admit, that God is wiser than man, and knows best the principles upon which his moral government ought to be administered among men?

There was a time,when the distinguishing mark of Christians was, that they would not bear arms; but, for more than sixteen hundred years, peace has been the lost Pleiad in the constellation of Christian virtues. From the commencement of the history of Christian nations and governments, they have ceased to bear that mark, and more than sixteen centuries have recorded their inextinguishable wars. Oh! that Christians had persevered in the primitive spirit, which regarded the character of a soldier as pagan, not Christian ! Oh! that they had abided inflexibly by the rule, never to bear arms! Then would the primitive church have bequeathed an illustrious, invaluable example to all posterity. Then pagan, not Christian governments, would have been overturned. Then the northern invaders, after conquering the monarchs and armies of heathenism, would themselves have been subdued and civilized by the allprevailing law of Christian peace and love. But, unfortunately, Christianity was first enslaved by the warlike character of classic paganism, and afterwards by the martial spirit of the barbarous heathen. Had its disciples inflexibly resisted the first, they never would have dishonored their Founder and his church by the last. Their maxims should ever have been, 'let the heathen take arms; but come what may, Christians never will. Christianity never shall be defended or spread abroad by force of arms. Christians never shall employ the sword. Let the heathen rule us with a rod of iron; let them insult, persecute, oppress, torment, slay us; let them confiscate property, slander character, cast us into prison, strip us of life itself; let them separate husband and wife, parent and child; let them seduce the brother to betray the brother, and the friend the friend; let them poison the happiness of private and social life, and heap on us all the enormities and cruelties that malice can suggest, and tyranny execute. Still we will bear it all; nor shall the sword ever be employed to deliver, much less to avenge us. Be it our duty to exhibit the consistency and beauty, the unconquerable strength, the inflexible constancy of Christian love, humility and forgiveness. Cost what it may, we will return good for evil, blessing for cursing; we will love them that hate us, and pray for such as persecute and oppress us. Thus and thus only will we conquer our enemies, and convert the heathen to Christianity.' Then would they indeed have conquered; for the law of love, and humility, and forgiveness is invincible in the hands of faith and hope. Thus would the whole Roman empire, and all the barbarian hordes that overran it, have been subdued by the pure and holy religion of peace; not by that misnamed Christian church with the warrior's helmet on her head, with his sword in her right hand, and a bloody cross in the left, as her battle ensign.

For ages the church was indeed a warrior, and resembled the Marphisa of poetical chivalry, not the Bride of the Lamb, meek, humble and resigned. Her prelates, in glittering armor, were

seen on the war-steed, brandishing the iron mace of the pagan Alamar, while they shrunk from the Christian sword of Tancred or Gonzalvo. Century after century elapsed, and at length the church laid aside her sword and shield, and her clergy withdrew from the camp and the battle-field; but Christian rulers and communities still waged war, and all their institutions were still imbued with its spirit. Such, substantially, is still the fact; and such it must remain, till professed Christians, and especially the clergy, shall abjure their compromise with war and the warrior, and banish their influence from the education of Christian youth. The dawn of that day, I fear, is still far distant in the Christianity of Europe. Oh! that its morning star were now shining on the hearts of the clergy of my own, my beloved country! Oh! that our clergy would realize, that the reign of the Prince of Peace can never commence, till the chosen messengers of his love shall abjure forever all allegiance to war, and teach universally, that humility and love, forbearance and forgiveness, are the great, the indispensable elements of Christian morals, and of all the education of Christian youth.

