The Maryville times. (Maryville, Tenn.) 1884-1944, 1885-07-23
TO EVERY MAN HIS WORK.

TO EVERY MAN HIS WORK.
The Primal Law Of Labor the Law of
Progress-All Honest Work Alike Hon
Orable-Ths Law Re-enacted by Christ
for His Church.
This is Gods primal law for the hu-
man race. He placed Adam in the Gar
der to keep it and to dress it. Adam
was made to be worker, and garden
ing was his work. He was Gods son,
and God said to him in the exercise of
his paternal authority: Go work in my
garden. This law was not abrogated
when man fell. In the world. as in
paradise, he is to work, and God gives
to each his own work. The earth is to
be subdued, dominion over the beasts is
to be secured and maintained. This in
wolves not only universal toll hut diver
sified toll. Each must do something,
but all can not do the same thing. Yet
the different things that they do are to
work together so as to promote the inter-
ests of all.
The essence of barbarism is the repu-
diation of this primal law. The first
idea of the savage is to do as little work
as possible; his second is to make some.
body else, who is weaker than himself,
work for him; and the third is to steal,
if he can, what his neighbors have toiled
to secure. No wonder that the tenden-
cy of barbarism is to poverty; that it is
a condition Of tyranny, slavery and
war; that it degrades and brutalizss
men.
This primallaw of labor has been the
law Of progress the world over. Just
so fast and so far as men have returned
to it have they advanced in wealth, in
culture. In social order, in freedom and
in all the elements of civilization. In
the richest, strongest and freest nations
OF to-day there are few idlers The rich
work 10 increase their riches and the
poor work for their daily bread. The
President works in the White House at
Washington harder than any artisan
in New England or miner in Nevada.
But what il all these millions of toll
ers in our free land should try to do the
same thing? There is here no system
of caste; no law compelling any man to
do o particular kind of work, or forbid
ding his doing any kind that is honest.
II half the men in the Union determined
to live by making shoes they would
have legal and constitutional right to
do so. There Is no reason for that,
however, for God has enacted certain
laws which we call s'The Laws of Sup
ply and Demand" that regulate such
matters. Men sometimes try to evade
= these laws The result is the over-pro-
duction of certain things. or the over,
crowding of certain Industries. This
causes temporary embarrassment and
loss. But the matter is soon regulated
by a reduction in prices or in wages.
On the whole, considering tho number
OF workers and the great diversity Of
occupations, there ID wonderful har~
mony and cooperation. No human
laws could so thoroughly systematic
the industry Of the people and make 1t
contribute to the common veal. It is
the wisdom and the power of God,
working through, what we call Provi-
dence, 10 bring about one Of the ends
for which man was created, the subju-
CATION of the earth.
II, then, labor and cooperative labor
is Gods law for our race-.if He has
given to every man his wOrk-all hon.
est work is honorable. We have no
right to say that one department is
nobler or more useful than another.
We have no right to classify laborcrs Is
professionals and menials, Is masters
and servants. Christ said: Whose.
ever will be chief among you let him be
your servant" He himself toiled as
carpenter at Nazareth, and Paul, His
most eminent apostle, was tept-maker
at Corinth. Often the safety of an army
depends more upon the fidelity of q
sentinel than upon the military skill Of
its General. The architects building
will crumhle and fall If the mason puts
rotten or misshapen stone under one
Of its columns Work for God and fol-
the world is noble in any and every
sphere.
If every mans work Is dlvinely ap-
pointed, and is not for himself only but
Tor the race, he is under the highest
possible obligations to be faithful in it.
God and the world expect him to dc
his duty. And he never can tell how
far-reaching aud disastrous INDY be the
result Of sighting his work. The mau
in the machine shop who saw . flaw in
the bolt but threw it in with the rest
did not mean to be q murderer But
the swapping Of that piece of iron led
10 the wrecking of ship when il was
trying to round headland and escape
be ne driven on a lee shore. The
mason put soft brick in one of the
lies Of a costly cafhe iral. Through il
tie flames found a way. and DESTROYED