Of this tempestuous state of human things,
Is merely as the working of a sea

Before a calm, that rocks itself to rest:

For He, whose car the winds are, and the clouds,
The dust that waits upon his sultry march,
When sin hath mov'd him, and his wrath is hot,
Shall visit earth in mercy; shall descend
Propitious in his chariot pav'd with love;

And what his storms have blasted and defac'd
For man's revolt, shall with a smile repair.

LINES FROM COWPER.

But is it fit, or can it bear the shock
Of rational discussion, that a man,
Compounded and made up like other men,
Of elements tumultuous, in whom lust
And folly in as ample manner meet,
As in the bosoms of the slaves he rules,
Should be a despot absolute, and boast
Himself the only freeman of his land?
Should, when he pleases, and on whom he will,
Wage war, with any, or with no pretence
Of provocation given, or wrong sustain'd,
And force the beggarly last doit by means
That his own humour dictates, from the clutch
Of poverty, that thus he may procure
His thousands, weary of penurious life,
A splendid opportunity to die.

ENCOURAGING FACTS.

In addition to the noble stand taken by the Massachusetts Convention of Congregational Ministers, and the rapid and extensive circulation of peace pamphlets in our own country, we are enabled to state with confidence, that Peace sentiments are gaining ground in Great Britain. The subject has been taken up and

ably discussed in the Philanthropist, a quarterly periodical work published in London, and we have just received an animating Sermon, preached at Glasgow in January, 1816, on the subject of "Universal Peace." We may add, that, from private letters received in this country, there is reason to believe, that one Peace Society, if no more, has already been formed in England.

A JUST REFLECTION.

"WHEN will a sufficient number of instances have been recorded by the pen of history, of nations harressing each other by the outrages of war, and after years of havock and bloodshed, when exhausted by exertions beyond their natural strength, agreeing to forget the original subject of dispute, and mutually to resume the station which they occupied at the commencement of the contest? Were subjects wise, what would be their reflections when their rulers, after the most lavish waste of blood, coolly sit down and propose to each other the status quo ante bellum ?-Happy would it be, could the status quo be extended to the widow and the orphan, to the thousands and tens of thousands, who, in consequence of the hardships and accidents of war, are doomed to languish out the remnant of their lives in torment and decrepitude!"

Shepherd's life of Poggio Bracciolini, page 17.

Were it not for the general insanity which accompanies war, it would be reasonable to suppose, that after the sacrifice of several hundreds of millions of property, and "the most lavish waste of blood," the rulers of contending nations-unless they regard their subjects as idiots, would wish for some language less known than the Latin, in which "to propose to each other," and report to the world, "the status quo ante bellum." For those who understand the language, and are able and willing to reflect, may see, that when peace between two Christian nations is made on these terms, all the expense of blood and treasure goes for nothing, or for what an enlightened posterity will regard as absolutely worse than nothing-THE PRAISE OF BEING AS BRAVE TO FIGHT, As MaMOMETANS, OR PAGANS, OR SAVAGES.

THE END.

THE FRIEND OF PEACE.

No. VI.

PEACE SOCIETIES COMPARED WITH OTHER BENEVOLENT INSTI TUTIONS.

THIS is the age of benevolent institutions. No former period will bear any comparison with the present in respect to the origin and establishment of societies, adapted to the improvement of the character and the condition of the human family. Peace societies being of recent origin, their claims to publick regard and patronage have been perhaps but little considered. In comparing them with other institutions, it will not be my aim to disparage or to depreciate the value of any one that will be named. They are all regarded as of useful tendency, and as adapted to aid the cause of PEACE. Every institution which tends to the diffusion of useful knowledge, or to excite and cherish sympathetick, humane and benevolent affections, tends to the abolition of war, and to the establishment of peace on earth and good will among men. All benevolent institutions may be regarded as so many sisters, each having a distinct branch of duty to perform for the general good of the family. Like so many sisters of the same family, they should regard each other with complacency and affection, and study to be mutual helpers of each other's joy.

The Peace Society is one of the younger sisters; but when the part assigned her shall be duly considered, she

may be found to possess claims not inferiour to any of the elder members of the family.

HUMANE SOCIETIES.

"The Humane Society is justly considered as an association of philanthropists They evinee their benevolence in diffusing a knowledge of the best methods of resuscitating the drowned; in lighting up the beacon to mariners driven before the tempest; in reaching to the wreck the life boat, and in preparing shelter for the sailor cast on the desert island."---See Christian Disciple, vol. 3. p. 90.

These surely are benevolent objects. Probably hundreds of persons are now living, who are indebted for life, to the efforts of humane societies; and thousands of children have been born of parents who were snatched from the jaws of death by means which these societies devised and prescribed. But how small must be the number of lives which can be saved by the efforts of the Humane Societies, when compared with the number that will be saved by the exertions of Peace Societies, should their efforts be crowned with success! Should they succeed, they will probably save a far greater number from being drowned, than ever have been, or ever will be saved by the Humane Societies. What multitudes of our brethren have found their graves in the depths of the ocean by the sinking of ships in naval engagements. The Peace Societies will "evince their benevolence by diffusing a knowledge of the best methods" for preventing people from being thus hurried into eternity.

But the object of the Peace Society extends farther than merely to the saving of people from untimely death by drowning; it embraces the saving of men from perishing by the sword or the bayonet, by balls or shells, or by any other implements which human wickedness has invented, for the destruction of the human family. And surely it

cannot be either less important or less humane and benevolent, to devise means to save men from perishing by the hands of each other, than from perishing by the unavoida ble occurrences of providence.

SOCIETIES FOR THE SUPPRESSION OF INTEMPERANCE.

"We too," says the Society for Suppressing Intemperance, "by the aid of heaven, hope to resuscitate the dead; to restore the almost expiring felo-de-se to his family and friends. It is our office too to light up the beacon to those who are sailing on a deceitful sea, unconscious of their danger, and to furnish the life boat for their escape."

Here again the benevolent mind approves the object, and wishes success. But here also the Peace Society will lose. nothing by a comparison of claims. It comes forward in aid of the Society for Suppressing Intemperance, and proposes to abolish or to dry up one of the most prolifick sources of intemperance in drinking. But this is not all. It wishes to suppress another species of intemperance, which has destroyed its millions. The spirit of war is of an intemperate and intoxicating nature. It disposes men to hazard their own lives in the most desperate manner, in attempts to murder and destroy their brethren. No persons intoxicated with strong drink, ever acted the part of madmen more completely, than those do, who are intoxicated with the spirit of war. The Peace Society would not only save men from suicide, but from murdering their fellow beings; it would teach them not only to regard their own lives, but the lives of each other.

SOCIETIES FOR THE REFORMATION OF MORALS.

There are societies for the reformation of morals, whose objects extend to the suppression of other vices beside that of intemperance. The Peace Society cooperates with these, and proposes to abolish the publick "school of