ed and died unaware of the history and
destinies of imperial Rome; the contemporary of Virgil and of Livy could
not read the language in which they wrote. Provincial by birth, mechanic
by trade, by temperament a poet and a mystic, he enjoyed in the course
of his brief life few opportunities, and he evinced little inclination,
to become acquainted with the rudiments of the science whose end is the
prosperity of the state. The production and distribution of wealth, the
disposition of power, the laws that regulate labor, property, trade,
these were matters as remote from his interests, as they were beyond his
comprehension. Never was man better equipped to inspire a religious
sect; never one worse to found and direct a commonwealth."

Jesus' teaching concerning the Kingdom of God is contained in a handful
of parables and picturesque sayings. It attempts no detailed account of
a Utopia; it lays down no laws; it offers the world a spirit, which in
every age must find a body of its own. But this indefiniteness does not
fit it the less, but the better, as the inspiration to social
reconstruction. It affords scope for variety and endless progress. It
can take up the social ideals of other ages and of other civilizations,
and incorporate whatever in them is congruous with the Christian social
order. The ideals of Greece and Medieval Europe and of our present
commercialism, and the ideals of China, India and Japan, are not to be
thrown aside as rubbish, but reshaped and "fulfilled" by Christlike
love. It does not stultify human development by establishing a rigid
system; but entrusts to thoughtful and conscientious children of God the
duty of constantly readjusting social relations, so that they are
adequate expressions of their Father's Spirit. In every age Christians
are compelled not only to voice their protest against the existing
order, but to point out precisely what the Spirit of Christ demands, and
try practically to embody it. The fact that our directions are not
explicit is proof that God deals with us not as little children but as
sons and daughters, not as servants but as friends. We have to think out
for ourselves the economic system, the policies of government, the
disciplinary methods, the educational ideals, that will incarnate the
Spirit of our Father. The all-sufficient answer to the charge of the
inadequacy of Jesus as a guide to social welfare is the fact, that only
in so far as we are able to express His mind