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None but the inveterate enemies of both can be the enemies of peace. Peace, says Christ, I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.'* Shall we not then duly prize this inestimable gift? this legacy of love which our divine Master has left to his followers? Have we forgotten the blessing he pronounces upon the peace-makers?' and the high rank and dignity he assigns them in his kingdom; for they shall be called the children of God.'' How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him that bringeth good tidings; that publisheth peace; that bringeth glad tidings of good; that publisheth salvation ; that saith unto Zion, Thy God reigneth!' Wherever, therefore, there are Institutions founded on the principle of 'good-will to men,' and which have such a noble and benevolent object in view, as the promotion and establishment of universal peace among the nations of the earth, upon true Gospel principles, we heartily wish them prosperity; and fervently pray, that the refreshing dews of heaven may water these olive-branches of God's own planting. Indeed, what are more wanting at all times, or what more salutary in their effects, or more favourable to good morals and the public weal, than societies, whose professed purpose is to put down War; which is the greatest curse, and has produced more plagues than all other evils put together; and which is at once the most demoralizing and anti-christian of all the heresies which have ever yet been engrafted upon the prejudices and passions of men. Its baneful effects are such, that they are felt through every age, and extend to the remotest generations. When the battle is over, and victory is lost or won, the moral mischief still remains :

*John xiv. 27,

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the blood-mark is unwashed away, and still cries to heaven! Though Etna and Tomboco should rage no more, the aggregate of their former havoc is unchanged: the fields of Austerlitz and Waterloo may be

smiling with grain; but the carnage with which they are reddened is not diminished.'"*

We shall conclude our extracts from this useful little work with a passage expressive of the feeling of animated hope and joyful expectation, which our author, in common with other Christians, indulges from the persuasion that a blissful era of universal peace and joy is approaching.

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"Glorious era! Season of human happiness! Kingdom of the most high God! How delightful the reflection, how consolatory to our hearts, that the promised period of man's deliverance is at hand; that the salvation of the human race is drawing near to its accomplishment! With the reign of terror the reign of suffering shall cease, and joy shall be in all lands! There shall then be a restoration of that happiness which was forfeited at the fall; the earth shall bring forth her increase; and God, even our God, shall give us his blessing: God shall bless us, and all the ends of the earth shall fear him.'* What doctrine is there in Scripture fuller of comfort than this? Or what more animating than the prospect which Christianity holds up to our view, and which affords a clear and satisfactory evidence both of the wisdom and goodness of God, in having placed us in this state of trial, and of his benevolent intentions in permitting the partial evil which exists, that it might be productive of universal good, and be the means of bringing many sons and daughters to glory. Where is the Christian whose heart does not burn within him, when he reads those passages of Scripture which unfold to him the

+ Gisborne's Testimony of Natural Theo logy to Christianity, p. 117.

Psalm. lxvii. 6,7.

things pertaining to the kingdom of God, and the happiness which shall be hereafter? The decrees of heaven, however mysterious, are, in some of their more prominent characters, pervious to our understandings; and from them the believer derives hope and confidence, that he shall yet behold the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living.'' That righteousness, truth, and innocence, that joy, peace, and perfect reconciliation betwixt God and man, may be restored on earth, must be the wish of every one that is not lost to all sense of difference between good and evil; but that which would naturally be the wish of every reasonable man, becomes the object of his hope, nay an article of his faith, when revealed and promised by the God of truth. How incessant are our petitions to the throne of grace, that disorder, sin and misery may have an end; but this can only be, when the kingdom of Christ shall come, and the will of God is done in earth, as it is in heaven.'*-Impressed with this vision of future happiness, the patriarch exclaimed in the language of prophecy, and looking forward to the things which should be hereafter; 'I know that my Redeemer liveth, and that at the latter day he shall stand upon the earth.' † And thus the lips of the just and devout Simeon were filled with praise and thanksgiving, when he uttered that holy ejaculation: Lord, now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace, for mine eyes have seen thy salvation.' And we, also, may say,' blessed are our eyes for they see, and our ears for they hear. Indeed, Christians of the present day have even a clearer evidence afforded them of the nature, coming, and extent of the kingdom of God, than it was possible for those holy men of old to have had. It is in our power to trace the progress of the religion of Jesus from its first

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promulgation down to our own times; to mark its growth and spread; the opposition it has met with, and the triumphs it has obtained over its adversaries; and to rejoice in the prospect of its being embraced, at no very distant period, free from every corrupt and heterogeneous mixture, both by those who profess, and by all who are now strangers, and enemies to it. Increase of righteousness will then keep pace with increase of knowledge. The light of liberty and the love of God will go hand in hand: the nations shall see it, and say, 'Lo! this has God done! Mercy and truth are met together; righteousness and peace have kissed each other!'

