85 
flame of devotion equal in intensity to that which he has 
succeeded in exciting towards himself, and brought to bear in 
improving the condition of humanity ? Mr. Mill's assertion, 
that there is a need for a type of virtue to be called into play 
different from that which is recognized in the New Testament, 
proves either that he has not meditated with profound atten- 
tion on the subject of Christian morality, or else that he has 
viewed it through the spectacles of prejudice. 
85. Before I conclude, I must draw attention to that aspect 
of Christian morality, against which the objection that it is at 
issue with the principles of philosophy may be urged with the 
greatest speciousness, — its special teaching on the duty of 
almsgiving or charity. It has been frequently asserted that 
its teaching on this subject contradicts the principles of 
political economy. 
86. It is impossible to deny that the teachings of theo- 
logians on this portion of Christian morality have been 
extremely indistinct, and are founded on no consistent prin- 
ciple. They have been far more ardent students of the arcana 
of dogma, than of the philosophy of morality. Hence has 
arisen the confusion which prevails in the popular mind as to 
the nature of this duty. The so-called rationalist has taken 
abundant advantage of this, and done his best to represent 
the principles of the Gospels on the subject of property as 
approximating to those of modern communism. I need not 
inform those who are at all acquainted with the literature of 
this subject, that the Gospel of St. Luke and the Acts of the 
Apostles are in especial favour with that class of writers as 
substantiating their views, while at the same time they give 
their author very little credit as an historical authority. But 
other portions of Christian teaching are implicated in the 
charge. Its whole weight consists in the incorrect popular- 
notions, which are widely diffused on this subject, and is 
dissipated as soon as we make a systematic examination of 
the principles of Christian morality. 
87. Theologians have been far too much inclined to view 
the precepts of the New Testament as portions of a fully- 
evolved code of morals, binding in the letter, instead of 
carefully studying their general bearing and character. Hence 
it has become a matter of general belief that the principles of 
Christianity are unfavourable to the accumulation of wealth; 
and that although indiscriminate almsgiving may not be 
exactly a Christian duty, yet that almsgiving itself occupies 
so high a place in Christian ethics that the purely Christian 
character of the act itself may be pleaded in bar of any 
censure to which the want of discrimination may be fully 
