nal basis
and has no rational end, save in the love of God.

In another way the Christian theory of society differs from all others.
Like all others it holds that the unifying bond of every society is
found in worship. Unlike others it recognises that the individual is
restricted by existing society, even where that society is based upon a
common worship. The {261} adequate realisation of the potentialities
of the individual postulates the realisation of a perfect society, just
as a perfect society is possible only provided that the potentialities
of the individual are realised to the full. Such perfection, to which
both society and the individual are means, is neither attained nor
possible on earth, even where communion with God is recognised to be
both the true end of society and the individual, and the only means by
which that end can be attained. Still less is such perfection a
possible end, if morality is set above religion, and the love of man be
substituted for the love of God. In that case the life of the
individual upon earth is pronounced to be the only life of which he is,
or can be, conscious; and the end to which he is a means is the good of
humanity as a whole. Now human society, from the beginning of its
evolution to its end, may be regarded as a whole, just as the society
existing at any given moment of its evolution may be regarded as a
whole. But if we are to consider human society from the former point
of view and to see in it, so regarded, the end to which the individual
is a means, then it is clear that, until perfection is attained in some
remote and very improbable future, the individual members of the {262}
human race will have laboured and not earned their reward, will have
worked for an end which they have not attained, and for an end which
when, if ever, it is attained, society as a whole will not enjoy. Such
an end is an irrational and impossible object of pursuit. Perfection,
if it is to be attained by the individual or by society, is not to be
attained on earth, nor in man's communion with man. Religion from its
outset has been the quest of man for God. It has been the quest of
man, whether regarded as an individual or as a member of society. But
if that quest is to be realised, it is not to be realised either by
society or the individual, regarded as having a mere earthly existence.
A new conception of the real nature of both is requisite. Not only
must the individual be regar