The inevitable drift of this emphasis on the working experience of Jesus has swept admiration away from the monastic life. The "religious" are not those who shun the world of toil in order that they may gain the world of personal peace and salvation. The modern saint is not a Simon the Stylite. Saint Francis of Assisi projects himself into the admiration of the twentieth century because he was a worker rather than a recluse. The attitude toward monasticism among the healthier and more energetic peoples goes further than this: there is a feeling that in the last analysis the religious hermit is spiritually selfish. That is deemed a poor kind of religion which forsakes a world in order to save one's soul. The argument that the recluses may render the world the service of constant prayer does not appeal to those who know that work is itself a form of prayer; and that in Jesus prayer and work lived together in harmony. A better understanding of the religion of Christ demands that its followers shall be socially efficient. If Jesus is to be the world's example, more and more men and women will find in their legitimate toil one of the sacraments of life. Already we have come to feel that the Bible doctrine of work, especially as that doctrine is incarnated in Christ, lays stress upon the man as well as upon his task. It asks, "What is the man doing with his work?" It also asks, "What is the work doing with the man?" The reflexes of activity often become a topic of teaching. Paul said that the man reaps the harvest of his own sowing. Jesus said, "With what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again." This is much as if he had said that in the upper realms of living action and reaction are equal and in opposite directions. He told his disciples that, if they pronounced the benediction of peace upon a house unfit or unwilling to receive it, the benediction should return to them again. The meaning is that no work done with the right spirit can really fail. The poets give this idea currency. George Herbert declares that a servant with the proper clause in his creed makes "drudgery divine": Who sweeps a room as to thy law Makes that and the action fine. He had already implied that such a servant made himself fine. Mrs. Browning emphasizes the need of a serious purpose in work when she uses her picturesque description: I would rather dance at fairs on tight rope Till the babies dropped their gingerbread for joy, Than shift the types for tolerable verse, intolerable To men who act and suffer. Better far Pursue a frivolous trade by serious means Than a sublime art frivolously.