"^T^;v.>\^i .^:o:-^ i;,#^^%w^^^^ ' *, > x> '^ ' (Catttell Hniueraity Cihrarg 14/1, E,Wi Bee >r Cornell University Ubrarv HN31 .S92 The new ejaj. olin DATE DUE PRINTED IN Ij BY REV. JOSIAH STRONG, D.D. OUR COUNTRY: Its Possible Future and its Present Crisis. With an Introduction by Prof. Austin Phelps, D.D. 160th Thousand Bevised Edi- tion, based on the Census of 1890. Cloth, 60 cents. Paper, 85 cents. THE NEW ERA; or, Tlie Coming Kingdom. Library Edition, crown 8vo, cloth, gilt top $1.50 Plain Cloth, 12mo, .... 75 Paper, 12mo, 35 THE BAKER & TAYLOR CO., publishekb, 740 & 742 Bkoadwat, Nbw York. THE NEW ERA THE COMING KINGDOM BY eev. josiah strong, d.d. General Secretary of the Evangelical Alliance for the United States ; Author of " Our Country " " The Present Time— youngest born of Eternity, child and heir of all the Past Times with their good and evil, and parent of all the Future — is ever a ' New Era' to the thinking man. . . . To knoiv it, and what it bids us do, is ever the sum of knowledge for all of us." — Thomas Carlyle. " Lift up your eyes, and you may see another stadium of history advancing. Its aim will be to realize the Christianity of Christ him- self, which is about to renew its youth by taking to heart the Sermon on the Mount. He that sitteth on the throne is saying : ' Behold, 1 make all things new.' This earth is yet to be redeemed, soul and body, with all its peoples, occupations, and interests." — RoswELL D. Hitchcock. FIFTEENTH THOUSAND, ,^ NEW YORK THE BAKER & TAYLOR CO. 740 AND 743 Broapwat :i V I Copyright, 1893. BY The Baker & Taylor Uo. ROBERT DBUMMOND, BLKCTBOTYPEB AND PRINTER, NEW YORK. PREFACE. It is a common observation that we are living in a period of transition. Such periods are always charac- terized by uncertainty and anxiety, by difficult prob- lems and by great opportunities. Of these we hear much ; but I know of no one who has attempted to show ivhy this is a period of transition, or to point out its re- lations to the past and future and thus interpret its meaning. This volume is such an attempt. I have tried to lay hold of fundamental laws and principles and to apply them to the explanation of existing con- ditions and to the solution of the great problems of the The reader will see that the treatment of subjects has been suggestive rather than exhaustive; to have done them full justice each chapter should have been a vol- ume. Considerable portions of addresses made before a meeting of the Evangelical Alliance for the United States in Boston, a meeting of the Canadian Evangelical Alliance in Montreal, a union meeting of the Congrega- tional and Presbyterian clubs of Minneapolis and St. Paul, and the International Convention of Christian Workers in New York, have been used. Also, with the kind permission of editors or publishers, I have made some use of articles written for the Review of Reviews, the Chautauquan, Our Day, the New York Observer, the Christian at Work, the Independent, and for a volume entitled "Parish Problems," published by the Century Company. vi PREFACE. I am indebted to Rev. D. W. Waldron of Boston, Dr. A. Ritchie of Cincinnati, Rev. J. C. Armstrong of Chi- cago, and Mr. George D. Kellogg of St. Louis for infor- mation concerning their respective cities ; and especially to Mr. William E. Dodge and Rev. Horace Gr. Hoadley for helpful documents and references. I desire also to acknowledge my obligations to Mr. Thomas D. Seymour of Yale University, a former fellow-student, and to Dr. Carroll Cutler, a former instructor, for kindly listening to the reading of a considerable portion of the manu- script and for the benefit of their valuable judgment. J. S. New Yokk, June, 1893. CONTENTS. CHAPTER I. THE NINETEENTH CENTURY ONE OP PREPARATION. The great movements of the past century prophetic of changes to come. Significant changes and their meaning. 1. Physical changes, i.e., those affecting time and space. Isolation becoming impossible. Civilization of all peoples inversely as their isolation. 3. Political changes. The growth of democracy. Freedom re- moving the barriers of progress. 3. Social changes. Popular discontent. Interest in sociological questions. Growth of So- cialism. The progress of the race along two lines. A tendency toward a closer organization of society. Evidences of reaction in that direction. Thinkers expectant of great social changes. Revolution or evolution. 4. Changes of which the progress of science is prophetic. Science a divine revelation. Progress of science fatal to credulity and superstition. Influence on hea- thenism. Changes among heathen and Mohammedan peoples. Japan, China, India, Turkey, Africa. During this century 800,- 000,000 heathen brought within reach of modern and Christian civilization. A preparation for missionary triumphs. Interpre- tation of the great changes of the century. P. 1. CHAPTER II. THE DESTINY OF THE RACE. The race as yet in an early stage of development. Unity in diversity the fundamental law of the universe, Illustrated in nature. Applied to history. The perfect development of the in- dividual (diversity) and the perfect organization of society (unity) the divine ideal for the race. The ultimate perfection of humanity vii viii CONTEJ^rra. confirmed by man's constitution, by Revelation, by history, by science. Progress toward a perfected society to be much more rapid in future. Tendency to sacrifice the development of the individual to the organization of society, or mce versa. The former charac- terizes the civilizations of Asia, the latter those of Europe. China and Greece. Same tendency in religion. Romanism and Protestantism. The development of the individual and the or- ganization of society not conflicting but correlative. Now,for the first time, conditions favorable to the one are favorable to the other, hence unprecedented progress. Time has come for men to aid the development of these two principles intelligently. Development of individual must be har- monious. Dignity and worth of the body. Depreciation of the body among Christians. Christian civilization preserves defec- tive classes. Cultivation reduces fecundity. The New England stock "dying out." The survival of the unfittest. The remedy. The more perfect organization of society. This also must be harmonious. The physical. The intellectual. The spiritual. The final unity in diversity. P. 17. CHAPTER III. THE CONTBIBUTION MADE BY THE THREE GBBAT RACES OF ANTIQUITY. Preparation of the world for the inauguration of the kingdom of God. Threefold — physical, intellectual, spiritual. Spiritual preparation by the Hebrew. Monotheism the ger- minal principle of the nation. Meaning of Egyptian bondage. Occupation. Exclusiveness. Spirit of the nation. Captivity. Conception of Jehovah. Compared with that of surrounding peoples. Dispersion. A prepared soil for the seed of Christianity. Intellectual preparation by the Greeks. Their home. Coast- line. Mountain system. Mixed origin of tribes. Climate. Open- air life. Love of the beautiful. Perfection of language. Cen- trifugal tendency. Dissemination of language. Physical preparation by the Romans. Universal empire. Roads. Lines of preparation centred in Judaea. Further preparation. Three great failures. The Hebrews and ritualism. The GreeLs and culture. The Romans and law. GONTHNTa. ix Essential diflerence between morality and true religion. The " fulness of time." P. 41. CHAPTER IV. THE CONTRIBUTION MADE BY THE ANGLO-SAXON. The qualities which made the Hebrews, Greeks, and Romans supreme in their respective spheres all unite in the Anglo-Saxon race. Religious life. Missionary ardor. Representation of races at World's Missionary Conference, London, 1888. As the Hebrew carried his pure monotheism around the Mediterranean, so the Anglo-Saxon is carrying a spiritual Christianity around the world. Intellectual life. English literature. Statesmanship. Lan guage. SchafE, Candolle, Weisse, and Grimm quoted. Tables showing progrese of English language. Causes of rapid exten- sion. As the Greek carried his language and civilization around the Mediterranean, so the Anglo-Saxon is carrying his around the world. Mastery of physical conditions. Inventive power. Control of the world's communications. Wealth. Growth of Anglo-Saxon race. Its extension. Superiority of Anglo-Saxon empire to Roman. This race unites the individualism