The citizen. [volume] (Berea, Ky.) 1899-1958, 1910-09-29
SERMON OF PRES. FROST
In Chapel Sunday evening, Sept 25-First of a Seris
NAIL AND HAMMER SERMoN-No. I.

and made him the master there, gave
him dominion. But It was not a do
minion OF idleness. The man was
TO dress the garden, and to keep 1t,
and TO tame the beasts, and subdue
the earth. That was Paradise.
Paradise does not mean lying abed.
Paradise does not mean sucking al
orange that grew OF itself. Paradise
does not mean having somebody 10
wait upon you. Paradise means dress
ing and keeping Gods garden. II
means subduing the earth. 1t means
activity. creation. bringing things to
pass. Paradise means work.
How different from this Bible idea
is the idea of shoddy arlstocracy.
You hear people talk as though la
Dor were a disgrace. Let oxen and
black folks work" they say, "our
people are too good to work. Our
hands must be kept soft, (they don't
say so much about keeping them clean
and we must sit on the porch and
fold our hands in idleness, and let
others toll, or let the work be undone.
We are above working; we count
work a disgrace"
You hear such things said, and you
see these idle people sitting listless
and unemployed, while the garden
fence falls down, and the clothes are
unmended. and no hand will be lift
ed until they wake up actually hungry
in the morning and cut just enough
fire-wood TO cook a breakfast, and
then down they sit again idle on the
porch. What do you think about &c?
Is labor a disgrace, or is iddleness
a disgrace? Which?
Paul did not think 1t a disgrace 10
earn his living making tents. These
hands" he tells us, these hands
have ministered to my necessities"
Jesus Christ did not feel ashamed
that his father was a workman, a
carpenter.
But the pleaders for idleness have
other claims. Those who do not say
that work is a disgrace say that la
Dor is a hardship. Here come the
foolish mothers who say that work
will be too hard for their tender
daughters, and that labor will break
the playful spirits Of their young
sons. Here come the young people
themselves saying 1--WE want to have
a good time. We can't bear to be
harnessed down to work"
The answer is that work is not a
hardship but a Joy. God made us 10
work, and except as our nature is
perverted we find in work our chief
happiness. The true enjoyment Of
rest and recreation comes only when
there has been work before II. How
can a man rest unless he has worked?
How can a man relax unless he has
first frightened the nerves OF exer-
ton? How can young people have a
holiday unless there has been school
time well spent before IL? "lf all
the days were vacant holidays TO play
would be as tedious as to work." He
who spends all his time in bed be-
comes a sick man II he was not sick
before. The JOY OF rest and play come
only when they alternate with serious
toll. Without the toll they become
a disease and dissipation.
And II is the fact as / believe,
that when we have the properly bal
anced life, with its alienation Of toll
and rest, and its due proportion Of
work and play. there is greater joy
in the work than in the play. greater
satisfaction in the hours Of toll than
in the hours of rest. Let me appeal
to your own highest experience. Play
is good after serious exertion. Let
the animal spirits have their fling.
Jump the rope, play the game, romp,
pour out the lemonade, laugh and be
gay. Let the hour be filled with all
harmless and beneficial sport. II is
good, and in its place and measure
better than anything else we could
have. Now compare your experience
in that hour of mirth with your
experience in a creative hour Of toll
in which you have solved a problem
in Arithmetic, or mastered a tune at
the organ. or grated a fruit-tree in
the garden. Both experiences are
good-the mirth and the toll. Each
is helped by the other-the mirth
prepares you for the toll and the toll
prepares you for the mirth. But If
you could weigh them and balance
them, the hour of wholesome mirth,
and the hour OF creative toll, the
hour OF toll would be the better OF
the two.
And so Of work and rest. How sweet
is the hour Of rest after exertion. To
come back to the quiet porch; to
meet the dear ones from whom you
have been separated since the noon
hA GRIN IF