p. 16 | Labor Is a Blessing

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Oakland, California · Sep 20, 1899

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 25, No. 38.

Labor Is a Blessing

It is a mighty error to think that labor is a curse. In a recent poem, Ella Wheeler Wilcox says:—

"The time has come, aye, even now it is, To rank that parable in Genesis, Of God's great curse of labor placed on man, With other fairy tales."

There is no curse of labor in Genesis. Idleness is a curse. Labor is a blessing. God said, "Cursed is the ground for thy sake." Its strength would be perverted; it would not give up its power to seed and plant. It would bring forth weeds and thorns. Why? —So that man would not, could not, lead a life of idleness. It would cost more labor to till the ground; and in the added labor would be added blessing. His curse was upon the ground; it was for man's sake, and the overcoming by labor was a blessing.