The world in general is beginning to see that there is no pleasure or satisfaction in idleness. It is realizing that fruitful activity is necessary to well-being and happiness. The false god of a well-fed, contented laziness has a much smaller throng of worshipers than it once had. The ever rising force of spirituality in the world to-day is causing intelligent people everywhere to try to raise the standard of work and of working conditions. There is tumult and discontent as avarice and love of power are challenged, on the side of both labor and capital; but the thin edge of the wedge is firmly inserted, and though the work is far from accomplished, yet the destruction of injustice, slavery, and oppression is certain. It will be consummated when the hearts of men and women are made ready for it, when employer and employed alike recognize the government of the one divine Mind, in which there is no sense of competition, strife, or envy, and under whose government it is recognized that there is enough and to spare for each and all.
The fear of want and the consequent desire to hoard and accumulate matter for one's personal defense is at the root of more sickness than is recognized at first sight. The dread of losing work, of some day being without employment, seems to be a fear at the hearts of thousands of men and women to-day. With this fear, so apparently widespread, enhanced by so much that is said and written about present conditions in the labor market,—history repeating its tale of trouble and scarcity,—and with all the manifold false witnesses called up by the fearful to corroborate their statements, it is not surprising that Christian Science is being called upon to do a vast amount of healing on this question of work and supply.
Jesus said, "I must work the works of him that sent me;" and he also said, "My Father worketh hitherto, and I work." If work inheres in divine Principle, God, then it must be forever manifested by the idea of Principle, spiritual man. Work, then, is a necessity of man's existence. But what is man's real work, that work which he was created to do? What is his work "in earth, as it is in heaven"? It is plain that the intelligence of divine Mind could never possess a useless idea. Each and every idea in Mind has its rightful purpose, its rightful use and service, its rightful place. If it were not so, the goodness and wisdom of the creator would be impugned, because there would then be no order, no beauty or intelligent purpose in the divine creation. There is but one work: it is the work of reflecting God, of expressing the nature of God; and it is wholly a spiritual activity. It must not be mistaken for its material counterfeits, toil and labor. It is the untiring action of the restful Mind, perpetually peaceful, forever joyous and free.
