There's no more vivid evidence anywhere of the fact that human beings are sinners, that human beings fell from grace in the Garden of Eden, than war. War destroys property. It leads to the break up of families. It causes terrible pain and suffering. It leads to the desertion of wives and the making of orphans. The laws are trampled. Women are raped.
And these are just the mortal consequences. The immortal ones are worse. Because in war, hundreds and thousands are driven into eternity in the bitterness of enmity and wrath. Some inflamed with drunkenness. Some fired with lust. And all stained with blood.
Who is the victor in a conflict like this? The devil. No Christians can profit from war. May all those who are called to be the followers of Christ be preserved from these earthly, these sensual, and these malignant motives. So repugnant are they from the generous, compassionate, and forgiving nature of Christ.Anthony Benezet
1713 - 1784
Quaker, speaking against the American Revolution
Source: The Great Courses: American Religious History
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