SrEECn liEFOllE THE PEACE LEAGUE. 15 



"woo to tilt' vanquislu'd !"— tliriv sliuU be svvn and 

 lu'anl iiothiiiL,^ Imt love (uward the conqiioivd, and 

 res])c'C't. 



The day .^hall ('uine, it may Ije ages from tlii.s lime — 

 l)ut to the tlioiiuht of God, and to the life of liiimanity, 

 ages are but days — when the liglit of t]ie cross shall 

 shijie out upon the prophetic Labaruni, and the battle- 

 standard shall be thenceforlh only the standard of the 

 immortal victory of peace. 



In the present age of the Avorld, universal and perpet- 

 ual peace is only a chimera. In the age to come, it will 

 be a reality. For my part, I have always believed — and 

 now, in this assembly of my brethren, I don't mind 

 telling the secret — I have always believed that in some 

 nearer or remoter future, mankind would come, not to 

 complete perfection, which does not belong to earth, but 

 to that relative perfection which precedes and prepares 

 for heaven. After the fall of Jerusalem and Iiome, and 

 the predicted end of the ancient world, the primitive 

 Christians, heirs of the promises of Jewish prophecy, 

 did not expect immediately the beginning of the 

 heavenly and eternal state, but a temporal reign of 

 Jesus Christ and his saints, a regeneration and triumph 

 of man upon the earth. I, also, look for this mysterious 

 millennium, about which our errors of detail cannot 

 shake the deep, unalterable truth. I look for it, and in 

 the humble but faithful measure of my labors, my words, 

 my prayers, I strive to prepare the way for it. I believe 

 that nations as well as individuals shall some day taste 

 the fruit of universal redemption by the Son of God 

 made man. I believe that the law and the gospel shall 

 reign over this whole planet. I believe that we — that 

 you and I — shall see descending from heaven a manhood 

 humbler and nobler, meeker and mightier, purer and 