I believe that the time is to come, when the warrior, with his plume, and his casque, and his scimetar, with his martial music, and his glittering armor, shall be seen no more forever; when the implements of war shall be found only in the cabinets of the curious, or among the historical memorials of the antiquary; when not a battle-ship shall crest the mountain wave, or repose beautiful and majestic on the tranquil bosom of the ocean; when not an army shall wind its dragon folds over hill, and valley, and plain; when the castle and the tower, the rampart and the battlement, shall be levelled with the ground, and the orchard, the garden and the vineyard shall smile over their graves; when not a fortified town shall be seen on the face of the whole earth, and every citadel shall be dedicated with peculiar rites, as the temple of Christian peace; when Alexander, Cæsar and Napoleon, shall be accounted the Molochs of mankind, and the battle-fields of Arbela and Pharsalia, of Marengo and Austerlitz, the polluted shrines of a sanguinary and idolatrous superstition; when the illustrious achievements of the most renowned of conquerors shall be remembered only with astonishment, indignation and mourning; when the master-works of military science shall be esteemed as mischievous and wicked as the frauds of astrology and magic, and the Iliad and Eneid, Cæsar, and Livy, and Sallust, shall never deform the souls of Christian youth; when the siege, and the battle, and the naval action, and all the machinery of national murder and national robbery, by land and by sea, shall have been swept away forever; when the glory and ambition of individuals and nations shall be found only in the fellowship of love, in deep humility, in the emulation of good works; in the spirit of usefulness, and the sense of duty; in peace, Christian in its character, and universal in its dominion.

I feel an assurance, delightful in its prospects, and strong in its faith, that our country is yet destined to be the noblest monument

of the principles of peace. It is impossible to contemplate our history, and not feel that we have been ordained to perform a more conspicuous part in the moral government of the world, than any other people, ancient or modern. Oh! that we did but realize the high and responsible office to which we have been called in the administration of Providence; the office of friend, counsellor, teacher of the nations of the earth. Oh! that we did but look back on the past with the humility and gratitude which becomes the most favored of nations; on the present, with the sense of unworthiness, and the diffidence which belongs to true wisdom; on the future, with the generous devotion and steadfastness of purpose which springs from an enlightened sense of duty. I know that the national institutions of the ancient people of Israel were established by God himself; and I believe, with a faith as strong as knowledge, that the peculiar structure of our government and state of society, is equally an ordinance of his unseen power. What though in our history, I read of no patriarchs, or prophets, or divine legislators; of no pillar of cloud by day, or of fire by night; not of the terrors of Sinai, or the vision of Pisgah; not of the chariot of fire, and mantle of power; nor yet of the fiery tempest of Sodom, or the severed waves of Jordan! What though in the record of his dealings with us, I read not that he stood, and measured the earth; that he beheld, and drove asunder the nations; that the mountains saw him, and trembled; that the deep lifted up its hands on high; that the sun and moon stood still in their habitations! What though in the history of the founders of our institutions, I read not of cloven tongues like as of fire, nor of the earthquake at midnight that burst the prison gates; not of the trance of Peter, nor the vision of Cornelius, nor the mid-day glory that struck Paul with blindness! Yet do I not doubt that we are the people of his pasture, and the sheep of his hand; that he is our God, and is leading us onward, through ways of pleasantness, and paths of peace, to an inheritance more fair and rich than any people have ever had.

THE CHIEF OBJECTION TO WAR.-The great objection to war is not so much the number of lives, and the amount of property it destroys, as its moral influence on nations and individuals. It creates and perpetuates national jealousy, fear, hatred and envy. It arrogates to itself the prerogative of the Creator only to involve the innocent multitude in the punishment of the guilty few. It corrupts the moral taste, and hardens the heart; cherishes and strengthens the base and violent passions; destroys the distinguishing features of Christian charity, its universality, and its love of enemies; turns into mockery and contempt, the test virtue of Christians, humility; weakens the sense of moral obligation, banishes the spirit of improvement, usefulness and benevolence, and inculcates the horrible maxim, that murder and robbery are matters of state expediency.

AMERICAN PEACE SOCIETY, BOSTON, MASS.

WAR AS A JUDICIAL REDRESS.

WE are advocates for civil government; but, when war is compared to a judicial process, and vindicated as a method of determining right, and punishing guilt, we protest against such an abuse of terms. We inquire for its character, not in barbarous ages or countries, but among civilized nations at the present day. How does it determine right, redress wrong, or punish guilt? Look at a few facts for illustration. England taxed her colonies against their will; and our fathers, indignant at the wrong, drew the sword, and fought until both parties, tired of the struggle, ended the dispute by a negotiation which insured to us a place among the nations of Christendom. Napoleon displeased Great Britain; and in revenge she declared war, and eventually rallied nearly all Europe in desperate and successful efforts for his overthrow. The same power embarrassed our commerce, and impressed our seamen; and, for the punishment and redress of such wrongs, we plunged into a war of three years, which left, by the treaty of Ghent, all the controverted points just where it had found them. Still later did we differ with England about the boundary between us along the state of Maine, and the territory of Oregon; and warspirits among us called aloud for the savage, brutal arbitrament of the sword to determine in each case where the line ought to run.

