democratic spirit, it stood for the strongest possible con-
demnation of a selfish and exploiting social order and for
an heroic effort to live a truly human and fraternal life.
Some bold reformatory spirits, like Arnold of Brescia and
John Wiclif, could see no salvation for the entire Church
till it ceased to be an exploiter, surrendered its wealth,
and adopted the Christian law of simplicity and service.

The fact that these movements were chiefly concerned
for the reform of the Church must not blind us to their
social significance. The Church is always part of the
social order, and in that age it was relatively a far larger
part of it than now. It was inextricably tangled up with
all the rest of the governing powers. With true instinct
the re-awakened democracy turned its forces first on the
redemption of the Church. The fact that the Church,
the body of Christ, had been seized by the forces that
oppressed and exploited the people was the crying shame
of the times, more keenly felt than any other horror. All
felt that the first step in the creation of a righteous social
order was the emancipation of the organized conscience of
Christendom. If Christ had a voice once more, all the rest
would follow. The course of history in the last four hun-
dred years has proved the correctness of that instinct.
The Church was really the strategic key to the emancipa-
tion of the people.

The great battle of the Protestant Reformation did not
turn on the establishment of the Kingdom of God on
earth, but on the question how a man could be justified
before God and save his soul now and hereafter. The
theology of the Reformation was not modeled on the
teachings of Jesus, in which the Kingdom is central, but
on the doctrinal system of Paul. It was a discussion of
old Catholic problems from new points of view. Some of
the minor radical parties did indeed make the ethical and
religious teachings of Jesus fundamental and revived the

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