242 POOR MEN'S LABOUR NEEDS PROTECTION

The doctrine that property, real and personal, must, under all circumstances, remain inviolate, always under the ever watchful vigilance of the law, and its invaders subject to the severest penalties of dungeon or damages, may be very essential to the maintenance of our present social system, but totally disregards the consideration that labour, the poor man's capital, his only property, should, as his only means of securing a comfortable subsistence, be also under the special care and safeguard of the law. The doctrine that trade should be entirely free-that is, that merchants should be perfectly at liberty, throughout the world, to manage their business in that way which best promotes their interests, may suit very well for merchants, making them masters of the industry of the world; but it will be giving a small body of men a power over the bones and sinews of their fellow-men, which it would be contrary to all our knowledge of human nature if they do not fatally abuse; because they are in

terested to reduce the avails of labour to the lowest attainable point, as the best means of enlarging their business and increasing their gains.

>That philosophy which teaches that men should always be left to the care of themselves; that labour is a merely marketable article, which should be left, like others, to find its own market value, without reference to the welfare of the man, may appear plausible to those who forget the Fatherhood of God and the brotherhood of man; but is utterly at variance with His precepts who taught that those who were sent to work at the eleventh hour should receive the same as those who had borne the burden and heat of the day.)

We might thus go on, indicating topic after topic, in endless variety, linked by their relations with the welfare of men in this world and their hope of the world to come, all of which deserve the serious examination of those who are shepherds of Christ's flock. These and many more such subjects are not

244 TOPICS FOR CHRISTIAN MINISTERS.

merely political, or politico-economical; they concern men's temporal well-being, and, through that, have a vital bearing on their eternal prospects. They demand, therefore, the most earnest attention of Christians and Christian ministers, as of far greater importance to the progress of religion than innumerable topics of theology which have heretofore and do yet engross so large a portion of their time and talents. If the scrutiny and time and talents which have thus been misapplied, had, with equal industry and zeal, been turned to the science of human well-being, we should not now lament the little progress which has been made in that great and much-abused department of knowledge.

What has been so long neglected remains to be done; the social economy which will resolve the most difficult questions yet proposed, must be developed by Christians from the teachings of Christ and his apostles. And so developed that the exemplification may accompany the truth; that precept and practice

may travel together, and reflect a mutual light on their progress. In this lies the problem, the solution of which will determine the advance of real Christianity and all the blessings it bestows.

PRINCIPLES UPON WHICH REFORMS, SOCIAL AND RELIGIOUS, SHOULD BE CONDUCTED.

IN reference to the advance of human wellbeing, there is, perhaps, no subject which more requires the close attention of Christian men and ministers of the gospel than the manner of effecting reforms in religion and politics and social economy. It is so much more easy to see and tell what is best in these respects than to advise how it is to be accomplished, that whilst the world has never been without attractive schemes and theories of human welfare, very few have been found who could successfully accomplish any beneficial change.

246 WHO FIRST IN EVERY GOOD REFORM.

It would be impossible to estimate or conjecture the amount of evil inflicted on the human family by ill-conducted efforts at reform. How many laudable plans have wholly failed for want of wisdom and moderation in their supporters! How much has real progress been retarded by unseasonable, unwise, and ill-directed labours! It is not enough that Christians should desire to promote the highest interests of humanity; that, under the light of Christian truth, they should enter into all the subjects which pertain to human welfare, social and religious; but it is equally their duty to step into the arena of active reform, and carry thither all the light, all the wisdom, self-control, and influence they can command. They should be ready to take the lead in every movement which promises to ameliorate the condition of men. They should not permit the direction of such movements to fall into the hands of those who are prompt to seize it from motives of interest or ambition.

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Men emancipated from the clouds of super