Excerpt from Charity and Social Life: A Short Study of Religious and Social Thought in Relation to Charitable Methods and Institutions To many authors I am indebted - to some a very great deal. The references show how great is my indebtedness. The book is for the most part a reprint of an article on Charity and Charities which was first published in 1902 in the supple mentary volumes of the Encyclopaedia Bri tannica: and I have to thank the proprietors of the Encyclopaedia for their kind permission to publish the article. I have added chapters on charity in relation to the growth of religious thought, and I have added a chapter on some of the questions raised by the recent Royal Commission on the Poor Laws and Relief of Distress. I have used the word charity in the title and frequently in the text. To many it may seem out-worn. It has suffered from constant circulation and hard usage. One would wish that it might be re-minted and re-issued, for there are many supremely noble associations imprinted on it, and it is the verbal abstract of a long history, in which religion, philosophy, social thought, administration, and personal endeavour have their place. It is expressive also of a conjunction of instincts, sentiments, and efforts which is well-nigh indispensable to social progress. For such a word there should still be room in the world of thought. I have not tried to write a book on recent charitable schemes and proposals. I have desired rather to follow out the growth of the conception of charity, and its expression in social life, and the principles which these suggest with regard to social service and obligation. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.