HAT man is born to labor is certain.

Work is his lot, his inheritance from Adam, the common father

of all. When he fell from original justice, God said to him:

"In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread till thou return to the earth, out of which thou was taken."

After the fall, the dominion that God had given to man became of little use to him until he had made them his own by work. Without work, nature is wild and barren, but to the labor bestowed upon her she responds her she responds abundantly. The earth yields fruits a hundredfold in return for work; she parts with the treasures from her depths in reward for work; the restless ocean is tractable to work; living things are obedient to work. The nature and disposition of man himself impels him to work.

Hunger prompts him to work for food, nakedness prompts him to work for covering, exposure to wind and rain. prompts him to work for shelter, affection in his heart prompts him to work for his little ones.

Thus the whole scheme of human life turns upon work.

From Adam's time to the present day, no age or nation has been exempt, and it is the universal condition of the human race, that its food and its clothing, its shelter and its comfort, shall depend upon work.

To render this necessary work easier and more fruitful, man's reason and his social nature led to combination in work, and to division of labor. Men have unequal capacities. Some are endowed with strength of arm, others with dexterity of 'finger, some with swiftness of motion, others with keenness of intellect, some with force of will, others with facility of expression.

According to the diversity of work to be done, economy of power and the attainment of better results suggested that each should undertake the work most fitted for him.

Thereby order and system give to work a greater worth.

In the human frame-the hand, the foot, the brain, the heart, have separate functions, and combine to produce any result.

The hand need not be jealous of the foot, nor the foot of the brain, nor the brain of the heart, for all co-operate, and the functions of each are necessary for the well-being of the body. So is it with work generally.

In any mechanical undertaking, the mind that plans, the eye that supervises, the finger that deftly manipulates, the arm that puts forth its strength, are each necessary for the completion of the work.

The captain, the stoker and the helmsman are all essential for the sailing of the ship.

Hence in itself, provided that the work is done fittingly, no degradation at

taches to any kind of work. The real cause for misgiving is work ill done, whether of mind or of body, the real degradation is idleness.

To pass through a life in pleasure and luxury, to fritter away day after day in useless enjoyment, to live on the sweat of others without producing any useful work of hand or brain, this should bring shame to the heart. To abandon the powers of the mind or the manliness of the body, in order to be clothed in purple and fine linen and to fare sumptuously every day, is the offence of Dives, and surely merits his punishment.

Capacity for work then is a man's natural capital. It is a gift direct from God. God gives him strength of arm, or nimbleness of finger, or keenness of eye, or flexibility of voice, or subtleness of intellect, or force of will, or clearness of judgment. These, or whatever other qualities God has put into his body or soul, are the funds from which he has to support his life and secure his well-being.

Without work they are wasted, they become the buried talent for which the Master sternly exacts an account. Through work they are developed, their fruits increase and multiply. Take muscular strength in a dock laborer; his title to wage, his title to food, to clothing, to support of wife and children, arises from the power that God has put into his muscles, his natural capital.

So also a writer who shapes his thoughts into form, fixes them in words, and delivers them for the instruction or recreation of others, derives his support, and that of his family, from the qualities that God has given to his brain.

God provides the capital, and work makes it fruitful and bear interest. Even money and possessions are useless without some mental or bodily qualities, some natural capital, to turn them into account by work. So that

the means of support, the foundations of prosperity, the principles of success consist in the use and exercise of the faculties that God has given us, that is, in work.

MOREOVER, man's truest happiess in things of this life is derived from work, work that is within his capacity, not excessive, nor too continuous.

The delight of the eye is in seeing, the delight of the ear is in hearing, the delight of the muscular sense is in action, the delight of the mind is in thinking. Nature has provided an additional spur to the use of faculties, by endowing them with pleasure in their exercise. So that whatever a man is able to do he rejoices to do.

Hence there is a happiness in the very act of working, that is keener and more durable than the pleasures of recreation or idleness, which are fleeting and soon pall.

The Wise Man says: Nothing is better for man than to rejoice in his work; and that this is his portion.

I appeal to any worker by hand, be it one who has even the simplest work to do, and ask if he has any satisfaction. more gratifying than to look at his own work well done, orderly, clean. and ample.

Or to any brain worker, and ask if any delight is comparable to the gratification derived from work over his plan, or design, or essay.

Granting that a man is fitted for his work, whatever it may be, and that he accomplishes it to the best of his ability, the very work itself constitutes his main and continuous happiness in a temporal view. It is the exercise of the best power that God has given him, and it is natural to expect his chief pleasure from its use. Add to this the feeling that the power in use. is his own, the consciousness of independence, the consciousness of earning his own living, the consciousness that by his own personal exertion he is able

to gratify the strongest feelings of natural affection by bringing food, and clothing, and comfort to those he holds dearest on earth, his wife and little ones. Reflect on these things, and you will begin to see the worth of work.

Furthermore, work is the protection of moral and spiritual well-being. Idleness is the enemy of the soul, for it leaves the soul open to the enticements of passion. Envy and anger, gluttony and lust, find their opportunity in times of indolence.

