In the language of affairs the word labor has acquired a restricted sense which does an injustice to the word itself and to those associated therewith. In this sense labor is defined as meaning, "Those who labor; the laboring class collectively." In the United States a special holiday has been set apart under the designation of Labor Day. In order that the meaning of this day may be raised from matter into mind, it must be recognized that all labor is primarily mental, and that all who think productively belong to the classification of "those who labor." In this manner Labor Day acquires a meaning transcending class and condition. One step further in our metaphysical definition brings us to the recognition that the highest type of labor is the labor of love,—and wherein can human beings most assuredly perform this labor of love for their fellow men? The scientifically Christian answer indicates that the highest service to others is to ascend one's self out of the valley of mist into the radiant heights of Truth, thereby drawing others unto the light.

Man as the exact image and likeness of God thinks invariably in accord with perfect Mind; indeed cannot think otherwise, for there is nothing imperfect in the divine Mind. The unreflecting human may argue that these statements are academic and superfine, hence of no practical value. But at this point divine Science becomes Christian Science through its application to human needs, for human footsteps must be taken in Christian Science. Here then is the answer to the cry of the sick and wounded, the shocked, the betrayed, the sinning, and the hopeless. Here is the supreme labor of love. Behold, the truth can be realized here and now and thereby failing strength can be restored, blurred vision cleared, hate replaced by love, and sorrow wiped away by joy.

The reward of labor corresponds to the quality of labor. If the sowing of the seed has been a labor of love, the harvest will satisfy abundantly. If the builder communes with God when he lays the foundations of the house, his labor of love will withstand the attempts of hate or jealousy to undermine it. As the psalmist sang: "Except the Lord build the house, they labour in vain that build it: except the Lord keep the city, the watchman waketh but in vain." The sentinel who does not love the army of truth and liberty may go to sleep at his post; the merchant who dislikes or mistakes his vocation fails to serve his customers properly; the housekeeper who cannot make of her occupation a labor of love cannot make a happy home for others. So the child who cannot be interested in school work wishes to play truant in order to find something he can enjoy. The fruit tree yields "fruit after his kind, whose seed is in itself." In human experience seeds of fear, envy, self-pity, revenge, produce bitter fruit and sour grapes; but in the absolute Science of real being the seed is of good quality only and the fruit good. In "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" (p. 507) Mrs. Eddy has written: "Creation is ever appearing, and must ever continue to appear from the nature of its inexhaustible source. Mortal sense inverts this appearing and calls ideas material. Thus misinterpreted, the divine idea seems to fall to the level of a human or material belief, called mortal man. But the seed is in itself, only as the divine Mind is All and reproduces all—as Mind is the multiplier, and Mind's infinite idea, man and the universe, is the product."

In Christian Science the approach to the solution of the problems of mankind is through the realization of Truth. Therefore the work of healing and regenerating becomes a labor of love. Those who sit in darkness are sufficiently punished by that darkness. The light brings them deliverance; their prayerful desire is answered; they themselves become laborers in God's vineyard and the cycle of good, in the unity of good, continues "yielding fruit after his kind, whose seed is in itself." These "are they, which in an honest and good heart, having heard the word, keep it, and bring forth fruit with patience."

To lift the concept of labor out of matter into joyous mental activity will answer pending questions of church and state, school and factory. Much contention arises to-day from the mistaken concept that labor must be drudgery, must be ill requited and forced upon unwilling masses. But behold the labors of those who seek distraction, the endless pains people will give themselves to pursue what they crave, the hardships faced by the explorers, by those who love nature enough to wrest its secrets from it, by students of recondite subjects! Think of the mothers of children, whose work is never done; the nurses watching beside the sick; the generals in the field, and especially the reformers working to save the world, while the world knows them not!

God is on the side of honest labor. His law sustains it, gladdens it, makes it fruitful. His reward is sure. Mrs. Eddy writes on page 384 of Science and Health: "Let us reassure ourselves with the law of Love. God never punishes man for doing right, for honest labor, or for deeds of kindness, though they expose him to fatigue, cold, heat, contagion. If man seems to incur the penalty through matter, this is but a belief of mortal mind, not an enactment of wisdom, and man has only to enter his protest against this belief in order to annul it."

Let this then be the preeminent labor of love to-day, to ease the burden of those "that labour and are heavy laden" by cheerfully rising through demonstration into the heights. Thus will Labor Day and every day be a veritable day of love for all mankind.

William D. McCrackan.