Sermon. "THE GRIEVOUSNESS OF WAR."* By the REV. PETER MACMORLAND, Minister of St. Luke's Church, Edinburgh. "The burden upon Arabia. In the forest in Arabia shall ye lodge, O ye travelling companies of Dedanim. The inhabitants of the land of Tema brought water to him that was thirsty, they prevented with their bread him that fled. For they fled from the swords, from the drawn sword, and from the bent bow, and from the grievousness of war For thus hath the Lord said unto me, Within a year, according to the years of an hireling, and all the glory of Kedar shall fail: and the residue of the number of archers, the mighty men of the children of Kedar, shall be diminished: for the Lord God of Israel hath spoken it.”—ISAIAH xxi, 13-17. SOME of these shorter burdens are to us obscure, because of their very brevity, and because of our ignorance of the whole circumstances in connexion with which they were uttered. They would be understood at the time, and it is not at all improbable that there are witnesses lying hid in the bosom of the earth, which, when brought to light, may add confirmation, and shed a flood of illumination upon different parts of Old Testament history! We look forward, without the least misgiving, to all kinds of discoveries in every direction, being confident that those that are yet to be, will only add to the confirmation and elucidation of the Scriptures, as those that have been have done; and we regard it as no slight evidence of the truth of the Scriptures, that, touching as they do on all sides the histories of the most prominent and important nations of the world, nothing has ever been brought to light in connexion with the history, antiquities, or customs of any of them, which could be shewn to be contradictory, but which has rather been confirmatory. What we have now before us is the "burden upon Arabia." This is that great peninsula, comprising the south-western extremity of Asia, and situated in a southeasterly direction from Palestine. It was divided into three great parts; probably the northern division is that referred to, as that with which the Jews were more immediately brought into contact. It is • Preached in St. Luke's Church, Edinburgh, on the day appointed for national humiliation on account of the war, March 1855. 5-VII. a region of much interest to those who look back upon God's dealings in the past, and associate them with the scenes where they took place. There Job lived, there Moses lived for a time, there Elijah found shelter, marvellous exhibitions of divine power and mercy took place there of old; and, in later times, Paul "went to Arabia." The people of that country were closely allied to the Jews in blood and customs, being descended from the same renowned forefather; and no doubt that country, like the other neighbouring countries, often afforded the Jews a shelter when the destroying scourge of invasion or persecution swept across their land! It was because of their being involved in the history of God's ancient people, that they, along with the Moabites and Egyptians, and other countries around, were made the subject of the "burden" of Israel's prophets; partly that they might be put upon their guard against the woes that were coming upon them, and partly that Israel might be warned from them! This "burden", was to be fulfilled "within a year" from the time when it was delivered; so that the verification of the prophet's word was not long to wait for. Sometimes long periods were to elapse before the prediction uttered should be fulfilled, but there were other instances (as in that before us) where the period was short, and in such a case the evident fulfilment of it would serve to establish the prophet's character as a seer, so as to give greater weight to his E word in other matters. With all the more confidence would the prediction that had a longer time to run be rested in, when it was seen, in some instances, that within a briefer period it was made to "come to pass!" This had all the effect of rousing the attention of men to the Word of God, and leading them to give more "earnest heed" to whatever else the same lips might deliver! But the expressions of Scripture are fraught with lessons beyond their mere original application, and even from those portions that seem least promising or productive, they are to be richly gathered, as will become apparent from the passage before us. If we select out of it this expression, "The grievousness of war," and look at the remainder of the passage in the light of it, it will not be unsuitable to the circumstances in which we have met,-to the circumstances through which we have passed as a nation, and in which we are placed now; or to the objects of the day that has been thus set apart for confession of sin, and humiliation under the hand of God. The judgment that has been let loose upon the world, is that of war. The burden under which we are groaning, is that of war. It is this that is tasking all our energies to the very uttermost as a people; and it is success in this that we are called upon to pray for to Almighty God, with a view to the bringing about of the unspeakable blessing of peace. In these circumstances it is not