148 RUEAL LIFE IN CANADA 



ethical task of the church in the country is to lead the 

 farmer to feel the new responsibilities arising out of 

 the new agriculture so that he shall enter upon them 

 with a new sense of personal worth and of service 

 rendered. 



And the church is called on to render social service 

 in the country. By this we do not at all mean that she 

 is to become institutional. That may follow inciden- 

 tally. But she is to seek not simply the regeneration 

 and the spiritual culture of individuals, but also the 

 transformation of every relationship and every institu- 

 tion now conformed to the spirit of this world into the 

 blessedness of the kingdom of God. The church is now 

 valiantly fighting the liquor traffic; she must deliver 

 rural society in like manner from every adverse encum- 

 brance. And she must foster every organization and 

 agency that strives for the enrichment and enlargement 

 of life. An ancient philosopher defined the freeman 

 by no contrast with the slave, but as the man who lives 

 in a state where there is no slave. Even so there can 

 be no happy man until no one is unhappy. The church 

 is to serve until there is no preventable misery. 



I will not cease from mental fight. 

 Nor shall my sword sleep in my hand 



Till we have built Jerusalem 



In England's green and pleasant land. 



—William Blake, " Social Advance." 



