The Pulpit Commentary — Matthew — Volume 2 — Section 305

Ver. 6.-'I'M social difficulty of tM workless. Civilization works cruelly for some classes of society. It improves the condition of the few; it multiplies the miseries of the many. One thing it does:-~athers great masses of people into the cities, where the clemand for workers must be limited, and the thousands must be" workless." Scatter the people over the land, and every man can find work which will provide him with a simple living. Mass the people in a few centres, and, as they cannot earn by work, all they can do is prey on one another, either in the bad sense of criminality, or in the very doubtful sense of scheming to take all advantage of philanthropy and charity, I. THE woRKLESS WHO OANNOT WORK. I. These include persons born into dis- ability-blind, deaf and dumb, lame, weak in intellect, eto. Of such it is only neces- sary to say that they are society's charge; and society is bound to provide for all who are physically incapable of work. This is simple citizen duty, society duty; it is the claim of the hum.an brotherhood. 2. These include persons who are able to work, but cannot find work to do. They divide into: (1) Skilled workmen, whose trade has gone out of fashion or has left the country. (2) Unskilled workmen, labourers, only a limited number of whom can ever be required in one district. (3) Workmen whose trade is hopelessly overstocked, such as clerks, who can do nothing but write and sum. These workless classes make the great social problem of the day. Some would say tnat the Church of Christ must solve the problem. But it is not her mission; nor has she, in any sense, capacity for so doing. It belongs to national government. It is a society evil, with which society must deal. And in some way the nation must find out how to tum the stream of population that has long set strongly toward the great cities, and make it fiow back upon the land. Village industrial centres provide the only hope for the million worklees ones among us. II. THE WOBKLEBB WHO WILL NOT WOBK. " If e. man will not work, neither shall he eat." We might reasonably desire that legislation should deal rigorously with all such. Every man who can work and will not should lose hie right of personal liberty, should be treated as a lunatic, cared for by the state, e.nd kept from all chance of pro- paga.ti.Qg his miserable species.-R. T. Ver, 15.-Generosity may go beyond agre,emen,t. Business men are often misunder- stood, because, while they are sometimes nobly generous, they are also strict and pre- cise in carrying out, and in requiring to be carried out, all business engagements. A man does no wrong to his fellow-man who has made precise terms with him, if he deals fairly with the man who has made no terms with him. In this case the sum agreed was one penny for a day's labour, and because the half-day man received e. penny, the whole-day ma.n set up a claim to more than e. penny. L EVERY MAN HAS A BIGHT TO HAKE TERMS, Society is based on the principle that every man is absolutely free to buy or to selL There is the open market for goods, and there is the open market for physical power, and the open market for cul• tured skill There should be no sort of restrictions on free purchase and sale. Oom• binations to raise prices are perilous, whether they belong to capitalist or workman, to buyer or seller. They are, at the beet, necessities of over-civilization, whic~ has disturbed all natural relations. The man who has money to put to use ha.a precisely 8.8 grea.t a right to make the best terms he can as the workman who has a cunning right hand to selL If social relations were more simple and natural, it would be possible for the man with money, the Dl8n with brains, and the man with hands, to CD. ll. 1~4.] THE GOSPEL AOCORDING TO ST. MATTHEW. 80!J