[TO TES EDITOR Or THE "SPECTATOR.")
Sin,—As a member of the Society of Friends, I have read with deep interest both Mr. Grubb's article, "A Pagan Way of Life," in the British Friend, and the reply thereto in your article on "Our Soldiers" in your issue of September 25th. May I point out that in your justification of war you have not dealt with the root difficulty,—viz., the nature of war itself ? War is necessarily a combination of violence, cruelty, treachery, fraud, theft, and innumerable crimes. Is it possible that these things can have a place in the Kingdom of God? Could Christ have sanctioned them ? If He did not explicitly condemn war, did He not do so implicitly when He gave us the Sermon on the Mount, and taught us to love enemies, to bless and not to curse, to do good and not to render evil for evil? War's nobler elements of self-sacrifice and patriotism cannot atone for the disregard of His Commandments and the rejection of ordinary morality. Must not the love of country, like the love of home and family, be subordinate to the love of God and goodness ? Then another question arises. Have the armies of the world, as of our own nation, been used to prevent evil and transgression? Have they not often been used for conquest for greed, and for the deciding of trivial disputes ? What security have we against their being used for wrongdoing in the future as in the past ? One word more. To say that an individual or a community maintains an un-Christian attitude towards any question is surely not to deny that they are Christians. Christians have supported many nn-Christlike customs in their day. Religious persecu- tions and slavery have had their Christian upholders, and in many things we all offend.—I am, Sir, Sec., 43 Newsham Drive, Liverpool. ELLEN ROBINSON.
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