weep." I am glad, therefore, to hear you mention those names, because I see that you are not led away by the false ideas of glory, which so many think of on the occasion of a victory, forgetting every other consideration. But I will just tell you a story. A little while before you were born, there was a great general in France whose name was Buonaparte; and he, having conceived a deep hatred to the English nation, and a jealousy of its liberty and power, resolved to attempt to land an army on our shores. His preparations were immense. His victorious forces were very numerous; he intended to embark them in an immense fleet of ships, large and small, and with a favourable wind to pass the narrowest part of the British Channel, and land on the coast in such force, and so suddenly, as to take London by surprise. So near was this to taking place, that at one time the whole army almost was on board, and waiting eagerly for the signal to sail. We might surely see the hand of Providence in the event, when, instead of the long-expected signal, Buonaparte sent them orders to leave the ships, and march away to a great war on the continent, which be then determined to enter upon, instead of the invasion of England. But in the mean time, while all this was getting ready, what where we doing in England? I well remember it, and never can it escape my memory; our dear beloved country was threatened with invasion; the enemy longed to cover our beautiful fields with the mangled bodies of those who were dearest to us on earth, and to make our land a province of France. Then it was, that all the horrors of war stared us in the face; it would be war in our own land, in our own corn-fields and green pastures, and beautiful gardens; and the prize of war, our families, their houses, and means of life. We felt then, and I do not think we were wrong, that to arm in defence of our country, was to arm in a righteous cause. We trusted, and not in vain, that the Lord of heaven and earth would aid and bless us in defending all that was dear to us on earth. The ministers of religion, of every name, encouraged us to believe that we were not acting contrary to His divine will, but in accordance with In reliance on this we did, almost all of us, become it. soldiers for a time, and shouldered the musket, and were drilled in the ranks, dressed as soldiers, and ready for the invaders, to oppose his progress to the last drop of our blood. Gentlemen of rank and wealth volunteered as private soldiers, and almost every body was ready to bear arms. But it pleased God to avert the danger, and to spare us the grief and pain of taking the lives of our fellow-creatures, even to save our own. Perhaps the preparations we had made, and the determination felt by all ranks of Englishmen to resist to the uttermost, were the means used for changing the French Emperor's designs. But I tell you now of all this, to give you the example of a just war, and to show you that there is such a thing. I fear, indeed, that the greater number of wars are unjust and wicked ones; but war, in defence of our own land, has always been considered, by the best and wisest of men, as a just and righteous cause. It is because the late war in India seems to have been of that kind, that I felt I could justify it, and hope that the hand of Providence directed its conclusion. The only thing, therefore, that can justify war is the desire of peace, the desire to establish perfect and permanent peace among all nations. I trust that this will be the design of all future wars, whenever they are entered upon, and that they never will be thought of unless they are absolutely necessary to gain that great object in the end," that we may live a peaceable life in all godliness and honesty." E. REMARKABLE INSTANCE OF FORGIVENESS OF INJURIES. LAVATER, the celebrated physiognomist, was wounded by the hand of a common soldier, during Massena's invasion in 1799, and died after fifteen months of extreme suffering. His benevolence and tenderness of heart had been remarkable through life, and they appeared conspicuously on this trying occasion. He not only did all in his power to prevent the criminal from being discovered, but left him at his death the following testimony of his forgiveness: “Memorandum to be given after my death to the grenadier who shot at me, but care must be taken that his name be concealed. May God pardon thee, as I, from my heart pardon thee! O may you never suffer what I suffer through you! I embrace you, my friend; you have done me a kindness without knowing it. If you see these lines, may they be a seal to you of the grace of the Lord, who forgives penitent sinners; who delivers them and makes them happy. May God enable me earnestly to pray for you, so that I may never doubt that we shall one day embrace each other before the presence of the Lord." ANOTHER EXAMPLE OF THE SAME GRACE, IN KING How noble was the conduct of the royal martyr, Charles I. According to Le Clerc, "After this most execrable murder, Bishop Juxon was seized on, rifled of all his papers, his clothes and coffers searched, and with great threats adjured to explain what the King meant by his last word to him, "Remember"—which he did by an answer, much to the confusion of the inquirers, viz., that the King, his master, bade him carry this supreme command of his dying father to the prince, his son and heir, that if ever he was restored to his crown he should forgive the authors of his death. IMPORTANT FACTS. 