of the Greeks with the or- ganizing genius of the Romans. Union of culture and religion. The three essential elements of a perfect civilization, each in an eminent degree, unite in Anglo-Saxon civilization. The home of the Anglo-Saxon compared with those of the Hebrew, Greek, and Roman. Necessity of adequate physical basis for national greatness in the future. The United States a hun- dred years hence. We co-ordinate the two principles of individ- ualism and organization in their application to government better than any other people. Conditions more favorable here than else- where for solving social problems. Interpretation of these facts. Corollaries. P. 53. CHAPTER V. THE AUTHOBITATITE TEACHER. If the character and life presented in the Gospels are genuine, the teachings of Jesus are authoritative. Those who reject their X CONTENTS. genuineness must accept (I.) the theory of legend or myth or (II.) that of invention to deceive. I. Theory of mythical additions to the truth. Christ's age too narrovF to have conceived of such breadth of character. His breadth illustrated by his tolerance, love, estimate of human nature, respect for the poor. Elevation of this character. Teach- ings so spiritual as to be incomprehensible to the Jeves. Conquer- ing his kingdom by the CROSS. Dignity of service. Teachings which anticipate the ripest conclusions of modern social science. Jesus in conflict with the ideas of his time. Distasteful ideas do not grow into legends which gain currency as true. Mythical theory cannot account for the imity of Christ's character. Four undisputed letters of Paul assume the same character and present the fundamental facts found in the Gospels; the.se letters too early to allow time for the growth of myths. II. Theory of invention with intention to deceive. Supposed deception must have been intended for the Jews. Why do vio- lence to the Jewish conception of the Messiah ? Claims of Jesus. Must invent a character and life that would sustain these claims. 1. Invention of a divine-human character. A new conception of God. A perfect man. A generic character. No mind in the first century broad enough to conceive of a generic man. The character unites diverse excellences into a harmonious whole. 3. Invention of a divine-human life. The character not de- scribed, but depicted by what Jesus says and does. Not simply truth, uttered, but applied to life and in action. Anomalies. The supposition that such a life and character could be in- vented involves absurdities. The most perfect system of ethics in the interest of the most gigantic fraud. A deliberate falsifier with an unimpaired moral sense. An unscrupulous liar with an unsullied soul. J. S. Mill and Goethe quoted. Jesus not to be accounted for on any natural basis. The common verdict. Keshub Chunder Sen and Mozoomdar quoted. The widening influence of Jesus. Service rendered by Strauss. The nearer vision of Christ is the timing of Providence that the new era may be the fuller coming of his kingdom. P. 81. CHAPTER VI. THE TWO FTTNDAMENTAL LAWS. Man sustains relations to God and to his fellow- men ; hence the two lines of progress, already traced, along which civilization CONTENTS. xi moves. Two principles apparently in conflict. Christ co ordi nates them by love. The two great laws. I. Obedience to the first law saves the individual. Love the antidote of selfishness. The first law the more fundamental. Society cannot be saved until its units are saved. The two great factors of the social problem. The more important commonly neglected. Love makes man free under law. No virtue without freedom. No order without law. Love unites obedience and freedom. Perfect obedience to the first law would lead to a true and perfect individualism. This the harmony between religion and culture. II. Obedience to the second law would save society. Intended to control social organization. Herbert Spencer. A seeming dis- crepancy. The law of normal society, and the remedial law. The church has ignored the former. Consequences of the failure of the church to teach and practise the second great law. Has divided life into "sacred" and "secu- lar. " Has divorced doctrine and conduct. Has separated relig- ion and philanthropy. Has alienated the masses. Has resulted in a selfish individualism and an unchristian organization of society. Men seeking a brotherhood. Neglected truth appears in caricatured form. Neglect of the science of society by the church. Social re- formers have rejected the first law while the church has neglected the second. This the sociological age. Each age of the Christiftn era characterized by a germinal idea. Four great periods in the progress of doctrine. We are living in the fourth. The key to all great movements during the last three hundred and fifty years. The teachings of Christ have been decisive in the think- ing of the three preceding periods and will be in that of the fourth. Great changes to be expected in existing social system. The opportunity of the church. P. 114. CHAPTER VII. POPULAK DISCONTENT. Extent of popular discontent. American Federation of Labor. Granges, Farmers' Alliances, etc. Labor riots. I. Causes of discontent. Improvement in condition of work- xil CONTHNTB. ing class. Wells, Mulhall, and Giffen quoted. The problem has two factors. I. Change In workingmen. Increased intelligence. The application of steam to the printing-press. Increased travel. The modern crusade. Reactionary policy of Russia. A democ- racy cannot turn hack. 3. Change in circumstances. Profound economic changes. Industry, once individual, now organized. A world organization the last stage. New methods of production ; distribution. The world one country. A world life. The workingman a victim of a selfish system. "Hunting for a job." Believes that he is not sharing equitably the general prosperity. Has he had " nearly all the benefit of the great material progress of the last fifty years " ? The real question. Is the existing division of property between capital and labor jibst ? The coming billionaire. Sharp contrasts. The complaint of the farmer. Decline in value of agricultural lands. Causes. Discontent will not be temporary. Causes ope- rative for many years to come. II. Significance of popular discontent. Means more than in any other age : because of popular intelligence ; because of more tender sensibilities ; because of the close relations of classes ; because the people rule. Discontent indicates a progressive civilization. Popular ferment means a struggle to realize the possibilities of a new and larger life. A new evolution of civilization. P. 135. CHAPTER VIII. THE PROBLEM OF THE COUNTRT. The movement of population from county to city. Closely con- ftected with the depression in agriculture. Abandoned farms : in New Hampshire ; in Vermont ; in New York. This movement remarkably general. Number of townships in United States which suifered depletion between 1880 and 1890. Results of this movement. Investigations in rural districts. 1. Roads deteriorate. 3. Property depreciates. 3. Churches weakened and schools impaired. 4. Exchange of native for for- eign stock. 5. Isolation and resulting tendency towards degen- eration. Is this movement temporary ? A world movement. England. CONTENTS. XIU Germany. Prance. Japan. The tendency as old as human nature. The law of the growth of cities. Eeasons why this ten- dency has become much more operative in modern times. Three causes of this movement, all of which are permanent. The degeneration of the rural population will mean the later degeneration of the urban population also. P. 164. CHAPTER IX. THE PROBLBM OF THE CITY. Lleber and De Tocqueville on the problem of the city. Two principal factors in the problem. I. Municipal government. The " boss." Vicious political partisanship. Foreigners' votes cast in blocks. Large foreign element. Absence from the polls. Burden of debt and taxation. Increase of municipal debt of New York. Boston compared with Birmingham, Eng. Ineffi- cient service. Public health. Public schools. Official complic- ity with vice. Mr. Bryce and Mr. A. D. White quoted on failure of our municipal government. Significance of this failure. Our social structure weakest where strain is greatest. One of the two fundamental principles of our government at stake. The state now limits the autonomy of the city. Movement of population from country to city will soon give the cities control of states and nation. What if the cities are incapable of self-government then ? 