proofs of the existence of God will not enable our children to dwell in His presence and behold His glory. The eye sees what it brings the power to see. The deepest convictions are not those which are formed by process of argument, and even arguments will have great or little weight according to the antecedent dispositions, the tacit assumptions, the tone and bias of the mind to which they are addressed, as John Henry Newman showed in his "Grammar of Assent." Hence our aim must be to develop the ethical and spiritual side of our children's nature, to foster that sense of the supreme grandeur of moral worth which later on will make them discard any so-called explanation of the universe which does not place goodness and wisdom at the heart of it, and reject with disdain the suggestion that blind, mechanical forces have evolved anything so glorious as a pure, just, truthful, unselfish, loving heart.

The instinct of worship is so deeply planted in humanity that there is little fear of its being eradicated. The only question is what will be worshipped? If by precept and example we teach them that power is the worshipful thing in life, then indeed the instinct of worship may be satisfied with the awestruck wonder which the forces of nature in their totality will always inspire, and which Herbert Spencer thought might suffice for the religion of the future. If we teach them to worship mere intellect, then indeed they may one day, like Harriet Martineau, talk of the "holy" feeling that comes over them when they have discarded the idea of God and see themselves standing at the

apex of the universe with their grand intellectual powers to explore its secrets and sway its forces. They may end by worshipping themselves. But if we train them to feel that goodness is the one thing to be supremely revered, that ineradicable instinct of worship will urge them on seeking, ever seeking for the perfect goodness till they find in the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ the object of their quest.

Where no such atmosphere fills the home, but all is of the earth, earthy; where the talk is of pounds, shillings and pence; where the rich, because rich, are esteemed, and the poor, because poor, are despised; where the endless pursuit of pleasure, novelty, excitement, leaves no time to think of the great brotherhood of which we form part, and of what may be done to elevate it, it will be small wonder if the pious traditions of the past are abandoned; if a materialistic spirit pervades the juvenile portion of the community; if they find no reality except in the things to which their senses bear witness, and fall an easy prey to the false teachers who tell them that these are indeed the only things of which we can have certain knowledge-small wonder if appeals from the higher world fall on deaf ears and the beams of divine glory fail to penetrate an atmosphere so thickly laden with carnal suggestion.

It is doubtless easier to send our children through a prescribed course of religious instruction than to surround them daily with those spiritual influences which will predispose them to faith in God and quicken their perception of His presence. But

it is this harder thing which is most essential, and in the home where it prevails there is no need to fear for their future. In the home where God is manifestly the power that regulates the life of the parents, where the sense of His presence stills the rising waves of strife and infuses with cheerfulness and contentment the routine of daily work, where a life not lived for selfish ends is continually before the children's eyes, and their youthful enthusiasm enkindled for every noble cause, which is therefore the cause of the Son of Man-there the blighting influence of materialistic philosophy will have little effect; there the powers of darkness will get no foothold or be easily dislodged. The value of religion made evident in the parents' lives will outweigh a hundred specious arguments against it; the reality of the spiritual world will scarcely need demonstration; the children's vision will become keen to see God in all things, and His glory will appear unto them as it did unto their fathers.

XV

JESUS CHRIST AND SOCIALISM

"Look not every man on his own things, but every man also on the things of others."-PHIL. ii. 4.

THE rapid spread of Socialism in the last quarter of a century is a noteworthy phenomenon. It has won many adherents, almost captured the trade unions and made itself widely felt in our churches, Whether we dread or delight in its advance, we shall be foolish as citizens if we do not try to understand it, and we shall be culpable as Christians if we do not enquire whether the teaching of our Master throws any light upon its principles. By some members of the party Jesus has been boldly claimed as a Socialist. Whether he can be rightly so termed depends on what we mean by Socialism. If to recognize the brotherhood of man be Socialism, then Jesus was a Socialist. If to teach the subordination of one's own interests to the welfare of the community be Socialism, then Jesus was a Socialist. If a somewhat stern and severe attitude to the rich and boundless sympathy and tenderness for the poor be Socialism, then Jesus was a Socialist.

But the term is now generally used in a more restricted sense, which was thus expressed some years ago in the united manifesto of three schools of English Socialists" Our aim, one and all, is to

obtain for the whole community complete ownership and control of the means of transport, the means of manufacture, the mines, and the land," and they will recognize no one as a Socialist who does not profess this aim. In this sense Jesus Christ was certainly not a Socialist; for the most careful scrutiny of his life and teaching will disclose no trace of such an aim. The fact that while he was travelling about the country with his disciples he and they had a common purse, does not prove him a Socialist-points rather in the direction of communism, but in truth it was a mere temporary expedient such as would naturally be adopted by any wandering fraternity.

But it does not follow that because Jesus was no Socialist his teaching had no bearing on socialistic aims and methods. Let me illustrate. We search the gospels in vain for any word of his that directly condemns slavery. He was not an abolitionist. But the truths he proclaimed, the principles he laid down were utterly incompatible with slavery, and its abolition has followed sooner or later wherever those truths have been received, and those principles worked out. Does the like hold good with regard to Socialism? Does his teaching look that way ? Are the principles that underlie Socialism in harmony or at variance with it? Does the spirit that animates the leaders of the movement, and the ideal they hold out before the people, resemble the spirit and the ideal of Jesus Christ, and are the motives to which they appeal the same?

It is not easy to answer positively Yes or No to these questions. The spirit manifested by some