The Republican journal., 1920-03-04
The Gospel Of Work.

are we to have voorhees, WOrld2
Such a question may seem absurd. but
conditions with which we are all familiar
make it reasonable one. What these
conditions are does not call for extended
discussion here. The disposition to cur
tail labor and increase wages is met on
every hand. The air is full of it. Mr.
Hoover tells US that the chief trouble in
Europe arises from refusal to work. In
our own country, while wages are stead
NY increasing, the workers as steadily
reduce their output. People grumble
about the high cost of living and proceed
to demand more pay in order to meet the
higher prices. If production increased
with wages, conditions would be less Sc
rlous; but when per capita production
steadily declines while the demand in
creases, the situation becomes critical.
rev stop long enough to consider where
all this is to end. If it does not culmi-
nate In financial smash which will
Drlng misery to multitudes, then all signs
fail.
Numbers OF people seem to be convinc-
ed that when men no longer are compell-
Cd TO work the millennium will be here
Probably they would admit that the body
must have exercise if muscles are not to
grow tlabby and the whole physical sys-
tenn suffer. If man would retain the
measure of strength of which he is DOS
sessed, he must exercise. Does someone
say that this necessary exercise NAV be
found in plays. Temporarily, yes. But
play is relaxation from toll not the bust
ness of life. If there were no work. play
would become deadly dull. Golf is
noble game; but think of being condemn
ed to play golf eternally
Man is more than body. He dreams
dreams and sees visions of that which
waits to be done and which can be ac-
complished only by toll. Homes are to
be built and rivers bridged and mines
opened and farms titled. He is less than
a man who has never felt the lure of that
which is ''hid behind the mountains"
that which needs to be done in order
that this earth may be better place in
which to live. The Joy found in over
coming obstacles or in creative industry
is far beyond any that comes from idle
ness One of the deepest satisfactions
that true man knows is in doing things
that are worth while
We are told that in the past there has
been wicked exploitation of labor. True,
and it has extended into the present
Little children have been compelled to
play. Women have labored at tasks far
beyond their strength. Men have been
robbed of the home life to which they
have right and made prematurely old
by severe and unremitting toll. Thu
present effort to reduce the amount
labor to the minimum is doubtless a
action against conditions that never
ought to have been allowed to exist.
This is no plea for grinding, body-de-
stroying and soul-destroying bondage to
toll under which, many times, men have
been compelled to live.
This reaction must not be allowed to
land us in anarchy, as it bids fair to do if
not controlled We are not compelled to
make choice between labor that kills and
no labor at all. Stretching between
these two extremes are broad fields of
sensible and fruitful toll: toll that neither
breaks the body nor shrivels the soul:
toll that ennobIes.
We sometimes imagine that this dispo-
sition to shirk work has extended to the
church in spite of multiplied forms of or
ganization and of movements" Not
few church members refuse to share in
the labor which must be devoted to the
Kingdom of God if the church is to make
any impact upon the non-Christian
world. Who has not heard some such
remark as this: II have work d in the
church for years; now l am going to
rest|' What pastor finds all his people
ready to shoulder responsibility accord
ing to the need and to their strength?
This is more than an economic ques-
ton; it has moral, even religious, ele-
ment Is it Gods will that men should
live in idleness? If SO, why did he make
US as he did? Why did he Course the
ground for mans sake? Why did Jesus
! toll at the Carpenters bench or declare,
My Father worked hitherto and |
work.? The poet has sung,
This is the gospel of labor;
Ring it, We bells of the kirk!
The Lord Of love came down from above
10 live with men who work.
This is the rose he planted,
Here in the thorn curst soil:
Heaven is b!est with perfect rest,
But the blessing of earth is toll"
This is good theology with the exception
OF the line next to the last. Heaven will
not be heaven unless God gives US some
thing to do there.-The Baptist, Chicago,
Illinois,
SOUND DOCTRINE.