RELIGIOUS LEADERSHIP IN SOCIAL BETTER MENT GEORGE B. STEWART, D. D., LL. D. PRESIDENT AUBURN THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY, AUBURN, N. Y. My thesis is that the forces for the social betterment need the leadership of religious men, and that the proper place for religion is at the head of all the forces making for betterment. I. RELIGION IS A GREAT SOCIAL FORCE AND MAKES FOR BETTERMENT I. It would not be difficult to show that essentially religion is a social force, even in its lowest forms. It lifts the individua! out of himself, and brings him into relations, more or less clearly apprehended, with his fellow man. 2. One of the most pronounced results of religion is the socialization of life. Man is a religious animal and he is a social animal, and it might not be a difficult task to show that he is the latter, largely because he is the former. It certainly is obvious that the religious advance of mankind is marked by a corresponding social advance. The higher the form of religion the keener becomes the social pressure and the wider becomes the social horizon. If any one is disposed to deny, as I am not, that this socialization of life is due to religion, he must reckon with the obvious fact that the advance in religion has as its chief characteristic the socialization of religion itself. 3. This great social force, religion, makes for betterment. The history of religion is the history of the progress of mankind. It may be, in fact it has been all too often, that in the hands of unscrupulous and designing men, or through the influence of irreligious partners in some unholy alliance, religion has been an instrument for the injury of men and their debasement. Much has been done in the name of religion, for which it ought not to be held responsible. Its beautiful livery has been a fine disguise for the powers of evil, and sometimes this heaven-born servant of men has itself been seduced from its noble office and prostituted to some ignoble end. Even so, yet these lapses are marked by recoveries, and it remains true that the progress of religion has resulted in the elevation of life to a higher plane and in the increase of its health and treasure. If it 4. Religion is the most valuable social asset of mankind. Neither in this age nor in any other can there be found a social force more pervasive, more potent, more beneficent than religion. Indeed, it is a defensible, yes, a demonstrable, proposition, that it excels in these respects all other social forces combined, and that society could better dispense with all other forces and their agencies than with religion and its agencies. Even in this day, when there are so many social forces making for betterment, which are so potent and so effective and which are not obviously allied with religion, which are often professedly non-religious, religion still remains a great social power. be a decadent power, a spent force, as some would have us believe, then we are witnessing the passing of the mightiest social force men have known and used for their advancement. The best light in the world is going out. I do not so read the signs of the times. Just as in all the great social movements of the world, the great social crises in the history of nations, those that marked the distinct advance of a nation and of mankind were characterized by a revival of the dominance of pure religion, those that marked the relapse and fall of a nation and mankind were characterized by the decay of the power of pure religion, so in this day, the social changes will have the same characterization. If the light be going out, our society will soon be walking in darkness. But if the light be shining with greater brilliance, as I verily believe it is, then society is to see more clearly than ever before its way to the yet unreached heights toward which it is journeying. II. THE PRESENT SOCIAL FORCES ARE PREDOMINANTLY RELIGIOUS I. Many of these forces are confessedly religious. A mere catalogue of the social efforts of the christian churches, not to mention other religious bodies in this country, would occupy more time than we could spare, and, incomplete as it would inevitably be, it would still be so long as to surprise even those who now think they know what the church is doing in this respect. For example: (1) Note the hundreds of thousands of sermons every Sunday that are by every consideration forces in the interest of social betterment. (2) Note the many tens of thousands of young people's societies, Sunday schools, men's organizations, women's organizations, for instruction, for training, for relief among the young, the poor, the ignorant. (3) Note the missionary activities of the church and, in view of Dr. Dennis's magnum opus, “Christian Missions and Social Progress," evaluate the influence of the christian church on the social progress of the world. (4) Note the organization of the church for the distribution of the Bible, the most influential social book yet issued, for work among special classes of men, such as seamen, for promoting great sociological reforms, such as temperance. (5) Note the hundreds of churches, like St. George's, St. Bartholomew's, Judson Memorial, and Spring Street churches in New York, that as churches are doing distinctly social service work of a particular type. (6) Note the fact that in the country, the village, and the small city the church represents and expresses, not only the best, but the sole organized social forces that are making for betterment. (7) Note the large array of organizations for social betterment, such as the Y. M. C. A., which confess themselves to be preeminently and predominantly religious. The significance of these facts is that, if you were to withdraw from this land those organized social forces making for betterment that are distinctly religious and are identified with the church, the remaining organized social forces would in the vast majority of our communities be nil, and in the balance of those communities be almost a negligible quantity. 2. The present social forces, organized and unorganized, which are not confessedly religious, are nevertheless indebted to religion for many of their ideals, ideas, and motive power. The fact that the movements for social betterment are to be found in distinctly christian countries, and are found in the most virile form where christianity is most vigorous and produces its best fruit, justifies the statement that these movements are part of the fruit of this religion. The outer edge of our religion's garment, like that of our Master's is charged with power for the healing of men. Few, if any, of the various non-religious organizations and efforts for the relief of the ills of society would have come into being but for the great creative power of our religion, nor could they continue to exist, if the coöperation and financial support of professedly religious men were withdrawn. They are a by-product of religion and owe to religion what they are and are able to do. 3. The present social unrest is, to a large degree, the product of religious teaching and inspiration. The leaven of religion works with agitating and transforming power. It may be doubted whether there is any greater unsettling force than religion. Its chief function is to produce a discontent with evil conditions and unrighteous conduct. Illegitimate business, oppression of the poor by the rich, of the weak by the strong, injustices, cruelties, are assailed by religion in its best estate, and they tremble upon their foundations before its assaults. It breathes hope into men that are down that they may rise, men that are beaten that they may win. When once men have heard its voice and caught its vision, they cannot remain satisfied with themselves or their condition. They are restless and their restlessness often overturns conditions that are in the interest of things that ought to be. This hurried glance at the present state of society shows that, as a matter of fact, the social forces are intershot and dominated by the religious forces. III. THE SOCIAL FORCES NOW MAKING FOR BETTER- 1. This is evident when we consider the elements that religion contributes to the social forces. (1). It contributes the conserving influences that make for stability and order. Many of the social forces are radical and are impatient of the restraint and the love for restraint in the interest of order and law, which religion inculcates. This impatience betrays a basal weakness in even the most serious and earnest |