Page images
PDF
EPUB

But this is stuff, this is enthusiasm," saith the man of the world; "how can we love that Being, who is exalted above all worlds, and so far beyond our sight and knowledge? We may indeed believe that he made the world, and all the dwellers upon it; but he has placed among them such a motley mixture of good and evil-he has so intermingled them in every thing around us, that it is impossible they should ever be separated, and we may as well sit down quietly under the evil, or glean our own good from it, whenever and in whatever manner we may find possible." To endure inevitable evils without repining, is certainly true magnanimity, true Christianity. But to render acquiescence in suffering truly magnanimous and truly Christian, we must have taken every possible precaution to ascertain whether the evil be really inevitable. To bear tamely a burthen, which may be removed, is imbecility, is despicable weakness, the very reverse of magnanimity. Let us then be sure that the evils of war are truly irremediable, before we quietly submit to endure them. They are irremediable, it is said, because the evils of peace are as great or greater. "The evils of peace!" what a preposterous expression! There are, then, evils as absolutely consequent on a state of peace, as those really arising from a state of warfare! Here is surely a grand error in human judgement, occasioned or caused by the deficiency in the heart of man. The very word peace exeludes the idea of active evil, and that peace, whence evils arise, is merely the cry of" peace, peace, when there is no peace." It is a false, external, or merely apparent peace, which deserves not the name. True peace must first exist in the heart, thence flowing into the actions of men. Such a peace can be secured only by the reception of the spirit of "The Prince of Peace." To obtain this precious gift we must cultivate an acquaintance with its blessed Author. We must" draw near to God, and he will surely draw near to We must think on his glorious character, till “our hearts burn within us," and are filled with the Holy Ghost, whose temper is surely that "charity which suffereth long and is kind." Thus by "communing together and reasoning," as did the disciples of our Lord, we must become ac

us."

quainted with Him, who "beginning at Moses and the prophets," expoundeth unto us, " in all the scriptures, the things concerning himself." Thus shall we become acquainted with, and "draw near" to the blessed Source and Fountain of all true peace-opening our hearts to a reception of its precious streams; and by thus dissipating Fear, and cultivating a confiding Trust in Almighty Power and Goodness, the souls of men will be filled with love, and learn to enjoy that "peace, which passeth all understanding."

I know not, sir, how this train of reasoning may strike you. I would only propose, wishing you to dispose of as you please, the perhaps crude thoughts of a

PHILANTHROPIST.

INVOCATION TO THE PRINCE OF PEACE.

GREAT Prince of peace! enthron'd above,
Kind source of pure compassion!
Now fill the world with peace and love;
Diffuse thy great salvation.

No more let cannon, swords, and spears,
Fill earth with dire confusion,
Destruction, horror, grief, and tears,
The fruits of mad delusion.

True love to God, and love to man,

With pure serene affection,

Fulfil the glorious gospel plan,

Insure divine protection.

Great Prince of peace! descend and reign,

Redeeming every nation;

Abolish crime, and guilt, and pain,

Throughout this vast creation.

K.

POETRY AND NOTES ON WAR.

By Dr. Dwight.

THE structure mark of Rome's dread power!
Its marble, bones! its cement, gore!
Her sway the waste of human joy;
The art to plunder and destroy ;
A curse to earth's extended climes,
A web of madness, woes, and crimes!

Her towers were built by galled hands 3
In blood her proud Pantheon stands !
Her triumph show'd the tiger's prey,
And corpses pav'd her Appian way.

Nor less in modern days, when art
Has led to nobler scenes the heart,
When science beams with vernal rays,
And lights to bliss ten thousand ways,
The gospel, found in every tongue,
Has peace and sweet salvation sung;
Still roars the trump's funereal sound,
"To arms!" the startled hills rebound;
War's iron car in thunder rolls
From medial climes to distant poles.

NOTES.

Means for abolishing War.

1. "It would be worth the labour of some friend to mankind, to present the public with a complete view of the time, during which war has existed in Europe, since the destruction of the Roman empire; the number of nations concerned in each war; the sums expended; the debts incurred; the soldiers, sailors, and citizens destroyed; the cities, towns, and villages burnt, plundered, and ruined; the miseries known to be suffered; the most probable causes of the respective wars; and the gain resulting to the respective combatants."

