THE FEDERAL COUNCIL OF THE CHURCHES OF CHRIST IN AMERICA National Office, 612 United Charities Building 105 East Twenty-Second Street, New York PROF. SHAILER MATHEWS - - President REV. CHARLES S. MACFARLAND, - - Secretary The Church and Modern Industry (This report with appended statement and recom- mendations was unanimously approved and adopted by the Federal Council at its meeting in Philadelphia, Pa., December, 1908.) The Churches of Christ as represented in this Federal Council accept without reserve and assert without apology the supreme au- thority of Jesus Christ. We are one in Him not only because we to- gether share His spirit, but because we acknowledge His headship. Wherever the path in which He leads crosses other high- ways, whether marked out by the creeds of commerce, the schools of philosophy, the teachers of social theory, the masters of theology, the agitators for reform, the critics of the Church, or the feet of the multitude, 1 His disciples must take all risks and follow Him. Our interpretations of His teaching and purpose are, doubtless, with growing light and new conditions, subject to review and restatement, but no such modification can force or allure the Church to surrender the principle of His absolute authority in the in- dividual heart and in the associated life of men. He charts our way. He commands us. Christ’s mission is not merely to reform society, but to save it. He is more than the' world’s Re-adjustor. He is its Redeemer. The changed emphasis put upon the Lord’s prayer — “Thy will be done on earth,” must not deceive us. The prayer for the coming of the Kingdom, for the doing of the will of God on earth, gets its point from the fact that there is a heaven in which that will is done — where the beatitudes are always operative, and justice never falters, and truth excludes all lies, where people hunger no more, neither thirst any more, nor say they are sick — a city that lieth four-square. It will, we trust, not confuse the urgent cries for the larger activity of the Church when we remind ourselves that the Church becomes worthless for its higher purpose when it deals with conditions and forgets character, relieves misery and ignores sin, pleads for justice and undervalues for- giveness. Whatever comparisons may be made be- tween the Church as an organization for hu- man betterment, and associations for charity, societies for reform, fraternal orders, labor unions, “movements” for social advantage, saloons as social clubs, there is one contrast which never may be forgotten — the Church stands forever for the two-world theory of life. Its Kingdom passes beyond the horizon. 2 In dealing with human conditions the Church is bound to take the viewpoint of Christ, and from that viewpoint are ever discernible the world that now is and that which is to come. The Church’s doors open upon the common levels of life. They should never be closed. Its windows open toward the skies. Let their light not be darkened. With Christ’s example before us, it is im- possible to accept a class Gospel or to deal with society on a class basis except as the class affords the opportunity to reach men. As the authority of Christ is binding upon men, not as laborers or capitalists, as wise or unlearned, as rich or poor, so comes the mes- sage of the Gospel to men as men, not as classified by the exigencies of external con- ditions or the operation of social tendencies. The authority is final alike at the council table and at the forge; the message carries equal appeal to the man who gives to a common enterprise his muscle and to him who gives to it his mind. To present a fragmentary Gospel is to ignore spiritual values. Every situation in life produces and requires peculiar obligations, but the indwelling Spirit who con- trols does not vary. The appeal of the Gos- pel is based upon the inherent worth of every man in God’s sight. Rich and poor, capitalist and laboring man, are not classifications and distinctions made by the Church of Christ; they are natural or artificial groups, existing in society. Where such terms are used as “laboring classes,” “in- dustrial workers,” “employers,” “capitalists,” they should be regarded as descriptive, not as class terms. To the Church there are but two kinds of men — those who follow Christ and those who do not. 3 “The whole idea of ‘laboring’ classes seems fundamentally abhorrent to the Christian con- ception of life. Jesus came to make a fellow- ship of all classes by annihilating classes ex- cept for certain superficial workaday ways of getting on together.” “The Church is a bene- factor of all classes, and must aim to establish a brotherhood as broad as human life and ex- tending to the lowest depths of human want.” The Church is not an end in itself. It is conservator of the truth, but it is the truth that counts. It is custodian of history, but it is the facts preserved by it that become cur- rent in the world’s work. It is the represen- tative of Christ, but it is ambassador, and neither king nor province. In it the Spirit abides, that into all humanity He may find His way. Upon it rests the cross of Christ that the world may learn His law of love. Through it is revealed the meaning of right- eousness, of justice, of salvation, not for its own sake, but that sinners may be redeemed, and that these ideals may be worked into the lives of men and