The works of the Rev. William Thom, late minister ... - waughfamily.ca

;J44 SERMONS.ought furcly to obferve : For even that nation, which,by its injuftice, hath excited againft itfeif a jtift war,doth dill retain rights which it would be high injusticeto violate.In war, the aim of the injured nation ought to beno more but to compel the injurious to agree to reafonableterms of peace; that is, to make due reparation,and give afiurance that it Vv-ill not, as before,violate the laws of juflice. This is the laM-ful aimin war, and it ought to be profecuted with as littlebloodfhed, as little deftruftion, as pofTible. Nothingiliould be done that tends merely to exafperate, tomake the breach wider, and to lengthen out the conleft-, nothing fhjould be done but that which hathfome tendency to bring the war to an end. Incurfionsinto the interior parts of tlie enemies country, burningvillages, driving cattle, %vhen not abfolutely nccefiaryto fubfift the army, robbing and killing theunarmed and defencelefs peafants, in their feparatedwellings and plantations—is imjuft and cruel *, it isan irritating, a paltry, and pilfering w^ay of makingwar.The fortune of the war may alter, and a cuttingiemembran:e of fuch needlefs and unavailing a6ls ofbarbarity may provoke a dreadful retaliationand revenge.*' Gideon faid to Zeba and Zalmunua, thetwo princes of Midian, What manner of men werethey whom ye flew at Tabor ? and they anfwered,As thou art, fo were they ; each one refembled thechildren of a king. And he faid. They were mybrethren ; as the Lord liveth, if ve had faved themalive, I would not flay you.—And Gideon arofe andflew them."To make war in the way I have mentioned is condemnedby the law of nations. And all nations have,I think, agreed, that the perfon of an ambafTador isnot to be violated,—nor hoftages flain, unlefs it befor fome crime of their own after they had become