ENEMIES IN THE HANDS OF ANGRY SINNERS::

The commonality throughout these various martial periods, according to Cuthbert, is that Edwards "designed his sermons to provide an integrated framework through which his congregation understood military action, personal piety, corporate spirituality, and God's ultimate purposes in the world." Edwards' sermon "The Duties of Christians in a Time of War" is a particularly fitting example. As Cuthbert says,"...unlike earlier revival sermons, Edwards did not use war simply as the background for this sermon but its subject providing a philosophical and Biblical foundation for warfare." The sermon was based upon 1 Kings 8:44-45. In typical fashion, Edwards analyzed the text into its different parts arriving, ultimately, at a series of four propositions. Focusing on the first, Edwards observes, "A people of God may be called of God to go forth to war against their enemies." The proposition is clearly a reference from the first conditional clause of the sermon text: "If thy people go out to battle against their enemy...". Seeking to provide his congregation with a standard of conduct, Edwards then distinguishes within this proposition two constituent elements that mirror, without Edwards directly naming them, the traditional distinction within the Christian just war tradition between jus ad bellum (causes of just war) and jus in bello (proper conduct within war). 

Jus ad bellum: Edwards grounds the just recourse to war in both general and special revelation. First, in accordance with natural law, Edwards argues, "It is lawful and a duty in some cases for one nation to wage war with another... If it be lawful for a particular person, when assaulted, to stand in his own defense and to wound and kill another to preserve his own life, the very same principles that prove the lawfulness of one will [prove the other]." Then, referencing the moral law inscripturated, Edwards makes a series of moves. He:

Appeals to the sixth commandment. 

Alludes to various narratives which depict God, "...encouraging, commanding, [and] ordering the affairs of war, [and] rewarding [the defenders of the people]."

Finally, he cites Romans 13:1-4, saying, "The New Testament approves of the civil magistracy, and of the magistrates' using the sword to restrain open violence with force."

Jus in Bello: Having established that there are lawful causes for war, Edwards proceeds to define the proper conduct once war is initiated. He writes, "If it be a duty for a people to wage war for the defense of the community, then it is their duty to prosecute [that war] in such a manner as tends most effectually to obtain this end, not barely to stand on their defense when their enemies actually assault them." Edwards from the pulpit, therefore, proclaimed, "If it be a duty of [a people to] wage war, 'tis a duty to prosecute it with vigor."

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