81 
individual is large. In proportion to the size of the com- 
munity the intensity of the feeling of patriotism has always 
diminished. 
75. But if there is a bright side to patriotism, it is im- 
possible to deny that the reverse is a very dark one. In 
ancient times the patriotism of the citizen meant holding 
double or treble their number in the bondage of slavery. It 
meant the sovereignty of the state of which he was a member, 
and the keeping of all others which he could master in a state 
of political subjection. It too easily degenerated into devo- 
tion to his party, and the trampling his opponents in the dust. 
In Greece it led to unceasing warfare and desolation. With 
the Roman it meant the lust of universal empire and 
universal plunder, and the shedding the blood of the non- 
citizen like water. Where it took a different form, as in the 
Jew, it produced contempt for all of an alien race. Even 
among Christian nations many of its results can only be con- 
templated with awe. Its spirit has freed men from the sordid- 
ness of many of the baser forms of selfishness, by identifying 
self with the interests of the community. Still it is a 
principle of which selfishness forms an essential ingredient. 
76. If this be correct, it is a principle which is so strong in 
human nature that it requires no adventitious aid for its 
support. Mr. Becky's commendations of this virtue require 
very considerable qualification ; but when he remarks that its 
gradual extinction in the Roman Empire was coincident with 
the rapid progress of Christianity, it seems to me that he 
mistakes a coincidence for a cause. To what was the extinc- 
tion of Roman patriotism due ? I reply, to the enormous 
extent of the empire itself — to its crushing of the separate 
nationalities ; and in the latter period, when the feeling of 
patriotism became nearly extinct, to the utter corruption of 
the Government, which destroyed the interest which the indi- 
vidual had in the state. I will not deny the influence of the 
principle of asceticism on the final dissolution of the empire. 
But I must reply that the principle of asceticism forms no por- 
tion of New Testament morality. But while Christianity did 
not enforce this virtue in the direct form of precept, it an- 
nounced principles exactly suited to counteract its defects. 
One alone it will be sufficient to quote : “ Thou shalt love thy 
neighbour as thyself ; 3> and it declared that our neighbour 
was not only our fellow- citizen, or the member of our own 
political party, or our fellow sectarian, but every brother man 
who needs mercy at our hands. Paul, the most devoted mis- 
sionary, was also an ardent patriot in the largest and best 
sense, free from a single taint of selfislmess. While society 
VOL. v. G 
