From a piece by Amy Henry in WSJ Online:
Much like modern work is separated into white and blue collar, 17th-century tradition held that sacred occupations (like priest or monk) trumped secular ones (like farming or blacksmithing).
The Puritans, however, rejected such a distinction.
Holding to "Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with your might" (Ecclesiastes 9:10), the Puritans sanctified the common, believing that all work, however lowly, if done for the glory of God, was good. …
The farmer's plow became his altar, his tilling an act of service to God every bit as holy and valuable as the priest's, reminding the unemployed that temporarily taking a step down in pay or status does not equate to failure.
Amy Henry, Idle Hands: Some Puritan Advice for the Unemployed, Wall Street Journal Online, Nov. 19, 2009 (extra paragraphing added).
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