application of mechanical inventions, form the proper objects for the employment of wealth. But simplicity should be aimed at. The idea of ancient Roman civilisation should be reproduced in our day, 'Privatus illis sumptus erat brevis, Commune magnum.' We may be simple in our own habits although surrounded by wealth and, by using the more costly appliances in our possession for the general enjoyment, we may realize the Christian idea of a stewardship. This is the tendency which the Church must foster in social life among all classes of its members. All · 6. The Expansion of Trade in the present century is probably only a prelude to its still greater expansion in the future. If only war could be done away, the extension of commerce would be immeasurable. the greater, therefore, must be our desire to see commerce conducted on Christian principles of justice and of service, as a function of the universal Church. The frauds, the low tone of morals admitted in many branches of trades, the panics which have sprung from mistrust, the bad relations with foreign nations which have resulted from the action of traders, open to us a wide field for the Church's reformatory action1. On the other hand, the vast benefits which trade confers, the noble, liberal spirit in which its higher operations are often conducted, and the trustfulness engendered by commercial rectitude, must make us welcome its extension. There may be, moreover, a Christian 1 See a large number of details on this subject in a paper by Mr. Herbert Spencer, entitled 'The Morals of Trade,' published with a sermon on 'Sins of Trade and Business,' by the late Canon Lyttelton (Isbister and Co., 1874). trading, which, taking cognisance of these nobler features of commerce, will embark in it simply with a view to promote its beneficial action. Such a course, of which we see instances from time to time, is not unreasonable, though it must face the possibility of loss. But we cannot rest satisfied with the present methods of trade, in which the interests of labour and capital are constantly at variance, and wages are rarely raised except by the brutal machinery of a strike. There is no reason why trade should be motived mainly by individual profit. We must learn to lean, in this as in all departments, upon the unselfish much more than on the selfish interests of mankind. There are already in existence companies which make trade serve the general interest rather than the profit of the individual. There are co-operative societies which make trade entirely a matter of general advantage to all their members, and in which therefore the interests of buyer and seller are reconciled 1. This system, especially as it affects the poor, the Church must constantly seek to extend. We may look forward also, through means of this kind, to the abatement of the extreme competition now reigning in the world of trade, and which is wasteful in all respects, and productive of fraud. Co-operative production still more may be looked upon as affording scope for the bringing of trade under the dominion of the Christian 1 See Note XXVI. An account of the Maison Leclaire in Paris, by Miss M. Hart. See also Ten Years of Co-operative Shirtmaking, by Miss E. Simcox, in the Fortnightly Review for June, 1884. spirit; for we can hardly imagine anything more nearly fulfilling the idea of a Church than a vast co-operative guild, inspired by the Christian spirit of mutual well-doing, with rulers and a brotherhood united in the work to which their lives and interests are devoted in common, and aiming, by the labour of all together, at the supply of the wants of all its members. Nor need it be said that competition and the desire of personal gain is necessary for the keenness and inventiveness of trade. We may look forward to a time when the unselfish motives will have a fuller development, when the wish to benefit the community will stimulate men's energies more fully than competition, and when the public recognition of service, and the gratitude of those who are benefited, may be an adequate guarantee for efficiency. Even now many things are done by municipalities which might be done by private traders: and the nation has taken over successively the Post, which is a great and flourishing trade, some branches of banking and insurance, and the holding of shares in one of the great thoroughfares of the world. Some statesmen already advocate the assumption of railways by the State. There is no reason to be jealous of this process, however far it may be carried1, so long as the nation has real power over its own affairs, and the government is conducted for the people's benefit, and is open to The contrary opinions to this may be seen in Mr. Herbert Spencer's four articles in the Contemporary Review, April to July, 1884. For a very temperate discussion on the subject, I may refer to Mr. Goschen's address at Edinburgh on Laissez-Faire and Government Interference (Macmillan, 1883). criticism and suggestion on all sides. Even if it be supposed that self-interest is a necessary and a perpetual factor in trade affairs, yet the honour and reward arising from good service in a public function may be as powerful a motive as that of immediate gain. But we cannot but believe that a most powerful influence in the direction of unselfishness would be exerted upon individual conduct and energy if it were the primary assumption of the whole community that it was organised for the benefit of all, that is, that it recognised the Christian principle in its action. We must, I repeat, learn to lean on the unselfish much more than on the selfish impulses in mankind. But, whether trade becomes more distinctly organised or not, the object at which the Church should aim is that it should be conducted in a Christian spirit, for public and general advantage, and so as to minister to the spiritual good of those who conduct its operations and those who are its clients. 7. In the Nation or National Church, the Church idea, as has been pointed out, attains its fullest expression. What is now required most of all is that it should be conscious of itself, and should demand that the fundamental postulate of all its public action should be that it is a Church, existing for the highest benefit of its citizens. We may accept without vanity the belief that England is the country in which the practice of political science is most advanced. And, while we admit that the universal Church needs the steadiness of the German, the intellectual capacity of the Italian, the versatility and devotedness of the Frenchman, and that certain experiments in government have been more fully worked out in the democratic communities of America, or Switzerland, or Holland, yet in the main it must be said that England is the great political teacher of the world. Though the roots of constitutional government may be traced in ancient times and in many countries, it is in England alone that they have been gradually developed, so as to become a permanent tradition and a national inheritance. This must be acknowledged as an eminent gift of God. It is the product of the sense of Christian brotherhood. It has indeed been asked at times why men should consent to be ruled by majorities, and it has been suggested that the explanation is to be found in physical force, in the certainty that in most cases three men could get the better of two. But the true explanation is to be found in moral causes, in that sense of brotherhood and of mutual deference which is so congenial to the instincts of Christians. Suppose a society of five persons, of whom three desire one course to be pursued by the society while the other two desire another course; and suppose that they have all of them the Christian feeling of brotherly esteem for one another. Would not the two feel certainly bound to yield to the three? They would argue with themselves that there might be good reasons for the judgment of the three which they of the minority had not apprehended; that in the last resort the desire or resolution of the three was worthy of greater respect than that of the two; that, if the three were wrong, they would be convinced by |