It is true that no act of society can make it our duty to violate any command of God:  but is the above command to be taken literally, and as forbidding us to engage in just war?  Is it not rather intended to impress upon us, in a forcible manner, that mutual love is a great virtue; that we should hate no one, not even a stranger nor an enemy, but should treat all with justice, mercy, and loving-kindness?  If the meaning attempted to be given to this command in the above quotation be the true one, it is antagonistical not only to just war, but to civil justice, to patriotism, and to the social and domestic affections.

But are we bound to love all human beings alike; that is, to the same degree?  Does the Bible, as a whole, inculcate such doctrine?  On the contrary, Christ himself had his beloved disciple,—­one whom he loved pre-eminently, and above all the others; though he loved the others none the less on that account.  We are bound to love our parents, our brothers, our families first, and above all other human beings; but we do not, for this reason, love others any the less.  A man is not only permitted to seek first the comfort and happiness of his own family, but if he neglect to do so, he is worse than an infidel.  We are bound to protect our families against the attacks of others; and, if necessary for the defence of their lives, we are permitted to take the life of the assailant; nay more, we are bound to do so.  But it does not follow that we hate him whom we thus destroy.  On the contrary, we may feel compassion, and even love for him.  The magistrate sentences the murderer to suffer the penalty of the law; and the sheriff carries the sentence into execution by taking, in due form, the life of the prisoner:  nevertheless, both the magistrate and the sheriff may have the kindest feelings towards him whom they thus deprive of life.

So it is in the external affairs of the state.  Next to my kindred and my neighbors do I love my countrymen.  I love them more than I do foreigners, because my interests, my feelings, my happiness, my ties of friendship and affection, bind me to them more intimately than to the foreigner.  I sympathize with the oppressed Greek, and the enslaved African, and willingly contribute to their relief, although their sufferings affect me very remotely; but if my own countrymen become oppressed and enslaved, nearer and dearer interests are affected, and peculiar duties spring from the ties and affections which God has formed.  If my countrymen be oppressed, my neighbors and kindred will be made unhappy and suffering; this I am bound to take all proper measures in my power to prevent.  If the assailant cannot be persuaded by argument to desist from his wicked intentions, I unite with my fellow-citizens in forcibly resisting his aggressions.  In doing this I am actuated by no feelings of hatred towards the hostile forces; I have in my heart no malice, no spirit of revenge; I have no desire to harm