convenient or in his own interest to keep it. Neither a burglar nor a
robber-state can be warded off by treaties. The third alone provides a
certain protection; the only safety is that the thief experience a
change of spirit--be, in short, converted. 'Admirable,' said Cardinal
Fleury, when a scheme for 'perpetual peace' was submitted to him;
'admirable, save for one omission--I find no provision for sending
missionaries to convert the hearts of princes.' The day of princes is
over, and the day of democracy has come. The first requisite of
perpetual peace is that the nations of the world experience a change of
heart and spirit--should repent. But in all the schemes for ending war
there is no suggestion of sending missionaries to convert the world's
democracies. France has 'extinguished the lights of heaven which none
shall rekindle'; England, if the number of worshippers in the churches
be any gauge, is rapidly sinking back into paganism; and across the
Atlantic the United States is resolved to live unto itself alone,
separating itself from the perishing nations; while on the Continent of
Europe there is but one ritual: 'We did no wrong: we did not begin the
war.' Missionaries to convert the democracies of the world--they are
needed in legions. But such a need is not in all the thoughts of the
orators. They can only think of forming leagues to abolish the
vultures that swoop down on the carcases. They cannot realise that the
only way to make an end of the swooping vulture is to make an end of
carcases. Unless the world experiences a spiritual and moral renewal,
any league that would secure it peace in the midst of its depravity
would only secure its moral doom. It is manifest then that the only
way to abolish war is to bring the body into subjection to the spirit.
The way of salvation is the way of spiritual renewal. Love does not
kill or poison, and humanity's feet need to be guided into the way of
love. Along that road there is but the one guide: He who said 'I am
the way.... Love as I have loved you.' The measure of that love is
the Cross. And that is why the way to salvation leads through
Calvary.... Peace will only come when the kingdoms of this world shall
submit to that kingdom of the soul whose dominion is from sea to sea.
'I find a hundred little indications to reassure one that God comes,'
writes H. G. Wells. 'The time draws near when mankind will awake ...
and there shall be ... no leader b