WAK. 93 



oi' pL'ac<?. Sainl Aii^^nistinc luus dclincd peace to be tlie 

 **' tranquillity of order," IranquiUitas ordinis. Here 

 shall I iiiid the traiKpiillity of order majestically poised 

 in (hose regions of serenity and light. 



Ah, uo, Gentlemen, no! The historian of the world 

 above tells ns quite another tale. He shows ns, if 1 

 might so express myself, the breath of the animal na- 

 ture rising toward the sky, and discord breaking out in 

 heaven. " I saw," says 8t. John the prophet, " and be- 

 hold a great red dragon"* of the hue of blood. This is 

 he of whom Jesus Christ declared that " he was a mur- 

 derer from the beginning."! It is the father of death 

 and the inventor of war. "And his tail drew the third 

 part of the stars of heaven ! . . . . And there was war in 

 lieaven. Michael and his angels fought against the 

 dragon ; and the dragon fought and his angels ;" and 

 Satan was vanquished and cast out into the earth. 

 This is no mere conflict of ideas — ideas of truth in 

 conflict with ideas of error. It is no mere conflict of 

 hearts, the inspiration of great souls answering against 

 the rebellion or defection of perverted ones. It is more 

 than this: it is force. Men speak of " force and matter," 

 as if they were correlatives. It is a just expression, 

 force and matter; but here is another that is just too — 

 '• force and mind." In the mind of man, in the mind 

 of angels, there is more than thought, more than feel- 

 ing, more than volition : there is substantial energy — 

 force. And when force meets force, there is war. It is 

 not said of Satan that he was convinced, but that he 

 was "cast out."f 



[Such is the extra-lniman origin of war. Father Hyacinthe 

 deemed it needful to go so f\irback,in order to explain its human 

 origin.] 



* Revelation, xii. 3. t John, viii. 14. 



X Kevelation, xU. 3-9. 



