Conf Pam ffb/u D'=nDb7flED + MEM-ORl AL TO LEGISLATURE OF VIRGINIA. ISSUED JiwTii:., Reliaious Society of . Friends, \y jin-.ir. HALF YEARLY MEETING. HELD AT RICHMOND, IOTH M, OlH, 1863. K I C il O X D : MEMOKIAL. TO THE HONORABLE, THE LEGISIfATUBE OF VIRGINIA : Your petitioners, members of the Religious Society of Friends, (called Quakers,) desire respectfully to call your atten- tion to that portion of the Governor's Message in which he recommends the repeal of tlie law, exempting certain Religious Denominations from military duty by payment of a tax. In his remarks on the subject, the Governor, doubtless unin- tentionally, does great injustice to, at least, one of those sects, The Friends. He assumes that the payment of said tax is an acknowledgnif^nt on the part of those paying it, that som^ aid is due from them to the Government in the prosecution of this ' war : on the contrary, we liave paid said tax under protest, it being one of the established principles of our Society from its rise to the present day, that a Christian has no right to take up the weapons of carnal warfare for any earthly consideration ; yet we believe it our duty, as good citizens, " To be in subjection to the Powers that be," and as the exemption law both of the Confederate and State Governments omitted to make any pro- vision for distraint where the tax was not paid, it seemed to present the subject in a manner very similar to that in which our Saviour directed the tribute money to be paid — " That we offend them not." The Disci])line of every Yearly Meeting of our Society pro- hibits its members from taking part in any way, in war ; from mustering or paying any fine imposed for not mustering, re- quiring its members, in all such cases, quietly to submit to any distraints for said fine-, and pruhibiting them from concealing their property, or in any way evading said laws. We believe that the Constitution of Virginia does, in those clauses which secure to every man the right to worshij) God ac- cording to the dictates of his own conscience, afford ground for exemption to the members of our Society, as it is well known •that we worship God not only as " Wonderful, Counsellor, The Mighty God, The Everlasting Father," but also as " The Prinoe of Peace." Therefore, a bill exempting these who worship him as the Prince of Peace, to wit : Friends and Uunkards, instead of Wm^ uncwnstitutiuiial, ;is the Goveruor suggests, would, if seems to us, only be a provision to carry out the great juineiple set forth in the Virginia Bill of Rights, section 16, viz : " That religion, or the duty which we owe to our Creator, and the man- ner of discharging it, can he directed only by reason and convic- tion, not by force or violence : and therefore all men are equally entitled to the free exercise of religion, according to the dic- tates of conscience ; and that it is the mutual duty of all to practice Christian forbearance, love, and charity- towards each other ;" and we have come to ask Christian charij\' at your hatids, because, while we judge not for others, for ourselves we bclirve, that by taking up the weapons of carnal warfare, evfn in the defence of our dearest. rights, or life itself, we would en- danger the welfare of our immortal souls. That belief is not original with us, as the following extracts will show : The Bible, rather than any human authority, should be our guidi- ; but, since the early Cliristians learned its meaning from the jipostles themselves, or their immediate successors, we natu- rally wish to ascertain how they regarded tlie custom of war. Of their creneral views and practi«e on this ])oint, there now re- mains little, if any doubt ; for it is undeniable that, for a con- siderable period, so long indeed as the lamp of Christianity burnt ])ure and bright, they held it unlawful to bear arms, and actually abstained from war at the hazard of their lives ; nor was it till the Church became corrupt, that her members began, without remorse or rebuke, to be soldiers. " It would be as easy," says a learned writer of the seventeenth century, " to obscure the'sun at mid-day, as to deny that the primitive Christians renounced all revenge and war." Justin Martyr, Tatian, Clemens of Alexandria, Tertullian, Cyprian, Lactantius, and a multitude,of others among the early fathers, declared it unlawful for Christians to engage in war. It 'seems to have been fir nearly three centuries the common senti- ment, avowed and defended by the great champions of Chris- tianity. Justin Martyr and Totian spoke of soldiers and Christians as distinct character*; and Tatian says that the Christians declined even military com'^ands. , Clemens of Alexandria calls his Christian contemporaries the "f illowers of peace," and expressly tells ns " that the followers of peace used none of the implements of war." Lactantius says expressly, " Ifc can never be lawful for a righteous man to go to war." About the end of the second century, Celsus, one (if the opponents of Christianity, charged the Christians with refusing to bear arms even in cases of necessity. Origen, their (blender, docs not deny the fact ; he admits the refusal, and justifies it on the ground thdt war is unhnvful for Christians. Even after Christianity had sj)read over, almost the whole known world, Tertullian, in speaking of a part of the Roman armies, 5 « including more than one-tliird of the sijinding legions of Rome, distinctly informs us that '' not a Christian could he found among them." All this is explicit ; but the following facts are still more de- cisive : Some oi the argumonis which ;ire novv hrouglit against the advocates of peace, were then urged against those early Christians ; and these arguments they examined and repelled. This indicates investigation, and manife?ts that their belief of the unlawfulness of war was not a vague opinion, hastily ad- mitted, and loosely floating amongst them, but was the result of deliberate examination, and a consequent firm conviction that Christ had forbidden it. The very same arguments that are brought in defence of war at the present day, were brought against Christians sixteen hundred years ago, and were pronipt- ,ly repelled by them. It is remarkable, too, that Tertullian appeals to the precept from the Mount, as proving that the dis- positions which these principles inculcate are not gompatible with war, and that the custom, therefore, is irreconcilable with Christianity. If it be possible, a still stronger evidence of the primitive belief is contained in the circumstan h^, that some of the Chris- tian authors regarded the refusal of tiie Christians to bear arms, as a fulfillment of ancient prophec3^ Tlie'peculiar strength uf this evidence consists in this, that tlie fact of a refusal to bear arms is .issumcd as notorious and unquestioned. Irena^us, who lived about the year 180, alfirms that the prophecy of Isaiah, which declares that men shall beat their swords into ])lough- shares, and their spears into pruning-hooks, had been fulfilled in his time ; "for the Christians," says he, " have changed their swords and lances into instruments of jjcace, and they know not how to fight. Justin Martyr, his contemporary, Avrites " that the pro})hecy is ful tilled, you have good reason to believe ; for we who in times past killed one another, do not now fight with our enemies." Tertullian, -^vho lived *later, says : " You must confess that the i)rophecy has been accom])lished, as far as the practice of every individual is concerned to whom it is applicable." Martin, addressing the Emperor Julian, (A. D. 360,) declared that it was not lawful for him to figjit, because he was a Chris- tian ; and even so late as the middle of the fifth century, Leo the Pope declared it to be " contrary to the rules of the Church that persons, after the action of penance, (persons then con- sidered to be j)re-eminent]y bound to obey the law of Christ,) should revert to the warfare of the world." Judson, the missionary of Burmali, says : " Since war has been universally advocated- nnd applauded, it appears to me that it is not optional with any to remain neutral or silent on this great question ; sitice, thus remaining, they must be considered as bciftiigiii;:;