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io. PRESENT CONDITION. 437
like the Mothers Union, extended throughout and beyond
the Empire.
I have already mentioned the
"
Evangeliska Foster-
lands forbundet," and the value of its lay missionaries. I
do not know what its present strength is, or how far it
employs working men, but I think it might be well worth
while for some Swedish Churchmen to study rather closely
the merits and defects of our English
"
Church Army."
I have often spoken of the immense debt which we owe to
this latter body.
The "Church Army" founded in 1882, shows how
some 500 evangelists, of strict loyalty to the Church and
splendid devotion, may be drawn from the ranks of work
ing people. I pass over the myriad other agencies which
give fibre and blood to our corporate life. I only quote
these as evidences of what may be done voluntarily by men
and women who are in earnest, working within the Church
and in strict subordination to authority, to put new spirit
into an old institution.
There seems absolutely no reason why similar move
ments should not succeed in Sweden (where the
"
Salvation
Army
"
has already made great progress), and in a short
time bear fruits worthy of our admiration and emulation.
Its freedom of self-government enables it to move solidly
and safely, and its home and foreign missions are evidently
growing fast.
(4) What line of development may we hope and expect
that the Swedish Church will take, and what may
be its main contribution to the progress of the
Kingdom of God and to the life of the Catholic or
Universal Church?
The position of the Church of Sweden is a very remark
able one as an intensely national and rather isolated
(2) to encourage purity of life, dutifulness to parents, faithful
ness to employers, temperance and thrift ; (3) to provide the
privileges of the society to its members wherever they may be
by giving them an introduction from one branch to another.
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