become the principles of the new social order. The pious and subtle per- suasion that the Church absorbs the attention of its Lord and narrows to itself the scope of His grace, is happily a fading belief. The re- luctant surrender of the saints of the cloister to the demands of the Commonwealth of God fs among the instructive lessons of our time. But language, strange a quarter of a century ago, is now familiar. The concepts of the Church and of the Kingdom have become de- tached from each other. The range of God’s human interests has been more broadly seen. The services of the Church have become sub- ordinate to the Church’s service to men. God seeks humanity. The Kingdom, to establish 4 which the Church is appointed as the represen- tative of Christ, is found not only in the Lord’s prayer, but in the Lord’s heart. It is this change of emphasis which explains the logic of events and gives room for a new programme of the Church itself. We are here as representatives of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Primarily we are engaged in es- tablishing His Kingdom in these United States. The fundamental principles already emphasized have their application for us in this land of free institutions. It is the Church of America which must deal with the social and industrial problems of America. The workers for the newer ideals, both within and without the churches, will not fail, we believe, to allow these peculiar conditions their proper weight. The industrial problems of Great Britain and of the Continent are linked with ours, but they are not identical. The churches of America are not supported even in part by State funds, nor are they under State control. When one looks at Government here, the Church is not of necessity in the line of vision. There is no ecclesiastical factor in one’s tax bill. Functionaries of a religious establish- ment do not sit, as such, in our legislatures, and political vested rights do not control paro- chial policy. The churches are dependent upon the free will of the people, not upon the pleasure of the Government, and policies of restraint or direction enacted into law and administered by the courts cannot be credited to or charged against the body of Christians as in the lands of established churches. This distinction, so familiar to American freemen, requires the constant renewal of em- S phasis, since no small part of the misunder- standing concerning the Church’s relation to industrial life in our country springs from the fact that multitudes born under the shadow of an ecclesiastical establishment, in this their new home impute to the American churches the power, the prejudices and the defects of an ecclesiastical system here, by an impreg- nable constitutional provision, forever ex- cluded. Inevitably, also, under this American sys- tem, churches become independent corpora- tions, acquire property, gain or lose in changes of values, borrow and loan money, buy materials and employ labor. Here is the demand for the highest business skill and pru- dence. The administration of the affairs of the churches involves questions of expediency and of just dealing which have not always been settled according to the canons of the ideal social justice. The Church as an owner and an employer gravitates naturally toward the position where men of business experience and ample resources come into leadership. It is not strange that at times the individual atti- tude toward industrial conditions is inter- preted as the attitude of the Church itself. It is but fair that the distinction should be rigidly observed. There is the utmost signifi- cance in the tendency at the present time to develop in the churches a democratic adminis- tration. Popular management of church in- terests will hasten the removal of miscon- structions of existing methods and motives. It will still remain true, however, that the churches must be supported by the gifts of the people. The criticism that the Church con- cerns itself overmuch with money is, in the main, possible only to those who do not see 6 that, as an institution, with a distinct pro- gramme to promote and definite obligations to discharge, the financial question belongs to the very necessities of the case. Mainte- nance is not simple. It involves grave diffi- culties. Yet practice must be made to conform to the essential standards of the Gospel, which are themselves the highest ideals of social righteousness. Upon this basis the churches make their appeal to men of every kind, not asserting the perfection of their methods, but laying claim to confidence and co-operation as with honest purpose they seek to express in this complex modern life the spirit of Jesus Christ. It may be noted, further, that at no time have the disadvantages of the sectarian divi- sions of the Church been more apparent than when the call has come for a common policy or a united utterance concerning such problems as modern industry now presents. The Protestant churches of the United States have had, until now, no authorized common ground. “Labor,” “industrial workers,” “trades unions,” have discussed the attitude of “the Church,” * and the whole body of believers has, theo- retically, been included. As a matter of fact, j the “Church” has been some individual organi- ! zation, some one of the denominations or some voluntary assemblage, non-representative and