32. SOCIALISM PERMEATING THE CHURCH

secure an entrance for its principles into Christian Churches. The Name of Christ, too, is coupled directly with that of Socialism (in the term "Christian Socialism") as an effectual means of offsetting the prejudice which attaches to the latter.

Whatever, therefore, may be the ultimate fate of Socialism as a system, it is certainly doing great service in fulfilling prophecy by "permeating the Churches" with the ideal of a religious system which makes the distribution of wealth its chief concern, a system which has no hope to offer of the Kingdom of God with Christ Jesus reigning in justice and righteousness on earth; but substitutes therefor the "Reign of Justice and Brotherhood upon the Earth."

The rapid spread of Socialism among the clergy has also resulted in securing for the advocacy of its principles the immense advantage of a body of men trained to public speaking, whose utterances are invested with a certain authority, and who live at the expense of their congregations. It has also secured the further advantage of the free use of buildings in which people are accustomed to gather in the expectation of hearing what will be conducive to their highest welfare. Thus the people who are to be converted to Socialism are made to bear the expense of the campaign planned and carried on to that end. Surely there is satanic cleverness in this.

212 DEVELOPMENTS OF COMMERCIALISM

Mr. Arnold White in The Future of Britain speaks of the transfer of energy from theology to politics, which is now going on, and of the part which the "proletarian movement" (i.e. Socialism) is performing in effecting this transfer of energy. He says:—

"The decay of faith that marks the proletarian movement of Europe is accompanied by a general transfer of energy from theology to politics. All forms of Christianity have produced, and still produce, individual lives of saintly perfection, but Christianity, in the sense of its Founder, has as little in common with Europe as with Asia."

"The dry rot of Sacerdotalism becomes daily more apparent as the Free Church pastors abandon the spiritual for the political arena."

"The new doctrine of anti-militarism has been imposed on Christianity by the clerics, who, having lost their influence as theologians, would fain recover it as politicians."

"We must admit that, after nineteen centuries of Christianity, in Christendom, with its commerce, competition, and coercion, Christ's followers are few.¹ His teachings are impossible except as ideals. If He were to appear in the flesh, He could not call Himself a Christian."

¹ And to them He is now saying, "Will ye also go away?" (John vi. 67).

THE "SOULS' THIRST"

Mr. White further says:—

"There is abundant evidence that a spiritual wave, proceeding from the unrest of the world, is rolling in upon us."

"For good or evil, the Evangelical and Calvinistic schools are dying out; but popular faith is not replaced by popular science."

What, then, is replacing it? Mr. White says that—

"In their souls' thirst men seek relief in the religion of psychical phenomena. The spread of Christian Science among the comfortable classes is an advertisement of the indelibility of the religious instinct."

"Christian Science" (so-called) and "the religion of psychical phenomena" are forms of Humanism; but they are adapted only to what Mr. White calls the "comfortable classes." The uncomfortable classes, and those who aspire to lead them, are taking up with that more practical species of Humanism which is the religious foundation of the great socialistic movement.

Yet this candid writer confesses that "the ideal of Christ is the only ideal that has ever satisfied the soul of man."

Thus, when we contemplate Socialism, we behold an economic system founded upon the broad basis of the welfare of Humanity as a whole, and one which is gaining favour in many parts of the religious field;

and when we look to the end of Socialism, we see clearly the outlines of a huge, world-wide, all-embracing Monopoly.

CAPITALISM—PLUTOCRACY IN ITS FINAL STAGE

It has been remarked that the alternative now presented to society is either to continue with the present economic system, “Capitalism,” remedying its obnoxious features so far as possible, or to abolish it and experiment with Socialism.

But it is appropriate at this point to call attention to the fact that Capitalism itself is not stationary, but, on the contrary, is advancing at a rapid rate; and particularly is it appropriate to note the important fact that, if we look to the end towards which the existing economic system is hastening, we likewise behold the outlines of a huge, world-wide, all-embracing Monopoly.

It seems to the writer to be a fact of tremendous significance that, whichever of the two economic routes now open to humanity may be chosen, it leads ultimately to a complete Consolidation, Federation, or Monopoly.

Socialism is agitating for a Monopoly which shall be composed of all mankind—“Society” in a word—and which shall control and operate, for the benefit of

THE GOAL OF CAPITALISM all mankind, the land, natural resources, machinery, and methods which are used in the making and distribution of commodities.

