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 1884 
 
 
 Warner, Anna 
 
 Bartlett, 
 
 1827 
 
 1915. 
 
 
 
 The shoes of 
 
 peace 
 
 
THE SHOES OF PEACE. 
 
BOOKS BY MISS ANNA B. WARNER. 
 
 BLUE FLAG AND CLOTH OF GOLD $1.25 
 
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THE 
 
 SHOES OF PEACE 
 V 
 
 ANNA B. WARNER, 
 
 AUTHOR OF "THE MELODY OF THE TWENTY-THIRD PSALM." 
 
 Ohne Hast, ohne Rast. 
 
 How beautiful are thy feet with shoes, O prince's daughter ! 
 
 Canticles. 
 
 NEW YORK: 
 
 ROBERT CARTER AND BROTHERS, 
 
 530 Broadway. 
 
Copyright, 1884, 
 By Robert Carter and Brothers. 
 
 Unibrrsitg Stress : 
 John Wilson and Son, Cambridge. 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 I plead for a neglected bit of the Christian 
 armour. The strong helmet, the sharp sword, 
 the ready shield, — even the shining breast- 
 plate, — have many wearers. But the quiet 
 shoes are out of date. I think people well- 
 nigh forget that such things are possible. Yet 
 there stands the injunction : 
 
 " Your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel 
 of peace" (Eph. vi. 15). 
 
 While the old and never-revoked promise covers 
 all the roughness, of every road. 
 
 " Thy shoes shall be iron and brass ; and as thy 
 days, so shall thy strength be " (Deut. xxxiii. 25). 
 
 August, 1884. 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 — • — 
 
 PAGE 
 
 A Cloud in the West 9 
 
 Crowded Out 19 
 
 A Time for Everything 30 
 
 The Tangled Skein 54 
 
 Now 71 
 
 All Things full of Labour 84 
 
 Are all- Apostles ? 103 
 
 Until the Evening 124 
 
THE SHOES OF PEACE. 
 
 A CLOUD IN THE WEST. 
 
 LISTENING the other day to the rat- 
 tling echoes among our hills, as gun 
 after gun gave forth its welcome to the 
 Twenty-second of February, I began to 
 wonder with myself what the Father of his 
 Country would say to this great child of 
 his, decked in all her Nineteenth century 
 progress ? How would these almost forty 
 States compare with the old thirteen, to 
 those sagacious and far-seeing eyes ? 
 
io A Cloud in the West. 
 
 It is hard, I suppose, for the wisest man 
 to judge fairly between his own age and 
 another, or even between one part and an- 
 other of his own. That early time 
 
 " When feelings were young, and the world was new," 
 
 must of necessity stand always apart, and 
 in some sort unapproachable. Then eyes 
 were ignorant, and hearts untried, and 
 storms made no impression ; but now come 
 " the evil days " spoken of by the Preacher, 
 and " the clouds return after the rain." 
 Can that small, pale moon overhead, thread- 
 ing her way among obscuring vapours, be 
 possibly the very same great golden ball 
 that rolled up so grandly from the eastern 
 horizon ? In the look of all earthly affairs 
 the passage of time, the growth of knowl- 
 edge, must make a change. Yet a few 
 things remain, for they are promised ; and 
 a few are unalterable, being " established 
 
A Cloud in the West. 1 1 
 
 for ever." "Though a sinner do evil an 
 hundred times, and his days be prolonged, 
 yet surely I know that it shall be well with 
 them that fear God, which fear before him" 
 (Eccl. viii. 12). 
 
 With Bible help, then, it is well worth our 
 while — it is our bounden duty — to study 
 the age we live in. Not for its money- 
 making facilities alone ; but for its dan- 
 gers, its mistakes, its drift. We all study 
 the day's temperature, we all peer earnestly 
 into to-morrow's weather ; but the electric 
 and magnetic conditions of the times are 
 passed by unnoticed. And the few who 
 pause to examine and dare to proclaim, 
 are classed by the rest with those prover- 
 bial people who always carry umbrellas. 
 " Ye can discern the face of the sky ; but 
 can ye not discern the signs of the times ?" 
 (Matt. xvi. 3.) Clearly, then, the study of 
 the times is not a blind thing, neither with- 
 
12 A Cloud in the West. 
 
 out profit ; even though it lead to cautionary 
 signals in most unexpected places. 
 
 "The times," — and what wonderful 
 times they are! Almost the "Arabian 
 Nights " in common life experience. " Many 
 run to and fro, and knowledge is increased." 
 With endless appliances for comfort, with 
 countless helps for work ; and yet, if the 
 age must be named, it might well be called 
 "the Time of no time." For that is the uni- 
 versal, ceaseless complaint. Yet the days 
 are as long as ever; the sun "hasteth" no 
 faster "unto his going down ; " each min- 
 ute rings out its full round value ; while the 
 ease of living is a thousand fold increased ; 
 and still nobody has (or thinks he has) lei- 
 sure to draw one long, calm, satisfying 
 breath, and to " eat his bread with quiet- 
 ness." Hezekiah thought his days flew " like 
 a weaver's shuttle;" but only steam rates 
 can describe ours. " Too busy ! " — " No 
 
A Cloud ill tlie West. 13 
 
 time ! " is the cry on every hand : the wide- 
 spread reason, answer, and excuse. What 
 has become of the self-controlled patience 
 which two generations ago could wait a week 
 for the mail, and contemplate a six months' 
 voyage to the Sandwich Islands ? or spend 
 eight days on a sailing vessel between 
 New York and Albany ? The men of this 
 generation would chafe to death before 
 they reached Poughkeepsie. People do 
 not appear to enjoy their breathlessness : 
 one is reminded of the words of the Prophet : 
 " Thou hast multiplied the nation, and not 
 increased the joy ; " for everybody says, 
 " How I would like to do this or that if 
 only / had time /" Therefore much satis- 
 faction does not seem to be crowded in. 
 What is crowded out ? 
 
 Church services, for one thing. Listen 
 to your Wednesday-evening combination 
 bell, and hear what it says. It is not so 
 
14 A Cloud in the West. 
 
 very long since that bell had much more to 
 do. At nine o'clock Sunday morning came 
 Sunday school, with a Bible class or two in 
 the church gallery. Then service at half 
 past ten, Sunday school again at two (with 
 other Bible classes and outside mission 
 schools), church service at three, prayer 
 meeting at seven. During the week, prayer 
 meeting Tuesday night, lecture Thursday 
 night, teachers' meeting Saturday night. 
 And we no more thought of accepting any 
 other invitation for church nights, than we 
 thought (in those innocent days) of going 
 to the theatre or playing cards. And truly 
 we had small need. Ah, how good the 
 meetings were ! How pleasant it was, as 
 one and another of many who now walk in 
 white beyond the flood, came softly into the 
 little room, — elders, deacons, " young men 
 and maidens, old men and children," — and 
 we all rose and sang together, — 
 
A Cloud in the West. 15 
 
 " Sweet and solemn be the season 
 
 When the friends of Jesus meet," — 
 
 a hymn I never hear sung nowadays. 
 
 " Time is precious ; we '11 improve it. 
 Worldlings talk of worldly things. 
 Leave the world to those who love it ; 
 T is not thence our comfort springs. 
 
 Jesus owns us ; 
 Jesus is the King of kings." 
 
 I think I shall hardly hear " Zion " sung, 
 to the end of my life, without those words 
 chiming in. 
 
 Perhaps just at that time Dr. Skinner 
 was going through Colossians, in a famil- 
 iar, Bible-reading sort of way; pausing 
 over such words as "puffed up," — or " after 
 the rudiments of the world, and not after 
 Christ," — and then the little company 
 parted, with the benediction on their 
 hearts. It was not only Time you had 
 there, but Eternity as well. 
 
1 6 A Cloud in the West. 
 
 As Charles Lamb's sister said of other 
 past pleasures, "We might do such things 
 now; but do we?" No; one night in the 
 week is all we can spare, and Sunday 
 services must be shortened. We are 
 too tired to get to church before eleven 
 o'clock, and really "a man ought to be 
 able to say what he has to say in twenty 
 minutes." 
 
 We think of the knights of old, that they 
 must have been strong to carry their ar- 
 mour ; but what degree of force and endur- 
 ance enabled the men — and women — of a 
 hundred years ago, to sit out a two hours' 
 sermon in a perfectly cold church, with 
 hard seats and a New England winter? 
 I like long sermons myself ; and being lin- 
 eally descended from those very people, 
 can " give a gay guess " how it was ; but 
 what would have become of the people who 
 demand the aforesaid twenty minutes in 
 
A Cloud in the West. 17 
 
 furnace heat ? Four verses of a hymn (or 
 three) where once it was sung straight 
 through, and prayers cut down to the 
 general feeling of hurry ? To be sure, a lit- 
 tle time may be saved by buying a news- 
 paper on the way to church ; by a moment's 
 consultation in the porch ; by studying the 
 shop windows on the way home, — windows 
 now left obligingly at least half open. In 
 this way the waste Sunday hours may help 
 arrange plans for Monday. Perhaps you 
 think this cutting-down process has been 
 good for the ministers ; but I doubt even 
 that. Time and strength may indeed 
 be set free for popular lectures and sci- 
 entific books and after-dinner speeches ; 
 but I think the prayer meetings were 
 better. 
 
 Who keeps up now the old Monthly 
 Concert of prayer for the conversion of the 
 world? except indeed the far-off mission- 
 
18 A Cloud in the West. 
 
 aries, or some country church which has 
 not found out how the world moves, but 
 only that it is not yet converted ? 
 
 Then family prayers. — But that is too 
 long a subject for the end of a chapter. 
 
CROWDED OUT. 
 
 IN a certain mansion of ten servants, 
 where once I was much at home, the 
 waiter (a dusky West Indian) used to declare 
 emphatically, " Dere 's no time for prayers 
 in a house like dis." If he was right, then 
 manifestly something else was wrong. But 
 how many houses " like this " ( in that) are 
 built up now-a-days ? What proportion of 
 even the homes of church members bear 
 the motto of another dwelling which also I 
 knew well, — " For God, the Church, and 
 the family " ? Yet this last was one of the 
 most blessed and blessing abodes this earth 
 ever saw ; and " Godliness is profitable for 
 the life that now is." 
 
20 Crowded Out. 
 
 Who really believes it, — in even small 
 household affairs "seeking first the king- 
 dom " ? Who prays with missionary Good- 
 ell, that not only his house, but ''all the 
 furniture, may be consecrated " ? Nay, if 
 we can get it fashioned like our neighbour's, 
 we are most of us content. People are out 
 of breath in the race, but it is not the race 
 described by Paul. He that striveth for 
 that mastery "is temperate in all things ; " 
 and even his business knows its place. 
 
 Dr. Bickersteth said to me once that 
 women make an idol of their work ; but 
 surely not the women alone. Does not the 
 shapeless thing crowd everybody, in every 
 place, with a right of way which is alto- 
 gether heathen ? Take this one matter 
 of family prayer, — and setting aside the 
 houses where it has been quite crowded 
 out, to how many prosperous business men 
 (as to one I heard of) might come his 
 
Croivded Oat. 21 
 
 child's innocent comment, — " Father, my 
 teacher says we ought n't to say our prayers 
 fast!' The bath is enjoyed, the toilet is 
 elaborate; the breakfast, if not lingered 
 over, yet has full justice. But the prayers 
 are hurried. Want of thought brings lack 
 of realization. The head of the house is 
 too well to remember : " The Lord killeth 
 and maketh alive," — too competent, to 
 recollect : " It is the Lord that giveth thee 
 power to get wealth." The morning paper 
 has told him of a rise in stocks, the barom- 
 eter hints at a change in the weather ; and 
 he is on the spring to meet and prevent or 
 take advantage, as the case may be. But 
 the tired look on his wife's face, which her- 
 alds for her a weary day ; the fretfulness of 
 a child who has got up " wrong foot first ; " 
 some new — or old — fault in a servant,— ^- all 
 these he will leave behind so soon, that they 
 are hardly worth praying about. Rather he 
 
22 Crowded Out. 
 
 anticipates the joyful slam of the front door, 
 which for eight hours at least will shut 
 them off from him, and him from them. 
 
 As little, very often, does he realize what 
 lies oiitside the door : the possible snares 
 for his feet in the busy haunts down town, 
 the lurking dangers that may await him 
 in his office. " Infernal machines," truly, 
 but not of a sort to be handed over to the 
 police. Only believing prayer can thwart 
 them, but that can. 
 
 How lovely, how fitting, then, that the 
 householder should place all these varied 
 interests in safe keeping before he goes ! 
 asking not only a blessing on basket and 
 store, but also pleasant paths for the moth- 
 er's feet and safe steps for the children. 
 I fancy it would comfort many a wife's heart 
 to hear her husband pray over her daily 
 cares. And instead of vague generalities 
 ( " that we may not leave undone those 
 
Crowded Out. 23 
 
 things which ought to be done"), he need 
 not be ashamed to come out boldly, and 
 pray for himself too, that he also may walk 
 this day " in the paths of righteousness " 
 " Set a watch, O Lord, before my mouth" 
 (Ps. cxli. 3). " Hold thou me up, and I shall 
 be safe " (Ps. cxix. 117). 
 
