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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  capitalism ­
  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  becoming ­
  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  honourable ­
  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.