“Wisdom is better than weapons of war.”
Because of the human propensity for committing sins, and also because of human greed, being the cause of innumerable matters of dispute, no community, no principality and no kingdom can really exist unless it is governed by clearly established laws. A law which ensures salutary government ought to be judicious, convincing and worthy of respect.
However, since the severity of all laws is in vain if they are not a reflection of divine law, as says Augustine in the sixth book of his “City of God”, all laws must ensue from divine law and they can never contradict it, in accordance with what Wisdom says through Solomon’s mouth: “Because of me, kings rule and legislators establish laws, which is just.”
Thus, only such a republic is well organised which in governing uses laws ensuing from divine law, because the state is then godly when the guiding force is truth, when the law is to love thy neighbour and when the rule is justice and equality. In truth there is no city, province or principality that does not possess laws by which people must be directed, like horses are steered by reins, but it is extremely rare to find a community that governs itself in such a way that it is deserving of the name of a godly state.
This happens because there is no faith, the truth dies in corners, there is no fear of God, no respect, no piety, no holiness, no innocence, no solicitude for the house of God and, finally, no justice, without which the republic cannot be governed. For indeed, if legal regulations are taken away from a man, what else would this man be but a “vessel of anger”? Remove justice from kingdoms and what will these kingdoms be but bands of robbers, as Augustine wrote (“City of God”, book IV, chapter 4)? Remove the fear of God and immediately the world will be filled with base behaviour to such an extent that it will be right to destroy it together with the earth on which it stands. Remove mutual kindliness from the borders of the state and “every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation”, as is stated in the Gospel according to Matthew (chapter 12).
There is, therefore, no agreement except where love of one’s neighbour is the rule, which “from the many faithful makes one heart and one soul”. And there in turn, where there reigns unanimous kindliness, the state is strong and terrifying to enemies like a compact fortified camp. For where no one
Stanisław of Skarbimierz, Sermon 46
turns away in anger from another, where no one dupes others with words or deceives them with gestures and where everyone is ready to do a good deed to others, there justice has strong foundations. If, on the other hand, the readiness to bring help is gained by flattery or is bought for money, there justice changes suitably to the time and the circumstances. Thus, the only true helpfulness is that which flows from the love of God, to whom we owe reverence, bravery, subjection, respect and fear, or from the love of one’s neighbour, to whom we owe on our part gentleness, support, protection, encouragement and consolation.
Thus, in order for the republic to grow in strength, it must be governed with divine laws and godly wisdom. And it should not boast of the plenitude of its weapons if it lacks wisdom, for “wisdom is better than weapons of war”.
This can be seen clearly when we consider wars conducted by the faithful, and in particular by the Machabees, when many thousands of pagans, terrifying on account of their weaponry and military experience, were defeated many times by a few of the faithful, rather by words and wisdom than by the force of arms. And that is why, as Judas Machabeus, the bravest of the warriors, wrote: “There is no difference in the sight of the God of heaven to deliver with a great multitude, or with a small company: for the success of war is not in the multitude of the army, but strength cometh from heaven.” If God is our ally, who is he who could defeat us? If God, however, is not with us, who will stand by our side? […]
What then will happen if it the sin not of one person but of all the members of a numerous community? Indeed, there should be fear of defeat in an army where the sins of many cry out to heaven for vengeance. “I will
…see”, says the Lord, “whether they have done altogether according to the cry of it”. And because it was so in fact, all from the greatest to the smallest, with the exception of Lot and his family, descended to hell consumed by fire and brimstone.
If the voice of the spilled blood of one man can be heard in heaven so that divine majesty can exact vengeance on the murderer, so how will the combined voices of the poor, the oppressed, the humiliated, the victims of prostitution and adultery, those dying from poverty and hunger, the sick and the unhappy inhabitants of the earth not be heard? Will this elude the unforgiving eyes of God? Never, for as the prophet says, “Lord God to whom vengeance belongeth”. This God, as another prophet says, is “a jealous God visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and fourth generation”.
Will He leave unavenged the plundering of churches of their possessions, tithes and other goods, perpetrated in violation of divine law, canon law, military law, public law, private law and natural law? Under no circumstances, for when He sees dispersed the inheritance for which He had shed His own
Human Rights: An Anthology of Texts
blood, those who perpetrated these base acts will have to tremble for the sword sharpened on both sides not to fall onto them from the lips of Him who sits on the throne.
O, how no attention is paid in our times to the terrible divine judgements, by which God drove out of heaven the angel, “the seal of similarity, covered in all manner of precious stones”, for the sin of pride, by which for the sake of a piece of forbidden apple He drove out of paradise the first parents and all their children, by which He destroyed with a flood the whole world for all its base behaviour and drowned all the people, with the exception of just eight whom He saved, by which He destroyed five cities with reeking fire, by which for the idolatrous adoration of a calf cast in metal He took the lives in one day of twenty-two thousand people and by which for the sin of doubt and hardness of heart He allowed only two people into the Promised Land, despite it being promised to them all. With the force of His judgements He inflicted a terrible death on Korah and his companions for usurping the right to the dignity of the priesthood. He destroyed the whole of Benjamin’s district as a punishment for immorality and debauchery and saved only six hundred inhabitants. David’s pride was punished with the extermination of seventy-two thousand people. Babylon, so famous among the kingdoms and having disregard for all other kingdoms, was so depopulated for the numerous sins of its inhabitants that in the royal and princely palaces there lived only snakes and the ostriches which made their nests there. With the force of His judgements God gave into the hands of Nebuchadnezzar His own and particularly loved nation, and Nebuchadnezzar took this nation into slavery and burned the holy city and the temple.
These and other divine judgements, of which the Holy Bible is full, seem for many to be just a game or an apparition from a dream. And this is why – if God’s punishment is not meted out to them immediately – they continue to commit further sins without any fear.
Thus, tremble before the severe justice of God, which without any error will prepare suffering for the immoral and will give endless rewards to the good. Let us rather strive for the weapon of wisdom rather than that of the armed crowd, because “wisdom is better than weapons of war”.
For what use is an axe if there is no hand which could use it to chop?
What use is a spear if there is no-one to throw it at the target? What use is a crowd that does not recognise discipline? How easy it is for an army to suffer defeat, however large the army may be, if there is a lack of the necessary discipline. […]
So let there be discipline in the army if it is to achieve victories. Let there also be proficiency in the craft of war similar to that reigning among the soldiers of Alexander, about whom Gnaeus Pompeius Trogus wrote in the twelfth book, saying that when Alexander was selecting soldiers for
Stanisław of Skarbimierz, Sermon 46
a particularly dangerous battle, he did not choose those soldiers who were in the prime of life or very young but veterans, many of whom were even retired but who had even fought alongside his father and his uncle, so that it could be stated that these were not just select soldiers but real masters of the art of warfare. The commanders of the units were exclusively sixty-year-old men so that if you were looking at the front of the ranks, it could be stated that you had before your eyes the senate of some republic. That is why during the battle no one thought of fleeing but everyone thought of victory and no one counted on the swiftness of his legs but on the strength of his shoulders.
It was just the opposite with Darius and his army. And that is why Alexander’s soldiers were victorious and those of Darius were defeated.
This is hardly surprising. After all, whoever wants a successful outcome of the battle will put his faith in the art of warfare, not in fate, and above all in the wisdom of God, who will teach hands for battle and fingers for war; this wisdom will give us victory over all our foes, seen and unseen, bring peace and peaceful fat years and will allow us to be seated in the heavens “in the beauty of peace and in opulent rest” – Wisdom personified, the Son of God acclaimed for ever and ever.