has it not prompted and sustained! Toils which the wealth of Ind could not purchase, are ever ready at its call. It has led the shrinking maiden to meet unappalled dangers and sufferings before which the mail-clad warrior would flee in dismay.

Those who would sway the scepter of power have often forgotten the strength of love. They have appealed to force instead of affection, and have dug the dungeon and driven the stake. Those who have been ambitious of founding extensive empires have founded them on force. The great exile of St. Helena saw clearly the truth in this matter, and contrasted the empires founded on force with that of Jesus Christ founded upon love which had existed for more than 1800 years, and still had subjects ready to die for their king. Yes, blessed be God, the God of love, there are thousands scattered throughout the earth who, under the constraining influence of the love of Christ, would die for him today, did he require the sacrifice. Many a feeble woman, should the Saviour require the sacrifice of her life, would throw herself on the promise," As thy day is so shall thy strength be," and cheerfully ascend the scaffold or embrace the stake.

God appeals to love as the strongest principle of human action. He sets before men the love which led him to give his only-begotten Son.

Now this powerful principle, like all other principles of our nature, is strengthened by exercise, and in its exercise is found the highest enjoyment of man. It is more blessed, is a greater source of happiness, to exercise affection toward worthy objects of affection, than to be ourselves the object of affection. The father, the mother, the sister, the friend, knows from experience the truth of this assertion.

The happy man is he who obeys God's all-comprehending law of love. The faithful minister who cherishes a life-long interest in the people of his charge, who loves those over whom the Holy Ghost has made him an overseer, who loves those who do not love his Master nor their own souls, who watches with prayerful solicitude for opportunities of so commending to them the love of Christ, as to awaken in their hearts a corresponding love, who, under the constraining influence of that love, practices self-denial, and goes about doing good, is a happy man. He is happy in his work, happy in his sympathy, happy in his selfdenial, and happy in the results of his labors. He is happy just in proportion as he devotes himself in God's appointed way to the happiness of others.

The missionary, whom the love of Christ sends to far-distant lands, exchanging the refinements of Christian civilization for the degradation of heathenism, is a happy man. Henry Martyn might have staid at Cambridge where he had gathered academic laurels. Surrounded by admiring friends, and enjoying all the means of

mental culture and mental luxury, he might have lived for himself. But the love of Christ constrained him to devote himself to India. The reader of his journal will see how great were the sacrifices he made and the sufferings he endured, but will not conclude that he was less happy than he would have been had he continued to reside within the walls of the university. He gave himself to Christ and to the cause of benevolence, and found it more blessed to give than to receive.

We have thus glanced at some portions of our nature, which show that a life of benevolent activity contributes to the fullest development and highest happiness of man.

The religion of Christ requires us to lead such a life. It requires us to labor. It tells us, whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might. It tells us to love our neighbor as ourself. It tells us to do good, to communicate. It bids us give our property, our influence, our sympathies, ourselves to the work of doing good, and assures us that it is more blessed to give than to receive.

From what has been said, we see that the requirements of Christianity are in accordance with the nature of man. The self-denial and self-sacrifice required by Christianity, are no less required by the nature of man. And thus it appears that Christianity is adapted to form the highest style of man.

My hearers, you desire to be happy. It is a lawful desire. God implanted it in your nature. God himself desires your happiness. In order to be happy, you must pursue the course ordained by God, and not the course suggested by the selfishness of our fallen nature. God directs us to seek for happiness in doing good; or rather, he directs us to lead a life of benevolent activity, and makes himself responsible for our happiness. By his ordination and arrangement, the charity which seeketh not her own always secures the largest amount of happiness. You know that you have been unhappy in proportion as you have been selfish, and happy in proportion as you have been influenced by true benevolence. "Love thyself last" was a precept of one who noted the workings of human nature with an accuracy unsurpassed by man

a precept dictated by prudential considerations. We have a higher law than the law of prudence; we have a diviner wisdom than can be drawn from the pages of Shakspeare. We have the example and the wisdom of the divine Redeemer.

Let us avail ourselves of his wisdom. Let us follow his example. From this day and this hour, let us be more earnest, energetic, and persevering in efforts to do good.

SERMON XXI.*

BY REV. ROBERT DAVIDSON, D.D.

PIETY COMPATIBLE WITH THE MILITARY LIFE.

"AND the soldiers likewise demanded of him, saying, And what shall we do? And he said unto them, Do violence to no man, neither accuse any falsely; and be content with your wages."-LUKE 3: 14.

THE theme which is presented for your consideration to-night is one which, it is hoped, will need no apology, as being suitable at once to the troublous times in which we live, and to the special object which has called us together, the ordination of a chaplain for the army. Without further preface it is proposed to show that piety is not incompatible with the military life, but is, on the contrary, imperiously demanded by its peculiar exigencies.

Let me not be misunderstood or misrepresented as if I were an apologist for war, or were desirous of disguising its horrors. War is an evil. It is a calamity to be deprecated and deplored. It is never to be waged without the direst necessity. The initiative in offensive war, for conquest or revenge, should never be taken by a Christian nation. But while our prayer is, that God would scatter the men that delight in war," we are not of the fanatical band who denounce all war, defensive as well as aggressive. We have no sympathy with the modern non-resistance, nohuman-government soceities. We desire to be ranked with those who, while they do not justify offensive wars, are nevertheless far from pronouncing defensive wars equally and of necessity unjust, I. În attempting to demonstrate that piety is compatible with the military life, it is a satisfaction to find ourselves sustained by the authority of holy Scripture.

