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As the one catholic church of Jesus Christ, composed as we believe it to be of various sects and parties, shall become more and more imbued with the mind that was in its great founder, we may expect that minor points of belief will be less strenuously maintained, (though not less surely felt) and that the writings and personal labours of Christians will be directed to the grand doctrines of the Cross, and to the cultivation of that spirit of brotherly love, which is an indispensable proof of the reality of our love to God. '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 can he love God whom he hath not seen? And this commandment have we from him, That he who loveth God love his brother also.' 1 John iv. 20, 21. The truth of these expectations, we have been delighted to observe in addresses from the pulpit, and in publications from the press. Among the latter, we note with peculiar satisfaction, a little work by the Rev. John Whitehouse, bearing the simple but striking and comprehensive title, The Kingdom of God on Earth! Though written by a clergyman of the established church, it will be read with pleasure by pious Christians of all denominations, for it bears throughout the impress of that charity that never faileth.'

If in the extracts we are about to make, it shall be found that their immediate connection with the subjects of Peace and War is not apparent, we must refer our justification to the preceding remarks, only observing here, that we believe the entire work is eminently calculated directly, or indirectly, to promote the reign of the Messiah, and the dominion of universal peace. The writer begins by describing the difference between the kingdom of Jesus Christ, and the kingdoms of the world.

"SEC. 1. There is no subject connected with the present condition of man, which is calculated to excite in

his mind such a powerful interest, or to animate his exertions in the cause of truth and righteousnesss, and the general welfare, with such ardour, as the spiritual kingdom of which we are about to treat; the nature and properties of which are by no means sufficiently understood.

It is called the kingdom of God, or of the Messiah, which the latter came to establish in the name, and with the authority, of his heavenly Father. When considered in its proper

and most extensive signification, it may be denominated the triumph of Christianity over the evil principle; or what is termed in Scripture the kingdom of Satan. When Christ says, my kingdom is not of

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this world,' he does not mean that it has nothing to do with the affairs of the world; far from it: but that it is of a nature very superior to, and differing from, all earthly power and dignity, the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them; and that it was not only intended to be a pledge of the happiness which the righteous are to enjoy in the regions of bliss hereafter, but to constitute, moreover, such a portion of temporal felicity as could never otherwise have been expected, in the great and manifold blessings it will undoubtedly produce. With the word kingdom,' what more natural than to associate ideas of worldly power, riches, and aggrandizement ? and these corrupt elements have, in fact, through many successive generations, united themselves in close but unhallowed alliance, with the pure and spiritual religion of the Gospel. The kings of the earth have stood up, and the rulers have taken counsel together,' not professedly against the kingdom of the Messiah, but for the purposes of human policy, to hold their authority in conjunction with his, or rather to make it subservient to their own. Hence the abuses which have arisen, and the causes which operate to obstruct the progress, and diminish the salutary effects of a religion

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which is eminently calculated to advance human happiness to the highest possible degree. Hence, moreover, it has been frequently resorted to, in order to excite those passions which it was intended to control; to kindle the flames of blind zeal, and to conjure up the demons of fanaticism and superstition. Long and bloody wars have often been undertaken and persisted in, to gratify a wild and insatiable ambition, under the hypocritical garb of a religion which was given to subdue wrath, and anger, and malice, and to promote the 'glory of God, peace on earth, and good-will to men.'

"But although the evils which have been occasioned hereby are incalculable; yet when the real nature of the Messiah's kingdom comes to be rightly understood, and the knowledge of God more widely diffused and impressed on the minds and consciences of men; and as error gradually yields, as it must, to the light and evidence of truth; there can be no doubt, but that the misery and suffering which have preceded this glorious era will be overbalanced by such a preponderance of transcendental good, as to render the former comparatively as nothing. The counsels of heaven are, indeed, involved in darkness, and are not to be measured by man's ignorance: nor are we to call in question the times and seasons which infinite Wisdom has appointed for the developement of its purposes: in the mean time; it is incumbent upon those who are anxious to promote the Redeemer's kingdom, to persevere in the straight, undeviating path, and steadily and strenuously to pursue those objects which both reason and reve lation point out as attainable by those who are resolved to sacrifice every other consideration to the duty imposed upon them-of advancing, by all possible means, the interests of peace, and truth, and righteousness in the world."