1930. II. City evangelization. 1. The composition of the city. Seg- regation of foreigners. 3. Environment. The slums. General Booth and Professor Huxley quoted. 3. Isolation. Little or no sense of neighborhood. Social, geographical, linguistic, racial, and religious causes of separation. 4. Lack of homes. Evil re- sults of renting. 5. Rapid growth. Illustrations. Relative increase of churchbs and population of cities. Rela- tive increase of churfih-members and population of cities. Churches unevenly distributed in the city; New York, Boston. Cleveland. The outcome of existing tendencies. One of three things. The diurches will awake. The city to be redeemed. P. 178. xiv CaNTBNTS. CHAPTER X. THE SEPAKATION OF THE MASSES FKOM THE CHTJBCH. The fact of separation. The fact that the churches are gain, ing on the population no evidence against such separation. Less than half the people profess to attend church. Vermont. Maine. New York. The South. The West. Means of esti- mating non-church-goers where canvass has not been made. Generally workingmen and farmers on whom the churches have lost their hold. Situation much the same in England. Causes. 1. Ideas of duty less strict than formerly. 3. Conti- nental ideas of the Sabbath. 3. Rush of modern life. 4. Rivals of the pulpit. 5. " The Sunday-school the children's church." 6. Nomadic habits of life. 7. Lay inactivity; pastors' hands full. 8. Ownership of church pews. 9. Church dress. 10. In- difEerence Jipth of church-goers and non-church-goers. 11. "To- tal depravity." None of these causes the cause, viz., the fact that the churches have failed to teach and to exemplify the gospel of human brotherhood. Christian work has become largely institutional instead of per- sonal, and, therefore, largely mechanical instead of vital. Self- giving the proof of love. Church habits and methods signally fail to manifest a personal love for non-church-goers. Significance of this separation. The discontented class and the non-church-going class substantially the same. It is the masses who are discontented ; the masses who rule; the masses on whom the church has lost her hold. P. 303. CHAPTER XI. THE MISSION OF THE CHURCH. A vicious dualism, the "sacred" and the "secular." The church accepts the "sacred" as her sphere. Were thirty of Christ's years "secular" and only three "sacred"? His teach- ing. His example. All things sacred or unholy. God's kingdom one. Importance of the physical. Natural laws expressions of the divine will. They are laws of the Kingdom. All of God's laws will be obeyed when his will is "done on earth as it is in heaven." Christ's teaebing concerning the Kingdom. He came to found it. The church Christ's body. OflBce of body to execute the will of the head. Mission of the church to extend the Kingdom until it fills the earth. The church, therefore, concerned with every- thing that concerns man's well-being. Relation of church and state. Distinction between sphere and function. The sphere of the church as wide as that of conscience. The church the conscience of the social organism. The church has not yet graced the true idea of her mission. A thousand organizations, therefore, have sprung up to do hei work. Illustrations. The most serious question of the times. The most dangerous scepticism. Results that would attend the acceptance of her entire mission by the church. 1. A new and unconquerable courage. 2. Would become the champion of needed reforms. 3. Institutional methods of church work. 4. Would serve to spiritualize the ' ' secular. " 5. A fuller consciousness of God. 6. Would soon gain the masses. 7. Those also with high ideals who have lost confidence in the church because she is doing so little for social regeneration. P. 233. CHAPTER XII. THE NECESSITY OF NEW METHODS. The triumphs of invention are triumphs of method. Mistake of overrating or underrating method. An age of improvement in methods. Church methods judged by results. Spiritual and natural husbandry. An increase of one-twentieth part of one fold. Non-Christians on the increase in the world. The United States. Changed conditions demand new methods. Past methods will not sustain the past rate of growth. A profound change taking place in civilization. Christianity adapts itself to such changes. Has already passed through three great transitional periods. Character of the transition about to be made. When the church accepts her social mission, she will find new methods imperative. New methods to be developed by the appli- cation of two fundamental principles. 1. Recognition and use of personality. A sense of individual responsibility needed. The good Samaritan. " To every man XVI CONTENTS. his work." Must recognize the personality of those we would help. Crime. Pauperism. Municipal government. Thesaloon. The home. Individual work for individuals. Octavia Hill quoted. Lay activity. 2. Organization. General lay activity would necessitate or- ganization. Competition. Christ's method. Two examples of the application of these two principles. The Salvation Army. The opportunity of the church. P. 353. CHAPTER XIII. THE NECBSSITT OF PERSONAL CONTACT. The existence of classes in America. Their separation. Such separation Judaic. Moses and Christ. Negative and positive goodness. Sins of omission the ground of final condemnation, God's desire to reveal himself. Man the best medium. Relations to God personal. God's knowledge, requirements, love, redemp- tion, judgment, all personal. The problem of evangelization to bring men into right personal relations with God, Personal per- suasion the most effective. The personal element the great power in all redemptive work. This power largely lost by the church. We work through institutions and the clergy. False distinctions between clergy and laity. A kingdom of priests. All disciples to disciple. The great commission. Lack of spiritual communi- cation. 1. Personal intercourse needed by the church. For spiritual health. For training. For the accomplishment of her social mis- sion. Personal contact will afford knowledge and arouse interest. Much suffering unrelieved because unknown. Illustrations. Significance of such facts. Ignorance does not excuse. 3. Personal intercourse needed by non-church-goers. The world dying of selfishness. Love the remedy. Sacrifice the ex- pression of love. SeZ/ giving the only unmistakable evidence of sacrifice. Such evidence lacking in the average church-member. Self. giving essential to Christianity. The masses can be made to believe in the church only by the self-giving of its members. The poor rich. Duty of the church to them. Can be-reached by personal work. Scepticism can be dissipated by self-giving. Unbelief de- mands supernatural evidence for a supernatural religion. Spirit- ual miracles. Raising of dead souls to life. CONTENTS. xvii Self -giving only can solve the problem of pauperism. Harm of indiscriminate charity. What the pauper needs cannot be supplied by money. " Considering " the poor. The work of leavening the community too vast for the clergy. The necessity for personal contact is an imperative necessity for lay activity. P. 371. CHAPTER XIV. THE HECESBITT OF CO-OPBBATION. The centripetal tendency of the times. Illustrated by railway consolidation. Resisted by the churches. Reasons for co-opera- tion. 1. To stop competition. Too many churches in small towns. Character and influence of churches injured by competition. Modifies tone of preaching. Induces catering to the rich. Churches lose sight of their real object. Intensifies sectarianism. " Every church for itself." Congestion of churches. 3. Necessary to the best economy of existing resources. Pres- ent waste. Denominations work with little reference to each other. One minister to a township. The largest denomination could not supply one half the townships in the United States. The largest denomination only one sixth of the Protestant forces. Absurdity of the common policy. Illustrations of waste. " We are not divided. " Co-operation in the conmiunity. Experience of Ex-President McCosh. 