CURRENT LITERATURE.
Christ and Social Reform: an Appeal to Working Men. By James Adderley. (Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge.)—In a small pamphlet published by the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge, called Christ and Social Reform, Mr. Adderley puts out a strong plea for Christian socialism, which is well sustained and reasoned out. Probably to non-Christian Socialists it will ,come with freshness, and, we hope, persuasion, for Mr. Adderley's four reasons are sound and true. That (1) " Christianity supplies social reformers with an inspiration for their work," every Chris- tian reformer at least knows well; that (2) "many of the principles on which secularist reformers are already working are distinctly Christian principles," few would be prepared to deny, if they have studied Christianity at all ; and that (4) "Christianity supplies that which is lacking in all modern social schemes, Th., the power of moulding human character to suit new con- ditions," is a doctrine of such magnitude and hope that no aeformer of any kind would willingly set it aside if once convinced of its truth. The third reason, that " the Visible Church offers the most powerful inspiration and the most matured and per- manent organisation for social reform " will be more difficult to bring home. Even among Christians, the Visible Church is un- fortunately not always recognised, and, if accepted, we doubt if the average working man would, as a rule, be more faithfully obedient to its decisions than he is to organisations and authorities
which are not large-minded enough to see all round a difficult question, nor just and strong enough to give a verdict which is unpopular to the majority. But in itself, Mr. Adderley's little pamphlet is most clearly written, and contains a great deal of true teaching very useful at the present day.
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