to perform best? For he will see that every occupation which is useful, is honorable and praiseworthy in the sight of God, so it be honorably performed.
And since God intended that all men should be brethren, therefore there is a mutual dependence and a bond of brotherhood among the innumerable occupations of men, from that of the monarch on his throne or the president in his chair of state, down to the humble scavenger and sable chimney-sweep. They are all fraternally allied—bound together like the innumerable parts of the human body. Therefore every one who labors faithfully in his calling, should be respected in his use and according to his use.
The belief has been entertained even by professed Christians, that labor is a curse inflicted on mankind as a penalty for the transgression of the first human pair; and the literal sense of the Bible favors this idea. Hence the conclusion, that in heaven there can be nothing in the nature of work, since the curse must there be removed. Hence also the idea, hitherto prevalent even in Christian lands, that there is something degrading and servile in work; and that they are the special favorites of heaven, whose circumstances relieve them from the necessity of doing any kind of work,—as if idleness were bliss.
With all such fantasies the doctrine revealed through Swedenborg is seen to be directly at war. Its obvious tendency is to exalt and dignify all useful labor; to make industry everywhere honorable, idleness everywhere contemptible. It shows us that persons who neither have nor desire any useful work, are living a
