Yer. 10.- Words to a, worker. I. THE WORKER DESCRIBED: M~N. 1. F11rnished with capacities for work• . With bodily organs and mental endowments, with speech and rnnson. ~- Lo~ated in a sphere of work. The world a vast workshop, in which every crenture 1s busily emplciyed-not only the irrational.animals, but even things without life. 3 • .Appointed to the destiny of work. .As while sinless in Eden roan w(l.S set to dress the garden and to keep it, and after the Fall beyon~ its precincts he was commanded to till the ground and to earn his bread through the sweat of his brow, so is he still charged to be a worker, a Christian apostle even saying that '-' if ~a. man will not work neither shall he eat" (2 Thess. iii. 10). 4. ImpeUed by a desire of work. Under the compulsion of his own nature and of the constitution of the world, man is constrained to go forth in search of work, of labour for his hands, of: exercise for his mind, and generally of employment for his manhood. _ H. THE WORKER COUNSELLED. I. To do the duty that lies ·•neai·est. This the obvious import of the words, " Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it." To men in earnest about finding their life-work, the duties that lie nearest will commonly be the most urgent; and vice 'llersa, the duties that are most urgent will usually be found to. lie nearest. Among these will stand out conspicuously (I) the preservation of the body, (2) tho cultivation of the mind, (3) the salvation of the soul; while others _will assume their p!aces in the order of succession according to their importance,- 2. 1To_do every.duty with energy. "Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it .with tl,iy ·might.".. Half- hearted labour, besides wasting time, spoils the work and demoralizes the worker.. It is due to God, whose servant man is, to the importance. of the work in which he is engaged, and to himself as one whose highest interests are involved in all he does, that man ~hould labour with enthusiasm, diligence, and might. 3. To do each duty from an impulse of individual responsibility. "Whatsoever thy hand findeth· to do, that do thou!" As no man can tell what his neighbour's duty is in every instance, so can no man in any case devolve his duty •On another. "To every man his work I" is God's great labour law. If other workers are unfaithful, be not thou unfaithful. 4. To do all duties under a sense of the value of time. Remembering thfit this life is man's only opportunity of working, that it is-swiftly passing, that death is near, and that .there is ndther wisdom, knowledge, nor device in the grave whither man goes. . . Vers. 11, 12.-Time and chance for all. I. AN UNDENIABLE PROPOSITION-that the issues of life are incalculable. This truth set forth in five illustrations. 1. The race not to the swift. Sometimes, perhaps often, it is, yet not always or necessarily, so that men can calcula.te the issue of any contest. Just as swiftness of foot is no guarantee that a runner shall be first at the goal, so in other undertakings the possession of superior ability is no proof that one shall attain pre-eminence above his fellows. 2. The battle not to the strong. By many experiences Israel had been taught that "the battle is the Lord's (I Sam. xvii. 47), and that there is" no king saved by-the multi- tude of a host" (Ps. xxxiii. 16). Neither Pharaoh (Exod. xiv. 27), nor Zerab the Ethiopian (2 Chron. xiv4 12), nor the Moabites and Ammonites who came against Jehoshaphat (2 Chron. xx. 27), nor Sennacherib (2 Kings xix. 35)1 were the better for their innumerable armies; and though Napoleon waR wont to say that God was always en the side of the strongest battalions, instances can be citpd in sufficient .numbers to show that it is God who giveth the victory to kings (Ps. cxliv. 10), aod that he does not al ways espouse the side of those _who can Sll.tnJ?Oil the m?st warri~rs into t~~ field. 3. Bread not to the wise. Here again the sense 1s that while capacity and d1hgence are usually rewarded, yet the exceptions to the rule are so numerous W3 to prove that it carmot certainly be predicted that a man of sagacity will always bo able to secure 1
for himself the means of subsistence. 4. Riches not to men of y,nderstanding. At least not always. Men of talent, and even of industry, sometimes fail in amassing riches, and when they do succeed, cannot always keep the riches they hrwe amassed, CII. IX, 1-18.] ECCLESIASTES; OR, 'l'HE PHEACmm.