The Pulaski citizen. [volume] (Pulaski, Tenn.) 1866-current, 1876-02-10
From the Columbia District Directory ]
WORK.

No doubt God intended that man
should work. The make of his
hands, his bones and muscles, and
the size, strength aud structure of
his body, all indicate this. Even
before the fall God put Adam in
the Garden Ito dress it aud to keep
it." OF course this required labor.
We have reason to believe that the
greater part of the earthly iife of
Christ-the second Adam, the Lord
from Heaven--was spent in manual
labor When, in the exercise Of his
public ministry, he went into his
own country and taught in the syn
agogue on the Sabbath day. many
who heard him were astonished,
and asked, perhaps contemptuously,
as not this the carpenter, the son
of Maryg This sneering question,
together with the circumstance
connected with it, authorizes the
conclusion that until he was thirty
years of age Jesus was engaged in
the same handicraft with Joseph
his reputed father. Paul, the genius,
the scholar, and the Apostle, was a
tent-maker by trade, and even when
advanced in life and at the zenith
of his glory, he did not withhold
his hands from honest, manly toll.
Christians are commanded 10 work,
and to provide things honest in the
sight of all men. In fact, the Bible
rule is, "If any ~ill not work,
neither should he eat."
Honest labor, honest hand labor,
is dignified and dlgnifying. The
discipline of bodily toll and strug-
gle, wisely regarded. may exert
wholesome influence on the higher
nature, may serve noble purposes,
and is fitted, under certain condi-
tions, to form vigorous, high-toned,
resolute souls. Even the acquisi-
tion of superior knowledge and the
power which knowledge confers,
though difficult, is not impossible
to a working man. Nay, the work
shop. the farm, and the forge have
noprished for the world some of its
wisest and best benefaetors.
Better still, our daily round of
secular duties may be sanctified by
the word of God and prayer If We
have an eye to God in all we do,
then every act Of our common EN-
pIoyment will be an act of religious
worship. So may we make our
lives sublime. o, blessed Lord!
eff done e obey thy laws,
E'en servile labors shine;
Haliowed is toll, IL this the cause,
The meanest work Divine
What wonders work has wrought.
1t tunnels the mountains, bridges
oceans, girdles continents, and binds
natioL to nation. It ecnqueFs diff
culties, transmutes seeming impos-
sibiIities into splendid achieve
ments, and on the plains OF life
builds pyramids OF success which
stand majestic forever.
Work, too, is a joy. The proud
mansions of wealth afford no luxu-
ries such as they know who, sum-
moning their utmost powers TO the
lofty tasks of duty, toll heartily and
faithfully for God and for mankind.
The pleasures of the gay idlers
who spend their lives in ease and
elegance are the most dull and in
sipid. compared with the zest and
delight enjoyed by those holy, hap
| py servants of the Lord, who, IN
the sweet task of love,
''Ton in the vineyard here, and bear
The heat and burden OF the day"
OF course, the heart must be en-
gagged. Longfellow, in one Of his
poems, describing a shipbuilder,
says:
''For his heart was In his work, and the
heart
Giveth grace unto every art"
Certainly all true christian work
springs from a lowiy, loving heart /;
and when the heart is really enlisted
in the work of Jesus, there is moth
ing that affords sweeter joy.
Believers are "laborers together
with God" What rapture in the
thoughts To be co.workers with
! Christ In the blessed enterprise Of
saving men, and Of Fastening on the
reign Of truth and righteousness in
the world, is glorious beyond ali
conception. God is witness, would
rather save q soul--just one soul
than be monarch Of the world,
81 want an even, strong desire,
! I want a calmly fcryent zeal.
TO save poor sOnis cut Of the fire.
, To snatch them fran the verge Of he'll,
And turn them to pard'niSg God
And quench the brands la Jesus'hlood." !"
/. Verify that was a wise message
which Nehemiah sent 20 his enemies
when they sought to hinder ham in
his labor Of love. Said be, Il am
. doing a great work, 50 that can
not come down; why should the
work cease, whilst / leave il. and
come down to youy' How weighty
the words Of the Master II must
work the works OF Him that sent
me while Il is day: the night com
eth when no man can work How
forcible, too, the lines Of Gerald
Massey:
ssIset me work noss, FOR all eternity.
. / With It's immortal leisure, waititiI me. =
The thought that We have only
one life in which We can iahor for
humanity and Heaven. IS impres
siyely solemn.
r .sSof many lives, but only one have We,
One, only one;
How sacred snouid taas cne life ever t.ei
That narrow span.
Day after day hiled ap y ith blessed toll,
Hour after hour s1in brisgins In new
SPOIL"