ook in
existence which is free from errors of the press, and that (before the
invention of printing) those errors, in manuscript copies, must as
a matter of course have been far more serious and far more numerous.
Thirdly, because there is plain internal evidence (to say nothing of
discoveries actually made in the present day) of interpolations and
corruptions, introduced into the manuscript copies as they succeeded
each other in ancient times. These drawbacks are of no importance,
however, in our estimation. We find, in the spirit of the book, the most
simple and most perfect system of religion and morality that humanity
has ever received--and with that we are content. To reverence God;
and to love our neighbour as ourselves: if we had only those two
commandments to guide us, we should have enough. The whole collection of
Doctrines (as they are called) we reject at once, without even stopping
to discuss them. We apply to them the test suggested by Christ himself:
by their fruits ye shall know them. The fruits of Doctrines, in the past
(to quote three instances only), have been the Spanish Inquisition, the
Massacre of St. Bartholomew, and the Thirty Years' War--and the fruits,
in the present, are dissension, bigotry, and opposition to useful
reforms. Away with Doctrines! In the interests of Christianity, away
with them! We are to love our enemies; we are to forgive injuries; we
are to help the needy; we are to be pitiful and courteous, slow to judge
others, and ashamed to exalt ourselves. That teaching doesn't lead to
tortures, massacres, and wars; to envy, hatred, and malice--and for that
reason it stands revealed to us as the teaching that we can trust. There
is our religion, sir, as we find it in the Rules of the Community."

"Very well, Amelius. I notice, in passing, that the Community is in one
respect like the Pope--the Community is infallible. We won't dwell on
that. You have stated your principles. As to the application of them
next? Nobody has a right to be rich among you, of course?"

"Put it the other way, Mr. Hethcote. All men have a right to be
rich--provided they don't make other people poor, as a part of the
process. We don't trouble ourselves much about money; that's the truth.
We are farmers, carpenters, weavers, and printers; and what we earn (ask
our neighbours if we don't earn it honestly) goes into the common fund.
A man who comes to us with money puts it into the fund, and so makes
things easy for