2 DISCOUESES OF FATHER HYACINTHE. 



which reitemies and fulfils the word of the Master, "ho 

 that is not ag'ainst us is for us/'' and which, instead of re- 

 jecting the hand stretched out to it, marches forward to 

 the van of all just ideas and all honest souls. [Apj^^c^^^se.] 



Permit me, then, before exhibiting religion and virtue 

 as the best safeguards of peace, to recognize the services 

 which may be rendered to it by institutions and inter- 

 ests of a more earthly sort. Institutions, Interests, Vir- 

 tues — these are the instruments of peace on which I 

 would fix your attention. 



I. I have named Institutions first. Perhaps it is a 

 mistake ; for when we ask ourselves thoughtfully what 

 sort of institutions would be adapted to secure the peace 

 of the world, we come upon ideas so little practical that 

 we seem to have reached the region of chimeras. I 

 scarcely see any effectual institution other than that of 

 a sovereign international court of justice, commissioned 

 to adjudicate the disagreements arising among nations, 

 and by authoritative judgments to prevent bloody col- 

 lision. The future, perhaps, will enjoy such an insti- 

 tution. I am one of those who believe all the more in 

 progress because of the entire faith we have in the gos- 

 pel, in redemption, in all those supernatural influences 

 brought into the world, directly — principally, doubtless, 

 to save souls, but also, as an inevitable and glorious in- 

 cident, to save nations and the Avliole body of mankind. 

 [Cries of Bravo.] Possibly, in a future more or less re- 

 mote, our posterity may salute that grand Areopagus 

 which would realize in this part of the continent some- 

 thing like what has been spoken of as "the United 

 States of Europe ;" but that is not to be to-day ror to- 

 morrow ; and consequently such an institution could 

 not be reckoned among the barriers which wo would 

 oppose to war. 



