He is not
certain whither he is being led nor does he so very much care; he is
content to drift with the tide of human development, assured that the
world is becoming better and broader in its purposes and possibilities.
Creed and dogma are dropping into the background and will soon be
discarded, while the spiritual values which grow out of, and express,
human nature and life are steadily forging to the front.

The church as an institution is only one among many. And it must
further be remembered that the life of society reaches beyond
institutions, much as the life of an organism is greater than the
habits and structure which it uses. Religious institutions did not
create the modern world with its gigantic advances in commerce, its
acute applications of science, its subtle art, its daring adventures in
living, its bold philosophies, its high {208} level of education, its
experiments in new social forms. They have had their share in the
work, no doubt; but they have been acted upon even more than they have
acted. Because of its lack of internal unity and its antagonism to
authority, Protestantism could offer no effective barrier to the growth
of the new outlook. Often suspicious, it yet fought in the open. The
trial of strength went against it ultimately because its foundation was
inadequate. Myth cannot fight against science and hope to win. The
verdict of the hard-fought contest is becoming evident to both winner
and loser. Let us hope that the loser will take his defeat manfully
and gradually adapt himself to the New World that is dawning. The
Protestant Churches may then become groups of voluntary associations
filled with high spiritual purpose and ministering to the growth of a
finer social and economic life. The main necessity is to find a
function that is real and vital in the judgment and conscience of the
time.

It is undeniable that the various churches will long play a beneficent
role in the social economy, but the question may well be asked whether
this role would not be more significant and sanely creative if the
hampering traditions and beliefs of the past were shaken off. For
these traditions are the shelter of interpretations and social habits
which are ill-adapted to the needs of the present. They slow down the
energy of institutions and cloud their vision. They lead the sincerest
of people to use tools which have lost edge. For instance, is not
civic and moral education far more effect