duty came the soul said to the body, 'I will make you face it, make you
go through with it'; and the soul compelled the body to charge into the
very face of death. It was the spark of the Divine in the soul that
enabled our brothers to conquer the shrinking of flesh and blood and so
to conquer the foe. It is in the measure that armies are souls that
armies conquer. And it has been the same at home in castle and
cot-house. We have but to think of the wives and mothers.

'They let them go forth at the wheels
Of the guns and denied not. But then the surprise
When one sits quiet alone! Then one weeps, then one kneels,
God! how the house feels.'

However deeply the iron pierced, there was never a thought of defeat
being even possible. And when the call came the women toiled in the
factories, and the ammunition dumps were their spirit materialised. At
home and in the battle-line the final destiny of every nation depends
upon the soul.

II

Still more is the mastery of this word apparent when we consider the
future destiny of the world. One result of the world's blood-bath is
that all thoughtful men are asking, How can the world be saved in the
future? And multitudes discuss the way of the world's salvation by a
League of Nations or other method. By parchments and signatures the
world is to be saved! All that is but the folly with which men have
deceived themselves in all ages. The folly is apparent when we ask,
Whence do wars spring? They spring from greed and lust and
ambition--from the life surrendered to evil. We speak of the horror of
war; what we should speak of is the horror of wickedness. For war is
only a symptom, not the disease. What all these weary discussions
about 'Leagues to make an end of war,' and the new watchword 'No more
war,' aim at is the doing away with the symptom--leaving the disease to
run its deadly course. To suppress symptoms without removal of the
hidden cause is the way of death. What the nations must face is the
disease and its healing!

It is with nations as with individuals! How can a man protect himself
against a thief. He can do it in three ways. He may (1) use force; or
(2) he may make an agreement with the thief--enter into a treaty with
him; or (3) he may endeavour to reform the thief. The first method is
militarism and, whether in the form of armies or policemen, is costly
and uncertain. The second only protects so long as the thief finds it