1 Corinthians 4:7

EQUALITY AND INEQUALITY

‘For who maketh thee to differ from another? and what hast thou that thou didst not receive?’

1 Corinthians 4:7

The remarkable inequalities of endowment which exist amongst men come from God, and are as much part of His handiwork as anything else in the world of being, and to quarrel with them, or to make them the occasion of rivalry with and estrangement from others, is to declare war upon the wisdom and purpose of the Great Creator.

I. Human society is made up of inequalities—inequalities of means, of influence, of education, of social position and opportunity. Of these inequalities England is, perhaps, beyond any country in Europe, the great scene and example, and attention has of late been called to them with purposes which need not be now discussed, and with a zeal which has not been always careful of accuracy. But when all deductions have been made, we must confess that these inequalities are enormous; that the contrast which is presented by the East and West Ends of the metropolis is probably not to be found in any other capital in Europe; and that, considering the small area and vast population of this country, the actual distribution of land and wealth might seem to approach the proportions of a social danger, and to threaten some form of destructive change.

II. God Himself makes one man to differ from another.—He makes men differ originally in their productive power, and hence there is inevitably a corresponding difference in the amount produced. If there be any such thing as right at all, man has a right to the produce of his labour exerted on that which is his own, and as to part of his labour exerted on that which is another’s; and this produce he has a right to transmit to his children. And as the productive power of different men has always differed enormously, we have in this fact the true account of the unequal distribution of wealth and station in human society, and therefore projects for reconstructing society on the basis of an equal distribution of property of whatever kind are in conflict with the original facts of human nature, that is to say, with the will of God. No human theory or law can affect this original inequality of productive power in men, which is the main and permanent cause of differences in wealth and social position. Such is this original inequality between man and man, that if to-morrow you could cut up the land of England into strips so short and narrow that every born Englishman should have his tiny share in it, a fortnight would not pass before the reign of inequality would have begun again; nature and fact would assert themselves against theory, and property, varying in its amount with each man’s productive power, would find its way into the hands of a minority, though, no doubt, a new minority of the people. What is this, somebody perhaps whispers to himself, what is this but the old story of the Church ever upholding privilege against right, wealth against poverty, the few against the many, that which has been against that which ought to be? What is this but an endeavour to stereotype wrong by making Almighty God responsible for it, and by interposing the Divine sanctions between it and its correction? And if we of the Church point in reply to a future in which whatever here comes short of the requirements of justice will be perfectly and for ever redressed, we are fiercely warned that this faith of ours in a future stands in the way of efforts to improve man’s present lot, and that it is not well to postpone the duties of the hour on the strength of the unexplained and the problematical. No, you misunderstand us.

III. We are as far as possible from saying that inequalities which, involve moral wrong are to be acquiesced in here because they will be corrected hereafter. Differences of station, of education, of income, do not of themselves involve moral wrong; nay, there is no such advantage in wealth and power as to compensate for the moral dangers which constantly wait on them; and there is no such inevitable drawback in a poor and humble station as to forfeit the lustre which was conferred on it at Bethlehem and Nazareth. But if property be of a kind to make crime almost the instinct of self-preservation; if the lack of education means no ruling moral principles in the conscience, no elementary knowledge of God; if human beings are huddled together into dwellings which deny to purity its simplest safeguards; then most assuredly the Church of Christ would be false to her Master if she did not, at whatever risks, urge a remedy. Wherever Christianity is really believed and acted on it tends to lessen the general inequalities of life; its charities throw bridges over the abysses which separate classes; its spirit of self-sacrifice prompts the free abandonment of wealth and station for the sake of others.

Rev. Canon Liddon.

Illustration

‘Even in a university, beneath the generally uniform surface of academical life, one cannot but be conscious of some startling differences of outward condition. The man who comes up from a wealthy home, with at least £500 a year in his pocket, must know that he sits in lecture and hall near men who, dressed like himself, and sharing with him in the thoughts and feelings of scholars and gentlemen, have to think carefully over every sixpence they spend, and, perhaps, can allow themselves a solid dinner not more than three days in the week. And if one looks behind the precincts of university life, and visits some of our great northern towns or the metropolis, one sees an equality still more vast and tragical; you will see around you hundreds, nay thousands, of young men with hearts as warm, with intellects naturally as keen, or keener, than those of the university man, yet debarred by their outward circumstances from any share in these mental, and social, and moral advantages which will, as he hopes, one day enable him to hold his own in the battle of life, and to be of service to the Church or to the country.’