rliament's programme of work proved this. The public had been shown
that our duty to the whole Empire, and to our posterity, demanded this
thing. That was enough. Five years before, one year before, the country
had been shown very clearly where its duties lay; and the showing had
not moved five men in a hundred from their blind pursuit of individual
pleasure and individual gain. Army, Navy, Colonies, Imperial
prestige--all might go by the board.

But now, all that was changed. My old friend, Stairs, with Reynolds, and
their following, had given meaning and application to the teaching of
our national chastisement. Religion ruled England once more; and it was
the religion, not of professions and asseverations, but of Duty. The
House of Commons and, more even than our first Free Government, the
Imperial Parliament in Westminster Hall had behind them the absolute
confidence of a united people. If England could have been convinced at
that time that Duty demanded a barefoot pilgrimage to Palestine, I
verily believe Europe would have speedily been dissected by a
thousand-mile column of marching Britishers.

But the Canadian preachers taught a far more practical faith than that;
and, behind them, John Crondall and his workers opened the door upon a
path more urgent and direct than that of any pilgrimage; the path to be
trodden by all British citizens who respected the white hairs of their
fathers, and the innocent trust of their children; the path of Duty to
God and King and Empire; the path for all who could hear and understand
the call of our own blood.

XIII

ONE SUMMER MORNING

To humbler functions, awful Power!
I call thee: I myself commend
Unto thy guidance from this hour;
O, let my weakness have an end!
Give unto me, made lowly wise,
The spirit of self-sacrifice;
The confidence of reason give;
And in the light of Truth thy bondman let me live.

_Ode to Duty._

Winter rushed past us like a tropical squall that year, and, before one
had noted the beautiful coming of spring, young summer was upon the
land. For me, serving as I did the founder and leader of _The Citizens_,
life was filled as never before. I had never even dreamed of a life so
compact of far-reaching action, of intimate relation with great causes.

I know now that the speed and strenuousness of it was telling upon all
of us. But we did not realize it then. John C