It is said that out of these struggles between competitors, and employer and employee, there is coming a better understanding between the contending parties and also new adjustments which will do away with these destructive strifes. This may all be true, but so long as men seek simply and only for material betterment, ignoring the spiritual and moral in their lives, any readjustment of hours of labour or scale of wages or agreements will only be of a temporary character, for the real cause of the whole trouble is left untouched. One of the ablest writers upon "The Social Unrest" says, "At the heart of the larger labour movement is the race longing for a society in which at least the spirit of equality shall be realized. Most radical remedies are only means to this end. Beyond, and deeper than all the machinery of social reconstruction, is this master passion of democracy." But this same writer also, after a survey of the whole question, declares that before this equality can be realized there must come a character founded on love.
Cause and Remedy.—Selfishness is often the real cause of the sting of inequality and of the keeping of men apart; until this is eradicated and replaced by the master passion of love—employer for employee and employee for employer—no agreements and no legislation, between the contending forces will serve the purpose. It was the master passion of a supreme love which produced the first social equality society (Acts 4:32-37); it was selfishness which broke it up (Acts 5:1-13). This selfishness is also at the root of the arrogance which causes men to despise men of an inferior race, culture or social position and seeks to use them for purposes of gain.
Perfect equality amongst men, however, outside of equality before the law and God, hardly seems a realizable thing; certainly all men cannot be of the same age and of the same stature at the same time; there are gifts of talent; there are different races, but where supreme love is it takes out the sting of a sense of an inferiority and the jealousy and hatred of superior gifts; under its benign influence the rich and the poor, the talented and the untalented, work together as brethren. The brotherhood of love is the only true brotherhood and the only solution of this vexed question.
THE TRUE RELATION OF MAN TO MAN
Who is My Neighbour?—The answer which Jesus gave to this question (Luke 10:29), which a certain lawyer asked of Him in order to justify himself, shows the true relation of man to man.
The lawyer doubtless supposed when he put this question to Jesus that he would silence Him. The Jews in their proud isolation considered themselves the chosen people of God and despised other races, even looking with a certain contempt upon their Roman conquerors. How would the Jewish Messiah, if not put to silence, answer a question like this? Doubtless the reply would be that only a Jew could be neighbour to a Jew. The race spirit is a strong one and men born to a certain nationality have many stout binding ties of speech and customs, which are not easily broken.
Mark, however, the large mindedness of Jesus. He breaks at once through race ties and without so much as mentioning the Jew, he takes the Samaritan as the example of a good neighbour. Now the Jews and the Samaritans had no dealings with each other, their animosity was well known; at this distance of time we can hardly realize how startling a thing it was to take a Samaritan as an example of a good neighbour. But it is right here that Jesus begins to show us the true relation of man to man and that this relation is superior to race, caste, language, social distinctions, customs and organizations.
My neighbour, then, is not only the man who lives next door, or is in the same business, or belongs to the same church or labour organization, or political party, but all men are my neighbours and I am to seek to do them good (Luke 10:30-37). This definition of neighbour does away with all clannishness and exclusiveness, and man comes face to face with his fellow man as a man.
How Shall I Treat My Neighbour?—A number of answers may be given:
1. Investigate the claims of my neighbour when I see him in a sad condition. The good Samaritan did this at considerable personal risk, for he could be by no means sure that the robbers would not return and rob him. Too many men, when they see their neighbours in want, pass by on the other side, as the priest and Levite did. Adversity has been described as "a deep pit, into which a man has fallen, which is surrounded by his near-sighted friends."