by its own vital forces. 'Law of
averages,' 'honesty is the best policy,' 'law of supply and demand,' are
supposed to be the forces that drive the affair, while any such power as
love or faith is ignored. But as with individuals, so with society. The
world is not so bad as it declares itself to be. Enough of patriotism is
still left to affect the gold market at times, enough of faith to keep
alive the effete aristocracy of Europe, enough of courage and honor to
rally around and bravely uphold a tattered flag in a battle for
constitutional freedom.

Although we have shown the existence of a mechanical tendency, yet our
labor is incomplete and practically useless unless we have shown how it
may be retarded or wholly counterbalanced. Some countervailing element
there must be, as is evident from the fact that, while the causes that
produce this tendency exist in modern society in tenfold greater power
than they ever had in ancient life, yet their operation has been, by
far, less rapid. Greece and Rome existed barely a thousand years, while
Anglo-Saxon civilization has already flourished much longer than that,
and as yet shows no signs of immediate decay.

The retarding cause is war. This does not strike at the root of the
matter and eradicate the love of physical prosperity, but only retards
the movement, by awaking men to see that their interests are inseparable
from those of the state. In the midst of war they see that one cannot
perform the duty of another, that hired soldiery cannot protect a state,
but their own hearts and arms must be enlisted unless they would be
buried in its ruins. It wakes up the dormant dynamical powers of courage
and heroism, and checks for a moment the selfish individualism that was
taking the life from the nation.

This only retards, it does not counterbalance or neutralize this
tendency. War was common to ancient and modern times alike; but that
cause which has so long held our society from ruin, and on which we base
our hope of an indestructible civilization, is the Christian religion.
This strikes at the root of the matter, being antagonistic not only to
the one simple cause, but to each of the subordinate causes that are
derived from it. Disproportionate attention to outward prosperity
springs from the idea that the happiness of men and nations is
inseparable from wealth. Directly opposed to this is the teaching of
religion, that happiness and strength come from performing truly the
dut