Capitalism, meanwhile, is swiftly advancing towards a complete Monopoly which shall control all business enterprises; and, in fact, is accomplishing this advance by degrees, the process of its accomplishment being the consolidation of corporations in various lines of business into Syndicates or Trusts, and these into still larger Trusts. Notwithstanding reactionary movements of various kinds, governmental opposition and adverse legislation, this process of consolidation goes steadily on; and its inevitable end, if not interrupted, must obviously be the formation of a single, all-embracing Monopoly.

This end of the present tendencies of Capitalism has been clearly in view for several decades, and has been frequently pointed out by those who have no knowledge whatever of the predictions of Scripture to which we have referred. As an example of this expectation a few quotations from a prominent writer on Socialist themes will be given. The following passage was published in 1889 (twenty years ago), and is by the Editor of Wilshire's Magazine:—

"The process of concentration is irresistible and inevitable. . . . That this latter process of concentration is now going on, is exemplified by the buying up of the Cotton Seed Oil Trust, and very recently the White Lead Trust, by the Rockefeller people.

"It is the big fish eating the little fish, the survival of the fittest; and the logical end must be that every industry in this country will finally be owned and controlled by ONE HUGE TRUST."

Much has happened since these words were written, and every pertinent event has tended to confirm the prediction which they record. The steady advance of industrialism along the lines of concentration and merger, in order to eliminate the waste of competition, has brought mankind very much nearer to the predicted Monopoly. Other factors besides the elimination of wasteful competition are operating to secure this result, though that doubtless supplies the main motive-power of the movement. The pride and ambition of man also urge it on; for those who succeed in getting "control" of a particular line of industry, and succeed in organizing it into a vast machine for returning profits to themselves, are stimulated by that success to reach out for the control of other industries; and their profits furnish the "capital" needed for this purpose. This has brought into existence certain "groups" of associated industries, controlled by the same "interests," which are well known, and which have names by which they are identified in financial circles; though for prudential reasons they have not actually assumed the form of a single consolidated enterprise.

THE IDEA OF BIGNESS

The idea of bigness is another stimulating notion of the day. For some reason, not easy to define, the mere fact of bulk in any human work seems to evoke man's wonder and admiration. The size of steam-vessels, the height of buildings, the length of railway trains, and the like, furnish figures which have an abiding relish for the modern man, who seems to read in them the dimensions of his own greatness. For this reason the size of the Steel Trust, and the extent of its operations, form the theme of admiring comment, to the extent even of suppressing any undesirable curiosity on the part of the general public as to how the interests of the community are affected by the existence, influence, and sustenance of that gigantic institution.

Thirteen years after the above-quoted passage, which predicted that present industrial tendencies must inevitably lead to the formation of one huge Trust, the same writer, in commenting upon changes then taking place in a certain group of leading industries, said :—

"These industries, owing to the plethora of capital, are already at the point of crystallization into monopolies, and the advent of such an unprecedented flood of money" (as would come, for example, from the Government purchase of the railroads) "would not only complete the process, but would cause the amalgamation of all the trusts into one huge organization, THE COMING TRUST OF TRUSTS."

It may be observed at this point that the process by which this "Coming Trust of Trusts" is being brought into existence is, in large measure, automatic; that is to say, it proceeds without direct human design or volition. But it is difficult to suppose that any orderly sequence of events, indicating purpose and leading to a definite result, can proceed apart from a directing Intelligence capable of planning it, and an operating Power capable of carrying the plan into effect. It is reasonable, therefore, to assume that there is a mighty Being back of all these movements in human affairs. And this is also to be inferred from the further fact that these movements continue their progress without interruption, though generation after generation of human beings pass away without beholding the end towards which they are steadily tending. The great inclusive process, whereof these economic movements are but special phases, may properly be called a process of "Evolution"; and this process is observable everywhere in human affairs, and nowhere else in the observable universe.¹

These considerations seem to leave us no alternative but to conclude that it is the spirit who is directing human destinies, "the spirit that now works in the

¹ See The World and its God, by the writer, chapters xvi.-xxiii.

