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,

Beneath some ample hallow'd dome,
The warrior's bones are laid,
And blazon'd on the stately tomb
His martial deeds display'd.
Beneath a humble roof we place
This monumental stone,

To names the poor shall ever bless,
And charity shall own :

To soften human woes their care,
To feel its sigh, to aid its prayer;
Their work on earth, not to destroy,
And their reward-their Master's joy.

After the death of Richard Reynolds the people of Bristo), the city of his late residence, formed a charitable institution to perpetuate his memory, with the name of REYNOLDS COMMEMORATION SOCIETY. This institution is perhaps the noblest MONUMENT which was ever raised to the memory of a man. In reference to this tribute of respect James Montgomery wrote the verses entitled "A GOOD MAN'S MONUMENT ;-from which we select the following lines :— When heroes fall triumphant on the plain;

For millions conquered, and ten thousands slain,
For cities levell❜d, kingdoms drench'd in blood-
Navies annihilated on the flood ;

The pageantry of public grief requires
The splendid homage of heroie lyres;
And genius moulds impassion'd brass to breathe
The deathless spirit of the dust beneath,
Calls marble honour from its cavern'd bed,
And bids it live-the proxy of the dead.
Reynolds expires, a nobler chief than these ;
No blood of widows stains his obsequies;
But widows' tears, in sad bereavement, fall,
And foundling voices on their father call.
Not in the fiery hurricane of strife,
'Midst slaughter'd legions, he resign'd his life
But peaceful as the twilight's parting ray
His spirit vanish'd from its house of clay,
And left on kindred souls such power imprest,
They seem'd with him to enter into rest.
Go build his monument :-and let it be
Firm as the land, but open as the sea.
Low in his grave the strong foundations lie,
Yet be the dome expansive as the sky,

On crystal pillars resting from above
Its sole supporters-works of faith and love.
One simple altar in the midst be plac'd
With this, and only this, inscription grae'd,
The song of angels at Immanuel's birth,

'Glory to God! good will, and peace on earth.'

Let sentiments like these be diffused through the world, let children be early and perseveringly taught to venerate such benevolent men as Richard Reynolds, and to regard with pity and horror the destroyers of mankind; then a

state of society will be introduced-the strongest motives to war will lose their fascinating power, and the custom will sink into general contempt and oblivion.

NEW PEACE SOCIETIES.

On the 31st of January a respectable Society was formed in Portland, by the name of "THE PEACE SOCIETY OF MAINE." The following gentlemen were elected as officers of the Society.

Rev. JESSE APPLETON, D. D. Pres't.
Hon. MATTHEW COBB, Vice-Pres't.
S. LONGFELLOW, JR. Esq. Treasurer.
Hon. SAMUEL FREEMAN, Cor. Sec'ry.
Mr. E. H. COBB, Rec. Sec'ry.

Rev E. PAYSON,

Rev. I. NICHOLS,

Hon. PRENTISS MELLEN,

SIMON GREENLEAF, Esq.,

Trus

tees.

On the 4th of February, another society was formed at Scipio, N. Y. called the CAYUGA PEACE SOCIETY. The names of the Officers have not yet been received. More account of these Societies will probably be given in the next number.

OBITUARY.

SINCE the seventh number of the Friend of Peace was published, the Massachusetts_Peace Society has lost one of its worthy members, CALER BINGHAM, Esq. of Boston. Those who knew him have the consolation of believing that he is gone to join the more perfect Peace Society in heaven. He died April 6, 1817.

NOTICE TO THE MEMBERS OF THE MASS. PEACE SOCIETY. THE Executive Committee of the Massachusetts Peaco Society need to know what money will be at their disposal to promote the objects of the Society. It is therefore respectfully requested of all the members who have not paid their subscription for the present year, that it may be done on receiving this number of the Friend of Peace. It is also requested that the several agents would report the names of such subscribers as they may have procured since the list of members was published in the seventh number.

THE

FRIEND OF PEACE.

No. IX.

THE MESSIAH AND MAHOMET.

