There is in human affairs one order which is best. That order is not always the one which exists; but it is the order which should exist for the greatest good of humanity. God knows it and wills it; man's duty it is to discover and establish it. -Emile DeLaveleye.

I'

Foreword

T is admitted by all students of human affairs that

the present age is a time of crisis and change. It

is even confessed by many Christian thinkers that the present generation will in all probability constitute a turning point of human history, and may determine the fortunes of Christianity for a thousand years. Whether men are aware of it or not the existing social order is dissolving before their eyes; and many things indicate that the forms in which men have known religion are dissolving in the general dissolution. This does not mean that the reign of anarchy is at hand or that chaos is about to come again. But it does mean that the old forms of society and the old formulas of religion no longer can contain the life and express the faith of to-day. This is certain that the ideas and ideals which inspired the fathers and determined the scale of their thought and faith are passing, if they have not already passed. The motives and methods which once guided their efforts and expressed their devotion are no longer adequate for the new world which is rising out of the ruins of the old. In sober truth it may be said that Christianity is passing through the most momentous crisis of its long history; and if the churches fail to read the signs of the times, or if they misread them, they will forfeit their election and lose the allegiance of mankind.

This little book, written with this crisis and oppor

tunity in view, has a twofold object. It seeks, first, to appraise the changes that are taking place in the world and to interpret the will of God for this generation as it is revealed in the processes of human society. And it seeks, second, to define the special task to which the Christian discipleship is now fairly committed, and to suggest the program and method by which the purpose of God as expressed in Jesus Christ shall become a FACT in the life of humanity. It is written in the confidence that Christianity is essentially a social religion, that the kingdom of God in the Christian conception of things never means anything less than a human society on earth, that the supreme task before the men of good-will to-day is the creation of a better and more Christian type of human society, that the needs of the world in this time demand that men's personal, social, industrial and political life as a whole be transformed and Christianized, that, in a word, the superlative duty of men to-day is the Christianization of Christendom. If religion means a knowledge of the goal and of the means which lead to it, no inquiry can be more pertinent than that here undertaken. If Christianity to be the final religion must be adequate to the largest tasks, then it can only carry off from the great debate of the world's religions the prize of the world's allegiance as it actually builds a human society after the divine order.

"Of making of books there is no end." The only excuse that one can offer in this time when books are pouring in a veritable Niagara from the press lies in the fact that he has something to say which no one else has said. The social question as it is called is in the air to-day, and many books are being written upon

it in some of its aspects. Thus far, however, no book, so far as I am aware, approaches this question from the side here indicated; nor is there any book which shows the relation of the present crisis in religion to the social task of Christianity. The book aims to be suggestive rather than exhaustive at any point. It does not pretend to give a complete and formal program of social salvation or to define all of the methods of social action. At this hour of the morning the great need is a sense of direction for the day's march, a definite idea of the day's task, and a clear understanding of the factors and forces of social progress. The author nowhere assumes or implies that social service is the whole of Christianity; but he does insist that it is a vital and essential part of the Christian's commission. The Christian Spirit will continue to inspire men in personal work with individuals; it will still impel men to build Christian churches and create Christian homes; it will no doubt awaken in men a deeper and more consuming interest in missionary activity. But beyond all of these things, in part their fulfillment and in part their condition, it will impel men to arise and build a Christian order of human society.

It is impossible for any writer to untwist the thread of his thought and trace every strand back to its original source. It is impossible therefore for any writer to mention by name all of the friends and writers who have helped him in the development of his thought. In some cases direct reference is given in the text to sources and authorities. At the end of each chapter a brief bibliography is given of those to whom the writer is indebted and to whom the reader is referred for further study. But to his Comrades of the Brother

hood of the Kingdom the writer owes a debt which cannot be paid in words. The many delightful hours spent in conference and inquiry on the hilltop near Marlborough-on-the-Hudson have meant much to one man in the clarifying of his thought and the intensifying of his convictions. Most gladly, therefore, does he acknowledge his immeasurable indebtedness to the Comrades of the Brotherhood of the Kingdom.

Des Moines, Iowa.

S. Z. B.