1. There are in the world about 800,000,000 of souls. Of these, Christianity is professed by Roman Catholics, Protestants, 5,000,000 2. There are who never heard the Gospel, Jews, blinded by unbelief, Mahomedans, deluded by the false prophet, 140,000,000 Pagans, sunk in idolatry and superstition, 455,000,000 600,000,000 3. Among these 600,000,000 of heathens, there are only about 1400 missionaries, including those of America, Great Britain, and the European continent; or one missionary to every 428,571 persons. 4. The entire sum of money raised by Great Britain for missionary purposes every year is about 350,000l. and by America, 150,000l., making together 500,000%; which is only equal to what is raised by one single idoltemple in Calcutta, the temple of Kalee, in the same period, for the support of its superstitions. 5. If every Sunday scholar in Great Britain would collect one penny a week for missions, it would raise 483,3331. 6s. 8d. a year; and this divided among the principal societies, would enable them to print twice as many books, establish twice as many schools, support twice as many missionaries, and occupy twice as many stations. 6. To add force to all these facts, remember that of these heathens, about 20,000,000 die every year. 54,794 die every day. 38 die every minute. At this rate, 36,860,000,000 have died since our Lord appeared upon earth, and 6,540,000,000 since the Reformation! EXTRACT FROM AN ORIGINAL SERMON ON ST. JOHN xi. 26' "Whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die." Ir is obvious from this saying of our Lord that there is a very great difference between His sense of the word to die, and that in which it is generally understood among men. Many have lived and believed in Christ,-and yet, in one sense of the word, have died: but Jesus here declares that whosoever does so shall never die. All the prophets, all the patriarchs, all the apostles, and the beloved martyrs of Christ have departed from the body, and their spirit has returned unto God who gave it, in the ordinary manner, except two men only, Enoch and Elijah, who were translated that they should not see death. Yet, although thus it is spoken of by us, death, in the language of Christ, is something exceedingly different. The truth is, great mistakes are frequently made for want of a right understanding of the word, death; and these mistakes have many evil tendencies; and one of them is to keep the mind of the Christian under a fear of death from which he ought to be delivered; and another is to prevent men from fearing that which is in truth so perfectly dreadful, and which is in reality the secret cause of that horror we instinctively feel at the thought of death. The text, you will observe, broadly and openly promises that a believer shall never die; but to understand this, we must consider what it is to be dead in the scriptural sense of the word. In the Scriptures it appears to have reference to these particular points, and seldom to any others. And first, it is used to signify the state of our being separated from God, and without the capacity or will to hold communion with Him. This is remarkably expressed in Rom. viii. 6. "To be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace." Here it is declared that a very common state among men, the state in which the great majority of mankind are living, is, in fact, nothing better than death. They are carnally minded, that is, their mind is wholly occupied with providing for the body and enjoying outward things; and this is death. In that state there is no spiritual intercourse between the soul and its Maker or Redeemer. It is lifeless towards Him, and therefore lifeless altogether in the chief acts and energies of an immortal and rational being. We may range several other Scriptures under another head, namely, the doing nothing towards the object for which we were born. The Lord Jesus Himself. speaking from heaven, not from earth, sending His message from the right hand of God to the angel or bishop of the church of Laodicea, speaks this to that church: "I know thy works: that thou hast a name that thou livest, and art dead. Be watchful, and strengthen the things which remain that are ready to die, for I have not found thy works perfect before God." Here men are judged as dead, because of their works not being right before God. They were not zealously occupied in working out their salvation, and are accounted dead for that |
