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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-