ins or lapses from rectitude as constitute 'offences'
or 'scandals,' and tend to bring into disrepute the Christian name and
profession. In the Roman Church, the Confessional, through which moral
error is avowed, with its system of penances, has in view the same
object--viz., to reprove, correct, and reclaim {238} those who have
lapsed into sin--thus seeking to fulfil Christ's ideal 'to despair of
no man.'

(2) But the Church is also a rallying place of service. Both in its
corporate capacity, and through the lives of its individual members,
the Church seeks to bear constant _witness to the mind of Christ_. It
proclaims His living example. It reiterates His will and embodies His
judgment, approving of what is good, condemning what is evil, and ever
more confronting the world with the high ideal of the divine Life and
Word. Not all who bear the name of Christ are consistent witnesses.
But still the aim of the Church is to harmonise the profession and
practice of its members, and generally to spiritualise secular life by
the education of public opinion. Before, however, Christians can hope
to make a profound impression upon the outside world, it is not
unnatural to expect that they should exhibit a _spirit of concord_,
among themselves, seeking to heal the unhappy schisms by which the
Church is rent. But while our separations are deplorable--and we ought
not to cease our endeavour for the reunion of Christendom--we must not
forget that there may be harmony of spirit even amid diversity of
operation, and that where there is true brotherly sympathy between
Christians, there already is essential unity.[25]

(3) The special work of the Church to which it is constrained by the
express terms of its Master's commission, is to _preach the Gospel_ to
every creature and to bring all men into obedience to Christ. A
distinction is commonly made between Home and Foreign Missions. While
the distinction is useful, it is scarcely valid. The work of the
Church at home and abroad is one. The claims of the ignorant and
hapless of our own land do not exempt us from responsibilities to the
heathen world. The Lord's Prayer for the coming of the Kingdom
requires of Christian men that they shall consecrate their gifts along
every line of effort to the fulfilment of the divine will upon the
earth.

3. While all sections of the Church are convinced that {239} an honest
application of the principles of Jesus to the practical affairs