sh air, and wholesome diet, than in physic. For this reason
Freethinkers are generally students of social and political questions.
They are Radicals in the philosophical sense of the word; that is, they
recognise that real, lasting improvement can only be achieved by dealing
with the causes of poverty and degradation. Many Christians, on the
other hand, thoroughly believe that the poor will never cease out of the
land; and they seem to regard these unfortunates as whetstones, provided
by a beneficent providence, on which the wealthy may sharpen their
benevolence.

Christian charity, even in its highest form, is infinitely less merciful
than science; a truth which Mr. Cotter Morison enforces in the seventh
chapter of his _Service of Man_. Sanitation, medical science, free
trade, popular education, co-operation, and such agencies, have done
tremendously more than religion to diminish evil and mitigate suffering.
On the other hand, it is indisputable that much of our boasted charity
is worse than wasted, as it tends to produce the very helplessness and
pauperism that furnish it with objects of compassion.

Charity is very good in its way, but what we really want is justice. Let
us go in for justice first, and when we have got that we shall see what
remains for charity to do. Probably it will be found that unjust laws
inflict a hundred times more misery than charity could ever alleviate.
If that be the case, the most charitable man, after all, is he who
devotes some of his time, thought, and energy to political and social
reform. Good health for the next generation is more valuable than
medicine for the diseases of the present generation.

Charity, also, in its largest sense, is far wider than almsgiving. It
is a questionable charity which gives you a shilling if you are hard-up,
and persecutes you if you think for yourself. Most of us do not require
soup-tickets, but we do require civil treatment, respect for our
independence, and smiling rather than frowning faces. The man who lifts
me up from the road when I stumble, deserves my thanks; but I doubt the
sincerity of his kindness if, when he learns that I honestly differ
from him on the Atonement, he knocks me down again. Assisting people who
agree with you, and wilfully injuring those who differ, savors less of
charity than of zeal. You may be a very good Christian, but I venture to
say you are a very bad man.

When Saladin died he ordered charities to be distributed t