Political, Evolution. 69 



instruction, to the sick, the aged, and the poor, through 

 the accepted intervention of the State ; in the general 

 tendency of the altar to ally itself to the throne, as in the 

 France of to-day, in Spain, and in Austria. 



Secondly, the enemies of the theocracy are the avowed 

 enemies of Christianity itself, as in Spain, as with the 

 French red republicans, as in Austria and Germany, and 

 as with the most free-spoken democrats here in England. 



Thirdly, in the past the destruction of the theocracy 

 has undeniably been often the precursor of the destruction 

 of religion itself, by the expulsion of citizens who have 

 taken religious vows, the sequestration of their property, 

 the restraint of their persons, occasionally by their actual 

 slaughter. 



Fourthly, vast religious changes have so often been due 

 to political passion, as in England and Germany in the 

 sixteenth century, and in Germany now ; while sometimes 

 national prejudice, as in Prussia and the United States 

 in the present day, acts powerfully to render minds 

 hostile to particular creeds. These considerations may 

 well cause Christians to dread the further advance of 

 modern political change. But the question then arises, 

 Is there any compensating and restorative action which, 

 not being obvious, escapes the notice of these alarmists ? 



It may be that the existing social fabric is but one of 

 several or of many political modes, with each of which 

 Christianity can coexist, and that the disintegrating 



CT juiADV'c 



