Christianity 19 wronged, and its truth exposed to strong objections, when these and the like precepts are literally construed. The whole legislation of Christ is intended to teach us the spirit from which we should act, not to lay down rules for outward conduct. The precept, "resist not evil," if practised to the letter, would annihilate all government in the family and the state; for it is the great work of government to resist evil passions and evil deeds. It is indeed our duty, as Christians, to love our worst enemy, and to desire his true good; but we are to love not only our enemy, but our families, friends, and country, and to take a wise care of our own rights and happiness; and when we abandon to the violence of a wrong-doer these fellow beings and these rights, commended by God to our love and care, we are plainly wanting in that expanded benevolence which Christianity demands. An injury inflicted by one nation on another, may manifest a lawless, hostile spirit, from which, if unresisted, future and increasing outrages are to be feared, which would embolden other communities in wrongdoing, and against which neither property, nor life, nor liberty, would be secure. To protect a state from this spirit of violence and unprincipled aggression, is the duty of rulers; and protection may be found only in War. Here is the legitimate occasion and the true end of an appeal to arms.

*

These observations are elicited from us after the perusal of two or three lately published tracts and pamphlets on this topic, all of which advocate the extreme doctrine of the abolition of War under all circumstances and in every form, defensive as well as offensive. Whether such extreme views are calculated to have much weight in the present disturbed state of the public mind with respect to the question of the Oregon territory, or our actual position in India, we will not undertake to say: we are, nevertheless, most anxious for a pacific termination of the dispute in the former case, as well as a speedy settlement of our Indian affairs on terms which may preclude the necessity of further bloodshed.

There is no right-minded Christian, we think, that will not most deeply lament the necessity, if it did exist, for those terrific scenes of slaughter which have taken place on the banks of the Sutlej, and that will not be stimulated thereby to prevent, as much as in him lies, the recurrence of similar scenes, either in that or any other quarter of the globe. Sincerely, however, as we deplore the event and its inevitable results, and deeply as we sympathise with those who have suffered the loss of relations or friends in the conflict, we confess we do not see how it could have been avoided except in the alternative of the eventual surrender of our Indian possessions. Are the extreme advocates of "Peace under all circumstances" prepared to give up those possessions, together with the

commercial and other advantages arising therefrom? Perhaps they may be inclined to reply in the affirmative, rather than that such desolating scenes should be reenacted; but in this many important considerations are involved, such as, whether, as a Christian nation, we should now be justified in resigning our property in, and withdrawing our influence from those regions, where, it will not be denied, our civilisation has operated, on the whole, most beneficially, by spreading not only a knowledge and an appreciation of our political institutions, but, also, in a manner, the benign lights and influences of the Christian religion.

Leaving, however, for the present, the particular bearing of the subject, we will here remark, that of all the writers on "War" whom we have read, Doctor Channing appears to have treated it the most lucidly and rationally. He does not, like our late pious, well-intentioned, and conscientious friend, Mr. Thrush, and some other authors, as above, attribute the causes of modern warfare in its offensive phase, almost wholly to the ambition of princes, though it is undoubtedly true that in former times War had its origin very largely in that source. In a discourse not published, we believe, in the late collections of his works, he says:

We

It is indeed true, that the ambition of rulers is a frequent cause of War. The desire of building up their power at home, or of extending their empire abroad; of surpassing other Sovereigns, their natural and only rivals; of signalizing their administration by brilliant deeds; and of attracting louder applause than ordinarily attends on pacific virtues; this aspiring principle has in all ages thrown the world into tumult. But the ambition of rulers does not lie at the root of War. must remember that ambition is directed and inflamed by public opinion. Were there there not a propensity in the mass of men to give honour to aarlike triumphs, rulers would never seek distinction in this bloody career. The deepest and most operative causes of War are to be found in the universal principles of human nature, in passions which sway all classes of men.

The dispassionate inquirer,' looking abroad, at the present moment, at the aspect of public feeling and opinion in the "old world and the new," will, we think, be particularly struck with the verification of this remark of the far-seeing Channing. The military spirit so

* See a "Sermon on War, delivered before the Convention of Congregational Ministers of Massachusetts, May 30th, 1816," and published at the request of the officers of the Peace Society of Massachusetts. Boston: 1816. Pp. 14, 15.

observable among our neighbours the French as a nation, is at the present time so far from being fanned by the encouragement of royalty, that its overt demonstrations, as is well known, are checked and kept down by the more prudent and pacific counsels of their ruler. If we look, too, beyond the Atlantic, we see a similar spirit prevailing among a great portion of the Democratic party, though happily, we trust, likely to be over-ruled by the more considerate and Christian sections of the American people.

