The Bamberg herald. [volume] (Bamberg, S.C.) 1891-1972, 1904-03-03

common cause with all the people Of the
passing generations.
How surely our Lord condemns the sin.
fulness of Incidence. and how subllmelE
does His example urge the employment OF
our energies. He might have maintained
Himself without work. but to have done so
would have been to set the seal OF His
sanction upon the very spirit that prompts
the average individual TO get through this
world with as little effort as possible--the
spirit that is plainly the spirit of the devil. :.
and that is the prolific cause OF crime and
/ woe He who fed the crowds from a few
loaves and fishes might have wrought a
daily miracle for Himself, but never once
was His omnipotence eXerted in His own
behalf. He accepted the very situation
which confronts us. Engaged with the oc-
! cupations OF His trade during so mary
years, He exalts industry into a divine
virtue and brands sloth as deadly sin.
He has no favor for an ambition that longs
for absolute ease. 1t may not be necessary
for any one to be occupied with the bur-
dens OF business, but we are all bound to
keep in personal touch with the life of hui
manity. There are other spheres of use
fulness than the field and the shop, the
office or the counting room. The church
asks for thousands who are willing to fol-
low the example of splendid heroes who
have withdrawn from the haunts of trade
and from the hope Of gain in order to de-
vote themselves exclusively to the ministry
of Christian laymen Everywhere are char
tiles calling loudly for encouragement and
service. Politics presents wide range for
the activities of patriotism and of the very
highest religion. There is something for
everybody to do. and no one is justified in
living for himself in seouestered and at
| tractive nook away from the demands that
sound from every quarter. Each lndlvld-
ual should have some occupation, place
in the worlds vast factories, work OF
some sort which shall tell for the happiness
of others.
The Lord has strong word for labor.
He is the fellow and the champion of all
toilers. He has a meaning for all those
who work with their brain or with their
hands, for all such are workingmen. He
has forever consecrated the everydayness
of life. He adopts the workaday world.
''The Light of Asia" which states beautl-
fully certain features Of the Buddhist rel-
gion, represents the incarnate Buddha as
wandering beggar, asking food. Jesus
Christ was no beggar. The mendlcant, any
more than the pauper, receives not the ap-
sanctifed labor until the end OF the world.
The Gallilean Carpenter was no less the
incarnate Son of God during the years
which He spent at Nazareth than He was
on the mountain of the Transformation or
on the first Easter Day. There are many
reasons why work is honorable, but it re-
ceives its crowning glory from the exper-
ience of the divine Christ during the long
period of which we know nothing save that
He was mechanic. He has endured all
occupations with dignity that nothing short
of our own disloyalty can possibly take
away. 1t matters not what ones daily
tolls are, they are worthy of fidelity and
energy, and they are as much part OF
Gods service as the saying of prayers and
the receiving Of religious rites. The en-
peror and his humblest subject, the prime
minister and the street sweeper, the mil
lionaire and his valet, all are included IN
the spirit of industry and devotion wnich
Jesus manifested at the bench which stood
| in a shop or, perhaps, at times under
huge tree at Nazareth. He has hallowed
all vocations by the conservation Of His
personal industry, and they should be in.
terpreted and accepted as sacred part OF
the life which now is. =,
The Nazareth Carpenter teaches that
worldly place of itself is nothing worth. a
man may be man wherever ne IS. and
labor is honorable whatever it may be.
Station or the lack of it does not make
the man or his life. The people OF lowly
degree may likewise learn precious lessons
OF the Galilean artisan. They become dis.
couraged because they fancy themselves to
be OF no account, and they too often cher.
ish an unhappy contempt for their daily
tolls. They despise the factory or the
office as necessary evils. Jesus has lesson
for them which He pronounces from the
Nazareth shop. Long years He spent III
obscurity. No murmurs escape him, no
signs of impatience, no evidences OF
restless longing to be otherwise, no vulgar
and goddess disposition to try to improve
w day after day He was concerned with
the unimpressive and uninteresting mat
ters of His business, and His only aim was
to be true to the state where He was des-
tined to live until the time came for be-
ginning the public ministry. Wherever the
Heavenly Father has placed us we, the
sons of men, can be the sons of God. The
real things of life are not earthly and tenn
poral. and the true estimate of ourselves IS
not the place-be it lofty OF lowly-which
we hold among men. The divine Carpen'
ter is a comfort and an inspiration to all:
Amid the employment OF His trade did
Jesus prepare Himself for His public Ire.
There He was made ready, at least IN part,
10 eNeEClSe dIi CuoSS u ioHoSSAoSI1A'
qualities of mind and heart which marked
His ministry. For three years He gave
Himself up to His work as the worlds Re-
deemer, but for fifteen years and more, as
was probably the case, He was only a car
penter. Surely He did not spend all His
time and energy upon His daily toils. Of
TEN did He devote Himself to godly eXer.
cises of prayer and contemplation, without
which no one can develop the traits of
highest character. But He was no recluse.
He settled the truth once for all, that the
place for strong-minded, stout-hearted folk
to serve God is in the would: the arena Tor
doing the Fathers will is right here: where
we have abundant opportunities for the:
culture of holy graces and the practice OF
holy living. We need the benefits of occa-
sional solitude. but We are bound to think
so seriously of life and of Gods cause as
to give no place to the mawkish sentimen-
talism which adores perpetual secluslon
and calls it the noblest type OF religion.
The divine Carpenter hesitated not to
spend the years upon which His future
work was founded amid the activities incl
dent to the daily interests of mankind. he
was bread-winner, a wage-earner:
Work is Gods ordinance. II 1t was
curse in the beginning, it is blessing now.
It is one of the best tonics. 1t Is scarcely
less than sacrament. It may be debased,
even as may the sacrament OF the altar IN
which one may eat and drink damnation
L Of