3. Necessary to develop the latent forces of the church. Or- ganization discredits the multiplication-table. Cumulative effect of co-operation. A Christian mob. Sin organizing. A "bur- glar's trust." Difference need not prevent co-operation; may facilitate it. Different sects need each other. The perils which beset civilization should force us together. The Greeks. Crimi • nal waste. Mr- Edison. 4. Necessarv that the church may fulfil her social mission. Tte church and reforms. Reform by educating public opinion. Dr. Thomas Arnold. The churches touching the entire life of the community. Effect on public opinion. The temperance re- form. How prosecuted. Distribution of wholesome literature. Co-operation as a means of expressing public opinion. The church should become the controlling conscience of the social organism. xviii CONTENTS. What form of co-operation ? Denominational federation. Ad- vantages and disadvantages. Federation of the local churclieB. County and state organizations. The churches liable to lose their opportunity of leadership in social reforms. Necessity of a common centre. 5. A necessary step toward organic union. The greatest ob- stacle to union. Confidence must be established by acquaintance. Acquaintance will result from co-operation. Churches which can- not co-operate are incapable of organic union. The best field for co-operation is that of applied Christianity. Close relations of local churches. Will the churches discern the signs of the times? P. 296. CHAPTER XV. THE TWO SBEAT PEINCIPLBS APPLIED TO THE TWO GREAT PROBLEMS. An organization representing the collective church of the com- munity. Its objects : 1. To afford a point of contact for the churches. 2. To promote fellowship. 8. To foster co-operation. 4. To cultivate a broader idea of the mission of the church. 5. To afford a means of crystallizing and expressing the public sen- timent of the churches. Another form of organization. rAn annual canvass. The church visiting committee. A third form of organization distinguished by systematic visi- tation. Difference between the canvasser and the visitor. The two great principles applied more specifically to — I. The problem of the country. County organizations needed. Without county co-operation the greatest burdens rest on the weakest churches. County missionaries. Fellowship meetings. Loan libraries. The Andover Band of Maine. Institutional methods of church work in the country. Co-operation as applied to the country school. Co-operation and better roads. * The evil of too many churches. A heroic remedy needed. An JBterdenominational state commission might designate the churches which should disband. Home-missionary aid withdrawn from churches so designated would be decisive. II. The problem of the city. 1 . Municipal government. Be- lying on mechanical means to prevent fraud. Mechanism not a CONTENTS. xix substitute for morals. Remedy must be found in men. Munici- pal elections must be emancipated from politics. Co-operation of good citizens. 2. The peculiar diflBcultities of city evangelization and the two great principles. Two cities in one. The residence portion ; the business portion. Difference of treatment required. For the business and tenement portion the methods of the McAll Mission and of the institutional church. Wide difference be- tween these methods and those commonly in use. Marvels wrought by the McAll Mission. How to provide down-town dis- tricts with institutional churches. The city missionary society. House-to-house visitation. Trained visitors, nurses, and kinder- garteners. Deaconesses; a training-school and home for them. Dr. Chalmers's work in Edinburgh. P. 318. CHAPTER XVI. AN ENTHTJSIASM FOB HtTMANITT. The sense of humanity. The oneness of the race. The age of homespun. The influence of industrial changes. Illustrations. The race united in its succeeding generations. Heredity. Mar- garet, the mother of criminals. A new sense in which the race is becoming one. An enlightened selfishness compels us to care for others. The higher social organization of the future demands a nobler bond. An enthusiasm for humanity. A recapitulation shows that the church must make the King- dom the object of endeavor, and enter on the work with a burning enthusiam. How is such enthusiasm to be kindled and sustained ? The enthusiasm for humanity shown by the early Christians was kindled by a new valuation of human nature. By the revel- ation of human nature seen in Christ. By the teaching that de- based human nature was savable. By the passion of love which they felt for Christ. By the revelation of the brotherhood of the race, and the preaching of the kingdom of God. All of these sources of enthusiasm save one opened afresh in modern times. Special reasons why this generation should show an enthusiasm for humanity. Anglo-Saxons. Americans. Need of divine quickening. Conviction on fire. Judson. An enthusiasm for humanity would move the American church, to discharge her duty to China and Africa. ^^ ooNTmm. Would make active the latent power of the church. Would lead the church to see and accept her social mission. Would bridge the chasm between the church and the masses. Would also bridge the social chasm. Would overcome difficulties and successfully apply the two great principles discussed. Would make the discovery that consecration to God means ser- vice to man. Would inspire sacrifice. P. 342. THE NEW ERA. CHAPTER I. THE NINETEENTH OENTUEY ONE OF PREPARATION. We are entering on a new era of which the twentieth century will be the beginning and for which the nine- teenth century has been a preparation. The great movements and events which mark the centuries have very commonly come to a definite close, as did the Crusades and the French Revolution. Though their results may be lasting, they are the re- sults of spent forces. But the great movements which characterize the nineteenth century generally suggest, not finality or completeness, but rather beginnings. Many and great as have been the changes of this cen- tury, there is reason to expect that those of the next will be even more and greater.^ It is not proposed to call on the imagination to anticipate them. This work is not speculative. It does, however, attempt to trace some of the general lines of development in the past, to note their present trend, and, within certain limits, to project them into the future. It is quite true, as Lowell remarks, that "the course of events is apt to show it- self humorously careless of the reputation of prophets." But surely one may study discerningly the signs of the times, which are only the shadows of coming events cast before, without attempting the prophetic role. S THS NEW ERA. If events were simply strung together in orderly- fashion on the thread of time, like beads on a string, without any relation of cause and effect, there could be no signs of the times. But because to-morrow is folded within to-day, because human nature and its develop- ment are under laws which remain constant from age to age, because, as Carlyle says, " the centuries are all lineal children of one another " and bound by the law of heredity like other offspring, it becomes possible, in a measure, to forecast coming events, to draw from the study of past experiences and present conditions rea- sonable inferences concerning the future. Let us glance hastily at some of the more significant changes which have taken place during the past cen- tury and note their meaning. i-lst. Changes which may be called physical. There is nothing more fundamental touching the circumstances which affect all human beings than time and space. They condition all human activities and relationships, and hence to change them, is to affect all human activi- ties and relationships. This is the reason that steam and electricity have had so profound an influence on modern civilization. They have materially changed these two great factors that enter into all lives. It is as if the earth had been, in two or three generations, re- duced to a much smaller scale and set spinning on its axis at a far greater speed. As a result, men have been brought into much closer relations and the world's rate of progress has been wonderfully quickened. Time- saving methods and appliances now crowd into a day business which a generation ago would have occupied a week or more. The passage of the Atlantic which once required weeks is now a matter of days. It is possible to be in the United States one week and before the close of the next in Asia. A little time suffices to compass great events as well as great distances. We read of the " Thirty Years' War" in the seventeenth century; the Franco-Prussian war, which destroyed one empire' and created another, was begun and practically ended in THIS GBNTURTi' ONE OF PREPARATION. 