The religious value of the patriotic spirit.
"For my brethren and companions' sakes, I will wish thee prosperity." This may be the expression of a pilgrim on leaving Jerusalem to return to his home. The love of the psalmist for his country was patriotism. Perowne says, "The last four verses of the psalm breathe a spirit of the noblest, most unselfish, patriotism. Not for his own sake, but for the sake of his brethren—the people at large—and for the sake of his God, his temple, and his service, he wishes peace to Jerusalem, and calls upon others to wish her peace. With love to Israel and love to Jehovah there is naturally united a warm affection for Jerusalem, a hearty interest in her welfare.
I. THE PATRIOTIC SPIRIT IS KIN WITH THE RELIGIOUS. The moral value of both is the same, and it lies in taking a man out beyond himself, and interesting him in something other than himself. The patriotic spirit interests him in other people, the religious spirit interests him in God. They are also alike in their power to arouse and culture emotion, and to inspire self-denying acts.
II. THE PATRIOTIC SPIRIT NOURISHES THE RELIGIOUS. According to the principle laid down by St. John, "If a man love not his brother whom he hath seen, how can he love God whom he hath not seen?" It is a delusion that religion claims isolation; it is both expressed and nourished through the temporal. Religion separated from life and its common claims and obligations is but weak and deluding sentiment. Patriotic Moses is pious Moses. The separation of Christian men from political, civil, and social interests is entirely a sectarian delusion. The noblest and the healthiest Christian lives have always been, and are always sure to be, in the truest sense patriotic.
III. THE PATRIOTIC SPIRIT QUALIFIES THE RELIGIOUS. For while it is quite true that man is not all body and human relations, it is also quite true that he is not all soul and soul-relations. The religious side of man's nature can be exaggerated, and often is. The unworldly may become a snare as well as the worldly. It is helpful to qualify the heavenly by the duties of the earthly.—R.T.