 And if not only for the circle at home 
 but also for the throng abroad he should 
 breathe a petition, — for his business associ- 
 ates, his workpeople, or those under whom 
 he serves, — if from every Christian house- 
 hold there went up, morning by morning, 
 such ascending prayers : O, what descend- 
 ing dews of grace would follow! How 
 sweetly and easily would the father go about 
 his toil and the mother to her labours, their 
 feet " shod with the preparation of the gos- 
 pel of peace." What straight paths would 
 open before the business men, what safe es- 
 capes before the tempted ; what roots of 
 
24 Crowded Out. 
 
 patience, what fruits of righteousness, would 
 spring up and grow and flourish ! Life so 
 transferred with a full heart to the Lord's 
 keeping is lifted at once out of the low 
 plane of mere making money and directing 
 servants, as also from the dead level of 
 incessant toil. A sense of God's unseen 
 legion makes us strong, the fresh breath 
 of his presence keeps down the dust ; and 
 all this poor rough-and-tumble world is 
 changed. How can we be angry with a 
 man in the afternoon, for whom we have 
 eagerly prayed in the morning ? How chafe 
 over difficulties, failures, remembering al- 
 ways, " It is the Lord " ? Failures, did I say ? 
 in such a life no failure is possible. 
 
 " He always wins who sides with God." 
 
 But too often it is hurry in the morning 
 (or no prayers at all), and at night six- 
 o'clock dinners, seven-o'clock dinner-par- 
 
Crowded Out. 25 
 
 ties ; the servants in a press, the children 
 gone to bed. Or a visitor rings at the door, 
 and nobody dare ask him to wait ( unless 
 for an incomplete toilet ) or better still, 
 will ask him in to join the family service. 
 
 But, say you, he is a gay young man; he 
 would not like it. Now as a rule, I think 
 young men like (or like to witness) anything 
 that is real. Or you think the visitor " does 
 not believe in anything," — then it is time 
 he should know there are people who do. 
 One should not obtrude even the best 
 things. But if the prayer hour were as 
 fixed as the hour for dinner, one might 
 as properly invite in a stranger to the one as 
 to the other ; he having in either case the 
 right to refuse. I shall never forget the 
 pleasure, when after a long summer drive 
 to breakfast at a certain house, we found 
 that the family had waited our arrival, and 
 we all had prayers together before the meal 
 
26 Crowded Out. 
 
 was served. Too many feel just the other 
 way. " We must have prayers a little early, 
 before they come," — or "a little late, after 
 they go." 
 
 Then as to the children. It is maybe 
 better for their health ( and doubtless for 
 their complexions ) to have their bread and 
 milk, and go to bed with only a far-off 
 whiff of the six-o'clock roast ; and you can- 
 not well have prayers before that early 
 hour, for the head of the house is not at 
 •home. But as I look back to my own 
 childish days, I would not, at a venture, give 
 up the prayer-time lessons, even for some- 
 what more of strength and colour. The 
 whole picture comes back to me now. The 
 little one of the house, nestled close to her 
 who had taken the mother's place ; the 
 elder girl sitting apart in dignified erect- 
 ness ; the servants, with folded hands and 
 reverent faces ; the weary seamstress, come 
 
Crowded Out. 27 
 
 for a breath of refreshment after the many 
 stitches of the day. I am afraid to go on, 
 and tell what the clock said ! — 
 
 Children need health of mind as well as 
 of body ; and neither can flourish in nur- 
 sery shade. I was reading lately of some 
 one who had questioned many people as 
 to the time and means of their conversion ; 
 and Dr. Taylor's answer is a whole book of 
 practical wisdom. "He did not know," 
 he said : "he just grew up into it." Ah, I 
 have seen such families, but they are not 
 common. " Our sons as plants grown up 
 in their youth. Our daughters as corner 
 stones, polished after the similitude of a 
 palace" (Ps. cxliv. 12). 
 
 But how often do you find that straight, 
 vigorous growth of young men ; filling the 
 world with fresh leafage, with precious fruit ? 
 Where do you see the young women be- 
 coming the strong bond of the house, and 
 
28 Crowded Out. 
 
 yet shining with all exquisite symmetry 
 and finish ? The boys are sent to a hot- 
 house to be forced, the girls get their pol- 
 ish at the dancing-school. 
 
 Now a man may much better grant his 
 children less money and more attention. 
 My father was a professional man in very 
 full practice ; but he always found time to 
 give us delightful breakfast talks : talks 
 for which we children had to prepare our- 
 selves, he giving out the subject before- 
 hand. Simple subjects, such as we could 
 understand ; what if the study stretched 
 our minds a little. " The bread-stuffs of 
 the world," — " Pitch, tar, and turpentine," 
 — or " The English Regalia." Sometimes 
 a name in history, or a great fact, like 
 "Magna Charta." Then we hunted and 
 studied and brought forth all our learning ; 
 too happy when we found some little detail 
 which even our father did not know. We 
 
Crowded Out. 29 
 
 told, — and he corrected and organized our 
 crude knowledge. And after tea, unless 
 some very pressing case was on hand, he 
 always read aloud to us for an hour. Or we 
 studied engravings together, — or turned 
 over books of etchings ; the youngest then 
 kneeling in a chair at his side. Yes, of 
 course, "we ought to have been in bed," 
 — but nothing will ever make me wish 
 that we had ! — 
 
 " Prayer is the key of the morning, and 
 the lock of night," says some old writer : 
 happy is the family whose day holds noth- 
 ing which the one may- not fitly open, 
 and the other peacefully close. 
 
 "Happy is the people that is in such a 
 case : yea, happy is the people whose God 
 is the Lord " (Ps. cxliv. 15). 
 
A TIME FOR EVERYTHING. 
 
 " / T^O everything there is a season, and a 
 -L time to every purpose under the 
 heaven," said the Preacher. But if a time, 
 then also time: time for everything. 
 
 I shall be met here with a great shout of 
 derision. As if anybody ever had time for 
 anything in this workaday world ? And if I 
 go further, and say that when not it is our 
 own fault ; and that our Master in heaven 
 never gives his servants more to do than 
 they can do thoroughly ; people will hold 
 up hands at my ignorance. Well, I have 
 lived as busy a life as most, and I repeat 
 my words. Look at it. Half-done work 
 is a thing the Lord cannot away with : the 
 
A Time for Everything. 31 
 
 finish of creation is as marvellous as its 
 vastness. Fuller and fuller grows the world 
 of life, the deeper in you go ; but also more 
 exquisite grows each detail. Finer and finer 
 draws out the sting point of a wasp, under 
 your more and more powerful magnifiers ; 
 while the smallest needle man ever made, 
 turns by degrees into a blunt crow-bar. 
 The unsuspected carvings on a fish scale 
 are dainty beyond description : the white 
 chalk dust contains microscopic globes of 
 spun silver, surpassing anything that Tif- 
 fany's most cunning workmen see even in 
 their dreams. The little Mellicerta — to the 
 naked eye as large as an ordinary full stop 
 — has a mould upon its chin wherein it 
 makes bricks from the muddy ditch water of 
 its surroundings ; and builds to itself thereof 
 a round tower of habitation or defence. 
 The minute creature has no hands ; but 
 deftly turning itself now this way, now that, 
 
32 A Time for Everything, 
 
 adroitly and accurately dumps out the fin- 
 ished brick on whichever spot of its wall 
 needs heightening or repair. 
 
 "O Lord, how manifold are thy works ! in 
 wisdom hast thou made them all : the earth 
 is full of thy riches " (Ps. civ. 24). 
 
 You may see here — and in countless 
 like instances — what satisfies that all- 
 cognizant eye. You understand now what 
 the words in Genesis mean : " And God 
 saw everything that he had made, and, 
 behold, it was very good" (Gen. i. 31). 
 
 Man only left the perfect scheme, and 
 went on and " sought out many inventions." 
 Yet the rule is not changed : the measure to 
 which man should attain has never been cut 
 down. And so the Lord's servants must 
 not even "look back" from the plough; 
 must have "every thought in captivity unto 
 Christ;" must "serve him with a perfect 
 heart ; " loving the Lord their God with 
 
A Time for Everything. 33 
 
 "all the heart and soul and mind and 
 strength." 
 
 Is it likely then, that he will so arrange 
 their lives that the service thus rendered 
 shall be after all only job-work, — crude, 
 imperfect, hurried through ? Will he whose 
 " tender mercies are over all his works," 
 make his people only "to serve with rig- 
 our" ? Or is it probable that the great 
 King whose " chariots are thousands of 
 angels," and his messengers " an innumer- 
 able company," should constantly drive his 
 poor human servants to distraction ? It 
 was under Pharaoh the Israelites had no 
 time to breathe, — not under God. 
 
 No, the whole Bible denies it. And 
 while they like other children of Adam 
 must eat bread in the sweat of the brow, 
 for them only falls the cool shadow on all 
 the way of toil ; and they only know that 
 " man doth not live by bread alone." 
 3 
 
34 A Time for EverytJring. 
 
 So it may be, so it should be. You will 
 find, if you search it out, that we are 
 helping build " treasure cities " for Pharaoh, 
 when our lives are "bitter" with every 
 day's " brick and mortar : " it is by his 
 taskmasters we are driven ; and " bricks 
 without straw " is the wearisome stint. 
 The feverish haste and unchristian worry ; 
 the perpetual effort to do what we cannot, 
 to seem what we are not, to have what we 
 may not, — is it not like the old days of the 
 bondage? "The people sighed" then — 
 and they sigh now ! yet the struggle keeps 
 on. Be as rich as your neighbours, be 
 dressed like your friends ; go where they 
 go, do what they do ; hear all the preachers, 
 sit on all the committees, serve on all the 
 boards ; trim all the dresses, decorate 
 everything that can (or can not) be deco- 
 rated. Anything, to keep the blood up to 
 fever heat. 
 
A Time for Everything. 3 5 
 
 But, you say, these things are good, nec- 
 essary, and useful. In moderation. But 
 not for you, if they crowd your life and 
 overset your nerves : so doing them, you 
 help neither your friends nor the world. 
 Better three quiet minds on a committee, 
 than a dozen weary, hurried souls. Better 
 the plainest bonnet, crowning a fresh, 
 cheerful face ; or the commonest dress, 
 borne hither and thither with swift elastic 
 motions ; than all the triumphs of needle- 
 work, trailed round on languid feet. Bet- 
 ter to take all preachers but your own on 
 trust, and rest yourself with a book instead 
 of a lecture. 
 
 Now indeed you hear all the lectures, 
 but have no time for reading ; neither to 
 " keep up " your music — yet you attend all 
 the concerts. No leisure, it may be, to 
 teach the children and answer their ques- 
 tions, because you are so very busy ruffling 
 
36 A Time for Everything. 
 
 their frocks ! The home farm grows up to 
 weeds, while the farmer debates over en- 
 silage. Or if you are one of those happy 
 people who can be in twenty places at once, 
 you will by and by pay for the distinction 
 with overwrought nerves and broken 
 strength. I have seen a woman rush from 
 an ordination in New Jersey to a luncheon 
 in New York, thence to a May anniversary ; 
 and thence — dear me, I do not know 
 whither! Perhaps by the night train to a 
 farewell missionary meeting in Boston. 
 
 But, you insist again, such things are 
 right : some people's work, other people's 
 play. Do then whatever right things you 
 can do thoroughly, peacefully, and with no 
 undue crowding of hands or heart ; the 
 best things first. An extra sermon you 
 are too weary to take in, even from the 
 preacher of the world, will not profit you 
 much : witness Eutychus. A missionary 
 
A Time for Every tiling. 37 
 
 meeting that unfits you for mission work 
 at home, is worse than useless. How often 
 we can guess the fatigue of our friends, from 
 their irritability ; and maybe hear (or use) 
 the sorrowful excuse : " Forgive me, — I did 
 not mean to speak so, — but I am so tired ! " 
 Manifestly there is here some great mis- 
 take. I do not believe it is the Lord's 
 pleasure that his people should live in a 
 perpetual rush and hurry. The whole 
 teaching of his work is against it. Leaf 
 by leaf the forest clothes itself with ver- 
 dure; with slightly quickened action some- 
 times after unavoidable delays, but never 
 with any haste that mars its perfection. 
 And from the time when the dayspring 
 first "knew its place," a steady "more 
 and more" has been the only rule of 
 the morning. 
 
 " Yea, the stork in the heaven knoweth 
 her appointed times, and the turtle and the 
 
38 A Time for Everything. 
 
 crane and the swallow observe the time of 
 their coming" (Jer. viii. 7). 
 
