Elizabeth daily monitor. [volume] (Elizabeth, N.J.) 1868-1880, 1873-10-08

people who seem to apply the text that
was SO beautifully applied to the vege-
table kingdom to the human family
"Consider the lilies of the field, how
beautiful they grow they toll not,
neither do they spin" There were
those who not only were disposed to
honor some who did nothing more than
those who had been very useful, and the
wielder OF the sword has been regarded
as more honorable than the wielder of
the spade. This was wrong it tended
to discourage the production of those
things desirable to our wants, and to
cause discomfort in the great mass of
people whose toll was so essential to the
very stability of the commonwealth.
Therefore, not in any spirit of depre-
citation of social rank, but in opposition
to the sentiment which would treat with
indignity and contempt any employ
ment, however humble, he would en-
deavor to uphold the true dignity of
labor Labor was the great harmonizer
of the universe it was the great law of
humanity; the very structure of the
body showed this. Take the structure
of the foot, and at glance it could be
seen it was made for motion and as
with the foot so with the ear, the eye,
the hand-each was adapted for its par
ticular use, and all were for active use
and not for idleness. The vigor of the
faculties depended upon their exercise.
They could not breathe the atmosphere
of sloth, and power would not develop
itself, except in the gymnasium of toll.
The limb is powerless that is not used
and as with the bodily powers, so with
the intellectual and the moral-all must
be used. and used constantly, or they
become useless Conscience woul d re-
fuse to speak when men refused to lis
ten, and would cease to command when
men ceased to obey Men could not of
the same time be idle and be happy,
and what we toll for has charm which
nothing else can give the flower we
cultivate and the fruit we grow has a
richer flavor than any that money can
purchase
Activity was the law of the Deity, and
of course it must be the law of mortality.
We speak of the activity OF nature, but
it was the activity of the God of nature
that was thus evidenced, and when the
Deity became incarnate he said : 'My
father worketh continually, and also
work. There was work of the mind
as we'll as a work of the muscle-there
was labor of the brain as well as of the
hands. This great country would still
be region of barbarism if the brain
had not been at work as well as the
body Sometimes one single thought
like that which led to the structure of
the steam-engine has done more than if
the thinker of that thought had labored
with his hands for ten thousand years.
Then there were other kinds of labor,
possessing dignity in an eminent de-
gree the labor of the merchant, of the
capitalist, of the physician, of the law
yer, of the warrior, the instructor of the
rising generation, or of the more admit
race ; the historian, the philosopher, the
man of science, the painter, the poet,
the sculptor, the orator, the moral and
social reformer, the philanthropist, the
magistrate, the legislator and statesman,
and not the least the minister of relig-
ion, all these We're laborers in the high
est degree. Most eminently were they
to be reckoned MS among the working
classes, and disastrous would be the day
when the claims of such working men
should be disallowed. They were worthy
of all honor There was a common
stock of comforts of which all could par
take, and there was a communism which
all could commend but those who do
not work should not be allowed to eat.
This was the Apostle Pauls commun-
ism he exhorts men to quietness and
work, and then to eat their own bread.
Having thus spoken of the higher walks
OF labor, the lecturer next proceeded to
speak of the labor of the hand, and il
Illustrated by quotations from the Bible
the fact that on many occasions in sacred
writ the labor of the hands was especial
ly commended as honorable, so there
must be a dignity in labor because it
was in compliance with q divine law. 1t
was Gods command, and it was nee
essity of the human race, and for these
reasons should be regarded as honor
able. Man more than the brute was de-
pendent upon labor. He finds little