purpose of His benevolent heart. He will work by means in banishing war, and in ushering in the dawn of peace, just as He does in healing the sick, in giving us the finest of wheat, and in converting sinners. He will make His people co-workers with Him in spreading the principles of peace through the whole earth. The entire church must come up to this work to the help of the Lord against the mighty. Especially must the ministers of Christ be awake to their responsibility in this matter. They must become leaders in this work. At present I greatly fear it is not so. A voice not long since reached me from your side of the great waters which separate us from each other, saying: "The inattention of the ministers of the gospel to the claims of peace, is utterly amazing. It is even beyond their former apathy or inaction on the subject of Freedom. It depresses the friends of peace exceedingly in their good work. The greater part, more than nine in ten, treat the subject as though they cared little about it."

The era of peace will not be hastened while such a state of indifference pervades the church, and especially while the leaders of Christ's hosts are fast asleep on their watch-towers. These commissioned heralds of the cross must awake thoroughly to duty. They must urge the claims of peace on the attention of their churches. Instead of quoting the proverb "one sword keeps another in the scabbard," which I am sorry to see lately quoted by an English divine now living, followed by words of ridicule against the efforts of Peace Societies, they should use the one pronounced by our Lord: "They that take the sword shall perish by the sword." How deeply important, how infinitely desirable, that all who profess to be the followers of the Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Prince of Peace, should breathe His Spirit, copy His example, and importunately beseech Him to usher in the glorious day of universal Peace.

Again, I remark that from this subject it may be inferred (2.) that men who have not the spirit of Christ cannot suitably commemorate the anniversary of His birth cannot, with the heavenly hosts, shout, “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.”

That multitudes in some way or other notice the supposed anniversary of the birth of Christ, is a well known fact. The Greek and Latin churches in the East do so. Stanley, in his recent work, "Egypt and Palestine," tells us, that "whether from its being usually first seen by travellers, or from its own intrinsic solemnity, there is probably none which produces so great an impression at first sight, as the Convent of the Nativity at Bethlehem. It is an enormous pile of buildings extending along the ridge of the hill from east to west, and consisting of the Church of the Nativity, with the three convents, Latin, Greek and Armenian." On that hill, not a few from each of those churches may this very day be collected, to commemorate, with unmeaning rites, the birth of the Prince of Peace; and it will be well if they finish the celebration and leave the spot without shedding each other's blood, or appealing to Mohammedan soldiers to settle their senseless disputes. Could the Lord Jesus speak to them from His throne of glory, He might be supposed to address them in the words of Jehu to

king Joram: "What peace so long as the whoredoms of thy mother Jezebel, and her witchcrafts are so many ?" What have ye to do in commemorating the birth of the Prince of Peace, while your hearts are filled with hate to each other, your hands reeking with each other's blood?

Next to these are some of the Protestant churches of Europe, some of whose numbers doubtless commemorate the day with suitable feelings, but most of whom probably make it an occasion of mirth and festivity. And then what multitudes who have no other claim to the name of Christian than that they live where the gospel of Christ is preached, though they refuse to listen to it, or than that they have the Bible in their houses, though they neglect to read it, who never take the name of Christ upon their lips but to profane it. I repeat, what multitudes of these are prompt in their observance of this day! Not with a sense of their obligation to Him who died for them; not with a penitent sense of their sins, nor with the faintest desire of His pardoning mercy, or with the slightest determination to honor Him, or even to prepare to meet Him in judgment. They merely improve this as another holiday. They mingle in the dance, quaff the intoxicating bowl; others engage in the bloody fight and blaspheme the dread name of Him whose day they profess to celebrate. How these impious doings on such a day provoke the God of heaven! How must they grieve the Lord Jesus Christ! How they tend to harden the heart, and thus ripen men for aggravated ruin!

