War

I am well aware of the excuse which men, ever ingenious in devising mischief to themselves as well as others, offer in extenuation of their conduct in going to war. They allege that they are compelled to it; that they are dragged against their will to war. I answer them, deal fairly. Pull off the mask; throw away all false colors; consult your own heart, and you will find that anger, ambition, and folly are the compulsory force that has dragged you to war, and not any necessity; unless indeed you call the insatiable cravings of a covetous mind, necessity.

War is to commonweals a remedy indeed, but perilous and dangerous, even as lancing or cutting is to the members [of the body]. The hand is poisoned, and the arm in danger to be envenomed too, whereby the whole man perhaps may be cast away. But yet you do not cut off your hand until, when you have tried all other medicines, you do plainly perceive that no other means can remedy the sore but cutting off alone. Likewise, when all helps fail, then at the last let war begin.

All actions no way conducive to obtain a contested right, or to bring the war to a termination, but calculated merely to display the strength of either side are totally repugnant to the duties of a Christian and to the principles of humanity. So that it behooves Christian princes to prohibit all unnecessary effusion of blood, as they must render an account of their sovereign commission to him by whose authority, and in whose stead, they bear the sword.