In spirit life employments are such as are adapted to the condition of the individual, and if not conscious or wise enough to know, then the inferior spirit is acted upon by some power above that guides in the way best suited to their condition.

Some people say: "I should like to study art, chemistry, science, mathematics, if I only had time," and are dissatisfied with the labor of the hands that they must do, that precludes them, as they consider, from this loftier occupation.

One thing we would wish to express here: We consider no labor of life degrading save that which is performed under an enslaved condition of the mind. We consider no needful duty lower than any other duty, and they who are galled by the idea of menial labor because it is degrading, must in spiritual states learn the humility and the necessity of doing small things well ere they can have charge of the greater things in the Father's home. To pursue art merely because it is aesthetic, while the needed duty of the hour is neglected; for the young man or woman to play on the piano while the mother is a slave to the household, or to study higher mathematics because that is, seemingly, more exhalted than the making of bread or the plowing of the field, is not in our opinion an exaltation of labor.

To exalt labor you must do it with dignity yourself; you must make it dignified by the spirit you bring unto it. The great knowledge wrought in spiritual states is to exalt man's perception of the lowly duty.

The disciples washing the feet of the Master was not in vain; it was a spectacle of devotion. But the Master washing the feet of the disciples was an illustration of loving labor, or duty well performed; that nothing indeed is humiliating that is an office of love or duty.

In the grandeur of the spiritual kingdoms all labors are utilized, all employments are made sacred; all necessary, and needful, and helpful duties are registered as among the necessary offerings of life. He who has avoided labor of the hands in his earthly life, for the mere sake of idle display or still more idle pleasure, will doubtless find himself an attendant, spiritually, of the man of toil, seeking to make his burden less, ere the spirit of the one who has loitered here is able to advance. For such is the direct nature of spiritual law that he who has been the idler here, who has lived upon the labors of others, must undo that injustice or wrong, unlearn that lesson, before he can rise in spiritual states, or even begin to seek the knowledge that he covets. By this we do not mean that all should perform the same duties or labors here, but certainly none should be avoided from the motives that we have named!

If an artist can paint a picture better than anything else, he should be allowed to paint pictures. But there are certain necessary offices in every human life that human hands should perform, and he should never feel above the personal assistance that may be needed in daily life.

If a man can best study mathematics, and give to the world the benefit of the laws that govern the starry heavens, he should do this; but he should by no means be oblivious of the daily duties of life. He who is a true philosopher seeks the morning walk, the daily exercise of the hands, as best suited to the more healthful activity of bruin when the hour of labor is over.

The spiritual world affords the adaptation for toil, but not for idleness; affords the measure for employment, but not for shrinking or shirking any duty; affords constant and ever-living pressure toward the unfoldment of the active powers that are within, and, as stated before, if the individual requires the employment of the hands, as here, and requires that to satisfy him of daily and hourly existence, then he must needs aid some of those who are toiling in material ways to earn their daily bread.

There are many who, if turned loose into the spiritual or the other existence without compulsory labor which day by day occupied them here, would feel utterly lost. You have noticed in some instances of sudden wealth, where a man who has been accustomed to mining day by day with steady and unfaltering energy and hope, thoughts of the wealth he was trying to gain keeping him steadfast to bis daily toil, thai when suddenly overtaken with great wealth he becomes useless; he has no motive, no employment; he can only eat and drink and sleep, and eat and drink and sleep, until the body is worn with excess of material life.

Such is the spectacle, given for your benefit, of those who need constant employment; of those who, not having the culture of spirit or mind, must of necessity act under a dominant and all-pervading hope or conception e'er they can be useful. To such as these in spiritual life there is constant employment given. It is an employment, not of seeking for gold, but it may be the stimulating of some poor miner who is working day after day for the mere support of himself and household; it may be of augmenting the life of those who are still engaged in the perilous pursuit for gold. The pursuit of wealth constitutes, perhaps, one of the most stimulating influences to labor of human hands; but the attainment of wealth is something that is only permitted to the few. It is a dispensation of sorrow that only a few need, and you can thank God if it has not been yours.

For if you have not the exalted hope that leads to divine affection or charity, the wealth that would suddenly come upon you would be a visitation of physical malady, of great sorrow, and of moral turpitude. If there are those in your midst who are chosen to illustrate this law, read the lesson aright, and understand that while men may labor with great nobility for the attainment of wealth and a development of natural resources, still there could be scarcely a greater calamity befall an undeveloped mind, or even one more or less advanced, than the sudden possession of fabulous wealth, because the senses then assert their power. But while you are in the state of labor and the state of want there is room for the spirit to expand; the exaltation of expectancy gives buoyancy to your lives, and the grand scenery of nature around you uplifts from the degradation and sordid nature of the pursuit in which you are engaged. In spiritual states you can dig mountains for gold if you will, but you must do so to aid the spirit of some one who is upon the earth. Under the necessity of physical labor you may perform your daily vocation if you desire, but you must do so with the added motive of helping- some one else; for the hand is palsied and the brain becomes powerless and enfeebled of him or her who seeks merely for him or herself, employment. To while away an idle hour, to give new mental sensation, or to achieve something for the mere sake of the praise of others, does not con-stitute the occupation of spiritual existence.