CIRCUMSTANCES OR CHARACTER.*
MR. CLEMENT F. ROGERS writes of religious and social work He writes with authority, and has come to perfectly definite conclusions. Many years' experience of work among the poor, undertaken both as a Churchman and as a member of the Charity Organization Society, has convinced him that the first improvement to struggle for is a moral improvement.. " The heart of the matter lies in character." He was still further confirmed in this view when he acted as "Hon. Sec. of the Special Committee appointed by the Bishop of London to obtain information from .the clergy of the diocese for the use of the Royal Poor Law Commission." In his belief " the cure of poverty lies in charity." Nothing but harm, he main- tains, can come of Socialistic legislation. To the argument that charity has already failed he makes an unexpected answer. Yes, he says; it has failed because it was disorganized. Once properly organized, and it can deal with all undeserved distress. That which comes of the obvious fault of the dis- tressed person should not be alleviated by money —in his opinion. His views as to the reform of social Church work are very interesting. He gives a succinct account of the methods of the Early Church, taken, as he tells us, from Harnack. He deplores the degenerate theory of charity which possessed the Middle Ages and he regrets the ignorance of "Church workers." The social work of the Church has fallen too much, he thinks, into the hands of women. He would like the spiritual and material work of the clergy to be kept in a sense separate, i.e., to appear to be separate so far as the receiver of benefits is concerned. We think all beginners eager for charitable work should read this clear and sensible book, no matter whether they agree with the writer's main theory —the Mischief of State interference—or not.
* Ciroumstanoes or Character Studies in Social Work. By Clement F. Rogers. London Methuen and Co. 1.31. 6d. net.]
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