Tf When I tell you that war is the foundation of all the arts, I mean also that it is the foundation of all the high virtues and faculties of men.
It is very strange to me to discover this ; and very dreadful — but I saw it to be quite an undeniable fact. The common notion that peace and the virtues of civil life flourished together, I found to be wholly untenable. Peace and the vices of civil life only flourish together. We talk of peace and learning, and of peace and plenty, and of peace and civilization, but I found that those were not the words which the Muse of History coupled together ; that, on her lips, the words were — peace and sensuality — peace and selfishness — peace and death. I found, in brief, that all great nations learned their truth of word, and strength of thought, in war; that they were nourished in war, and wasted by peace; taught by war, and deceived by peace; trained by war, and betrayed by peace — in a word, that they were born in war, and expired in peace.
Yet now note carefully, in the second place, it is not all war of which this can be said — nor all dragon's teeth, which, sown, will start up into men. It is not the rage of a barbarian wolf- flock, as under Genseric or Suwarrow; nor the habitual rest- lessness and rapine of mountaineers, as on the old borders of Scotland ; nor the occasional struggle of a strong peaceful nation for its life, as in the wars of the Swiss with Austria; nor the contest of merely ambitious nations for extent of power, as in the wars of France under Napoleon, or the just terminated war in
158 THE DISCIPLINE OF CHANGE
America. None of these forms of war build anything but tombs. But the creative, or foundational, war is that in which the natural restlessness and love of contest among men are disciplined, by consent, into modes of beautiful — though it may be fatal — play : in which the natural ambition and love of power of men are disciplined into the aggressive conquest of surrounding evil; and in which the natural instincts of self-defence are sanctified by the nobleness of the institutions, and purity of the households which they are appointed to defend. To such war as this all men are born ; in such war as this any man may happily die ; and out of such war as this have arisen, throughout the extent of past ages, all the highest sanctities and virtues of humanity.1
3. That which is true of nations is true of men. There are other passages of Holy Scripture which help us to the spiritual meaning of all this statement concerning Moab. Says the Psalmist, " Because they have no changes, therefore they fear not God." And in the book of the prophet Zephaniah we read, " It shall come to pass at that time, that I will search Jerusalem with candles, and punish the men that are settled on their lees : that say in their heart, The Lord will not do good, neither will he do evil." Now the great lesson from all this is, that there is spiritual danger in the quiet lot, and in the quiet heart ; that it is not God's purpose that those He loves should enjoy entire worldly tranquillity ; that there is something good in care, unrest, disquiet, sorrow, bereavement, disappointment, perplexity — in all that breaks up that perilous calm in which we grow too well satisfied with this world and feel ourselves too little dependent on our Saviour and our Comforter, and in which we come too much to feel as if things went on in their way forgetting that God directs them all, and fail to realize that the one thing needful is something quite different from worldly enjoyment or worldly gain.
^| Staying for a while in the valley of Aosta, in Northern Italy, we found the air to be heavy, close, and humid with pesti- lential exhalations. We were oppressed and feverish — one's life did not seem worth a pin. We could not breathe freely, our lungs had a sense of having a hundred atmospheres piled upon them. Presently, at midday, there came a thunder-clap, attended by big drops of rain, and a stiff gale of wind, which grew into a perfect
1 Ruskin, The Crown of Wild Olive, § 93 ( Works, xviii. 464).
JEREMIAH xlviii. n 159
tornado, tearing down the trees ; then followed what the poet calls " sonorous hail," and then again the lightning flash, and the thunder peal on peal echoing along the Alps. But how delightful was the effect, how we all went out upon the verandah to look at the lightning, and enjoy the music of the thunder! How cool the air and bracing ! How delightful to walk out in the cool evening after the storm ! Then you could breathe and feel a joy in life. Full often it is thus with the Christian after trouble. He has grown to be careless, lethargic, feverish, heavy, and ready to die, and just then he has been assailed by trouble, thundering threatenings have rolled from God's mouth, flashes of lightning have darted from providence : the property vanished, the wife died, the children were buried, trouble followed trouble, and then the man has turned to God, and though his face was wet with tears of repentance, yet he has felt his spirit to be remarkably restored. When he goes up to the house of God it is far more sweet to hear the word than aforetime. He could not pray before, but now he leans his head on Jesus' bosom and pours out his soul in fellowship.1