Required reading
Discussions (Vol 2) by Robert L. Dabney (Available from Amazon or free here) - Read 'A pacific appeal to Christians'.
My summary
Today Dabney makes a special appeal to Christians as civil war approaches.
He encourages:
(i) supporting efforts to prevent war;
(ii) moderation of political sentiment, of resentments and of language;
(iii) remembering Christian responsibilities to God and his church;
(iv) prayer.
What grabbed me
I liked Dabney's comment on the role of Christians during national upheaval: 'And further, we would humbly appeal to all Christians of the North and the South to exert everywhere the moderating influences appropriate to the followers of the Prince of Peace. It cannot but appear to the reasonable mind most unsuitable that Christian men and Christian ministers should be in the extreme front of party movements, when all history tells us that such movements never become heated without becoming extreme. In tempering the body-politic together, God has given to the Christian members a function like that of the conscience in the natural man, which regulates and moderates the whole. The movement of the common body is the resultant of many concurring forces, of which, if some are liable to be too sluggish, many are always too impetuous. The Christian may therefore safely conclude that his duty will be best performed by acting with the moderate, instead of the vehement. God's people are the regulators of the social machine. Shall they forget this most necessary and wholesome function and throw their whole momentum to hurry that motion which they should regulate?'
Christians should perform the special function as peacemakers in the midst of such conflicts.
Next week's reading
Read 'On the state of the country'.
Now it's your turn
Please post your own notes and thoughts in the comments section below.
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