ceased: its ravages have been unknown since the principles of the Bible have prevailed among them. The last pulpit, that I ascended in the Society Islands, was at Rurutu, where the rails connected with the pulpit stairs were formed of warriors' spears."

The inspired prophets, of ancient times, foretold that the time should come, when swords should be converted to plough-shares, and spears to pruning-hooks-when the implements of war, no longer used for slaughter, should be used to till the ground- as has been actually the case in these Islands: but that "warriors' spears" should be used as a material, in constructing a temple for the worship of God, seems indeed to exceed the promise.

Has the christian religion effected any such changes in Europe? No. We find, indeed, warriors' spears in the temple of the God of Peace; but we find them placed there, not as useless instruments of war, converted to a useful purpose, but as proud trophies of war - as an insult to the feelings of other nations, in time of peace, and engendering that martial pride and vain glory on one side, and that mortified pride, rancor and animosity on the other, which are the fruitful sources of war.

When swarms of Goths and Vandals, from the "northern hive," overran the christian world, christianity was already corrupted, and these barbarians were converted to the christian faith, more by accommodating that faith to the customs of the worshippers of Odin and Thor, than by preaching the Gospel of Peace in its purity.

A long age of darkness succeeded, when war was the order of the day; and when the light of the Reformation dawned on a benighted world, it could not have been expected, that all the shadows would at once flee away. We derived our religion from our ancestors, rather than, like the islanders of the Pacific, from the gospel, and of course we have inherited their prejudices; but we have been gradually going on in reformation, and we have reason to hope, that that reformation will progress, until the purity of the

1

THE PULPIT STAIRS OF

RURUTU.

243

first professors of christianity shall prevail over the whole earth, and the custom of war be abolished along with slavery

and popery.

In view of these facts, what ought to be the reflections of professing christians, in this favored land? How are their virtues eclipsed by these tawny sons of the "farthermost isles!" Is the gospel preached to us in its purity? If so, why not the same results? Why this hum of busy preparation for war? Why, in time of profound peace, do we see christians—yes, professors - buckling on their armor, and perhaps spending the Sabbath eve in preparation for the Monday's muster? Some in regimentals and with arms, passed my house on the Sabbath for the muster-field - but these could hardly be christians.

If, indeed, we believe like some, that men are without souls, and that they perish like the horses, that rush with them into the deadly conflict, we might console ourselves with the reflection, that their sufferings are soon to end, and therefore to effect a pacific change, is hardly worth the effort. Or if we believe that mankind are not moral agents, and that they are hurried on by a fatal necessity to blood and slaughter, that their carcasses may feed the vulture and the wolf, we might despair of effecting a change.

Or if we thought, that warriors, while agitated by all the most direful passions, and those passions heightened into madness by the intoxicating draught of mixed rum and gun-powder - which, worse than the fabled cup of Circe, transforms them not into brutes merely, but into devilsand breathing out revenge and wrath, and dealing death and destruction—in this state, while their bodies are shivered to atoms by the bursting of a bomb, or flung into the air by the springing of a mine, their souls ascend to the blissful seats of paradise, to enjoy the smiles of that God who is love, and to hear the joyful sentence of "Come ye blessed of my Father;" and so, at once, be transformed into angels of light. I say, were these our sentiments, we might glory in war as the noblest employment of man,

kindly hastening his fellow creatures to eternal happiness; and might imagine, that God had set the Devil to do the work of Gabriel that a battle was the harvest of Heaven, and the reaping of it committed to Moloch.

LINES.

BY OLIVER W. B. PEABODY.

O WHO that has gazed, in the stillness of even,
On the fast fading hues of the west,

Has seen not afar, in the bosom of heaven,
Some bright little mansion of rest,

And mourned that the path to a region so fair
Should be shrouded with sadness and fears;

That the night-winds of sorrow, misfortune and care,
Should sweep from the deep rolling waves of despair,
To darken this cold world of tears?

And who that has gazed has not longed for the hour When misfortune forever shall cease;

And hope, like the rainbow, unfold through the shower
Her bright-written promise of peace?

And O, if that rainbow of promise may shine
On the last scene of life's wintry gloom,
May its light in the moment of parting be mine;
I ask but one ray from a source so divine,
To brighten the vale of the tomb.

21*

PASSAGES IN HISTORY OF NEW-HAMPSHIRE.

BY SALMA HALE.

IN 1682 Edward Cranfield was appointed lieutenantgovernor. He was to receive for his compensation, all the fines and forfeitures due and accruing to the king, and one fifth of all the rents due and accruing to Mason. He was authorized, by his commission, to negative all acts of the assembly, to suspend councillors, and to appoint a deputygovernor and all colonial officers. He did not hesitate to avow that he accepted the office with the expectation of enriching himself.

On his arrival, in 1682, he suspended two councillors, Waldron and Martyn, who had been active in opposing Mason; and in a short time, by new appointments, filled all the offices with his adherents. Mason then brought a suit against Waldron, to try the validity of his title. Waldron made no defence, and judgment was rendered against him. Many other suits were brought; no defence was made; executions were issued, but only two or three were levied, and these levies were ineffectual, for no one would purchase or take a lease of the lands, and the former claimants continued to enjoy them.

The tyranny and extortion of Cranfield and his subordinates goaded the people to desperation; and they secretly sent an agent, Nathaniel Weare, to England with petitions for his removal. Major Vaughan accompanied him to Boston; and, it being known that he had been employed to procure depositions to be forwarded to the agent in Lon