EDITOR'S TABLE. 



99 



%&i\QX r s gam*. 



THOUGHTS FOB THE TIMES. 



aOOD use was made of a Wash- 

 ington celebration at Oberlin 

 College, Ohio, by the chief speaker 

 of the occasion, the Rev. A. A. 

 Berle, to utter words that are pe- 

 culiarly needed at the present time. 

 His subject was Popular American 

 Fallacies, and among these he noted 

 the following: That Anglo-Saxon- 

 dom is identical with the kingdom 

 of God; that national glory and 

 power can supply the place of na- 

 tional character; that new occasions 

 always teach new duties; and that 

 political alliances may do away with 

 the necessity for " a dual alliance," 

 as he expressed it, " between the 

 people and God." 



These particular fallacies, in 

 our opinion, were happily chosen. 

 There is a great deal of silly talk 

 current about the incomparable glo- 

 ries and unimaginable destinies of 

 the Anglo-Saxon race; and it never 

 seems to occur to those who indulge 

 in such talk that a profound sense 

 of one's greatness is very far from 

 being a sure sign of greatness. The 

 greatest characters are the simplest 

 and least boastful. Their greatness 

 is so native to them that they are 

 scarcely conscious of it; and they 

 leave it to others to sing their 

 praises. It is presuming altogether 

 too intimate an acquaintance with 

 the designs of Providence to claim 

 that any race in particular is 

 charged, above all others, with car- 

 rying those designs into effect. 

 Who knows what reservoirs of 

 moral and intellectual force may re- 

 side in nations and tribes whose 

 world-action has been very obscure 

 as yet? Dr. Arnold, of Rugby, 

 thought that much of high value 

 for civilization lay dormant in the 

 negro race, and it is too soon to 



say he was mistaken. Then, who 

 knows what the Slavonic race may 

 bring forth? Who can calculate the 

 future of the vast human hive 

 known as China? And, after all, 

 what has any nation got to do except 

 to behave itself, be it great or small, 

 famous or of no great repute ? How 

 is it in the community? Do we ad- 

 mire great men who swagger, who 

 boast of their wealth, their strength, , 

 their courage, or their virtue? A 

 little quiet consideration will per- 

 suade any man that there is one law 

 for all nations alike — the law of jus- 

 tice and humanity — and that the 

 greatest nation, according to any 

 true conception of greatness, is the 

 one which exemplifies that law most 

 perfectly in its domestic and for- 

 eign policy. The surest sign of 

 greatness in a nation, we venture to 

 say, is that it should hate war — not 

 dread it, but hate it. 



It is a singular thing that any 

 but the most light-headed portion 

 of the community should fall into 

 the second fallacy which the speaker 

 mentioned — that national glory and 

 power can take the place of national 

 character. A nation requires a true 

 heart, an honest self-consciousness, 

 just as much as an individual, and 

 time will avenge national misdo- 

 ings just as surely as it will those 

 of individuals. No numbers, nor any 

 amount of huzzaing or factitious 

 enthusiasm, can make a vicious pol- 

 icy safe. You may win victories 

 with chariots and horsemen, but to 

 enjoy the fruits of peace there must 

 be a dominant love of justice, and 

 that is what war does not tend to 

 promote. It is also very true, as 

 the speaker said, that there are not 

 many new duties to be learned in 

 this age of the world. Tbere is 

 enough of moral truth taught in old 



LofC. 



