Zunaed ebooks

ABOLITION OF WAR[34]
CHARLES SUMNER

Can there be in our age any peace that is not honorable, any war that is
not dishonorable? The true honor of a nation is conspicuous only in
deeds of justice and beneficence, securing and advancing human
happiness. In the clear eye of that Christian judgment which must yet
prevail, vain are the victories of war, infamous its spoils. He is the
benefactor, and worthy of honor, who carries comfort to wretchedness,
dries the tear of sorrow, relieves the unfortunate, feeds the hungry,
clothes the naked, does justice, enlightens the ignorant, unfastens the
fetters of the slave, and finally, by virtuous genius, in art,
literature, science, enlivens and exalts the hours of life, or by
generous example, inspires a love for God and man. This is the Christian
hero; this is the man of honor in a Christian land. He is no benefactor,
nor worthy of honor, whatever his worldly renown, whose life is absorbed
in feats of brute force, who renounces the great law of Christian
brotherhood, whose vocation is blood.


Pages:
300 301 302 303 304 305 306 307 308 309 310 311 312 313 314 315 316 317 318 319 320 321 322 323 324