5
bread. God has wisely given those things as
the reward of, and inducement to, that which is
itself necessaryy has wisely given the objects
and furnished the immediate necessity for the
exercise of our physical and mental powers.
Only a very slight further modification of our
surroundings would have been sufficient to have
annihilated the many inexorable physical neces
sities which now summon us to a life of labour ;
but inasmuch as the whole material world has
been left just in such a nicely-balanced condition
as to demand for its utilisation the healthy
exercise, and no more, of all our faculties,
it is evident that in the Creator’s design the
grand object of all labour is the improve
ment of the labourer. By its own labour
everything tends to the perfection of its kind.
Besides the simple pleasure in work, for
which alone it is often undertaken, and the
material value which productive labour creates,
our faculties are silently but surely taking to
themselves from every action which they per
form aright that which is superior to both.
When work is finished, when its tangible pro
duce is consumed, and the evanescent joy in
the performance of it has vanished, more last-