2. "It is probable, that whenever mankind shall cease to make war, this most desirable event will arise from the general opposition made to war by the common voice. Hence the peculiar importance of diffusing this opposition as widely as possible, especially by education. If parents, schoolmasters, and clergymen, would unite their efforts for this most benevolent purpose, the effects of such an education on the rising generation would probably exceed the most sanguine hopes."

On Privateering.

3. "The custom of privateering is one of the relies of Gothic barbarity. No good reason can be given, why commissions to plunder and destroy houses should not be given to private persons, as well as to plunder and destroy vessels-to rob on the land as well as on the sea; and why such persons as resisted should not be put to death in the one case as well as in the other. Custom, it is presumed, is the only ground of any difference of opinion, with regard to the cases proposed. All privateering is robbery and murder; and the government which sanctions privateering is guilty of author

izing those horrid erimes. Nor can the merchant, who is the proprietor, be excused from a share in the guilt.”

Greenfield Hill, Notes to Part III. p. 175---6.

These Notes were published by Dr. Dwight in 1794. They may therefore be regarded as the result of sober and dispassionate reflection, and not as the ebullition of party passions. They are valuable, not merely on account of their intrinsic worth, but also on account of the truly respectable character of their author-the late president of Yale college.

WAR ELEGY.

TAE following lines were written by Mr. Fawcett, and are a part of an elegy, which he composed on the following tragical account in the Cambridge Intelligencer for August 15, 1795: "A poor woman, having lost her husband in the war, and having implored relief at several doors in vain, in the town of Liverpool, in a fit of desperation took her child, about three years old, in the public street, and dashed its head against the wall. Immediately surgical aid was called, but in vain. Upon opening the body of the child, the surgeon gave it as his opinion, that its stomach had not received food for three days before. The miserable mother is committed to Lancaster castle."

The poet represents the mother as saying,—

Come, kill the mother, who her child has kill'd!
Haste, righteous judges, and avenge the deed!
Yes, men of justice, I've forever still'd

The raging famine, that I could not feed.

"Murderess !"—"Tis false; did I the murder do ?
Say not 'twas I, that stain'd the walls with gore:
Ye hard, unmelting sons of wealth, 'twas you!
In vain 1 wept for succour at your door.

Ye would not let my little cherub live;
Rocks! ye refus'd to lend it longer breath;
A mother gave it all she had to give-
Gave it a beggar'd mother's blessing-DEATH.
Heavens! how I strove my innocent to save,
Till my worn spirit could no longer strive,
No more endure to hear the breath I gave
All spent in cries for bread I could not give.
For three long days my wondrous patience bore
Those ne'er to be forgot, heart piercing cries;
Bore to behold the pining looks deplore-
Bore the dumb huuger of the hollow eyes.

Here what but wolves, but fierce destroyers dwell?
They tore my husband from my helpless side,
And, when the father in their battles fell,
A little bread his famish'd babe denied.

When Surfeit swells, while wasting thousands die,
When Riot roars amidst surrounding groans,
Whence springs the patience of the quiet sky?
What keeps ye silent, ye unruffled stones ?
Farewell, thou dreary scene of want and woe!
The poor to dust where hard oppressors grind ;
Force seas of blood and seas of tears to flow,

And revel in the torments of mankind.

Such a description of individual suffering will probably excite more sympathy and horror, than a pompous description of a battle, in which 20,000 men were slain, and twice the number wounded.

A NOBLE MONUMENT.

In past ages, the world has been in the habit of bestowing its highest praises on martial deeds, and the warrior has been regarded as the glory of the human race. But a revo lution in public opinion has commenced. Men begin to see that the BENEFACTORS of mankind have higher claims than destroyers.

Perhaps on Bo occasion has this change of opinion been more apparent than in the respect which has been shown to the memory of Richard Reynolds, of the society of Friends, who died at Cheltenham in England, Sept. 10, 1816. Like his Lord and Master he literally "went about doing good," relieving the wants and distresses of his fellow beings. When he fell, England felt the shock, and people of all ranks and all denominations united to bewail the public loss, and to do honour to the memory of one who had long shone as a light in the world and as the FRIEND OF GOD AND MAN.

Many years prior to the decease of this good man, "On hearing of Lord Nelson's victory at Trafalgar, the late worthy John Birtill of Bristol, placed a marble tablet in a private chapel, in his dwelling house, bearing this inscription: JOHN HOWARD,

JONAS HANWAY,

JOHN FOTHERGILL, M. D.

RICHARD REYNOLDS.

"Not unto us, O Lord! not unto us, but unto thy name be the glory."

« PreviousContinue »