ith the purely material, that it occasions no surprise
when a neighbourhood having changed from the residence district of the
comparatively well-to-do to the very poor, the vestry feels bound to
consider the moving of the church to a more 'desirable' quarter.

"These, of course, are hard facts to face, and it is not strange that we
should seek to evade them by a false optimism that thinks evil is
eliminated by merely contemplating good. The point is, _they must be
faced,_ and at a time when there is some evidence of a little awakening,
it must more and more force itself into the consciousness of the
thoughtful that the dead spiritual conditions of today are due to the
shifting of faith from God to material things as the means of achieving.
The only hope lies in the apparent unconsciousness of the error. This is
invariably the atmosphere that prevails when ecclesiastical history
repeats itself in corruption; it had been true of more than two or three
generations, though obviously unseen save by a few of those contemporary
with the times, that in Jerusalem, 'the heads thereof judge for reward,
and the priests teach for hire, and the prophets thereof divine for
money; yet will they lean upon the Lord, and say: Is not the Lord among
us? None evil can come upon us.' Corporate unconsciousness, in greater
or less measure, of these conditions, may influence the degree of guilt,
but never can acquit of the sin. And the cold, naked truth is that today
we stand almost helpless before a world of peculiar problems.

"What is there here to reflect the _power_ and _might_ of Christianity,
such as the early Church, especially, possessed, and subsequent
generations, in times of great faith, really knew so much of--the power
to heal the sick, to cast out devils, to achieve wonders out of Christ's
poverty, to experience the thrilling joy of religion in the ever-abiding
Divine Presence, and witness the marvels of faith in the conquering of
the world? How is it we are no longer able to communicate the secrets to
the suffering world which are able to transmute the people's want into
God's plenty, and attract and hold the hearts of men with the joys of
the Vision Splendid? Why is it that hope has given way to resignation,
that the preaching of forgiveness has been dwarfed by the insistence
upon penalty, that distinct evils in the physical sphere are attributed
to God and, because of that, held up to religious estimation as good;
the day of mi