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had given him no rest till he had made both restitution and confession, besides wholly changing his course of life.

The following beautiful extract from one of Lydia Maria Child's letters, exhibits in a very happy manner the doctrine we have been illustrating, and the way in which it can be enforced to the utmost extent of which the terms of Scripture admit, in perfect consistency with human reason and the Divine commands of Scripture :

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To-day," Miss Child observes, "is Christmas. From east to west, from north to south, men chant hymns of praise to the despised Nazarene, and kneel in worship before His Cross. How beautiful is this universal homage to the principle of love!-that feminine principle of the universe, the inmost centre of Christianity. It is the Divine idea which distinguishes it from all other religions, and yet the idea in which Christian nations evince so little faith, that one would think they kept only to swear by that gospel which says, 'Swear not at all.'

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"Centuries have passed, and through infinite conflict have ushered in our brief day;' and is there peace and good will among men ? Sincere faith in the words of Jesus would soon fulfil the prophecy which angels sung. But the world persists in saying, 'This doctrine of unqualified forgiveness and perfect love, though

beautiful and holy, cannot be carried into practice now; men are not prepared for it.' The same spirit says, ' It would not be safe to emancipate slaves; they must first be fitted for freedom.' As if slavery ever could fit men for freedom, or war ever lead the nations into peace? Yet men who gravely utter these excuses, laugh at the Ishallow wit of that timid mother who declared that her son should never venture into the water till he had learned to swim.

"Those who have dared to trust the principles of peace, have always found them perfectly safe. It can never prove otherwise, if accompanied by the declaration that such a course is the result of Christian principle, and a deep friendliness for humanity. Who seemed so little likely to understand such a position as the Indians of North America? Yet how readily they laid down tomahawks and scalping-knives at the feet of William Penn! With what humble sorrow they apologised for killing the only three Quakers they were ever known to attack! 'The men carried arms,' said they, and therefore we did not know they were not fighters. We thought they pretended to be Quakers, because they were cowards.' The savages of the East who murdered Lyman and Munson made the same excuse. 'They carried arms,' said they, and so we supposed they were not Christian missionaries but enemies. We would have done them no harm, if we had known they were men of God.'

"If a nation could but attain to such high wisdom as to abjure war, and proclaim to all the earth, ‘We will not fight under any provocation; if other nations have aught against us, we will settle the question by umpires mutually chosen ;' think you that any nation would dare to make war upon such a people? Nay, verily, they would be instinctively ashamed of such an act, as men are now ashamed to attack a woman or a child. Even if any were found mean enough to pursue such a course, the whole civilized world would cry fie upon them, and by universal consent brand them as poltroons and assassins. And assassins they would be, even in the common acceptation of the term. I have read of a certain regiment ordered to march into a small town (in the Tyrol, I think), and take it. It chanced that the place was settled by a colony who believed the gospel of Christ, and proved their faith by works. A courier from a neighbouring village informed them that troops were advancing to take the town. They quietly answered,' If they will take it, they must.' Soldiers soon came riding in with colours flying, and fifes piping their shrill defiance. They looked round for an enemy, and saw the farmer at his plough, the blacksmith at his anvil, and the women at their churns and spinning-wheels. Babies crowd to hear the music, and boys ran out to see the pretty trains, with feathers and bright buttons, 'the harlequins of the nineteenth century.' Of course, none of these were in a proper position

to be shot at.
'We have none,' was the brief reply.

'Where are your soldiers?' they asked.
But we have

come to take the town.' 'Well, friends, it lies before you.' 'But is there nobody here to fight?' 'No; we are all Christians.' Here was an emergency altogether unprovided for by the military schools. This was a sort of resistance which no bullet could hit ; a fortress perfectly bomb-proof. The commander was perplexed. 'If there is nobody to fight with, of course we cannot fight,' said he. 'It is impossible to take such a town as this.' So he ordered the horses' heads to be turned about, and they carried the human animals out of the village as guiltless as they entered, and perchance somewhat wiser.

"This experiment on a small scale indicates how easy it would be to dispense with armies and navies, if men only had faith in the religion they profess to believe. When France lately reduced her army, England immediately did the same; for the existence of one army creates the necessity of another, unless men are safely ensconced in the bomb-proof fortress above mentioned."

No class of professing Christians have practically carried out the principle of peace and good will, even to enemies, further than the Quakers have done; but its effect is apparent in the general recognition of their consistent spirit. Men of the world may smile at some

of their peculiarities, but they are compelled to own that in cases of trial their principles have been found to stand the severest tests. These principles of peace and good will were never put to a severer trial than during the memorable Irish rebellion in 1798 :—

"During that terrible conflict, the Irish Quakers were continually between two fires. The Protestant party viewed them with suspicion and dislike, because they refused to fight or pay military taxes; and the fierce multitude of insurgents deemed it sufficient cause of death that they would neither profess belief in the Catholic religion nor help them to fight for Irish freedom. Victory alternated between the two contending parties; and, as usual in civil war, the victors made almost indiscriminate havoc of those who did not march under their banners. It was a perilous time for all men; but the Quakers alone were liable to a raking fire from both sides. Foreseeing calamity, they had, nearly two years before the war broke out, publicly destroyed all their guns and other weapons used for game. But this pledge of pacific intentions was not sufficient to satisfy the Government, which required warlike assistance at their hands. Threats and insults were heaped upon them from all quarters; but they steadfastly adhered to their resolution of doing good to both parties, and harm to neither. Their houses were filled with widows and orphans, with the sick, the wounded, and the dying, belonging both to the loyalists

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