out of place to let our minds dwell for a little upon what is suggested by the "grievousness of war," if it were only to let us see it in its true light, and to quicken our prayers more for that peace which is so great a blessing, and which, when it comes, I hope we shall prize more than ever; so that that nation shall be execrated by the whole world, which will take the first step in the direction of breaking it again, and stopping that career of social improvement which can only be prosecuted under the reign of peace! I. In the first place, "The grievousness of war," is to be seen in the state of insecurity that ever accompanies it. Verse 13th brings this to view: "In the forest in Arabia shall ye lodge, O ye travelling companies of Dedanim." The idea is, that the caravans of a certain tribe, which once used to pass through in safety, laden with all manner of precious merchandise, will now, that the country is exposed to the ravages of war, be obliged to "lodge" in concealed and inaccessible places. It thus brings out the idea of insecurity. It speaks of a lawless state of things; of caravans and travellers hiding themselves for safety; otherwise, they would be sure to be spoiled by the fierce and eager bands of plunderers let loose. In our own case, indeed, arising from our peculiar circumstances and position, although we are actually engaged in a great and engrossing war, there is no present experience of this. We dwell in the midst of the most perfect security; and there is no risk of property being plundered or destroyed. Our "travelling companies," that bear our merchandise, whether by land or sea, go forward in the most perféct safety; and surely we should be stirred up to thankfulness on this account. But it is very different in the actual scene of hostilities. Every trade becomes paralyzed; the sources of a nation's wealth and comfort are dried up; property becomes insecure. The past tells us abundantly of this! It tells us, that where the tide of war has rolled along, a strong and iron hand, which could neither be questioned nor resisted in its act, has reduced inoffending citizens of wealth and substance to penury and want! It might be realized in our own case by some sudden and successful invasion of our unprotected shores; and then we would know by experience, what we know now, happily, only by report,—of that insecurity, and rapine, and destruction of property, which accompany an unsettled state of things, and constitute no slight part of the "grievousness of war!" II. A second circumstance illustrating the same thing, is presented to us in verse 14th; where the case of utter extremity and want, as to even the ordinary means of sustenance, is referred to as an accompaniment of this "grievous" condition : "The inhabitants of the land of Tema brought water to him that was thirsty, they prevented with their bread him that in many respects under better advanfled." tages than any other! Yet all this is only a part; what has been suffered by the population of the country, and by our adversaries, has not transpired. But there is enough in all this, and under this one aspect of it, to speak to us of the "grievousness of war," and to shew us what a dreadful scourge it is from God! How, in so many ways, it preys on human life, and gloats on human suffering! But this is the character of a fiend, of an enemy to the welfare of our race. It is the malignity that triumphs in misery, which we find thus embodied in the actual inflictions of war! There is nothing more dreadful than to think of our fellow-creatures, in any circumstances, being reduced to such extremities. The very thought of it harrows up the feelings. If but one case of that kind occur in a neighbourhood, there is the deepest sensation excited. It is so dreadful a thing to think, that where there is plenty in the land, and where there are hands that would readily hold out help, any one should perish through want of food! Yet such are the evils that follow in the train of war, and accompany it in its cruel and oppressive progress! The inhabitants of a country are driven to the utmost extremities of suffering; they perish of famine, in wildernesses and in forests, whither they have betaken themselves for safety; and the sufferings that ordinarily beset humanity are thus fearfully aggravated. Lest any one should think that it is only on the part of the conquered that such sufferings are endured, let him be reminded of the state of things even with regard to our own army in the war in which we are now engaged not to say anything of the Turks-thousands of whom seem to have perished from actual want! By whatever mismanage ment, our own troops have felt this "grievousness of war," and we have felt it in them. There have been, alas! all extremities felt, of privation and of suffering; whereby the vital energies of the human frame have been wasted, and a rich harvest has been reaped by death, otherwise than in battle, and that both on our part and on the part of our enemies. The thousands on thousands who have perished miserably under the rigour of the climate, (and, if report be true, this was even to a greater extent among our foes than ourselves); those