For we are not in this world to amuse ourselves with its affairs.  We are here to push the whole sluggish mass forward in some particular direction, and unless you know the direction in which you want to go your force is of no avail.  Do you love righteousness? is what each one of us ought to ask himself.  And if you love righteousness are you ready to translate righteousness into action and be ashamed and afraid before no man?

It seems to me, therefore, that it is worth suggesting to you that you are not sitting here merely to transact the business and express the ideals of a great church as represented in the State of Maryland, but you are here also as part of the assize of humanity, to remind yourselves of the things that are permanent and eternal, which if we do not translate into action we have failed in the fundamental things of our lives.

You will see that it is only in such general terms that one can speak in the midst of a confused world, because, as I have already said, no man has the key to this confusion.  No man can see the outcome, but every man can keep his own spirit prepared to contribute to the net result when the outcome displays itself.

“What the Germans Say About Their Own Methods of Warfare”

By Joseph Bedier, Professor in the College de France

[From an article in the Revue de Paris for January, 1915.]

I purpose to show that the German armies cannot altogether escape the reproach of violating on occasion the law of nations.  I shall establish this by French methods, through the use of documents of sound value.

My texts are genuine, well vouched for, and I have taken pains to subject them to a critical examination, as scrupulous and minute as heretofore in times of peace I expended in weighing the authority of some ancient chronicle, or in scrutinizing the authenticity of some charter.  Perhaps this care was born of professional habit, or due to a natural craving for exactness, but in either case it is a voucher for the work, which is meant for all comers—­for the passer-by, for the indifferent, and even for my country’s foes.  My wish is that the veriest looker-on, idly turning these pages, may be confronted only with documents whose authenticity will be self-evident, if he is willing to see, and whose ignominious tale will reach his heart, if ye have a heart.

I have, moreover, sought for documents not only incontestably genuine but of unquestioned authority.  Accusation is easy, while proof is difficult.  No belligerent has ever been troubled to find mountains of testimony, true or false, against his enemy; but were this evidence gathered by the most exalted magistrates, under the most solemn judicial sanction, it must unfortunately long remain useless; until the accused has full opportunity to controvert it, every one is free to treat it as false or, at the best, as controvertible.  For this reason I shall avoid resting the case upon Belgian or French statements, though I know them to be true.  My purpose has been to bring forward such testimony that no man living, be he even a German, should be privileged to cast a doubt upon it.  German crimes will be established by German documents.