Quote#Work
This is the gospel of labour, ring it, ye bells of the kirk!
Quote byHenry van Dyke · 1852–1933
Commonly attributed — not confirmed in an authoritative edition. Cited on Wikiquote to: The Toiling of Felix, Pt. III, st. 5. (1898).
English (original)
This is the gospel of labour, ring it, ye bells of the kirk! The Lord of Love came down from above, to live with the men who work. This is the rose that He planted, here in the thorn-curst soil: Heaven is blest with perfect rest, but the blessing of Earth is toil.
— Henry van Dyke
More from Henry van Dyke
Raise the stone, and thou shalt find me; cleave the wood and there am I.
And so, by night, while we were all at rest, I think the coming sped the parting guest.
So in the heart, When, fading slowly down the past, Fond memories depart, And each that leaves it seems the last; Long after all the rest are flown, Returns a solitary tone,—
What we do belongs to what we are; and what we are is what becomes of us.
A tear that trembles for a little while Upon the trembling eyelid, till the world Wavers within its circle like a dream, Holds more of meaning in its narrow orb Than all the distant landscape that it blurs.
The legend of Felix is ended, the toiling of Felix is done; The Master has paid him his wages, the goal of his journey is won; He rests, but he never is idle; a thousand years pass like a day, In the glad surprise of Paradise where work is …