Uselessness of violence for the destruction of evil-The moral advance of mankind is accomplished, not only through the Christian public opinion already arises in our society, and will t THE KINGDOM OF GOD IS WITHIN YOU; OR, CHRISTIANITY NOT AS A MYSTICAL DOCTRINE, BUT AS A NEW LIFE-CONCEPTION "And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free."JOHN viii. 32. "And fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul; but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell." MATTHEW X. 28. "Ye are bought with a price; be not ye the servants of men.". I CORINTHIANS vii. 23. IN INTRODUCTORY N 1884 I wrote a book entitled " My Religion," wherein I formulated my creed. While affirming my faith in the doctrine taught by Christ, I could not refrain from manifesting at the same time the reason why I look upon the ecclesiastical doctrine commonly called Christianity as erroneous, and to me incredible. Among the many deviations of the latter from the doctrine of Christ, I called attention to the principal one; namely the evasion of the commandment that forbids man to resist evil by violence, as a striking example of the perversion of the doctrine of Christ by ecclesiastical interpretation. I knew but little, no more than other men, of what had been taught or written on the subject of non-resistance in former times. I was familiar with the opinions of I the Fathers of the Church, Origen, Tertullian, and others; and I also knew of the existence of certain sects called Mennonites, Herrnhuters, and Quakers, all of which forbid Christians the use of arms, and will not submit to conscription, but I never knew the arguments by which these sects sought to maintain their views. My book, as I had anticipated, was prohibited by the Russian censors, but partly in consequence of my reputation as a writer, partly because it excited curiosity, it had a circulation in manuscript, and while, on the one hand, it called forth from those persons who sympathized with my ideas, information concerning works written on the same subject, on the other, it excited criticisms on the opinions therein maintained. These two results, together with the historical events of recent years, made many things clear to me, and led me to many new deductions and conclusions which I now desire to set forth. I shall speak in the first place of the information I received in regard to the history of this matter of nonresistance to evil; and in the second place, of the arguments upon the subject offered by religious critics, that is, by critics who profess the religion of Christ, as well as those of secular critics, that is to say, of men who make no such profession; and finally, the conclusions which I drew from the arguments of both parties, as well as from the historical events of later years. CHAPTER I DOCTRINE OF NON-RESISTANCE ΤΟ EVIL FROM THE ORIGIN OF CHRISTIANITY, HAS BEEN, AND STILL IS, PROFESSED BY THE MINORITY OF MEN Concerning the book "My Religion Information called forth by this book - Letters of Quakers - Professions of Garrison - Adin Ballou, his works and Catechism-"The Net of Faith" of Helchitsky-Relations of men toward works that explain the teachings of Christ - The book of Dymond "On War"- Assertion of Non-resistance by Musser - Relations of government in 1818 toward those who refuse to join the military service - General inimical attitude of governments and liberal men toward those who refused to take part in the violence of governments and their conscious effort to conceal and ignore these demonstrations of Christian Non-resistance. A MONG the early responses called forth by my book were letters from American Quakers. In these letters, while expressing their sympathy with my ideas in regard to the unlawfulness of violence and war where Christians are concerned, the Quakers made known to me many details in relation to their sect, which for more than two hundred years has professed the doctrine of Christ in the matter of non-resistance, and which never has, nor does it now use weapons for self-defense. Together with the letters, the Quakers sent me many of their pamphlets, periodicals, and books. From these publications I learned that already, many years ago, they had demonstrated the Christian's duty of keeping the commandment of non-resistance to evil by violence, and the error of the church which countenances wars and executions. Having shown by a succession of arguments and texts that war the slaughter and mutilation of men-is inconsistent with a religion founded on peace and goodwill to men, the Quakers go on to assert that nothing is so conducive to the defamation of Christ's truth in the eyes of the heathen, or so successful in arresting the spread of Christianity throughout the world, as the refusal to obey this commandment, made by men who call |