The daily morning journal and courier., 1897-11-12

ana gwen to leaning against doof-posts ana seeking protection from the Wlnd' put ne knew very well that he ought to stand straight, to face the wind, to tighten instead of increasing the gen eral burden of helping. and to be separate being, not grain in sand heap.
 What Christ taught was that you should benefit your neighbor, which may often impose the duty of making him bear his burden to the strengthen ing Of his sinews, and not that of talk ing 1t on yourself. John. who writes Latin verses for Tom because Tom cries over his slate, is an altruist, but Tn no degree 0 follower of the true meaning of the Sermon on the Mount. There must, in short, be limit to al- truism, unless it is to be an evil intlu- ence, and that limit is clearly reached when the bearing of another's burden must have for result, as is often the case, the permanent weakening of the others spine. Almost" said old Elves, the Suffolk miser, to the clergyman who had preached an eloquent charity sermon, almost you have persuaded me to beg"
 Universal altruism means that every body should be Elves in every rela- l tion of life. You cannot give without | receiver, and the habitual expectation | of receiving does not tend, to the build ing of any Christian virtue, except per | haps humility. ...-5
 | It is a minor objection to the altruis- l hoo | !, c. is the one which lends itself most read | fly to hypocrisy. The men who in the Puritan times pretended to love God | without in reality feeling any senti- | ment of the kind were at heart a little ashamed of themselves, a little inclin- ed to sin from lf-contempt, a little, 1 perhaps. moved by fear of the being they were in a corner of their minds attempting to take in. The modern al- truist, when he does not believe his avowed faith, is not ashamed one bit, but enjoys the unction or his own sen- | timents, and thinks that he is at least preaching the right doctrine. He gov erns his household harshly, but pro- tests against discipline; pays only mar ket prices, and ayers that low wages are an iniquity; declares that the rich 1 must be made to give, and keeps the lssurplus of his own income to heap up | for himself. There are thousands of 1 such people about always pouring out | sweet" counSelS, but taking them | themselves only when they find it con- venient; and we do not see that they are any better than the old hypocrites
 who under the blazing microscope of the day have so nearly disappeared.
 The new deceivers are not quite so
 false as the old, for they have more power of self-deception, but they are even baser, and, like the ofd, they tend
 to make the true feel very hard. The hardest men are made by recoil, and 1 there is a terrible temptation to recoil
 when men preach that all are bound to
 pass life in relieving others burdens, | and never stretch finger to relieve
 the burdens they themselves are help
 ing to impose. This, however, is but
 trife when compared with the mis-
 chief that is done by supersedng Chris
 tianity by doctrine that if universal l ly acted on, would turn all mankind
 into expectants asking continually that
 all around should in the name of social
 duty do the best part of their work for
 them. England" said Nelson, 'ex-
 poets every man to do his duty" 'And
 mine, too,'' whimpers the devotee of al
 truism, who even when he works faith
 fully for another expects ten men tc
 work for him. Are all the masculine
 virtues to disappear in one rush ot
 motherliness?- ?-London Spectator.