Page:American Journal of Sociology Volume 3.djvu/43

 THE CHURCH IN THE SOCIAL MOVEMENT 29

standard of life the worse it is for its reputation. The charge of insincerity is made angry and incisive by the feeling of wrong done to society by the church. Men feel that the church by inefficiency and cowardice is responsible for the social ills under which they suffer. That is a tribute to the latent moral power of the church. There is no such feeling toward any other organization. The secret societies of our country are large, wealthy, influential, composed of picked men, and many of them ostensibly formed to further the cause of humanity. I have met with no anger against them because they have left the social problems unsolved ; not because they are doing all they can, but apparently because nobody thinks they have any saving power in them. But the church is covered with reproach and accusations. It stands indicted for culpable neglect and malfeasance in office, and such a charge is no more pleasant for a ody of men than for an indi- vidual. It is not only a question of duty and the will of God. It is to the interest of the church to save its reputation and have the good will of its fellow-men. Does the salt of the earth enjoy being cast into the street and trodden under foot of men ?

Finally, it seems to me that even the mystic spiritual life of the church, its trust in God and fellowship with him, must suffer in the midst of social decay. I believe in the victorious power of the spiritual life. Faith can overcome the world and glory even in tribulation. I have seen holy lives unfolding in the most depressing surroundings, like edelweiss at the edge of a glacier. But Christ bids us pray that we be not led into temptation, know- ing that the stronger the temptation the fewer will resist.

Walter Besant, in contemplating the sordid life of the East End of London, raises the question if there has ever been a great city that was really religious. I do not know ; but I am sure that there is no great city in which modern industrialism has set iij) its smoking and flaring altars of Mammon in which religion is not struggling for its life like a flower growing among the cobble stones of the street. The larger our cities grow the less hold does religion seem to have over the multitude of men and