"Christianity, certainly, never appears to greater advantage, than when contemplated in connection with an event of such a sublime and interesting nature as the establishment of the Messiah's kingdom on earth. It is indeed its final purpose; and the consummation of all our wishes on this side heaven. To this event the prophecies of the Qld Testament are invariably directed; and in the New, they have been illustrated and explained both by the preaching of the Baptist, and of Christ; each of whom began his ministry with these remarkable words: 'Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.' Nearly two thousand years have since rolled their course, and brought it much nearer to our view and although its visible approaches are but faint and indistinct, yet they may be traced without diffi culty; and we trust, ere long, to welcome the brightness of its appearance and glorious advent, when 6 violence shall no more be heard in the land, nor wasting nor destruction within its borders.' The great work which God himself has planned, is rapidly accomplishing, with irresistible power and evidence, amidst the tide of times, and in the common

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Isaiah lx. 18. 3 B

course of events. It is also a matter of pleasing consideration, that the spirit of the age in which we live, among those who have the real welfare of their brethren at heart, is such as it should be: It can hardly be doubted, that it is in unison with the great objects of the Gospeldispensation; objects of such unspeakable moment, that could we lose sight of them for a single instant, existence itself would appear to us to be deprived of all its value: But happily this cannot be; for where the principle of spiritual life, which consists in a right knowledge of God and of Christ, is received by a true faith into the heart, it will always remain there; and be, in such persons, like a 'well of water springing up into everlasting life.'-Nothing will afford them half the delight and satisfaction, or be considered as at all comparable to that happy state of mind which they experience from the conscious persuasion, that they are doing the will of God and promoting his kingdom. The love of God, the whole of the love of God, and nothing but the love of God; this is the theme, the everlasting theme, of which they can never hear enough, and of which it is impossible they can ever be weary: Such too were the feelings of an apostle, when he expressed himself in the following emphatic and affecting language:'I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.'"*

On Idolatry amongst Christians. How awful! how humiliating is the reflection, that Idolatry, like the insidious cancer, is entwining its destructive fibres round the very vitals - of the Christian religion! How many * Romans viiì. 38, 39.

of the professed followers of the lowly Saviour are worshipping the Mammon of unrighteousness! how many are bending "the votive knee" to the golden image of Commerce, vainly anticipating a rich reward from the bounty of their frail deity! and how many, with more uncivilized brutality, are offering up their devotions to the god of War, and, in "the valley of slaughter," are causing their sons and their daughters to pass through the fire to this sanguinary Moloch!

Of all species of Christian Idolatry (if I may be permitted to unite expressions so incongruous,) surely this last is most abhorrent to the goodness of that Being, whose attributes are peace, and love, tender mercy, and long-suffering compassion.

Let us, however, observe the votaries of this unhallowed Divinity, marching in awful procession to one of their mighty sacrifices, having Ambition for their priest, and their fellow creatures for the intended victims:-let us see them, when arrived at the destined spot, still pursuing their detestable purpose, enkindle the flame on the altar of discord, imbue their hands in human blood, and offer up their hecatombs to the object of their adoration, craving from him as the reward of their zeal, the perishable blessing of earthly renown, of vain and transitory glory.

Can the Christian contemplate atrocities like these, as barbarous indeed as the savage rites of Juggernaut, without feeling every sympathy of his nature recoil? Does not the enquiry arise in his heart, What is the motive for such heathenish superstition? what can actuate beings possessed of immortal souls thus to devote their time and their talents to the service of a monster, so savage, so debased, so inhuman, so directly opposed to the mild and pacific tenets of our common Christianity? the Bible, they acknowledge the omThey believe in the sacred pages of nipotence of the Almighty; but at

the same time, they have not confidence in his ability to save themselves or their country from the hands of their enemies; and they appeal to an imaginary protector, as though they supposed that he possessed power even surpassing Omnipotence itself, so great, alas, is the infatuation !

When we consider the declaration of Shadrach, Meshech, and Abednego, to the haughty monarch of Babylon, "Our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and he will deliver us out of thy hand, oh King!" when we consider that this prediction was fully and miraculously accomplished, and that the Almighty Preserver" is the same yesterday, to-day, and for ever," we must allow that we are not justified in endeavouring to take his prerogative from him, or in appealing to a being, whom our passions have idolized, whose arm is flesh, whose weapons are carnal, and whose practice is diametrically opposed to the Gospel of the Son of God.

