Let us pray that she will become so, some day; and we may have hope for her, for she is but young, and has time yet for repentance.

But some may say—­indeed, we are all ready enough to say—­’Then the evil of this war is the Russians’ fault, and not ours; and so in every other case.  In every other evil and misery they are rather other people’s fault than ours.  If we do our duty well enough, and if other people would but do theirs, all would be well.’

We are all apt to say this in our hearts.  But our Lord does not say so.  His promise is to all mankind:  but His promise is to each of us also.  When He says, Seek ye first God’s kingdom and righteousness, He speaks to you and to me, to every soul now here.  Believe it, my friends.  The more that I see of life, the more I see how much of our sorrow is our own fault; how much of our happiness is in our own hands; and the more I see how little use there is in finding fault with this government, or that, the more I see how much use there is in every man’s finding fault with himself, and taking his share of the blame.

I do not doubt that if the whole people of England, for the last forty years, had sought first God’s kingdom and God’s righteousness, and said to themselves in every matter, not merely ’What is profitable for us to do?’ but ‘What is right for us to do?’ we should have been spared the expenses and the sorrows of this war:  but as for blaming our government, my friends,—­what they are we are; we choose them, Englishmen like ourselves, and they truly represent us.  Not one complaint can we make against them, which we may not as justly make against ourselves; and if we had been in their places, we should have done what they did; for the seeds of the same sins are in us; and we yield, each in his own household and his own business, to the same temptations as they, to the sins which so easily beset Englishmen at this present time.  I say, frankly, I see not one charge brought against them in the newspapers which might not quite as justly be brought against me, and, for aught I know, against every one of us here; and while we are not faithful over a few things, what right have we to complain of them for not having been faithful over many things?  Believe, rather (I believe it), that if we had been in their place, we should have done far worse than they; and ask yourselves, ’Do I seek first God’s kingdom and God’s righteousness; for if I do not, what right have I to lay the blame of my bad success on other men’s not seeking them?’ To each of us, as much as to our government, or to the Russian empire, is Christ’s command; and each of us must take the consequences, if we break it.  Let us look at ourselves, and mend ourselves, and try whether God’s promise will not hold true for us, each in his station, let the world round us go as it will.  Be sure that God is just, and that every man bears his own burden:  that the righteous should be as the wicked, that be far from Thee, O God!  Shall not the judge of all the earth do right?  Be sure that those who trust in Him shall never be confounded, though the earth be moved, and the mountains carried into the midst of the sea, as it is written, ’Trust in the Lord, and be doing good; dwell in the land, and work where God has placed thee, and verily thou shalt be fed.’