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secure it, but the churches are primarily responsible for the welfare of these boys and girls, whether they belong to their Sunday-schools or not, and it is their business to educate the community upon this vital matter. (3) It is hardly needful to dwell upon the devastations of the drink evil (see TOTAL ABSTINENCE); nor to point out how large a share of our philanthropic labors and sacrifices are made necessary by this destructive vice. The municipal church will be wide awake to this evil, and may be depended on to do what it can to abate the injuries of which the saloons are the source. It is to be hoped, also, that it may discover the importance of meeting that bad influence by counter-attractions, and providing safe places of social resort for the multitude of homeless young men and women. The terrible ravages of the social evil will also challenge the faith and courage of the municipal church. For much of the poverty, the disease, the crime, the wreckage of homes is due to this cause. Competent observers of social conditions assure us that the damage done by the saloons is trivial compared with this. To whom may people look for an intelligent, thorough, adequate treatment of this social malady, if not to the Christian Church? Is it possible that the institution which is charged with the moral education of society can venture to ignore this responsibility? (4) Much of the poverty and sickness to which we are called to minister is due to the devitalized condition of the laborers, and this, in many cases, is the result of child labor in earlier years. When the municipal church begins to deal with the causes of the ills it is trying to cure, it will find here some serious work to do. (5) Unemployment is an ungainly word, but it describes an ugly thing. Much of it is due to shiftless men or inefficiency, but by no.means all. Two-thirds of the families which apply in good times to the charity organization societies for aid are in need because they are out of work. To this tremendous problem the municipal church must address itself sympathetically and intelligently. This is the gravest of misfortunes, the sorest of troubles. If any man deserves a friend it is the man who is in need and is willing to work. Such a man ought never to be in doubt that there is one great friend to whom he can go, and that is the Christian Church. Such men generally do go to the ministers; there is a constant procession of them to the doors of the study, but it is hardly possible for the minister to find work for many of them; if the municipal church were properly organized it would have an employment bureau. (g) Not a little of the unemployment and the consequent poverty which taxes philanthropy is caused by industrial wars. Very destructive and disastrous to the fortunes and the characters of employers and employed are these bitter conflicts; the municipal church ought to be able to put an end to some of them. It is the representative of the Prince of Peace, and it has no more sacred function than that of the peace-maker.

These are not the only ways in which the municipal church could exert its influence in removing the causes of those ills to which it is called to minister. But enough has been said to make it clear that when the Christian Church comes to

itself and realizes its opportunity and its responsibility it will find a mighty task upon its hands

and a reason for being of which it has y. Conclu- as yet hardly seemed to be aware. Not lion. only in relieving existing want and

suffering, but in attacking and removing their causes, it will rise to its full stature and fulfil its high calling. It will not be needful to explain to any one whose church it is; in its life the life of the Son of man will be reflected. Such a church will justify its own existence; it will be evident that its most vital function has been fully restored to it, and it will recover the credit it has lost, not only among the less fortunate classes, but also among all earnest men and women to whom the common welfare is a serious concern.

WASHINGTON GLADDEN.

IV. Poor-Relief, General Survey: Pre-Christian times afford no evidence of a systematic relief of the poor. In the heathen world there were some

approaches to it; such as at Athens i. The the care of those incapacitated for Ante-Nicene work and in Rome the distributions

alimentations. Liberality and personal benevolence were customary in Israel. An organized poor-relief, however, was first provided by Christianity. The beginnings of the care of the poor in the congregation are noted in the New Testament; and. by the second century the organization was complete. The means were collected by free gifts; partly through monthly contribution to the parish treasury, and partly through the oblations made at the celebration of the Lord's Supper, consisting principally of natural products. Compulsion to give, direct or indirect, was excluded (II Cor. ix. 7). The administration of these means and the general superintendence of poor-relief were vested in the bishop, who was assisted by several deacons. The discipline of the Church was a sufficient safeguard against the careless diversion of such means to the unworthy. The Church has at no other time more strongly emphasized the duty of the care for the poor and unfortunate, and at no other time has it more positively insisted that everything be done freely from the motive of love. Assistance was chiefly in kind, and the limited size of the parishes also made possible an effort to help each one according to his particular need. Above all, it was sought to make the poor economically independelit by procuring for them employment and tools. A poor-list, in which the circumstances of the needy were described, prevented any being overlooked. Widows and orphans were special objects of attention, the education of the latter being entrusted to the bishop. The sick were attended, and strangers received the privileges of hospitality. By means of letters of introduction any stranger coming in Christ's name was kindly welcomed; and, before examination as to being a true brother, he was provided with rest and refreshment. He was cared for but two or three days at the expense of the Church; thereafter he must work [cf. Didache, xi. 5, ed. P. Schaff., p. 200 and note, New York, 189o]. The individual parishes also mutually aided one another. In this period