That is what he
would say whose vision of life is the widest. All objectors he may not
satisfy. That what is life to him may leave his comrade cold is a
difficulty; but against the difficulty stand the depth and reality of
their comradeship, proven by mutual sacrifice, endurance, and faith, and
he never doubts that their bond union will sometime prove to have a
wise and beautiful meaning in the Annals of God.
III
But the men of different creeds who stand firmly and loyally together
are a minority. We are faced with the great difficulty of uniting as a
whole North and South; and we are faced with the grim fact that many
whom we desire to unite are angrily repudiating a like desire, that many
are sarcastically noting this, that many are coldly refusing to believe;
while through it all the most bitter are emphasising enmity and
glorifying it. All these unbelievers keep insisting North and South are
natural enemies and must so remain. The situation is further embittered
by acts of enmity being practised by both sides to the extreme
provocation of the faithful few. Their forbearance will be sorely tried,
and this is the final test of men. By those who cling to prejudice and
abandon self-restraint, extol enmity, and always proceed to the further
step--the plea to wipe the enemy out: the counter plea for forbearance
is always scorned as the enervating gospel of weakness and despair.
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