England -- Social life and customs -- 20th century -- Fiction; Villages -- England -- Fiction; World War, 1914-1918 -- Fiction
He leaned forward out of his pulpit, gazing keenly at the faces upturned
to his.
"I am wondering," he said slowly, "how many of you young unmarried men
will be here a few Sundays from now?"
He paused again. His voice was gentler:
"I am wondering, also, what the mothers and sisters and sweethearts of
these young men are thinking to-day, and what part they mean to
play--to-morrow." Then he said austerely: "Where the heart is right,
there is true patriotism."
Many hearts began to beat faster, as he went on, picking his way,
pausing again and again, but never faltering. The Squire, upright in his
comfortable chair, became conscious of the man's grip upon everybody
present, gentle and simple. He could see their tense faces.
"I have never doubted one great thing. I believe in the soul and its
immortality. In God's sight all souls are equal, because they are part
of Him. From birth that soul is struggling to inform the body, in all
its functions. It never tires; it never despairs. I dare to affirm that
it is most active when body and mind are fighting against it, spurning
it, denying, perhaps, its very existence or power. I affirm, further,
that this quickening spirit within us may be least potent to achieve its
purpose when body and mind are stagnant, steeped in apathy, content with
the things of this earth, food, drink, clothes, money and--pleasure.
"Try to believe, for a moment, that your souls are omnipotently right.
In the text I have chosen, Bishop Berkeley uses the word 'heart.' I take
it that he meant mind. Are your minds right? Are they working in harmony
with your souls? Each of you is called upon to answer that question in
relation to this world-war, and what that war may demand of each of us.
It is the duty of some of you to go, not grudgingly, not because
pressure is brought to bear upon you, not because you want to pose
before others as more valiant than they are, not for any selfish reason
whatever, but in the same spirit which informed the apostles, men like
yourselves, hard workers, absorbed, as you are, in their own affairs,
who abandoned everything with one unswerving purpose before them--the
regeneration of a world in pain.
"A great Cause is animating all of us.
"This war may inspire some of you to actions undreamed of in days of
peace, to a valour which you cannot measure if you would, because the
hour provoking it has not yet come. Sooner or later that hour comes to
the greatest and the humblest. And the manner of our rising to it may
shape anew our lives and other lives, and determine our progress here
and hereafter. From the cradle to the grave, each of us carries a
sleeping energy capable of immense expansion, which wakes when the great
opportunity presents itself.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account