he said, It is more blessed to give than to receive." (Acts, XX, 35.)

Right giving, which results from an appreciation of the obligations of
service, is an individualistic action; receiving, which means a benefit
from the activity and initiative of someone else (and often irrespective
of the real deserts of the recipient), is essentially Socialistic in
tendency. The one causes a growth in individual character; the other
tends to stunt or weaken it. St. Paul mentioned (1st Corinthians XIII,
3) as one of the greatest possible forms of service the bestowal of all
one's goods to feed the poor. But he did not suggest as a better way
that the individual should sit back, let the State take over his goods
and attend to the feeding of the poor, and thus relieve him from
responsibility. In fact, "love" itself, which is declared to be the
greatest thing of all, is essentially an individual impulse and never
could be called forth from the human heart, nor supplied to it either,
by the fiat of a government.

The same note runs through the Jewish Scriptures. At the beginning
(Genesis, chap. IV), in the old story of Cain's murder of Abel, when
Cain inquired of the Lord "Am I my brother's keeper?" the inference to
be drawn most decidedly is that the Lord thought he was, and not the
State, or the tribal government of that day, in his stead. Both the
Christian and Jewish religions are essentially individualistic in appeal
and social in responsibility, and so also is Democracy.

May not the extreme brutality of the German soldier of to-day be the
result not only of the ruthless command from the official higher up but
also of the de-souling, materialistic influence of Socialism on the
common people of Germany during the past twenty-five years? Is not the
viciousness of Prussian militarism plus the demoralizing influence of