THE COUNTRY CHURCH PROGRAMME 185 



pilfering or of being pilfered crosses our minds. It 

 is not the power of the law that restrains, and, with 

 many, not of conscience. It is habit. And even the 

 heathen had developed a higher morality still. Until 

 the coming of the white man the trapper of the North 

 cached his provisions and his pelts, and the mark of the 

 cache was inviolate. If men can standardize honesty 

 thus, what prevents the elevating of business to the 

 standard of service ? If patriotism in time of war can 

 make service a stronger incentive than gain, than love of 

 of life, what cannot the potent force of Christian faith 

 accomplish '. As certainly as legislation now forbids 

 usury, so certainly will some form of wise restraint yet 

 prevent the taking of more than ample livelihood out 

 of labor's return; but should those who are free from 

 law in the freedom of Christ need aught to bind them to 

 such service '. Now, this ideal, once present, would lead 

 men to seek that vocation where each could render the 

 fullest service. Were it once present there would be 

 no rural problem. 



The next essential in the programme is the utilizer ion 

 of the agencies already at hand for the church's use. 



Foremost among these is the Home. The home is 

 the greatest agency of human welfare. It is the place 

 where all that upbuilds does its initial, and all that 

 destroys its final, work. Education, industry, society, 

 and religion alike look to the home for their material. 

 One feature of the present situation is the disregard of 

 the home. There is a diverse characteristic of the emi- 

 gration from Britain which settled Eastern Canada and 

 that from Eastern Canada which helps fill up the West. 

 In the one case men sought homes, in the other fortunes. 

 Another trait of the western migration is that many go 



