spread to most continental countries has helped to concentrate attention upon the physical activities of man. But there is a deeper reason for the failure of Christianity in its insistent attempts to foist on to Western nations that are distinctively materialistic, combative, and individualistic, in their real aims and interests, ideals of character and conduct out of keeping with their nature and traditions. The teaching of the Sermon on the Mount is so evidently divergent from our real feelings about men and women’s characters and conduct as to drive its teachers to all sorts of evasive interpretations. It is not a question of gradual spiritual advances towards the adoption of the Christian teaching. The character of Jesus, though commanding a conventional respect and even admiration, is not the ideal character of an English gentleman, an English sportsman,[1] or an English business man, an English scholar, even an English clergyman. The full Christian
- ↑ Many of the best qualities of Englishmen are educated in their sporting activities. It was not merely “courage” that was implied in the oft-quoted statement that “Waterloo was won in the playing fields of Eton.” The sporting spirit which is widespread among all classes has no doubt spread by quasi-snobbish adoption of the behaviour and standards of the gentry. It carries, however, many fine and even elevated rules of conduct. Justice is “fair play,” love of neighbours is the “team spirit,” and although “love of enemies” cannot be recognized, there is at least tolerance for rival teams and some appreciation of their virtues as gamesters. I quote an illuminating sentence from a work of fiction by the Rev. Ronald A. Knox: “I love that phrase, don’t you, placing the game. The pill of morality coated with sporting metaphor, so that the English can take it without difficulty!” (Double Cross Purposes, p. 283).
