For entertaining these sentiments, they say that they “have been stigmatized as no human government men,” and ranked among disorganizers and anarchists. But they believe that the gospel requires men to suppress every angry emotion, to forgive every injury, to revenge none; and they ask, “Shall we forgive as individuals, and retaliate as communities? Shall we turn the other cheek as individuals, and plunge a dagger into the heart of our enemy as nations? We might as well be sober as individuals, and drunk as nations. We might as well be merciful as individuals, and rob as patriots.” They believe that the forgiveness of enemies, whether foreign or domestic, is the essence, the chief virtue, the soul of the gospel; that we should preach our Savior’s peace, even if it brings us to our Savior’s cross; that Christians should not punish, either to amend those who trespass against them, or to comfort themselves; for they do not amend others by fines and imprisonments, nor do they need any better comfort than that of their Savior, who, on the cross, not only prayed, but apologized for his murderers; that, if the gospel is right in prescribing pardon, the law is wrong in inflicting punishment; that, if a Christian reigns, he reigns by love, not by force; that he cannot smile with frowns, forgive with punishment, love with hatred, bless with the sword, do good with evil, be humble with pride, love God and serve Mammon; that moral power would govern men altogether cheaper and better than physical; that the destruction of every kingdom that has heretofore existed, proves that men will not, cannot be governed by physical force; that the refusal of our Savior to govern, when he had the power of miracles, was his greatest miracle; and that his obedience, forgiveness, sufferings, and death, established the constitution of a government, in which peace on earth and good-will to men will be maintained by the God of peace, the Prince of peace, and the Spirit of peace. They believe that, when Jesus referred his hearers to the law of retaliation, which law constituted the great fundamental principle in the Jewish civil government, and when, in express terms, he repealed that law, he laid the axe at the root of that government, and virtually repealed or abrogated the whole of it; for of what force can any civil government be, which cannot enforce its laws by inflicting evil upon its violators? When Jesus took from the Jewish civil ruler the right to inflict punishment, he declared the only civil government, which God had ever instituted, and recognized as of any rightful authority, to be null and void forever. They think it will be admitted, by all who receive the plain declarations of Scripture as truth, that no man, as an individual, has the right to render evil for evil, or to enforce even his lawful claims, by his fist, the club, or the sword. But if a man has no such right as an individual, he has none as a member