Southwest Washington labor press. [volume] (Hoquiam, Wash.) 19??-19??, 1925-09-11
LABOR SUNDAY OBSERVED
BY METHODIST CHURCH
Spiritual Values Must Be
Come Supreme In Minds
Of All Classes
Excerpts from sermon by Rev. j.
Randolph Sasnett

The church recognizes that we owe
debt to labor which we cannot fully
reckon. The head of the church was
carpenter. The Divince forces
were so potent in Him that the ages
have tended to take away the
humanity Of Jesus. Whatever CORES
pended to overalls, Jesus wore. See
Him with the shop window open.
working at his daily toll, with shaw
ings in his hair and sawdust on his
face. What were His thoughts as
He piled His trade? He probably
spent about eighteen years at that
trade and made some of the rakes,
yokes and plows that were used
around Nazareth. There were pieces
Of His workmanship in the homes
about there. And later in his public
ministry as the Son of God, people
were continually saying, How can
these things be, is not this the car
penter of Nazareth, the brother of
James" It was hard for them to
see God and the divine in the car
penter. 1t is still hard for the world
to see the Divine in labor.
Work Moulded His Life
Think how the work and labor of
Jesus affected His life. Think how
His carpenter work moulded the
symbolism Of His teaching. Take the
fourteenth chapter of John--the most
sublime of all literature, and see in
it the Carpenter who had builded
little huts for the residents of
Nazareth. In this chapter he says:
IT am not concerned with those little
huts any longer, am going away
to build a mansion--to prepare a
place for you--a place for the souls
of men.
Take the figure of the yoke. Jesus
had made Jokes for the oxen of His
day. He had smoothed them down
so that there would be no rough
places. Now He is saying, "Take my
yoke upon you for my yoke is easy
and my burden is light" Jesus
strove for excelleney in the Jokes
which He made. His work moulded
His life. Just so the work Of every
man will have a reaction on him that
will largely make or unmalze the man.
Spiritual values must come to be
supreme in the minds of the men we
call operators, capitalists, and also
in the minds of the men we call the
working class. So long as the dollar
mark is lifted up and the capitalist
is saying, sBy this sign we conquer"
and as long as Labor is saying I'm
this god we trust" 50 lang our &C.
onomic order will be pagen. The
labor that does not first make the
man is the unmaling of the social
order. The foundation Of nothing is
secure unless it is in accordance with
the welfare and well-being Of hui
mainly.
Standard of Morals
We talk about the double standard
in morals. We need single standard
of morals and ethics in business and
in all the forms Of service. The
groceryman has no right to traffic in
the education of the children. The
same is true of the minister who is
in the ministry for the dollar. His
voice is without authority where the
sacrificial element is lacking. But
the minister has just as much right
to preach for money as the business
man has to serve society for exhor-
bitant profits. The Carpenter of
Nazareth has sanctified all labor by
setting up the standard Of service as
the motive Of all human effort.
The passion for excellence held
sway when the gun was handmade and
when the pillow was hammered out by
the village smith. Il Is hard in this
industrial age to bring the passion for
excellence to labor when many men
are only machines. But lager helped
to make such men as Franklin and
Lincoln. They wrought IN their char
acter the texture Of excellence cut Of
their work. The man who Sights
his work because Of poor wages Is
doubly cheated: first, By his employer
and then by himself. One cannot