THE Messiah appeared among men as the Prince of PEACE" meek and lowly of heart." Mahomet appeared as a Prince of WAR. The doctrines, the precepts and the examples of the Messiah were all of a pacific character. Those of Mahomet, vindictive, cruel and bloody. The Messiah promised blessedness to "peace-makers," and to those who should "suffer for righteousness' sake." Mahomet promised the joys of paradise to those who should die fighting as his followers.

As there was such a perfect contrast between these Leaders, it would be natural to suppose that the disciples of the Messiah would be of a pacific character, and the disciples of Mahomet, men of war and blood. Once a fighting disciple of the Messiah would have been regarded as a contradiction in terms. Now Christians and Mahometans are on a level, as to the practice of war. Whose disciples then are fighting Christians? Are they the followers of the Messiah? Are they not rather followers of Mahomet, notwithstanding the name they assume?

A custom which so violates the principles and spirit of Christianity, as to abolish the distinction between the sheep

of Christ and the ferocious followers of Mahomet, must have had a pernicious effect-it must have exposed Christians to the reproach of all other nations who have been informed that the Messiah was the Prince of peace. If Heathens and Mahometans were to form their opinion of the Messiah merely by what they see in professed Christians, in relation to war, they would naturally suppose that he was such an one as the Jews expected, a vindictive, fighting character; and that his days on earth were spent in teaching his disciples the art of war, and how to keep alive the war spirit. But having formed this opinion of the Messiah, should they then read his life and his precepts, what would be their astonishment! What would they think of fighting Christians? Would they not be ready to exclaim, "Ye hypocrites! lay aside your name, or cease to fight?

It has already been observed that Mahomet encouraged his followers to fight by promises of future blessedness, should they die in battle. In the same manner the pagan priests among the Goths and Vandals inspired their soldiers with courage. All agreed, says Gibbon, that a life spent in arms and a glorious death in battle, were the best preparatives for a happy futurity.”—Decline and Fall, vol. i. p. 373.

This Mahometan and Gothic doctrine was adopted by the papal clergy, and employed to encourage men to fight their battles; and how often have the protestant clergy followed this dreadful example? What can be more shocking than to hear the ministers of the gospel employ the promises of future bliss, to excite armies of men to murder one another! And does not this agreement between Mahometan, Gothic and Christian ministers, in their mode of exciting men to deeds of blood, afford ample proof of glaring apostasy from Christian principles, or of the most fatal

delusions?

If an individual is condemned to be hanged as a murderer, what sensations are excited in the minds of Chris

tians! What pains is taken by the minister of religion to bring the convict to repentance before the fatal hour shall arrive! Yet others are excited by promises of a blessed immortality to expose themselves to the dreadful conse quences of dying in the very act of murder! At whose hands will their blood be required?

When a criminal is executed prior to his having given any evidence of repentance, how are the tender feelings of Christians excited by the thought, that he died in bis sins, Yet perhaps these same Christians can hear of a battle, in which 10,000 fellow beings were "driven away in their wickedness," with less sensibility and concern than they felt at the execution of one hardened malefactor. In these bloody battles the slain are usually part on one side and part on the other; and yet on each side professing Christians may be found exulting-one that so many have fallen on this side, another that so many have fallen on that, while neither of them is properly affected with the thought that the slain were all brethren, and that each must be judged according to the deeds done in the body. Alas! what were the "deeds done in the body"—the deeds by which they lost their lives ↑

Is it not a melancholy but undeniable fact, that every war in Christendom has been either excited, encouraged, or countenanced by ministers of the gospel of peace?-and that too on each side of the contest! Shall ministers of religion continue to be so deluded as to think that preach ing and praying in support of war are acting in character as the followers of the Lamb? God forbic!

If there be nothing antichristian in the custom of war, then our Saviour may be justly proclaimed to the world as the fighting Messiah; for "FOLLOW ME" is his command to every disciple. But if Christians would be shocked to hear their Messiah reproached as a bloody warrior, the elder brother of Mahomet, why are they not shocked to find themselves the followers of a man whose character, example and precepts were the reverse of the Messiah'e?