Nothing can be plainer, than that the spirit, the temper of Christ alone, will qualify any man for the suitable commemoration of a season like this. Just as a patriotic spirit, a love of country alone, will qualify a man to commemorate his country's independence. An alien, one wanting in love to country, could not do it, much less an enemy. So he that cherishes a spirit of war cannot suitably observe the anniversary of the Saviour's birth. The thing is impossible. Sympathy with the design of Christ in coming into the world - love to His character and person, and to his fellow-men everywhere for Christ's sake, are indispensable to a proper celebration of His advent to earth. These feelings alone will enable us to hail the day with joy. Possessing suitable and affecting views of His characof His work as the Redeemer of lost, and guilty, and wretched men, and of His object as the Prince of Peace, we shall be prepared to unite in the angelic song heard on the plains of Bethlehem on this memorable day, "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men." J. S. GREEN.

ter

Mackawao, Maui, Hawaiian Islands, May 20, 1859.

BRITISH RAILROADS IN AMERICA.-Before the close of the present year, the Grand Trunk Railway will be completed to Detroit, Michigan, a dis..tance of 1000 miles in a direct line, with branches in addition, making 1000 miles of complete railway, including the Victoria Bridge, costing upwards of sixty millions of dollars !

INTERNATIONAL ARMAMENT UNCHRISTIAN.

THE nations of Christendom call themselves Christians; but what is the grand peculiarity of their religion as a system of morals bearing upon men in their relations to each other as individuals and communities ? It is pre-eminently a religion of love, peace and charity. So obviously is this the case, that amid the innumerable varieties of opinion which prevail among its votaries on almost every conceivable point, theological and ecclesiastical, there is an absolute agreement in affirming that the spirit of Christianity is a spirit of love-love, boundless, infinite, divine, first glancing from the bosom of God towards man, and thence diffusing itself among men in the various relations they mutually sustain. This is the spirit that is most conspicuously embodied in the whole life and character of its Founder, that is most earnestly and constantly inculca'el on his followers by Him and His apostles, that is laid down as the most infallible test of sincerity in Christian profession. "By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another." "If a man say I love God, and hateth his brother, he is a liar; for he that loveth not his brother whom he hath seen, how shall he love God whom he hath not seen?"

Such is the religion professed by the nations of Europe; but what are the spirit and practice of those who profess it? A spirit of mutual hatred, so violent and ferocious, that they can see nothing in each other's characters but the worst attributes of the very vilest forms of wickedness known among men. They are perpetually interchanging accusations of cherishing the foulest designs against each other. The intercourse of Christian nations is conducted on the same principles of reciprocal suspicion, distrust and abhorrence, as we are told exist among the scum of the earth's scoun drelism that are gathered together in the vilest of our criminal settlements. They believe, and loudly proclaim, that they are not safe for one moment from each other's propensities to murder and robbery, except by exercising the sleepless vigilance of hatred over each other's conduct. And so far from feeling any sense of degradation and dishonor in connection with this. state of things, they exult in it as the highest triumph of enlightened statesmanship. The man among them who exhibits the most settled distrust, the most deadly animosity, towards the rulers and people of other nations, and who assails them in the loudest tones of defiance and scorn, is the man most honored as the pink of patriotism; while any one who ventures to doubt whether all our Christian neighbors ought not to be regarded as a mere congregation of brigands and pirates, and whether it would not be possible and prudent to treat them with something more of confidence and conciliation, is scouted as a fool, or denounced as a traitor. The practical results of this policy may be seen in that enormous system of standing armaments now existing in Europe, which is the bitterest satire upon its pretended civilization and Christianity; a system which would have been branded as absurd had it been found prevailing among the most barbarian communities on the face of the earth, but which is utterly monstrous when constituting, as it does, the most conspicuous feature in the policy of nations who loudly claim supremacy over all the rest of mankind on the ground of their professing a religion of peace and brotherly love. What a libel on such a religion is the peace establishment of Europe, the support of more than four million of men in a time of peace to be ready at a moment's call for the work of mutual slaughter? Can anything be more absurd and revolting?—Her. of Peace.

