SO

'By this time you must be tired, your readers will be tired, and is your obedient servant,

"Manchester, Nov. 22.”

"PROMOTION BY MERIT.

As the scandals exposed in the foregoing extracts are generally disapproved of by all earnest Christians, it is to be hoped that the day will not be far distant when the Church of England will clear itself of the disgrace which the toleration of these anti-Christian proceedings, in its midst, undoubtedly implies. The Church of England is the only one in which the sacred trust of a cure of souls is bartered for money, and it is high time good Churchmen, and the Church clergy in particular, showed some desire to abolish it.

Having now glanced at the general aspect of the Christianity of to-day, so far as it is to be found in churches and chapels on the Sabbath, and in the relationship of the various sects one to another on the other days of the week, it only remains to make a few observations upon the daily life of the members of these sects and their bearing, one to another, in matters of every-day life-where religion does not enter into the question.

We have said that almost all Christian sects agree upon the moral teachings of Christ, however much they may differ about the doctrinal teachings; but, although a nominal adhesion is given to practical precepts of Christ, it can hardly be said that modern society lives up to its professions, any more in regard to Christ's moral teachings than it does in regard to doctrinal beliefs. That the clergy are responsible for much of the laxity of modern society in morals, would seem to be a natural inference from their habitual neglect to preach a practical religion. Be the cause what it may, we have the melancholy fact, that the one great sin which Christ came into the world to denounce -the sin of selfishness-is now more prevalent than any other, and yet the clergy scarcely ever dare attack it. Self

seeking in a thousand forms is the characteristic of the age. Every one is engaged in a perpetual struggle to be rich, and is not too particular as to the means, so that the end be attained. As to conducting business upon the Christian principle of "doing unto others as you would they should do unto you," no one dreams of such a thing. The great aim of every man in trade is to get an advantage over his neighbour-to undersell his competitors even if they be ruined in the struggle; to delude purchasers by all manner of false representations as to quality or quantity; in short, to get wealth on any terms.

Look at the selfishness of the working-classes which the spread of drunkenness implies. The man who prefers to squander his money on his own animal gratifications, instead of making the sacrifice involved in supplying the wants of his wife and children, must be essentially a selfish or self-indulgent man. Then again, look at the selfish unreasonableness of the same class of men in many of their strikes and trades-union regulations, where selfinterest too often overrides justice and fair-play. Of course, the same remark applies to their employers too; but much less frequently than to the men. Look at the selfishness of tradesmen and manufacturers generally, who, for the sake of a little extra profit to themselves, undersell and ruin one another, or cheat their customers by selling adulterated articles, or by using false measures. Look, too, at the intense money greed of the publicans, who care not how much want and misery they produce by their vile traffic, so long as they fill their own pockets. They see workmen crowding round their counters and squandering the hardearned wages which are needed for the support of starving and neglected children at home, and they see the mothers of such children also destroying themselves, body and soul, in the same indulgence; but, to the publican, these are matters of no concern, since his self-interest lies in the other direction. Self-interest, although it is not the active

motive with educated and professional men, is too often, with them, all on the side of vice, disease, strife, bloodshed, and ignorance. The medical man would, of course, repudiate indignantly the insinuation that he rejoiced in the prevalence of disease, so would the military man say of war, and the lawyer of litigation, and the clergyman of sectarian bitterness and religious schisms; but it cannot be denied that their self-interest is all in favour of these evils, and that, as a matter of fact, they do not systematically try to reduce them. Medical men do not spread abroad a knowledge of the laws of health, nor do lawyers advise peace, nor soldiers declaim against war, nor the clergy denounce religious difference, and try to unite their followers to other sects. It would be easy to give scores of instances of the unblushing, self-seeking—approaching to the verge of dishonesty-which characterises our learned professions. Amongst medical men-according to the letter of a physician in the Social Review—it is quite a common thing for them to lend their names, for the sake of notoriety and a douceur, to all manner of quack testimonials and recommendations "with a disregard of discretion, professional honour, and common honesty, disgraceful to them and injurious to the nation." The press, too, does not scruple to allow self-interest to interfere between the public and men they know to be swindlersas witness the readiness with which they accept the pay of advertising quacks and swindling bank promoters or betting agents. The selfishness of the wealthy and the aristocratic classes is quite as great as that of the manufacturing and professional classes. Their wealth is used primarily to gratify every conceivable wish of their hearts. We find men and women thinking solely of their own self-indulgence—either in dress, in eating and drinking, in pleasure excursions, balls, dinners, shooting, yachting, hunting, and the thousand-andone diversions of the rich. With young men it is eating, drinking, dressing, smoking, betting, racing, billiards, plea

