"My friend was perfectly startled by this unvarnished representation of the profligacy of war. He said, 'How can I so long have remained ignorant of its true nature, and an advocate for its continuance ?" -It is not easy', replied Placidus, 'to estimate the lengths of absurdity into which prejudice, and a tame adoption of commonly-received opinions will carry

men.*

"One unsatisfied scruple remained on the mind of Victorius, springing from a consideration of the Divinely-appointed wars of the Jews. 'It is true,' said Placidus, the Almighty did, formerly, command the Jews to extirpate, by war, the Canaanitish nations. He, also, required Abraham to offer up his son, Isaac. If the Divine commission, once given to the Jews to fight against the Canaanites, constitute a scriptural sanction for the practice of war, in the present day, I think we may say, by parity of reasoning, that the Divinely-prescribed sacrifice of Isaac, authorizes fathers of modern times to offer up their sons in a similar way. The peculiarity of the circumstances, under which both commands were given, does, however, I conceive, limit their operation to the individųal, and nation, on whom they were imposed. When the Almighty commands us to fight, as He did the Jews, then (continued Placidus), both you and I, and our sons, and our sons' sons will become warriors. Till then, let us act in the spirit of that religion, which says, 'If thine enemy hunger, feed him; if he thirst, give him drink;' and, again, 'love (how different from destroying) your enemies;' 'do good to them that hate you; avenge not yourselves, but rather give place ùnto wrath;' and 'whosoever shall smite thee on the

* Can any thing more strikingly exemplify the power of custom to blind the mind, and harden the heart, than the fact, that, in some cases, the same men, who, very laudably, will not suffer the wanton destruction of an insect, would account it a praiseworthy, an heroic act to shoot a Frenchman.

right cheek, turn to him the other also.' 'Be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good.'

If any thing in the New Testament, seem to afford a reasonable pretext for war, it is, perhaps, the language of John the Baptist, to the soldiers who applied to him for direction.* Here, it may, at least, be said, that he does not reprobate the practice when, if he had thought it unlawful, a fair opportunity of expressing his opinion on the subject was afforded him; and, when, indeed, he seemed called on to do so, without disguise. But we are to recollect, that John had very indistinct views of the nature of the gospel dispensation; and, that he who is least in that dispensation, in point of knowledge, is greater than he.

......

You may feel disposed to say, that our Saviour's enjoining on his disciples the purchase of swords, at the moment of his approaching seizure ('now,.... he that hath no sword, let him ... buy one'), indicates his approbation of war. But, you must admit, that the utmost which can be fairly inferred from this is, that the Saviour allowed of self-defence, and permitted men, forcibly, to resist the unjust attacks of their neighbours. Admitting this to be the case (and, whether it were so, or not, I do not take upon me to decide), yet, what different things are wars, prosecuted on such grounds, from those in which our country commonly engages. Some of these, are wars of mere aggression; and the most plausible pretext urged in favour of others is, that they are carried on in support of what is called the balance of power.

"But, who hath made this or any other country the arbiter of the fate of nations? Who hath said, to you it is given to decide what portion of the habitable globe, shall fall to the lot of this people-what part of it shall be possessed by that? Who hath authorized us to say to all, or to any, violate that division

* Luke iii, 14.

of property, which we conceive to be the best; that is, which best answers our purposes, and best subserves, as we imagine, our interests, and we will desolate your plains, burn your cities, and destroy your population. Yes, we will devastate your land, though we cannot do this but at the expense of the blood of thousands of our countrymen, and, it may be, milli ons of our treasures. Christianity shall suffer the grossest outrage, rather than we will forego our imaginary claims; and, distant nations shall not be suffered to wage unholy warfare, without our taking part in the fray. Their relative power shall be such only as we please; and, they shall not extend that power without a sanguinary and vigorous effort on our part to prevent them.'-Such are the politics of the nineteenth century-such the system which professing Christians support, and in which they take a part!

"But, said Eugenius, "to return to the narrative, perhaps I need scarcely say, that the son of Victorius gathered no laurels in the field of Mars. Turning his views from the practice of the art of killing, to the study of the art of healing, he obtained a fair share of celebrity as a physician, in his native

town."

This narrative did not produce so favourable an effect on the mind of Martius, as his visitor had hoped it might do. He sent a second son to fight the battles of his country, as, by a great perversion of language, he was pleased to call them. He was not, however, in future, quite so fluent in sounding the praises of martial exploits; indeed, he never again ventured to introduce the subject, till he knew his company. In the very next campaign, the son, whose valour had delighted him, fell, whilst storming a town, and left behind him no evidence, that he died in the faith of Christ. His brother, after fourteen years hard fighting, retired on half-pay, with the loss of an arm and an eye; and, with a body broken down by

the various hardships of war. And, if, in his declining years, he became seriously disposed, which is said to have been the case, this only proves, that Divine Grace can overcome, even the despiritualizing effects of military connexions and operations.

"Of all the inconsistencies," said Eugenius, to his niece, when he arrived at home,-" of all the inconsistencies of which the modern professors of Christianity are guilty, none else, I think surprises me so very much, as that so large a proportion of them should agree to think the destruction of their fellow-creatures, under ANY circumstances but those of self-defence, lawful.

"An European military hero is only a North Amecan savage, with a sword and pistols instead of a hatchet and tomahawk; and, after all we hear of New Zealand ferocity, a British general, in active service, is employed in the same work as the South Sea chief, and the difference is only in the mode of executing that work. One performs it with all the destructive expedition which modern tactics have introduced into the science of murdering men; the other, with the more painful, but less widely-fatal clumsiness of barbarous warfare. The latter more slowly sends hundreds; the former rapidly dismisses thousands of his fellow-creatures into that eternity, for which they are so utterly unprepared; yet, the tongues-should I say of Christians-conspire to extol the prowess of the wholesale murderer; whilst they reprobate the comparatively harmless efforts of the savage warrior.

D

CHAPTER IV.

THE reader being now, in some degree, qualified to form a general idea of the character of Eugenius, shall next be made acquainted with a highly-valued friend of his, a Mr Wyberg, of Wyberg Hall. Mr W. was of German extraction. The family from which he was descended, had long lived in the Parish of Enfield; and, indeed, in part of the same house in which he now resided.

There was so strong a similarity between the characters of Eugenius and Mr Wyberg, that their com mon friends at he Rectory were accustomed to call the latter, Eugenius the second. Indeed, he had endeavoured to make the gentleman in question, his model.

In early life, Mr W. had been, in the courtly diction of the world, very gay; or, in his own more sober and correct language, very profligate. He had married a lady of genteel connexions, resident in the neighbourhood, and had, since his marriage, been so far irreproachable in his moral conduct, as to abstain from all gross vice. As his fortune was very large (about eight thousand pounds a-year), and his family genteel, he had ranked high amongst the neighbouring gentry, and there were few families of distinction within many miles, whom he did not visit.

Deeply impressed by the earnest and affectionate preaching of Mr Fenton, he had been led to see the insufficiency of that mere outward reform, which, in connexion with a decent attention to the external du