THE KING’S BUSINESS
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our temper, or our conscience. So our honor remains entirely in our own hands; no one else can hurt it in the least. In personal affairs the man who notices slights and allows his anger to break loose and indulges in violence always lowers himself. It is sometimes thought that a nation which is patient and puts up with abuse and outrageous treatment loses its reputation. Christ “made Himself o f no reputation.” What opinion o f Him had men in Jerusa lem, in imperial Rome? Time hds made them change their minds. A Christian nation will care no more what other nations think and say o f it than did its-Lord. Nor do Christians talk o f rights, but o f duties. The citizens o f a Christian nation will not much concern themselves with their rights; the value o f having rights is mainly to be able not to insist upon them. When did Christ demand His rights? “Thinkest thou that I cannot beseech My Father, and He shall even now send me more than twelve legions o f angels?” But He did, not ask for the angels. The citi zens o f a Christian nation will be vastly concerned for their duties, and will go any lengths to fulfill them. In a crisis a nation always has some rights which, if it insists upon them, are likely to provoke Strife; in any crisis a Christian nation has one ines capable duty: “ God gave unto us the min istry o f reconciliation.” That is no per mission to remain ingloriously inactive; it is a charge to bestir ourselves and discover the way o f lasting peace. Again, the mind o f Christ is not the mind o f the patron. W e have heard much o f ' “the white man’s burden” and the duty of superior races to take charge o f inferior. It is certainly impossible to expect unedu cated and backward peoples to attain with out assistance to the level o f the most cul tured 5 and much is to be said on behalf o f the duty o f strong nations to protect the Weak against those who would oppress them. But there is a big difference between lording it over a people, imposing our insti tutions upon them, and working in friend ly and disinterested co-operation with them
to enable them to achieve their own highest institutions. It is one thing to go to the rescue o f a bullied little nation pleading for your help; another thing to foist your self upon a little nation that does not want your help. Loud voices have demanded that we go in and “clean up” Mexico. There have been times when New York City needed cleaning up; and how should we have liked it had Great Britain or Ger many, confessedly our superiors in munic ipal government, forcibly taken over this city and given it the government they con sidered best for us? There have been times when our Southern States have disgraced themselves with abominable lynchings. How would they have received a force o f Mex icans sent over the boundary to set their house in order? Christ forced nothing, not even goodness, upon any man. He set the example; He gave His friendship; beyond that He' never went. A Christian nation must be a friend, a“nd go just as far in friendliness as it can to assist a nation that needs its help; but it can never be an over-lord or patron. Nations, like men, are meant to stand on their own feet. Subject peoples cannot develop into Christian self- mastery. Governmental oversight o f the unprotected or the undeveloped may have a temporary justification; self-government must be given to any people as rapidly and as fully as it possibly can. That is both fundamentally American and essentially Christian. One thinks o f India, Poland, Bohemia, Ireland, Korea, the Philippines! as cases in point. The stronger people may feel that its own safety demands that it maintain masterful control over the weaker. The friendliness that trusts the weaker peo ple with self-government is the surer defense. Self-ruling Boers are vastly safer than Irishmen denied for centuries self- government. Again, the mind o f Christ is filial His obedience to His Father was in no sense blind obedience; He shared His Father’s purposes and o f His own volition did His Father’s will. It ¡s common now to hear the praises o f military discipline and to find
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