and sacrifice which emblazon the annals of Greece and Rome; to the fulminations of Demosthenes and the splendors of Tully; to the sweet verse of Virgil and the poetic prose of Livy. Fain would I offer my tribute to the new literature, which shot up in modern times as a vigorous forest from the burnt site of ancient woods; to the passionate song of the Troubadour of France, and the Minnesinger of Germany; to the thrilling ballads of Spain, and the delicate music of the Italian lyre. But from all these has breathed the breath of War, that has swept the heart-strings of the thronging generations of men!

And when the youth becomes a man, his country invites his services in War, and holds before his bewildered imagination the prizes of worldly Honor. For him is the pen of the historian and the verse of the poet. His soul is taught to swell at the thought that he also is a soldier; that his name shall be entered on the list of those who have borne arms in the cause of their country; and perhaps he dreams that he too may sleep, like the Great Captain of Spain, with a hundred trophies over his grave. The law of the land throws its sanction over this madness. But the contagion spreads beyond those bands on whom is imposed any positive obligation. Respectable citizens volunteer to look like soldiers, and to affect in dress, in arms, and deportment, what is called "the pride, pomp, and circumstance of glorious war." The ear-piercing fife has to-day filled our streets, and we have come together to this Church on this National Sabbath, by the thump of drum and with the parade of bristling bayonets.

It is not strange, then, that the Spirit of War still

finds a home among us; nor that its Honors continue to be regarded. All this may seem to give point to the bitter philosophy of Hobbes, who held, that the natural state of mankind was war, and to sustain the exulting language of the soldier in our own day, who has said, "War is the condition of this world. From man to the smallest insect, all are at strife, and the glory of arms, which cannot be obtained without the exercise of honor, fortitude, courage, obedience, modesty, and temperance, excites the brave man's patriotism, and is a chastening correction of the rich man's pride."

Alas! in the existing relations of nations, the infidel philosopher, and the rhetorical soldier find too much support for a theory which slanders human nature, and insults the goodness of God. It is true that there are impulses in us, which unhappily tend to strife. There are propensities, that we have in common with the beasts, which, if not kept in subordination to what in man is human, or, perhaps, divine - if not directed to labors of justice and beneficence will break forth in acts of outrage. In all these we discern the predominance of the animal qualities. Hence come wars and fightings and the false glory which crowns such barbarism. But the Christian elevation of nations, as of individuals, may well be determined by the extent to which these evil dispositions are restrained. Nor does the Christian teacher ever perform his high office more truly than when, recognizing the supremacy of the moral and intellectual faculties, he calls upon nations, as upon individuals, to declare independence of the bestial

* Napier, Penins. War, VI. 688.

propensities, to abolish or abandon all those practices and customs which are founded on these propensities, and in every way to beat down the profane spirit which provokes to strife. But in making this appeal, he will be startled by the fact, as discreditable as it is important, that, while the municipal law of each Christian state discarding the Arbitrament of Force - provides a judicial tribunal for the determination of controversies between individuals, the International Law expressly establishes the Arbitrament of War for the determination of controversies between nations.

Here, then, in unfolding the True Grandeur of Nations, we encounter a practice or custom, sanctioned by the Law of Nations, and constituting a part of that law, which exists in defiance of all those principles of morals and religion which regulate the conduct of individuals. If it is wrong and inglorious in individuals to consent and agree to determine their petty controversies by combat, it must be equally wrong and inglorious for nations to consent and agree to determine their vaster controversies by combat. Here is a positive, precise, and specific evil, of gigantic proportions - inconsistent with all that is truly honorable-making within the sphere of its influence all True Grandeur impossible — which does not proceed from any uncontrollable impulses of our nature, but is expressly established and organized by law. To this Evil I ask your best attention.

As all citizens are parties to the municipal law, and are responsible for its institutions, so are all the Christian nations parties to the International Law, and

responsible for its provisions. By recognizing these provisions, nations consent and agree beforehand to the Arbitrament of War, precisely as citizens, by recognizing the Trial by Jury, consent and agree beforehand to this tribunal. And as to understand the true nature of the Trial by Jury, we first repair to the municipal law by which it is established; so to understand the true nature of the Arbitrament of War, we must first repair to the Law of Nations.

Writers, of transcendent genius and learning have defined this Arbitrament, and laid down the rules by which it is governed, constituting a complex code with innumerable subtle provisions, regulating the resort to it, and the manner in which it shall be conducted, called the Laws of War. In these quarters let us catch our first authentic glimpse of its folly and wickedness. War is called by Lord Bacon, "One of the highest Trials of Right, when princes and states that acknowledge no superior upon earth, shall put themselves upon the justice of God for the deciding of their controversies by such success as it shall please Him to give on either side." (Works, Vol. III. p. 40.) This definition of the English philosopher has been adopted by the American jurist, Chancellor Kent, in his authoritative Commentaries on American Law, (Vol. I. p. 46.) The Swiss professor Vattel, whose work is regarded as an important depository of the Law of Nations, defines War as “that state in which we prosecute our rights by Force." (Book III. ch. 1, § 1.) In this he very nearly follows the eminent Dutch authority Bynkershoek, who says: Bellum est eorum, qui suæ potestatis sunt, juris sui persequendi ergo, concertatio per vim vel dolum.

(Quæst. Jur. Pub. Lib. I. ch. 6.) Mr. Whewell, who has done so much to illustrate philosophy in all its departments, says, in his recent work on the elements of Morality and Polity, "Though War is appealed to, because there is no other ULTIMATE TRIBUNAL to which states can have recourse, it is appealed to for justice." (Vol. II. § 1146.) And in our country, Mr. Lieber says, in a work abounding in learning and sagacious thought, (Political Ethics, Vol. II. 643,) that War is a mode of obtaining rights, a definition which hardly differs in form from that of Vattel and Bynkershoek.

In harmony with these definitions, let me define the Evil which I now arraign. War is a public armed contest between nations, under the sanction of International Law, in order to establish JUSTICE between them; as, for instance, to determine a disputed boundary line, or the title to territory.

This definition, it will be at once perceived, is confined to contests between nations. It is restrained to international War. It carefully excludes the question, so often agitated, of the right of revolution, and that other question, on which the friends of Peace sometimes differ, the right of personal self-defence. It does not in any way involve the question, of the right to employ force in the administration of justice, or in the conservation of domestic quiet.

It is true that the term defensive is always applied to Wars in our day. And it is creditable to the moral sense of nations, that they feel constrained to allege this seeming excuse, although its absurdity is openly attested by the fact, that it is advanced equally by each