^ There is a certain beauty and power in the life that is lived and the labours that are wrought with a distant aim in view. There is no such thing as labour for remote ends in the brute creation, but in man you find it, and nothing distinguishes man from man more than the capacity to foresee and work toward a far-distant result. As Euskin says, " It is the far-sight, the quiet and confident patience that, above all other attributes, separate man from man, and near him to his Maker, and there is no action nor art whose majesty we may not measure by this test." ^
^ I know a man intimately who has been periodically solicited for loans of money during a long term of years, and who has generally acceded to the request. Of these loans he can recall only one instance of repayment ; but the instance is that of a boy whom he relieved in an emergency, and who has lived to be a comfort to his family. The one success has compensated the many failures. The bread which has been cast upon the waters has come back only in fragments ; but the fragments have been so precious that they have justified the cost.^
3. However long in coming, the reward will come. "Thou shalt find it after many days." Our work shall not be unavail- ing, our bark shall not be shipwrecked. To do any work with ardour, thoroughness, and perseverance we must have a strong assurance that it will succeed, and in the noblest work we have that assurance. The seed that was sown generations ago is bearing fruit to-day, and it shall be so once more with the seed we sow. The ship that we sent forth with trembling, that is never reported from any foreign port, that is never spoken by a passing sail, that sends no message in sealed bottle on the waves, that is frozen fast in abysses of frost and darkness, shall never- theless return, bringing treasure beyond all ivory, pearls, or gold. On celestial cliffs we shall hail argosies that we fitted out and sent
* J. S. Maver. * G. Matheson, Thoughts for Lift't Journey, 282.
PS. CXIX.-SONG OF SOL. — 26
402 GIVING AND RECEIVING
over stormy seas. " Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord ; . . . they rest from their labours, and their works do follow them."
^ Dr. Dwight of America tells how, when the country near Albany was newly settled, an Indian came to the inn at Lichfield, and asked for a night's shelter — at the same time confessing that from failure in hunting he had nothing to pay. The hostess drove him away with repro£i.chful epithets, and as the Indian was retiring sorrowfully — there being no other inn for many a weary mile — a man who was sitting by directed the hostess to supply his wants and promised to pay her. As soon as his supper was ended, the Indian thanked his benefactor, and said he would some day repay him. Several years thereafter the settler was taken a prisoner by a hostile tribe, and carried off to Canada. His life was spared, however, though he himself was detained in slavery. But one day an Indian came to him, and giving him a musket, bade the captive follow him. The Indian never told where they were going, or what was his object; but day after day the captive followed his mysterious guide, till one afternoon they came suddenly on a beautiful expanse of cultivated fields, with many houses rising amongst them. " Do you know that place ? " asked the Indian. " Ah, yes — it is Lichfield " ; and whilst the astonished exile had not recovered his surprise and amazement, the Indian exclaimed, " And I am the starving Indian on whom at this very place you took pity. And now that I have paid for my supper, I pray you go home." ^
There is no labour lost
Though it seem tossed
Into the deepest sea.
In dark and dreary nights,
'Mid stormy flash of lights,
It Cometh back to thee.
Cometh not as it went,
So strangely warped and bent,
But straight as an arrow new.
And though thou dost not know
How right from wrong may grow,
From false the true —
Thou must confess ere long
Sorrow hath broke forth in song —
That life comes out of death,
The lily and rose's breath
^ J. Hamilton, The Royal Ffeacher, 19&
ECCLESIASTES xi. i 403
From beds where ugly stains
Were washed below by earthly rains.
Fear not to labour, then,
Nor say, " I threw my time away ! "
It is for God, not men,
To count the cost and pay.
After that the Judgment
«os
Literature.
Campbell (L.), The Christian Ideal, 134.
Dawson (G.), Sermons on Daily Life, 105.
Dewhurst (F. E.), The Investment of Truth, 257.
Farrar (F. W.), In the Days of Thy Youth, 88.
Greenhough (J. G.), in Comradeship and Character, 59. .
Griffith-Jones (E.), in Comradeship and Character, 133.
James (J. A.), Sermons, i, 348.
Jowett (B.), College Sermons, 127.
Kingsley (C), True Words for Brave Meri, 148.
Lamb (R.), School Sermons, ii. 1.
Morgan (G. E.), Dreams and Realities, 55.
Thomas (J.), Sermons (Myrtle Street Pulpit), iii. 381.