should such a state of hostility be prolonged, who I can tell what will be the issue? Austria must take one side or the other; but then there is Hungary on her one wing, longing for the hour of deliverance, and Italy on her other wing, biting her chains and sighing for the moment of emancipation. In each there are myriads of people panting for the time when the embarrassments of the Austrian empire shall afford an opportunity to shake off the oppression of that rotten tyranny. Then, farther, there are Poland and other provinces belonging to the vast empire of Russia, where the people are dissatisfied with the oppressive rule under which they live. Let these hostile movements become contagious, therefore, and why should not the wicked spirit so frame his devices as to bring man into conflict with his brother man, until the provinces of France on the one side and of Germany on the other, be incited to civil war and mutual destruction, and the European continent may become the arena of universal warfare? And why should not the spirit of revolt extend itself to those who have long plotted the downfall of the English Government in her colonies, or in Ireland itself? War is no plaything for nations; and it is "a game which, were their subjects wise, kings would not play at." It is in no man's power to calculate what the issues of it will be. The men who are sent out to the field of con

flict in tens, twenties, and fifties of thousands will be succeeded by like numbers, perhaps in the course of a few months more; and thus we have the prospect not merely of our exchequer being exhausted, but also of the extending of disaster to all the countries of the earth. Let us look at the matter thus, as it becomes wise and contemplative citizens, in order that we may rightly understand what is our duty.

For a moment we turn our attention to the manner in which good men have been taught to view these things. Jeremiah was more than once suspected as a confederate with the enemies of his country, and threatened with the penalty of a traitor, because he faithfully warned his countrymen and their rulers of the impolicy of their proceedings, and the consequences which impended, in consequence of their violation of the covenant of their God. Yet he could truly affirm, that he had purposed repeatedly not to make mention of the word of the Lord, or speak any more in his name: though this word was in his heart as a burning fire, shut up in his bones till he was weary with forbearing, and could not stay. No inspired man suffered more for his countrymen, his kindred according to the flesh-more sorrowed for the afflictions which came upon his people, or gave more certain evidence of his patriotism and fidelity to his prince. The language of this prophet is uttered with

an authority which belongs to what was dictated by God himself, Jehovah speaking of his people as. "foolish, as sottish children," as having committed rebellion against their God; and therefore had he decreed that the whole land should be desolate. But the prophet, in other passages, speaks the language which belongs to himself as a teacher and watchman of the people-one who claims the character of a servant of his God, and a well-established reputation as a fellow sufferer in the calamities of his country, and who feels for the men of his own nation: "I am pained at my very heart; my heart maketh a noise in me: I cannot hold my peace, because thou hast heard, O my soul, the sound of the trumpet, the alarm of war. Destruction upon destruction is cried; for the whole land is spoiled: suddenly are my tents spoiled, and my curtains in a moment. How long shall I see the standard, and hear the sound of the trumpet?... I beheld the earth, and, lo, it was without form and void; and the heavens, and they had no light. I beheld the mountains, and, lo, they trembled, and all the hills moved lightly. I beheld, and, lo, there was no man, and all the birds of the heavens were fled. I beheld, and, lo, the fruitful place was a wilderness, and all the cities thereof were broken down at the presence of the Lord, and by his fierce anger."

a

From such an accredited illustration we see that

a good man feels it his duty to acquire a correct view of the horrors of the war in which his country and his people are involved; to behold its details as minutely as he can form a judgment of them, and to contemplate in all its lengths and breadths the extent to which the conflict may be carried; to acquaint himself with all its concomitant evils, and to estimate what will be the issue of it, so far as he can judge, before it shall be terminated. He dare not say, "Am I my brother's keeper?" but he acknowledges it to be obligatory on him to form a correct judgment of the condition of his country. He remembers the caution of inspired wisdom, "If thou forbear to deliver them that are drawn unto death, and those that are ready to be slain; if thou sayest, 'Behold, we knew it not': doth not he that pondereth the heart consider it? and he that keepeth thy soul, doth not he know it? and shall not he render to every man according to his works?" Though we be adverse to the policy of our rulers, or have a feeling of personal or relative security, we are not isolated beings, independent of the welfare and happiness of our fellow creatures, nor need we be indifferent about our own happiness. But still more does it become us with a patriot's eye, a philanthropist's heart, and a philosopher's intelligence, to judge of things as they are and what will be the issue of them; to desire to form a correct judgment

C

of what is, in truth, the duty devolving upon us, as far as we individually can exercise and increase a legitimate influence upon the counsels of the nation. Every man's province may not, indeed, assign to him power with the rulers, or even great influence with the representatives of rulers; but it is every man's province to fill his own place with a right, generous heart, tremblingly alive concerning the peace of his country. The philosophical axiom once

proverbial with even heathens, was expressed in words importing, "I am a man, and whatever affects the race of mankind belongs to me." "I am a Roman," was uttered as the characteristic language of the proud citizen of that mighty republic. "I am a Briton," ought to express for us the ambition to be warranted to say, "Whatever influence Britain wields concerns me.' I am not merely a member of the commonwealth at large; but I profess a religion characterized by largeminded benevolence, whose principles are not left undefined, and whose virtues are not mere sentimental abstractions, but whose supreme Lawgiver has summed up his code of relative obligations in few yet emphatic words, "As ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them." I therefore have duties to perform in relation to the community of which I am a member; and my business is not merely to ask, "Lord, what wilt thou have