THE SOCIAL FUNCTION OF THE CHURCH 3II
generating the sacrificial spirit that makes such a strife at law unnecessary, or, if necessary, triumphant. If, therefore, the churches may not be the executive of social action, even in the effort to realize their own ideals, they may give initiative to every such effort by fulfilling their function of inspiring, educating, and unifying the people. Where other institutions of the com- munity — the homes, the neighborhood centers for culture and social intercourse, and the municipal provisions for social needs — fail to meet and minister to the wants of the people, it is not only justifiable but obligatory upon the churches to provide substitutes for them. Thus "institutional" churches and social settlements are the ministering body of the Son of Man, incarnating the spirit of the Christ in their ministry to the physical and social, educational and civic, moral and spiritual necessities of our city centers, not only saving souls out of the wreck, but also helping to save the wreck itself. But rarely, if ever, is it necessary^ or advisable to turn the pulpit into a lectureship on economics and politics, or the sabbath service into a free forum for the discus- sion of social theories. Far more effective is it for the churches to man the social point of view, and thence faithfully and fear lessly, by word and in deed, to extend the application of the righteousness of the prophets, the gospel of the Christ, and the ethics of the apostles, from their old work of righting the one man's relation to the one God, to the new work of righting the relation of each to all and of all to each. To unify all the forces which make for righteousness and inspire them to realize the highest ideals attainable is the formative function of the churches in a community which will have far more of a reforma- tory effect than all the effort they could make to lead reforms that are always more effectively promoted by other agencies. For, in the language of a reformatory chaplain, " formatories are the best reformatories."
The history of the English people began when upon the tomb of a forgotten hero might have been inscribed the words which Charles Kingsley wrote under the name of Hereward the Wake : " Here lies the first of the new English who, by the grace of God, began to drain the fens." So, it is said, the imperial supremacy