 The wren appears by the last of April, 
 and the catbirds on the tenth of May. 
 Absolute, regular order, without pressure, 
 without delay, is the law of the natural 
 world. And in revelation it is the same. 
 The very crown of Christian life in the 
 Bible is to be "always abounding," and yet 
 at rest : everything being adjusted with 
 that wonderful poise and balance which 
 is at the antipodes of all breathlessness, 
 hurry, and confusion. A soul " dwelling 
 at ease;" a heart "quiet from fear of evil;" 
 abiding in the shadow of a great peace. 
 
 " A faith that shines more bright and clear 
 When tempests rage without ; 
 That even in danger feels no fear, 
 In darkness knows no doubt." 
 
 And that even in the face of imminent need, 
 can " both hope, and quietly wait for the 
 Lord." 
 
A Time for Everything. 39 
 
 " Consider the lilies, how they grow " 
 (Matt. vi. 28). 
 
 " Better is an handful with quietness, 
 than both the hands full, with travail and 
 vexation of spirit " (Eccl. iv. 6). 
 
 Quietness indeed is the watchword of 
 these old Bible saints : " in quietness and 
 in confidence " is all their " strength." Thus 
 they are " diligent in business " — but 
 also "study to be quiet:" "serving God 
 day and night," yet " casting all their care 
 upon him : " " redeeming the time," and 
 still taking " no thought for the morrow." 
 The lilies themselves grow not more softly 
 and surely to their fragrant bloom ; the 
 birds of the air do not more simply and 
 unquestioningly live by the hourly rule : 
 
 " That thou givest them, they gather " 
 (Ps. civ. 28). 
 
 It may be more yesterday and less to- 
 day ; it may be now dainties, and then but 
 
40 A Time for Every tiling. 
 
 daily bread : yet all coming " from the 
 good hand of our God upon us," they have 
 learned "in whatsoever state" they are, 
 " therewith to be content." 
 
 Thus they " eat their bread with joy," and 
 their daily path is " by the waters of quiet- 
 ness." They " do their work with quiet- 
 ness," — they " lead a quiet and peaceable 
 life ; " and wear " the ornament of a meek 
 and quiet spirit." 
 
 These are not the prevailing fashions of 
 the day, even among church members. 
 Look at the restless eyes, the anxious 
 faces : note the dull murmur of unsatisfied 
 desire, swelling every now and then into 
 absolute complaint. Hear the Christian 
 women worry over their housekeeping : 
 see the up-town religious man at the 
 down-town Exchange. Hat pushed back, 
 coat thrown open, eyes wild, hands out- 
 stretched, voice uplifted ; shouting, gesticu- 
 lating, grasping, with the rest. 
 
A Time for Everything. 41 
 
 " My brethren, these things ought not so 
 to be " (Jas. iii. 10). 
 
 Should •' a good soldier of Jesus Christ " 
 put off his uniform and wear a common 
 dress, that he may make a better bargain ? 
 Or " an Israelite indeed " be ever seen 
 without the "ribband of blue," the royal 
 colours ? " Ye shall wear it," said the Lord, 
 " that ye may remember and do all my 
 commandments, and be holy unto your 
 God " (Num. xv. 40). 
 
 In a great Ward school which I visited 
 once, you could pick out the Jewish chil- 
 dren, all over the room, by the little closed 
 mouths and silent lips when the praises 
 of Jesus were sung. Ah, why will not 
 people be as true to the true as they are 
 to the false ! For just so, should a believer 
 be known, even on 'Change, as no wor- 
 shipper of mammon, no truster in " uncer- 
 tain riches." What though, like the three 
 
42 A Time for Everything. 
 
 in Babylon, he must stand alone, while all 
 the rest of the world are on their knees 
 before the golden image. 
 
 " Let your moderation be known unto 
 all men " (Phil. iv. 5). 
 
 "Walk as children of light" (Eph. v. 8). 
 
 Is it only " a woman's view " ? But 
 there surely must be a righteous way of 
 doing righteous things, — and the ^//righ- 
 teous should as surely be let alone. If that 
 also is a woman's view, it would take a wise 
 man to dispute it. Let the dwellers at 
 home too remember this. For how should 
 a Christian woman fret ? even over dust 
 and unfaithful service. 
 
 " I beseech you by the meekness and 
 gentleness of Christ " (2 Cor. x. 1). 
 
 They are genuine annoyances, these 
 things : the host of trifling items in our 
 daily life which ought to be different : the 
 bad fitting of a dress, the imperfections 
 
A Time for Everything. 43 
 
 of a cook, the stupidity of a messenger ; 
 not to speak of the unreasonableness which 
 now and then crops out in a friend. We 
 have (and should have) an honest dislike 
 to them all. Set them straight if you can, 
 — if a few wise words will do it. 
 
 " Ye which are spiritual restore such an 
 one in the spirit of meekness " (Gal. vi. 1). 
 
 But if not, take a long breath of silence 
 and press on. " The talk of the lips tend- 
 eth only to penury : " both of time and 
 patience. You may soon outstrip the 
 grievance, if you will but leave it where it 
 belongs, by the wayside. Stop to wonder 
 and complain, and it will spring to your 
 shoulders like Sindbad's old man of the 
 sea, and ride you all the day. The mis- 
 chievous insect horde can do little to hurt 
 a plant that is in full rich growth ; with 
 head in the sunshine, and roots struck deep 
 " by the rivers of water." 
 
44 A Time for Everything. 
 
 I have called them trifles — for trifles they 
 are, in a world of life and death and souls 
 of men; but even in the face of much more 
 serious evils, still u Vor-warts ! " — as the 
 German officer said, with kindly quiet firm- 
 ness, when his little troop faltered before a 
 hail of bullets. 
 
 " Have not I commanded thee ? Be 
 strong and of a good courage" (Josh. i. 9). 
 
 " Doe the nexte thynge," — and wait for 
 the next but one till it comes ; letting 
 neither the good of something you long for, 
 nor the disagreeableness of something you 
 wish well over, flurry your spirits. Walk 
 round Jericho thirteen times, if need be, 
 but take also for that the allotted hours. If 
 you crowd into one day the work marked 
 out for seven, you will be too much out of 
 breath to shout when the time comes, and 
 the walls will maybe never fall. 
 
 " By faith the walls of Jericho fell down, 
 
A Time for Every tiling. 45 
 
 after they were compassed about seven 
 days " (Heb. xi. 30). 
 
 " Behold, the husbandman waiteth for 
 the precious fruit of the earth, and hath 
 long patience for it, until he receive the 
 early and latter rain " (Jas. v. 7). 
 
 And we, poor blunderers, think one rain 
 might do ; planting our little seeds deep, 
 and our great ones on the surface ; and the 
 length of our patience is not worth meas- 
 uring. We think everything that will 
 grow, must grow at once. 
 
 Yes, patience does seem very " long " 
 sometimes; and "after many days" looks 
 far away: but it will come, — and the weary 
 toiler shall return, " bringing his sheaves 
 with him." Sheaves from many, an un- 
 noted field, trophies from many an unre- 
 corded battle ; all won, through the grace 
 of God, by " patient continuance." 
 
 Then give everything the full time it 
 
46 A Time for Everything. 
 
 needs for perfect development. Be as 
 eager as you like, but keep all restless 
 hurry out of your heart and tongue and life ; 
 it is the sure cause of many failures, many 
 mistakes. In his haste, David called " all 
 men liars" (Ps. cxvi. 1 1), ready to say no one 
 could be trusted. Worse than that, his flur- 
 ried spirit thought God had forgotten him. 
 
 " I said in my haste, I am cut off from 
 before thine eyes " (Ps. xxxi. 22). 
 
 " Seest thou a man hasty in his words ? 
 there is more hope of a fool than of him " 
 (Prov. xxix. 20). 
 
 And the rule goes deeper than mere 
 speech. " Be not hasty in thy spirit to 
 be angry " (Prov. vii. 9). " If there is any 
 occasion," adds the human proverb, "you 
 will have time enough." 
 
 Do you think I would have an easy- 
 going, slack-handed race of people ? Not 
 so : they are to be not only " diligent in 
 
A Time for Everything. 47 
 
 business," but also " fervent in spirit ; " 
 with the genial glow which goes with all 
 wholesome action. 
 
 "The king's business requireth haste" 
 (1 Sam. xxi. 8). 
 
 Even Gabriel had to "fly swiftly," to be 
 in time. " Run, speak to this young man," 
 said one angel to another in the days of 
 Zechariah. But the Bible haste is utterly 
 unlike our hurry, and means only this : the 
 utmost speed that consists with the most 
 perfect going, and the least possible delay. 
 It never means more, nor less : the "how" 
 is never merged in the " when." 
 
 " I will run the way of thy command- 
 ments" (Ps. cxix. 32). 
 
 It is the daily rule. But so also is this : 
 
 "Ponder the path of thy feet" (Prov. 
 iv. 26). 
 
 " The prudent man looketh well to his 
 going" (Prov. xiv. 15). 
 
48 A Time for Everything. 
 
 " The wisdom of the prudent is to under- 
 stand his way " (Prov. xiv. 8). 
 
 Being all summed up in one other word : 
 
 " My soul followeth hard after thee " 
 (Ps. Ixiii. 8). 
 
 " I made haste, and delayed not, to keep 
 thy commandments " (Ps. cxix. 66). 
 
 There is plenty of such running in the 
 Bible : quickened steps from, quickened 
 powers and a heart astir. Thus Abraham, 
 with three heavenly guests to entertain, 
 " hastened into the tent to Sarah," and 
 then "ran unto the herd." Thus Aaron, 
 when the sin-invited plague had broken out 
 among the people, caught up his censer, 
 " and ran into the midst of the congrega- 
 tion," and " stood between the dead and 
 the living." The wife of Manoah " made 
 haste and ran" to find her husband, that 
 he too might hear the heavenly message ; 
 and David, with his five smooth stones, 
 
A Time for Everything. 49 
 
 " hasted and ran " to meet the Philistine, 
 the staff of whose spear was " like a weav- 
 er's beam." Elijah, at the word of the 
 Lord, outstripped the king's chariot, — the 
 father in the parable ran "a great way" 
 to meet his repentant son ; and the disci- 
 ples at Lystra " ran in " to restrain the 
 crowd who were sounding their praises. 
 But these were all cases of legitimate, well- 
 ordered haste ; and so the actors moved 
 under the shadowing of the promise : 
 
 " When thou run nest, thy foot shall not 
 stumble" (Prov. iv. 12). 
 
 Nay more, of this : 
 
 " They shall run, and not be weary " 
 (Is. xl. 31). 
 
 No mistakes, no confusion, were possible. 
 
 " I therefore so run," — said Paul, — "not 
 as uncertainly " (1 Cor. ix. 26). 
 
 They followed the Lord so close, that 
 there was no doubt which way he was 
 4 
 
50 A Time for Everything. 
 
 leading ; and they went as fast as he led 
 them. 
 
 Yes, " haste," " speed," " run," are good 
 Bible words, with an urgent Bible meaning ; 
 but it is only such glad pressure as the sun 
 is in, which moment by moment, and with- 
 out the loss of a single one, " hasteth to 
 his place whence he arose." There is all 
 the difference in the world between the 
 haste which comes from crowding, and that 
 which springs forward with intense conse- 
 cration to the work in hand ; saying, for the 
 time : " This one thing I do." 
 
 Everything in the Bible is against our 
 feverish rush. The good seed in the good 
 ground, with its vigorous, ceaseless, fruitful 
 growth, is compared with those who " hav- 
 ing heard the word, keep it, and bring forth 
 fruit with patience." 
 
 " First the blade, then the ear, after that 
 the full corn in the ear " (Mark iv. 28). 
 
A Time for Everything. 5 1 
 
 It is so in nature, it is so in grace ; it 
 should be so in every department of human 
 life. " Let thy garments be alway white" — 
 even " unspotted," — but how can that be, 
 if you rush through this muddy world at 
 such breakneck speed ? Take the simple 
 Bible image : Christ's flock are " led," 
 "guided," "shepherded;" and through dif- 
 fering little paths they follow on ; pausing to 
 feed, stopping to rest, drinking " of the brook 
 in the way." The rush and confusion come 
 only when they are drawn off from their 
 Shepherd by some sudden allurement, or 
 are frightened away by some foolish dread. 
 As if He did not know ! — as if He would 
 not take care ! 
 
 Do you ever wait to make sure the Lord 
 is before you, in those ways you tread so 
 rapidly ? You hurry in, not thinking ; you 
 hurry on, not looking ; and thus many a 
 thing is done which should not (and other- 
 
52 A Time for Everything. 
 
 wise would not) be ; while many another is 
 neglected ; and the same excuse is spread 
 over all : want of time. No leisure to 
 study your plans by the light of the Bible- 
 lamp ; too driven to keep your temper : in 
 the melee how often patience goes down, 
 and meekness, and sometimes truth. 
 
 " What shall I render to the Lord for all 
 his benefits toward me?" (Ps. cxvi. 12.) 
 
 Shall it be a life like that ? 
 