without authority. For such concrete expres- sions of Christian conviction on social and in- dustrial problems as “The Church Associa- tion for the Advancement of the Interests of Labor” in the Protestant Episcopal Church, |! “The Department of Church and Labor” con- t nected with the Board of Home Missions of the Presbyterian Church, “The Methodist Fed- eration for Social Service” and similar move- 7 ments, there can be only gratitude and praise. The independent associations of members of Protestant churches, in many localities, to study industrial conditions, and to secure their betterment, are welcome evidences of the larger social purpose of the churches. But nowhere has there been formulation of prin- ciples, or statement of aims which represents in an authoritative sense the attitude of American Protestantism toward the tremen- dous problems of our industrial and social order. It may be permitted to express the earnest hope that without in the slightest de- gree compelling the surrender of individual or denominational independence, this Federal Council may find some method for bringing the Protestant Christianity of America into relations of closer sympathy and more effec- tive helpfulness with the toiling millions of our land. A survey of the social and industrial con- ditions of our American people reveals cer- tain indisputable facts which should be can- didly stated. I. There is an estrangement between the Church and the industrial workers. By some, both churchmen and workingmen, this es- trangement is greatly overstated, by others it is most unwisely minified. At times local conditions have been interpreted in universal terms. The tendency of the group has been thought characteristic of the whole. Partisan utterances have been heard, as though they were the voice of the multitude. It would be as unfair because the treasure of a national society of organized labor who has handled millions of money, is a respected officer in a Christian church, to say that the Church is regarded without criticism or cynicism by 8 workingmen, as to hold that because soane other labor leader is a bitter and brawling atheist, the whole labor movement is hostile to the Christian faith. It is enough to note that in many localities the tendencies of in- dustrial workers do not draw them to the doors or the altars of the churches. 2. There is a separation betw'een the rich and the cultured and the churches. With equal candor this fact must be recognized. It is not improbable that relatively this diver- gence is more marked than the other. The exactions of faith upon conduct, in a relaxed and luxurious social life, are a test which, while it sometimes disastrously modifies the ethics of the churches, is more apt to result in personal definitions of duty and in practice which must forever be repellent to the code of Jesus. If, on the one hand, the Church has inadequately dealt with the problems of the poor, and has not always been the guardian of labor, it has not become the tool of the rich, and is not under the dominion of capital. I 3. Industrial progress has, it may be ad- mitted, taken the Church unawares. Inven- tion and discovery havd with incredible swift- ness modified the world’s industry and almost with violence have thrown the individual into new relations with the social order. Machin- ery, facilities for transportation, building methods, commercial exchange, modes of heating and lighting, have in a generation created a community life, to which the thought of the Church has not rapidly adapted itself. Christianity has created a civilization which it is now its first task to inspire and direct. , It has produced a social crisis in which its 1 visions must concrete themselves into prin- |l ciples of action. The Church, bewildered amid 5 9 the machinery of a mighty civilization, would be as sad a sight as the Church lost in the wilderness. “The Church does not stand for the present social order, but only for so much of it as accords with the principles laid down by Jesus Christ.” Only extremists or the unobservant will deny that the churches are striving, with grow- ing moral seriousness, to find and assert the ideals which, if reduced to practice, would sweep from the field the cause of class es- trangement. Industrial workers, individually and through their organized forces, are recog- nizing, in large part, the value of these very ideals, and in promoting them are coming bet- ter to appreciate the essential aims of the Church as it seeks for social betterment. The workingman, caught in the current of the new industry, and the Church, arrested in its splendid service to individual life by the con- fused appeal of the community, will surely, step by step, come to a common ground, where mutual understanding and mutual ser- vice, under the leadership of the one Master of Life, will bring to a practical demonstra- tion the brotherhood of' man. 4. There are many phases of the present industrial conditions in the United States which cry aloud for immediate remedy. The Church, which has obligations to every sort of interest and person in the community, must be identified, locally and nationally, with the whole of the people more markedly than with any part of them, and will be sensitive to every influence which affects the larger constituency. It is not the kinds of men that should com- mand the Church’s