"Nation with nation, land with land, Unarmed shall live as comrades free, In every heart and brain shall throb The pulse of one fraternity;
"New arts shall bloom, of loftier mould, And mightier music thrill the skies, And every life shall be a song When all the earth is paradise,"--
and come and help us to bring that glad time. The Leader whom we follow knows the way, and the future belongs to Him.
That is the message of the new evangelism, and when the church learns to speak it with conviction, and to make it good in her life, she will find that the gospel has a power that she has never even imagined it to possess.
These discussions have failed of their purpose if they have not made a few things clear. Let us restate them:--
1. The roots of religion are in human nature. It is a fact as central and all-pervasive in the social realm as gravitation is in the physical realm. It is no more likely to become antiquated or obsolete than oxygen or sunshine. It is an interest which no intelligent person can afford to ignore.
2. Like every other living thing, religion grows. It is not outside the sphere of operation of Him who said, "Behold! I make all things new!" It is subject, continually, to his wise economy of renewal.
3. Our religion is Christianity. With the other religions of the race it is destined to be brought into closer and closer comparison and competition, and that religion will survive and become universal which most perfectly explains the universe and provides for the wants of the human soul. All the indications are that the religion which survives will include the essential elements of Christianity.
4. All religions are rooted in the social nature of man, but Christianity, more than any other, is a social religion. It depends for its culture and propagation upon the social forces. Some form of social organization, like the church, is necessary to the life of religion. Worship, to be sane and salutary, must be social; and the life of Christianity can find expression only in such coöperations as those for which the church provides.
5. As the life of religion is nurtured in social worship and service, so its fruit is gathered in the transformation of society. The primary function of the church is the Christianization of the social order. The business of the church is to save the world by establishing here the kingdom of heaven.