Vers. 9 (latter part), 10.-Good workmanship-ourselves and our tools. Thie much- debated passage may suggest to us some lessons which may not have been in the mind of the Preacher, but which are appropriate to our time and our circumstancea. The question of how much work a man can do is one that depends on two things-on his own strength and skill, and on the quality of the tools he is using. A weak and untried man with poor tools will not do half as much as a strong experienced man with good ones in his hand. I. THE FIELD OF WORK. This is very broad; it includes not only: 1. All manual labour, to which the passage more immediately applies; but: 2. All business trans- actions, all household activities, all matters or government in which men are often '' the tools" with which work is done. And it includes that to which our attention may be especially directed: 3. All Christian work. 'l'his is a great field of its own, with a vast amount of work demanding to be done. Here is work (1) of vast magni- tude ; (2) of great delicacy; (3) of extreme difficulty, for it means nothing less than that change of condition which results from a change of heart and life. In view of this particular field we regard- Il. THE CONDITIONS OF GOOD WORKMANSHIP. And these are: 1. Good tools. Of these tools are: (1) Divine truth; and to be really good for the great purpose we have at heart we need to hold and to utter this truth in (a) its integrity, not presenting or exaggerating one or two aspects only, but offering it in its fulness and symmetry; (b) its purity, uncorrupted by the imaginations and accretions of our own mind; ( c) its adaptation to the special spiritual needs of those to whom we minister. (2) A[! ela~tic organization; not such as will not admit of suiting the necessities of men as they arii;e, but one that is flexible, and that will lend itself to the ever-varying con- ditions, spiritual and temporal, in which men are found, and in which they have to be helped and healed. 2. Good workmen. Those that have: (1) Wisdom" profitable to dirtct," that have tools, skill, discretion, a sound judgment, a comprehensive view. (2) Strength; those who can use bad tools if good ones are not at hand, who can work on with sustained energy, who can "bear the burden and heat of the day," who can stand criticism and censoriousness, who will not be daunted by apparent failure or by occasional desertion, who can wait " with Jong patience" for the day of harvest. 1. Seek to be supplied with the most perfect tools in Christian work; for not only will good tools do much more work than poor ones, but bad tools will r811ult in miechiet OH. X. 1-20.] ECCLESIASTES; OR, THE PREACHER. 269
to the workmao. "He that cleaveth •.. is endangered." Half-truths, or truth unbalanced by its complement, or a badly constructed organization, may do real and serious harm to those who preach the one or work throu"h the other. 2. Put your whole strength-physical, mental, spiritual-into the work of the Lord. With the very best tools we cao wield, we shall wish we had dine more than we shall have accomplished, when our last blow has been struck for the Master and for mankind.-C.