attention, but their numeri- cal importance, their accessibility and their conditions of need. 10 Multitudes are deprived, by what are called economic laws, of that opportunity to which every man has a right. When automatic movements cause injustice and disaster, the autonomy should be destroyed. That to these impersonal causes are added the cruelties of greed, the heartlessness of ambition and the cold indifference of corporate selfishness, every friend of his fellow must with grief and shame admit. The unemployed are an “army.” The “accidents” of factories and railroads crowd our institutions and tenements with widows and orphans. The stress of reckless competition which loads manhood with oppres- sive burdens, levies upon the frail strength of womanhood and turns sunny childhood into drudgery, dwarfs our stature, saps our vital- ity, crowds our prisons, vitiates our virtue and darkens our old age. The “homes” of the wage-earners in our great cities are an indict- ment of our civilization. The meager in- come, which is easily reckoned sufficient by the fortunate who are not forced to live upon it, is without warrant of reason. The help- lessness of the individual worker, the swift changes in location of industrial centers, the constant introduction of labor-saving appli- ances, the exactions of landlords, add un- certainty to privation. The hazard of the mine, the monotony of the shop, the poverty of the home, the sickness of the family, the closing of the doors of higher opportunity react with dreadful precision upon tempera- ment and mar character. That workingmen should organize for social and industrial betterment belongs to the nat- ural order. The effort of the world’s toilers to secure better conditions of work and larger possession of themselves is welcome evidence II of a Divine call within them to share in the higher experiences of the intellectual and spiritual life. It is their right, as it is the right of men everywhere, within the law, to combine for common ends. Both Church and society should cease to talk of “conceding” this right. It exists in the nature of things. We do not confer it. But we welcome its exer- cise. “The vast multitudes of working people have a vital share in re-shaping the moral standards of the time. They are at heart pro- foundly moral in their ideas and desires. Their demands are an influence upon the con- science of the nation.” Despite the errors of individuals and groups, the faults of spirit, the imperfection of methods, and, in some in- stances, most deplorable results, organized labor is to be regarded as an influence not hostile to our institutions, but potent in benefi- cence. When guided from within by men of far sight and fair spirit, and guarded from without by restrictions of law and of custom against the enthusiasms which work injustice, the self-interest which ignores the outsider, or the practices which create industrial havoc, trades unionism should be accepted not as the Church’s enemy, but as the Church’s ally. The Church believes in the Gospel of Christ as a reality in this world, to be realized by the furtherance of social justice; it may not adopt as final well-advertised panaceas, but it intends to study and understand fully the situation. “It is not content with announcing abstract principles, but means to work defi- nitely and steadily toward the translation of these into concrete conduct.” In this theory of its mission, it cannot be other than hospitable to the co-operation of any individual or organ- ized force, springing from the very heart of 12 the need it seeks to understand and meet. It may well accept as its chief responsibility, with- out abating its efforts to remove immediate and palpable evils, the creation of that atmos- phere of fairness, kindness and good will, in which those who contend, employer and em- ployee, capitalist and workingman, may find both light and warmth, and, in mutual respect and with fraternal feelings, may reach the common basis of understanding which will come to them not by outward pressure, but from the inner sense of brotherhood. Your committee makes earnest appeal that this Federal Council, of the Churches of Christ in America, give utterance, by appropri- ate resolution, to its convictions touching the industrial conditions which concern the mul- titude to whom the churches are appointed to present and re-present our Lord; and, further, that without ignoring points of sharp diver- gence in opinion, without endorsement of pro- ceedings at times strongly condemned, without commitment to a specific programme, this Fed- eral Council extend to all the toilers of our country and to those who seek to organize the workers of the land for the furtherance of industrial justice, social betterment and the brotherhood of man, the greetings of sym- pathy and confidence and the assurance of good will and co-operation in the name of Him who was known to His neighbors as the Son of the Carpenter, of Him whom we fol- low and worship as the Son of God. STATEMENT I. This Federal Council places upon record its profound belief that the complex problems of modern industry can be interpreted and 13 solved only by the teachings of the New Testa- ment, and that Jesus Christ is final authority in the social as in the individual life. Under this authority and by application of this teach- ing the contribution to human welfare by the Church, whatever its lapse and its delays, has been incalculable. Out of the sacrifice and fervor of the centuries has come a fund of altruism which enriches to-day a thousand purposes for human betterment, some of which do not know the origin of their impulse. The interest of the Church in men is neither re- cent nor artificial. No challenge of newly posted sentries can exclude it from the ground where are struggle and privation and need. It has its credentials and knows the watchword. 