Alluding to the growing preva

lence of the spirit of Christian love, he writes as follows :—

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"Sects and parties, and partyspirit, it is to be hoped, are gradually giving way to the substitution of principles conducive to the interests of humanity, justice, and the public good: while the opposition made to them can only serve to strengthen their growth, to promote their extension, and to bring about the longpredicted period, when Christianity shall triumph in the universal spread of its doctrines, which, founded in truth, and having God for their author, shall cease not to shed around their enlightening and purifying influences, till the kingdoms of the world become the kingdom of God and of his Christ.'* This evange lical spirit (for such it really is) which is still increasing, and which will eventually effect the overthrow of that mystery of iniquity' which has held the mind of man in slavish subjection through so many ages, and which began to work' soon after the promulgation of the Gospel, to defeat its professed design, and to make it a curse instead of a blessing, an engine of tyranny instead of the harbinger of peace and good-will;this evangelical spirit has accomplished one grand object in spite of all the opposition it met with, viz. the abolition of the Slave-trade: and although this preliminary work of reformation is incomplete, there is every reason to believe and expect that it will not long continue so. It is one of those abominations which scarcely an individual of the least respectability would not blush to countenance; and it is to be hoped its total extinction, in every civilized and Christianized country, will proclaim ere long the triumphs of humanity. It is of some moment, in the mean time, to have pulled down' one of the strongest holds of the powers of darkness.' + To rescue men from the chains of slavery, by arguments

Rev. xi. 15. + Ephes. vi, 12.

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Sections II. III. and part of iv. are so directly levelled at the horrible practice of War, and so perfectly in unison with the design of the Herald of Peace, that we feel no apology necessary for their insertion at length, without note or comment, believing that the perusal of them will be highly acceptable to our readers.

"SEC. II. But the greatest obstacle of all, and which is most adverse to the kingdom of God and of his Christ, is the custom of what is called civilized war; or in other words, murder reduced to a science. Among barbarians and savages, wars there must and will be, just as among the brute beasts that have no understanding :

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Brute preys on brute,

The lion and the tiger in their haunts
War on the other animals, when urg'd
By appetite or passion; else they dwell
In peaceful neighbourhood: but savage man
Ah! far more savage than the beasts of prey,
Though boasting of his reason, urges on
The bloody conflict, when nor appetite
Nor passion sway him.

"This inhuman practice, which outrages reason and common sense, which tramples upon every principle, and every virtuous feeling of the heart, and owes its continuance to blind custom and the depraved propensities of our nature, has, by habit. and the factitious trappings and glitter which accompany it, become respectable in the eyes of the community: but the evil itself is not the less on that account, but the greater, and more dangerous: and wars, let it be remembered, must always be 'fraternas acies; they must be trother's blood; besides, they have a direct tendency to render those who are actors in them cruel, hard-hearted, and unfeeling; for it is evident, that

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the very circumstance of being familiarized with scenes of rapine, massacre, and violence, must, without a man's consent, and perhaps, even without his consciousness, have this effect. In vain a voice is heard, Why do ye this wrong one to another? Know ye not that ye are brethren?'* * No such wrong is perceived; no such relationship is acknowledged. Alas! what an aceldema, what a field of blood, of misery and desolation, has not war made of this fair creation of God! What widows and orphans innumerable has it left to mourn out their days in sorrow and bitterness of heart! And what a moral pestilence has followed, wherever havoc has let slip the dogs of war!' All war therefore is to be deprecated; war in general; even that which is in a just cause: how much more, then, all ambitious prædatory, liberticide wars!—wars entered into, and carried on, not only in violation of the divine commands as contained in the written oracles of truth, but also against the natural and inalienable rights of mankind; and which are, in fact, the very engines made use of to uphold the kingdom of darkness; by perpetuating as much as possible, the reign of vice and error. Is it not then incumbent upon the disciples and followers of Him, at whose birth Peace was proclaimed on earth, and who is himself emphatically styled, the 'Prince of Peace,' to exert themselves to the utmost, to deliver the world from this dreadful and desolating scourge !-What was the language of the Baptist, the forerunner of the Messiah, who was appointed to prepare the way before him, and of whom Christ himself said,' of those born of women there was not a greater prophet than he:'† what was his answer to the soldiers when they demanded of him, saying,

And what shall we do?' and he said unto them, 'Do violence to no

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man;' which may be considered as a virtual prohibition against the profession of arms; at least, it must be acknowledged to be absolutely such with respect to every kind of abuse of military power. What was the conduct of our Saviour himself, and how did he express himself, when two of his disciples asked him if he would not give them a commission to command fire to come down from heaven, to consume the Samaritans?'

