19. "It shall be delivered there, safe," said the executioner "Of what, do you think, did that poor girl die ?" asked a spectator from his companion, as they went out. "Of fright, I fancy," he replied. "Of Christian modesty," interposed a stranger, who passed them. 27. PEACE TRIBUNALS. ARCHBISHOP KENRIOK. FRANCIS PATRICK KENRICK, D. D., archbishop of Baltimore, was born in Dublin, in 1797. In biblical and theological learning, he has no superior among the hierarchy of the Church. His "Dogmatic Theology and Primacy of the Apostolic See," and others of his voluminous works, are everywhere received as standard authorities. His greatest work, however, is his Translation of the Holy Bible, with notes and comments. It is worthy of remark that the brother of this eminent prelate is Archbishop of St. Louis, and has also written some works of merit. 1. PHILANTHROPISTS often speculate on the propriety of establishing a peace tribunal, to settle, without the proud control of fierce and bloody war, the various controversies which may arise among nations; yet they seldom reflect that such a tribunal existed in the middle ages, in the person of the sovereign pontiff. The warlike spirit of the northern barbarians, which still survived in their descendants, should be understood in order to fully appreciate the services which the popes in restraining it rendered to society. 2. Their efforts were not always successful, but their merit was not, on that account, the less in endeavoring to stem the torrent of human passion; and their success was sufficient to entitle them to the praise of having effectually labored to substitute moral and religious influence for brute force. 3. As ministers of the Prince of Peace, they often interposed spontaneously, and with arms powerful before God, opposed the marauders who rushed forward to shed human blood. The fathers of the Council of Rheims, in 1119, under the presidency of Calistus II., were engaged in ecclesiastical deliberations, when the pontiff communicated to them over. tures of peace which had reached him from Henry V. 4. He informed them that he must repair to the place which the emperor had appointed for an interview, promising to return and close the Council. "Afterwards," said he, "I shall wait on the King of England, my godchild and relative, and exhort him, Count Theobald his nephew, and others who are at variance, to come to a reconciliation, that each, for the love of God, may do justice to the other, and according to the law of God, all of them being pacified, may abandon war, and with their subjects enjoy the security of perfect peace." 5. Leibnitz regarded this mediatorial office of the pope as one among the most beautiful evidences of Christian influence on society, and expressed the desire, which, however, he did not hope to see realized, that a peace tribunal were established anew at Rome, with the Pontiff as its president, that the controversies of princes, and the internal dissension of nations might, by the mild influence of religion, be decided without bloodshed. "Since we are allowed to indulge fancy," said he, "why should we not cherish an idea that would renew among as the golden age ?" 28. SONG OF THE UNION. CUMMINGS. REVEREND DR. CUMMINGS, the learned and accomplished pastor of St. Stephen's Church, New York, has, in his leisure moments, contributed to the polite literature of the day, both in prose and poetry. Many of his poons are real gems; such as prove the author, had he devoted himself to poetry, might have taken the first rank among the poets of his country.— Dr. Bronson. 1. ERE peace and freedom, hand in hand, And make it their abode, It was the footstool of a throne; 2. Americans uprose in might, And triumph'd in the unequal fight, Union the magic battle-cry, That hurl'd the tyrant from on high, 8. That word since then hath shone on high, It is our country's name! What impious hand shall rashly dare 4. The spirits of the heroic dead, 5. From vast Niagara's gurgling roar From east to western wave, 6. The God of nations, in whose name Will bless our fond endeavor To dwell as brethren here below; 29. THE SPIRIT OF THE AGE. CUMMINGS. 1. A WONDERFUL genius is this Spirit of the Age! No mat ter how true or how much needed a maxim may be, one is re minded of the danger he incurs in uttering it, by the awful warning that it is not in accordance with the Spirit of the Age. The Spirit of the Age knows all things, and has an opinion to express on all subjects-past, present, or future. It is a thousand pities that so learned a spirit can never bo tangibly taken hold of and made to speak for himself. But, like certain other spirits, though always busy at work, he is never scen, and though quoted by everybody, never speaks himself. Still, as we do not bear him unlimited veneration, we take the liberty sometimes to bring him fairly before us, in the form we imagine his vague and unsettled nature would choose, were he to become visible. 2. In these instances the great Genius presents himself adorned with a face very much like that of an ape, for his speech imitates wisdom and truth precisely as a monkey imitates a man. The body, half human and half Satanic, winds off in a serpentine manner, emblematic of the crookedness of his philosophy. On his head, in lieu of the Socratic bays, we discern a little Red Republican cap dashed slightly on one side, to make him look interesting; under his arm he carries a wonderful dictionary, compiled from the leading socialist, progressive, ultra-democratic periodicals of the day. 3. From this book of wisdom, the obliging Genius answers, without stopping to take breath, all the possible difficulties of every art, science, and creed, in a manner which would put all the gray-beard philosophy of olden times to the blush. Nothing is too high or too profound for him. Yet, to tell the truth, whenever he affirms a thing, we have a shrewd suspicion that he knows he ought to deny it; and whenever we hear him cry loudly for a measure as good, we feel pretty sure that secretly he understands it to be an evil. 4. What he says may often seem plausible enough, but we prefer to look at his professions more searchingly, and discover what he means. Thus, for example, when he opens his die tionary at the word Liberty, and reads a brilliant passage descriptive of its greatness and glory, we marvel at his keeping a serious face, and suspect that, were he to state honestly what he means, it would sound very much in this fashion: "Gentle men, Liberty means leave for me to pick your pocket, and for vou-not to complain." 5. He turns over a leaf of his book, and tells us of the phil osoply of his enlightened school. We translate his definition of philosophy, and it avers that philosophy is the art of prov ing that two and two, not unfrequently, make five; that black in many cases looks exceedingly like white, and that persons who wish to preserve their countenances from being burnt by the sun ought to wear a thick veil, especially at twelve o'clock at night. Does the Genius speak of the upwardness of modern progress? Then, to our understanding, he means that progress is a faithful imitation of the motion of a crab going down hill. He descants upon the comforts of equality. 6. Understood as he means it, no matter what he may say, equality consists in the very pleasant process of cutting off the heads of the tall men, and in pulling out the small men, as one might do a spy-glass, so that both become of a size. And when he searches his dictionary to give us the true meaning of his favorite word, Fraternity, his warm description of the peace which it produces puts us in mind of the famous Kilkenny cats, who fought until they had eaten each other up, all except the tips of their respective tails, which they still wagged in token of defiance. 7. Guided by this key to the true meaning of the learned Genius of the Age, we look to him for an answer to the questions proposed higher up, and we have no doubt that his true view of the case would embody itself in solutions equivalent to the following: "Religion and society," he would say, "are two orders, one opposed to the other. Religion was made, of course, by the Almighty; it begins at the altar, ends at the holy-water font at the door, and is bounded by the four walls of the church. The period of its duration is from Sun day morning until Sunday evening. Society was invented by the Devil, and it rules the week from Monday morning unti. Saturday night. Business, politics, and amusements, are things that lie beyond the verge of morality, and the control of religion. He who pretends to be religious anywhere but inside of the church is a bigot, a hypocrite, a man of the Dark Ages; and he who outside of the church suits his convenience by cunningly cheating, smoothly lying-playing, in short, the |