MARTIAL VALOR IN TIMES OF PEACE 1

JOHN GRIER HIBBEN, D.D. (1861– >

The first recognition of the duty arising from the peace and the liberty which our republic provides, comes with the realization that we are not a mass of many millions of separate individuals, each with his own particular interests to maintain and preserve, but that we are one people, enlisted in the service of a common cause. This idea of a common cause which is the inspiration of all the heroic deeds of self-sacrifice in the time of war, we must endeavor in some way to make potent in the activities and pursuits of our people in the time of peace. All soldiers are comrades in arms. Can we not also recognize the bonds of comradeship in the common work of the world, in our common lot and our common destiny as brother men? Is it not possible to feel the thrill of comradeship in our common fight against the forces of ignorance, of evil, of vice, of intemperance, of injustice, of disease and premature death? To save his comrade from death when under fire the true soldier will run every risk of personal danger and hold his own life cheap in his all-absorbing work of rescue. Amidst the perils of peace you too will hear the call for help from many a comrade against whom the tide of circumstance is running hard.

In peace your duty will not come to you as it does when there is a call to arms with the enemy already crossing your country's frontier. You must go forth to meet it. You must either discover your duty or else create it, and

1 Dr. Hibben is president of Princeton University.

From "The Higher Patriotism." Copyright, 1915, by Charles Scribner's Sons, New York. Used by permission of the publishers.

then swear allegiance in your own name to its high behests. Centuries ago the knight errant rode forth on the adventure of service, to champion the cause of the weak and the wronged wherever they might be found. For him there was no clear call to any definite undertaking. But, compelled by the knightly spirit, he resolutely set himself to seek the undiscovered duty somewhere beyond the far horizon. There is no place in our modern days for this type of noble adventurer. He has disappeared with the conditions and opportunities of the age in which he flourished. But the same spirit may reappear in another form, to meet the needs of another age, again

To serve as model for the mighty world,
And be the fair beginning of a time.1

It may be regarded by some as the expression of a too extravagant optimism if we declare our belief that the world is entering upon a new time in its history, a new order of things, in which the law of justice and the spirit of mercy will universally prevail. The very darkness, however, of the present time creates a persistent belief that there must be some brighter light ahead. No robust spirit can be permanently pessimistic. You are called to play a part in the building of a new world.

THE HIGHER PATRIOTISM 2

It is interesting to note the various notions of patriotism that have prevailed in the centuries past. If we should go back to the earliest times we would find that the

1 Tennyson, "Guinevere."

2 An editorial in The Christian Work for November 18, 1916. Used by permission of the editor.

essential idea of patriotism consisted, for the most part, in the passion to destroy the rival tribe. "If we are to live and flourish, they must die.'Ancient history was saturated with this idea. Assyria for the sake of her own glory must conquer Syria and all the lesser nations. Babylon in her turn must conquer Assyria. The Medes and Persians in their turn must conquer Babylon. Alexander the Great, for the sake of making his empire glorious, must bring under tribute every tribe and nation under the sun. And Rome in coming to the fullness of her power must exact of all the world complete subjugation, in order that Rome may live. Carthago delenda est. The Cæsars who bring back to Rome the most imposing procession of captive nations in their train, these are Romans indeed and worthy to be enrolled among the gods. Nor did the ancient Hebrews show themselves immune to the toxin of this barbarous idea of patriotism. In one of the Old Testament books their sentiment toward rival nations is mercilessly brought to light and most ruthlessly ridiculed. Jonah is presented to us as a type of the oldstyle patriotism, for he, too, can find his country's chiefest glory only in the complete destruction of her rivals. Under the compulsion of the Lord, through the remarkable behavior of a great fish, to Nineveh he finally went and sounded the note of warning, with precisely the result which he feared: Nineveh repented and the Lord spared the city. But so grievous was the disappointment of this narrow-minded patriot of the baser sort that he sat under his little booth and requested for himself that he might die. There was now nothing for him to live for since Nineveh had such an excellent chance to be destroyed, but missed it Patriotism, according to the oldfashioned idea, consisted largely in doing one's utmost

999

for the undoing and destruction of the rival nation. We can readily see that this type of patriotism has not vanished from the world. The Romans said, "Carthage must be destroyed," but today we hear sentiments expressed which are strangely like those which prevailed in the world over 2000 years ago: "There is but one way to rid the world of the 'German menace,' we are told, 'Germany must be destroyed." Certainly the same kind of sentiment prevails in Germany: "There is but one way by which Germany can come to her own, her place in the sun: British supremacy throughout the world must be destroyed! French ambition toward increasing power and supremacy must be curtailed!" Surely it is the old style of patriotism still prevailing.

66

Eventually, however, the world's thought advanced. The old definition of patriotism was revised and slightly improved. It ran something like this: "Patriotism consists in doing one's utmost to bring to power, honor, and glory one's own nation, and, if need be, at the expense of other nations." We observe that the first part of this revised idea is quite worthy, but that the second part is still greatly in need of further revision. "Patriotism consists in doing one's utmost to bring to power, honor, and glory one's own nation." Surely so. It is a worthy aim that one do his utmost to make his country strong, glorious, honorable among the nations of the world. It is a patriotic ideal that makes for good citizenship. "My country's government must be the best government in the world, the cleanest and the most just; my country's influence must be the strongest and best influence of any country in the world; my country's name must be the highest and most revered; my country's flag must be the best loved and the most respected of any flag of

any nation upon earth." But it is just here, alas! that this revised idea of patriotism fails. It fails at an essential point: its motive. For its motive evidently is this: "My country must be the greatest and the best for the sake of her own power, glory, and honor among the nations of the world, for the sake of her own self-gratification and pride"; which motive, of course, is essentially wrong because it is purely selfish. No man can seek his own glory and live. He shall thereby destroy his own life. So also is the nation subject to the sanction of the same stern law. A nation exists for the same reason that a man exists. No man exists for his own sake. A man exists for the sake of his race, for the sake of lending a hand to help the race upward, for the sake of doing his part in giving civilization a push forward. For precisely the same reason does a nation exist. A nation exists to do its part in lifting civilization to a higher plane; in contributing permanent values to the life of the civilized world; in performing its own mission as an emancipator of the race of mankind, and as the guardian of the sacred rights of humanity.

Here, then, we reach the new idea of patriotism. Patriotism consists in doing one's utmost to make one's own country strong, glorious, honorable among the nations of the world, in order that it thereby may best benefit all humanity and serve the race. The higher patriotism is so large in its vision and so broad-minded in its spirit that it can really look over and beyond national boundaries, and declare, "My country exists not for the sake of its own greatness and glory, but for the sake of the glory and greatness of all mankind!" This will not make our national patriotism less, but it will greatly ennoble it, and "I will endeavor to make my country great and glorious: