ry nature, the lowest, or "rudest," grade of
heroism, to those which I believe to be the higher and finer grades. And
it must have long since become evident to you, that every step that I
have taken in the progress of my argument has been away from what we
may well call the more physical expression of heroic endeavor, to those
which are more moral, or spiritual. That the true soldier is possessed
of something more than mere brute courage, I would be among the very
last, I trust, to deny. But however fine and pure may be the valor of
his soul, it still must be admitted, in the last analysis, that the
soldier never rids himself of the material accessories and trappings of
the world. The flag that greets his eye and the music that beats upon
his ear, the personal contact of his fellows upon the march and in the
trenches, the medals and monuments that embody a nation's applause and
gratitude--all these things, with however high an admixture of spiritual
elements, are still fundamentally "of the earth, earthy." And so
essential are they to the soldier's life, that we cannot think of that
life without them. But how different is the situation when we turn to
these other types of heroism of which I have made mention! How do the
earthly foundations seem to disappear, and those foundations which are
only spiritual take their place! These unknown heroes, whose names and
deeds are recorded on the tablets in the Postman's Park--what stirred
them to action save the spontaneous promptings of their own hearts?
Those "brave settlers," and "brave women" who "cleared fields" and "made
homes" in solitary places--Captain Scott who faced death all alone in
terrifying storms of the Antarctic--what sustained them but the secret
counsel of their inward spirits? And Jesus of Nazareth as he hung upon
the cross--upon what did he rely, if not upon God and his own soul? The
heroism of the soldier, even at its best, is more or less a fleshy,
worldly thing. The heroism of these others is more and more a spiritual
unworldly thing, until, at the topmost grade of all, we meet the
prophet, the saint, the martyr, who matches his naked soul against the
world, and gladly loses the one that he may save the other.

It is when we attain to this viewpoint, that we begin to understand the
mistake of ordinary opinion in identifying the hero with the soldier.
Especially in this age of waxing militarism, it is well for us to note
the fallacy which is involved in this