Such is war; and now we ask, wherein consists its resemblance to a process of justice? Let us examine the question somewhat in detail; and, first, the law, or rule of decision. In all controversies, there must be some standard recognized by both parties, such a standard society has provided in its codes of law; and to these laws every dispute must be referred. The law is common to all, known beforehand to all, and ready for every one that may need its protection, or deserve its penalties.

Here is the hinge or helm of justice in society, whether civilized or savage; but is there any thing like it in war? I know we talk about the Laws of War; but what does the phrase mean? A set of principles to determine right between nations? No; they are only a string of rules to regulate their fighting, to prescribe how they shall inflict on each other all the nameless evils of war. Well do we call them laws of war; not laws of right or justice, but by-laws of crime, mischief and blood; rules to regulate violence and outrage, theft and robbery, murder, and rapine, and conflagration. War acknowledges no law as an umpire. It appeals to the sword alone, to might as the only arbiter of right; and all its laws, like the rules adopted by a court just to guide its proceedings in the application of law, or like the etiquette of duelling which prescribes how the parties shall fight, merely determine the mode

P. T. NO. LV.

of appeal to this blind, brutal standard. Laws of war! as well might we talk about the laws of piracy, or of pandemonium!!

Let us look next at the provisions made by society for a right application of its laws. We find first a judge, and next a jury of twelve peers to the parties in controversy; both bound by the solemnities of an oath to administer impartial justice, one by stating truly the law, and the other by giving a verdict in accordance alike with the law and the facts. How guarded is every step! The judge, appointed by the highest authority in the state, must not only have weight of character, and thorough knowledge of the law, but be held to a strict responsibility; and the jury, whom society takes from its own bosom, and prescribes their qualifications, are drawn out by lot, with the right of either party in criminal cases to exclude a certain number without assigning a reason, and any number for good and sufficient reasons.

Now, is there in war any counterpart to all this? Show us the judge and jury, or any umpire equivalent to either. Who selects them? What are their qualifications? What rules direct their mode of procedure in awarding justice? Point us in the whole war-system to the slightest vestige of such safe-guards as these, to any legal or rational provisions whatever for the equitable determination of controversies between nations.

Glance next at the principle of reference, so essential to justice. Not the rudest court on earth allows a man to be judge in his own case; even savages insist on the reference of disputes to a third party. The maxim is universal. Expunge this principle, and there remains no security for justice. If you lay claim to what I regard as my own, we can settle the dispute only by referring it to umpires. Does war proceed on this principle? Does it forbid nations to decide each its own case, and demand a reference of their disputes to arbiters? No; they spurn the thought of submitting to the decision of others, and indignantly exclaim, we can judge for ourselves; we understand our own rights, and shall assert them too at whatever hazards to those who may dare to cross our path.' Just put this language into the mouth of a mob, a gang of blacklegs, or a horde of pirates; and you see at once how it scouts all justice, and claims a reckless, illimitable impunity in crime.

Scrutinize, also, the process of legal justice. In a civil case, like that of debt or damage, one man may prosecute another at will on the certainty of being obliged, if defeated, to pay the costs, and perhaps suffer a retaliatory prosecution; but no man is allowed, without special authority from some court, to arraign his fellow for a criminal offence. The accused is first examined before a magistrate, and either released, or bound over to a more thorough examination before a grand jury, who determine in view of evidence whether he shall be put upon trial for the offence charged against him. Furnished beforehand with a copy of these charges, he meets his accuser face to face in open court, is allowed the best counsel he can procure, and permitted to cross-examine the witnesses, to rebut or discredit their testimony, to sift all the evidence in the case, and counteract every effort for his conviction.