Now it is easy to see that all these properties (if I may call them so) of charity, proceed from that peculiar characteristic of the Christian which distinguishes him from the rest of the world; namely, universal benevolence, or "love," a denial of self to promote the happiness of others; and our Saviour says (John xiii. 35), “By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another."

If, then, these are two marks by which a follower of Christ may be known, I call upon the duellist to examine himself by this test, and prove by it, if he can, that he is a Christian; or that his practice is not opposed to the precepts and doctrines of the christian religion.

And, first, let us examine and compare his conduct with the plain, but comprehensive commandment of God, "Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself." How positive is the command, and how easy to be understood! for as every man knows what he himself would wish, he carries in his own bosom a constant instructor how he is to fulfil the law towards his neighbour. St. Paul declares (Rom. xiii. 10), "Love worketh no ill to his neighbour; therefore love is the fulfilling of the law." But how does the duellist fulfil the law? Is it a proof of love to take umbrage at an offensive gesture or an angry word? Is it

a proof of love studiously to tempt a third party to partake of his sin, by becoming second in a duel? Is it a proof of love to murder a fellowcreature in cold blood, and to consign him to a state of eternal torment in the world to come, that he, the survivor, may preserve his "station," for a limited period, in the world that is?

Love is a debt entailed upon us from our birth, never to be discharged until we sink into the grave. All other debts may be cleared off, but this one never can. St. Paul says (Rom. xiii. 8), "Owe no man any thing, BUT to love one another." This must be always owing; a debt ever paying, but never paid; not due to one creditor alone, but to all the countless myriads of the earth. This is the practice which, by the holy law of God, man is enjoined to exhibit towards his fellow-man. But the law of honour inculcates no love but that of self; it requires its hapless votaries to banish all love from their breasts; to disregard every tie of affection, in which the heart of man would otherwise delight; to sacrifice every moral obligation, without the smallest regard to the injury which may be inflicted upon others, and to cherish a regard for one all-absorbing, all-engrossing objectself alone; and that to an extent so boundless, not to consider the living body and the

as

immortal soul of a fellow-creature at all too high a price to be paid for its gratification-at all too great a sacrifice to save its pride from being wounded.

If the duellist feels startled at the idea of charging a "man of honour" with the indulgence of so grovelling a feeling as selfishness, let him join me in a brief examination of his motives of action, and let us see whether he is guided by the gospel principle of love to his neighbour, or the duellist's principle of love to himself alone.

If in revenge or resentment of some real or imaginary insult (which constitute by far the greatest proportion of the causes for which duels are fought) he challenges his adversary; or if he receives a challenge, and fearing an imputation on his want of courage if he should refuse, accepts that challenge in the first place, he is goaded by the wound his pride and vanity have received from the insult; and in the second case by the fear of their being wounded, by the slights of his acquaintance, if he should refuse. In both cases self-love is the sole spring of his actions, and either he does not bestow a single thought upon others, so completely is he absorbed by thoughts of himself; or else, for argument sake, let us admit that he does indeed think of those who

have an interest in him, and of what they may suffer if he falls; perhaps he may contrast their sufferings with what he may himself endure from the sneers and slights of his associates, if he shrinks from a duel; and having so thought, so weighed, and so considered the matter, to whom does he give the preference? His wife? his children? parents? sisters? or betrothed? No! but to himself! and he determines to engage in the duel, regardless of what they may suffer by the result, so that he escapes the imputation of being devoid of proper spirit. Is this the love the gospel teaches, or the love of self, enjoined by the law of honour?

O, mistaken and infatuated man! whilst you aim at being thought a man of "high-souled honour,” as you are pleased to term it, not only are you the most selfish of human beings, but the most unfeeling, the most cruel, the most ungrateful; for by the untimely death, with all its train of evils, that too often follows your vicious course, you necessarily entail the greatest misery upon those very persons who loved you most. Reflect, too, deluded man, that this misery which you have so wantonly inflicted upon all that were once so near and dear to you, from the suddenness

of

your death in sin, admits of no alleviation from hope of happiness for you hereafter.

Of that awful event, sudden (or unprepared) death, from which, in the words of our beautiful Liturgy, the wisest and best of men fervently pray to be delivered, you voluntarily and rashly incur the risk; barred for ever, if (what you call) the chances are against you, from all hope of that "repentance," without which your Redeemer has expressly declared you shall perish. The wretched gambler, who reduces himself, in a single night, from affluence to beggary, and entails want and misery upon his wife and children, has far the advantage of you, for he, though ruined in this world, may, by the grace of God, be led to repentance and salvation. But the duellist gambles at most awful odds. If he survives, he may enjoy the praise of being a man of spirit; on the other hand, as no honour distinguishes the memory of a man for being shot in a duel, if he falls, his merit dies with him in this world; but, alas! to what a fearful reckoning must he be called in the next! The stake, then, for which he throws, is time against eternity; the approbation of man, for a brief season, against the wrath of God for ever!

It is evident, therefore, that the love of mankind enjoined by the gospel is altogether disregarded by the duellist; and a little further comparison will show that his practice has quite