Review, next, the meliorations of war itself. Bad as the custom still is, it has already lost more than half its primitive horrors, and undergone changes much greater than would now suffice to abolish it entirely. Its former atrocities are well-nigh incredible. Belligerents employed whatever means would best subserve their purposes of conquest, plunder or revenge. They poisoned wells, and butchered men, women and children, without distinction. They spared none. Prisoners they massacred in cold blood, or tortured with the most exquisite cruelty; and, when unable to reduce a fortified place, they would sometimes collect before it a multitude of these victims, and, putting them all to the sword, leave their carcases unburied, that the stench might compel the garrison to retire! Such atrocities were practised by the most polished nations of antiquity. In Rome, prisoners were either sold as slaves, or put to death at pleasure. Kings and nobles, women and children of high birth, chained to the victor's car, were dragged in triumph through the streets, and then doomed to a cruel death, or left to end their days in a severe and hopeless bondage; while others less distinguished, were compelled, as gladiators, to butcher one another by hundreds for the amusement of Roman citizens! But such barbarities are indignantly discarded from the present war system of Christendom; and if thus ten steps have already been taken they confessedly have towards abolishing this custom is there no possibility of taking the six more that alone are requisite to complete its abolition?

Still more; certain kinds of war have actually been abolished. Private or feudal wars, once waged between the petty chieftans of Europe, and frequently occasioning even more mischief than flows now from the collision of empires, continued for centuries to make the very heart of Christendom a scene of confusion and terror. There was no safety, no repose. Every baron claimed the right, just as nations now do, of warring against his neighbor at pleasure. His castle was his fortress, and every one of his vassals a soldier, bound to take the field at the bidding of his lord. War was their business; and all Europe they kept in ceaseless commotion or alarm. The evil seemed intolerable; and finally, emperors and popes, magistrates and priests, rulers and citizens, all combined against it, and succeeded, after the lapse of four or five centuries, in exterminating a species of war as dreadful as any that ever scourged our world. And would not similar efforts bring international wars to an end?

Glance at some of the causes now at work for such a result. I can

not here pause even to name a tithe of these causes; and it must for the present suffice to know, that all the means of general improvement, all the good influences of the age, are so many handmaids to the cause of peace, and harbingers of its universal spread and triumph. The progress of freedom, and popular education; the growing influence of the people, always the chief sufferers from war, over every form of government; the vastly augmented power of public opinion, fast becoming more and more pacific;-the spirit of free inquiry, and the wide diffusion of knowledge through presses, and pulpits, and schools ;— the disposition to force old usages, institutions and opinions through the severest ordeals;-the various improvements which philanthropy, genius, and even avarice itself, are every where making in the character and condition of mankind, all demanding peace;-the actual disuse of war, and the desire of rulers themselves to supersede it by the adoption of pacific expedients that promise ere long to reconstruct the international policy of the civilized world; the pacific tendencies of literature, science, and all the arts that minister to individual comfort, or national prosperity ;—the more frequent, more extended intercourse of Christians and learned men in different parts of the earth ;—the wide extension of commerce, and the consequent inter-linking over the globe of interests which war must destroy ;-the rapid spread of the gospel in pagan lands, the fuller development of its spirit in Christerdom, and the more direct, more efficacious application of its principles to every species of sin and misery;-all the enterprises of associated benevolence and reform, but especially the combined efforts made to disseminate the principles of peace, to pour the full light of heaven on the guilt and evils of war, and thus unite the friends of God and man every where against this master-scourge of our race— such are some of the influences now at work for the world's perpetual peace.

"Already," says

Nor have these causes been at work in vain. Ware, "is the process begun, by which Jehovah is going to fulfill the amazing prediction of his word. Even now is the fire kindled at the forges where swords are yet to be beaten into plough-shares, and spears into pruning-hooks. The teachers are already abroad who shall persuade the nations to learn war no more. If we would hasten that day, we have only to throw ourselves into the current, and we may row with the tide. There may be, here and there, a counter-current ; but the main stream is flowing steadily on, and the order of Providence is rolling forward the sure result."

The gospel, rightly applied, is amply sufficient for such a resuit. It is God's own power at work for the world's eventual deliverance from all forms of error, sin and misery. There is no passion it cannot subdue, no vice it cannot reform, no evil custom it cannot abolish, no moral malady it cannot cure, no inveteracy of error or sin from which it cannot reclaim. Its history, as well as its nature, proves its power; and a libel would it be on God himself to suppose his chosen instrument for a world's spiritual renovation, inadequate to the task of exterminating war from every land blest with its heavenly light, and eventually from the whole earth.

On this point God has taken care to leave no room for doubt. Expressly, repeatedly has he promised, that the earth shall be filled with the knowledge of his name, even as the waters cover the sea; that the kingdoms of this world shall all become the kingdom of our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ;' and then 'shall they beat their swords into ploughshares, and their spears into pruning-hooks; nation shall no longer lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more.' Thus has God promised the world's eventual pacification as explicitly as he has the world's conversion, or even the salvation of any believer in Jesus; and we must either discard the whole Bible, or believe in the possibility, the absolute certainty, of universal and permanent peace.

It is not incumbent on us to show how these prophecies are to be fulfilled; and yet it were easy to point out a variety of expedients that might, with safety and success, take the place of war. There is in truth no more need of this custom among Christian nations than there is of paganism itself. They could, if they would, settle all their difficulties without war, as well as the members of a church can theirs without duels. There is no impossibilty in the case. Substitutes far better than the sword for all purposes of protection and redress, might be made to supersede entirely the alleged necessity of war between nations. Once individuals had no other means than brute force for the redress of their wrongs, or the adjustment of their difficulties; but, if that old practice of private wars gave place ages ago to codes and courts of law between individuals, it is equally possible for nations, if they choose, to provide similar methods for the settlement of their disputes without the effusion of blood.

