Page:Can a man be a Christian on a pound a week? - Hardie.djvu/14



One of my critics is reported as saying:—

Exactly so. In the early days of Christianity, whilst yet it remained a power to move the hearts and consciences of men, slave-owners felt that they had no right to keep human beings as private property, and consequently restored them to freedom. In these later days, however, Christian Englishmen, under the teachings of the modern Church, found it quite compatible with their Christian principles to refuse to give freedom to their slaves without solid monentary [sic] compensation. Here we have it clearly shown that Christianity is no longer the power it formerly was, and that, I submit, not because of any defect in Christianity itself, but because its professed teachers have lost the meaning of their message, and consequently speak without effect. The effect of private property in land and capital is in all essential respects the same as was the effect of private property in human beings. In each case slavery is the result, The form may have changed, but the substance remains.

Needless to say to those who have read the article, this is a travesty of what I wrote. The