THE COUNTRY CHURCH PROGRAMME 181 



tained a university. She might as legitimately main- 

 tain an agricultural college if the nation should fail to 

 do so. The same branch of the church teaches the Bhils 

 in India how to farm. Under stress of circumstances 

 she might do so elsewhere. 



There are no heathen oaks, no Gentile pines, 

 The soil whereon we stand is Christian soil. 



Should she teach men here how to grow better cabbages ? 

 She need not. But she should teach men everywhere 

 and always that it is their duty to grow better cabbages. 

 Each of our Provinces provides most helpful agencies 

 of agricultural improvement: it is for the church to 

 deal with the moral prerequisites of better husbandry, 

 and hold out the better resultant life as an incentive. 



If husbandry, amplified by reclamation, perpetuated 

 by conservation, fostered by science, may become all 

 that we have seen possible when the whole wide world 

 shall become a garden, what of the Edenic life obtain- 

 able there ? " God's partner in making the new earth " 

 is Dr. Robertson's definition of the young modern 

 farmer, and he gives thereby a glimpse into the inex- 

 haustible life attainable by country people, who despite 

 every wasting force are still the wellspring of national 

 strength. 



We should remind our people that as the farmer of 

 to-day has risen far above the status of the past, so 

 further advance is thereby made still more possible ; as 

 machinery has already lightened toil, its further ser- 

 vices may be yet more significant; as the telephone, 

 mail-delivery and other agencies are now enriching rural 

 life, other and finer facilities are practicable. We 

 should speak of what education might do in a merely 



