he men of faith in
Jesus, is that the necessity for belonging to one body--a necessity
grounded on divine appointment--shall force together into a unity men
of all sorts and different kinds; and the forces of the new life which
they share in common are to overcome their natural repugnance and
antipathies, and to make the forbearance and love and mutual
helpfulness which corporate life requires, if not easy, at least
possible for them.

This is the principle which must not be abandoned. We must assert the
theological principle of the Church because it is that and that alone
which can impress on men practically the obligation and possibility of
a catholic brotherhood.

But it is folly to assert the theological truth of {190} churchmanship,
and neglect its moral meaning. Quite recently the bishops of the
Lambeth Conference have striven to impress anew the ethics of
churchmanship upon the conscience of the faithful[7]. The principle of
brotherhood must act as a constant counterpoise to the instinct of
competition. The principle of labour shows that the idle and selfish
are 'out of place' in a Christian community. The principle of justice
forces us to recognize that the true interest of each member of the
body politic must be consulted. The principle of public responsibility
reminds us that each one is his brother's keeper. Once more the Church
has been aroused to its prophetic task of 'binding' and 'loosing' the
consciences of men in regard specially to those matters which concern
the corporate life and the relations of classes to one another. And we
pray God that the work of our bishops may not be in vain. What we want
is not more Christians, but, much rather, better Christians--that is to
say, Christians who have more perception of what the moral effort
required for membership in the catholic brotherhood really is.

{191}

No doubt the needed social reformation is of vast difficulty. For
instance, one who contemplates our commercial relations in the world
may indeed be tempted to despair of the possibility of recovering the
practical application to 'business' of the law of truthfulness; and
many a one who is practically engaged in commerce, in higher or lower
station, finds that to act upon the law may involve something like
martyrdom. But the very meaning of divine faith is that we do, in
spite of all discouragements, hold that to be practicable which is the
will of God; and it is nothing new in the histo