ands; till immorality has ceased to weaken the bonds
of social happiness, discontent to rankle in the bosom of the people,
and ambition to fire the breasts of kings, the world may expect ever
and anon to hear the voice of Joel sounding out this trumpet call,
"Prepare ye war; wake up the mighty men; let all the men of war draw
near--beat your ploughshares into swords and your pruning-hooks into
spears--put ye in the sickle, for the harvest is ripe."

Better days are coming--some think near at hand. Turning a seer's eye on
futurity, Isaiah descried them in the far distance--saw the reign of the
Prince of Peace--Jesus crowned King of kings and Lord of lords--swords
beaten into ploughshares and spears into pruning-hooks--every man,
whether at hall or cottage door, sitting under the shade of his vine
and fig-tree--the whole earth quiet, and at rest. And glad is the
Church, as, weary of strife and sin and sorrow, she looks up into the
darksome sky, and cries, Watchman, what of the night? to get a hopeful
response,--to catch any sign, in break, or blush, or gray gleam however
feeble, that seems to reply, The morning cometh! Come blessed morn,
come Prince of Peace--come Lord Jesus--come quickly! Let wars cease
unto the ends of the earth! Scatter Thou the people that delight in war.

The vision tarries, but come it shall. In answer to the cry of blood
that rises to heaven with a different voice from that of Abel's, peace
shall reign and wars shall cease. By the hands that men nailed to a
cross God will break the bow, the battle, and the spear--burning the
chariot in the fire. And though any peace which our age may enjoy
should be only a breathing-time, but a pause in the roar of the bloody
tempest, let us improve it to remedy all wrongs at home; to educate
our ignorant and neglected masses; to eradicate the vices that
disgrace and degrade our nation; to build up the Church wherever it
lies in ruins; to extend not so much Britain's empire as Christ's
kingdom abroad, and so hasten forward the happy time when the Song of
the Angels shall be echoed from every land, and the voices of the
skies of Bethlehem shall be lost in the grander, fuller, nobler chorus
of all nations, singing, Glory to God in the highest, peace on earth,
good will toward men!

_PART VI._

Though the last to be dropped into its place, the keystone is of all
the stones of an arch the first in importance; the others span no
flood, carry no weight, are o