who have | whenever the real circumstances became been condemned to scanty and insuffi- known, is a redeeming thing; and so cient, or unprepared food; those who have have been the efforts that have been made contracted diseases in consequence of such to lighten the burdens of disease. If you privation, beneath which they have ulti-were to walk through the length of those mately sunk; the want of forage even hospitals, either for the wounded or the for inferior animals ;-all these are com- sick, you would learn something of the prehended under the head of extremity," grievousness of war," from the extremiand all these, we know, have been the ties of outward sufferings to which many accompaniments of this war, conducted a brave man was reduced in its service. It is a redeeming circumstance of which we are informed in the text, that "the inhabitants of the land of Tema brought water to him that was thirsty;" and, in the midst of all the sufferings and outward extremities of this war, (which would almost seem to say that for some reason there was a frown upon us,) there have been many redeeming circumstances of a similar kind, which have taken off the severer aspect of things. Our gallant and better organized allies have been these men of "Tema" over again, who brought help in the time of need. May the giving and the receiving of it cement the good understanding between the two nations-which the man is a traitor to the welfare of the world who would break, and would not wish to draw closer the bonds of a friendship so auspiciously begun; so that, in the long run, they may not only give to us, but get from us; and, if we have the TRUTH to give them, let us rise to the height of the great duty that so lies upon us! The efforts, again, that have been made in every direction, both by Government and by private individuals, to supply both food and clothing, But, when you might look again at the care and wisdom of the arrangements, and the devotion of the physicians, and the zeal and faithfulness of the attendant nurses, led on by that high-born and highhearted English lady, whose undertaking was one of the happiest thoughts, and whose presence is one of the greatest blessings connected with the whole expedition, you will see in such things that same relieving element which is brought into view here, when the "inhabitants of the land of Tema brought water to him that was thirsty," &c. &c. It is a blessed thing to help those who are in extremity, even though they may be enemies; it is a blessed thing to bring relief to those that are in need, especially to those who are of our own name and people; and if the "grievousness of war" is seen in the infliction to such an extent of these dreadful evils of outward privation, suffering, and extremity, it is according to the very spirit of our blessed religion to interpose for relief. Instead of neglect, it brings ready help; instead of breathing cruelty, it deeply pities; instead of inflicting suffering, it would wait beside the sick man's couch and bind up all his wounds; instead of taking the sword, like Peter, in his excess of misguided zeal, to cut off the ear of the high priest's servant, it rather, like the merciful Jesus, says, "suffer it to be so now," and touches the member to make it whole! III. In the third place, "the grievousness of war" is to be seen in the bloodshed and loss of life by violence and suffering caused thereby; thus we read, verse 15th, "They fled from the swords, from the drawn sword, and from the bent bow." It is under this aspect that war is presented to us, at once in its highest excitement, and in its most dreadful horrors. We see human beings trained and disciplined for the conflict, arrayed against one another with lethal weapons in their hands, having all the worst passions of our evil nature roused and bent upon the slaughter; we see them coming into actual collision, sword crossing sword, and blood flowing till the ground is soaked and slippery, while the wild tide flows on, leaving the dying and the dead behind; and then we see again the weaker giving way, turning their backs to flee, casting away their weapons that they may the more readily escape "from the swords, from the drawn sword, and from the bent bow, and from the grievousness of war." You can understand what it must have been when such weapons were held in ruthless hands, when every adversary encountered in the field was looked upon as a personal enemy, and hated so well that to be cruel was a duty, and to spare was a crime; when no quarter was given to those who fell; and when that act, of butchering the wounded upon the field where they had fallen, which has excited the indignation of the whole civilized world, was only the common result and the ordinary accompaniment of the triumph of the powerful;-when the tale of heads was delivered, or the tale of scalps, amid the savage triumph of barbarian war. The Nor, though civilization has introduced many changes, so that the dreadful business has been reduced to a science and made a regular profession, with its own laws and its own moralities, is there any change with regard to its destructiveness, and violence, and loss of