peculiar interest of the Church. This conception is passing and it must pass. Just now many earnest churchmen are in confusion and alarm over the lessening hold of the Church over the lives of men. No doubt about it the Church has lost a certain measure of supremacy and centrality in the past generation or two; it is not likely that it will ever again be regarded as the exclusive realm of religion; it is quite certain that never again will Christian men regard religion as the exclusive interest of the Church. The fact that the Church has lost a certain measure of supremacy in the thought and life of men is sometimes interpreted to mean that men are less religious than formerly; it may mean and we believe it does mean that men are gaining a truer conception of the kingdom and are beginning to realize that the kingdom of God is the interest of the family and the state no less than of the Church. The time has come for men to recognize the sacredness of all work for men and to know that in and through the family and the state no less than through the Church they are to seek the kingdom of God.

The frank recognition of this truth will save men from much confusion both from the side of the Church and from the side of society. Just now there are many people both within and without the churches who are laying great stress upon what they call the social mission of the Church and are demanding that the Church broaden its program and include this work of social salvation. There is reason in this demand, as this whole study seeks to show, but it is important that this demand be carefully considered. By all means let the Church broaden its horizon, widen its program and work for the whole life of man. But let us frankly

face the fact that the Church has no function to do this work of social salvation; at any rate it is no more the function of the Church than of the other institutions of man's life. For as we have seen the Church is not the special institution of religion, and religion is not the special interest of the Church. The Church is an institution of religion, a vital factor in man's search for the kingdom, a necessary agency in the work of social salvation; but the family and the state are designed no less to share in this same search and to promote this divine end. The state and the family no less than the Church are realms in which the reign of the kingdom is realized; no one institution more than another is the peculiar institute of religion, nor is religion the special interest of the one more than of the others. One of the most important things before the Christian world at this time is the clear conception of the divine meaning of these great institutions of man's life and the full apprehension of the fact that in and through these three agencies they are to seek the kingdom of God and the salvation of human society.

These three great institutions all have a vital function to fulfill in the economy of human life. Each is an agency through which man realizes the purpose of God in the world; and through each the life of God is getting itself reborn into the life of humanity. They all seek the same end, the kingdom of God and the welfare of man; but each has its own function and method. The Church is the institute of faith and hope; its special function is to testify of God and of His kingdom; to hold up the Christian ideal in the sight of all men, to inform the mind, to arouse the conscience of the people, to hearten them for courageous living,

and then to send them forth thus taught, inspired and impelled, to hunger after justice, to seek the kingdom and its righteousness and to build on earth a Christian social order. The family is the institute of love and trust; its special function is to mould the life for the kingdom, to be a school of social living, to train the growing life in the practice of self-sacrifice and mutual aid, and then to send forth its members to seek through the family the perfection of the race and to serve as good citizens in the civil state. The state is the institute of rights and duties; its special function is to maintain justice in human relations, to seek after righteousness in society, to provide the conditions for a human, moral and spiritual life, to embody in its order the abiding principles of the kingdom, righteousness and peace in the Holy Spirit, and then to send forth its citizens to hallow God's name, to seek His kingdom and to do His will in all the masterful institutions of their social and political life. And this brings us to the last item in the program which we shall name:

V. THE CONSCIOUS EFFORT TO BUILD A CHRISTIAN SOCIAL ORDER

At this point we must pause a moment to note several objections that are brought against this whole conception of things. Against this background of objections we shall see the truth in much clearer outlines.

1. It is said by many people that Christianity is a spiritual religion, and being such it has nothing to do with economic systems and political programs. Again, it is said by others that Jesus Christ came to give men eternal life, and this is a purely subjective and personal thing and cannot be limited by the forms of time and

place. Still others say that the kingdom of God is a personal and inward reality, for does not Christ say that "the kingdom of God is within you"? And still others declare that Christ is here to save men from sin, to win them unto God and to build them up in Christlikeness, and so Christianity has no vocation for the improvement of social conditions. It is needless here to attempt to consider these objections in detail, for that would carry us too far afield. And after all it is unnecessary for our purpose after what has been said in an earlier chapter on the kingdom of God.

There is, however, one thing that we may consider, for it is germane to our subject and it touches the very heart of the question. Granted that Christianity is here to turn men from sin and to win them unto Christ; granted also that Christ has come to give men life, even the eternal life; granted that the kingdom of God does begin within men; and granted further that the divine life can never be fully revealed in the terms and forms of the human and temporal. Yet we cannot suppress the natural questions: What shall these men do after they are brought to Christ and receive of His Spirit? How shall this new life manifest its essential quality and in what forms will it incarnate itself? What are these men of consecrated will to set before themselves as their life-work here below? A little clear thinking at this point will save us from endless confusion.

In all times, as every one knows, there has been a disposition on the part of many Christians to regard salvation as an end in itself. To have men converted and filled with the Spirit has been accepted as the goal of prayer and effort. But as a matter of fact all this

is simply the beginning of the Christian life and only a means to an end. The ultimate Gospel is not individual but social. Men are saved that they may become citizens of the kingdom. They are regenerated that they may become living stones in the walls of the Holy City. But not realizing this, many Christians have narrowed the horizon of their interest and have addressed themselves to the upbuilding of their own spiritual life. They have lived in these cities of earth, so full of iniquity and misery and corruption on every hand, with open saloons, houses of infamy and city slums at every turn, and all the time have neglected their civic duty, have allowed the most notorious evils to riot unrebuked and been content to dream of a city in the skies where these things are all unknown. They have been in the world as salt, but somehow the salt has not sweetened things and saved the city from corruption. They have possessed the life and leaven of the kingdom, but for some reason it has not permeated and leavened the mass of dough. In all times, it must be said, there have been some far-seeing souls who have understood the real meaning of Christianity and have earnestly sought to build on earth a righteous social order. Savonarola at Florence had the true vision of the kingdom and faithfully sought to make Jesus Christ King of the city. John Calvin at Geneva saw clearly that men were chosen in Christ that they might be good citizens in the new commonwealth, and so he sought to build up out of these men a Christian society. The moment we get the fog out of our minds, give over the use of pious platitudes and holy ambiguities about the spiritual life and begin to see things as they are and to use the language of reality, that mo