immortal beings. The earth is sick of beholding poor, deluded men sending up shouts to heaven, because they see one of their fellows deal the heaviest blow with his fist, or guide his spear with the truest aim, or hurl the heaviest stone, or cut the deepest gash with his sword, or issue to his fighters orders, which result in victory over other fighters. Better days are dawning upon the world;-days of reason, days of peace. Our own Washington has said in language which ought to suppress in the heart of every American citizen the love of war-" How much more delightful to an undebauched mind is the task of making improvements on the earth, than all the vain glory which can be acquired from ravaging it by the most uninterrupted career of conquest?" It is a matter of gratulation, that at the present day some of the most illustrious warriors and statesmen have a distinct discernment of the evils of war. The great warrior of England has recently described war "as inexpedient and cruel." And the very learned and eminent Henry Brougham, chancellor of England, has spoken such words on this subject, that I cannot forbear reciting them :-" But my principles," he says, "they may be derided, they may be unfashionable, but I hope they are spreading far and wide:-my principles are summed up in one word, which was often uttered by a noble patriot, peace, peace, peace.' I abominate war as unchristian. I hold it to be the greatest of human crimes. I deem it to include all others, violence, blood, rapine, fraud; every thing, which can deform the character, alter the nature, and debase the name of man." Such is the decisive testimony against war, of a man, who stands among the first of living scholars, lawyers, and statesmen. Indeed it is beyond the power of the imagination to conceive the mass of enormous crimes and desolating miseries, which war has occasioned on the earth. Edmund Burke computed, that seventy times the number of the present inhabitants of this globe have been murdered in wars or perished from that cause. But if we greatly reduce this amount, dividing it by seventy, and take the lowest computation of the inhabitants of the earth, we shall yet have five hundred millions of human beings destroyed by war. A solitary murder in our country awakens a general sentiment of horror. But war-of which we think but slightly-war, which it is in the power of public opinion and combined effort to put down completely, has committed five hundred millions of murders; and this too, when every drop of human blood, iniquitously shed, cries from the earth and cries to heaven for vengeance. It is a fact, involving a tremendous responsibility, that one half the sums, which our comparatively innocent country has expended, and still every year expends, in relation to the business of war, for naval and military purposes, would accomplish all the various schemes of philanthropy, the accomplishment of which would send streams of felicity into every nook of our widely extended country. Our annual estimate for the naval and military establishments is upwards of ten millions of dollars and for the civil establishment about three millions; so that we expend for every free inhabitant in our country one dollar for war in these times of peace, while for the expenses of our general civil government we expend less than one third of a dollar. Is slavery a tremendous evil? The sums expended and the losses sustained in the three years' war for the liberty of a few seamen, would be sufficient to purchase the freedom of all the slaves in America, at the price paid for a good horse. Do we need great improvements in canals and rail roads? Do the people need schools and higher seminaries, Bibles and preachers? The sums devoted to war, would bring a market to every man's door-would give a good education to all the children of the people-would put a Bible into every poor man's hand-and cause the preacher's voice to be heard in every village from our eastern border to the rocky mountains of the west. If the nations should form the happy alliance of peace, and settle down into a state of unapprehensive quietness, the progress of improvement will be rapid and amazing. The enormous expenses for wars and for naval and military preparations in times of peace, which exhaust the resources of all countries, and overwhelm most of them with an intolerable load of debt, will be superseded and done away. The winged castles of the sea may fold up their wings, for their costly flight will be over. The huge and lofty fortreses. of the land will cease to be inhabited by desperate men, and may be suffered to moulder quietly away, unpropped by the toil and miseries of thousands of the people. The heavy cannon, which were wont to scatter the shafts of death, may be cast anew into ploughshares for the unbloody tillage of the earth. Released from the extortions of burdensome taxes, so far as the acquisition of competence or wealth is a blessing, men will be blessed. The ample and easy provision for their bodily wants will give them leisure for intellectual and moral culture. In the enjoyment of unbroken peace, released from the dominion of the evil passions, which are excited by the spirit of war, their minds will be open to the sweet influences of the religion of truth and of love. Then shall come the kingdom of "the Prince of peace," under whose reign "garments will no longer be rolled in blood," the tumult of the battle-field shall cease to be heard, and all the nations shall dwell together, as brethren of one family, in sincerest affection and friendship. Then, on this establishment of the Messiah's kingdom, may be sung again, with a little change, the great poet's hymn on the nativity, "No war