2. Christian practice has not always harmon- ized with Christian principle. By the force of economic law and of social custom individual life has been, at times, swerved from the straight course, and the organized church has not always spoken when it should have borne witness, and its plea for righteousness has not always been uttered with boldness. Chris- tianity has created both the opportunity and the principles of life. In the mighty task of putting conscience and justice and love into a “Christian” civilization, the Church, with all its splendid achievements, has sometimes faltered. But it has gone farther and suf- fered more, a thousandfold, to accomplish this end than any other organized force the world has ever known. 3. The Church now confronts the most significant crisis and the greatest opportunity of its long career. In part its ideals and principles have become the working basis of organizations for social and industrial better- ment, which do not accept its spiritual leader- 14 ship and which have been estranged from its fellowship. We believe, not for its own sake, but in the interest of the kingdom of God, the Church must not merely acquiesce in the movements outside of it which make for hu- man welfare, but must demonstrate not by proclamation, but by deeds, its primacy among all the forces which seek to lift the plane and better the conditions of human life. This Council, therefore, welcomes this first opportunity on behalf of the Churches of Christ in the United States officially repre- sented, to emphasize convictions which have been in fragmentary ways already expressed. 4. We recognize the complex nature of in- dustrial obligations, affecting employer and employee, society and government, rich and poor, and most earnestly counsel tolerance, patience and mutual confidence; we do not defend nor excuse wrongdoing in high places or in low, nor purpose to adapt the ethical standards of the Gospel to the exigencies of commerce or the codes of a confused in- dustrial system. 5. While we assert the natural right of men — capitalists and workingmen alike — to organ- ize for common ends, we hold that the organ- ization of capital or the organization of labor cannot make wrong right, or right wrong; that essential righteousness is not determined by numbers either of dollars or of men; that the Church must meet social bewilderment by ethical lucidity, and by gentle and resolute (■‘“■stimony to the truth must assert for the whole Gospel its prerogative as the test of the rightness of both individual and collective conduct everywhere. 6. We regard with the greatest satisfaction the effort of those employers, individual and IS corporate, who have shov/n in the conduct of their business a fraternal spirit and a dis- position to deal justly and humanely with their employees as to wages, profit-sharing, welfare work, protection against accidents, sanitary conditions of toil, and readiness to submit differences to arbitration. We record our admiration for such labor organizations as have under wise leadership throughout many years, by patient cultivation of just feelings and temperate views among their members, raised the efficiency of service, set the example of calmness and self-restraint in conference with employers, and promoted the welfare not only of the men of their own craft, but of the entire body of workingmen. 7. In such organizations is the proof that the fundamental purposes of the labor move- ment are ethical. In them great numbers of men of all nationalities and origins are being compacted in fellowship, trained in mutual respect, and disciplined in virtues which be- long to right character and are at the basis of good citizenship. By them society at large is benefited in securing of better conditions of work, in the Americanization of our immi- grant population, and in the educational in- fluence of the multitudes who in the labor unions find their chief, sometimes their only, intellectual stimulus. 8. We note as omens of industrial peace and good will the growth of a spirit of con- ciliation, and of the practice of conference and arbitration in settling trade disputes. We trust profoundly that these methods may sup- plant those of the strike and the lockout, the boycott and the black list. Lawlessness and violence on either side of labor controversies are an invasion of the rights of the people 16 and must be condemned and resisted. We believe no better opportunity could be af- forded to Christian men, employers and wage- earners alike, to rebuke the superciliousness of power and the obstinacy of opinion than by asserting and illustrating before their fel- lows in labor contests the Gospel which deals with men as men and has for its basis of fraternity the Golden Rule. We commend most heartily the Societies and Leagues in which employers and working- men come together upon a common platform to consider the problems of each in the inter- est of both, and we urge Christian men more freely to participate in such movements of conciliation. We express our gratitude for the evidences that in ever widening circles the in- fluence of the agencies established by some of the churches is distinctly modifying the attitude of the workingmen and the Church toward each other. 