Of course, he could not save himself. No man can save himself who saves another. The rain cannot save itself, if it is to bud the greenery; the sun cannot save itself if it is to light the world; the seed cannot save itself if it is to make the harvest; a mother cannot save herself if she is to save her child; a soldier cannot save himself if he is to save his country. It was not weakness which made Christ hang on the Cross; it was obedience to the law of sacrifice, of love. For how could he save us if he ever saved himself? Peace he craved; but as Saint Paul says, there is no peace but through the blood of the Cross. Peace we want; but there is none apart from sacrifice. Peace is not a passive but an active virtue. Our Lord never said, ‘Blessed are the peaceful,’ but ‘Blessed are the peacemakers.’ The Beatitude rests only on those who make it out of trial, out of suffering, out of cruelty, even out of sin. God hates peace in those who are destined for war. And we are destined for war – a war against a false freedom which endangered our freedom; a war for the Cross against the double cross; a war to make America once more what it was intended to be from the beginning – a country dedicated to liberty under God; a war of the militia Christi:‘Having our loins girt about with truth and having on the breastplate of justice… the shield of faith… the helmet of salvation’ (Ephesians 6:10-17). For only those who carry the sword of the spirit have the right and have the power to say to the enemies of the Cross, ‘Put thy sword back into its scabbard.’
The choice
Our choice is not: Will we or will we not have more discipline, more respect for law, more order, more sacrifice; but, where will we get it? Will we get it from without, or from within? Will it be inspired by Sparta or Calvary? By Valhalla or Gethsemane? By militarism or religion? By the double cross or the Cross? By Caesar or by God?
That is the choice facing America today. The hour of false freedom is past. No longer can we have education without discipline, family life without sacrifice, individual existence without moral responsibility, economics and politics without subservience to the common good. We are now only free to say whence it shall come. We will have a sword. Shall it be only the sword that thrusts outward to cut off the ears of our enemies, or the sword that pierces inward to cut out our own selfish pride? May heaven grant that, unlike the centurion, we pierce not the heart of Christ before we discover his divinity and salvation.
Away with those educators and propagandists who, by telling us we need no Cross, make possible having one forged for us abroad. Away with those who, as we gird ourselves for sacrifice based on love of God and Calvary, sneer, ‘Come down from the Cross’ (Matthew 27:40). That cry has been uttered before on Calvary, as his enemies shouted, ‘He saved others, himself he cannot save’ (Mark 15:31). They were now willing to admit he had saved others; they could well afford to do it, for now he apparently could not save himself.
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