ARMAMENTS OF EUROPE:

HER PREPARATIONS FOR WAR IN A TIME OF PEACE.

It is not very easy to ascertain with precise accuracy what is the amount of armed force constituting what is facetiously called the Peace establishments of Europe at the present epoch. The difficulty arises partly from the intricate and confused manner in which Governments present their statements on these matters to the world, and which, whether by design or accident, are admirably adapted to bewilder under the pretence of informing the people. It is, also, owing partly to the fact that in almost all the large countries of Europe, there are, in addition to the regular forces wholly devoted to the business of fighting, or learning to fight as the sole occupation of their lives, a number of mongrel bodies, half soldier and half citizen, with whom one is puzzled to know how to deal. We have taken some pains to obtain correct information on this point. The following list is taken principally from the Almanack de Gotha for the present year, compared with the figures given in Wraxall's Armies of the World, and other publications that profess to treat of the subject. In this statement we have omitted all account of the "mongrel bodies" to which we have just referred, restricting ourselves in the first instance to the number of actual fighting men habitually maintained in the armies and navies of Europe during peace.

But, besides these regular forces, we find, from the same sources of information, that there exists, of the other class previously alluded to, under the various designations of naval and military reserves, Landwehr, gendarmerie, an additional number of men, more or less trained to arms, amounting to 1,406,216; thus making a grand total of 4,841,550 men, devoted by the Christian nations of Europe to the work of learning scientifically and systematically how to employ, with the highest dexterity and effect, certain weapons, the sole use and design of which is the destruction of human life and property. And all this prodigious apparatus is maintained almost exclusively with a view to challenge, menace, and defy each other; for the enemies that any of them apprehend, or profess to apprehend, beyond the boundaries of Christendom, except when they go forth expressly to seek and provoke them, are of quite insignificant account.

But this is not all. These forces, prodigious though they be, are nothing in comparison of what they will be in the course of a few years, if the principle on which they are now constructed be persevered in. For they are in process of constant and rapid augmentation, that must of necessity go on to an illimitable extent, according to the wonderfully sensible system acted on by the respective governments of Europe, which is a system of sheer rivalry against each other, madly running a race of extravagance, national bankruptcy being the goal, and universal popular discontent the prize.

That this is no exaggerated statement, will appear from a few facts. Within little more than twenty years we in this country have doubled our naval and military establishments, and much more than doubled our expenditure for those services, having advanced from £12,000,000 in 1835 to £26,000,000 in 1859. And what is this for? There is no pretence of a necessity for augmented forces to suppress revolution at home. The only shadow of a justification that has been, or can be assigned, is the alleged increase of armaments by other nations, principally by France. As an illustration of this, take another fact. In the " Report of a Committee appointed by the Treasury to inquire into the Navy Estimates from 1852 to 1858, and into the comparative state of the Navies of England and France," the same document which was adverted to by Mr. Cobden in his admirable speech before the prorogation of Parliament,- we find the following statements: In 1852 the navy of England, including sailing and steam-vessels, amounted to 475. In 1858 it amounted to 760, showing an increase in six years of 295 vessels. The increase of men has been proportionate. So also in regard to the army. Not content with this immense enlargement of the regular forces, we have within comparatively few years added the militia to the number of 120,000 men, and other bodies of the same semi-military character. But still far from satisfied, there is now an invitation to all civilians to arm themselves in the form of volunteer rifle clubs, artillery corps, &c. The same process, though not quite at so insane a rate anywhere as in this country, is going on throughout Europe.

HIGH SALARIES IN ENGLAND.-The Scientific American states that there are in the city of New York about 200,000 smokers, each using two cigars daily, making 400,000 cigars every day. These, at an average of four cents each, make the enormous sum of $16,000 daily consumed in smoke, in New York alone. There are some 900,000,000 cigars manufactured in that city annually, which, at the same price, amount to $36,000,000.