3 thirty days.' By reason of the increased ease of com- munication new ideas are more speedily popularized, public opinion more quickly formed and more readily expressed ; both thought and action are stimulated ; re- forms are sooner accomplished, and great changes of every sort are crowded into as many years as once they would have required generations or even centuries. And .it must be remembered that these quickening processes are. not yet completed or their results fully apparent. Science is daily making easier the conquest of space; and there is reason to believe that the vic- tories of electricity are only well begun. Thus these changing physical conditions will continue to render the isolation of any people increasingly diffi- cult — a fact of the utmost importance to the world's progress, for isolation results in sta,gnation, and we accordingly find that the civilization of all peoples is inversely as their isolation. The conformation of Europe and the exceeding irregularity of her coast-line are favorable to the intercourse of her various nations with each other and the world, and Europe has de- veloped the highest civilization. Moreover those of her peoples who are most favorably located for intercourse with their neighbors have made the most progress. The great mountain ranges of Asia, her vast plains, to- gether with oceans so broad as to discourage the timid navigators of earlier centuries are much less favorable to intercourse, and the civilization of Asia is much lower than that of Europe. That part of Africa which lies on the Mediterranean has been in contact with the world and has had at times a high civilization. But the remainder of the continent has been for the most part a terra incognita. Her people have looked out, not upon the highway of narrow seas or straits, but upon the barriers of boundless oceans. The location • The hostile armies first came into collision Aug. 2, 1870, and the battle of Sedan, which was decisive of the final result and was followed next day by the surrender of the emperor with an army of more than 80,000 men, was fought Sept. 1. 4 THE NEW ERA, of Africa and her coast-line are much less favorable to intercourse than those of Asia, her people have been much more isolated, and there we find a lower barbarism than any in Asia. The world is entering on an era in which the isolation of any people will become impossible and then will the world's barbarism disappear. 2d. Notice briefly the political changes of the past century. The explanation of most of them is found in the growth of democracy. During the eighteenth century the spirit of free in- quii-y became universal in Europe, but it was purely speculative. Though England enjoyed a measure of liberty, absolutism still reigned on the Continent. For sixty years of that century Louis XV. disgraced the throne of France. He regarded the people of his domain as his personal property. Their lives and sub- I stance were at his disposal. But wretched and en- slaved as was the condition of the French, that of other Continental nations is shown by De Tocqueville to have been even worse. The French Revolution made the people conscious of their power, and hence prepared the way for liberty as soon as the people should become capable of it. Napo- leon in accomplishing his own selfish and despotic pur- poses did inestimable service to popular rights, and though, upon his fall, the old order of things was re- established for a season, at least in form, absolutism from that time on must needs reckon with the growing spirit of democracy. Says Robert Mackenzie': "Sixty years ago Europe was an aggregate of despotic powers, disposing at their own pleasure of the lives and property of their subjects; . . . to-day the men of Western Europe govern them- selves. Popular suffrage, more or less closely ap- proaching universal, chooses the governing power and by methods more or less effective dictates its policy > The Nineteenth Century, p. 459. THIS OENTURT ONE OF PREPARATION. 5 One hundred and eighty million Europeans have risen from a degraded and ever dissatisfied vassalage to the rank of free and self-governing men." When we remember that freedom is the most favorable condition for a natural, healthful development, we see the signi- ficance of the growth of modern democracy. This great political change is prophetic of progress because it has removed the barriers which most seriously obstruct progress. 3d. Consider now certain social changes. Since the middle of the century there has sprung up and spread well-nigh throughout Christendom a deep discontent on the part of workingmen. Its causes and its signifi- cance will furnish the subject of a later chapter ("VII j, in which it will be shown that this popular discontent foreshadows important changes in our civilization. Suffice it now to remark that a condition of political equality having been achieved, it is short-sighted to suppose that society has, therefore, arrived at a state of stable equilibrium. Democracy necessitates popular education, and popular education multiplies popular wants. If the many have the same wants as the few, they will demand the same means of gratifying those wants. To give to the poor like tastes with the rich is to create an inevitable demand for substantial equality of condition and to stimulate discontent until such equality is secured. The discontent of labor has gained such a hearing that there has been awakened within a few years an unprecedented interest in industrial and all sociological questions. Books treating these subjects have had an astonishing circulation. A large number of periodicals devoted to social economy and advocating industrial, economic, or social reforms have sprung into existence. Labor organizations, whose avowed object it is to effect important changes in the laws and in the whole status of labor, have appeared and grown powerful. Advocates of the reorganization of industry on a co-operative in- stead of a competitive basis have made many disciples. 6 THE NEW ERA. The word Socialism is growing less obnoxious to Americans. It is, as Dr. Gladden says, being "fumi- gated." And it has needed it, for some foul meanings have infested it. Socialism, separated from all adventi- tious doctrines, has been accepted by many Christian men and women of the American stock, and among them are many of the younger clergy. The growth of socialism in Germany during the past twenty years has been surprising. The socialist vote for members of the Reichstag in 1871 was 134,655; in 1890 it was 1,341,587. SchmoUer well remarks: "A social movement of thousands is possible only when thousands of thousands have become doubters." The German government has taken an important step toward state socialism by insuring German working- men against illness, accident, and old age, making such insurance compulsory. Like measures have been pro- posed in France, Hungary, and Denraark. "The ques- tion at issue among most Continental statesmen and students to-day concerns the details rather than the principle of such state help. The era of full reaction against laissez-faire theory and practice has come and Emperor William II. is its prophet." ' Taken in connection with the discontent of working- men and an increasing readiness on the part of society to listen to their demands for change, there is great sig- nificance in the tendency toward organization and cen- tralization which is seen everywhere. The progress of the race has been along two lines, viz., the development of the individual and the organ- ization of society, the kind of organization of which society is capable being dependent on the measure or type of development attained by the individual. In the history of Europe, for centuries together, progress seems to have been along only one of these lines at a time— a development of the individual at the expense of social organization, followed by a closer organization • G. W. Hinman, in TH Social KcouQinist, Aprfl, 1891. THIS GENrUBT ONE OF PREPARATION. 