9. We deem it the duty of all Christian people to concern themselves directly with cer- tain practical industrial problems. To us it seems that the churches must stand — For equal rights and complete justice for all men in all stations of life. For the right of all men to the opportunity for self-maintenance, a right ever to be wisely and strongly safeguarded against encroach- ments of every kind. For the right of work- ers to some protection against the hardships often resulting from the swift crises of in- dustrial change. For the principle of conciliation and arbi- tration in industrial dissensions. For the protection of the worker from dan- gerous machinery, occupational disease, in- juries and mortality. 17 For the abolition of child labor. For such regulation of the conditions of toil for women as shall safeguard the physical and moral health of the community. For the suppression of the “sweating system.” For the gradual and reasonable reduction of the hours of labor to the lowest practicable point, and for that degree of leisure for all which is a condition of the highest human life. For a release from employment one day in seven. For a living wage as a minimum in every industry, and for the highest wage that each industry can afford. For the most equitable division of the prod- ucts of industry that can ultimately be de- vised. For suitable provision for the old age of the workers and for those incapacitated by injury. For the abatement of poverty. lo. To the toilers of America and to those who by organized effort are seeking to lift the crushing burdens of the poor, and to reduce the hardships and uphold the dignity of labor, this Council sends the greeting of human brotherhood and the pledge of sympathy and of help in a cause which belongs to all who follow Christ. RECOMMENDATIONS To the several Christian bodies here repre- sented the Council recommends : I. That the churches more fully recognize, through their pulpits, press and public as- semblies, the great work of social reconstruc- tion which is now in progress, the character, i8 extent and ethical value of the labor move- ment, the responsibilities of Christian men for the formation of social ideals, and the obliga- tion of the churches to supply the spiritual motive and standards for all movements which aim to realize in the modern social order the fulfillment of the second great com- mandment, “Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.” II. That the study of existing conditions in the industrial world, their origin and outcome, be more definitely enforced as an immediate Christian duty. That to this end, in all theological sem- inaries, and, so far as practicable, in other schools and colleges, there be established, wherever they do not now exist, courses in economics, sociology and the social teachings of Jesus, supplemented, wherever possible, by investigation of concrete social facts, and That study classes and reading courses on social questions be instituted in connection with the churches and their societies, to foster an intelligent appreciation of existing condi- tions and to create a public sentiment through which relief and reform may be more effec- tively secured. III. That the churches with quickened zeal and keener appreciation, through their pas- tors, lay readers and members, wherever pos- sible, enter into sympathetic and fraternal relations with workingmen, by candid public discussion of the problems which especially concern them, by advocating their cause when just, by finding the neighborly community of interest and by welcoming them and their families to the uses and privileges of the local churches ; That the proper general authorities of the 19 aenominations enaeavor by special bureau or department to collate facts and mold opinion in the interest of a better understanding be- tween the Church and workingmen, and par- ticularly to obtain a more accurate and general knowledge of the meaning of trades unionism, and especially That all church members who, either as employers or as members of trades unions, are more specifically Involved in the practical problems of industry, be urged to accept their unparalleled opportunity for serving the cause of Christ and humanity by acting, in His spirit, as mediators between opposing forces in our modern world of work. IV. That the Church in general not only aim to socialize its message, to understand the forces which now dispute its supremacy, to stay by the people in the effort to solve with them their problems, but also modify its own equipment and procedure in the interest of more democratic administration and larger social activity; That more generally in its buildings pro- vision be made for the service of the com- munity as well as for the public worship of God; That in its councils of direction working- men be welcomed and the wisdom of the poor be more freely recognized; That in its assemblies artificial distinctions be rebuked and removed ; That in its financial