Reformed Covenanter
Cancelled Commissioner
I was surprised to come across this extract in The Shadow of Calvary of all places. Yet even in a devotional book of that nature, Hugh Martin evidently felt the need to correct an erroneous interpretation of a much-abused verse (“for they that take the sword shall perish with the sword”):
It is ridiculous to profess to find in this a decision of Christ on the subject of war; far more so to find in it a decision against even defensive war as sinful, or against the profession of a soldier as in itself unlawful. It is equally absurd to plead this text in support of what used to be called the divine right of kings, in virtue of which it was held that they might be guilty of extortion and oppression towards their subjects to any extent, while their victims were forbidden by Scripture to rise and resent the tyranny, or rise and throw off the tyrant. ...
For more, see Hugh Martin: In defence of the Glorious Revolution and Ulrich Zwingli’s bearing of arms.
It is ridiculous to profess to find in this a decision of Christ on the subject of war; far more so to find in it a decision against even defensive war as sinful, or against the profession of a soldier as in itself unlawful. It is equally absurd to plead this text in support of what used to be called the divine right of kings, in virtue of which it was held that they might be guilty of extortion and oppression towards their subjects to any extent, while their victims were forbidden by Scripture to rise and resent the tyranny, or rise and throw off the tyrant. ...
For more, see Hugh Martin: In defence of the Glorious Revolution and Ulrich Zwingli’s bearing of arms.