tudes that no sooner do the wrong than
they are smitten with shame therefor and repent thereof. From the
ranks of its enemies the cause of righteousness ever recruits its most
valiant fighters. The Sauls are transformed into Pauls, and powerless
minorities into triumphing majorities.

Not only are the laws of the spirit on the side of the righteous
minority, but also the laws of the universe. The cause of reform
cannot ultimately be defeated because the unchanging laws of nature are
arrayed against evil. The great ally of every righteous minority is
death. That was how Christianity conquered at the first. The
Christians lived righteous lives, and by the very laws of life outlived
the Pagans. So is it now. The life of self-indulgence and
self-interest has no vitality to resist. Death removes it. The ranks
of the devotees of pleasure are being swiftly depleted. Death is the
great ally of righteousness. The multitude, who wanted to turn back to
Egypt, 'died by the plague before the Lord' in the wilderness. Some
virulent influenza came--and they hadn't the stamina to resist! ...
That's how majorities vanish and room is made for the vigorous and
healthy minority to possess the land.

IV

The Calvaries of Christ are to-day everywhere. Wherever a child
hungers or perishes, wherever men and women decay and die, there He,
who identifies Himself with men, is again crucified. Where little
babies die, 200 out of every thousand; where in proportion to the
number of licensed premises is the death-rate among the babes--there He
is crucified. Here, in this capital city, an hour in the evening has
been added to the hours on which the monopolists in alcohol prey on the
people, that more homes may be ruined and more children perish. It
seems utterly hopeless. What is the use of trying to arouse people so
dead to the decencies of life as this? But, to-morrow, the city will
begin to be ashamed. The Church will begin to rouse itself. When Lord
Shaftesbury was toiling to free 35,000 children from five to thirteen
years in Lancashire alone from the Moloch of the factory he wrote--'The
sinners are with me and the saints against me.' That is indeed weird:
how often has the Church looked on, indifferent, while wrong triumphed.
There is nothing more pathetic than to see the Church mustering up
courage to condemn what the world has already judged and set aside! ...
But to-day the message that comes across all the centuries