"In Divinity I keep the road, and though not in an implicite yet in an humble faith, follow the great Wheele of the Church by which I move.” -SIR THOMAS BROWNE, Religio Medici. SOCIAL TEACHINGS OF THE CHRISTIAN YEAR INTRODUCTION THE slow formation of a Christian social mind is one of the greatest things happening in this great epoch; for it means that Christian people are regaining a passionate allegiance to the Master's purpose, the creation of the Kingdom of God on earth. They are eager and ready to follow this purpose, no matter how revolutionary be the changes in the political or economic order to which it may lead. The enquiry as to what the purpose involves is no easy one; it calls for all the sanity, courage and intellectual acumen that the seeker can command. "Speak, Lord, for Thy servant heareth," must be the cry of the soul; but to distinguish the Lord's words in the din of conflicting theories is a grave and difficult matter. The Christian turns to the Church of Christ for guidance, and he does not turn in vain. Only, he must realize that the authentic voice of the Church reaches him, not through any casual or temporary channel, but through the spiritual truths on which she concentrates the hearts of her children. To Church folk, at least, the solemn recurrent rhythms of the Sacred Seasons reveal ever new depths of meaning in the mysteries of Judgment and Incarnation, of Penitence, Atonement and Resurrection, in the thought of the Church as the tabernacle of the Indwelling Spirit, and in that consummation of Catholic faith, the doctrine of the Holy Trinity. Every one of these mysteries carries a distinct social message; taken together, they are for the Christian the ultimate source of all true social theory and the guide to all right social action. This is not a statement that will commend itself widely. Dogma is unfashionable, and the Church Year is saturated with dogma. Modern radicals, appalled by the failure of Christianity to control the behavior of classes or nations, turn from its doctrines with contempt. If they are religiously disposed, they point to the Sermon on the Mount, and summon us sharply away from the formulæ of the Church to the words of the Master. Christian ethic, rather than the Christian creed, is the accepted authority for liberal social faith. And the authority is good; for no one can read the words of Jesus honestly and not be shocked in turning to contemporary life. The salutary contrast has become a platitude; it even gets into the newspapers! We are not allowed to forget that our industrial system virtually says, Cursed are the poor, Cursed are the meek; that instead of turning the other cheek we hit back when we are struck, and far from overcoming evil with good, try to overcome it by more vigorous evil; that Christian manufacturers, instead of giving unto the last as unto the first, are likely to buy their labor as cheap as they can get it, and are often disposed to fight a living wage to the finish; that we do not fill the hungry with good things and assuredly do not send the rich away empty. The permanent contradiction between Christian morals and world-morals is a puzzle, and a permanent disgrace. But even while stressing this contradiction, social Christianity needs another line of attack. For the radicalism which feeds wholly on such contrasts is ill-nourished, and in disgust with the Church is likely to slip away from Christ. We need to find in Christianity not only precept but dynamic, not only moral teaching but a revelation of God's actual dealings with men. Despite anti-dogmatic prejudice and anti-clerical revolt, |