THE SOCIAL NATURE OF CHRISTIANITY The Kingdom of God on Earth-The Christian Conception of the Kingdom-The Ideal of the THE PROGRAM OF SOCIAL SALVATION The Need of a Positive Program-The Program⚫ of Christianity-The Salvation of the Whole Man-The Christianization of the Institutions of Man's Life and their Enlistment in the The New Credentials of the Gospel-The Real Nature of Christianity-The New En- The Social Task of Christianity I THE PAST ACHIEVEMENTS AND THE C |HRISTIANITY, as Rothe suggests, is the least immutable thing in the world; and this is its peculiar glory. The words that the Master has spoken are spirit and they are life; His truth is a seed and not a crystal. Geometry is a fixed science, but Christianity is not geometry. By the nature of the case Christianity is not something that can be settled once for all in some mould of doctrine, some form of words, some institution of society. It is a new light in every seeing eye, a new experience in every human life, a new power in every generation. The ever-living vine of God is producing every new season the ever-new wine of the Gospel; and so long as the vine produces the new wine that long we shall need new skins for its reception and preservation. The divine Spirit is ever taking of the things of Christ and is showing them unto men; and so long as the Spirit has anything to communicate and men have anything to learn of Christ, that long we may expect new illustrations of the Christian spirit, new applications of the Christian principles and new results in Christian lives. It takes a Jesus to comprehend a Jesus. The God in whom Christians believe is the living God. He is the God of Abraham, and Isaac and Jacob, to be sure; He is the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ also; but no less He is the God and Captain of men to-day, as He will be the Leader and Guide of men to-morrow. The infinite God is infinitely at work at every moment of time in every part of His universe. The God who spake unto the fathers by the prophets is the God who is speaking unto their children in His providences. The God who called men and wrought in the world yesterday is the same God who calls men and works in the world to-day. Men may be content to live on a past reputation, but God is not. Men may be satisfied to repeat the deeds of the fathers, but the Eternal never repeats. Ever and forever He is working some new works on every day of history. The things that have been are hence not the things that shall be. God is ever at work in His world, going before His people, opening new doors of opportunity, setting them new tasks, asking new fruits and making all things new. By the very necessities of the case the task of men yesterday is not the task of men to-day. By the nature of the case the fruits of yesterday will not satisfy the life of to-morrow. The life of to-day must live by the faith of to-day. The faith of to-day cannot be sustained by the evidences of yesterday. Faith in God is something more than a tradition well learned; faith in God is a fresh and vital experience. Ever and again the Living Christ is making all things new. For nineteen hundred years the Gospel of Christ has been preached and the Spirit of Christ has been at work in the world. It is not germane to our purpose to in quire how far this preaching of the Gospel has fully represented the mind of Christ. But it may be said without fear of contradiction that the Good News of God has been proclaimed in part at least and some of the truth as it is in Christ has been known. There are some elements that are never found in a pure state in nature but always in combination with some other substances. They have such an affinity for these substances that it is with difficulty they can be separated at all. What we call Christianity is so vital that it never can be found apart from life itself; it comes to us in life and it expresses itself through life, and it cannot be separated from its human media and viewed by itself. This being so it is more or less subject to the chances and changes and limitations of our human apprehension, our growing thought and our social development. The frank recognition of this fact will save us from much perplexity at the beginning and much confusion at the end. Nor is it necessary for us to consider how far the work of the churches in these nineteen centuries has fully realized the purpose of the reigning Christ. That great things have been done in the name of Christ all history abundantly testifies. That the work done has fallen far short of the purpose of the reigning Christ we must all sadly admit. For nineteen centuries the Son of Man has been with us; and yet men have not fully known Him. For sixty generations His Spirit has been at work in the world; but very seldom has He been able to do His mighty works. Instead of debating whether Christianity has failed, we may well ask whether it has really been tried. And yet with it all in these Christian centuries great things have been |