 Nay, it is all wrong, — all the greatest 
 mistake : for I do verily believe that this 
 high pressure is quite our own fault. I 
 believe that nothing need be neglected 
 in the busiest life: nothing which the 
 Lord has given us to do. Idleness has 
 no room there : neither work not given : 
 neither unhelpful play : and it is when 
 we let in one or all of these, that we 
 get hurried, worried, and out of breath. 
 For arrears are always hard to meet ; the 
 
A Time for Everything. 53 
 
 only way with time as with money is to 
 keep out of debt. Like Jane Taylor's dis- 
 contented pendulum, we must learn that 
 however many ticks we can think of in a 
 second, or may execute in a year, there is 
 always given for each the moment to tick 
 in. And if the clock stands steady, and 
 the pendulum hangs true, every tick will 
 have its full, round proportions, and mark 
 off its atom of finished work. So shall the 
 " fulness of time " take its place with " the 
 patience of hope," and "the labour of love." 
 
THE TANGLED SKEIN. 
 
 IN the old fairy tale, a young girl is set 
 down to her embroidery before a great 
 heap of tangled silk. Skeins of every colour, 
 of every shade, are there ; but all mixed, 
 twisted, snarled, in hopeless confusion. A 
 fair pattern lies there too : a pansy, a 
 " heartsease ; " and from the heap of con- 
 fusion she must draw all her materials with 
 which to work a perfect copy of the flower 
 of peace. And she gazes from one to the 
 other, and drops her hands in despair. 
 Like this, it seems to me, looks many a 
 life : and even so hangs many a hand, that 
 has countless exquisite shining threads 
 within its reach. The material is ready, 
 
The Tangled Skein. 55 
 
 the pattern is given ; and yet confusion 
 rules, and perplexity reigns, and there is 
 little "fruit to perfection." All the fine 
 powers and possibilities are knotted and 
 clogged ; a strand of blue ends abruptly in 
 a tangle of yellow ; or red is twined in 
 until the whole thing looks purple. Yet 
 there lies the calm-faced pattern, to shew 
 what may be done ; and before it many 
 a poor worker breaks down in tears. And 
 then comes in the cunning temptation to 
 give up matching colours exactly, and after 
 a pull at the right, to take instead an easier- 
 running thread of wrong. What we in our 
 very incorrect phrasing, call " doing the 
 best we can." The white thread is in a- 
 knot, — catch up a gray one and work with 
 that : the blue is tangled — make shift 
 with the purple. But you can never work 
 out heartsease so. 
 
 In the story, nothing brought the dis- 
 
$6 The Tangled Skein, 
 
 tracting mass to terms, but the wand of the 
 fairy Order ; and only Christian order can 
 ever smooth out our life task; making the 
 threads run clear and even, working out 
 the plan, enabling us to say at the end : " I 
 have fought a good fight ; I have finished 
 my course ; I have kept the faith." 
 
 Christian order: the counsel, the guiding, 
 the touch, of Him who "telleth the num- 
 ber of the stars," and " calleth them all by 
 their names" (Ps. cxlvii. 4). Out of dark- 
 ness and silence and seething mist, came 
 forth at his word the endless harmonies of 
 nature ; and chaos passed into a world of 
 regular development, lit up with colour, 
 beautified with form, full of hidden wealth 
 and untold forces ; and yet through all : 
 
 " With never a leaf or a blade too mean 
 To be some happy creature's palace." 
 
 Like that I would wish my life to be, — 
 with all least things, as all greater ones, 
 
The Tangled Skein. 57 
 
 doing their sweet work ceaselessly, from 
 day to day. The duties joys, the minutes 
 golden ; the life course no longer a torment- 
 ing maze or a disheartening hurry, but what 
 every one's life should be : the clear work- 
 ing out of " a plan of God." How good, 
 how blessed, how grand, his plan — for the 
 least of us — is sure to be ; enfolding for 
 each the very best possibilities, the very 
 highest results of which that one is capable. 
 
 And in what region of earth, do you ask, 
 could such constant success be possible ? 
 Just here where you stand. " The word 
 is very nigh thee." And no one could 
 ever miss it, were only " He spake, and it 
 was done " the rule of the human as of the 
 material creation. The best cure, the only 
 sure preventive, of confusion, worry, and 
 failure, lies in the simple Bible words : 
 
 "Whatsoever he saith unto you, do it" 
 (John ii. 5). 
 
58 The Tangled Skein. 
 
 Choose so heartily the Lord's will con- 
 cerning yourself and all other things, that 
 to know that shall be your only question. 
 Claim his promise : " I will guide thee with 
 mine eye" (Ps. xxxii. 8). 
 
 And then, " be not as the horse or as the 
 mule, whose mouth must be held in with 
 bit and bridle ; " but " understanding what 
 the will of the Lord is," be ready with the 
 answer : " Here am I : send me " (Is. vi. 8). 
 Having asked him to lead, then follow. 
 When he bids you " depart far hence unto 
 the Gentiles," go ; however much you would 
 like to stay and preach to the people at 
 home. Or if he says : " Return unto thine 
 own house, and tell how great things the 
 Lord hath done for thee," do that too : 
 even though you might greatly prefer to 
 be " with him " in more distinguished 
 places. Even if in the midst of an ava- 
 lanche of work he calls you " apart into 
 
The Tangled Skein. 59 
 
 a desert place to rest awhile," — and even 
 if the desert mean only a headache or a 
 rainy day instead of a journey, — make no 
 complaint, but follow close ; sure only that 
 Christ is in the ship and will be upon the 
 land whither you go for rest ; or it may be 
 in the darkened room. Peter, "between 
 two soldiers, bound with two chains," slept 
 so sweetly, that he could hardly rouse up 
 to see an angel. 
 
 Perhaps all the best churches are sup- 
 plied, — perhaps all the regular classes have 
 teachers, and there is nothing left for you 
 but the driblets. I went through that ex- 
 perience once, and I know how it feels. 
 Class after class was disposed of, until only 
 the so-called poorest class remained : a little 
 tangle of two or three very inconspicuous 
 bits of humanity. The superintendent ap- 
 proached me with apologetic caution. " I 
 don't know what to do," he said, hesitating. 
 
60 The Tangled Skein. 
 
 " You see Miss refused that class, — 
 
 so I had to give her another." 
 
 Well, I had not come there to " refuse " 
 anything; although, being human like the 
 rest, I did think the big Bible classes looked 
 very pleasant. But I took my place ; and 
 soon found (as we always do) that where 
 the Lord puts us, it is good to be. The 
 superintendent however was not content ; 
 and when a few weeks later I was pro- 
 moted (as he thought it) I went to my new 
 duties with rather a sad heart. For one 
 of my small hard-faced creatures got hold 
 of my hand, and said : " I don't want you 
 to go!" Sad and ashamed too, — that I 
 could ever have had any thought but one, 
 about work in the weediest corner, or on 
 the dustiest highway. Like the then but 
 half-converted disciple, so little absorbed 
 in the mighty charge and question to my- 
 self, that I found time to ask, "Lord, 
 
The Tangled Skein. 6 1 
 
 and what shall this man do ? " And Jesus 
 answered him : " What is that to thee ? 
 follow thou me" (John xxi. 22). Promotion 
 is rather a sharp-edged thing, when it makes 
 you suddenly feel how many sizes too small 
 you are for your present place. 
 
 In this world, filled to its last corner 
 with work that should be done, one needs 
 a very single eye, a very self-controlled 
 hand, a very heaven-directed heart, to pick 
 out just his own work and no other. For 
 " the harvest truly is plenteous, but the 
 labourers are few." And the time is short. 
 There is time to accomplish what we have 
 to do, but not an atom too much. The 
 poor child in the story, weeping over her 
 task, must yet finish it " before dinner," — 
 and we also ours, before " the night cometh, 
 wherein no man can work." There will 
 be no chance for it later on. Yet all the 
 more need is there to keep clear of confu- 
 
62 The Ta?igled Skein. 
 
 sion : to draw out the right working thread 
 and have it run freely and without a hitch. 
 And I know of no way like this : " What- 
 soever he saith unto you, do it " (John ii. 5). 
 " Ye shall not add unto the word which I 
 command you, neither shall ye diminish 
 from it, that ye may keep the command- 
 ments of the Lord your God, which I 
 command you" (Deut. iv. 2). 
 
 Then you will not be tempted by the 
 brilliant threads of scarlet that lie so close 
 at hand : a pansy — not a poppy — is your 
 allotted task. Work in lovingly and pa- 
 tiently the quiet blues and purples ; and 
 if from your flower all gayer tints are lack- 
 ing, yet be not cast down. The darkest 
 heartsease hath ever a golden eye ; and 
 when the last stitches are in, you will 
 know it too. "At evening time it shall be 
 light." 
 
The Tangled Skein. 63 
 
 " As God leads me, will I go, 
 
 Nor choose my way. 
 Let him choose the joy or woe 
 
 Of every day. 
 They cannot hurt my soul, 
 Because in his control : 
 I leave to him the whole, — 
 
 His children may. 
 
 " As God leads me, I am still 
 
 Within his hand : 
 Though his purpose my self-will 
 
 Doth oft withstand. 
 Yet I wish that none 
 But his will be done, 
 Till the end be won, 
 
 That he hath planned. 
 
 " As God leads me, so my heart 
 
 In faith shall rest. 
 Nor grief nor joy my soul shall part 
 
 From Jesus' breast. 
 In sweet belief I know, 
 Which way my life doth go — 
 Since God permitteth so — 
 
 That must be best." 
 
64 The Tangled Skein, 
 
 So living, you see at once no failure is 
 possible, — neither can confusion creep in. 
 Step-by-step following, is the most quieting, 
 disentangling thing in all the world. 
 
 In the parable of the supper, the ser- 
 vants did not rush blindly on ; but went 
 and came, went and came, between their 
 Master and their work. He knew what he 
 wanted done, they wanted to do nothing 
 else. And never people wrought with more 
 close-knit efficiency ; seeming as fresh at 
 the end of their day's work as at the be- 
 ginning. Fresher, in fact ; for they went 
 from " calling " to " bringing," and from 
 that to "compelling;" but always with a, 
 "Lord, it is done as thou hast commanded." 
 
 " They that wait on the Lord shall renew 
 their strength" (Is. xl. 21). 
 
 For want of just that quiet on waiting 
 (as if the morning orders could cover all 
 the day) we undertake rashly, drive on un- 
 
The Tangled Skein. 65 
 
 wisely, make mistakes, stop to worry — 
 and then the work piles up. Now the 
 promise is : "I will instruct thee and teach 
 thee in the way which thou shalt go" 
 (Ps. xxxvi. 6). 
 
 Hour by hour, and step by step. No 
 tangle of difficulties shall then distress my 
 feet. 
 
 " I will lead them in paths they have not 
 known" (Isa. xlii. 16). 
 
 No night of confused uncertainty delay 
 my going. 
 
 " The darkness and the light are both 
 alike to thee" (Ps. exxxix. 12). 
 
 Even the burden and heat of the day 
 shall not long weigh down my heart : 
 
 "I will be as the dew unto Israel" (Hosea 
 xiv. 5). 
 
 And the tumult of opposition must grant 
 me a safe passage through ; " for he know- 
 eth all the fords." 
 
 5 
 
66 The Tangled Skein. 
 
 " He bindeth the floods from overflow- 
 ing" (Job xxviii. i). 
 
 " The Lord sitteth upon the flood ; yea, 
 the Lord sitteth King for ever" (Ps. xxix. 
 
 10). 
 
 How easily and sweetly it follows then : 
 " The Lord will give strength unto his 
 people ; the Lord will bless his people with 
 peace" (Ps. xxix. n). 
 
 I do not like to hear of " overworked " 
 Christians : it seems an anomaly. And as 
 little should they ever dwell in confusion. 
 Not that there will be no questions to pon- 
 der, no puzzles to see through : follow close 
 as you may, you cannot know until you 
 know, which way the Lord is leading. He 
 may put the Red Sea before you, — he may 
 suffer Pharaoh to overtake : or he may ap- 
 point you a long time of seemingly useless 
 waiting. But there need be no unrest, no 
 flurried thoughts. 
 
The Tangled Skein. 67 
 
 " Great peace have they that love thy 
 law, and nothing shall offend them " (Ps. 
 cxix. 165). 
 
 " And so it was, when the cloud abode 
 from even unto the morning, and the cloud 
 was taken up in the morning, then they 
 journeyed : whether by day or by night that 
 the cloud was taken up, they journeyed. Or 
 whether it were two days, or a month, or a 
 year, that the cloud tarried upon the taber- 
 nacle, remaining thereon, the children of 
 Israel abode in their tents, and journeyed 
 not : but when it was taken up, they jour- 
 neyed. At the commandment of the Lord 
 they rested in their tents, and at the com- 
 mandment of the Lord they journeyed" 
 (Num. ix. 21-23). 
 
 For the prayer of Israel in their right 
 minds, is ever : 
 
 " If thy presence go not with me, carry 
 us not up hence" (Ex. xxxiii. 15). 
 
