Democracy attfc "Keligton.

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Such a conception of society has a religiousorigin and is workable only so long as it is builtupon metaphysical foundations. Else the in-dividual, whose interests centre in a short lifetime,will assert his rights at the cost of the communitywhich covers generations ; he will try to reapthe pleasures of life at the cost of the neighbourwho is regarded as a mere instrument for theinterests of the ego. True community life is onlypossible where the individual is overshadowed bya super individual value however it be called.This subordination in animal life is brought aboutby instinct. In the life of primitive man, traditionand authority work in the same way, bothdescending in most cases from conquest and armedforce. Another kind of motivation must step in,where man has been awakened to self-determination, where he feels himself free tosubmit or to revolt.

In the western world this motivation springs upfrom religious sources as distinctly Christian.The Community which was the vision of Jesus means a very peculiar kind of social life. He andHis disciples form a spiritual body of which He isthe head, they the members, cemented by thespirit of solidarity or brotherhood, and workingtogether for a transcendent goal which He callsthe Kingdom of God. The divine spirit or HolyGhost which Jesus left to His disciples, is leadingmankind step by step towards this ultimate goal—opening up new truths which former timeshave not been able to digest.

This historic view embracing the whole of