"If any thing was spoken of as sinful by Christ and the first preachers of his Gospel,--if any thing was forbidden by them--it was the indulgence of those lusts and passions which impel men to fight, and which are called into fiercest exercise in war."

Boston: American Peace Society, 1860. First edition. Presentation copy, inscribed by reformer and abolitionist Rev. Samuel J. May at top of front wrapper, to Syracuse mayor and abolitionist Lyman Stevens: "Lyman Stevens Esq / with the kind regards of / the Author". 8vo. 24 pp. Original limp printed wrappers; text moderately toned; scattered contemporary marginalia.

Scarce presentation copy of reformer and abolitionist Rev. Samuel J. May's impassioned speech on pacifism before the American Peace Society, inscribed by him to Syracuse Mayor Lyman Stevens.

The American Peace Society (APS) was a pacifist group founded in 1828 by William Ladd, formed by the merging of the Maine, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, New York, and Pennsylvania Peace Societies. "The political philosophy of the APS was never as radical or pacifist as some reformists would have liked, so some activists broke away to form new organizations, such as the New England Non-Resistance Society in the 1830s, and the Universal Peace Union in 1866. The stated purpose of the American Peace Society was to 'promote permanent international peace through justice; and to advance in every proper way the general use of conciliation, arbitration, judicial methods, and other peaceful means of avoiding and adjusting differences among nations, to the end that right shall rule might in a law-governed world.'" (TriCollege Libraries, Archives and Manuscripts: Bryn Mawr, Haverford, Swarthmore)