68 The Tangled Skein. 
 
 Absolutely sure then to work out the old 
 blessed experience of the Lord's daily care: 
 
 " Who went before you, to search you 
 out a place to pitch your tents in" (Deut. 
 
 i- 33). 
 
 Marching under the triumphant stand- 
 ard of unnumbered fights, which never yet 
 a shot could pierce nor weather stain. 
 
 " Jehovah-nissi" (Ex. xvii. 15). 
 
 "His banner over us" is "love" (Cant, 
 ii. 4). 
 
 And on that flag, most truly, " the sun 
 never sets." 
 
 "The Lord is my shepherd : I shall not 
 want" (Ps. xxiii. 1). 
 
 You see how easy it is to be quiet from 
 fear of evil : you see how in so simply 
 straightforward a life there can be little 
 real perplexity. The Lord will indeed " be 
 inquired of for this," but then he will hear. 
 
 "David enquired of the Lord, saying, Shall 
 
The Tangled Skein. 69 
 
 I go up into any of the cities of Judah? 
 And the Lord said unto him, Go up. And 
 David said, Whither shall I go up ? And 
 he said, Unto Hebron" (2 Sam. ii. 1). 
 
 It is as simple as that. 
 
 " If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask 
 of God" (Jas. i. 5). 
 
 We may need to pray: 
 
 " Lead me in a plain path, because of 
 mine enemies " (Ps. xxvii. 1). 
 
 " Make thy way straight before my face " 
 (Ps. v. 8). 
 
 But the answer is sure : " The meek will 
 he guide in judgment " (Ps. xxv. 9). 
 
 " In all thy ways acknowledge him, and 
 he shall direct thy paths " (Prov. hi. 6). 
 
 " Cause me to know the way wherein I 
 should walk," — cries the troubled one. 
 
 And the promise is unfailing : 
 
 " The Lord shall guide thee continually " 
 (Is. xxviii. 11). 
 
70 The Tangled Skein. 
 
 "And thine ears shall hear a voice be- 
 hind thee, saying, This is the way, walk 
 ye in it, when ye turn to the right hand, 
 and when ye turn to the left " (Is. xxx. 21). 
 
 But how many people nowadays have 
 restful souls ? — restful and resting. How 
 many, like their Master, can sleep when 
 there is "a great storm of wind," "a great 
 tempest in the sea," and " the ship covered 
 with the waves " ? True, he knew that 
 he could lay the tempest — but they know 
 it too. " There shall no harm happen to the 
 vessel wherein Christ is," wrote Samuel 
 Rutherford : " but the crazed ship and the 
 seasick passengers shall both get safe to 
 land." 
 
 But remember the words with which we 
 set out : 
 
 "Whatsoever he saith unto you, do it." 
 
 Faith is quite useless without obedience. 
 
NOW. 
 
 ANOTHER plain and very disentan- 
 gling rule (and a wonderful time- 
 saver) is this : 
 
 "As we have therefore opportunity" 
 (Gal. vi. 10). 
 
 O, what trouble comes by the disregard 
 of it ! For want of thought, or through 
 mere supineness, the right moment for a 
 word, a deed, slips by unheeded, and we 
 tire ourselves out in the search for it again. 
 Yesterday I could have given such a one a 
 word of counsel, — to-day I have run all over 
 town and cannot find him. Of course the 
 proper work of to-day lies by meanwhile. 
 Why did I not speak yesterday ? — probably 
 
72 Now. 
 
 I was timid, or shy, or self-indulgent ; and 
 now if I am mercifully allowed another op- 
 portunity, it can be but a second best. 
 Well for my uneasy conscience if both man 
 and opportunity have not drifted for ever 
 beyond my reach. To-day I can give a 
 little much-needed help : by to-morrow the 
 help may be useless, or my power gone ; 
 or it will take twice the labour, with half the 
 success. The very fact that I held back 
 to-day, will put me at a disadvantage to- 
 morrow. Yesterday my violets would have 
 sweetened a sick-room, — to-day they are 
 withered. Why were they not sent yester- 
 day ? O, I was so busy. But to-day I 
 must first take time to find fresh ones, and 
 then maybe carry them all too late. The 
 pale sufferer has gone where " everlasting 
 spring abides," and I have lost my chance. 
 The working thread which is manageable 
 as the Lord presents it, becomes knotted 
 
Now. 73 
 
 and twisted with a dozen more, by our 
 neglect. 
 
 Do you see why we are to be "instant" — 
 on the alert — " in season, out of season " ? 
 wide awake to seize each swift-winged mo- 
 ment, " buying up opportunities." Eager to 
 do now the Lord's bidding, because when 
 by-and-by arrives, he will tell us something 
 else. And remember, it is only now that 
 anything can be done. We regret yester- 
 day, we plan for to-morrow, but we must 
 act to-day. And if ever a missed oppor- 
 tunity should again present itself, it will 
 still be in the guise of an inexorable " now." 
 " Turn ye now " (Jer. xxv. 5). u Prove me 
 now" (Mai. iii. 10). While to those who 
 slighted their opportunity, failed to use it, 
 the Lord soon added : " Sleep on now, and 
 take your rest " (Matt. xxvi. 45). 
 
 O loss, never to be forgotten nor made 
 up. They might have watched with Christ 
 
74 Now. 
 
 one hour, and they did not! — No wonder 
 they were ready to forsake him and flee 
 when the test came : a neglected privilege 
 is a long step towards a committed sin. 
 
 Neither is there any enemy in front like 
 a forsaken duty in the rear. Israel refused 
 their first chance against Amalek ; and 
 then rushing up, out of time, found that 
 the Lord was not before them, and were 
 miserably discomfited. But the people who 
 obey exactly, and obey at once, are " strong 
 and very courageous ; " and they only " re- 
 deem the time." For prompt obedience 
 leaves no margin of waste. Not only you 
 have the right moment in which to do (and 
 everything is easier done then) but no time 
 is lost in after regrets, and sorrowful tears, 
 and prayers for forgiveness over slack- 
 handed delays. The eunuch was well on 
 the road before Philip got his orders ; and 
 Philip had to run to catch him ; and yet 
 
Now. 75 
 
 the man was questioned, answered, con- 
 verted, baptized, and Philip away again, be- 
 fore some of us would have decided whether 
 the Lord had not better send another man 
 to do the work. Andrew went for his 
 brother the minute he thought of it ; the 
 other Philip drew Nathanael along as soon 
 as he found him. The four men bring the 
 palsied one between them, break up the 
 roof, let him down, — and forthwith he 
 walks away on his own feet, " carrying that 
 whereon he lay;" and the four go off light- 
 hearted and with hands ready for other 
 work. Cornelius, bid to send for Peter, 
 sent " immediately ; " and " without gain- 
 saying," "as soon as he was sent for," Peter 
 came. " Whatsoever he saith unto you, that 
 do : " both so, and now. 
 
 To men in that temper difficulties sink 
 down into the common dust of the high- 
 way : the roof, the distance, the unlikeli- 
 
j6 Noiv. 
 
 hood, go for nothing. For our humility is 
 too often sloth, and our prudence but just 
 " the fear of man." " He that observeth 
 the wind shall not sow ; and he that re- 
 gardeth the clouds shall not reap " (Eccl. 
 xi. 4). 
 
 Remember how Moses displeased the 
 Lord, by maintaining that he was not "elo- 
 quent," — not fitted for the work which the 
 Lord gave him to do. Remember the 
 " What doest thou here ? " to Elijah, when 
 he had fled away in despair from a false 
 church and a persecuting world. What 
 more could he do, among such a people ? 
 and yet : 
 
 "What doest thou here, Elijah?" (i 
 Kings xix. 9.) 
 
 Think of the time Jonah wasted, because 
 he shrank from declaring to rich Nineveh 
 " the whole counsel of God." He was sent 
 with a message, and he would not deliver it. 
 
Now. yj 
 
 It took months of experiences to bring him 
 to his duty ; and then he had to take up the 
 thing just where he had laid it down. 
 
 Then think of the lost days to Balaam, 
 when having been told what to do (or 
 rather what not to do) he set himself to 
 get the orders reversed. Alas, it was more 
 than lost time with him : it ended in lost 
 eternity. 
 
 He had his reward. 
 
 "I will promote thee to great honour," 
 said Balak : and Balaam forgot that " Shame 
 shall be the promotion of fools" (Prov. 
 
 iii. 35). 
 
 He tried to serve two masters, and pleased 
 
 neither; sending away the first messengers 
 when the Lord said, " Thou shalt not go." 
 But when the second came, with bigger 
 offers, he asked again ; and this time the 
 Lord let him have his way. He got fright- 
 ened sometimes as he jogged along; saying, 
 
78 Now. 
 
 " Now therefore if it displease thee, I will 
 get me back again : " but still he went 
 on ; going sideways, and looking over his 
 shoulder, yet holding on his "perverse way." 
 With that strange fear which is not repent- 
 ance, thinking something was after him, but 
 failing even to imagine the drawn sword 
 which glittered on ahead, until " the dumb 
 ass reproved the prophet." 
 
 O what miserable temporizing and hag- 
 gling we have over our orders sometimes ! 
 teasing until we get our " head," and then 
 creeping along with a smiting " If it dis- 
 please thee." And O what loss of time, 
 strength, and comfort it entails ! 
 
 "What thing soever I command you, ob- 
 serve to do it: thou shalt not add thereto, 
 nor diminish from it" (Deut. xii. 32). 
 
 More than that : 
 
 " Whatsoever ye do, do it heartily " (Col. 
 iii. 23). 
 
Now. 79 
 
 But "heartiness" and hurry, like knowl- 
 edge and wisdom, have "ofttimes no con- 
 nection." In fact the very want of hearti- 
 ness brings hurry. 
 
 " He also that is slothful in his work, 
 is brother to him that is a great waster" 
 (Prov. xviii. 9). 
 
 If the thing is hard, take hold at once ; 
 if there are difficulties, meet them now : 
 letting the proper work of each minute fall 
 into place as surely and sweetly as the min- 
 ute itself ticks off. You can often do it 
 and have done with it, while you are wish- 
 ing you could do something else. I said 
 work, — . I should have said duty. For the 
 required business of the hour may be sleep 
 or rest instead of action ; and must as little 
 be slighted. Do that also with your might; 
 and no more spoil your rest with work, 
 than your work with idleness. Even the 
 nerveless iron locomotive needs intervals 
 
8o Now. 
 
 of "cooling off:" the same engine does 
 not take you from New York to Albany, 
 but is switched off at Poughkeepsie for its 
 turn of quiet. Time better spent so, than 
 in costly repairs. The seasons of proper 
 rest, of helpful study ("that the man of 
 God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished 
 unto all good works") are but the whetting 
 of the sickle, the feathering of the arrow, 
 for better and swifter work. How often are 
 we laid by with a day's illness, just because 
 in our self-willed zeal we have refused to 
 take an hour of rest. Lay down your bur- 
 den at the Lord's feet, O tired worker, and 
 trust it there, until you are fit to take it up 
 again. Can the great enemy of souls steal 
 even one, from under His watching ? 
 
 "There is that neither day nor night 
 seeth sleep with his eyelids " (Eccle. viii. 16). 
 
 Cannot yours close at the proper time, 
 leaving all to his almighty care ? 
 
Now. 8 r 
 
 Consider the lilies of the field, O women, 
 toiling on into the night that the children's 
 dresses may be finished. " Where is your 
 faith ? " Is it service to stitch your eyes 
 out, and your brain into a whirl ? Even in 
 great things, the Lord himself put "to do 
 the will of God," before " to finish his work." 
 Yet people hurry along, bending under a 
 dull weight of oppression, which they would 
 not dare charge upon God, nor quite like — 
 in heathen fashion — to lay upon fate; but 
 least of all do they own it is Pharaoh. 
 Have the children really no clothes ? Yes, 
 but not so fine as their neighbours'. Must 
 you go to this meeting, half sick as you are ? 
 "No — but — Well, I do not want some- 
 body else in my chair." — Ever so much 
 of our over work is really self-indulgence. 
 Are we bound to wear just such a dress, 
 give just such a dinner, make just (or at 
 least) so much money ? No, by no right- 
 6 
 
82 Now. 
 
 eous law, human or divine. It is Pharaoh's 
 taskmasters, as I said. Try close, instant 
 obedience to the Lord's hourly guiding, and 
 see how the friction will die out, the con- 
 fusion clear away. Perhaps you may not 
 then find time to tie up the door-knobs in 
 white muslin bags, — possibly a bargain 
 may now and then escape you : but 
 
 " Better is an handful with quietness, than 
 both the hands full with travail and vexation 
 of spirit" (Eccle. iv. 6). 
 
 All the clear health of mind and body you 
 can gather will not be too much, if you are 
 to live like the woman of Proverbs xxxi. 
 10-31, the man of 2 Tim. vi. 1 1— 1 5. Steady 
 nerves and a calm brain are great backers 
 of faith, in this world where the height of 
 success is to be, 
 
 " Troubled on every side, yet not dis- 
 tressed ; perplexed, but not in despair " 
 (2 Co. iv. 8). 
 
