THE FUNCTION OF THE CHURCH 155 



The coming of the kingdom of God involves a two-fold 

 redemption. There are two entities which Christ came 

 to save, the soul of man and not, as Kauschenbusch 

 puts it, the " race of man," but the whole creation. 

 The age and the rightful use of proof-texts is not past. 

 Here are the proofs : " Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ 

 and thou shalt be saved " ; and " The creation itself 

 also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption 

 into the liberty of the glory of the children of God." 



There are two methods by which the kingdom of 

 God enters our world : " Except a man be bom from 

 above he cannot see the kingdom of God." " And I 

 saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of 

 heaven from God." 



In order to set up the kingdom of God in the world 

 of men the church seeks the salvation of the souls of 

 men by means of a service so fundamental that it has 

 as yet no distinctive name ; and she seeks the redemp- 

 tion of society of the whole creation by means of 

 what we to-day describe as social service. The former 

 of these, service, namely, to the soul of man, demands 

 a specific name, even as " a host of economic terms 

 await translation into moral and spiritual speech."* 

 We have called it evangelistic service, but social service 

 also is of the essence of the gospel; we have called it 

 spiritual service, religious service, but each of these 

 terms covers social service as well. We fully endorse 

 the opinion of Mrs. Browning: 



What's the best thing in the world? 

 Something out of It, I think. 



Charles S. MacFarland, " Spiritual Culture and Social Ser- 

 rice," p. 18. 



