Ceredo advance. [volume] (Ceredo, W. Va.) 1885-1939, 1910-11-16
Plying the
Laboring Man

some message for our toll
Ing brothers who are look.
Ing so earnestly. so pathetically for the
breaking of the day. The workers
think we are cut OF touch with them.
They say we are so snug in our assur-
ance OF golden city beyond the skies
that we have no thought or passion for
that city which Is to come down out OF
heaven from God to the people.
Whether that be true or not. II Is time
for us to bestir ourselves. to demon
strate that we are not our OF touch
with the masses; that In all their
struggles for juster conditions, for so
cial righteousness. for higher ideals.
the Christian church Is with the work
ers."
We wonder sometimes when this
sort OF thing Is going to stop. The
patronizing air which so many assume
when they begin to talk about the day
laborers Is enough to all those very
laborers with disgust In the first
place. lot Of sentimental pity Is be-
Ing wasted over the laboring man.
He asks none OF this. and 1t does him
no good when II is expressed. The
laboring man is the happiest man
alive. or course, there are few ex-
ceptions here, just as there are a good
many exceptions among those who
have received self-appointed place
among the gentlemen of leisure. Ma
ture has no blessing for that which
doesn't do anything. Everything Ia
life, activity, animation. When n
thing In nature no longer works we
call IL dead and begin to search for a
spade to bury II. Nor does God have
blessings for the idler. That isn't the
way he dispenses what Is in his hands.
He has mapped out six days OF every
seven for work, and II is the universal
human experience that, when his com
rades are kept, the keeper is the hap
pier, even though he doesn't labor the
six days for the sole purpose of being
obedient to the Lord.
Privilege Of the ToiIer.
The necessity for work Is inwrought
into the constitution OF things and
persons. The very fact that a man Is
a toiler puts him I'm line with one OF
the greatest commandments of God
In some places the conditions under
which he tolls ought to be improved.
radically improved. And here those
who have been trying to express pity
need to put their attention. II safety
devices can be installed where there
has been danger heretofore, II sun
shine can be admitted to drive out the
darkness and dry up the mold, II prop
er ventilation can make 1t healthier
for the toiling men and women. II I'M
provement can be made In the moral
surroundings, II children are kept out
OF body stunning and mind destroying
factories. and whole catalogue OF
other things remedied, there will be
no appreciable chasm between work
Ing men and women and other mortals
But this long drawn out strain over
working men, because they are work
Ing men. is out of harmony with the
whole makeup OF men and the pur-
pose of the Lord. The church which
lends itself to this kind OF music ia
losing it's opportunity and destroying
the possibility ever Of finding one
No Possible Gulf.
Again, there is not that impossible
gulf between the Christian church
and the common toilers which some
speakers and magazine correspond.
ents would have us believe. Some
topics for disquisitions are found in
the rich churches of New York, but
any such are misrepresentation OF
American Christianity as a whole.
The toiler six days In the week is the
backbone Of the church on Sunday
and during the week There Is no
better man in church than he who IL
engaged in honest industry during the
week Such a man is providing for
his family. Conscienuously, or uncon-
scientiously. he is obeying tho Sab
bath commandment. the great part of
which is to work six days on order to
appreciate n rest on the seventh day.
To claim that the toiling masses, put
ting the noun with It's modifler in quo
tatlon marks, are out OF touch with
the church, is a SANDER against these
men who work. There are some, 20 be
sure, who have a grievance, with or
without foundation; but we cannot
draw a universal conclusion from such
insuff cient data. The working man be-
longs to the church. and the church be.
longs TO the working man. and the two
belong to each other. and both belong
to God Religious Telescope.