SOCIALISM  IN  ENGLAND.  305
ment  that  the  rights  of  landlords  and  capitalists,  however
mischievous  they  may  be,  have  had  the  sanction  of  the  law  and
at  least  prior  to  the  dawn  of  the  social  revolution,  of  public
opinion,  and  that  therefore  the  possessors  of  these  rights  should
not  be  treated  as  robbers,  and  be  deprived  of  their  legal
property  without  compensation,  the  Christian  Socialists  replv
by  quoting  the  precedent  of  Jesus  driving  the  hucksters  and
money-changers  out  of  the  Temple,  where  their  presence  had
r^eived  the  sanction  of  the  religious  authorities  and  did  not
offend  public  opinion.  In  short,  the  merchants  were  forcibly
f  f  gleaned  from  the  Report
of  the  Guild  of  St.  Matthew  which  has  recently  appeared  By
way  of  further  elucidating  the  position  of  the  Guild  towards
Socialism  and  Christianity,  I  take  from  the  same  Report  the
following  extracts  :—
mfmm,