Now. 83 
 
 Truly, such a one is "a wonder unto 
 many." 
 
 " His branches shall spread, and his 
 beauty shall be as the olive tree, and his 
 smell as Lebanon " (Hos. xiv. 6). 
 
ALL THINGS FULL OF LABOUR. 
 
 I TALK of rest, I say you may be quit of 
 confusion ; but let not any one picture 
 to himself a life with little to do, or even 
 fancy that such a life would be pleasant. 
 I suppose the busiest of us but faintly 
 realize the things which might be done. 
 The work lies all about you, even if you 
 never take it up ; but if you do not, your 
 own personal loss is very great. You can- 
 not make time so : you only kill it, lose it, 
 throw it away. 
 
 " Occupy till I come," said our Master, — 
 and that word searches out every corner of 
 possibility: each hour is lent to see "how 
 much every man will gain by trading ; " not 
 
All Things full of Labour. 85 
 
 for himself, but for the great Owner of it 
 all. What the Lord Jesus would have done 
 we are to do, where he would have gone we 
 are to go. And all with the prompt, joyful 
 alacrity which marks those servants who 
 not only "wait for their Lord," but also 
 " love his appearing." While " a little more 
 sleep, a little more slumber, a little more 
 folding of the hands together," as surely 
 tells that the servant saith in his heart: 
 " My Lord delayeth his coming." 
 
 " Full of labour," — but if you take it right, 
 this "occupy" is also full of the richest, 
 sweetest pleasure. The marginal reading 
 of Eccle. i. 5 : " The sun panteth to his place 
 whence he arose:" just describes, I think, 
 the true wholesome state of a wholesomely 
 living soul. That eager, glad, strained (but 
 not 0z'^strained) endeavour after right ends ; 
 never ceasing, never hurried : " rejoicing as 
 a strong man to run a race." 
 
86 All Things full of Labour. 
 
 " Shine like the sun in every corner," 
 said George Herbert : the human transla- 
 tion of "Occupy till I come" (Lu. xix. 13). 
 
 But this joy in the thought of to-morrow's 
 work, presupposes the work of to-day well 
 done. If that has been left at loose ends, to 
 be afterwards painfully caught up and knit 
 together, we reach " the place whence we 
 arose," panting after a very different sort : 
 breathless, and tired ; for it makes all the 
 odds in the world whether you pursue your 
 business, or your business you. A pretty 
 day the old clock would have had of it, if 
 after idling over his work three quarters of 
 an hour, he had tried to chink in all the 
 neglected ticks ! Look at the indicators on 
 the face of a day-and-month telling clock, 
 and see how softly and irreversibly June 
 changes to July, and the 1 into the 2. The 
 time — the proper time — for one thing is 
 gone, the time for another is come ; and 
 
All Things full of Labour. 8? 
 
 there is not room for both. An impene- 
 trability in things immaterial, as in the 
 material, confronts us on every hand. 
 
 " To everything there is a season, and a 
 time for every purpose under the heaven" 
 (Eccle. iii. i). 
 
 " A time to kill, and a time to heal ; a 
 time to break down, and a time to build 
 up." 
 
 " A time to rend, and a time to sew ; a 
 time to keep silence, and a time to speak " 
 (Eccle. i. 3, 7). 
 
 Neither is there in action any more than 
 in opinion a convenient middle ground 
 which either side may use at will. 
 
 " He that is not with me is against me : 
 and he that gathereth not with me scat- 
 tereth " (Lu. xi. 23). 
 
 Whatever is not ^ain, is loss. We com- 
 fort ourselves over to-day's neglect, with, 
 O I can do it to-morrow : forgetting that 
 
88 All Things full of Labour. 
 
 to-morrow also will have its own appointed 
 duties, and not one minute to spare for the 
 waste of to-day. And thus begins a sys- 
 tem of borrowing time, at ruinous rates of 
 interest. 
 
 It stands to reason then that no time 
 must be squandered. In this as in every- 
 thing throughout the natural world, the 
 rule is absolute fulness, as close pressed 
 as consists with absolute perfection : not 
 a blade of grass too many, not a quarter 
 inch too much. And so for us and our 
 occasions there are minutes enough, but 
 not one to throw away. Then of course 
 it follows that each minute has its own 
 appointed morsel of work ; and every min- 
 ute that flits by unloaded, flings its proper 
 burden on the rest. This is one great way 
 in which we get in a hurry and keep in 
 a hurry ; letting our work roll up like a 
 snowball, until the separate light flakes 
 
All Tilings full of Labour. 89 
 
 become a mass too heavy to lift ; and flesh 
 and heart too, break down in the attempt. 
 But when all is said, the work remains : 
 work ever increasing, never done. When 
 we clear a lookout to the river among our 
 cedars, for a little the open space rejoices 
 our eyes ; and then directly, as if they had 
 been waiting their chance, the trees on 
 either side stretch out their branches, and 
 close it in. You go to see one poor person, 
 and you find three ; you sit down to mend 
 one rent, and behold there are two. We 
 wanted to give comfort and rest one sum- 
 mer to some city-fagged student with no 
 hotel bills in his power ; and almost before 
 we knew we had spoken our wish, six such 
 students were offered us. All apparently 
 waiting for just our one poor little room. 
 It made us feel sore-hearted. 
 
 " All things are full of labour ; man can- 
 not utter it" (Eccle. i. 8). 
 
go All Things full of Labour. 
 
 There is simply no end to the things to 
 be done. Thorns and thistles grow here, 
 and fields white for harvest stand there ; 
 and the sweat of the face is the daily ex- 
 perience. And Solomon goes on to state 
 what to some of us is the hardest part of 
 all : the wearisome sameness that comes in. 
 If only some thistles could be yellow ! — 
 if only some thorns wore their prickles at 
 the tips of the branches ! if only the nettles 
 would sting with a little change of sensation ! 
 Even a blue caterpillar would be a relief, 
 and a green wire- worm rouse some faint 
 sensation. But no : 
 
 "The thing that hath been, it is that 
 which shall be ; and that which is done, is 
 that which shall be done: and there is no 
 new thing under the sun " (Eccle. i. 9). 
 
 The same faults, the same needs, start up 
 day in, day out ; and from the time men first 
 put on stockings, the holes have come in 
 
All Things full of Labour. 91 
 
 the same places. Even the pleasure seekers 
 find it true, who spend their time in search- 
 ing for novelty. Life seems to take a cer- 
 tain area, within which the years swing back 
 and forth, pendulum fashion, and never go 
 beyond. It is one round of cooking, sweep- 
 ing, and mending, — or on the other hand, 
 of ordering dinners and guiding the house, 
 — or of dressing, visiting, driving to the 
 Park, and coming home. Either way it is 
 just a round. 
 
 " Is there anything whereof it may be 
 said, See, this is new?" (Eccle. i. 10.) 
 
 The same sins to fight, the same sorrows 
 to comfort, the same places to go to, the 
 same people to see. Men get a little variety 
 out of the rise and fall of stocks, the mak- 
 ing and losing of money ; the President 
 going in, and the President going out. 
 But even that, for the most part, subsides 
 into an average : it is but up and down, 
 
92 All Tilings full of Labour. 
 
 four years and four years, when all is said. 
 There is little variety (or at least much 
 sameness) even for men. They hail the 
 same omnibus, catch the same train every 
 morning, nod to the same people on the 
 way, and come back to the same dinner 
 hour every night. Say about the same 
 thing to their wives at dinner, smoke the 
 same cigars, rustle the same newspapers, 
 stroll out for a half-hour in the same 
 streets, or drop in on the same cronies, to 
 discuss the same subjects. A bit of gos- 
 sip — a business report — the bulletin of the 
 weather, — nothing of much more refresh- 
 ing power than the entries in the old 
 journal in the Spectator: <( Mem : Grand 
 Vizier certainly hanged." 
 
 The elevated road made a small sensa- 
 tion for a while, and so will the balloon 
 express, — but it will not last. Solomon 
 called it a " sore travail " this machinery, 
 
All Things full of Labour. 93 
 
 working with an endless band ; and looked 
 at so, it is. 
 
 " What profit hath a man of all his labour 
 which he taketh under the sun ? " (Eccle. i. 3). 
 
 " Generation passeth away, and genera- 
 tion cometh," — " the sun ariseth, and the 
 sun goeth down ; — the wind goeth toward 
 the south, and turneth about unto the 
 north," — " all the rivers run into the sea," 
 — and after all, " the sea is not full." 
 
 " All the labour of man is for his mouth, 
 and yet the appetite is not filled" (Eccle. 
 vi. 7). 
 
 " The eye is not satisfied with seeing, 
 nor the ear with hearing " (Eccle. i. 8). 
 
 When we have seen this thing, let us 
 hunt up something else ; when we have 
 this, let us get the other. When our barns 
 are full (note well the word) let us pull 
 them down and build bigger. A restless 
 sameness fills all the world ; and there is 
 
94 All Things full of Laborer. 
 
 no hope, according to Solomon, that this 
 state of things can ever be mended. It 
 was all " vanity and vexation of spirit," to 
 his sagacious mind. And even in the 
 great facts of life and death he found the 
 same monotony. 
 
 "All things come alike to all" (Eccle. 
 ix. 2). 
 
 " As it happeneth to the fool, so it hap- 
 peneth even to me" (Eccle. ii. 15). 
 
 The strange, humbling oneness of human- 
 ity crept under the royal robes, climbed up 
 the ivory throne. 
 
 " Yea, though he live a thousand years 
 twice told, yet hath he seen no good : do 
 not all go to one place ? " (Eccle. vi. 6.) 
 
 "The house appointed for all living" 
 (Job xxx. 23). 
 
 And from "dust to dust," walled in the 
 longest life. Even so, Solomon could not 
 get rid of them and their monotony. 
 
All Things full of Labour. 95 
 
 " There is no end of all the people " 
 ( Eccle. iv. 16). 
 
 "That which hath been is now, and that 
 which is to be hath already been " (Eccle. 
 iii. 15). 
 
 " An end of all perfection " David had 
 found, and easily ; but when Solomon 
 sought for the end of ///^perfection — alas, 
 it lay hid beneath the receding pointers 
 of the rainbow ! It was a melancholy view 
 enough. 
 
 " Is there taste in the white of an egg ? " 
 (Job vi. 6.) 
 
 And things are nearly as bad in our own 
 day. The monotony of labour in time-worn 
 channels, weighs down the race. The tree 
 of life, bearing " twelve manner of fruits," 
 groweth not hereaway. Now as then, 
 
 " That which is crooked cannot be made 
 straight, and that which is wanting cannot 
 be numbered" (Eccle. i. 15). 
 
g6 All Things full of Labour. 
 
 And if even Solomon thought " of mak- 
 ing many books there is no end," and found 
 " much study " a weariness, what would he 
 have said in our time ? 
 
 " There is no end of all his labour ; 
 neither is his eye satisfied with riches " 
 (Eccle. iv. 8). 
 
 " He that loveth silver shall not be satis- 
 fied with silver ; nor he that loveth abun- 
 dance with increase" (Eccle. v. 10). 
 
 Universal discontent follows on the heels 
 of the universal hurry ; and sameness and 
 weariness go hand in hand. And which 
 of us cannot smile and sigh too over that 
 clause about the rivers, which sets forth in 
 finer language what we say so often and so 
 despairingly : " I never get through ! " All 
 the ceaseless work of the day, the week, the 
 year, has been poured into that ocean of 
 demand, — " yet the sea is not full." There 
 will be just as much call to-morrow as there 
 
All Things full of Labour. 97 
 
 is to-day. From work basket to mission 
 school, the work grows — not diminishes; 
 and of necessity, for the most partialis into 
 a gray routine. 
 
 Like the foam streaks on the river, which 
 sometimes for hours together show little 
 change of outline ; though wave after wave 
 rolls under them, and rolls away. Some 
 one has acutely denned " work " to be : 
 "doing the same thing over /" and we all 
 know how many a labour seems like play, 
 while it is new ; and many another presses 
 hard, just because it is old. The shoulder 
 is tired in just that place, the head is weary 
 of just that thought. Even in play it is 
 true. I knew a woman once into whose 
 young soul the monotony of life had pressed 
 so deep, that she every now and then, at 
 church, went up the aisle that was furthest 
 from her pew, " for a change ! " "I do wish 
 worsted dresses would come in fashion," 
 7 
 
qS All Tilings full of Labour. 
 
 she said to me one day. " I am so tired of 
 wearing silk ! " 
 
 We workers are better off than that, 
 though we too feel the sameness ; but 
 there is some help in remembering that 
 it must be so. 
 
 " While the earth remaineth, seedtime 
 and harvest, and cold and heat, and summer 
 and winter, and day and night, shall not 
 cease " (Gen. viii. 22). 
 
