Work--the Grand Cure

“And about the eleventh hour he went out, and found others standing idle, and saith unto them, Why stand ye here all the day idle?” Surely in some ways it would seem again to be “about the eleventh hour,” and surely we may ask again of any of us to whom it applies: “Why stand ye here all the day idle?” In our great need for emphasizing some of the things which the Ten Commandments tell us not to do, we may sometimes forget some of the things which they positively instruct us to do, among them: “Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work.” It is nowhere recorded that the Creator of this world intended man to live without labor; it is nowhere recorded that any of us is exempt from the injunction to work, unless for good and unavoidable cause. Of course there are always among us those who, by reason of age, have finished their more active years and have earned their rest; and there are those who, by reason of incapacity or misfortune, are unable, at one time or another, to pursue their labors. But for those of us who are able and in the active years of life to refrain from performing useful service without good cause, perhaps because we have the means to live without working, or perhaps because we have the assurance that someone wise will take care of us whether we work or not, or for some other no better reason, would seem clearly to be out of keeping with both the spirit and the letter of divine intent, of social obligation, and of good sense. And it would seem that there would be few among us who at all times would want to contribute to the needs and progress of the world, each according to his strength and abilities, whether of mind or of hand, of thought or of sinew. Some centuries ago it was written: “God sells us all things at the price of labor.” And happiness and contentment and sweet sleep are among those things which are rarely purchased at any other price. “Work,” said Thomas Carlyle, “is the grand cure for all the maladies and miseries that ever beset mankindhonest work, which you intend getting done.” And if there be any of us who are idle and miserable and who wonder what is wrong with us and with the world and with things in general, it may be well for us to try the “grand cure” thus recommended”honest work, which we intend getting done.” “Why stand ye here all the day idle?”