The Dignity of Labor

The ceaseless movement of the wheel of time brings our annual Labor Day with its appeal to all who think deeply of the welfare of their fellow-men. If these anniversaries teach us lessons worth remembering, each successive year should find us more responsive to their higher meaning. When Labor Day comes we hear a good deal about the dignity of labor, and yet we may question how many there are who could satisfactorily tell us in what the dignity of labor consists.

In an address to her students, our Leader once said, "Your work, well done, would dignify angels" (Miscellaneous Writings, p. 111), and is this not true of all worthy labor, whether manual or mental? There is no labor which does not call for some exercise of thought, and the more the intelligence expressed in a given task, the less toilsome it is and the greater the dignity of the work and the workman. The true workman really serves and expresses divine Principle, whether he scientifically understands this or not; and he finds that perfection is the imperative demand of Principle,—perfection in work and workman alike.

Longfellow's lines on the Alpine climber picture most vividly the man who ever presses on toward his lofty ideal, undaunted by the indifference of others, heeding nothing but the inspiration which urges his steps.

His brow was sad; his eye beneath
Flashed like a falchion from its sheath,
And like a silver clarion rung
The accents of that unknown tongue,
Excelsior!

How little is the demand expressed by this word recognized in the "endless toil and endeavor" of human existence.

The true end of all labor is the unfoldment of character, and if the Truth of being is kept in view the "workman of God" will never lose sight of his identification with the Divine purpose, and his work, whatever it be, can never be separated from a lofty concept of God and man.

Jesus' parable of the talents is a perpetual inspiration to all noble effort. We undoubtedly receive from divine Love in the ratio of our capacity, which should ever be enlarging. Why, then, should any man decide that he has but one "talent" and hasten to bury it in discontent, fear, or indolence? If our ideal is that of the highest service we may carry our talent into the world's great mart, and knowing that God reigns there and everywhere, we may prove that Christ's teaching respecting the reward of all honest labor, is true and demonstrable, whatever the material conditions surrounding us.

Like the Hebrew leaders of old, our Leader has shown "a genius for religion." She has also shown a genius for work. She has ever kept before her followers, both by precept and example, the divine demand for perfection which can only be met by expressing excellence in every least thing that we do. If her followers always keep these things in view, their hearts and hands will be strengthened by the inspiring promise of the Christ. "Behold, I come quickly; and my reward is with me, to give every man according as his work shall be."

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