Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1910-06-13
| BACCALAUREATE.
Rev. ". J.MCNeiI Preach
es to Winslow High
Seniors Sunday Morning al
Congregational Church.
Gives Able Sermon Upon 1.-THE
Religion Of Honest Toll"

| @Nhooi was ueilNefeo SUNDAY mOfnins
at the Winslow Congregational church
by the pastor Rev. w. +. Mcneil. Til,
service was well attended and specia
music was furnished. solo being suns
ny Mrs. W. j. Mcneil. The member.
OF the graduating class occupied seat.
in the front of the church. The ser.
| mon was as follows:
! Let every man wherein he is call
ed. therein abide with God" Cor. |
7:24
| Labor ipse voluptas." Labor itsel,
is pleasure). Fail to extract the honey
from the flower of toll and life becomes
a burden. Get the false perception that
what you are doing is beneath youl
dignity and you rob yourself of the
| joy and spice of all labor Work is
art when skilfully performed, and art
is always pleasure to the artist. Be
come AN adept. an artist. and that mo-
| ment mans work becomes music 10
| his ear. rest to his mind, medicine to
| his nerves, an uplift to his soul, and
| an important adjunct to the building
up1'of his character. Many a man
ilVlnS III proSy place. and perform
| ing prosy acts. has been able to trans
form mis- task into poetry. and by a
deft touch. change the common
place into the glory of the unusual,
TO The Greek we 3re indebted for
classic perfection They took inert
| and iifelcss marble and gave it an ex-
| preston. grace and finish which has
| ever delighted and amazed the world
| By their genius. marble grew into such
| cOfuaIinpSS that mankind 1lala nj Z hot
| it had been animated by rays of
| Divine wisdom. 1t is as man carries
that same idea of beauty and perfec-
| ton mp into all labor that man forgets
his toll and works for pleasure All
work is dignified passion when that
passion produces in the mind the
Divine Interpretation. Have born in
the mind the Divineness of work and
labor becomes a lyric poem, a flaming
profession, a life of harmonious rela-
tions. Loose the glory and inspira-
ton of labor and man at once throws
down his tools and seeks slaves or
servants to perform his work, while he
lounges, drinks, and hates life. Go
back 200O years at the beginning of the
Christian era. In those days man was
| measured by his occupation. The so
cial standing was decided by what he
did The domestic was branded with
the mark of drudgery. On the other
hand 4 man could keep wine shop. a
gambling den, OF even Il house of Hire
pute and not be declared from the as
| scciation of royal blood. In the midst
| of this unfair social distinction the
| Gospel of Jesus Christ was launched,
and declared equality. 1t said. Art
| thou called. being a servant, care not
| for IT: foI he that is called in the Lord.
being a servant is Gods free man."
| II was Christ who blessed all labor,
| lifted the common laborcr out of his
disgrace, and sent him into the world
crowned with glory and honor. The
gospel teaching is this, not SO much
whore YOU happen to be, as how you
are to perform your task where you
are Exalt the position which YOU
hold, and by it you eXalt yourself a
man may disgrace himself and his call
ing in being a lawyer, doctor, or a
minister. He may also do work with
hoe and shovel so as to tempt the kings
| on their thrones to want to leave their
| crowns behind and come out and share
their task.
Nothing has driven our boys from
| our beautiful New England hills to an
uncertain livelihood in the city like the
slovenly slip shod farming of our fore
| fathers Those boys thought that it
was farming that they hated, when if
was only the manner of farming which
disgustet' them. Those boys had brains
and it was thought in those days that
| a man must seek other callings than
farming The boy had no books, not
| even books on farming He learned
from his father what he in turn had
| had imparted to him by former genera
| tions. The farm in the past has been
| cursed for want of intelligence, III
| everything else man studied to excel
Go into lawyers office and there
YOU viii find a man pouring over
| Greenief on Evidence, Benjamin or
Sales, Dilan on Pleas. Washburn on
Real Property. He mastered those
and then went out to work up his
cas... So in all professions. But com
| ING to farming, it was 50 different. on
" eternity will ever reveal the trag-
edies of the farm through lack of in
| telliscnt training.
The country is Gods given home to
man. our boys should be trained
| toward the grandeur of the rural life.
What we need is a few more Luther
Burt anks TO wrest the soil from dis
grace. and change the waste places of
| the earth into gardens fit for the Gods
If our boys knew more Of bugology,
pomology. ORTHODOXY. perhaps there
would be less need for the study OF
| theology. The whole country is full of
thought for the live boy with an open
mind You can't hold the boy. and
| keep the door to his mind closed. Give
| our bows a library that will whet their
appetities. and open the shutters SO
that they may look into Gods world
where they may see angels in every
Made of grass, and God in every fall
ing into the ground TO rise multiplied
and elorified, and you can't drive the
bows away from their rural homes
God is saving to every graduate of our
American schools. Awake, thou that
sleepest," We are in world OF beau
~. OILY We are not trained TO see it
David lived a very dull life. some
would say. yet on Bethlehem Hills he
looked out toward the star and said
1.-THE heavens declare the glory OF
God, and the armament showeth his
ihandivork While others were saying