management the com- mercial method, if it exist, be replaced by the principles of the Gospel as set forth in the Epistle of James, to the end that the workers and the poor, vastly in the majority in the United States, may ever find the church as homelike as the union hall, more attractive 20 than the saloon, more tolerant of their aspira- tions than the political club, more significant of the best which in heart and life they seek than any other organization or institution which claims to open to them opportunity or ventures to offer them incentives to the better life. V. That the Church fail not to emphasize its own relation, throughout the centuries and in the life of the world to-day, to the mighty movements which make 'for the betterment of social and industrial conditions; That the attention of workingmen and of the churches alike be called to these facts: That the institution of a day of rest secured for the toilers of Christendom by the very charter of the Church has been defended on their behalf by it through the centuries; That the streams of philanthropy which supply a thousand needs have their springs, for the most part, in Christian devotion; That the fundamental rights of man upon which rest the pillars of this mighty group of commonwealths are a heritage from the con- science and consecration of men who acknowl- edged Jesus Christ as Master; That the free ministrations to the com- munity on the part of tens of thousands of churches attest the purpose of the followers of Christ; That the Church, while it may not have ac- cepted the task of announcing an industrial programme, is at heart eager with the im- pulses of service and is more than ever ready to express the spirit of its Lord; That in the quest for the forces by which the larger hopes of the workingmen of Amer- ica may be most speedily and fully realized, the leaders of the industrial world can better 21 afford to lose all others than those which are to-day and have been for nearly two thousand years at work in the faith, the motive and the devotion of the Church of Jesus Christ. Your committee further recommends: That this Federal Council instruct the Ex- ecutive Committee to organize under such plan as it may in its discretion find expedient, a Commission on The Church and Social Ser- vice, representative of the churches allied in this Council, and of the various industrial in- terests, said Commission to co-operate with similar church organizations already in opera- tion, to study social conditions and ascertain the essential facts, to act for the Council, under such restrictions as the Executive Com- mittee, to which it shall from time to time report, may determine, and in general, to afford by its action and utterance an expres- sion of the purpose of the Churches of Christ in the United States, to recognize the import of present social movements and industrial conditions, and to co-operate in all practicable ways to promote in the churches the develop- ment of the spirit and practice of Social Ser- vice and especially to secure a better under- standing and a more natural relationship be- tween workingmen and the Church. We do not forget that the strength of the Church is not in a programme, but in a spirit. To it is not given the function of the school, of the legislature, of the court, but one deeper and broader, the revelation of the ethical and practical values of a spiritual faith. The Church does not lay the foundations of the social order; it discloses them. They are already laid. Ours is the blame if upon them we have allowed rubbish to gather, or let others build wood, hay, stubble. Instead of our- 22 selves lifting to the light the splendor of the gold, silver, precious stones. The Church must witness to the truths which should shape industrial relations, and strive to create the spirit of brotherhood in which alone those truths become operative. It must give itself fearlessly and passionately to the furtherance of all reforms by which it believes that the weak may be protected, the unscrupulous re- strained, injustice abolished, equality of op- portunity secured and wholesome conditions of life established. Nothing that concerns human life, can be alien to the Church of Christ. Its privilege and its task are meas- ured by the sympathy, the love, the sacrifice of its Lord. It is here to represent Jesus Christ. Let it speak out what is in its heart ! Once again in the spirit of the Nazarene let it take from the hand of tradition the sacred roll and read so that everywhere the waiting millions may hear: “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the Gospel to the poor, he hath sent me to heal the broken- hearted, to preach deliverance to the captive, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised, to preach the acceptable year of the Lord.” May the Church dare to say to the multi- tude, “This day is this Scripture fulfilled in your ears.” 23 Commi£f£iion on tlje Cf)urct) anb Social ^erbice REV. JOSIAH STRONG, Chairman SECRETARIAL COUNCIL Rev. Henry A. Atkinson 14 Beacon Street, Boston, Mass. Rev. Samuel Z. Batten 1701 Chestnut Street, Philadelphia, Pa. Rev. Frank M. Crouch 281 Fourth Avenue, New York Rev. Charles O. Gill Hartland, Vt. Rev. Harry F. Ward 2512 Park Place, Evanston, Illinois Rev. Charles S. Macfarland 105 East 22d Street, New York NO. 7 BURR PRINTING HOUSE NEW YORK, N Y.