The old leaven of War is therefore not yet extinct, even among civilized nations. Still, the tendencies of civilization are decidedly towards Peace; the influences of progressive knowledge, refinement, arts, and national wealth, are pacific. The old motives for War are losing power; and herein are encouragements to labour in the cause of Peace.

The causes of War, both alleged and real, have been so often descanted upon, and their unchristian character and origin so well indicated, that we need not dwell further on that subject in this place. To counteract those causes, one writer prescribes one method and another another. Perhaps the further extension of the lights of Christian civilization, induced by the lapse of time, and increased international communications, brought about by the necessary operations of commerce, will be the main instruments in removing what remains of the bellicose spirit in nations. We cannot, however, omit to recommend one powerful agency in this blessed work, additional to that which we are gratified in witnessing almost daily as sending forth its earnest and pacific appeals and remonstrances in the columns of the more respectable part of the public press of this country. In the spirit, and nearly in the words of the talented and pious writer to whom we have have just alluded, we say, let Christian ministers exhibit with greater clearness and distinctness, than ever they have done, the pacific and benevolent spirit of Christianity. This spirit ought to hold the same place in their preaching, which it holds in the Gospel of our Lord. Instead of being crowded and lost among other subjects, it should stand in the front of Christian graces; it should be inculcated as the life and essence of our religion. They should teach men that

charity is greater than faith and hope; that God is love or benevolence; and that love is the brightest communieation of Divinity to the human soul. They should teach men that it is the property of the benevolence of Christianity, to diffuse itself like the light and rain of heaven-to disdain the limits of rivers, mountains, or oceans, by which nations are divided, and to embrace every human being as a brother. Let them never forget, that their preaching is evangelical just in proportion as it inculcates and awakens this disinterested and unbounded charity; that their hearers are Christians, just as far and no farther, than they delight in peace and beneficence.

It is a painful truth that the pacific influence of the Gospel has been greatly obstructed by the disposition which has prevailed in all ages, and especially among Christian ministers, to give importance to the peculiarities of sects, and to rear walls of partition between different denominations. Under no religion have intolerance and persecution raged more fiercely, than under the Gospel of the meek and forbearing Saviour. Christians have made the earth to reek with blood and to resound with denunciation. Can we wonder, that while the spirit of War has been cherished in the very bosom of the church, it has continued to ravage among the nations. Let it be remembered that Christianity is a spirit rather than a doctrine, and that this spirit is universal love; and let perpetual testimony be borne to this great characteristic of the Gospel. No doubt that were the true spirit of Christianity to be inculcated with but half the zeal which has been wasted on doubtful and disputed doctrines, a sympathy, a co-operation, might in a very short time be produced among Christians of every nation, most propitious to the pacification of the world. In consequence of the progress of knowledge and the extension of commerce, Christians of both hemispheres are at this moment brought nearer to one another than at any former period; and an intercourse founded on religious sympathies is gradually connecting the most distant regions. What a powerful weapon is furnished by this new bond of union to the ministers and friends of Peace! Once let Christians of every nation be brought to espouse the cause of Peace with one heart and one voice, and their labour will not be in vain. Human affairs will rapidly

assume a new and milder aspect. Public opinion will be purified. The false lustre of the hero will grow dim; a nobler order of character will be admired and diffused; the kingdoms of the world will gradually become the kingdoms of God and of his Christ.

While we are willing to believe that Christians of different nations and tongues are uniting their efforts in support of that cause which, by its sublimity and purity, obscures, and almost annihilates those perishable interests about which states are divided,-we cannot close our eyes to the fact that the prevalent desire for the maintenance of peace between this country and America, at the present juncture, appears to be based upon grounds somewhat questionable compared with those above indicated, with which, however, we are not disposed to quarrel, inasmuch as, in the ordering of Providence, they are in themselves of most beneficial tendency. Go into what part of the country we will, fall into what company we may, the same reasons are 'adduced why we should not go to War with America. In general, religious grounds seem to be put aside, and commercial grounds to be substituted. Whether this argues an improvement in the state of human society, or of its moral feeling, we will not stop to discuss. There are various degrees of goodness in motives; and if we cannot get the very purest, let us not cast aside those that are, at least, good, or rather not bad, in themselves.

We read in the Times of the 6th of April, that on the 27th ult. there appeared a "Response from Plymouth in New England, to Plymouth in this country, the tenour of which was the maintenance of peaceful relations between England and the United States." We are, moreover, informed that this document is but one manifestation of a great movement for the preservation of Peace, which is now going on both east and west of the Atlantic, and which seems to be growing daily in importance, having been called into visible existence by the threatening aspect of affairs on the subject of the Oregon question; that the movement originated in a member of the Society of Friends, at Manchester, who wrote an appeal to the merchants of Lancashire, urging them to transmit a "friendly address" to the merchants of the United States. This appeal was afterwards modified, so as to be made appli