7 of society, a centralization of power at the expense of personal liberty. Thus when society began to emerge from the lawless individualism of the barbarians it was organized under the aristocratic form and then passed into the more centralized form of absolutism, which culminated in the seventeenth century and under which individual rights were ruthlessly sacrificed. In the next century the reaction toward individualism came with the French Revolution. The remarkable growth of democracy during the past one hundred years, which of course meant the development of indi- vidualism, has already been noticed. And now we see unmistakable evidence that the pendulum of the ages has again begun to swing in the direction of a closer or- ganization of society, which movement is greatly facili- tated by the increased ease of communication afforded by steam and electricity. Look at some of the evidence of this reaction. In the commercial world the tendency toward consolidation is most striking. First, many independent railway corporations were united into a system, and now great systems are being consolidated under one management. The same is true of telegraph lines. A like tendency is seen in all kinds of production. In various lines of manufactures there appear an increasing output and a decreasing number of factories, showing of course con- solidation. This tendency must continue so long as production on a large scale is cheaper than production on a small scale. "The following statements have re- cently been made in California, on what is claimed to be good authority (Overland Monthly), of the com- parative cost of growing wheat in that State on ranches, or farms of different sizes. On ranches of 1,000 acres, the average cost is reported at 92 J cents per 100 pounds; on 2,000 acres, 85 cents; on 6,000 acres, 75 cents ; on 15,000 acres, 60 cents ; on 30,000 acres, 50 cents ; and on 50,000 acres, 40 cents" ' » p. A. Wells' Recent Economic Changes, p. 99, 8 THE NEW ERA. One of the most striking features of the modern busi- ness world is the growth of powerful corporations and more powerful combinations in the form of "pools," ' ' trusts," and ' ' syndicates." The conditions of produc- tion and transportation have largely ceased to be demo- cratic ; and the question may be reasonably asked. Can our government remain democratic and our industries continue aristocratic or monarchic — that is, controlled by the corporation or the industrial " king " ? Mr. Alex- ander Johnston says ' : " The great American republic seems to be entering upon a new era, in which it must meet and solve a new problem — the reconciliation of democracy with the modern conditions of production." Ever since our civil war there has been a marked tendency toward the centralization of the government of the United States. Justice Miller, in an address at Philadelphia on the occasion of the centennial celebra- tion of the adoption of the Constitution, said: "While the pendulum of public opinion has swung with much force away from the extreme point of states-rights doctrine, there may be danger of its reaching an ex- treme point on the other side." This centripetal tendency of the times is further illus- trated by the creation of the Kingdom of Italy and the Empire of Germany out of political fragments. In the latter part of the eighteenth century there were in Germany nearly three hundred independent powers. Another manifestation of the same tendency is seen in the wonderful drift of population to the cities, which seems to be a world-phenomenon. So general a tendency toward the centralization of population, of political power, of capital, and of pro- duction, manifested in ways so various, can indicate nothing less than a great movement toward a closer • organization of society, a new development of civiliza- tion. Thoughtful men everywhere have become expectant > EncyoJopRidia Brltannica, Vol. XXIII. p. 787. THIS CENTURY ONE OF PREPARATION. 9 of great social changes. Says President Andrews of Brown University' : "If anything has been made cer- tain by the econonaic revolution of the last twenty-five years, it is that society cannot much longer get on upon the old libertarian, competitive, go-as-you-please system to which so many sensible persons seem ad- dicted. The population of the great nations is becom- ing too condensed for that." Bishop Westcott, while professor at Cambridge, wrote': "On every side imperious voices trouble the repose which our indolence would wish to keep undis- turbed. We can no longer dwell apart in secure isola- tion. The main interests of men are once again passing through a great change. They are most surely turning from the individual to the society." The author of "God in His World" remarks': "We are now ap- proaching such a crisis. No human wisdom can pre- dict its shaping any more than it can prevent the issue. The air is full of auguries, and even our fic- tion has become very precisely apocalyptic. It is theoretic prophecy, anticipating the realization of per- fect scientific and social economics — the Paradise of Outward Comfortableness." The Westminster Review says': "It is felt by every student and every states- man that some movement vast and momentous, though indefinite, is passing like a great wave over the civilized world." And The Churchman says': "It is idle to refuse to admit the fact that modern civilization is in a transition state. . . . There are a thousand evidences that the present state of things is drawing to a close, and that some new development of social organization is at hand." Says Mr. William T. Stead': "Everywhere the old order is changing and giving place unto the new. The human race is now at one of the crucial periods in its history when the foun- tains of the great deep are broken up, and the fiood of ' The Congregationalist, Jan. 33,1891. ' Social Aspects of Christianity, p. 4. 'Page XXV. < London, May, 1890. » New York, Jan. 17, 1891. • The Pope and the New Era, p. SO. 10 THE NEW ERA. change submerges all the old-established institutions and conventions in the midst of which preceding gen- erations have lived and died." Such citations might be indefinitely multiplied. Many expect violent revolution. Whether such ex- pectations are realized will depend probably on the Christian church, whether she is sufficiently awake to see and to seize her opportunity. The church is not yet adequately aroused, but I believe that she can be, and therefore do not deem revolution probable. We may have social revolution, we must have social evolution. Social systems are never invented, they are evolved, they grow out of what has preceded. A revolution may suddenly sweep away existing institutions as a fire destroys a forest, but the new forest which rises out of the ashes is a growth. Surely it is too late for the world — or at least the Anglo-Saxon part of it — to fall into the ' ' French fallacy that a new system of govern- ment" or a new social organization "can be ordered like a new suit of clothes.'" The social changes which are sure to come will doubtless be great, but they will be natural — the effects of causes long antecedent ; hence the importance of comprehending, as far as pos- sible, existing conditions and tendencies. 4th. Consider now briefly a few suggestions touching the changes of which the progress of science is pro- phetic. Most of our scientific knowledge is the growth of the past century. It would' be idle to attempt even to enumerate its practical applications to life. By making communication easy and swift science has affected all human relations and conditions: by perfecting the press it has popularized knowledge and power- fully stimulated the mind; by means of labor-saving appliances it has revolutionized the industrial world and added enormously to the world's wealth, awak- ened new aspirations on the part of the multitude > James Russell liowell's " Democracy," p. 28. THIS CBNTURT ONE OF PREPARATION. 