Such a small group—­and I am now thinking of something quite practical, say to begin with a study-circle, or a company of like-minded friends with a definite rule of life—­may not seem to the outward eye very impressive.  Regarded as a unit, it will even tend to be inferior to its best members:  but it will be superior to the weakest, and with its leader will possess a dynamic character and reproductive power which he could never have exhibited alone.  It should form a compact organization, both fervent and business-like; and might take as its ideal a combination of the characteristic temper of the contemplative order, with that of active and intelligent Christianity as seen in the best type of social settlement.  This double character of inwardness and practicality seems to me to be essential to its success; and incorporation will certainly help it to be maintained.  The rule should be simple and unostentatious, and need indeed be little more than the “heavenly rule” of faith, hope, and charity.  This will involve first the realization of man’s true life within a spiritual world-order, his utter dependence upon its realities and powers of communion with them; next his infinite possibilities of recovery and advancement; last his duty of love to all other selves and things.  This triple law would be applied without shirking to every problem of existence; and the corporate spirit would be encouraged by meetings, by associated prayer, and specially I hope by the practice of corporate silence.  Such a group would never permit the intrusion of the controversial element, but would be based on mutual trust; and the fact that all the members shared substantially the same view of human life, strove though in differing ways for the same ideals, were filled by the same enthusiasms, would allow the problems and experiences of the Spirit to be accepted as real, and discussed with frankness and simplicity.  Thus oases of prayer and clear thinking might be created in our social wilderness, gradually developing such power and group-consciousness as we see in really living religious bodies.  The group would probably make some definite piece of social work, or some definite question, specially its own.  Seeking to judge the problem this presented in the Universal Spirit, it would work towards a solution, using for this purpose both heart and head.  It would strive in regard to the special province chosen and solution reached to make its weight felt, either locally or nationally, in a way the individual could never hope to do; and might reasonably hope that its conclusions and its actions would exceed in balance and sanity those which any one of the members could have achieved alone.