l all thou hast and give to the
poor."

To us Socialism comes speculatively as a noble and optimistic
theory of what may [be] the crown of progress, to Peter and James and
John it came practically as a crisis of their own Daily life, a
stirring question of conduct and renunciation.

We do not therefore in the least agree with those who hold that
modern Socialism is an exact counterpart or fulfilment of the
socialism of Christianity. We find the difference important and
profound, despite the common ground of anti-selfish collectivism. The
modern Socialist regards Communism as a distant panacea for society,
the early Christian regarded it as an immediate and difficult
regeneration of himself: the modern Socialist reviles, or at any rate
reproaches, society for not adopting it, the early Christian
concentrated his thoughts on the problem of his own fitness and
unfitness to adopt it: to the modern Socialist it is a theory, to the
early Christian it was a call; modern Socialism says, "Elaborate a
broad, noble and workable system and submit it to the progressive
intellect of society." Early Christianity said, "Sell all thou hast
and give to the poor."

This distinction between the social and personal way of regarding
the change has two sides, a spiritual and a practical which we
propose to notice. The spiritual side of it, though of less direct
and revolutionary importance than the practical, has still a very
profound philosophic significance. To us it appears something
extraordinary that this Christian side of Socialism, the side of the
difficulty of the personal sacrifice, and the patience, cheerfulness,
and good temper necessary for the protracted personal surrender is so
constantly overlooked. The literary world is flooded with old men
seeing visions and young men dreaming dreams, with various stages of
anti-competitive enthusiasm, with economic apocalypses, elaborate
Utopias and mushroom destinies of mankind. And, as far as we have
seen, in all this whirlwind of theoretic excitement there is not a
word spoken of the intense practical difficulty of the summons to the
individual, the heavy, unrewarding cross borne by him who gives up
the world.

For it will not surely be denied that not only will Socialism be
impossible without some effort on the part of individuals, but that
Socialism if once established