It is, indeed, alleged, that the Gospel breathes a spirit of love; that it inculcates philanthropy; that Jesus will have none but the meek for his followers; that his kingdom is not of this world, else would his servants fight; that the triumph of the Gospel will be consummated in the spear being beaten into a plowshare, and the sword into a pruning-hook, in the breaking up of military schools, and the forgetting of the art of war.

True, the Gospel does breathe a spirit of philanthropy and love, but it is not indiscriminate. It does encourage the mild sen

* Delivered before the Presbytery of New-York, at the ordination of Rev. Alexander Proudfit, as a Chaplain for the army, in Madison Avenue Church, New-York, September 10th, 1862. Published by request.

timents of forbearance and pity, but are these emotions to be felt only towards those who invade our dwellings with deadly weapons in their hands and slaughter in their hearts? Are we to feel no tender love, no moving pity towards our wives, our daughters, our sisters, our neighbors, our friends about to fall a prey to the ruthless assailants who insult our quiet? Do we owe nothing to the thousand social and civil ties that bind us to our country, and to that government under which we have attained prosperity and happiness without a parallel? Can the Gospel bid us look calmly on and behold the torch tossed on high and witness the ruin of every interest we have been taught to hold dear and precious, and bind our hands, so that we dare not in our conscience oppose the tempest of fire and blood? We must have strong proof before we can believe it agreeable to the will of God that we should love our enemies better than our friends, and passively expose the lovely, the innocent, the helpless, to the diabolical passions of merciless ruffians. If he that provideth not for his own household is denounced in Scripture as worse than an infidel, what maledictions must be reserved for him who neglects or refuses to protect his household?

Again; the God of nature is the God of revelation. He therefore who would entirely suppress the instincts of nature is guilty of libeling the wisdom of the Most High. Self-preservation is

well styled the first law of nature: to rise in self-defense is an instinct universal and immediate. But there is an instinct even stronger than this. The most diminutive bird will face the rob. ber of her nest, and lose all fear of self to protect her brood. What must be the force of that maternal instinct that urges the delicate woman into the jaws of danger to rescue her babe? When the steamer Golden Gate was burned the other day, a lady approached one of the passengers with an infant in her arms, and another three years old at her side, and asked him: "Can you save my child?" "I do not know," he replied, "that I shall be able even to save myself." "If my children," said she, "can be saved, I will consent to be burned in those raging flames." Nothing further is known of her, except that her children were saved while she herself perished, probably while providing heroically for them. And can we believe that the God of nature who implanted these instincts in our breasts, will issue a revelation enjoining their utter extirpation? If all self-defense is unwarrantable, why did our Creator give us that disposition to displeasure so quick to rise on the infliction of an injury? If all anger, not merely when inordinate or excessive, but in itself and essentially, be sinful, why are we charged in Scripture, "Be ye angry, and sin not;" implying that there may be instances of anger without sin? If all indignation be blameworthy, what meant the scourge of cords, and the flash of the eye, when Christ drove the profane traders out of the Temple ?

Nor let us be told that the spear and the sword are to be turned into the peaceful implements of agriculture. This is a prediction, not a command; and when all the world shall be imbued with the spirit of the Gospel, then will it be fulfilled to the letter. But those times have not yet come. Till offensive war ceases, selfdefense is not precluded; and the Christian soldier may gird bis sword upon his thigh without a scruple, and in fighting the battles of his country, feel confident that he is not the less serving the Lord.

Let us turn to the Scriptures, and examine their positive decisions.

If we open the Old Testament, we find Jehovah continually recognized as the God of battles and the Lord of hosts. The angel-captain marched before the army of Israel. When battle was joined, many fell down, "for the war was of God." The Book of Psalms is prescribed to us by apostolic authority as our manual of devotion, and therein we meet with the following exclamation to be sung to the Lord with melody in our hearts: "Blessed be the Lord my strength, which teacheth my hands to war, and my fingers to fight!" Many pious people seem to have thought that the martial part of the book of Psalms had become obsolete and useless to us; but the history of the world moves in cycles; it repeats itself; and the events of the present day tend to shed new light on the meaning, force, and applicability of that portion of God's word.

If we consult the New Testament, we hear John the Baptist as he stands by the sacred stream addressing his discourse to various classes of hearers, rebuking hypocrites and infidels, recommending charity to the rich, and charging the tax-gatherers to avoid extortion. The soldiers of Herod chanced to be passing by on their way from Galilee to Arabia, to prosecute the war against King Aretas, and when they demanded what they should do, he did not rail at them as legalized murderers, nor did he require them to relinquish the profession of arms. He only contented himself with directing them, in the words of our text, to refrain from insolence, oppression, false accusation, mutiny, and pillage.

We find, moreover, two centurions distinguished for their piety, neither of whom was required to resign his office.

Our Lord, at the close of the last paschal supper, warned his disciples to be prepared for an approaching change in their circumstan

ces.

He was now to be taken from them, and they would encounter many dangers, against which they should manfully provide. "He that hath a purse let him take it, and likewise his scrip;" of course the purse and the scrip were to be used in their appropriate way; "and he that hath no sword, let him sell his garment and buy one." It is equally obvious that the sword was to be used in the only