ye are brethren; why do ye wrong one to another?" and proceed in terms of Christian reconciliation. O that there were but as much anxiety to soothe and to alleviate the exasperated feelings of the angry and misguided adversaries, as there is of ambition and haste to witness the shedding of blood and the triumph of arms! Which would be most consistent with the Christian character? I leave the thoughtful to judge which would be most Christlike, which would Christ most approve, which would be most commended by the Judge in the day when he shall sit upon the great white throne and pronounce his judgment on men according to the deeds done in the body. Let this discipleship of Christ prevail-let this gospel of Christ that we have professed to receive have its genial influence-let the obedience of Christ's disciples be thus manifested-fill up and follow out the requirements of our adorable Master-and then I ask, Have we not obtained an antidote to war? The humblest and most lowly have in their own possession the best means of staying the plague. In this remedy we have that by which we may hope to reach the vilest and most degraded of men. We know that the greatest modern warrior had to betake himself to the Bible at last. I have stood in the room where Napoleon Bonaparte lay dyingwhere he read the sacred Scripture, and studied an essay written by Dr. Bogue, my tutor, upon the New Testament. He delivered it to an attendant, to whom he wished to present a proof of his gratitude and love coming back to the New Testament for the principles that would save and set him free from the condemnation of sin. Yes; and he whom we have been wont to designate the Iron Duke, the great Duke of Wellington-great I believe he was, in many respects-was represented by those who magnified his name and extolled his virtues after his death, and who anticipated for him a happy eternity, to have carefully perused his New Testament, and embraced the truths of that sacred volume, and to have offered up his prayer in the spirit of that book. Neither of these men found the field of battle or the life of a soldier congenial with such preparations for eternity; and it would have been no slight trial to either, after the light of divine truth dawned on their soul, to calculate on the ten thousands which must be slain before they could cross a river or take a fort. Would they, in the review of all their campaigns and the deeds of heroism in which they mingled, have desired to meet death measuring their swords and striving to be the victor on the field of battle? But not only are commanders changed by the operation of divine love. If we descend down into the lowest ranks of the army (as it has been my privilege to do), and gather around us the private soldiers (as I have had hundreds of them gathered, in distant lands, to hear the word of divine truth), we shall find that even those men are susceptible of New Testament principles; and it is only when they receive those principles, that they are raised from the degradation into which war has sunk them, and they become men and citizens, fitted for the highest walks of life, and are themselves inspired with feelings of benevolence,.so as to seek the welfare even of those whom they had sought to slay. Yes; we may rest assured that discipleship to Christ, obedience to his word, conformity to the image and example of the Son of God, is the best way of putting an end to war. Let the earth be filled with the knowledge of Christ the Lord, as the waters cover the sea; let even a large minority of mankind, scattered in all lands, cherish in them the mind which was in Jesus, and retain their principles in active influence, as the salt of the world; let them obey the apostolic injunction-having their loins girt about with truth, and having on the breastplate of righteousness, and their feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace, that they may represent him of whom it is said, as prince of his people, "righteousness shall be the girdle of his loins, and faithfulness the girdle of his reins;" and then may be realized the moral phenomena prefigured by the prophet-"The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid; and the calf and the young lion and the fatling together; and a little child shall lead them. And the cow and the bear shall feed; their young ones shall lie down together: and the lion shall eat straw like the ox. And the sucking child shall play on the hole of the asp, and the weaned child shall put his hand on the cockatrice' den. They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain." "Now the God of peace, that brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant, make you perfect in every good work to do his will, working in you that which is pleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ; to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen." |