He turned and rebuked them,' and said, 'Ye know not what manner of spirit ye are of: for the Son of man is not come to destroy men's lives, but to save them:'* so that one great object of his mission, was to save the lives of men. How different this from the example of those who seem to set little or no value upon human life, connected as it is with interests beyond the grave, and which reach through eternity itself! Who then can plead a right to cut the thread of human life, without such an authority stamped upon the deed, as heavenly justice would warrant ? Can any one believe that the professed advocates of war, those who are ready on every occasion where selfinterest, or hatred, or revenge, or passion hurry them, to crimson their hands in the blood of their fellowmen; can it be believed that such persons are influenced in their conduct by that assurance which Scripture gives us of a judgment to come, and that God will take vengeance on the workers of iniquity? If man was born in the image and similitude of his Maker, endued with reason, and an heir of immortality; if such be his worth and high destination, ought we not to reverence him, and to regard him as a being too highly favoured, and too highly endowed, for it to be lawful to deprive him of existence, unless upon such grounds as admit not of the slightest shadow of a doubt? What shall we say, then, with regard to the myriads of human

* Luke ix. 54, 55, 56.

creatures sacrificed in war, perhaps for the gratification of a single individual; and that individual notorious for nothing more than his pride, his ambition, or his sensuality?—-As long as this sanguinary custom exists, consecrated as it is by long usage, and considered as the chief bulwark of States, it would be in vain to expect those beneficial effects which would otherwise be derived from the diffusion of Christian knowledge: no; light and darkness may as soon unite as these can be united: God and Belial may as soon have the same interests, as a passion for war and the love of human kind. Justly may it be asked, Whence come wars and fightings among you; come they not hence, even from your lusts which war in your members ?'†

"The mind of every good man must revolt at the recital of all the horrors and miseries, and heart-appaling scenes of distress occasioned by contending armies, led on in the pursuit of conquest and military distinction, and but too often without due consideration of the motives which induce them to draw the sword; as if it were a trifling matter to scatter slaughter and desolation among the inhabitants of populous towns and peaceable villages, regardless of the cries and shrieks of defenceless women and innocent children! Such scenes are almost too horrible to draw out in detail; or even indeed for the imagination to dwell upon : they degrade the species, and make us almost ashamed that we are men. It must, nevertheless, be owned, that no effectual restraint can be put upon enormities of this kind, with which the public mind has been so long familiarized, but by stripping the pageant of its false colours and shewing it in all its native deformity, till the spell be broken, and the illusion has no longer power to deceive. In this great task every true philanthropist should unite, and employ all the

+ James iv.

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powers of argument and eloquence he is master of, in assisting to abolish a custom which is a disgrace to the Christian name. And surely never was appeal made to the head or heart of man, which had stronger claims to his attention than this, which involves in it the fate of so many millions of the human race. What a blessing will it be, not only to the present, but every succeeding generation, to have effected this great deliverance, by shewing the difference between true and false glory; the honour that cometh from man, and that which cometh from God alone.'*

"SEC. III. That philanthropy alone is of the genuine kind, which, not confining itself to our families and friends, extends, in will at least, if not in deed, to strangers and foreigners, nay to all on whom the universal Father causes his sun to shine, and his rain to descend. The whole race of mankind may be said to be united together by the ties of relationship, as descendants from the same original Parent ;-and we ought not to think the sin the less, to injure or destroy a fellow-creature, because we have never seen him, or because he lives in a distant country, or speaks a language different from our own. The natural instinctive affections it is not in our power to divest ourselves of: they are cords of love and bands of a man,' which cannot be easily broken nor separated: but those of our brethren whom we have never seen nor known, and with whom we have never been in habits of social intercourse: to love them as we ought to do; to love them as ourselves; this is the difficulty: yet we have the divine command for it; and he who does not fulfil it, dishonours God, and sets at nought one of the first and great commandments. What is it but the contempt of this duty, which has caused so many wars to take place in the world? Should we be willing that foreign mercenaries, at the in

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* John v. 44.

stigation of despots more merciless than themselves, should come to plunder us of our lives or property; or that such should be the unhappy fate of our fathers or mothers, or sisters, or brothers, or of our own wives and children? No! the very thought fills the mind with horror! But are not the friends and relatives of others as dear to them as our own can be to us? Yet how many are there who call themselves the disciples of Christ, who train their sons to the military profession, with the hope that they will one day distinguish themselves in the art which makes children fatherless, and wives widows! And this is called victory, and glory! And they can sit down quietly and enjoy these triumphs, though the cost are human sacrifices, and garments rolled in blood!' But let us bring the case of the sufferers home to ourselves; let us imagine we are present to the tears that are shed, the sighs and groans that are uttered; and the heart-rending anguish which pervades the bosom of affectionate parents, and near relatives, when they behold those who are as dear to them as their own souls, torn from their embraces, and the victims of furious conquerors and invaders of their country. Surely these are pictures which cannot be looked upon without exciting both our pity and indignation. Is it then for Christians to engage in these nefarious acts? Is it for them whose religion teaches them to do good to all men ;'t to be tender-hearted' + and kindly-affectioned one to another?' §-Is it for them to take a part in, or to countenance, such enormities?-Must not the thought strike them, 'How can I do this great wickedness, and sin against God?" -How can I wilfully violate the command which expressly declares,

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Thou shalt do no murder?' And is not war murder? What ever veil

† Gal. vi. 10. + Ephes. iv. 32. § Rom. xii. 10.

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