ingly, they were put to death. At length the time drew near when, to use the language of Dr. Cheever in one of his lucid intervals, "victory over our reigning and remorseless sins, in that way in which it is only worth gaining, the victory by conscience, the victory by divine truth, the victory by the claims and power of the gospel, the victory by benevolence and love, the victory by God's grace, to God's everlasting glory "—the time drew near when these means must give place to more terrible things in righteousness; and "when God lets loose the avalanche of judgment," says Cheever, "it will no more be in the power of an appalled and trembling church, by an untimely repentance, wrung out of selfishness and terror, to stay or prevent the ruin, than it would be possible for a regiment of conservative saints to hold back an alpine cataract; or a ridge on the icy forehead of the Jungfrau mountain, already loosened by the tempest, and thundering into the valley below." The untimely repentance, wrung out of selfishness and terror, has come. A full description of it is given in the Anti-slavery Reporter, July 1st; and amongst the sundry resolutions recorded from the pens of these penitent backsliders, we beg to call attention to the following: "That while we deplore the evil of war that has filled our land with mourning, we rejoice in the sublime manifestations of benevolence it has developed, as seen in the Sanitary and Christian Commissions, ud in the Associations formed to aid the vast multi tudes who have recently become freemen, and that we pledge to these institutions our hearty co-operation and support.' "In view of the past course of the Protestant Episcopal Church, the adoption, with but two or three dissenting voices, of the following preamble and resolution, by the Convention of that Church, sitting in Pittsburg last week, is still more remarkable. "Whereas, There exists in this country an organized and armed rebellion, whose purpose is the destruction of our National Union, and the perpetuation of Negro Slavery, "And whereas, This rebellion has more and more assumed a character of barbarous fanaticism, and murderous ferocity on the part of the enemies of the nation; therefore, in view of the causes and character of this struggle, "Resolved, That we hereby declare our unfaltering allegiance to the Government of the United States, and that we pledge it our willing devotion and service, and that as a body of Christians we will ever pray that in God's own time and way this rebellion may be put down; that oppression and Slavery, in all its forms, may be done away; that freedom of body and mind, political and religious, may everywhere prevail; that the emancipated negroes, whom God in his providence is committing to our care, may be the objects of our liberal and Christian regard and instruction; that war may soon cease throughout all our borders; and that our now lacerated country may again be so united, that from the lakes on the North, to the gulf on the South, and from the Atlantic to the Pacific, there shall be one Union, one Government, one Flag, one Constitution, the whole culminating in the higher glory, which shall make this nation Emanuel's land-a mountain of holiness, and a fit dwelling-place of righteousness." Had the above repentance come before the war commenced it would have been seasonable; but despite the "sublime manifestations of Christian benevolence it has developed in the Sanitary and Christian Commissions" and the earnest prayers of these backsliders, we cannot sympathize with Mr. Cobden, or those like minded with him, when he or they say "our sympathies follow your commanders and soldiers in the Federal armies to the field, with all the interest in their terrible efforts which we had felt in the labours of Mr. Sumner, and the other champions of freedom, when their struggle was confined to the domain of peaceful arguments." Yours for truth and liberty, Wilsden, near Bingley, Yorkshire. JOSHUA R. BALME MEMBERS OF THE PEACE SOCIETY AND THE AMERICAN WAR. To the Editors of the Liverpool Mercury. Gentlemen,-We can scarcely go into a Christian sanctuary, without being reminded that in the "outside world" there is steel clashing against steel, venom spitting against venom, evil smashing, crashing, and dashing against evil; but in the Christian world there is, say our theologians, "the good overcoming the evil." Now, if it be the work of Christian men to overcome the evil with the good, what must we think of those avowedly Christian men who abandon spiritual weapons for carnal, adopt the venom and steel for their cardinal virtues and creed, make the sword their peace-maker, rifled guns and minnie balls their true conciliators, feel that no storms are so pleasant as those of violence and blood, no sounds so sweet as those which are associated with the echoing thunders of battle, and vow on God's altar to hew their way through what they call "rebel armies" and over the heads of rebel leaders," in order to sub jugate the South. P Has the right kind of seed been dropped into the centre of the above men's hearts? If so, their superior natures must be terribly imbruted by their inferior ones-the spiritual must be woefully in subjection to the animal. And yet, forsooth, this class of men have their abettors and promoters in this country as well as in America. They try to win their way into the depths of the popular heart by boundless assumption and solemn asseveration, and maintain that the end which they have in view, justifies the use of the fire, faggot, and sword, the means which they employ. Hence they call that most execrable of all wars the world has ever yet seen or known, "Our American war." "The Holy war." Amongst those who share with them in these delusions are to be found members of the Peace Society, non-resistants, men who plead for the inviolability of human life, and yet give their unbounded sympathies and aid to those who are associated with rash and bloody hands, the maddest outbursts of violence and blood. In the report of the Liverpool Peace Society recently published in the Mercury, some of these men say, " We rely upon nothing to render war impossible but the prevalence of Christian principles and dispositions in the hearts of men." Even so say our religious war crusaders, whose gospel is made up of brimstone and bayonets; and the Christian Advocate and Journal, published in New York on February 11, 1864, copies an extract approvingly from the Christian Intelligencer, |