MONADNOCK.

BY WILLIAM B. 0. PEABODY.

UPON the far-off mountain's brow
The angry storm has ceased to beat,
And broken clouds are gathering now,
In lowly reverence round his feet.
I saw their dark and crowded banks

On his firm head in wrath descending,
But there once more redeemed he stands,
And heaven's clear arch is o'er him bending.

I've seen him when the rising sun

Shone like a watch-fire on the height,
I've seen him when the day was done,
Bathed in the evening's crimson light;
I've seen him in the midnight hour,
When all around were calmly sleeping,
Like some lone sentry in his tower,
His patient watch in silence keeping.

And there, as ever, steep and clear,
That pyramid of Nature springs!
He owns no rival turret near,

No sovereign, but the King of kings.
While many a nation hath passed by,
And many an age, unknown in story,
His walls and battlements on high
He rears, in melancholy glory.

And let a world of human pride,
With all its grandeur, melt away,
And spread around his rocky side
The broken fragments of decay.
Serene his hoary head will tower,
Untroubled by one thought of sorrow;
He numbers not the weary hour,

He welcomes not nor fears to-morrow.

MONADNOCK.

Then let me learn from thee to rise,
All time and chance and change defying;
Still pointing upward to the skies,

And on the inward strength relying.

If life before my weary eye

Grows fearful as the angry sea, Thy memory shall suppress the sigh For that which never more can be. Inspiring all within the heart

With firm resolve and strong endeavor, To act a brave and faithful part,

Till life's short warfare ends for ever.

55

SOLEMN REVIEW OF WAR.

BY REV. NOAH WORCESTER, D. D.

[Born at Hollis, 1759. Died at Brighton, Mass., 1837.]

WE regard with horror the custom of the ancient heathens, in offering their children in sacrifice to idols. We are shocked with the customs of the Hindoos, in prostrating themselves before the car of an idol to be crushed to death; in burning women alive on the funeral piles of their husbands; in offering a monthly sacrifice, by casting living children into the Ganges to be drowned. We read with astonishment of the sacrifices made in the Papal crusades, and in the Mahometan and Hindoo pilgrimages. We wonder at the blindness of christian nations, who have esteemed it right and honorable to buy and sell Africans as property, and reduce them to bondage for life. But that which is fashionable and popular in any country is esteemed right and honorable, whatever may be its nature in the views of men better informed.

But while we look back with a mixture of wonder, indignation, and pity on many of the customs of former ages, are we careful to inquire whether some customs which we deem honorable, are not the effect of popular delusion? and whether they will not be so regarded by future generations? Is it not a fact, that one of the most horrid customs of savage men, is now popular in every nation in Christendom? What custom of the most barbarous nations is more repugnant to the feelings of piety, humanity and justice, than that of deciding controversies between nations by the edge of the sword, by powder and ball, or the point of the bayonet? What other savage custom has occasioned half the desola

SOLEMN REVIEW OF WAR.

57

tion and misery to the human race? And what, but the grossest infatuation, could render such a custom popular among rational beings?

When we consider how great a part of mankind have perished by the hands of each other, and how large a portion of human calamity has resulted from war, it surely cannot appear indifferent whether this custom is or is not the effect of delusion. Certainly there is no custom which deserves a more thorough examination, than that which has occasioned more slaughter and misery than all the other abominable customs of the heathen world.

War has been so long fashionable amongst all nations, that its enormity is but little regarded; or when thought of at all, it is usually considered as an evil necessary and unavoidable. But the question to be considered is this: cannot the state of society and the views of civilized men be so changed as to abolish so barbarous a custom, and render wars unnecessary and avoidable?

If this question may be answered in the affirmative, then we may hope that "the sword will not devour for ever."

Some may be ready to exclaim, "None but God can produce such an effect as the abolition of war, and we must wait for the millennial day." We admit that God only can produce the necessary change in the state of society, and the views of men; but God works by human agency and human means. None but God could have produced such a change in the views of the British nation, as to abolish the slave trade; yet the event was brought about by a long course of persevering and honorable exertions of benevolent

men.

When the thing was first proposed, it probably appeared to the majority of the people, as an unavailing and chimerical project. But God raised up powerful advocates, gave them the spirit of perseverance, and finally crowned their efforts with glorious success. Now, it is probable, thousands of people are wondering how such an abominable traffic ever had existence in a nation which had the least

pretensions to christianity or civilization. In a similar manner God can put an end to war, and fill the world with astonishment, that rational beings ever thought of such a mode of settling controversies.

As to waiting for the millennium to put an end to war, without any exertions on our own part, it is like the sinner's waiting God's time for conversion, while he pursues his course of vice and impiety. If ever there shall be a millennium, in which the sword will cease to devour, it will probably be effected by the blessing of God on the benevolent exertions of enlightened men. Perhaps no one thing is now a greater obstacle in the way of the wished-for state of the church, than the spirit and custom of war which is maintained by christians themselves. Is it not then time that efforts should be made to enlighten the minds of christians on a subject of such infinite importance to the happiness of the human race?

That such a state of things is desirable, no enlightened christian can deny. That it can be produced without expensive and persevering efforts is not imagined. But are not such efforts to exclude the miseries of war from the world as laudable as those which have for their object the support of such a malignant and desolating custom?

The whole amount of property in the United States is probably of far less value than what has been expended and destroyed within two centuries by wars in Christendom. Suppose then, that one fifth of this amount had been judiciously laid out by peace associations in the different states and nations, in cultivating the spirit and art of peace, and in exciting a just abhorrence of war; would not the other four fifths have been in a great measure saved, besides many millions of lives, and an immense portion of misery? Had the whole value of what has been expended in wars, been appropriated to the purpose of peace, how laudable would have been the appropriation and how blessed the consequences !

It will perhaps be pleaded, that mankind are not yet suf