The old system
of Guilds, in which the apprentice was under the master's direct care,
had gone and nothing had been put in its place.
The value of Carlyle's teaching lies in the fact that he insisted
upon the sanctity of work. "All true work is religion," he said, and
the essence of every true religion is to be found in the words, "Know
thy work and do it."
The best test of the worth of every nation is to be found in their
standard of life and work and their rejection of a life of idleness.
"To make some nook of God's Creation a little fruitfuller, better,
more worthy of God; to make some human hearts, a little wiser,
manfuler, happier--more blessed, less accursed! It is work for a
God. . . . Unstained by wasteful deformities, by wasted tears or
heart's-blood of men, or any defacement of the Pit, noble, fruitful
Labour, growing ever nobler, will come forth--the grand sole Miracle
of Man, whereby Man has risen from the low places of this Earth, very
literally, into divine Heavens. Ploughers, Spinners, Builders,
Prophets, Poets, Kings: . . . all martyrs, and noble men, and gods
are of one grand Host; immeasurable; marching ever forward since the
beginnings of the World."[5]
[Footnote 5: Carlyle, _Past and Present_.]
Carlyle was, above all things, sincere; he looked into the heart of
things, and hated half-beliefs. Men, he said, were accustoming
themselves to say what they did not believe in their heart of hearts.
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