The Christian condemnation of riches remains as emphatic as when it was first uttered, but the Church continues to explain it away or to disregard it, and the clergy as a whole neither preach it nor do they attempt to practise the doctrine laid down by their Master. The clergy of the Church of England, in fact, are among the readiest to accept the hierarchy of modern society founded on the gradations and valuations of wealth. Even in the village churches the very seats are assigned in such a way as to acknowledge the worldly standard of means. The front rows are reserved for the squires and their dependents, the “gentry” behind them, the “poor” at the back; while the vicar inconsistently declares from the pulpit that they are all equal in the sight of God. The Church as a profession (every decade it becomes more of a profession and less of a calling) is arranged on the ordinary worldly system of increase of salary according to rank and promotion. And, indeed, if it were suggested to them that an increase of their spiritual practically implied and necessitated a decrease of their material responsibilities, and that the performance of the former is by their own testimony interfered with by the existence of the latter, with a very few exceptions they would scoff at such a fanciful idea. If confronted with the words of the Gospel on the subject of riches, they shuffle and seek excuses by declaring that they are figurative, and that they point to an ideal which unfortunately is unpractical and not compatible with our modern social system, which in its highly “civilised” development has got beyond extreme and uncompromising maxims of that kind. But we cannot get beyond what is eternally true, nor surely should we desist from some attempt to reach forward towards it, however unattainable and distant the ideal may seem. Whatever doubts Christians may have as to what Christ’s meaning was in some of His preaching, there can be no two opinions as to His view on this point. There is diametrical opposition between His injunctions and our belief. The world says nothing makes life easier than to have money and possessions; Christianity says nothing makes life more difficult. As a body the clergy see nothing incongruous in taking up this stand on the side of the rich; they overlook their consequent estrangement from the poor, and they ignore the fact that they are gradually drifting away from any close contact and sympathy with the life and soul of the people. The elasticity of their religion has amounted in this case, as in others, to its distortion. Long before the Christian era philosophers propounded this same doctrine, and many reformers have done so since. As a single instance we need only repeat the words of Sir Thomas More: