The Lesson of History 141 



and culture, it held them down, and in this manner kept 

 its control of their entire existence and of the policy of 

 the government as well. The social condition of the 

 people, like slavery in ancient Rome, remained a canker 

 in the body politic, and in both states was the one 

 cause of failure to retain their position as world-powers. 

 The Spanish Main is a thing of the past, and the glory 

 of Portuguese colonial expansion has failed to preserve 

 its grandeur. Only recently the Government of 

 Portugal, which it must be remembered was supported 

 by the Church, has been overthrown. And one cannot 

 forget that France has disestablished the Church of 

 Rome, and is, I believe, the only great European power 

 which refuses to recognise state religion. The Church 

 has wrought its own destruction ; it endeavoured to 

 dominate the lives and thoughts of the most intel- 

 lectual people in Europe, with the only possible result 

 that in the end it was rejected with scorn. It failed to 

 convey the message which the Author and the Finisher 

 of our faith came to preach — " Peace on earth and good 

 will to men " ; and the people, through the force of their 

 strong intellectual faculty, recognised this failure of 

 duty and rejected the establishment of the Church as a 

 useless incubus on the state. Notwithstanding, social 

 amelioration has not fallen behind in that country, 

 because the altruism of Christian ethics has permeated 

 the minds of the people. France is an object-lesson to 

 the effect that the establishment of a State Church is 

 not a necessity of a great world power either in the 

 direction of its maintenance or the comfort and culture 

 of the people. The real necessity is the establishment 

 of the teachings of the Founder of our religion in the 

 hearts and minds of men, which brings about social 

 amenity and well-being, and thus gives the state a 

 stable foundation, securing permanence, and preventing 

 decadence. 



