" Now, how would Christian socialism alter a state of
things like this? Let us consider precisely what it is that our
Christian socialist complains about. He obviously does not mean that he
and his brother clergymen have to approach the trust magnates on their
knees. The utmost he can mean is that, if they want these men to give
them money, they have to ask for it as a gift, and presumably make, when
it is given, some acknowledgment to the donors. This it is which
evidently sticks in the stomach of the humble follower of Christ whose
self-portraiture we are now considering; for, if we confine ourselves to
the Christian element in his teaching, he proposes to alter the existing
situation only by kindling in the "trust magnates" such a fire of
Christian philanthropy that they will have given him all he wants before
he has had time to ask for it, thus exonerating him from the duty of
saying "Thank you" for what he owes to another's goodness, and enabling
him to offer to the Lord that which has cost him nothing.
And what the author of "The Gospel for To-day" urges on behalf of
himself and his clerical brethren is precisely what he urges on behalf
of the less competent majority generally.
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