m. The "Enthusiasm of Humanity"
is a noble sentiment; but the action of our fellow-members of the
human family may be such as to render it, at least for the moment,
impossible of realization. Under the pressure of injury from without,
cosmopolitanism must contract itself into patriotism. We may wish
devoutly that the whole human family were one in heart and mind--that
all the citizens of the kingdom of God obeyed one law of right
and wrong; but when some members of the family, some citizens of
the kingdom, have "given themselves over to a reprobate mind,"
our love must be reserved for those who still own the claim of
righteousness. If our own country stood as a solitary champion
of right against a world in unrighteous arms, patriotism would be
a synonym for religion, and cosmopolitanism for sin.

And then again I ask myself this question: Even assuming that Lord
Hugh is right, and that it is our bounden duty to love the Germans,
is love inconsistent with punishment? We postulate the love of God
towards mankind, and we rightly regard it as the highest manifestation
of what love means; but is it inconsistent with punishment for
unrighteous action? Neither Revelation, nor Nature, nor History,
knows anything of the conception which has been embodied in the
words, "a good-natured God." Of Revelation I will not speak at
length, for this is not the place for theological discussion; I
only remark in passing that the idea of punishment for wrong-doing
is not, as some sciolists imagine, confined to the Old Testament,
though there it is seen in its most startling form; in the New
Testament it is exhibited, alike by St. Paul and by St. Paul's
Master, as a manifestation of love--not vindictive, but remedial.
The disciplining love of a human father is used to illustrate the
Divine dealings with insubordinate mankind. About Nature we need
scarcely argue. "In the physical world there is no forgiveness of
sins," and rebellion against the laws of righteous living brings
penal consequences which no one can mistake. And yet again, has
History any more unmistakable lesson than that "for every false
word or unrighteous deed, for cruelty and oppression, for lust
or vanity, the price has to be paid at last"? Froude was right.
"Injustice and falsehood may be long-lived, but doomsday comes
at last to them, in French Revolutions and other terrible ways."

What we believe of the Divine Love, thus dealing with human
transgression, we may well be