To the well-meaning Christian who has been seduced by custom into this labyrinth of idolatry, it is a subject in every respect worthy of serious consideration: he may reasonably enquire, whether by thus serving with devotional zeal a god of his own forming, he is not guilty of treason against the Majesty of Heaven, and of infringing on the rights of the Sovereign of the Universe, Oh! that Christians were more generally willing to acknowledge these Pagan practices to be, what they really are, a breach, and an awful breach of the first and great commandment: then indeed might we look forward with increased confidence to the rapid approach of that period, when idolatry and superstition shall be lost in oblivion, and the worship of war's dreadful Moloch shall for ever cease, when the pacific nature of the Redeemer's kingdom shall be universally acknowledged; when 'the mountain of the Lord's house shall

be established in the tops of the mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills, and all nations shall flow unto it.' W. P. T.

Extract from the Second Report of the Virginia Bible Society.

MR. EDITOR,-I have been induced to transcribe the following extract, from its being so peculiarly applicable to the subject of the Herald of Peace; for I doubt not but it will be considered as an equally imperative call on the friends of Peace as on those of the Bible Society.-Let them take advantage of the present tranquil season, and then may a blessing attend them. W.P.T.

"During the last twenty years, we have seen the most splendid talents employed in the work of destruction; the riches of the world expended in support of sanguinary and desolating wars; and the physical powers of the human race exerted to promote the schemes of lawless ambition. But now there is universal peace. At his bidding who rules the hearts of men and turns them whithersoever he will, the storm has ceased, and there is a great calm. This is the auspicious moment for the friends of religion to go forth in the strength of the Lord God, and to make a mighty effort to uproot from its very foundation the kingdom of darkness. The providence of God calls them to this work. Kings, according to the prediction of the prophet, have become nursing fathers, and Queens nursing mothers, to the church of Christ. And, considering what has recently been accomplished, it is not chimerical to hope, that those intellectual and physical energies which have been exerted in the work of destruction, will be employed to promote the present comfort and everlasting welfare of mankind; and that the earth, instead of presenting before heaven a scene of violence and blood

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"In about two months after leaving Cape Town, I reached New Lattakoo [25 March 1820.] I found Mateebe, the King of the place, alive and in good health; and, in a conversation with him, he said I had fulfilled my engagement in sending him Missionaries, and he had fulfilled his in giving them a kind reception. I wish I could tell of the glorious effects of the truth on his heart, and on the hearts of his subjects; but of this I cannot yet speak. God works not always in haste; he tries the patience and faith of this Society there, as he did at Otaheite.

"At a public meeting of the chief captains of the nation, held at Lattakoo, they resolved to relinquish all offensive wars. Now here is a proof of the effect of the Gospel to surrounding tribes."

"About seven days higher up from Mashow, is the Marootzee country; the chief city is on a mountain, the name of it is Kurreechane. My wagons were descending into a valley between me and the hill on which it is built the inhabitants saw the wagons coming, and you cannot conceive of the eagerness with which

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the old and young, rich and poor,
rushed to see the strangers. We got
the wagons brought into the centre
of the city. We did not distrust
them, nor show any symptoms of
fear. Whoever travels among an un-
civilized people must avoid discover-
ing fear, for it excites opposition. I
found that the old king was dead.
His brother Liqueling was Regent;
for the eldest son being but a minor,
could not take the reins of govern-

Of course my business was
with Liqueling. Respecting the ob-
ject of my visit, at a kind of formal
meeting, when he heard that white
men were come to Mateebe, teaching
him that all men should live peaceably,
he said it was what he desired, and
he had told Makkabba (the mur-
derer, I fear, of Cowan, &c.) that he
was glad of it, and that Makkabba
said he was not glad of it, for these
predatory expeditions were the way
commended itself to Liqueling."
to become rich: but the design re-

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Anecdote of Africaner." I will mention (said Mr. Campbell) one of the greatest acts of Christian friendship that ever fell under my notice. It regards Africaner, of whom you have often heard. He was the man I was most afraid of when in that country before, in consequence of the many plundering expeditions in which he was engaged. There was a Griqua captain at the head of a different tribe, between whom and Africaner there were frequent battles. of these are now converted to the Christian faith. And Africaner, as an act of kindness to brother Moffat, when it was found that it would not be suitable for Mr. and Mrs. Moffat to go to reside near him, with his people travelled a journey of six days across Africa, to convey Mr. Moffat's books and furniture to Lattakoo. Formerly he had gone as far to attack Berend. On this occasion, Africaner and Berend met together in my tent, and united in singing praises

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