rro THR EDITOR OF THE "SPECTATOR.") SIR,—The views expressed by
Mr. Thomas Thwaites in your last issue must not be mistaken for those of the Society of Friends, which has always maintained that all war is incon- sistent with the spirit and teaching of Christ. We believe that such commands as "Overcome evil with good,"" Love your enemies," "Pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you," were given seriously and not as bitter jests, and it follows that all war and all preparation for war become impossible for us. How, indeed, could we put up the petition, "Forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive them that trespass against us," if at the same time we were preparing the most terrible and deadly engines of war to drown or blow to pieces all those who would, so trespass P The Society of Friends stands for early Christianity revived, and as the early Christians refused to fight, so also do wo.—I am,
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