11 and created new problems and possibilities of life. If all that science has done for the world during this cen- tury were suddenly struck out, it would leave our civi- lization in ruins; so universal and profound would be the changes wrought that we should hardly know whether we were living on this planet or had been mys- teriously transferred to some other. And we must remember that much of the progress of science is so recent that as yet we have seen scarcely a beginning of its endless applications to life. Moreover some of the most practical sciences are still in their infancy; the field of knowledge is boundless, and each new acquisi- tion makes others more easy. We must remember also that a great body of men are making it their business to extend science; and while discovery and invention were once accidental, they have now become the spe- cialty of many. Science is certainly destined to make great progress during the next century and, therefore, to work great additional changes in civilization. What if it could be certainly known that during the twentieth century there would be a new revelation of God's will, another table of the divine law given to men to meet new needs of civilization and to hasten the coming of the kingdom of heaven upon earth; and so given as to authenticate itself and carry conviction of its truth to all the world ? With what profound and eager expectation would it be awaited ! What supreme blessings should we expect it to bestow on mankind, and what a mighty upward impetus would it give the race ! Just such a revelation has been made during the past century and is to be continued in the next. Its truth is evident, but all do not yet perceive that the truths of science are God's truths, that its laws are God's laws.. The church has even looked askance at it. It has been regarded not only as secular but as actually hostile to religion. Books have been written and professorships established to "reconcile," if possible, these two "foes." But Clement of Alexandria was quite right) 13 THE NEW ERA. [When he refused to make any distinction "between (what. man discovers and what G-od reveals." Science discovers natural laws and processes; and if God is really the ruler of the universe, the laws and processes of nature are only the divine purposes and methods. Science is therefore as truly a revelation from God and of God as are the Scriptures, as really a revelation of his will as was the Decalogue, and one which is to have as real a part in the coming of his kingdom among men as the New Testament. God's will expressed in what we call natural law is as benevolent and as sacred as . his will expressed in what we call moral law. The more perfectly his law, whether natural or moral, is known and obeyed, the better is it for the race. This new evangel of science means new blessings to man- kind, a new extension of the kingdom. The church ought to leap for joy that in modern times God has raised up these new prophets of his truth. It will be shown later that this modern revelation of his will means a mighty hastening of the day when his wUl is to be done on earth as it is in heaven. One of the great services which science has rendered has been to clear the world of an immense amount of rubbish which lay in the path of progress. The scien- tific habit of mind is fatal to credulity and superstition ; it rests not on opinions, but facts ; it is loyal, not to au- thority, but truth. This means that as the scientific habit of mind obtains, men will break away from the superstitions of heathenism and from the superstitious forms of Christianity. Scientific knowledge is rapidly becoming a necessity to all civilized peoples. Com- merce is bringing the nations into an ever closer con- tact, which means increasing competition, and however cheap flesh and blood may be, they cannot compete with steam and steel. The Bureau of Statistics at Ber- lin estimated in 1887 that the steam-engines then at work in the world represented approximately 1,000,000,- 000 men, or three times the working population of the earth. This mighty force is at work for the Christian TBIS CENTURY ONE OE PREPARATION. 13 nations. What are all the millions of China and India compared with it ? Cheap labor cannot compete with machinery which enables one man to do the work of ten or twenty or a hundred men. Labor-saving ma- chinery is destined to go wherever men toil, and with it will go an increasing knowledge of science. Moreover China, hating foreigners, wishes to become independent of them. She has been compelled to em- ploy them to build her navy, to arm her soldiers and make her munitions of war. In order to become inde- pendent of them she must needs introduce the study of the sciences into her schools. Thus science is destined to become the great iconoclast of the heathen world. What then? Men react from superstition into infidel- ity, which has already become the great peril of Japan and is becoming the peril of India. The greatest of modern Hindoos, Keshub Chunder Sen, once said: "I fear for my countrymen that they will sink from the hell of heathenism into the deeper hell of infidelity." The prospect is that in the course of a few generations the heathen world will become either Christian or agnostic. Which it will become will depend on the church. In this connection we may not inappropriately re- mind ourselves of tlie familiar and significant changes which have already taken place during the past cen- tury among heathen and Mohammedan peoples.' A hundred years ago the Japanese were so separated from the remainder of mankind that so far as any in- tercourse is concerned they might almost as well have inhabited the moon. There was then in force a law pro- viding that " no ship or native of Japan should quit the country under pain of forfeiture and death ; that any Japanese returning from a foreign country should be put to death; that no nobleman or soldier should be suffered to purchase anything from a foreigner; that any person bringing a letter from abroad . . . should die > For a full and able discussion of these changes see that missionary classic, " The Crisis of Missions," by Rev. A. T. Pierson, D.D. 14 ThU NEy? MA. j together with all his family and any who might pr6- ; sume to intercede for him." Until within a few years the following royal rescript, issued on the extirpation of the Jesuits, remained posted up through all the kingdom: " So long as the sun shall warm the earth let no Christian be so bold as to come to Japan ; and let all know that the king of Spain himself, or the Christian's God, or the great God of all, if he violate this command, shall pay for it with his head." To-day there is a new civilization in Japan. As a Japanese lecturer said, there is nothing left as it was thirty years ago, "except the natural scenery."' The nation is now eager to place itself in the forefront of progress. China has for centuries been separated from the world by a barrier far more effectual than her famous "Myriad-Mile Wall" — a wall of pride and prejudice, more immovable, more impenetrable, more insurmount- able than any possible wall of stone and mortar. But a trial of arms with Great Britain and France taught China a wholesome respect for Western Powers ; and her pride was sufficiently humbled to employ for- eigners to teach her sons ship-building and navigation, together with the military science by which her armies had been beaten. The war of 1856 resulted in the Treaty of Tientsin, which guarantees the protection of the Chinese authori- ties to all persons teaching or professing the Christian religion, thus opening the door to Christian civilization. At the beginning of this century the gates of India were locked to Christian missions and the East India Company held the key. That company was hostile to missions because it received large revenues from native idolatries, and "as late as 1852 $3,750,000 were paid from public funds to repair temples, provide new idols and idol -cars, and support a pagan priesthood." " The East India Company was abolished in 1858, and ' The Crisis of Missions, p. 100. s Ibid. p. 48. TttIS OSNTVBT one op PREPAttATtON. 