CIVILIZATION. 
95 
Christian dispensation that which had previously been com- 
menced under the Jewish, and by adherence to which the 
little land of Canaan was enabled to preserve its individuality 
and existence in the midst of the then mighty nationalities 
of the world which surrounded it. When, however, true 
Christianity is established and its glorious principles are 
fully carried out, men will learn war no more, but will 
convert the sword into the ploughshare and the spear into 
the pruning hook, and perfect peace will prevail ; the 
lamb will lie down with the lion, and the weaned child will 
place his hand on the cockatrice’s den with impunity ! Then 
knowledge will be increased, for the fear of Cod will be the 
stability of the times. When all this comes to pass, the whole 
family of man will be truly civilized ; to that state we are only 
approximating, for whilst wars continue to be waged, and 
men devote their abilities to invent destructive instru- 
ments of the greatest power, they cannot be said to be so ; 
the nearest approach to true civilization is the nearest ap- 
proach made to the law of love, and conceding equal rights 
to all. Britain made a grand step towards civilization when 
she broke the chain of the slave, and pronounced all men free 
who stood on her shores, and gave twenty millions to make 
them so. The recently reclaimed cannibal of New Zealand 
too made no little step towards civilization when he, of 
his own accord, pronounced his slaves to be free, though by 
so doing he lost their services, without receiving any re- 
muneration in return, beyond the conviction of having 
acted up to his Christian profession ; this noble proof of 
sincerity also was given not many years after Britain first 
set the world an example, and whilst slavery still existed 
amongst the Christian States of enlightened America. 
The general and increasing intercourse between the various 
sections of the human race by the aid of steam, rail, and 
electricity, the spread of God’s Word (the grand source of 
civilization) translated into every tongue and sent to every 
land, betoken the speedy advent of that grand social change, 
when all the severed parts of the human family shall be 
brought together, and feel that they are members of the 
same body politic, of which the head is Christ. 
