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EQUALITY

From the December 1925 issue of The Christian Science Journal


IN the twentieth chapter of Matthew Jesus recites a parable which would seem to be intended to convey the idea of equality as held by the Father toward all. Jesus likens the kingdom of heaven to a householder who went out early in the day to hire laborers for his vineyard. As he hired them he agreed to pay each laborer "a penny a day," the price of labor for that period. The labor-day was of twelve hours' duration; for after the first trip the householder again went forth, at the third, the sixth, the ninth, and "about the eleventh" hour, each time to hire other groups of unemployed, standing idle in the market place, agreeing to pay these groups whatsoever was right. When the day was ended, the householder directed his steward to call the laborers and pay them, beginning with the last group hired. Every laborer received a similar amount, a penny! When the steward came to pay the first group, those hired at the first hour, they protested, saying, "These last have wrought but one hour, and thou hast made them equal unto us, which have borne the burden and heat of the day." The householder assured them that they had been done no wrong, for they had been paid what they had agreed with him to accept for the day's labor.

"Thou hast made them equal unto us" has been a very common cry. It was also the complaint of the elder brother of the prodigal son: "Lo, these many years do I serve thee, neither transgressed I at any time thy commandment: and yet thou never gavest me a kid, that I might make merry with my friends."

It has been said that equality among men is a shibboleth, a false statement; yet equality is an essential part of God's plan, even as spiritual freedom, justice, and righteousness are: it is a fixed, integral, and eternal fact in God's universe, to be manifested or demonstrated on earth. The cause of industrial, civil, religious dissension, as well as individual dissension, is the lack of a true understanding of God, the lack of knowing Him as infinite Mind, Life, Truth, and Love, the lack of understanding His ever-presence and protection in all ways and conditions, holding man as His divine idea.

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