December 22

On Labor

Work is always healthier for us than idleness; it is always better to wear out shoes than sheets. PP128

There’s no shame about any honest calling; don’t be afraid of soiling your hands, there’s plenty of soap to be had. PT142

God sends every bird its food, but he does not throw it into the nest: he gives us our daily bread, but it is through our own labour. PT143

“To live a life of comparative ease and enjoyment shames me. To work to weariness seems nothing. After all, what are we doing compared with what he has done?” (1128.479)

“Man was not made for an idle life, labour is evidently his proper condition. Even when man was perfect he was placed in the garden, not to admire its flowers, but to keep it and to dress it. If he needed to work when he was perfect, much more does he require the discipline of labour now that he is fallen.” (1670.398)

“Amongst the sanitary and salutary regulations of the moral universe there is none much better than this—that men must work.” (1948.99)

“The religion of mere brain and jaw does not amount to much. We want the religion of hands and feet.” (2195.163)

“God sent the manna from heaven; but the people had to go out every morning, and get it in; and when they had gathered it, we read that they used to beat it in mortars, or grind it in mills, and bake it in pans, and make it into cakes. God is not the patron of idleness.” (2332.523)

“We cannot have any drones; we must have all working bees in the hive. I think it would be a good resolution for the Tabernacle to expel every member that is not doing something or other for the Lord Jesus Christ.” (3551.82)