CHRISTIANITY AND SOCIALISM.
[To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.]
SIR,—Lord Sydenham does well to dispute the claim that Socialism, in the political sense of the word, is a " religious idea." Those Socialists, or Communists—and there are many of them—who claim Our Lord's authority for their doctrine overlook the fact that the " Communism " which Our Lord advocated was purely spontaneous and voluntary. It is summarized by St. John thus : " He that hath this world's goods and seeth his brother have need and shutteth up his bowels of compassion from him, how dwelleth the love of God in him ? "
" Who made Me a judge or a divider over you," " To him that bath shall be given," " Render unto Caesar the things that are Caesar's " can hardly be quoted in support of the proposition that A., in his desire to make B. happy, moral and so forth, should compel C. to bear the cost of his scheme. I think the only words of Our Lord in support of compulsory division occur in the Parable of the Talents— but it was the goods of the " have not " which were to be given to the " have " on account of his industry and good 50 Albemarle Street.
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