190 CHURCH UNITY 



Western civilization, as to none other that 

 can be named. 



Now, then, have you ever stopped to 

 consider of what this is the prophecy in 

 the religions history of the world? The 

 basis of character in a nation is to be 

 found in its moral ideas. The basis of 

 moral ideas is to be found in a people's 

 faith. It is true that in the great essen- 

 tials of faith the nations of Christendom 

 are one. But the grasp with which those 

 same essentials are held, the hold which 

 they have upon the common life of the 

 people, the effects which they produce in 

 conduct and character, are quite another 

 matter. We have seen in other races and 

 people than our own, however we may 

 honor their fidelity to doctrinal form alas, 

 a strange alienation of the popular life 

 from the spell of their inner meaning. 

 We have seen a divorce between precept 

 and conduct so radical and so habitual as 

 gave us a new sense of those tremendous 

 words, " The letter killeth ; it is the spirit 

 that giveth life." We have seen the 

 Word of God, as you may see it in the 

 Coptic Church to-day, sealed up in a mas- 

 sive and richly decorated casket, but never 



