slavery. So with war. Such men as Gardiner, Vicars and Havelock, Christian warriors, had probably never examined the subject much, if at all, before their conversion; and, trained through life to look upon soldiership as perfectly consistent with a Christian profession, they seem never to have examined it with any special care in the light of the gospel. They took it for granted that it was proper for them, as Christians, to continue in their business as warriors, just as slave traders once did in theirs, and as slaveholders still do in our own country. It is clear, then, that the conversion of men does not supersede the necessity of social reforms, but merely prepares them for such reforms. If the convert had been addicted to practices confessedly unchristian, he must of course abandon them; but he is expected to continue those which the Christian community regard as consistent with the gospel. Mere conversion insures at once no social reforms, but leaves untouched, whether right or wrong, all the reputable usages of society. If a slaveholder or slave-trader, a rum-seller or a rum-drinker, a warrior, a duelist, or a polygamist, the convert is wont, if such practices are deemed compatible with a Christian profession, to continue in these respects what he was before his conversion. His religion changes nothing which it treats as right; and hence the conversion of every man on earth would not do away any custom, like that of war, slavery or polygamy, without a direct, specific application of the gospel to the case. Thus conversion accomplishes of itself no social reform, but opens the way, and furnishes agents and means, for all such reforms. BIOGRAPHIES OF MILITARY CHRISTIANS. It seems that we are likely to have a perfect avalanche of these biographies. That of Capt. Vicars was so popular, and had so wide and ready sale, that publishers are in fair way of flooding the community with these specimens of "fighting Christians." Next came Capt. Hammond, another devout man of blood from the Crimea, one of the many victims before the Redan; and now we find a life, or rather eulogy in a volume, of Gen. Havelock, prepared in eager haste to meet an impatient demand of the public, before the materials for a full and careful biography can be procured. Of this last book, we are told that thirty thousand copies were taken up at once by the trade, in England alone! and, if this be any fair index to the popular demand, we must expect to see such memoirs of our modern Cromwells in most of our Christian parlors, and in all our Sabbath School libraries, to train the rising generation of Christians in admiration of war and warriors. What an illustration of the sermon on the mount! What a comment on the song of the angels at the birth of the Prince of Peace! What a prelude to that millennial era, when nations shall beat their swords into plowshares, and learn war no more!' We cannot well conceive a surer proof of the war-degeneracy of the Christian community; a proof all the more sure and striking from the fact that hardly one Christian in ten suspects there is really anything wrong in it, and nearly all our Christian papers are eager and earnest in extolling these military saints as fine models of Christian character! It seems that they have not yet thought enough on the subject, to see or even suspect the inconsistency. If the biography of some devout duellist, or godly slave-trader, or pious dealer in alcoholic drinks, were thus commended to general circulation, they would at once be shocked at the incongruity; but the mass of Christians have so long been used to look upon the warrior's trade of blood as compatible with our religion of Peace, that the surprise now seems to be that anybody should doubt its entire compatibility! We are glad, however, to find, now and then, some proof that the public mind is not entirely insensible to the inconsistency of a fighting Christian, a Christian warrior. "It seems strange," says one of our religious papers, in noticing Hammond's memoirs, "to have presented before us, as a model of piety, a man actually engaged in murderous war! The last thing seen of him was cutting down several of the enemy with the sword. Is this the way a Christian should die ?" Sure enough; yet it was just the way in which the devout Vicars died- - in the act of killing as many of his enemies as he could. Was this like Christ? Yet is this the business, the duty, the glory of the Christian soldier; the very thing for which Vicars is lauded to the skies by his bellicose biographer. Another religious paper, after commending Hammond's biography as "pervaded with an evangelical spirit," says, in a tone that sounds very like sarcasm, "such a narrative, showing how godliness is sustained in an army, and in the midst of battles, has something of the same sort of interest with the miracle of the living men in the fiery furnace." Such Zabdiels in the army or the navy, are very "few and far between ;" and in a few years of actual war, they would nearly all die off, and leave the whole infernal business of war in the hands where alone it properly belongs. FUNDS. We need not apprize our friends, that in such times as these we are in very pressing need of their aid. We thank a goodly number of them for their kind remembrance of our wants; but so many of our resources have failed, that we hope those who have purposed to help us, and not yet done it, will do so without delay. SPEAKER AT OUR ANNIVERSARY. Hon. GERRIT SMITH is engaged to deliver the Address before our Society at its approaching Anniversary. NOTICE. The American Peace Society will hold its twenty-ninth Anniversary in Park St. Church, Boston, Monday, May 24th. The business meeting at 3 P. M., and the public exercises at 7 P. M. WILLIAM C. BROWN, Recording Secretary. Boston, April 25, 1858. THE ADVOCATE OF PEACE, The Organ of the American Peace Society, published at 21 Cornhill, monthly, or a double number in two months, making a volume in two years, at $1.00, in advance. It is devoted to information and discussions respecting the Cause of Peace. Sent gratis to every member of the Society, and to any contributor of a single dollar or more, a year. PRINCIPAL PUBLICATIONS BY THE SOCIETY. 1. A Prize Essay on a Congress of Nations, 8vo., pp. 706. Few, if any for sale. $3.00 2. Ladd's Essay on a Congress of Nations, 8vo., pp. 196. A very valuable compend of the whole subject, 75 3. Book of Peace, 12mo., pp. 606. The Society's series of Tracts, bound. The richest thesaurus on the subject in the world....... 1 00 4. Peace Manual, by George C. Beckwith. 18mo., pp. 252. A very full epitome of the general subject................... 5. Manual of Peace, by Prof. T. C. Upham. 18mo., pp. 212. A gem of its kind, Hancock on Peace. 18mo., pp. 103, 6. The Right Way; a Premium Work on Peace, by Rev. Joseph A. Collier. 16mo., pp. 303. Issued by the American Tract Society as one of its Evangelical Family Library. A very judicious, instructive, and interesting work 12mo., pp. 310.. 50 7. Review of the Mexican War, by Hon. Wm. Jay. 12mo., pp. 333.... 10. The War-System of the Commonwealth of Nations, by Hon. Charles 11. Plea with Christians for the Cause of Peace. 8vo., pp. 32. ($2.50 per 100.) ....... 12. Stipulated Arbitration as a Substitute for War. 8vo. pp. 16.. 13. Duty of Ministers to the Cause of Peace. 8 vo., pp. 12..... Various Addresses before the Society, such as two by Judge Jay; by S. E. Coues, Esq., Andrew P. Peabody, D. D., Walter Channing, M. D., William H. Allen, M. D., LL. D., F. D. Huntington, D. D. Rev. A. L. Stone, Rev. R. W. Clarke. FORM OF BEQUEST.-I give and bequeath to the American Peace Society, incorporated by the Legislature of Massachusetts, in 1848, the sum of dollars, to be paid in months after my decease, for the purreceipt of its Treasurer, for the time pose of said Society, and for which the being, shall be a sufficient discharge. N. B. See that the will is drawn in the way, and attended by the number of witnesses required by the laws of your State, or your purpose may be defeated, as has often been the case. POSTAGE. -In Massachusetts, 3-4 a quarter, or 3 cents a year; elsewhere in the United States, double this. The Law allows no more. |