 In all the great features, one year will 
 be like another, while the world stands. 
 Neither will to-day ever be able to do yes- 
 terday's work, or to-morrow's work ; and 
 when we try that, or expect that, we easily 
 grow discouraged, and make labour in- 
 deed a curse. But to-day will always be 
 full. 
 
 Once a year the old Israelites were to eat 
 the Passover, staff in hand and shoes on 
 feet ; but to us is given the hourly rule : 
 
All Things full of Labour. 99 
 
 "Let your loins be girded about, and 
 your lamps burning" (Lu. xii. 35). 
 
 For even after a hard day's work the 
 call may sound : 
 
 " Gird thyself, and come forth and serve 
 me" (Lu. xvii. 9). 
 
 The minute-men of the Christian Com- 
 mission even slept in full preparedness for 
 action, ready at any moment to spring up 
 and go. And there may suddenly rage 
 a battle within your hearing, there may 
 come wounded within your reach. You 
 have already perhaps done much, but now 
 do more: no putting off of armour while 
 the war holds on. By and by, when the 
 long life-day has sunk to rest, it shall be 
 said : 
 
 " Go and sit down to meat." 
 
 "Blessed are those servants whom the 
 Lord when he cometh shall find watching : 
 verily I say unto you, that he shall gird 
 
ioo All Things full of Labour. 
 
 himself, and make them to sit down to meat, 
 and will come forth and serve them " (Lu. 
 xii. 37). 
 
 " The time came that the saints pos- 
 sessed the kingdom " (Dan. vii. 12). 
 
 Then, when there shall be no more "wars, 
 nor rumours of wars:" then, when there shall 
 be " time no longer ; " this ever coming, 
 ever going, succession of hours and days and 
 months and years, where before we can 
 name the present it is already past. No 
 more escaping opportunities, and possibili- 
 ties that start up and fly : no more lives 
 that sink down " as a shadow that declin- 
 ed." 
 
 " No rude alarms of raging foes ; 
 No cares to break the long repose ; 
 No midnight shade, no clouded sun, 
 But sacred, high, eternal noon." 
 
 No need then to say one to another : 
 "Know the Lord; for all shall know him, 
 
All Things full of Labour. 101 
 
 from the least of them unto the greatest of 
 them" (Jer. xxxi. 34). 
 
 No need to " resist the devil," for he 
 shall be " chained : " no call for hard-won 
 victories over the world, — for "the world, 
 and the lust thereof," shall have "passed 
 away." 
 
 " There remaineth a rest (Heb. iv. 9). 
 
 But now, 
 
 " It is high time to awake out of sleep " 
 (Ro. xiii. 11). 
 
 Now, " do thy diligence in every way." 
 
 " Take heed unto thyself, and to the 
 doctrine" (1. Ti. iv. 16). 
 
 " O Jerusalem, that briugest good tid- 
 ings, lift up thy voice with strength : lift 
 it up, be not afraid " (Is. xli. 9). 
 
 " Reprove, rebuke, exhort " (2 Ti. iv. 2). 
 
 " Make straight in the desert an highway 
 for our God " (Is. xl. 3). 
 
 And first of all, and for the sake of all, 
 
102 All Things full of Labour. 
 
 " That good thing which was committed 
 unto thee, keep" (2 Ti. i. 14). 
 
 " Hold fast that which thou hast, that 
 no man take thy crown" (Rev. hi. 11). 
 
 " The people that know their God shall 
 be strong, and do exploits " (Dan. xi. 32). 
 
ARE ALL APOSTLES? 
 
 LOOKING at the immensity of the 
 work, realizing in some faint way the 
 glory of it, one often wishes heartily that 
 one could do more : which is a very wise 
 and right desire, and well open to fulfilment 
 But what is neither wise, right, nor practi- 
 cal, is to wish to do everything you see 
 others do, and exactly as they do it. They 
 have their work, you have yours : and if 
 you try to measure the respective size and 
 importance of the two, you will probably 
 blunder straight along, and get thoroughly 
 discouraged. 
 
 The Bible lays great stress upon " edify- 
 ing " — building up. " Edify one another," 
 
1 04 A re A 11 Apostles ? 
 
 edify the church, — but nobody ever yet saw 
 a building on which everyone did precisely 
 the same sort of work. It is all to the same 
 true end : and so, steadily, surely, the wall 
 rises, the windows look out, the beams fit 
 in. And when things are right — in one 
 small church, or the great Church univer- 
 sal — the work goes on after this grand old 
 pattern. 
 
 " They helped every one his neighbour ; 
 and every one said to his brother, Be of good 
 courage. So the carpenter encouraged the 
 goldsmith, and he that smootheth with the 
 hammer him that smote the anvil, saying, 
 It is ready for the sodering; and he fas- 
 tened it with nails, that it should not be 
 moved" (Is. xli. 6, 7). 
 
 It is a heathen example, but very ad- 
 mirable. Each one found he had plenty 
 to do, and yet could admire and cheer on 
 the work of the rest : each saw the great 
 
Are All Apostles? 105 
 
 importance of other men's doing what he 
 could not. The very New Testament idea, 
 also, you see. 
 
 " For the body is not one member, but 
 many." 
 
 " And the eye cannot say unto the hand, 
 I have no need of thee : nor again the 
 head to the feet, I have no need of you " 
 (1 Co. xii. 14, 21). 
 
 I suppose that mistake is sometimes made. 
 But there is another, I fancy, much more 
 common among us. For we who are only 
 hands and feet, do often disparage our 
 work ; looking up to the wise head, the 
 bright eye, and feeling our own place in 
 life to be dull and insignificant. Yet it 
 is not so. 
 
 " If the whole body were an eye, where 
 were the hearing ? " (1 Co. xii. 17). 
 
 Your idea would barter away the full- 
 grown, well-developed figure of a man, for 
 
io6 Arc All Apostles ? 
 
 the conventional cherub — all head and 
 wings. 
 
 Change the image, and you will see this 
 more clearly. Every single stone in the wall, 
 — dim it may be, and inconspicuous, but 
 fitted to its place and filling it well, — is as 
 truly important to the great edifice, as the 
 carved coping at which all men look. Set 
 you up on a high enough pole, you think, 
 and you could be an electric light with any- 
 body : and maybe you could. And yet : 
 
 " Those members of the body which seem 
 to be more feeble, are necessary (i Co. 
 xii. 22). 
 
 I am beginning to have a tender liking 
 for the despised old lamps, now banished 
 to the humblest highways, and doing their 
 brightest at the muddiest corners. Enough 
 of them would light the city, with a more 
 human glow, and no deadly wires in con- 
 nection. 
 
Are All Apostles? 107 
 
 " Oppositions of science, falsely so called " 
 (r Ti. vi. 20). 
 
 "Thou hast corrupted thy wisdom by 
 reason of thy brightness" (Ez. xxviii. 17). 
 
 So the words come to me : Our mental 
 Broadway is rather a lurid place just now. 
 
 Never be dissatisfied with what you have 
 to do. 
 
 " Now hath God set the members every 
 one of them in the body, as it hath pleased 
 him" (1 Co. xii. 18). 
 
 Your place in life, your work, your cir- 
 cumstances (unless your own wilful misdo- 
 ing has spoiled them all) are just the Lord's 
 wise, loving plan, marked out lor you. When 
 you complain of them, your complaint is 
 against him. I think restlessness would 
 well nigh die out of the world, if men but 
 laid this to heart. 
 
 But you would like to do something 
 that counts, — everything counts. Men are 
 
108 Are All Apostles ? 
 
 saved — as stones are laid — one by one. 
 You may at least come out like that delight- 
 ful little boy who having but one cent to 
 put in the plate, was desperately afraid it 
 was too small to be counted. Imagine then 
 his joy, when the minister read out: 
 
 " Our collection to-day amounts to fifty 
 dollars — and one cent ! " 
 
 It will be something, to have swelled the 
 countless multitude by even one: to hear — 
 
 " Inasmuch as ye did it unto one of the 
 least of these — " 
 
 If a pulpit is denied you, cannot you 
 preach in the street ? if you may not reform 
 a neighbourhood, can you not teach at home ? 
 Not arithmetic, or even Latin and Greek, 
 but "the weightier matters of the law: judg- 
 ment, mercy, and faith." " Ye are the salt 
 of the earth," — do all who come near you 
 feel the wholesome, purifying stimulation ? 
 " Ye are the light of the world," — do your 
 
Are All Apostles ? 109 
 
 own households see their way the clearer 
 for that glad shining ? One might take up 
 the thought of " Your Mission," and carry it 
 on almost indefinitely, setting the so-called 
 little over against the so-called great. 
 
 If you cannot be a leader 
 
 In the crowd that pours along ; 
 
 Raise the fallen, lying prostrate 
 
 Under foot amid the throng. 
 
 If you cannot fire the nation, — 
 
 If you cannot stir the race, — 
 
 Lay cool hands on aching foreheads, 
 
 Give sad hearts a resting-place. 
 
 If you cannot reach the strangers, 
 
 Gather in the men you know ; 
 
 Teach your friend the way to glory, — 
 
 Draw your comrades where you go. 
 
 Though your work be never mentioned, 
 
 Though your name may not appear, 
 
 Speak one word for " Jesus only," 
 
 And the Lord at least will hear. 
 
 It is one of the prettiest things in the 
 world, to see how the broken walls of Jeru- 
 
no Are All Apostles? 
 
 salem were built up in the days of Nehemiah. 
 And note first the absence of all hurry, not- 
 withstanding the need of haste. The wall 
 of Jerusalem was down, her gates burned 
 with fire, and impassable heaps of rubbish 
 lay on every hand. The case was urgent 
 enough. Yet before he even began to talk 
 about it, Nehemiah went alone at night, and 
 studied the whole thing out for himself : as 
 a young minister might word by word go 
 over the text : 
 
 " The whole world lieth in wickedness " 
 (i Jn. v. 19). 
 
 Then, gathering the great work into his 
 arms, as it were ; knowing also to what full- 
 est extent he was ready to pledge himself : 
 the whole-hearted Israelite could say with 
 strongest persuasion : 
 
 " Come, and let us build up the walls of 
 Jerusalem" (Neh, ii. 17). 
 
 Telling then the wonderful providences 
 
Are All Apostles ? in 
 
 of God thus far, until the slow hearts of 
 the people kindled. 
 
 " And they said, Let us rise up and build. 
 So they strengthened their hands for this 
 good work" (Neh. ii. 18). 
 
 Of course at once broke out a storm of 
 laughter and scorn, upon the " remnant " 
 that planned such great things. Convert 
 the world with a handful of missionaries ? 
 turn men from their wicked courses by 
 your weak efforts ? 
 
 " What do these feeble Jews ? will they 
 fortify themselves ? will they sacrifice ? will 
 they make an end in a day ? will they re- 
 vive the- stones out of the heaps of the 
 rubbish which are burned ? 
 
 " Even that which they build, if a fox go 
 up, he shall even break down their stone 
 wall" (Neh. iv. 2, 3). 
 
 Like the questions in our own day : Can 
 you ever reclaim a drunkard ? Will your 
 
ii2 Are All Apostles ? 
 
 heathen converts stand ? And the de- 
 spised ones gave back the only answer 
 that is worth a straw. 
 
 " The God of heaven, he will prosper us ; 
 therefore we his servants will arise and 
 build " (Neh. ii. 20). 
 
 Then how they laboured, in the strength 
 of such faith and purpose ! It was ideal 
 church work ; for it was, 
 
 "As every man hath received the gift" 
 (1 Peter iv. 10). 
 
 " Every man according to his several 
 ability" (Matt. xxv. 15). 
 
 You can see differences : all had not 
 means alike, — still more, all did not la- 
 bour alike with what they had ; and there 
 was different work to do. The high priest 
 began it : he and his brethren the priests 
 taking first what seemed to them the most 
 important ; even that " sheep gate" through 
 which the sacrifices were brought. They 
 
Arc All Apostles ? 113 
 
 builded and finished it, even to the last bit 
 of cleansing and consecration. And it is 
 pretty to see, that while they wrought thus 
 as it were for the whole congregation, some 
 of the congregation quietly wrought for 
 them. Eliashib the high priest builded 
 the sheep gate ; and meanwhile Meremoth 
 the son of Urijah repaired "from the door 
 of the house of Eliashib even to the end 
 of the house of Eliashib ;" evidently think- 
 ing that after his specially public labours, 
 the high priest ought to rest. 
 
 A stretch of solid building, from the 
 foundations up, followed the " sheep gate ; " 
 finished bit by bit by one and another in 
 turn, even as far as " the fish gate ; " which 
 also in its measure was well and thoroughly 
 done, until beams and doors and locks and 
 bars were all in place. Some might say, 
 what use in finis -Jung any part, while so 
 much was not even begun ? What need of 
 
ii4 Arc All Apostles? 
 
 bolts and bars on the gate, with a breach in 
 the wall ten feet away ? But these builders 
 were out-and-out men, and would have their 
 work self-supporting before they left it. 
 
