The citizen. (Honesdale, Pa.) 1908-1914, 1909-08-06

ems the philoso
phical city, to
Corinth the pleasure-loving city, and
| to Rome, the military city, each of
them centres of influence from
whence radiated beams of light to
every quarter of the earth.
Strange Providenees.
Away off in the city of Rome there
dwelt Jewish couple, Aquila and
Priscilla, The Emperor, Claudius, in
a At Of rage against the Jews, Danish
ed them from Rome, and heavy-heart-
ed and disconsolate these two people
emigrated far away to Corinth, and
settled down to their trade of tent
making. From the opposite direction,
unknown to them, a disappointed itin-
Grant preacher, Paul by name, was
coming toward the same point. After
his mission was ended in Athens the
lonely preacher tramped the interven-
ing forty-fve miles which brought
him to Corinth. He was also tent
maker by trade. He at once sought
employment. Being himself a Jew
he naturally inquired for his own coun-
trymen.
And so it came to pass that the
| tent maker Paul, became laborer
and a boarder in the family of the
tent makers, Aquila and Priscilla.
Hard luck and persecution, extradi.
ton and banishment are not hand.
! some courtiers, but they often intro
! duce us to people who are the Prime
Ministers Of the King.
Paul, the Tent Maker.
| What grander testimony can be CIV
en- to the dignity of labor than that
| of the tent maker, Paul. All day he
toiled at his trade and preached the
gospel by the good work he turned
out as we'll as by the words he ut
| tered. We often see Paul pictured as
preacher in crowd of listeners, but
this lesson shows him as a toiler, and
day laborer. Cordage lying headped
up around him, canvas drawn over the
floor in folds, balls of twine scattered
about here and there, the tent maker
at work. l warrant you his seams
never ripped, his cloth never proved
to be shoddy. No one ever had to
say sneeringly, Il bought these cheap
tents of that Christian! See how he
cheated mel"
The dignity of labor! Pauls hands
were hardened by it. Peters and An
dreW's and Johns were burned in the
sun. Christ, the son of a carpenter,
himself working at the bench. Paul
evidently was not looking for good
place." an easy berth, a fat salary
Else he would never have accepted "a
CALI to Corinth. He got near the peo-
pie by working with them. They did
not pull him down; he lifted them
up. He spent no time grumbling and
complaining because he had to toll,
he did not feel that it was his right
to have people feed him with chick
ems, put elegant dressing gowns on
his back, and soft slippers on his feet,
and pamper his body and develop his
pride. He worked Tor what he got and
was Independent of all.
That was one reason why he was
such a fearless preacher. He was
not afraid of losing his salary if he
told people the truth, and if he
couldn't live in one place he could in
an other, and if he couldn't preach,
he certainly could practice, and he
was equally good in both. His tents
were as good as his sermons, and he
didn't have to eat any mans bread,
or be any mans puppet. Independent,
dignified, self-reliant, he is a magnifi-
cent example to scores of men who
are marching about from one church
door to another, begging for the privi-
lege of eating their bread and drink
ing their water.
Not that manual labor is the only
kind of labor. The fact that preach
er has white hands and wears good
clothes does not necessarily mean that
he is not laborer. Mental labor is
often more strenuous than digging
bitches. Precipitation of the body is
often a relief, where brain sweat is
slow suicide. Many a man in the
pulpit works harder than some men
in the foundry. The one pounds iron
and Ia able to shape it; the other
seeks to mould human hearts and
finds them harder than flint and as un
changeable as fate. He carries all sor
rows, bears all burdens, receives all
condolences, visits all perilous places
risks all diseases, responds to all calls
takes all rebuffs, and Is responsible
for a whole parish Of human beings
Work! 1t Is the common lot of man
. with pen or spade, with needle ol
yardstick. with hammer or plough
with type or sewing-machine, hare
labor for life is passed upon all men
Let us all put heart and interest ant
love into It. and so be happy with tht
dignity Of it. For as the old poet pu
1t, "Who sweeps room as in Gods
sight, makes that, and the actor
AuoH