Page:The empire and the century.djvu/197



Editor of this volume has asked me to write a short chapter on the relations between the Christian Church and the development of the Empire. It is obviously a subject more fitted for a volume than a chapter, and the time assigned to me is too short to enable me to treat it freshly as well as shortly. The fact that a place should be given to it in such a book as the present is, at least, a sign of the increasing seriousness with which Imperial problems are approached. The development of the Empire is felt to be something more than a theme for perorations and patriotic songs—rather, a task which demands fixity of purpose, vigour of thought, and strength of character. It is a task which must profoundly influence the religious, as well as the political and commercial, outlook of the British nation. The Imperial spirit in the State calls for an Imperial spirit in the Church.

Here two preliminary explanations must be made:

1. First, an Imperial spirit in the Church must be clearly distinguished from a spirit only too common which identifies the providence of God and the extension of the British Empire. We are all familiar with the sort of language—specially offensive to other nations—which implies that the acquisition of new markets for British goods, or the annexation of new territory to the British Crown, must be acts not only of the British Government but of the Divine government of the world. 166