 And now came a bit of repair, — and 
 another, — and another: rubbish to clear 
 away, and if anything good was left, to 
 adapt it and build it in. Repairing seems 
 like comparatively easy work, and yet per- 
 haps it needs just as deep devotion and 
 whole-souled purpose. For when it came 
 the turn of the Tekoites to repair, 
 
 "Their nobles put not their necks to the 
 work of their Lord " (Neh. iii. 5). 
 
 And you cannot do much with the tips 
 of your fingers. "The wise woman of 
 Tekoah" seems to have had some foolish 
 compatriots. Nehemiah records it, but we 
 do not read that anybody stopped to com- 
 ment : they were all too eagerly busy. It is 
 refreshing to turn to those heartier souls, 
 
Are All Apostles? 115 
 
 and catch even at this far-off distance the 
 clink of their tools. New gates rose up, 
 old gates were put to rights; and "fortifica- 
 tion " strengthened the more exposed places 
 of the built-up wall. Every now and then, 
 too, there is a noteworthy bit of sideway 
 description. One man repairs " over against 
 Ids house" — a place neglected by some 
 builders. Then we have a shew of women's 
 hands amid the universal masculinity. 
 
 " Next to him repaired Shallum, ... he 
 and his daughters" ( Neh. iii. 12). 
 
 They were able to help him — he was 
 willing they should. Then Baruch " ear- 
 nestly repaired another piece." It may 
 not have been a large piece, but we know 
 it was good work. 
 
 " With good will doing service, as to the 
 Lord, and not to men " (Eph. vi. 7). 
 
 And one — was he an invalid ? was he 
 a poorest man? — accomplished but this: 
 he " repaired over against his chamber." 
 
1 1 6 Are All Apostles ? 
 
 " She hath done what she could " (Mark 
 xiv. 8). 
 
 Yet even this, you see, would by and by 
 reach round the world. 
 
 So the work went on. Sometimes a 
 rich man repaired a great piece ; or a knot 
 of friends and neighbours took hold together : 
 " the ruler of part of Mizpah," " the men of 
 Jericho." But next to them would be " Uz- 
 ziah of the goldsmiths," or " Hananiah the 
 son of one of the apothecaries : " or un- 
 known " Benjamin and Hashub," repairing 
 together "over against their house." I 
 perceive also that " the Tekoites repaired 
 another piece," — so perhaps they got 
 stirred out of their lukewarmness, and did 
 better service. 
 
 " So built we the wall ; and all the wall 
 was joined together unto the half thereof: 
 for the people had a mind to work " (Neh. 
 iv. 10). 
 
Are All Apostles ? 117 
 
 You see the grancl result, and the simple 
 explanation. But of course things could 
 not long run on so smoothly. 
 
 "They that will live godly in Christ Je- 
 sus shall suffer persecution : " and these 
 old builders found it true. 
 
 Then as now the walls of Jerusalem 
 must rise under fire ; and this record is 
 well worth studying out. It is such an 
 every- day, human story, that might have 
 been written for our own time. How the 
 world laughed and then threatened ; how 
 Judah lost heart and declared themselves 
 tired ; how Jews dwelling among the world, 
 came with big eyes and bigger stories of 
 what the world would do. How Nehemiah 
 — loyal heart! — never faltered, but keep- 
 ing the people well to their work (great 
 virtue in that) gave the one watchword : 
 Remember the Lord. 
 
 " Be not ye afraid of them : remember 
 
Ii8 Are All Apostles ? 
 
 the Lord, which is great and terrible " 
 (Neh. iv. 14). 
 
 Adding then the tenderest plea : 
 
 " And fight for your brethren, your sons, 
 and your daughters, your wives, and your 
 houses." 
 
 Remember — and fight : the far-off origi- 
 nal, you see, of u Pray — and keep your 
 powder dry." 
 
 Do you think the injunction is out of 
 date ? the plea grown old ? Does this gay 
 nineteenth century need newer doctrine ? 
 Alas, look at the ruined lives, the great 
 houses left desolate, the floods of sorrow 
 and evil which rolling up to the broken 
 walls of Jerusalem, and finding them un- 
 watched, flows in upon the city. 
 
 They set a worthy pattern in Nehemiah's 
 day. After that first brush with discour- 
 agement, they returned all of them to the 
 wall, "every man to his work." 
 
Are All Apostles? 119 
 
 " They which buildcd on the wall, and they 
 that bare burdens, with those that laded, 
 every one with one of his hands wrought 
 in the work, and with the other held a 
 weapon. For the builders every one had 
 his sword girded by his side, and so builded " 
 (Neh. iv. 17, 18). 
 
 That was the position, even for those 
 who were too weak or too young to be 
 more than armour bearers. 
 
 "So we laboured in the work, and half 
 of them held the spears from the rising of 
 the morning till the stars appeared " (Neh. 
 iv. 20). 
 
 And it has its deep meaning, even for 
 us. 
 
 "Thou therefore endure hardness, as a 
 good soldier of Jesus Christ" (2 Ti. ii. 3). 
 
 "Fight the good fight" (1 Ti. vi. 12). 
 
 " Earnestly contend for the faith once 
 delivered to the saints" (Jude 3). 
 
120 Are All Apostles? 
 
 And also Nehemiah's trumpet has its 
 counterpart in modern times : what though 
 the peculiar metal which gave his its ring, 
 is getting to be rare and very precious. 
 
 " The .work is great and large, — he re- 
 minded them, — and we are separated upon 
 the wall, one far from another. In what 
 place therefore ye hear the sound of the 
 trumpet, resort ye thither unto us : our God 
 shall fight for us" (Neh. iv. 19, 20). 
 
 Do you recognize that call when you 
 hear it ? For even in this day of uncer- 
 tain sounds, the rallying trumpet may still 
 be heard. When a Christian minister calls 
 for workers ; when a missionary asks for 
 reinforcements ; when heathen beg for 
 teachers, and Bible women say, Must we 
 give up this district for want of funds ? — 
 then, as at Sinai, " the trumpet soundeth 
 long;" and with a tone only second in 
 solemnity to that. It may be where fresh 
 
Are All Apostles? 121 
 
 forces attack the Sabbath gate ; or storm 
 up against the builders at the breach that 
 drink has made : a flight of Sanballat's 
 arrows (" What do these feeble Jews ? ") may 
 fall in one place ; the faint-heartedness of 
 Judah (" We are not able to build,") may 
 thin the ranks in another. But wherever 
 it is whence the trumpet sounds, to those 
 hard-pressed ones, whoever they may be, 
 "resort ye" all. "Our God shall fight for 
 us ;" you are not helping a doubtful cause. 
 Do you think I forget my own words, and 
 now enjoin you to be " in twenty places at 
 once " ? Yes, but not in the way I depre- 
 cated then. We all know what it is to send 
 our hearts to the front ; and unable to go 
 ourselves, to turn out every scrap of aid, 
 comfort, and power the house affords, and 
 then speed it on : so really fighting all along 
 the line. Time will be given in one place, 
 money in another : words, thoughts, prayers, 
 
122 Are All Apostles? 
 
 influence, will all "strive mightily" with 
 every hard-pressed band of workers. You 
 can shew countenance at least ; and many 
 a surrounded Board of Managers would be 
 glad of even that. Do you remember the 
 answer of the young soldier, when they 
 asked him rather scornfully what he could 
 do ? Said he : "I can stop a bullet that 
 might kill a better man ! " 
 
 One more objection comes up. " Our 
 God shall fight for us," said Nehemiah : if 
 so, why call on us? But you may notice 
 that the wise old Jew makes the only legiti- 
 mate use of the promise, with it urging 
 men to do their utmost. 
 
 " The Lord is with you, while ye be with 
 him" (2 Chr. xv. 2). 
 
 So God has arranged it, and it is useless 
 to ask why. Stress almost unbounded is 
 laid upon human agency ; and if every one 
 else had answered some special summons, 
 
Are All Apostles ? 123 
 
 the call would still be for you to do what 
 you could. Israel had triumphed, " God 
 had subdued the king of Canaan " before 
 their forces; "the Lord discomfited Sis- 
 era." and delivered him into Barak's hand : 
 it was all done, and all the Lord's doing. 
 But two weighty sentences point the great 
 song of thanksgiving. 
 
 " Praise ye the Lord for the avenging 
 of Israel, when the people willingly offered 
 themselves" (Jud. v. 2). 
 
 And then the stern naming of those who 
 " came not to the help of the Lord, to the 
 help of the Lord against the mighty." 
 
UNTIL THE EVENING. 
 
 DOES it appall you ? — 
 " This sore travail that God hath 
 given to the sons of men to be exercised 
 therewith" (Eccle. i. 13). 
 
 So Solomon felt. 
 
 " I looked on all the works that my hands 
 had wrought, and on the labour that I had 
 laboured to do ; and, behold, all was vanity 
 and vexation of spirit, and there was no 
 profit under the sun" (Eccle. ii. n). 
 
 Solomon even went further, and " hated 
 life : " as many a lesser man has done since 
 then. And, as I said, the work of the 
 world has not ceased, but rather grown 
 greater ; and the turmoil is doubled, and 
 
Until the Evening. 125 
 
 demands are heaped up ; and "there is no 
 discharge." " Man goeth forth unto his 
 work and to his labour until the evening," 
 
 — and will, until the everlasting day shall 
 dawn. And yet how grand, how whole- 
 some, how delicious, is work: for us, the 
 Lord's children, this part of the curse has 
 become a blessing, the thorns and the this- 
 tles bear blooms and fruit. How then, do 
 we not get tired, "like other men" ? do we 
 not feel the thorn-pricks too ? 
 
 " I am not able to bear all this people 
 alone," — said Moses (Num. xi. 15). 
 
 "I, even I only, am left," — said Elijah, 
 
 — "and they seek my life to take it away " 
 (1 Kings xix. 10). 
 
 Jonah fainted, and "wished in himself to 
 die" (Jonah iv. 8), under the buffeting of 
 an east wind of unusual power. 
 
 Even Paul was " pressed above measure," 
 
 — poor tired servants, getting dazed in the 
 
126 Until the Evening. 
 
 melee. But I think none of them ever 
 " hated labour ; " and a word, a question, 
 from their Master set them all to rights. 
 Just a touch of his hand, as it were, letting 
 them know they were not alone. They 
 wish to " stand idle," in a world where 
 they could be " workers together with 
 Him " ? " Spend and be spent " was their 
 motto ; neither was life itself counted dear 
 in comparison. Fainting and frightened 
 and weary they might be, now and then, 
 but never seeking their discharge ; never 
 calling life, as the unhired people do, "one 
 long disappointment." 
 
 What then did Solomon mean ? he was 
 the wisest of men, and ought to know. 
 And he did know : he tasted to the full the 
 " vanity and vexation of spirit " in things 
 done merely for oneself. 
 
 " Yea, I hated all my labour which I had 
 taken under the sun : because I should 
 
Until the Evening. ' 127 
 
 leave it unto the man that shall be after 
 me. And who knoweth whether he shall 
 be a wise man or a fool ? yet shall he have 
 rule over all my labour wherein I have la- 
 boured, and wherein I have shewed myself 
 wise under the sun. This also is vanity" 
 (Eccle. ii. 18, 19). 
 
 "Vanity" enough ! 
 
 " He heapeth up riches, not knowing 
 who shall gather them " (Ps. xxxvii. 9). 
 
 He plans the pulling down his barns and 
 the building greater, and " that very night," 
 perhaps, his soul is required of him. 
 
 "Then whose shall those things be?" 
 (Lu. xii; 20). 
 
 " So is he that layeth up treasure for 
 himself, and is not rich toward God " (Lu. 
 xii. 21). 
 
 "Therefore I went about to cause my 
 heart to despair of all the labour which I 
 took under the sun. 
 
128 Until the Evening. 
 
 " For what hath man of all his labour, 
 and of the vexation of his heart, wherein 
 he hath laboured under the sun ? For all 
 his days are sorrows, and his travail grief; 
 yea, his heart taketh not rest in the night " 
 (Eccle. ii. 20, 22, 23). 
 
 It is a weary outlook, over an alkaline 
 plain. For it was all done for "me!' "I 
 builded me houses," " I made me gardens," 
 " I gathered me silver and gold ; " doing it 
 too with complete success. And it has a 
 pleasant sound. 
 
 " Whatsoever mine eyes desired I kept 
 not from them, I withheld not my heart 
 from any joy" (Eccle. ii. 10). 
 
 " The kingdoms of this world, and the 
 glory of them," do look attractive from 
 certain points of view ; and perhaps no 
 one ever swept on his earthly course more 
 triumphantly than Solomon. 
 
 " King Solomon passed all the kings of 
 
Until the Evening. 129 
 
 the earth in riches and wisdom " (2 Chr. 
 ix. 22). 
 
 " My heart rejoiced in all my labour," he 
 says, exulting in success. But then set in 
 the inevitable recoil. Who should possess 
 it all, when Solomon's hands let go ? what 
 should become of the royal rooms, the 
 heaped up treasure ? