Church and Empire A Series of Essays on the Responsibilities of Empire - new book

Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: THE CHURCH AND NATIONAL LIFE By the Rev. John Ellison, M.A., Vicar of Windsor, and Chaplain in Ordinary to H.M. the King. No student of the Bible can doubt that God has made use of nations in carrying out His purposes for the world. Egypt, Persia, Greece, Rome, no less than the chosen people, have each had their tasks assigned to them. To the student of history it is equally clear that the same Divine claim upon the life of nations has constantly asserted itself with irresistible force in the affairs of Christendom. It has converted rude tribes into civilised peoples; it has inspired the noblest efforts of nations, and changed the course of their history. Time after time it has proved itself the strongest of the forces which have made the modern world. The question now asked is, whether this fundamental truth of the sanctity and responsibility of national life has to-day as large a hold upon the British race as it ought to have, in view of its eventful history. It is submitted that it is, to a large extent, a lost truth; and that what is most needed for the welfare alike of Church and State is a vigorous reassertion on the part of the Church of the truth that nations?our own nation in particular?have their tasks assigned to them byGod; a well-considered policy which shall bring home to the British race, whether in England or the Colonies, the enormous responsibilities entrusted to it by God within the area of the British Empire. The writer is a Churchman, and when he uses the word " Church " will refer in the first instance to the Church of which he is a member, and with whose working he is familiar. He hopes however that his message may find willing hearers among the other religious bodies which give expression to the Christianity of the race. He is an Englishman, and...