Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1883-11-08

and gave to their poets no nobler inspiration
than the odes of Pindar,

than the Odes of Pindar,
As they sung in lOftiest strains,
The contests of Olympia's plains"
Impenetrable obscurity covers the early ages
of Greece, and history fails to show any BEN
efits to labor from a religion founded on in
telligence.
Philosophy, too, has played her part. So
crates, who was master sculptor, left his
occupation, some say, for lack of c0mpensa-
ton, and became public teacher His dis
interested poverty, temperance and sagacity,
as well AS his captivating voice and manner,
gave him audience with men of all ranks. He
uttered some of the grandest teachings that
ever fell from uninspired lips. Said he: "If
| could get to the highest place In Athens,
would lift my voice and proclaim, What
mean We, fellOw-citizens, that We turn every
little care for your children, to whom one day
We must relinquish it alp" Yet philosophy
failed to furnish him compensation, and he
died in poverty. And the dwelling place of
Diogenes was in tub.
Mohamedan and Buddhism can produce no
better record; for at the present day in the
interior OF India, away from the influence of
Christianity, the common laborer receives
but six cents per day for his services. In no
country is the compensation of labor SO great
as in Christian lands. The United States and
Great Britain lead in the high prices paid for
| their labor. The nearer the laws of Il coun-
try approach in principle to the divine law,
the more remuneratiye are the wages paid to
tion the life of the common laborer was worth
but very little and his liberty still less, and he
had no right to claim wages for his services.
In 1850 England had so far progressed that
under certain very restrictive circumstances
the life Of the common laborer was preserv
ed, and he was allowed to receive wages for
his labor. He worked fourteen hours for a
legal days work in winter and fifteen hours
in summer, and received one penny for q
days wages. A bushel of wheat sold for 10h
pence, and 1t required 15j hours labor to buy
a bushels of wheat. Two hundred years later
| a common laborer received 4d per day, and
worked IS hours for q bnshei of wheat, which
cost Is 101zd. To-day the service is reduced
to ten hours for days work, for which the
laborer receives three shillings (about Toe. OF
our money!, working but twenty hours for
bushel of wheat. In America the common
laborer receives $50 per day, pays $1.10 for
q bushel of wheat, laboring less than a day
for bushei of wheat.
Thus has Christianity reduced the term of
servitude from fifteen to ten hours per day,
| and increased the wages from two cents to
seven hours labor for Il bushel of wheat,
increasing also the price Of wheat from p
cents to 81 10 per bushel.
The Christian religion alone teaches that
"The laborer is worthy of his hire" Moses
taught: 'Thou shaft not defraud thy neigh
Dor; the wages of him that is hired shall not
abide with thee all night. Lev. XIX, l3.
Solomon said: "In labor there is profit"
and that ''wealth gotten by vanity shall be
diminished; but he that getteth by labor shall
Increase. PROV. xiii, IL. jeremiah proph-
sled: "Woe unto him that used his neigh
boris services without wages. s."-Jer. xiii, 10.
Malacci declares: 81 will be Il swift witness
against those that Cypress the hireling i'll his
"That if any man would not labor, neither
should he eat."-2 Thess., ill.,, 10.
Solomon again declares: ''Though he heap
up silver as the dust, and prepare raiment
as the clay; he may prepare it, but the just
shall put it on, and the innocent shall divide
the silver" Ii these precious promises are
for the Christian, we may ask, Why then are
not all possessed of an abundance of the
riches of this world?
"Worldly riches are like nuts: many clothes
are torn in getting them; many tooth brok
en- in cracking them; but never Il stomach
filled in eating them" One of England's
greatest instructors said: "Acts grow out of
thoughts. If a mans thinking be confined
to trifiing objects, his acts will corresponds"
SO If mans thoughts be about the wealth
Of this world, his actions will be to secure it.
A desire for the riches of earth only tends
to turn the affections from God, and imparts
no vitality to Christian faith; and we bear the
Savior say: "a rich man shall hardly enter
into the Kingkom of Heaven" A true Chris
tian possessing riches of the world is like Il
ship sailing OIL the ocean. 1t is not the ship
being in the water that will sink it, but the
water getting into the ship. So, In like man
session of the riches Of the world, which he
ought to possess to enable hin to do the
greatest good; but by the love OF riches leak
ing into his soul Is his bark stranded.
Riches are dangerous, and God recognizes
the immortal soul of more value than great
riches; and to save the soul he spares the
riches. Men are apt to trust in them, and
by SO doing lose their faith in God.
The story of Joseph is q very beautiful one.
Nowhere is it recorded that he ever commit
tod acfua( ra Ms urpsSion nj (snfiSS lazy His
character seems pure and spotless, and God
was with him. Yet think his request of the
butler to "Remember me- when it shall be
well with thee, is not without objection.
Joseph desires the influence Of this man, to
speak on his behalf to the king; forgetting,
apparently, that he had direct access to a
greater King than pharoah, who, he had full
reason to suppose, had special regard for
to perish. A Jewish tradition afiirms that
Joseph remained yet two years IN prison, be-
cause he made this request Of the butler.
The Moslem tradition, which had prcyi-
ously stated that God had changed Joseph's
cell into pleasant aud cheerful abode, by
causing a fountain to spring up in the midst
thereof, and by making tree grow at his
door, to afford shade and refreshing fruit,
now declares, that, OH making this request
Of the butler, his tree withered, and his foun-
tain dried up, because, instead of trustingin
Allah, he had relied upon the help of feeble
man. This is fable, OF coarse, hut it Is not
without a moral. How often has the faith
of Christian men faltered while they have
put their trust in riches.
Ii we would be rich, and yet free from the
danger of riches, we must honor the Lord
with our substance; so shall our barns be
filled with plenty. We do try to ebey this
injunction. We have great honor for God,
and contribute to the support of his cause.
Ii the Lord should appear to Us in person
aud request some great deed of charity from
us, we would cheerfully give it. But we
fail to recognize God in the person of his
servants, hence our beneyolences are be-
slowed similar to that of the gentleman who
forter and two ,oayes of stale bread. But
while listening to Il sermon the following
Sunday, Gods spirit caused him 10 recognize
the image Of Jesus in the person OF his DIS
cipIe, and he confessed that, II he had known
this, he would have carried new comforters
and fresh loaves. How many Christians fall 10
recognize Jesus in the person OF his servants,
and the minister fails to receive more taaif
some worn-out comfortables and stale bread
We remember having heard story Of a
steward living q few miles distant. He. went