or battle's sound Is heard the world around; The idle shield and spear are high uphung, As if they surely know, their sovereign Lord is by." When we consider the trivial and even ridiculous causes, in which many, and the wicked passions with which most wars have originated;-the frequent, total failure of the object, for which they were waged;-the enormous expenses, the exactions, the oppressions, the general distress which they have occasioned ;-the horrible sufferings of the victims of fight, the wounds, the agonies, the death of the millions who have fallen ;—we shall have reason to be overwhelmed with astonishment at the strange delusion of intelligent and Christian men in not setting themselves to exterminate from the earth this greatest of all crimes and evils, with which the earth is laid waste,-more especially as in Christian countries public opinion may be enlightened and will be able to apply the remedy. Questionless the time is hastening on, when men will look back upon days of war with indescribable emotions of astonishment and horror, wondering by what demoniac frenzy their brethren were instigated, that they should array themselves against each other in battle, and deal about destruction with every instrument of death, and send each other's spirits into eternity to the judgment seat, while burning with malignity and rage. As Christian men, who believe the sure word of prophecy; as enlightened and benevolent men, who confide in the ultimate triumph of common sense and good principles over absurdity and disastrous crimes; and as associates, who deem philosophy the guide of life, and keep in view the philosophical maxims, that the means are necessary to the end, and that moral changes amongst men must be effected by the toils of men, let us be persuaded to exert what influence we may possess in the community, in discountenancing the horrible custom of war and promoting the reign of peace, with which are connected the progress of good learning, the felicity of families, the advancement of social happiness, the growth and improvement of nations, and the perfection and glory of the human race. ARTICLE II. IMPORTANCE OF TEACHING SCIENCE TO THE HEATHEN IN CONNECTION WITH CHRISTIANITY. THAT missionaries in their labors among the heathen, should confine themselves to giving religious instruction, is perhaps a common opinion. The commission, it is said, is to preach the gospel; the apostles restricted themselves to that service; and Paul, in his missionary labors, determined to know nothing but Jesus and him crucified. But this commission and the example of the apostles no more concern missionaries abroad, than they do ministers at home. They no more furnish an objection to missionary societies and missionaries taking large views and forming comprehensive plans for the improvement of heathen nations, than they do to churches and ministers taking such views and forming such plans for the benefit of Christian nations. The God of heaven thinks far less of national boundaries than we do, whether they be mountains, rivers, or oceans. Nothing is commanded, nothing forbidden by the last injunction of Christ, which is not equally applicable to all nations of every language, color, and condition. Indeed the mandate to "publish the gospel to every creature," not only makes it the duty of the church to include the greatest possible number of objects within the range of its benevolence, but requires the work to be performed in that manner which will render the gospel the perpetual inheritance of all mankind. We should also remember, that the labors of the apostles, so far as they are recorded in the New Testament, were expended upon the most enlightened portions of the then civilized world; so that they were generally able to find men among their converts of sufficient education to be ordained both as evangelists and pastors; and besides, important miraculous gifts were frequently imparted in that age. Hence there was not that necessity for schools and seminaries in their field of missionary labor, that there is in ours. Moreover, as the apostles had, on the one hand, less need of such institutions to furnish pastors and teachers for their churches; so, on the other, there was far less opportunity and inducement to establish schools for the mass of the people, than there is at this day. And the mass of the people were not educated were not even taught reading and writing; and hence one of the principal reasons why the glory of the church was so soon obscured by superstition. How could the great body of the people be educated, when miracles had ceased, when writing-paper was unknown, and there was no printing-press, no art of engraving for cuts and maps; when books were made only by the slow and arduous labors of the pen, and were costly and rare because written on materials so expensive as vellum or parchment? And what inducements had the people to learn, with such a scarcity of books, and, at the same time, with hardly any science adapted to general use? We are, perhaps, not sufficiently aware how greatly the subjects of useful knowledge have been multiplied, and how they have been brought down to common apprehension and the interest of an elementary education increased, since the days of the apostles. How little, how very little was known in those times concerning God's workmanship in creation! They knew not even that the earth is a sphere, and were unacquainted with the greater part of its surface. They had no compass, no quadrant, no telescope; no correct conception, no enlarged views of astronomy; and hardly any knowledge of those other interesting departments of natural science, the principles of which are so generally taught at |