ONE WITH US | AdventAI

Pacific Press Publishing Company · OAKLAND, CALIFORNIA · Jan 17, 1900

ONE WITH US.

In "The Life of the Master," by Dr. John Watson, in January's McClure's Magazine, we take this beautiful paragraph: "Among the factors which went to form the character of the Master one must not forget or belittle labor, since for at least fifteen years Jesus followed the trade of Joseph and wrought as a carpenter. One imagines Him fashioning the wood with much the same tools which are used in Nazareth this day, taking care that the last touch of perfection be not wanting, and casting away the labor of a day if it were faulty, carrying His finished work to some rich man's house, asking for His wage that He might relieve His mother's care, and leaving without it, to come back some other day. So the Master of us all has set the wholesome example of labor to all His disciples; so He has made Himself one unto all generations with them who toil and sweat; so He has dignified and sanctified honest work of every kind—from that of the hand laborer to that of the poet. They counted it a loss in His day that Jesus had not studied in the schools of the rabbis at Jerusalem; we are thankful that, instead, He worked with His hands at Nazareth, and that for His apostles He chose men whose nerves were calm and strong, whose minds were habituated to the slow, persevering methods of toil."