uble about the
principle is that, as it deals with human beings, there is with this, as
with other questions of conduct, that same unknown factor--the spiritual
side of man's nature. One of the most fundamental feelings of
manhood--true for a nation, as it is for an individual--is that it is
right, sublimely and everlastingly right, for a man to fight for his
wife and children, to fight for his home and native land, to fight for
honor and to fight for right, as his conscience points to it.

It was in obedience to such a feeling that countless devout Christians,
in the Middle Ages, fought and killed to uphold their religion. Their
consciences did not reprove them, it inspired them--notwithstanding the
curious fact that one of the doctrines of their Bible was "to resist not
evil" and to "turn the other cheek." But the fundamental feelings within
them, of right and wrong, of faith and aspiration, were stronger than a
creed.

The same thing was true of one of the wisest and most spiritual men who
ever lived--Abraham Lincoln. In his conscience, he felt it was right for
slaves to be freed and for the integrity of our nation to be preserved,
no matter how great the cost of life and suffering and devastation.

The decisions of a board of arbitration, of cold intellects, basing
their decisions on reasons of expediency, or abstract and scientific
principles of a worldly kind, could not satisfy such feelings, or be
permitted to override them. Lincoln would not, and could not, have felt
justified in abandoning his cause to the opinion of European intellects,
any more than the militant Christians could have their faith regulated
by the decisions of Chinese and Persians.

It is in recognition of this principle, that up to the present time
questions which may affect the honor of a nation have not been
considered a fit subject for arbitration. As long as faith and
aspiration and their kindred feelings are in the ascendant, conscience
will tell the individual, as it will tell the nation, that certain
things cannot and must not be abandoned, even at the cost of life.

If through the influence of the rule of reason, such a conception may be
overlooked by the enlightened intellects of W.J. Bryan and Woodrow
Wilson, and a host of other well-educated people, that fact in itself
may be regarded as an additional symptom of the extent to which modern
scientific training has spread confusion in the sentiments of the
present generation.

C