and power, and have fallen to decay; even a world of being has been swept from the earth by deluge, and war has been the common lot of all; and yet but few seem willing to acknowledge the hand of Providence in the recognition of its mighty movements, or its mighty aims. Man has become an apologist for his Maker, rather than the student of his laws. He admits his rule, but practically denies his wisdom. The events of war are unqualifiedly condemned as sinful, and yet they are said to be overruled by Providence for the ultimate good of all! as if man's errors were necessary to Omnipotence! as if infinite wisdom was in eternal conflict with its own designs! as if infinite power were forced to conditions of compromise! as if infinite love had failed in its mission to nations! as if infinite justice had proved impracticable! and infinite mercy an unappreciable blessing! In his infinite goodness may God help us to be faithful, not only in belief, but in our professions of duty. Let us be true to the highest standard that is within us, or about us, and execute our convictions according to our best knowledge; but, in whatever we think or do, may our entire being submit to the sublimest of truths, that there is a God infinite in all his attributes, whose will is reality, and whose nature is universal good. The existence of evil proves the necessity of reform in the moral, religious, and physical nature of man. We can dis cover no defect in this necessity, but rather the only condition of being that admits of progress; the only process which admits of accountability, and of that ever-increasing purity of character which comes from a growing knowledge of God and all his works. We "cannot go Where universal love not smiles around, In infinite progression." We can doubt the existence of all external things; we can doubt even our own being, and find relief in the reflection that our reason has become a wreck; but the doubt that would lessen the rule of Omnipotence in the least of all things, would open upon us that dreadful and withering alternative, that he who fails in the least of things may fail in the greatest. With us, such a doubt can have no place. What is war? War is a form of national death or suffering. It is the conflict of arms between two nations to sustain right, or in attempts to continue wrong. Or, in the language of the Hon. Mr. Rhett, of S. C.,* "In its effects it is not confined to those engaged in military operations. It is not with the army and navy merely. War is a state of hostility and enmity between every man, woman, and child, of one nation, with every man, woman, and child, of another nation. All property, as well as life, is subject between the belligerents to the law of violence every where - on sea or land." But this question leads us to first principles, and to ask what are the prin ciples of war, the fundamental principles of war, as developed in man and in nature. We may learn much from analogy. All nature is made eloquent by the power of God, and speaks the language of truth. itself. Let us study what we can see, what we can know, without arrogating those impious assumptions that would make us wise above our Maker. We find the principle of war in all things, even in peace societies against war. It may be seen in the elements, as displayed in the tempests of the sky and upon the billows of the mighty deep. It may be found in the earth, in its soils and substances; † in the countless forms of vegetable growth, in their processes of decay and reproduction. It may be seen in the insect world, as illustrated by * See Speech of Mr. Rhett, delivered in the U. S. House of Representatives. + As developed in chemistry. The term poison is but another word - the war of matter. for war, Plants are poisonous and antidotal. Many of them, and shrubs, have means of defence. These means are the prickles and thorns It may its systems of defence, conquest, and destruction.* be seen in the viper's fang,t in the heron's claw, and in the woodpecker's tongue. It may be seen in the lion's tooth, and with which we find them armed. The euphorbia, the cactus, and other similar plants, are in a good degree preserved by their thorns from violence. The gardener may protect the rose in the greenhouse, but it relies upon its own means of protection in the field. We have a singular example in the dionoa muscipula. "Its leaves are jointed, and furnished with two rows of strong prickles; their surfaces covered with a number of minute glands, &c. When these parts are touched by the legs of flies, the two lobes of the leaf instantly spring up, the rows of prickles lock themselves fast together, and squeeze the unwary animal to death." In this deseription of Smellie, we have omitted any allusion "to a sweet liquor” which he supposes was secreted by the glands to allure the flies. Such is not the fact. *The reader must be familiar with numerous examples illustrating this remark. Some of the most interesting may be found in the history of the ant and the bee. When †The fang of a viper is a clear and curious example of mechanical contrivance. It is a perforated tooth; loose at the root; in its quiet state lying down flat upon the jaw, but furnished with a muscle, which, with a jerk, and by the pluck, as it were, of a string, suddenly erects it. Under the tooth, close to its root, and communicating with the perforation, lies a small bag containing the venom. the fang is raised, the closing of the jaw presses its root against the bag underneath, and the force of this compression sends out the fluid, with a considerable impetus, through