Page:American Journal of Sociology Volume 2.djvu/216

 Till- IDKALS OF SOCIAL REFORMERS. 1

of the special tasks of our generation is the work of ling Christianity and the social movement. They are divorced now. The bulk of our church members is either igno- rant and indifferent in regard to the social movement, or else icious of it. The majority of social-reform workers, at least elude Europe, fluctuates somewhere between contempt and avowed hostility toward the church and spiritual religion. We of "The Brotherhood of the Kingdom" believe that such a separation is unnecessary, unwise, and undesirable, detrimental to the full success of both parties concerned, and perilous to the future of humanity.

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We believe in the spiritual life, in the fact of sin and corrup- tion, in the need and possibility of salvation, in holiness and eternal life. We have no desire to see evangelical Christianity bled to death ; to see the church of Christ turned into a reform club ; to see the hidden life of the believer toned down to a mild and sapless altruism ; and to have Christian theology changed into a modern gnosticism, into a system of evolutionary philosophy, with a place for Christ as one of the evolutionary forces. On the contrary, we find fault with modern Christianity because it is not Christian enough. We desire a completer surrender to the Spirit of God, a fuller life of trust, and a more ardent zeal for all missionary work, and for the universal reign of King Jesus. But, on the other hand, we also believe in the social movement of the nineteenth century. We refuse to regard it u .1 i ed-hot lava eruption from the crater of hell. We hold that it is a river flowing from the throne of God, sent by the Ruler of history for the purification of the nations. We see God's hand in it ; we see Christ's blood in it ; we see the creative ener-

'The author is corresponding secretary of "The Brotherhood of the Kingdom," and this paper is written from the view point of that organzation. ED.