Perhaps he has done as much as any man up there to convince an
embittered and disillusioned proletariat that it must accept the
inevitable rulings of economic law.
His courage in this matter is all the more praiseworthy because he seems
to be convinced, to speak in general terms, that the religion of Christ
is now rejected by the democracy. It needs, therefore, great strength of
mind to face a body of men who have lost all interest in his religion,
and to address them not only as economist and historian but as one who
still believes that Christianity bestows a power which sets at defiance
all the worst that circumstance and condition can do to the soul of man.
In these addresses he puts aside the materialistic dreams of the social
reformer as impractical and dangerous.
Ideal reconstructions of society, pictures of "The Kingdom of God
upon earth," to use a popular but perilous phrase, are not greatly
serviceable to human progress. They may even turn men aside from
the road of actual progress, for the indulgence of philanthropic
imagination neither strengthens the will in self-sacrifice, nor
illumines the practical judgment.
His argument then leads him to question the justification of the social
reformer's oratory. "Let us be on our guard," he says, "against
exaggeration."
I am sure that great harm is being done at the present time by the
reckless denunciation of the existing social order, often by men
who have no special knowledge either of the history of society, or
of the present situation.
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