appropriations for defense by arms; we regard as unchristian
and unlawful every edict of government requiring of its
subjects military service.

"Hence we deem it unlawful to bear arms, and we cannot hold any
office which imposes on its incumbent the obligation to compel
men to do right on pain of imprisonment or death. We therefore
voluntarily exclude ourselves from every legislative and
judicial body, and repudiate all human politics, worldly
honors, and stations of authority. If we cannot occupy a seat
in the legislature or on the bench, neither can we elect others
to act as our substitutes in any such capacity. It follows
that we cannot sue any man at law to force him to return
anything he may have wrongly taken from us; if he has seized
our coat, we shall surrender him our cloak also rather than
subject him to punishment.

"We believe that the penal code of the old covenant--an eye for
an eye, and a tooth for a tooth--has been abrogated by Jesus
Christ, and that under the new covenant the forgiveness instead
of the punishment of enemies has been enjoined on all his
disciples in all cases whatsoever. To extort money from
enemies, cast them into prison, exile or execute them, is
obviously not to forgive but to take retribution.

"The history of mankind is crowded with evidences proving that
physical coercion is not adapted to moral regeneration, and
that the sinful dispositions of men can be subdued only by
love; that evil can be exterminated only by good; that it is
not safe to rely upon the strength of an arm to preserve us