Sometimes the two opposing nations both adopt the same motto I
England and Germany both inscribe on their banners: "Culture _versus_
Barbarism." Each believes in its own good faith, and each accuses the
other of hypocrisy.
In a sense this is all right, and could not be better. It does not so
much matter which is really the most cultured nation, England or
Germany, as that each should really _believe_ that it is fighting in the
cause of Culture. Then, so fighting for what it knows to be a good
cause, the wounds and death endured and the national losses and
depletion are not such sad and dreadful things as they at first appear.
They liberate the soul of the individual; they liberate the soul of the
nation. They are sacrifices made for an ideal; and (provided they are
truly such) the God within is well-pleased and comes one step nearer to
his incarnation. Whatever inner thing you make sacrifices for, the same
will in time appear visibly in your life--blessing or cursing you.
Therefore, beware I and take good care as to what that inner thing
really is.
Such is the meaning of the use of a phrase or "battle-cry"; but we have,
indeed, to be on our guard against _how_ we use it.
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