XXIX 



JUSTICE, NOT CHARITY 



527 



in which all started on equal terms materially and socially, 

 would be an admirable training, and would be sure to 

 lead, ultimately, to a voluntary co-operation and organiza- 

 tion of labour which would produce most of the best results 

 of Socialism itself. But whether it would or not, I claim 

 that it embodies a great and true principle — Social 

 Justice ; and that it affords the only non-socialistic escape 

 from the horrible social quagmire in which we find our- 

 selves. All v/ho believe in a moral law as a guide to 

 conduct must uphold justice ; and equality of opportunity 

 for all is but bare justice. Believing that the life here is 

 the school for the development of the spirit, we must feel 

 it our duty to see that the nascent spirit in each infant has 

 the fullest and freest opportunity of developing all its 

 faculties and powers under the best conditions we can 

 provide for it. And I have ventured to bring this subject 

 before the reading and thinking world, because it is the 

 one hope nearest to my heart ; and I am sure that if thg'^ 

 great and rapidly-increasing body of true philanthropists 

 and all who are spiritually-minded, can be brought to 

 consider it, and to feel that the misery and degradation 

 around them must be and can be got rid of, and further, 

 that it is especially their business and their duty to help 

 to get rid of it, the great work will soon be taken in 

 hand. 



What we want, above all things, is to educate the 

 people and create a public opinion adequate for the 

 work. In this movement for justice and right. Christians 

 and Spiritualists should take the lead, because they, more 

 than any others, know its vital importance both for this 

 world and the next. The various religious sects are all 

 working, according to their lights, in the social field ; but 

 their forces are almost exclusively directed to the 

 alleviation of individual cases of want and misery by 

 means of charity in various forms. But this method has 

 utterly failed even to diminish the mass of human misery 

 everywhere around us, because it deals with symptoms 

 only and leaves the causes untouched. I would not say a 

 word against even this form of charity, for those who see 

 no higher law ; but we want more of the true charity of 



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