This is, I think, a very usual attitude of the clergy, and I have
already appreciated the sound element of it. There is no comparison
between the behaviour of the two nations. Whether England deserves quite
all the compliments which Mr. Guttery showers upon it may be a matter of
opinion. We have as yet little cause for "mafficking," but there is very
little doubt that it will occur on a grandiose scale before the war is
over. We do not sing hymns of hate; but it might be hazardous to
speculate what we would do if some nation drew an iron ring round our
country and reduced us almost to a condition of starvation. We have no
lust for territory--I am not sure about the lust for gold--because we
have in our Empire territory enough for our population; and we may wait
to see if England does not annex any part of Germany's African or
Pacific possessions. Mr. Guttery's contrast is crude and superficial. He
ignores the economic and geographical conditions which give us a feeling
of content and Germany a profound feeling of discontent and a dangerous
ambition. The German character is not in itself inferior to ours, and it
were well for us to fancy ourselves in Germany's position and wonder if
we would have acted otherwise.

On the other hand, I have freely acknowledged, or claimed, that there
has been a great improvement in the moral temper of Europe, and that
this is especially seen in the odium that is now cast on aggressive or
offensive war. But to claim this improvement for the credit of religion
is, to say the least, audacious. The more simple-minded of Mr. Guttery's
hearers would imagine that the change set in with the fall of Paganism.
"The Pagan glory of war for its own sake is gone." When clerical writers
speak of Paganism they think that any evil deed ever done by a Pagan is
characteristic of the whole body; they ask us to apply a different
standard to their own body. Plato and Socrates were Pagans; Marcus