e. The black prince of Abyssinia asked the young Queen of
England what was the secret of England's glory and she pointed to the
"open Bible."

The dear Queen of sainted memory was wrong. She judged her nation by
the standard of her own pure heart. England did not draw her policy
from the open Bible when in 1840 she forced the opium traffic on the
Chinese. England does not draw her policy from the open Bible when she
takes revenues from the liquor traffic, which works such irreparable
ruin to countless thousands of her people. England does not draw her
policy from the open Bible when she denies her women the rights of
citizens, when women are refused degrees after passing examinations,
when lower pay is given women for the same work than if it were done by
men. Would this be tolerated if it were really so that we were a
Christian nation? God abominates a false balance, and delights in a
just weight.

No, the principles of Christ have not yet been applied to nations. We
have only Christian people. You will see that in a second, if you look
at the disparity that there is between our conceptions of individual
duty and national duty. Take the case of the heathen--the people whom
we in our large-handed, superior way call the heathen. Individually we
believe it is our duty to send missionaries to them to convert them
into Christians. Nationally we send armies upon them (if necessary)
and convert them into customers! Individually we say: "We will send
you our religion." Nationally: "We will send you goods, and we'll make
you take them--we need the money!" Think of the bitter irony of a boat
leaving a Christian port loaded with missionaries upstairs and rum
below, both bound for the same place and for the same people--both for
the heathen "with our comp'ts."

Individually we know it is wrong to rob anyone. Yet the state robs
freely, openly, and unashamed, by unjust taxation, by the legalized
liquor traffic, by imposing unjust laws upon at least one half of the
people. We wonder at the disparity between our individual ideals and
the national ideal, but when you remember that the national ideals have
been formed by one half of the world--and not the more spiritual
half--it is not so surprising. Our national policy is the result of
male statecraft.

There is a curative power in human life just as there is in nature.
When the pot boils--it boils over. Evils cure themselves eventually.
But it is a long hard wa