One expression of this philosophy may be abstention from partisanship in
conflicts between other groups, in order to administer impartially to
the human need of both parties to the conflict.
In this connection much has been made of the story of the Irish Quakers
during the rebellion in that country in 1798. Before the conflict broke
into open violence the Quarterly Meetings and the General National
Meeting recommended that all Friends destroy all firearms in their
possession so that there could be no suspicion of their implication in
the coming struggle. During the fighting in 1798 the Friends interceded
with both sides in the interests of humanity, entertained the destitute
from both parties and treated the wounds of any man who needed care.
Both the Government forces and the rebels came to respect Quaker
integrity, and in the midst of pillage and rapine the Quaker households
escaped unscathed. But Thomas Hancock, who told the story a few years
later, pointed out that in their course of conduct the Friends had not
sought safety.
"It is," he said, "to be presumed, that, even if outward
preservation had not been experienced, they who conscientiously
take the maxims of Peace for the rule of their conduct, would hold
it not less their duty to conform to those principles; because the
reward of such endeavor to act in obedience to their Divine
Master's will is not always to be looked for in the present life.
While, therefore, the fact of their outward preservation would be
no sufficient argument to themselves that they had acted as they
ought to act in such a crisis, it affords a striking lesson to
those who will take no principle, that has not been verified by
experience, for a rule of human conduct, even if it should have the
sanction of Divine authority."[120]
It is in this same spirit that various pacifist groups undertook the
work of relief of suffering after the First World War in "friendly" and
"enemy" countries alike, ministering to human need without distinction
of party, race or creed. The stories of the work of the American Friends
Service Committee and the _Service Civil_ founded by Pierre Ceresole are
too well known to need repeating here.[121] It should not be overlooked
that in this same spirit the Brethren and the Mennonites also carried on
large scale relief projects during the interwar years.