p.

have armies, the more good
men in them the better.
A regiment of Christian
soldiers, however, who should
assume to condemn the or-
ders of Government, & refuse
to march wherever ordered,
would be guilty of mutiny -
-. But this is not all; the
men fighting [underline]in[/underline] the ranks,
in a wicked war, is doing
no more than the subject
[underline]out[/underline] of the ranks. He that
works and he that pays for
it, are on precisely the same
footing. The tax payer & the
soldier are equally responsible.
Government has nothing to
do with a man's private be-
lief, nor has it the power to
require him to commit a
personal wrong; but in mak-
ing war, levying troops and im-
posing taxes, it exercises its

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legitimate power, and
for its misuse, must be
alone held responsible.
Governments, though liable
to do wrong, must be sup-
ported, otherwise there will
be no government & an-
archy succeed. There is, there-
fore, nothing derogatory to
the Christian character
in the profession of arms -
- the great question is,
can he [leave?] its temptations?
These sentiments explain
themselves, so I will not
comment. In regard to
my feelings, in a retrospect
of my sickness, I must say
that if death is a foe, which
I sometimes doubt, I desire
that it may be my lot to be
[underline][rationolal?][/underline] when I meet it
& not in an unconscious state
as I was during that week.