PROBLEMS OF RURAL SOCIAL LIFE 355 



will, however, never be realized by a church which affects to 

 despise this world and the things of this world, which regards the 

 world itself as lost, and conceives of its own mission as consisting 

 in saving as many individual souls as possible from the wreck. 



If the church will assume that the world is not going to per- 

 dition, that it is going to last for a long time, and that it will 

 eventually be a Christian or a non-Christian world, according as 

 Christians or non-Christians prove themselves more fit to possess 

 it, according as they are better farmers, better business men, 

 better mechanics, better politicians, then the church will turn 

 its attention more and more to the making of better and more 

 progressive farmers, business men, mechanics, and politicians. 



What is social service ? Much is being said nowadays about 

 social service as the mission of the church. That is, in itself, an 

 excellent thing ; but there is a tendency to take too narrow a view 

 of social service, just as there was formerly a tendency to take too 

 narrow a view of spirituality. The result is that as much cant is 

 being preached in the name of social service as ever was preached 

 in the name of spirituality. This is to be expected of those who 

 do not realize that all productive work, such as growing corn, 

 wheat, or cattle, to feed the world, or growing wool or cotton 

 to clothe the world, is social service ; and that the best social 

 service which the average man can perform is to do his regular 

 work well, to grow good crops if he is a farmer, and to bring 

 up his family in habits of industry, sobriety, thrift, reliability, and 

 mutual helpfulness ; that anything, in short, is social service 

 which builds up the country and makes it strong, powerful, pro- 

 gressive, and prosperous. The church which preaches and teaches 

 social service in this broad and constructive sense will become a 

 powerful factor in the progress and prosperity of the country, 

 and is not likely to lack for adequate support. 



The dependence of the farmer upon his social surroundings, 

 as previously pointed out, gives the country church a unique 



