perform, that if the sovereign whom they do not yet know, and of whose virtues or abilities they are yet ignorant, only leaves a free scope to their wishes and expectations, he will always excite and satisfy the imagination. Let this idea increase your compassion for those numerous beings, who, from their ignorance and affecting simplicity, believe that kings can redress all their grievances; and let it preserve you from a premature pride. The only just opinion of us, is that which we leave behind; the only glory, that which remains attached to our memory. My task is now at an end, and you are going to begin yours: yes, a moment longer, and those courtiers who surround me will attend on you; a moment longer, and the drums of the guards will announce your accession, and all the splendour of the throne will be displayed before your eyes. Do not suffer yourself to be dazzled by these brilliant seductions of the supreme rank but more especially resist those wrong ideas of the greatness of kings, which ambitious or interested men will endeavour to inculcate in you: you will be rendered envious of the power of other nations, before you have time to be acquainted with your own; you will be urged to destroy their felicity, before you have time to reflect on the good you may do to your own subjects; you will be solicited to overturn the peace of the world, before you have secured the maintenance of order within your own kingdom; and you will be inspired with the desire of increasing your dominions, before you have even ascertained what cares and informations are necessary to govern with prudence the smallest of your provinces. Mistrust, alas! that variety of projects with which they endeavour to seduce the ambition and vanity of sovereigns, or to excite these passions in them. mistrust all those systems with which they attempt to make them forget, not only the limits of their faculties, but the shortness of their life, and every thing that they have in common with other men: stay by me a little longer, my son! to learn that the sovereign of a most powerful empire vanishes from the surface of the earth with less noise than a leaf that falls from the tree, or a light that is extinguished."

R. CLAY, PRINTER, BREAD-STREET-HILL.

Tract No. XII. of the Society for the Promotion`of
Permanent and Universal Peace.

AN

ESSAY ON WAR,

AV

ON ITS LAWFULNESS

UNDER

THE CHRISTIAN DISPENSATION.

BY

JOSEPH JOHN GURNEY.

STEREOTYPE edition.

London:

PRINTED BY R. CLAY, BREAD STREET HILL.

SOLD BY

THOMAS WARD & CO. PATERNOSTER ROW;

BY ALL OTHER BOOKSELLERS; AND

AT THE DEPOSITORY, 19, NEW BROAD STREET,

FINSBURY CIRCUS.

TRACTS OF THE PEACE SOCIETY,

To be had at THOMAS WARD & Co.'s Paternoster Row, and at the DEPOSITORY, 19, New Broad Street, Finsbury Circus.

IN OCTAVO.

No. I. A Solemn Review of the Custom of War.

II. War inconsistent with the Doctrine and Example of Jesus Christ, by John Scott, Esq.

III. An Essay on the Doctrine and Practice of the Early Christians as they relate to War, by Thomas Clarkson, Esq. M. A.

IV. Extracts from Erasmus.

V. Sketches of the Horrors of War, by Evan Rees

VI. On Universal Peace, by the Rev. David Bogue.

VII. Observations on the Applicability of the Pacific Principles of the New Testament to the Conduct of States, &c. by Jonathan Dymond. VIII. An Examination of the Principles which are considered to support the Practice of War, by a Lady.

IX. The Principles of Peace Exemplified in the Conduct of the Society of Friends in Ireland, during the Rebellion of the year 1798, with some Preliminary and Concluding Observations, by Thomas Hancock, M.D. In Three Parts.

X. Historical Illustrations of the Origin and Consequences of War, by the Author of Tract No. VIII., as above.

XI. Reflections on the Calamities of War, and the Superior Policy of Peace, translated from the French of a Treatise," On the Administration of the Finances of France," by M. Necker.

XII. An Essay on War, and on its Lawfulness under the Christian Dispensation, by Joseph John Gurney.

By the Author of "Select Female Biography," " Annals of my Village," &c.

No. I. Sketch of a Hospital Scene in Portugal.

II. Results of War, with Suggestions for an Amicable Settlement of National Disputes.

III. Sketch of the Miseries suffered by the Germans during the Seven Years' War, from 1756 to 1763.

IV. Peace Societies, and the Scenes which have occurred within the last Sixty Years, in Two Parts.

V. Account of the Massacre of Corcubion, with an appeal to English

Ladies.

VI. The Sights we have seen

Also "THE HERALD OF PEACE," published Quarterly, and to be had as above.

Every Annual Subscriber of 10s. 6d. and upwards, may, within the year, receive in return, Tracts to the amount of one half of his Subscription, on application at the Office. And Country Subscribers are requested to give he Address of some person in London to whom they may be sent.