CHRISTIANITY AND THE UNEMPLOYED.

Auckland Star, Volume LXVI, Issue 186, 8 August 1935, Page 6

CHRISTIANITY AND THE UNEMPLOYED.

Tihe following extract from the latest book by Dr. Stanley Jones, "Christ and Communism," may commend itself to those who are more or less concerned about the ever-increas-ing army of the unemployed: "Jesus gave us in two parables two guiding principles. In the parable of the workmen in the vineyard He tells of the Master hiring men at the ■beginning and the middle of the day. At the eleventh hour He goes out and finds some standing idle and asks them why they are idle. 'Because no man hath hired us,' was the reply. So the Master sent them to work. At pay time He began to pay them off, beginning at the last hired and giving to each man the same. Those hired at the beginning of the day objected. But the Master replied, It is My will to give unto this la.st as much as unto thee.' Four things strike us here: (1) The unemployed had more sympathy from, the Master than the employed. He paid them off first. For if the others'had borne the burden and heat of the day, these men had inwardly sweated at the thought of nothing to eat for themselves and their families. Their needs went on even though they did not work. (2) A living wage was given to them no matter how many hours they worked. For the. only reason they did not work was that no man had hired them. (3) The parable implies that God willed equality. (4) This parable reveals that other workers Objected to this equality. This is the crux of the matter. These inequalities do not depend on the will of God, 'but on the will of man." H. M. CLARK.