15 the British Government is in hearty sympathy with Christian missions in India. Its officials there annually contribute many thousands of pounds for their main- tenance. Moreover social caste, which in India sepa- rates classes as oceans separate continents, and which has served to maintain isolation and stagnation, is giving way before modern civilization, which is every- where bringing men into closer relations. At the opening of the nineteenth century the Otto- man Empire was characterized by the same spirit which had once rendered it a terror to Christian nations. To-day the Protestants of Turkey, like the other religionists of the empire, have their recognized rights and a representative at the imperial city, re- ligious liberty having been assured by the Treaty of Berlin. Only a few years ago the vast interior of the Dark Continent was a mystery. Now the great "open sore of the world " has been thoroughly probed — a long step toward its healing. The changes which have been very briefly recited have a significance which is sim^ply boundless. During this century the barriers which separated more than 800,000,000 heathen from the transforming infiuences of modern and Christian civilization have been broken down. The prison-pens which condemned more than one half of the human family to isolation and, there- fore, stagnation have been thrown open. The contact of the Occident and the Orient has already produced in the latter unwonted signs of life. The dead crust of fossil faiths is beginning to be shattered by the move- ments of new life underneath. "In every corner of the world," says Mr. Froude,' " there is the same phenome- non of the decay of established religions. . . . Among the Mohammedans, Jews, Buddhists, Brahmins, tradi- tionary creeds are loosing their hold. An intellectual revolution is sweeping over the world, breaking down 1 North American Review, December, 1879. 16 THB NEW MBA. established opinions, dissolving foundations on which historical faiths have been built up." And it should not be forgotten that religious beliefs underlie and determine social and political institutions. The door " great and effectual " which is thus opened to the Christian church has been only partially entered. Noble as has been the work of modern missions, it must be regarded chiefly as one of preparation. The lan- guages of savage peoples have been reduced to writing, the Bible and a Christian literature have been trans- lated into tongues spoken by hundreds of millions, schools and seminaries for training up a native minis- try have been established, missionaries have learned much of native character and of the necessary con- ditions of success. A foothold has been secured, a fulcrum found, the gospel lever put in place, and the near future will see the mighty uplift. We have cast a hasty glance over Christendom and heathendom, and have sought to interpret briefly, though not superficially, the great changes of the century. They seem to me to point unmistakably to one conclusion. The drawing of the peoples of the earth into ever closer relations, which will render isola- tion and, therefore, barbarism impossible and will oper- ate as a constant stimulus; the growth of freedom which removes the greatest barriers to progi-ess; the social ferment and the evident tendency toward a new social organization ; the progress of science, destroying superstition, thus clearing the way for truth ; the open- ing of the heathen world to the power of the Gospel and the quickening forces of modern life; the evident crumbling of heathen religions, which means the loosen- ing of the foundations of heathen society— surely all these indicate that the world is about to enter on a new era, for which the nineteenth century has been the John the Baptist. " Out of the shadow of night The world moves into light ; It is daybreak everywhere 1" Longfellow. CHAPTER II. THE DESTINY OF THE RACE. It is evidence of a narrow and thoughtless mind to imagine that the existing condition of things is final. Certainly no condition of society that has ever existed has been final, and none ever can be until perfection is reached ; and no one surely will contend that society as now organized is perfect ; no one will imagine that man has already attained the highest development of which he is capable. Obviously the body was intended to serve the intelli- gence. Limbs and bodily organs are the instruments of the higher nature. Evidently, then, so long as the great mass of mankind are chiefly concerned from morning till night to obtain the necessaries of life, so long as the intelligence plans and the will strives above all things to find covering for limbs and bread for mouth, there is manifest perversion, the higher nature has become the slave of its own servant. Such inversion is unnatural ; such a condition of things cannot be final. It is not what God intended for the race when he gave man a spiritual nature. " It life's to be ailed with dnidgety, what need of a human soul ?" When we think of what man is capable — that he may search out the secrets of nature and "think God's thoughts after him;" that he may become sensitive to all beauty and delight himself in the harmonies of sound, of color, of form, of numbers, of laws ; that he is capable of a self -forgetting love even unto death for his fellow-men; that he is capable of high aspirations, of 17 18 TME NEW BHA. spiritual struggle and victory, of entering into God's great plans for the race and attaining a divine harmony of thought and feeling and purpose with the Highest ; — when we think of the high plane on which he is capable of living and then remember where he is, and consider that to most of the race, even as to the brutes, life is one long, weary struggle to supply animal wants, surely we must look upon the race as in a low and early stage of development. Have we any means of judging of the future develop- ment of the race and of its destiny ? If we find that its progress thus far has been along certain lines from the beginning, we may reasonably infer that it will con- tinue to move along those same lines in the future, and we may rest in this conclusion with the greater confi- dence if these projected lines lead up to a consumma- tion foretold both by revelation and science, the agree- ment of which is an evidence that the interpretation of both is correct. Science has discovered that underlying the wonderful complexity of nature there is a no less wonderful unity, and confirms that highest of all generalizations ex- pressed in the word universe, which declares that all creation is a whole. The scope of Humboldt's great work, the Kosinos, was to show the unity which exists amid the complexity of nature. There would be no propriety in speaking of the mineral, vegetable, and animal kingdoms, were not their endless varieties brought under the sceptre of unifying laws. Unity in diversity seems to be the fundamental law of the universe. Broader than the law of gravitation, which .embraces only the physical creation; broader than the laws of thought, which are confined to the intellectual world; and broader than the law of love,' which is binding only in the moral realm, this basal law unites these several spheres in one infinite whole, including, as it seems, all (created existence, and finds its highest illustration in |the highest of all existences, even the Creator himself, fwho has revealed himself to us as the triune God. THE DESTtNT Of THE RACE. 19 But many who see that unity in diversity is the great law of nature fail to perceive that it is also the great law of history, that " Through the ages one increasing purpose runs." ' There could be no philosophy of history if there were no laws, no purpose or plan running through the whole, bringing into relations with each other events which seem wholly disconnected and sporadic. The atheist is unable to account for such unity, if he perceives it, and the agnostic does not attempt to account for it; but the theist finds this profound fact in perfect har- mony with his belief in an Infinite Intelligence who created and now governs the universe, and governs it wjih reference to a definite and benevolent outcome. 7 In the history of civilization this great law of unity in diversity manifests itself in two fundamental princi- ples, viz., the development of the individual (diver- sity), and the organization of society (unity^T} All the progress of the race has been along one of these two lines, the higher development of the individual or the higher organization of society. C Unity in diversity, which finds perfect illustration in the material universe, only imperfectly describes the condition of the moral worldT]!7rhere it represents not the actual but the ideal, the goal toward which the race has thus far slowly moved. The harmony of the physi- cal universe has not been marred since the morning- stars first sang together, for things have no will power and cannot disobey.