"Oh, I know--I'm a soldier too, sir, and I don't want to see my country
walked upon. It may be all right, all necessary to the game of empire,
but for Heaven's sake let us call it by its right name--conquest, not
Christianity--and put away the cant and quackery of being Christian
countries."
Again the General tried to protest, but Gordon did not hear.
"Think of it! Kaisers and Kings and Presidents asking God's blessing on
their Ministries of War! Bishops and Archbishops praying for more
battleships! Christians? Followers of Christ? Why, in the name of God,
do they not tear the scales from their eyes and stand revealed to
themselves as good, upright, honest, honourable Pagans, bent on the
re-paganisation of the world and the destruction of Christian
civilisation? I'm a soldier, yes, but I hope to Heaven I'm not a
hypocrite, and show me the soldier worth his salt who is not at heart a
man of peace."
The General's face was growing scarlet, but Gordon saw nothing of that.
"Then take what this new preacher says about the greed of wealth--isn't
that true, too? We pretend to believe that 'it is easier for a camel to
go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter into the
kingdom of God,' yet we are nearly all trying, struggling, fighting,
scrambling to be rich."