Crimes are hatched in idleness. There is much truth in the old proverb: "Idleness is the mother of mischief." When the body is occupied, the attention of the mind is fixed, and all the grim spectres gotten by thought have no chance of entry.

Protect a man during intervals of leisure, and you secure his well-being, for in time of work he is safe.

As with individuals so is it with nations; the evils of society arise from absence of work, from the idle rich or the idle poor.

Decay and affluence, luxury and profligacy of an unoccupied upper class, revolution and rapine and destruction from an unemployed, sullen, ill-fed class.

Work is a protector alike to the State and the individual; it brings peace to both. A busy people is a thriving people, a busy man is a healthy man, healthy in soul and body.

B

ESIDES the benefits to the individual, work, if in any way useful, contributes to the general good of the whole community.

In producing any article, men seem to work for the master who pays the wage, whereas, in reality, they work for their fellowmen.

The immediate employer is only one in a hundred that are concerned in the work.

was cultivated by a Chinese workman; the planter paid him his wages, but the Chinaman worked for you.

A farmer sowed the corn that made your bread, and he worked for you. A miner hewed out the coal for your fire, and he worked for you.

The employer in each case has been merely an agent or intermediary.

The price that you pay for tea, bread or coal, is really the fund which provides the wage of the distant workman, which you pay through his employer for the article he has produced for you.

So, also, a part of the price that you pay is taken for the wages of the sailors of the ship, or the servants of the railway that conveys the article, as also of the shopman or dealer who retails it.

Hence the work on every article in use, whether bestowed on its production, or transit, or distribution, is not done for the employer, but for our fellow-men.

The labor problem may be resolved into the proper adjustment of the division of the price of each article-how much is justly due to the workman, how much to the tradesman, how much to the employer, how much to the capitalist. Each one has a share in the production of the article, and all work for the consumer, and take their wage or profit from the price he pays. Thus we are so thoroughly mixed up. and dependent one upon another that, in articles of daily use, we ourselves are employing labor all over the world. This gives a dignity and a worth to work that far transcends the contract between the workman and his immediate employer. Work not only brings a wage that supports the workman and his family, but by the article produced brings help and comfort to fellow-men, it may be in far distant lands.

the amount of wage to be paid for it? The main difficulty in solving this question arises from the variations in the cost of food, clothing and shelter, but there is a little doubt of the general principles that should regulate the worth in a Christian land.

¶ Man is an animal, and entitled to the consideration of an animal; he is an animal with reason, and he is entitled to the consideration of a rational being; he is a Christian and entitled to the consideration of a Christian. If a man puts into his work the strength of his body or the powers of his mind, he is entitled to have that body or mind kept in full health and vigor, and hence to periods of sufficient. rest and recovery; this surely, is due. to a horse, and without it neither man nor horse can continue to work. To preserve health and vigor he must have suitable shelter or home. Nature bids him to increase and multiply, and to take to himself a wife and to have children. His work, therefore, should provide means, for he has no other, for their decent and suitable support.

As a reasonable being he is further entitled to means for fulfilling responsibilities to himself; fair leisure and opportunity to cultivate his mind, to secure a fitting amount of amusement and recreation, to be forearmed against sickness, failing strength and old age; hence his wage should be sufficient to enable him, with ordinary care, to provide for these.

Furthermore, as a Christian working for Christians in a Christian land, his work should be so moderated that he can fulfil his Christian duties, and his wage should enable him not merely to take the necessary sleep and meals, but should give him leisure to attend to the service of God, to fulfil his Christian duties of a father toward his children, and to live in a Christian

manner.

If then a man gives all that is in him, his best ability of body or mind. to his work, it is worth, at least, such a wage as shall decently feed, clothe

and support himself and his family, enable him to discharge his ordinary Christian duties, and make some provision for sickness and age.

This is the lowest worth of a man's work, for if he is engaged in useful work, he expends his thought and his life's power for the general good, and not merely for the immediate employer, and justice requires that in the general arrangement of things, he should be placed in such a position that he can easily and cheerfully continue the work.

Remember that the real fund from which wage is paid is the price of the article produced.

If then the employer professes not to be able to give this least wage, or what is called living wage, it does not follow that the workman should be deprived of it. If it is a just wage he is entitled to it.

The inability of the employer to pay it signifies one of two things. It either means that the employer, or the capitalist, or the carrier, or the retail tradesman, or other agent, is taking more than a fair share of the price of the article, or it means that the price is too low.

Whatever may be the condition of trade or of prices, the living wage of workmen should never be interfered with, for it is the lowest worth of his work. See the noble horse straining every muscle to drag the heavy load along the street. The employer of labor, would, in the worst of times, think it cruel and unjust to deprive that horse of requisite nourishment. Then, surely, it is cruel and un-Christian to tempt men to work for such wage as will reduce them to a worse condition than the animal. To preserve to a workman his living wage, this lowest worth of his work, there is need of some tribunal of adjustment to ascertain whether any of the various agents, the employer, capitalist, carrier, or