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SOCIALISM IN ENGLAND. 
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a truly Christian society the food supply of the wilfully idle would be cut 
off ; in modern society a man is often honoured in inverse proportion to 
the amount of useful work he does. . . • Secondly, the produce of labour 
mud be distributed on a much more equitable system than at present. The 
landlord and the capitalist, say the Socialists, secure by far too great a share 
of the value created by labour.” 
This claim, they say, sounds strangely like St. Paul’s dictum: 
“ The husbandman that laboureth must be first to partake 
of the fruits ”—a text which was often quoted by the Catholic 
priests in Ireland in the days of the Land League—and they 
endeavour to parallel the Socialist indictment against capi 
talism by the utterances of the Hebrew prophets and the 
Christian Apostles.* 
The Christian Socialists do not, as a rule, base their Socialism 
on Political Economy. A little pamphlet called the “ Grammar 
of Socialism” represents the somewhat hazy views of the 
moderate section. Its motto, “Sirs, ye are brethren ; why 
do ye wrong one to another ? ” indicates its spirit. The general 
idea is that great riches are a great evil, that it is impossible, 
consistently with the principle of brotherhood, for the rich man 
to enjoy his goods while there is so much misery and want in 
the world, and the practical suggestion is that “ the transforming 
force of public spirit ” should be so brought to bear upon the 
rich as to induce them to distribute all beyond their “due 
share ” among the poor.t The hearts of these men are sounder 
chargeable to any man.” The words should be translated, neither ^t 
him eat ” (the bread of charity). The allusion is “ to alms collected in the 
Church for the poor ” (Bp. Wordsworth). 
* They quote Jer. ii. 34» v. 26, xxii. 13» Eccl. v. 13, etc. ; i Tim. 
vi. 9 ; James V. 1-4, etc. . _ 
t In further illustration of the spirit of the less extreme section, I niay 
quote the following passage from a sermon on Christian Socialism by the 
Rev. J. W. Horsley, M.A., Chaplain of H. M. Prison, Clerkenwell, 
preached before the Guild of St. Alban:—“Do I dream only, and are 
dreams never fulfilled, when I see the many doing what now only the few 
attempt, becoming poor for the sake of the poor, and thus more truly becom 
ing rich ? I see the curse transferred from poverty to luxury, from humility 
to pride. I see the workhouse crumbling to dust, and the prisons tottering 
to decay ; all hospitals free ; orphanages, almshouses, on every side ; guilds 
for every profession and calling, but none for any class ; poverty wearing 
no badge save that of blessing, and riches not distinguished save by honour 
able deeds of philanthropy, self-denial, and love. ' Mr. Horsley looks 
forward to a system of State Socialism, but says that Christians should not 
wait for its introduction.