good would be no longer mere guerrilla warfare or selfish attempts to save one's self, but would come to be co-ordinated into a great and powerful movement, which would mightily forward and speedily bring in the rule of God.

XXVII.

A LIAISON WITH THE WORLD.

"The friendship of the world is enmity with God.”JAMES iv. 4.

IF this be true it is most unfortunate. For one has to live in this world, whether he is on friendly terms with God or not. As to the world, he must eat with it, sleep with it, buy with it, sell with it, and spend his life in it. If it be necessary that he must choose between it and the Almighty, making one of them his friend and the other his enemy, it would seem that the conditions of life are hopeless from the outset. This makes it worth while to inquire, "What should be the attitude of a loyal and intelligent Christian toward the world?”

Now, how to deal with this is a question which arose at the very beginning of the Christian Church. It was probably more sharply accentuated then than it has ever been since. The first Christians were Jews or pagans before they became Christians. When they accepted Christ's ideas about God, it threw them at once out of friendly relation with their environment.

men.

The Christian of to-day, of course, is free from many of the entanglements which his ancestors faced. He lives in a world which has actually become to a large extent Christian. Nevertheless, it still contains within it great areas wherein God is not allowed, or, if so, is regarded as a hostile interloper. To be more specific, the Christian has to do every day of his life with profane men, with unclean men, with dishonest If he be in business there are methods of procedure which are distinctly contrary to the spirit of life which his Master enjoins. If he be in politics it is needless to say that he is called upon to act in ways of which his Christian conscience does not approve. If he amuses himself, he is in the midst of diversions which are, in many cases at least, questionable. The same thing is true when he moves in society. It is true even if he withdraw into the abstract and comparatively clear atmosphere of the arts or the pure sciences. If these things were unequivocally bad, the question would be very simple. But this, fortunately or unfortunately,-fortunately for actual life and unfortunately for logic,-is not the case. The profane man, for example, is often most generous and hospitable. The unclean man may be, and often is, scrupulously honest. However he may spend his nights, one does not hesitate to trust him by day. The dishonest man may be on his intellectual side, like Lord Bacon, one of the most

In business,

effective and uplifting of men. while there are many things with which a Christion cannot be on friendly terms, there is, nevertheless, much of the highest trust and purest honor. So of society, science, politics, and all the rest. Now, is there any clew in so crooked a path? How shall one bear himself toward a world like this?

There have been two answers given which theoretically are good enough, but practically are not workable. The first is what has been called the method of "spiritual direction." It says in effect to the individual Christian: "The conduct of your religious life, in a world like this, is a very perplexing and complicated affair. You are not competent to manage it by yourself. You should put it into the hands of an expert. You should go periodically to a confessor or a spiritual director, and he will instruct you specifically from time to time as to the things which you should do and the things which you should avoid. Trust the management of your life to him, and the institution which he represents will guarantee your eternal well-being." The trouble with this is that where it is honestly accepted, it reduces the individual to an automaton and keeps him forever a child. It works badly in practice.

The second rule is the one which long ago was adopted by the Puritans. It finds its expression in the phrase: "Come out therefrom and be ye

separate." It looks upon the world practically as the house and home of the devil. One should flee from it into the Church if he can; if he cannot do that, then into the wilderness, but flee from it he must. This method is distinctly contrary to the direction which our Lord left to his disciples when about to leave them. "I pray not," he said, "that you should be taken out of the world, but that you should be kept from the evil."

Neither of the above methods will work. But will anything else? I venture to suggest two general principles, which, if they are incorporated into the conscience and the understanding, will serve for at least general sailing directions.

The first is, we dare not approve the things that God condemns. The practical danger in life is in assuming that there is an ideal code of righteousness which God requires, but which is practically impossible. We therefore substitute for it a lower ideal, which we confess is not so good, but which can be put in practice. Our Lord, for example, defines the sin of adultery, "Whosoever looketh upon a woman to lust after her, hath committed adultery already with her." That standard is too high for the average man. He fixes upon a lower, but what he regards as a practicable, one. The Master fixes a standard of honesty: "Thou shalt not covet." We substitute for it a lower one. He fixes the ideal of truth