded of him, that he could never have
been induced or compelled, by any earthly consideration or power, to
have engaged in the wars of the world. They are aware that his mission,
which it became him to fulfil, and which engrossed all his time, would
not have allowed him the opportunity of a military life. But they
believe, independently of this, that the spirit which he manifested upon
earth, would have been of itself a sufficient bar to such an employment.
This they judge from his opinions and his precepts. For how could he
have taken up arms to fight, who enjoined in the new dispensation, that
men were not to resist evil; that they were to love their enemies; that
they were to bless those who cursed them, and to do good to those who
hated them? This they judge also from his practice. For how could he
have lifted up his arm against another, who, "when he was reviled,
reviled not again;" and who, in his very agony upon the Cross, prayed
for his persecutors, saying, "Father, forgive them, for they know not
what they do." But if Jesus Christ could not have been induced or
compelled to have engaged in a profession, which would have subjected
him to take away the life of another, so neither can any Christian; "for
if a man have not the spirit of Christ, he is none of his."

[Footnote 9: Rom. viii. 9.]

Three arguments are usually brought against the Quakers on this subject.

The first is, that John the Baptist,[10] when the soldiers demanded of
him what they should do, did not desire them to leave the service in
which they were e