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for service, to unlearn much, and to learn still more. Christ's house is bound only to Him and His supreme authority. It is not bound to any political economy; it is not committed to any form or method of government. In a lofty sense, it is to be "all things to all men, that it may gain some." If it would be faithful, it must wait on its Lord, not in the sanctuary only, but in the world into which it is sent, piercing beneath the surface of things into the inner places of humanity, into the submergencies of the population, into the secrets of all its struggles, that it may recognise the signal of His hand, that, through communion with His mind, it may understand what He is saying to it. In the Christian Social Unions of England and Scotland, we can hail the token of an increasing desire more thoroughly to reach to the rock-beds of social topics, and to apply the truths of Christ's teaching to them. These unions have an important mission; for, they may remind all that Churches must, on the one hand, guard against the dead-weight of worn-out conventionalisms, of adherence to mere use and wontness, and, on the other hand, against the adoption of hasty and ill-considered views. Truth is our aim. Forbid that, in the day in which we live, the Church of the Lord should reproduce the picture of the unready king.

On special issues, such as "the strikes" which occasionally raise desolating storms in the industrial world, the individual citizen, be he clergyman or layman, is entitled to think and speak for himself, though, if he is wise, he will be reticent in speech; but when the Church, in its unity, is represented, the utmost caution should be exercised. The late Bishop Westcott was a successful mediator in a great strife in his diocese. But he occupied an exceptionally high position: by the width of his sympathies, the fulness of his knowledge, and the soundness of his judgment, he was trusted as few men can be trusted; his capacity for such mediation was almost unique. Speaking generally, the plane of the Church's action is one, by no means apart from, yet not to be confused with, particular causes. It can most influence when it speaks its own message, and connects the facts and the developments of human life with that message; when, in the power of the Holy Spirit, it takes of the things of Christ and shows them in their relation to present-day experiences and demands. The fellowship for which it witnesses is the completing truth of all social aspiration and effort. In the latest work of the saintly bishop, to whom allusion has just been made, are words which interpret both the mission and the want of the

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Church: "In the half-blind strivings towards a larger human communion we find, I believe, an expression of the characteristic want of our times, the want which Christ is waiting to satisfy. We need the outflow of a spiritual force among us which shall bring the deep conviction of the reality of this world-wide fellowship of men. We need it in our personal life, in our national life, in our religious life."1

1 Lessons from Work, p. 103.

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CHAPTER XIII.

SOCIAL-ETHICAL TRENDS.

UNDER the term socialism have been comprehended various schemes which, though differing in points of greater or less importance, take a common view of the claims of industrial labour, of the method by which equalisations of condition and opportunity are to be realised, and of the readjustment of society to be effected through the corporate action of the State. But, as has already been remarked, many who cannot accept either all the principles on which these systems are built up, or all the conclusions to which they lead, are yet in sympathy with some of the ideas that pervade them, and it is proposed, in this chapter, to consider certain social-ethical trends in which this sympathy is expressed.

In using the phrase social-ethical, the limitations of our survey will be recognised. It is not the intention to treat of ethics as involving the

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laws of personal conduct. These, of course, cannot be set aside, inasmuch as what is true or right, false or wrong, as to the aggregate must correspond to what is true or right, false or wrong, as to the individuals who form the aggregate. But the intention is to regard the crystalline in its wholeness, not to analyse the separate rays in their separateness. In every age, there must be modifications and elasticities in the application of principles to existing facts: as in Lowell's words

"New occasions teach new duties,

Time makes ancient good uncouth."

Every community, moreover, has what may be called a special moral judgment, a judgment that represents the sum of the special influences acting on it and through it. Two or three of such influences let us review.

One of the inclinations of thought which, in this day, connect with social ethics is, the assertion that work, with a moral end in view, is the mark of human worth and dignity. It is true that this is a very old assertion. But, in our time, it has been presented with a new emphasis. Ruskin, in his 'Crown of Wild Olive,' distinguishes between work and play. Both mean action; but the contrast that he states is, "Play is an exertion of