UPON the first announcement of the proposition that all war is
sinful, the mind of the Bible reader instantly reverts to the Jew-
ish economy, and to the fact that the chosen people of God were
often engaged in war; and this, too, with express divine sanction.
This is the first resort for objections to the proposition, and objec-
tions from this source almost invariably suggest themselves to
those with whom the question is a new one. At the same time,
those advocates of war who have studied the question most ma-
turely, find in the same fact the ground of one of their most
potent arguments. It is proper, therefore, that we should begin
our discussion of the question by considering this argument, and
by setting forth the exact bearing of Old Testament precedents
upon the whole subject.
   The argument to which we refer may be stated, in its most
popular as well as its most ingenious form, as follows: God can
not sanction that which is morally wrong. But God has sanc-
tioned war; therefore war is not morally wrong.
   We are not disposed to make haste in the consideration of this
argument, but prefer to linger upon it until its merits are fully
exhibited and made quite familiar to the mind of the reader.
We will not, therefore, attempt its refutation in the most direct
method, until after we shall have approached it somewhat in-
directly. The advantages of this course will be apparent, we
trust, as we proceed.
   It is sometimes well, in considering an argument, to first note
the consequences involved in the supposition of its validity. Such
a course quite frequently reduces to a very bald absurdity an

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