THE "HINGE OF DESTINY"

children of disobedience," who is carrying on the evolutionary process to an end coveted by himself; and since we know that Satan's aim is to secure to himself the worship which belongs to God, it is not surprising that we should find the intellectual part of modern society actually attributing Divine power to Evolution. Further reference will be made to this.

But the Bible, in foretelling the coming of the "Trust of Trusts," the great Religious and Industrial Monopoly, speaks also of the coming of a great Leader, having endowments of such extraordinary kind as shall enable him to grasp and direct its prodigious energies and complicated affairs.

Likewise, in the anticipations of present-day society, we find, in association with the expectation of the great Syndicate, that of the coming of the great leader, the "Superman." For the advent of this fearful being the minds of men are being prepared in various ways. We quote further from Mr. Wilshire, first to show the expectation that the great sociological change is close at hand :—

"We are now swinging on the hinge of destiny. We are in the transition stage of the greatest sociological event that history has yet recorded. Let him who runs read."

But this change is not to be merely industrial and political, a mere re-arrangement of the distribution of wealth. It is, in its essence, a religious upheaval.

Thus, our commentator tells us that the end towards which the mighty social movements are sweeping is—

"the greatest the mind of man can conceive,—the perfect relation of perfected man to a perfected universe—the birth of the SUPERMAN. The striving for this is RELIGION. It is the true worship of God."

And again:—

"Man must be united to humanity in an organization at once perfectly democratic and perfectly autocratic. With this advent all humanity will be at one with God, and every man will be a god."

In describing the coming organization as one in which all men are united, and as being at once perfectly democratic and perfectly autocratic, this writer has, with marvellous precision and conciseness, stated the prominent identifying characteristics of the system of Antichrist as given in the prophetic Scriptures. The features of this system, upon which emphasis is there laid, are its universal or world-wide extent; its inclusion of both the spiritual and material interests of mankind; its perfectly democratic character in that the entire mass of humanity are on the same level; its perfectly autocratic character in that it is absolutely controlled and directed by the Superman, Antichrist; and finally, its exaltation of Man to the place of God, thereby fulfilling the promise which lured the human

THE SWAY OF THE "SUPERMAN"

race into its long career, now rapidly nearing an end, namely, the promise, "Ye shall not surely die: . . . ye shall be as God."

This result is now so close at hand that a mere observer of current events, laying no claim to any prophetic gift, can describe its leading features with clearness and accuracy.

Thus, again we have occasion to remind ourselves that, whenever we follow one of the present-day movements to its end, we arrive at the same result, namely, Man exalted by his own achievements to the supreme place. Whenever we count the number, it is "the Number of MAN."

Certain it is, then, that mankind is rapidly approaching the great economic change from industrial competition to industrial monopoly. Every active agency operating at this time in human affairs, whether religious or commercial, is helping it along. Whether Society shall capture the Trusts (as the Socialists fondly anticipate): or whether the Trusts (consolidated into the "Trust of Trusts") shall capture Society: or whether the antagonistic systems shall collide in a mutually destructive conflict, or unite in a peaceful confluence out of which the final System is to emerge: the result in any case will inevitably be the Religio-Commercial Prodigy, the Churchified Industrial Monopoly, over which the "Superman" will exercise his brief but absolute sway.

MR. WELLS' SOCIALISM. THE "COLLECTIVE INTELLIGENCE." "GOOD WILL IN MAN"

At this point it will be appropriate to cite the testimony of another competent witness, one who "calls himself a Socialist," who has "gone into it personally, and has studied the Socialist movement closely and intimately at first hand." This witness is the well-known writer, Mr. H. G. Wells, than whom there is, perhaps, none more competent to discuss social problems in a broad way. Mr. Wells is, moreover, by reason of his high intelligence and great candour, entitled to a respectful hearing. He has given in his book, New Worlds for Old, an exceedingly lucid, readable, and non-technical exposition of a very mild type of Socialism.

The feature of Mr. Wells' book which chiefly concerns us is his clear recognition and forceful statement of the fact that, in order to the establishment and maintenance of the "ideal Socialist state," there must be a competent directing Head, endowed with intelligence of an order such as no human being has ever yet possessed.

If, then, Mr. Wells is right in this important particular, it will be necessary, before mankind can enjoy the blessings of ideal Socialism, first, that the requisite intellectual genius be developed, and second, that the affairs of collective humanity be completely subordin-