82 WATCHMAN, WHAT OF THE NIGHT? 



needless cruelty. Surely we have common sense enough to 

 give to the peaceful intercourse of nations an impetus born of 

 the greater need. 



The Rationalist needs faith as much as the Christian a 

 broader and more unselfish faith. He must reverence the 

 moral law for which he has laboured. He must have faith 

 in the natural order from which he cannot escape ; in the 

 power and Tightness of the human soul. Looking back on 

 his chequered past, he sees that all improvements in man's 

 lot have been the fruit of man's wit and toil, that God has 

 never done anything to help him, that he must be his own 

 saviour. That a higher will exists man is prone to believe ; 

 but, finding it interpreted in a thousand fantastic ways, he is 

 compelled to doubt that he is influenced by it, or is in contact 

 with it, in any sense but one of imagination. If reason assures 

 him that the existence of this will is only a " great Perhaps," 

 he will derive but cold comfort from the uncertainty. 



The Rationalist cares naught for the salvation of his soul 

 from an impossible hell. His ideal is the redemption of 

 humanity through knowledge. Man's mightiest powers are 

 used for war. Why should they not be employed with equal 

 energy and skill for peace? We make greater efforts toward 

 off danger than to establish a sane ethic among nations. If 

 we can compel flame and thunderbolt to our will, and nature's 

 secrets to leap to light at our bidding, can we not control our 

 own passions and purposes ? 



Yet the impulses of the moral reason remain natural and 

 valid. They will renew their strength, and the world will 

 see their triumph and rejoice. Not without effort will redemp- 

 tion be won. The forces of progress must be strong and 

 adventurous ; man must be bold, thoughtful, self-reliant. 

 The national nerve must be strung to high endeavour in 

 peace, as it now is in war. As a nation, we must have hard 

 work, plain living, and high thinking. This war has revealed 

 our shortcomings ; it has also shown that a great natural 

 reserve of goodness exists independently of church and creed, 

 and needs only the guidance of the wise and the free. 



The reign of justice and reason is approaching. Now 

 the mists are thick about us, but gleams of light shine 

 through. Slowly men are beginning to see that human 

 well-being depends on human effort ; that the prayers which 

 for long ages have gone up to indifferent heaven have died 

 away unheard ; that there is none other that fighteth for us 

 but only thou, O Man. 



