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was lying, wrapped up, half dead, in a mat. By eme ploying proper means she was however restored to life."

We read, in different works, both ancient and modern, that many nations, in various parts of the world, have killed men, not on account of famine, but of the delicious taste of human flesh, which they not only fed on but publicly sold.

That people eat their deceased relations, by way of shewing them honour, seems to be as romantic as it is repugnant to nature; yet there are many authors, from Herodotus, the father of history, down to modern times, who assert that this practice has prevailed among various nations.

"There is a law in Cochinchina, that all rebels, when convicted, shall be executed, and that their flesh shall be devoured by the king's loyal subjects, and, in particular, by those who are nearest his person. At the time I resided in that country several executions of this kind took place. The men were beheaded, but the women were stabbed. After the execution, the soldiers who guarded the palace, flocked around the bodies, and each cutting off with a pocket knife, a small piece, dipped it in the juice of an unripe lemon, and in that manner swallowed it. But as the size of the morsel is not determined by the law, and as most of the people have an aversion to such food, many suffer the bit of flesh to drop through their fingers and swallow only the lemon.

"At the time when the Cochinese were at war a gainst the Mois, a people who inhabit the mountains to the west, and who often make incursions into their territories, the Cochinese general marched with an army towards the mountains; but as he was not a ble to get at the enemy, on account of their inacces

sible situation, he ordered two prisoners, whom he had taken, to be put to death, and their flesh to be devour. ed by his soldiers.

"In the year 1777, being on board an English ship of war in Turon harbour, in order to return from Cochinchina to Europe, a party arrived there who had joined a powerful rebel named Nhae. This leader and his party had taken some of the king's confidental friends, and one in particular who had formerly done him a great deal of injury. The latter they put to death; and in order to gratify their revenge, they tore out his liver and ate it. The Cochinchi nese, in general, when violently incensed against any one, are accustomed to express a wish that they may be able to devour his liver or his flesh."

Where is human reason and humanity when inclination is unrestrained? It is evident there is no bounds to the tyranny of man. He lords it equally over his own kind and over those he denominates brutes. Nay, there are of the race of man, who exhibit human flesh as a marketable commodity. See "Modern Universal History," vol. 16 passim, but particularly pages 350, 448.

WAR is the butchery of man by man; a prac tice in direct opposition to the plainest principles and and express precepts of Christ. It were loss of time to produce quotations. The whole tenor of the doc trines of the New Testament inculcate love, charity, forbearance, meekness, gentleness, and good will. It is only by outrages against all that is delightful in social converse, and beautiful in moral and divine principle, that the heavenly doctrines of our Saviour are perverted and destroyed. Scenes of brutality, drunkenness and gambling are deemed the proper seminaries for those qualities which distinguish the soldier.

If men will shoot and kill each other, or if they will hack and hew one another to pieces, they cannot be christians, nor can their employers be christians. Christianity inculcates the very reverse. What custom of the most barbarous nations is more repugnant to the feelings of piety, humanity, and justice, than that of deciding controversies between nations by the edge of the sword, by powder and ball, or the point of the bayonet? What other savage custom has occasioned half the desolation and misery to the human race? And what but the grossest infatuation, could render such a custom popular among rational beings?

A war between two nations is generally produced by a small number of ambitious, unthinking, or unprincipled individuals; while the great majority of the nation have no voice in the measure. The more people are enlightened, the greater is their aversion

to war.

Duelling is a horrible custom, but war is much more horrible, as it is more desolating and ruinous. War is a species of national duelling, attended by this dishonourable circumstance, that those who give and accept the challenge, call together a multitude of seconds, to whom they pay money to do their business, having not the magnanimity to risk their own. lives, but involve their seconds in a bloody contest, while they stand remote from danger, as spectators, or directors of the awful combat; or, probably, after issuing their bloody mandate, they indulge in their accustomed pleasures, totally regardless of the sufferings of others.

War does not decide the justice of any question. It only determines which party is the most ferocious and savage. Virtuous but weak nations, have been

reduced to the greatest subjection, without even a charge of offence or injury. War-makers thus resemble the wild beasts of the forests, who devour the innocent and unoffending.

"The profession of a soldier is in all respects, so contrary to every principle of reason and justice, that it admits of no vindication. Power has sanctioned it, but nothing can change the eternal nature of things, and make the murder of innocent victims either just or honourable; for in every instance, in which war has been undertaken, the men, who, by their ambition and intrigues, have pushed things to extremities, have decided the contest by means of those who were innocent of the quarrel, and finally unconcerned in the event; by men whom ignorance or necessity had compelled to be their dupes, and to betake themselves to fighting, because they were vicious, or indolent, or could find no other employment. Let any man coolly and impartially examine the history of the past and the present times, and say, whether every dispute between nations might not have been settled by negociations, if the parties had been disposed to listen to common sense, to reason, and justice; and whether every thing should not be resorted to, rather than force; for whoever is the cause of shedding man's blood, except positively to save his own life, is guilty of murder. The fact, however, is, that man. kind have been so long accustomed to this barbarous mode of decision, that they think not of any other. Yet, notwithstanding the force of custom, the appearance of necessity, the sanction of time, the power of example, the danger of delay, the strength of our enemies, and the urgency of the case, no war can be justified by that party which has not exhausted every means of conciliation, and proposed every scheme of

settling differences, without resorting to the sword. To what purpose is it to educate a young man in the principles of generosity and humanity; to make him accomplished, enlightened, and virtuous; and to give him ideas of philanthrophy, benevolence, and affection for his species, if they are all to be obliterated by the horrible inconsistency of making him a licensed robber, or a murderer by profession? Such an education ought to tend rather to banish the sentiments of hatred and hostility, and enforce those of peace and benevolence; for surely all these things are not requisite to murder with greater dexterity, or destroy an enemy with a surer and more certain aim. The end of such an education is inconsistent with it's principles; and while the profession of a soldier continues in society, let those, who are intended for it, remain, as they ought to be, savage, ignorant, and uncivilized, for while wars continue, civilization is not complete."-Burdon's Materials for Thinking, p. 264.

Philo, speaking of the Christians of his own time, says, "None can be found among them who manufacture darts, arrows, swords, helmets, breast-plates, nor even such weapons as might be converted to bad purposes in the time of peace; much less do any of them engage in those arts which are useful in war.” It is evident, then, nay the conviction compels us to acknowledge the fact, that the people who now assume the name of Christians, are generally impostors, possessing scarcely any thing of the spirit and practice of christianity; nor do some of those professors stop here, they are profound hypocrites; "they profess to know God but in their works deny him.”

"A highwayman is as much a robber, when he plun.. ders in a gang, as when single; and a nation, which

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