In Socialism.--There are many schemes presented to-day under the broad
term of Socialism which have for their proposed end the betterment of
the people, the abolishment of all wrongs and the bringing in of a new
order of things; where every man shall do a minimum amount of work and
receive a large return for what he does. These plans vary from the
mildest of reforms--and from "the public collective ownership of land
and capital and the public collective management of all industries"
with the recognition of certain private rights--to the taking of all
land and capital absolutely from private control, the abolishing of
the right to hold private property, the giving up of the marriage
relation, the suppression of the church and the renunciation of the
government.
The trouble with extreme schemes of this sort is that they seek in the
end to abolish the individual and private rights, even in
marriage. But all social and moral health and wealth is but the
aggregate of individual health and wealth. No community and no class
of men are better than the men who compose them. If there are evils in
the present system they would continue, in a magnified form, in the
new. There is here the old political fallacy, made over into a new
social fallacy, that by mere putting of the ballot into every man's
hands the government would be purified of all its evils. We must begin
with the individual to purify him before the state or society can be
made much better. It is the levelling down, the bringing the better
working man to the rate of work and quality of the poorer, which is
sought, rather than the levelling up. The common goods scheme was
tried early in the career of the Christian Church and it failed to
work because of the element of selfishness which came in (Acts 2:
44,45; 4:34; compare 5:1-11); this has been the cause of the breaking
up of numerous social and communistic settlements and communities.
In Christianity.--When the precepts of Christianity have been accepted
and lived up to by any man or company of men, they have never failed
to stand all the social tests which have been applied to them. They
seek the regeneration of the individual and the purification and
usefulness, for him, of all the social institutions. They endeavour to
abolish evil desires and practices in the individual and all social,
industrial and political wrongs. They give full play to all man's
powers in private and in public matters. They have never been proved
inadequate to their task, but they have found much refractory material
with which to deal.
They level up not down and seek for every man a new moral and physical
life; they present before him the very highest ideals of life and
service.
It is a fact that it is only where their light shines that the working
man has anything like decent wages or hours of labour. In China, India
and Africa we find the labourer gets little or nothing for his toil.
It is only in Christian countries that we have anything approaching
true social equality, in others no man may rise out of his caste or
class. Take the United States and we find that a number of our
presidents have come from the poorest families and most of our
influential and wealthy men have risen from the ranks of the common
people.
It is the lack of Christian principles in individual, industrial and
public life which is at the bottom of the present day social unrest.
In Christ, the Social Reformer.--When He came upon the earth and
before His time all labour was performed by slaves without pay and
with but a dole of food. The mighty buildings of Egypt, Assyria,
Babylonia, Greece and Rome were all built by the unrequited toil of
slaves. Such would have continued to be the state of things had not
Christ said, "The labourer is worthy of his hire" (Luke 10:7; Matthew
10:10). That a working man should receive wages or any pay for his
labour was revolutionary in that time for "Plato, Cicero, Lycurgus
held that it was a disgrace to touch the implements of toil." Christ
dignified labour by toiling at the bench as a carpenter. If ever
labour is to gain any real advantage it must be through taking Christ
as a leader (Matthew 11:28).
He taught that the true bond of social equality was a moral and
spiritual one (Luke 8:21; Matthew 23:8; Philippians 3:13-15; 4:8).
In the Social Settlement.--What is a true social settlement? This
question is not so easily answered. There are all kinds and sorts of
social settlements. Some minister to the health of the community in
which they are situated and some do not. The saloon has recently put
forth its claim to the doing of social service, but no one ever
slandered a saloon keeper by affirming that he had anything in view
save a selfish motive. Whatever little social service he may render is
more than counterbalanced by the social havoc wrought by his
trade. Again there are social settlements where the principal thought
and effort seems to be to provide somewhat questionable vaudeville
entertainments and frequent public dances; the leaders say they are
compelled to adopt these features to hold the people; here comes in
again the question of social damage to the community in which they are
situated.
The true social settlement, with all its features of mental and
physical culture, is one which places Christ at the front of all its
work and keeps Him there. It is Christ and Christ alone who can
really help the individual and the community and there are numbers of
social settlements where Christ is kept at the head of the work.
The church has changed its methods very much during the past few
years. Seldom is a church now built which does not have its well
appointed kitchen, dining-room and parlours and other social
equipments. It is according as a church uses these adjuncts, whether
they really help it, or not, to do its work. The church is powerful as
a force for social betterment not as it does or does not open its
doors to lecturers, plan social entertainments, give dinners and hold
festivals--these may be helps--but in so far as it sways the inner
life of the community. This inner life, influenced in right ways,
finds expression in a better individual, home and community
standard. This standard makes for the uplifting of the social state
outside as well as inside the church. The principle is, not social for
the sake of being social, but "social to save." It is quite certain
that unless the church sets up its ideals in the community, a worldly
community will set up its ideals in the church. The more spiritual a
church as a social settlement is the stronger the social bond becomes
between rich and poor, the learned and the unlearned.