the tube in the middle of the tooth. Paley's Natural Theology. That the venom of the serpent has its use in nature, there can be no question. That there are exempts from its dangers may be inferred from the warning which the rattlesnake gives when about to bite, and from the shining qualities of the cencoatl in the dark, (a poisonous snake of Mexico,) to notify the traveller of its presence, and of his danger. The middle claw of the heron and cormorant is toothed and notched like a saw. These birds are great fishers, and these notches assist them in holding their slippery prey. § The woodpecker lives chiefly upon insects lodged in the bodies of decayed or decaying trees. For the purpose of boring into the wood, it is furnished with a bill, straight, hard, angular, and sharp. When, by means of this piercer, it has reached the cells of the insects, then comes the office of its tongue; which tongue, first, is of such a in the eye of the monarch of the sea.* It may be seen in all things which have life or growth; in the means of defence with which they are supplied, implying power of attack or resistance. If we look into society, we find the elements of war in the defence which is given to liberty of person, of property, and of life. In violation of law, all are taken by common consent of society. The vagrant is fined, the criminal punished, and the murderer hanged.† Here we find violence to meet violence, even between individuals, where a milder course is practicable, and would prove more efficient; and yet before this step is taken, nations are called upon to denounce war, when all other remedies, in the present condition of the world, are impracticable. All reforms commence with the individual, and, after passing through the various conventional circles, reach the nation. Let the commencement be seen before the end is demanded. length that the bird can dart it out three or four inches from the bill, in this respect differing greatly from every other species of bird; in the second place, it is tipped with a stiff, sharp, bony thorn; and in the third place, this tip is dentated on both sides, like the beard of an arrow or the barb of a hook. - Paley's Natural Theology. * In viewing the structure of the eye, as adjusted to the condition of fishes, we may remark the peculiar thickness of the sclerotic coat in the whale. Although he breathes the atmosphere, and lies out on the surface of the water, to escape his enemies he will plunge scre hundred fathoms deep. The pressure therefore must be very great upon his surface, and on the surface of the eye. De la Beche. When we make a section of the whole eye, cutting through the cornea, the sclerotic coat, which is dense as tanned leather, increases in thickness towards the back part, and is full five times the thickness behind that it is at the anterior part. The natural enemies of the whale are the sword-fish and the shark; and it is stated, that this huge creature, being without means of defence of any kind, carries his enemies, that have fixed upon him, to a depth of water, and consequently to a pressure, which subdues them, as their bodies are not constituted for such depths. It is under this instinct that when the whale receives the harpoon, he dives to the bottom. + Many of the most respectable citizens of Massachusetts, exempli gratia, have for many years opposed, with all their ability and influ If we turn to man, we find him a being of thought and passions, a living example of conflict within himself, and with others; * his mind endowed with powers to discover, and his limbs with aptitudes for destruction and defence. We find his physical system guarded by numberless laws, as by a soldiery, inflicting pains for all acts of violation and neglect. Pain is the body's protector, its scourge and friend. If we follow him to the world of thought, there science and religion are found to be contests for truth; and all the elements of right and wrong, in that eternal conflict of which no man can predict the end. We find him at the head of nations, with his armies of attack and defence, and with a magnitude of means corresponding to the magnitude of his power. Man meets man, nations meet nations. Instinct points out the enemy of an insect, reason discovers the enemy of man. What is this but a system of divine beneficence? a beautiful system of progressive growth in the forms of matter and of mind. It gives even to death a feature of beauty, inasmuch as it makes an indispensable element of life. It is but the steps between the great changes in the ceaseless progress of all created things. There are forms of death to every form of life. There are conditions of life to every form of being. Even the immortality of the soul itself is based upon this principle; it cannot live except the body die. And with what awe and submission should we speak it, the infinite love of the Father of all is made known to his children by the blood of His only Son streaming from the cross! What is it, then, that we would ask? are we wise above God, that we should blindly regard his works? Are nations without the pale of God's laws and protection ? ence, the abolition of capital punishment; and yet they are violent in their opposition to war. They are willing to put a population of more than 700,000 people against a single unarmed man to the death, and still they cannot see the necessity of war! Some of the other States are in the same position. Some have made a glorious beginning in the cause of reform, by abolishing capital punishment. *St. Paul's Epistle to the Romans, chap. vii. ་་ |