ts roots in the simple
necessity, on the part of the morally awakened, of sharing their best
with other people. 'Man grows with the greatness of his purposes,' and
no greater ideal task has ever presented itself to the imagination of
man than this mighty attempt to conquer the world for Christ, and give
to his brother men throughout the earth that which has raised and
enriched himself.[30]

'The two great forming agencies in the world's history,' says a
prominent political economist, 'have been the {244} religious and the
economic.'[31] On the one hand the economic is required as the basis
of civilisation, but on the other the supreme factor is religion. The
commercial impulse, carried on independently of any higher motive than
self-interest, has however not infrequently reacted favourably on the
moral life of the race. Mutual understanding, the sense of a common
humanity, the virtues of honesty, fairness, and confidence upon which
all legitimate commerce is founded, have paved the way in no small
degree for the message of brotherhood and mercy. The present hour is
the Church's opportunity. Already the world has been opened up, the
nations of the earth are awakening to the greatness of life's
possibilities. The danger is that the Oriental peoples should become
satisfied with the mere externals of civilisation, and miss that which
will assure their complete emancipation. Christianity was born in the
East, though it has become the inheritance of the West. It is adapted
by its genius to all men. And undoubtedly the West has no better boon
to confer on the East than that on which its own life and hope are
founded--the religion of Jesus Christ. If we do not give that, we are
unfaithful to our Master's call; we falsify our own history, and wholly
miss the purpose for which we have been entrusted with divine
enlightenment and power.

[1] Lofthouse, _Ethics of the Family_, p. 77.

[2] _Hist. of Human Marriage_, p. 538.

[3] The literature on this subject is enormous. See specially works of
Westermarck, M'Lennan, Frazer, Hobhouse, Andrew Lang, and Ihering.

[4] See chap. vii. in Garvie's _Studies in Inner Life of Jesus_.

[5] Matt. viii. 21, 22; Luke ix. 59-62.

[6] Luke xiv. 26; Matt. x. 37.

[7] Mark x. 29, 30.

[8] Matt. xix. 12.

[9] Matt. v. 32, xix. 3-10; Mark x. 11, 12.

[10] See Forsyth, _Marriage: its Ethics and Religion_.

[11] King, _Ethics of Jesus_, p. 69.

[12] Stalker, _Ethics of J