the future is that between Socialists and Individualists, and we may trust that this will be settled by the acknowledgment of both principles within their respective spheres; for man is both individual and social, and both principles must be at work to build up the perfect man and the perfect society in the image of Christ.

I must conclude. But the conclusion is of the utmost importance, for I seek not only to establish the principle of the supremacy of Christ over politics, but to make you realise that this affects you vitally.

(1) We are coming to see that religion is a matter of the life, not merely of the feelings. If faith in God and in Christ is genuine, it must show itself in every department of our lives. There is nothing secular to the true Christian, but all his actions combine in working out the true man, the true character, the just society of the Kingdom of God.

(2) Every Englishman has to do with politics. We are bound, therefore, to use our political power in God's service, that all our public life may be just, loving, holy, and our nation may be as a temple of the righteous God.

(3) If this is to be done, it must, like all Christian acts, be a matter of earnest, loving labour; no light casting of a vote here, attending a meeting there, or

joining in a thoughtless cry, but sober, steady work for political good; it must mean a real sympathy with others, especially with those weaker or poorer than ourselves; and it must mean a readiness to deny ourselves, to take a lower social place, if thereby others can be benefited, after the example of Christ, 'Who, though He was rich, yet for our sakes became poor, that we through His poverty might be rich.'

(4) We need, lastly, the firm conviction of that which is the keynote of all these sermons, that Christ is veritably the King and Lord, the supreme moral power in the universe. Let us hold this fast, and it will enable us to persevere, to carry our Christian principles into public life, to choose the right, the noble side in each question, till the number of faithful workers grows greater than those that oppose them, and the evils we strive against be cast down, and the life of England and of the world grows instinct with the energy of the righteous God.

VIII

CHRIST IN THE REALM OF SCIENCE

'So is the Kingdom of God, as if a man should cast seed upon the earth; and should sleep and rise night and day, and the seed should spring up and grow, he knoweth not how. The earth beareth fruit of herself; first the blade, then the ear, then the full corn in the ear.'-ST. MARK iv. 26-28.

I DOUBT whether the Christian Church at large has appreciated the force of Christ's parable-teaching. As elsewhere, the letter has killed the spirit. In seeking out the revelations in the individual parables men have forgotten the revelation of the whole. That revelation is briefly that besides the written Book which comes to us through human channels, there is another Book in God's own handwriting, the Book of Nature, which we must study. When Christ would explain God's way of working, He describes the growth of the seed, the spread of the leaven; He appeals for proof to the sunshine and the rain, the birds and the flowers. Or, again, in a problem of

moral duty He solves the question by the story of the Good Samaritan, the Unmerciful Servant, the Unjust Steward, and the like. He says in effect, 'Do you want to know what God will do with men? See what He does in nature, in the material world.' 'Do you want to know how to act as God would have you act? Learn your duty by studying man's action towards his fellows." In the two volumes of this great book, the Book of Nature and the Book of Human Nature, you will find the revelation. You will remember that He appeals comparatively seldom to the Scriptures for the sanction of His teaching. He quotes the letter of Scripture to enlarge it, as in the Sermon on the Mount. He quotes the Mosaic law of divorce to show that it was neither original nor final. In speaking of Christ as King in the realm of Science it is necessary to make these preliminary remarks. We need to remind ourselves that He bases His teaching on the assent of the educated reason, not on mere authority. (I say, of educated reason, because nothing can be more contrary to His teaching than the solution of such questions by what men call common sense.) In the passage usually quoted to establish the value of authority-The scribes sit in Moses' seat; all things therefore whatsoever they bid you, these do and observe'-He throws

on them the responsibility of private judgment by adding, but do not ye after these works.' Further, in His remarks on Corban, He shows that the command to obey their teaching is limited in application. Even when He speaks with authority as the Son of God, He enforces His teaching by an appeal designed to win their assent-That ye may be as the children of your Father which is in Heaven.' When He reverses the traditional law He uses the precedent of their own instinctive acts. The Sabbath law cannot be retained in the rigour of the letter, because they instinctively disobey it in watering their flocks; because the priests necessarily disregard it in ministering to the people; because David, rising to the spirit of the apothegm, 'I will have mercy and not sacrifice,' travels on the Sabbath, and eats the shewbread, which is lawful for the priests only. He came to establish the Kingdom of God. When He wishes to describe it, He usually begins The Kingdom of God is like,' and then He draws some picture from one of the two volumes of the Book of Nature. Science in the same way bases the conclusions which it establishes on the observation of phenomena, and an appeal to the educated reason. It creates a working hypothesis to explain the difficulties which need solution. When by an exhaustive process of observa