sure-seeking, and "time-killing" in general. Those members of the fashionable world who lack money, often lend their names, for selfish ends, to the promotion of swindles that are intended to impose upon the inexperienced.

There are, of course, thousands of exceptions to these traits of modern society, but it cannot be denied that selfseeking is the rule, and not the exception, in modern Christian society. Even much of the piety and charity which is displayed amongst those whose thoughts are wrapped up in themselves, originates in a selfish desire to "save their own souls," rather than in a spontaneous love of God and disinterested sympathy with the poor and the suffering.

To quote again from the World:-" Material prosperity and external peace are the precursors of many a nation's ruin; the love of gain is the lowest of all passions, and the British matter-of-fact money-worship is attaining exuberant proportions."

As we are a manufacturing nation, it is a noteworthy fact, too, that the morality of our leading manufacturers has not escaped censure. It is only quite recently that the Times thus remarked upon the subject of the introduction of foreign substances into Manchester goods, in one of the staple trades of the country, in order to give them a false appearance of weight and substance-"It would be hard to take too gloomy a view of a trade which, by the confession of its most prominent members, is vitiated by these systematic frauds." The same paper, in August, 1875, speaking of the state of commercial morality in England, says: "It is a simple matter of fact that these last twelve months have been marked by a succession of disgraceful scandals. They are scandals in the very matters upon which we most pique ourselves. There is increasing audacity, increasing greed, increasing fraud, increasing impunity, and these are stimulated and fed by increasing indulgence and ostentation."

It would be difficult, in fewer words, to sum up more charges against the Christianity of to-day, as exemplified in the daily life of its members, than are contained in the foregoing paragraph from the leading paper of the country.

There is another of the requirements of Christ: namely, Inward Purity, which deserves a passing notice in our estimate of the Christianity of Daily Life. Let the reader refer to the texts headed Inward Purity, Chastity, and Good Thoughts, on pages 37, 43, and 48, ante; also those on page 120, and ask himself whether, amongst the men of to-day-the unmarried ones especially-there is any pretence of obedience to these precepts. Is it not notorious that the conversation amongst a very large proportion of the young men of the period is often unfit for the ears of ladies? Those who delight in indecent language can hardly be expected to be very pure in thought; and it would be the sheerest affectation to ignore what every man of the world knows only too well: namely, the utter absence of chastity and purity of thought amongst the majority of the unmarried men of the day. Nor is this confined to the vulgar and uneducated classes. Men who have enjoyed the refining influences of a university education are, it would appear, little better than those of humbler rank in life, if one is to believe all that one hears about the conversation and anecdotes which circulate at mess, amongst English barristers and military men, and in the smoke-rooms of our clubs.

It is beyond the scope of this work-indeed it would require a volume to itself—to expose all the shortcomings of modern Christians in their daily life. There are many who argue that there is plenty of vitality in the Christianity of to-day; and that, too, in a practical form-as witness the earnest self-sacrificing efforts of Christian men to evangelise the masses, or to engage in distant missions to the heathen; or the good work performed by the various sisterhoods connected with our churches; or the splendid charities