Many who feel little need of a religion in their own lives approve of the ideal of society which Christianity sets forth. It promises the advent of a Prince of Peace, and holds out the hope of a time when war shall be no more. Those who are enamoured of this prospect for the world at large are disappointed that the expectations which Christianity has raised have not been fulfilled. Its failure to maintain peace at the present time seems to them to discredit religion as unpractical, and its teaching as unfitted for the present world. But this raises the question whether the failure is due to Christianity itself, or to mistaken methods of pursuing the Christian aim. An inquiry as to the method by which Christianity is likely to work most effectively, as a power for regenerating human society, is not only interesting but fruitful. Forgotten controversies come to have a new meaning, when it is remembered that the men who took part in them were making different experiments as to the method of realising the Christian aim in this world. In the seventeenth century and subsequently one experiment was tried after another; and various bodies attempted to found a Christian polity that should be in complete accordance with the will of God. We can examine these polities in turn, and see how far the basis on which each rested was really sound. Some relied 1 on the positive guidance of a living authority; 1 some treated the Scriptures of the Old and New Testament as an ultimate standard;2 while others insisted that the individual conscience must be supreme. We can note how the structures, which were built on one or other of these foundations, have been arraigned at the bar of history, and how defects or exaggerations have been exposed. This enquiry is not idle, if we are prepared to learn by the experience of the past. Beacons, which warn us what to avoid, may give us important guidance as to the course we ought to pursue. Christianity still maintains a claim to mould personal life and national life; but religion would do well to abandon the pretension to lay down principles in a form in which they are directly applicable to the circumstances of any community, at the precise stage of development which it has reached. In the modern world there is progress and growth; and no maxims can be formulated which apply to every age alike. The laws of Political Economy are ultimately based on experience, and hold good for long periods; there is need to take them into full account, but none of them is to be treated as valid for all time. One system of Political Economy after another has been superseded, and none has attained finality. Our • Chapter IV. 1 Chapter I. 2 Chapter III. religion fails to live up to its true character if it attempts to enunciate maxims which give direct guidance to political communities. For "Chris"tianity is the Eternal Religion which can never "become obsolete. If it sets itself to determine "the temporary and the local, the justice of this "tax, or the exact wrongs of that conventional "maxim it would soon become obsolete, — it "would be the religion of one century, not of all."1 It is to the personal heart and conscience that the teaching of Christ makes its primary appeal; the Christian man is taught to aim at so passing through things temporal that he shall not lose the things eternal. - The problems of modern life are complex, and the misery of human beings in the most advanced communities is appalling. It is therefore right that we should try to learn from past experience. Christian effort is wasted when it is frittered away in every direction, instead of being concentrated on the field in which it can work most effectively. Christianity has a unique power for dealing with the heart and conscience of the individual man, and it will do well to exercise this power to the full, as the best means of bringing its influence to bear, indirectly but not the less really, 1 F. W. Robertson, Sermons (2d Series), II, 7. 1 on Society as a whole. There is hope that the part which religion has to play in political life may be more effective than ever, if Christian men can learn from their own past failures, and not only awaken to a keener sense of personal duty, but also keep an open mind to the actual conditions in which they live. Humanitarian sentiment is a power for good, though it cannot create a new earth. Class Interest and National Interest are notable forces, though they are mischievous if they are allowed to operate blindly. No exclusive Christian principle of action in social affairs is to be advocated as a substitute for the play of human activities. Divine power can so master them as to give each its place, and bring them all to cooperate for the common weal. If the good and the evil elements in the social forces of the day are recognised, Christians need no longer treat them as antagonists, but welcome them as possible allies. "He that is not against us is on our part." 2 Chapter VII. 1 Chapter VI. I CHRISTENDOM AND THE REFORMATION I. THE PAPACY THROUGHOUT the whole of Western Christendom there had been a general agreement, during the Middle Ages, that the Papacy was the channel by which the Divine Will for all conditions of human life was authoritatively made known; and also that it was the organ by which Christian duty could be enforced, either by the spiritual censeres or through the co-operation of Christian princes. Generations of men grew up in a society which was permeated by these views and accepted them without serious question. Hildebrand succeeded in maintaining the supremacy of the spiritual power, while its independence of secular authorities appears to be guaranteed by the possession of the States of the Church; and this view has never been abandoned. It is still claimed that the temporal power "was conferred many centuries ago "by Divine Providence on the Bishop of Rome "that he might without let or hindrance use the "authority conferred by Christ for the eternal |