18 AUGUST 1900, Page 14

THE CHRISTIAN SOCIAL UNION.

[TO THE EDITOR OP THE "SPECTATOR.")

SIR,-I dc not wish to be drawn by Mr. Mallet into an irrelevant discussion of the Christian Social Union. My point was only this. It was urged by Mr. Stone that lay- men of the Church are kept back from seeking Holy Orders by lack of zeal for the cause of social righteousness on the part of the clergy. I said that, on the contrary, experience seems to show that the laity are unwilling to respond to a lead when the clergy give it, and that therefore Mr. Stone's argument does not hold. As to the Christian Social Union, however, I will say just this. One sufficient reason why it is maintained as a Society of Churchmen is because it exists to stimulate the conscience of the Church, and I believe that without its religious Church basis it would have utterly failed to do as much as it has clones—I am, Sir, &c.,