s of the past, by looking at their kings' churches,
and by glorifying a death for justice and a life of suffering.

At the time when Adam Smith wrote his famous work, _The Wealth of
Nations_, the Serbian nation possessed only one form of wealth, and that
was the inward wealth of the glorious inheritance of strong belief and
of bright hopes. All other forms of wealth that it saw around in the
large world, including its own physical life, belonged not to it but to
its enemies.

At the time when your learned priests and bishops discussed the subtle
theological questions of the relations between time and eternity,
between justice and forgiveness, between the Son and the Holy Ghost,
between transcendence and omnipresence, our priests and patriarchs had
to defend the religion of the Cross from the aggressive Crescent, and to
protect the lives of the oppressed, and to lead and inspire the souls of
their flock. I think both your and our priests did their duty according
to the time and circumstances under which they lived and worked.

"FOR CROSS AND FREEDOM"

has been our national motto. It is written on our flag and in the hearts
of each of us. Our motto never was "For existence" or "For vital
interests." That was an unknown form of language to our kings of old,
and that is still a language very strange for our ears to hear to-day.
We never fought indeed solely for a poor existence in this world. We
fought always rather for the ideal contentment of this terrestrial
existence. We fought not for life only, but for what makes one's life
worth living--"For Cross and Freedom!"

The Cross is mentioned first, and then Freedom. Why?

Because the Cross of Christ is the condition of a real freedom. Or,
because the Cross is for God's sake and our freedom is for our sake. We
should fight for God's sake first and then for our own. That was the
idea. Or, because Cross and Freedom are two words for the same thing.
The religion of the Cross involves Freedom, and real Freedom is to be
found only in the religion of the Cross.

"For Cross and Freedom!"

A Serbian proverb says:

The Cross shines better in the heart and the Crescent in the hand.

Another:

Why are there so many Mohammedans in the world? Because the Crescent
pays every day during life to its followers, and the Cross pays only
after death.

Have confidence in Christ and follow him even into the house of the
Devil, because He knows the way out.

Twelve poor apostles d