THE CHURCH AND THE SOCIAL MOVEMENT 607
excepted from such distrust, but even with this allowance one cannot say that the situation has been overdrawn. One can still mention a recent disposition among social writers to regard reli- gion itself as a merely temporary basis of ethics ; the constant tendency of our churches to follow the line of social cleavage ; the decay of country churches ; the steady growth of organiza- tions like Salvation Armies, Young People's Societies, Christian Associations. Such facts do not portend the end of Christian morality. The ethical teachings of Jesus must stand and be operative as long as goodness is better than badness, and love more advantageous than hate. Nor is there any likelihood that churches as institutions will disappear. The danger is lest the churches as religious organizations shall cease to be of any social service or significance.
And this brings us to the heart of the matter. Without attempting to justify this criticism or to eulogize or blame the discontent from which it springs, let us put the matter frankly and distinctly : Is such distrust legitimate ? Has the Christian church as a social institution any significance for a movement which is preeminently ambitious to elevate the classes that as yet have had comparatively little share in a Christian civilization ?
II.
The conditions of the problem themselves indicate the responsibilities which the church must assume. The church must recognize that its fundamental mission is religious — dynamic, and not regulative. "Sometimes," says Mr. Bryce in his American Commonwealth, "standing in the midst of a great American city .... one is startled by the thought of what might befall this huge yet delicate fabric of laws and commerce and social institutions were the foundation it has rested on to crumble away. Suppose that all these men ceased to believe there was any power above them, any future before them, any- thing in heaven or earth but what their senses told them of; . . . . Would men say, 'Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die'? Or would custom, and sympathy, and a perception of the advan- tages which stable government offers to the citizens, as a whole,
