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it rests, when, as was frequently tlie case in the ancient 
world, instead of a virtue it became a vice most opposed to 
that great subject of Christian teaching, the universal brother- 
hood of mankind, are clear and unmistakable. 
74. Secondly, I answer that the patriotism of the ancient 
world was far from being a pure form of virtue which 
Christianity could encourage without a large amount of very 
complicated qualifications. If Christianity had attempted 
specially to enforce this virtue, it would have been neces- 
sary to lay down the qualifications, or her moral teaching 
would have been in the highest degree misleading. . These 
are so numerous that they would have required a considerable 
amount of space for their elaboration, and a degree, of formal 
statement utterly alien to its structure. It is a striking con- 
firmation of the view which I take respecting the nature of 
the precepts of the New Testament, that they are never accom- 
panied with qualifications, without which no precept is directly 
applicable as a rule of life. It is impossible to assert that 
patriotism, as it has been generally exhibited in ancient or 
even in modern times, is a pure unmixed virtue. Equally so 
is it to deny that the spirit of patriotism has produced a 
great amount of evil, and that whatever improvement it has 
displayed in these latter days is due to Christianity itself. I 
am ready to admit that when we contemplate ancient 
patriotism in certain aspects, and carefully remove others 
from our view, it contains an element both grand and noole. 
The self-sacrifice which it involved possesses a deep fascina- 
tion in the dreary annals of human selfishness. Still, much 
of the glory with which it has been invested disappears when 
it is subjected to a rigid analysis. Self discloses itself as a 
very predominant feature in it. 1 will not deny that it may 
have existed in a few minds in the form of a. pure love of 
country, though this is very doubtful ; but in the great 
majority it consisted in the identification . of the life of the 
individual with that of the state, of which, in the small 
republics of ancient times, he formed a very appreciable 
portion. The glory and prosperity of his country was his own. 
This point is very distinctly brought out in the funeral oration 
of Pericles, and forms its most striking characteristic. The 
utmost efforts of the orator are employed in identifying the 
glorv of his country with that of the individual, and the 
highest point to which he elevates himself is in proving that 
a speedy death in battle is a small evil compared with the 
greater good which men enjoy in their country’s glory. When 
states consist of a few thousand citizens, in many respects they 
resemble a joint-stock company, in which the share of the 
