Alfred H. Stone Collection
Volume: 15

10. Thomas Laurie, Government Is of God. A Sermon Preached in Dedham and West Roxbury, May 12, 1861 (Boston: S. O. Thayer, 1861). (27 p.)

Sermon preached to a company of volunteers from Massachusetts on their way to join the Union army. The pastor argues that while not all wars are just, some are, and that the present one is. “I know it is fashionable to regard all war as an unmitigated evil, but there are evils worse than war. Anarchy is worse; heartless indifference to the claims of right and justice is worse; recreant yielding to an ungodly rebellion against a God-given government is worse. The good to be obtained by war may change even its direct horrors into mercies.” The text for the sermon comes from Romans 13:1. “Let every soul be subject unto the higher powers, for there is no power but of God; the powers that be are ordained of God.”