WHY NO MORE INTEREST IN PEACE?

2. We have already assigned one reason for this; and another hindrance to the progress of Peace principles may be found in the mistaken impression, that they rest upon the foundation of strict non-resistance, and the inviolability of human life. These opinions I would not controvert. It is not necessary for the purpose in hand. If our coadjutors in the work of Peace have practically adopted its principles, we hail them as co-workers in this cause, though they have come to a right result by a different process than ourselves. We simply affirm our own sentiments, and those of millions of good men, and state them as preliminary to the presentation of our mode of reasoning on the subject.

1. The precepts of our Saviour, that all should show great meekness and forbearance towards dishonest and violent men, we fully receive. If a man will rob you of a coat by litigation, better give up a cloak also, than contend with him. If a quarrelsome man smites you on one cheek, turn the other rather than retaliate. Christians should be men of peace-kind and forgiving. But it does not follow, that for this reason one may not protect himself, or defend his family, or others, when assaulted by violent men David Hale, of New York, was once assaulted by a testy Frenchman, for an imaginary insult. It was, however, only with a rattan, and inflicted no permanent injury. Mr. Hale might have prostrated his antagonist by a blow from his powerful hand; but, like a Christian, he offered no resistance. This was right. But at another time, he was informed that a powerful man, offended at an article in his paper, threatened to attack him in the street. His reply was, "If he does, I shall defend myself, for I cannot afford to trifle with him. He will injure me too much." He did not think it his duty to risk life or limb by non-resist ince.

2. We believe that the law given to Noah, requiring the life of the murderer, is still in full force. Therefore, for any government to neglect or refuse to put the wilful murderer to death, brings the guilt and divine punishment for murder, upon itself and upon the land. Wilful murder is a crime that can only be expiated by capital punishment. The life of the murderer is justly forfeited, and must be taken, in order to exculpate the community from complicity with the criminal. It were easy to prove that strict obedience to this law preserves many innocent lives, for every one that is taken by capital punishment; but the argument does not require it. Enough that God commands, and man's duty is to obey.

"The pow

3. We believe that civil government is divinely instituted. ers that be are ordained of God." The ruler is designed to be, and is "the minister of God; a revenger to execute wrath upon him that doeth evil." Civil officers may be constituted in any proper manner. King or Parliament, Congress or State Legislature, or popular vote, may be the lawful method of designating public officers. But this designation does not confer power upon them, by virtue of any inherent authority in those who appoint. This is derived directly from God. Hence a ruler or civil officer

is authorized to do in his public capacity, what would be a heinous moral wrong, a crime in him, as a private citizen. It may be the duty of a sheriff to hang a condemned murderer, when, were he either a judge or private citizen, the same act in him would morally be murder. It is, therefore, a great error to suppose that one may do nothing to punish crime, as a public officer, that he and others may not rightfully do as individuals. To plead that the appointing power cannot confer authority, which the individuals who appoint do not themselves possess, supposes that govermental authority is derived from the governed. This is not the Scripture doctrine, and my remarks are designed for those who believe the Bible. 1 enter into no argument with those who reject its authority.

Nor do these views conflict with our Declaration of Independence; "that to secure these rights, (viz., life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness,) governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed." This we also firmly believe. No people consent to live without a government; and so far as it does not contravene the rules of eternal right, it is their privilege to be consulted in regard to the government under which they are placed. All this is fully admitted; and if we cannot establish the claims of Peace upon the hearty support of those who embrace the sentiments here expressed, we consent to wait until more light shall shine on our pathway. L. C. R.

COST OF ARMED PEACE.

It would seen from the song of the angels at our Saviour's birth, that peace was to be one of the first fruits of Christianity, under whose reign "nations were to learn war no more; to beat their swords into ploughshares and their spears into pruning hooks." But just see what nominally Christian nations are doing from year to year to bring in this blessed time. They are exhausting all their revenues in working out a condition which they call a peace! an armed peace! O how unlike the peace predicted by the holy prophets of old, when "every man should sit under his own vine and fig-tree, with none to molest or make him afraid!" They have taken some 3,000,000 able-bodied men from the plough, and trained them, at the ploughman's expense, to cut and kill with the sword. The cost of this strange peace-armament, according to Mr. Cobden's estimate, amounts at the lowest calculation, to £200,000,000 or, $1,000,000,000 a year!

Let us see what might be done with this immense sum, if appropriated

to agricultural purposes. According to well authenticated statistics,

there are 34,014,000 acres of arable, garden, meadow, pasture, and marsh lands in Great Britain. Let us suppose that the fair average value of this land would be £50 per acre; it would then amount to £1,700,000,000. There are also 9,934,000 acres of improveable wastes, which we will set down at £25 per acre; amounting in all to £248,350,000. Then there are 12,885,330 acres of unimproveable wastes, worth, perhaps, £5 per acre, amounting to £64,427,650. If this be a fair estimate, then the land of Great Britain, if sold outright in the market, would bring £2,012,777,650. Now look at this fact-the nations of Christendom have spent in mere preparations for war, during the last ten years of an "armed peace," enough to buy the whole island of Great Britain! Since 1815 their "armed peace" establishment has cost them more than three times the present value of all the acres of this great garden of the world!