life; except, perhaps, to a great extent increasing, in this respect, its "grievousness." "drawn sword" and the "bent bow" were but as the weapons of a child in comparison with our more formidable engines of destruction. What are they compared with our tremendous artillery, that can batter down the strongest walls? or the bursting bomb, bearing a death on every fragment? or the Miniè, "king of weapons," deadly almost at a mile? It is only to be expected that war should be bloodier now than it ever was,—and so I believe it is; at all events, it has lost nothing in this respect. The victors still go back upon the ground they have won, where they have fought and conquered; and what is it to do? To bury the thousands of the mutilated dead, to single out friends who had fallen, that the last honours may be rudely paid; to supply water to those who had that thirst upon them which their loss of blood occasioned; to have limbs amputated, and wounds bound, and suffering, if possible, relieved; when we think on the suffering that is realized in each individual case, and then on the thousands on thousands that fall in every great battle, (counting friends and enemies), the extent of it sickens and fills with horror, while it reveals the "grievousness of war." If there is nothing else in which human beings take so deep an interest, so that almost everything else is suspended while the fight goes on; and if there be nothing else that so developes the resources and energies of the human mind, in the plans and inventions that are connected with it, so as to carry out its objects with success; surely, it is also true, that in its very aspect it is a judgment of the sternest kind let loose upon the earth, that the very prevalence of it is a standing evidence of a fallen world, (since in no right state of things could such ever be,) originating as it does in the "lusts" of our evil heart; and thus, in its very aspect of cruelty, in its origin being from the lusts of the heart, in the loss of life which it occasions by the stern use of those instruments of death which it employs, in the fearful sufferings which it inflicts on the mutilated frame, in the wild passions which it cherishes, in the diseases that accompany it or follow in its train, as well as in the myriads of hearts that it crushes on all hands, and the burdens of all kinds that it brings upon the poor and the oppressed,-in all these we have a picture that should not be speedily forgotten of the "grievousness of war." There are many, many families in this land that, within the last year, (though we have only happily heard from a distance the alarm of war,) have had that picture hung up before their eyes; and in it, as the prominent figure, some noble youth stricken to the heart amid the raging battle; or some pale youth sinking under the influence of deadly disease; or buried in a far country, with a small heap of stones reared, to mark the spot, by some comrade's hand! There is the "glory of war" by which so many are captivated; and there is the "grievousness of war," by which so many are oppressed, and which brings out to us the dread reality. What can, in every respect, be more "grievous?" hindering, as it does, so much good; inflicting so much positive evil; bringing along with it so long a train of woes, as it sweeps over a land! It suggests the question, "Whether it be lawful?"—and, certainly, in one view it is not. It is not lawful, and it is not guiltless, on the part of him who brings it on, out of the lust of ambition or of conquest. Such a one must be held to do that which is unlawful, and must be held responsible for all the bloodshed and injuries that result. But, in another view, self-preservation is lawful. It is lawful to stand for our lives against oppression, and to defend ourselves by every means we can. If bloodshed result, that lies at the door of the aggressor. It is quite lawful to prevent the liberties, and civilization, and religious welfare and hopes of the world, from being engulphed in a flood of barbarian aggression! I would rather see a people fighting for their liberties, and falling for them, though wrapt in the "red burial" of battle, than see a people a nation of serfs, trodden down by despotism, with not a thought or an action free, even though they were well-fed, and lived all their days in peace! Such storms are, it seems, necessary to assert the best interests of man, and to promote the welfare of the world as long as it remains what it is. While, however, we say this, we would ever cherish the deepest sense of the “grievousness” of such a state of things; and this ought to stir us up to seek that this war may speedily terminate. We pray for success with a view to peace. We enter into these horrors, knowing them to be what they are in all their extent, but believing them to be "necessary" with a view to the bringing about of a better state of things; and all the more that we feel the "grievousness," would we pray that that state of things may be speedily hastened on, when the Prince of Peace shall reign,-when His kingdom shall be established everywhere,—and when "all nations shall flow into it." Oh! how different shall that time be from |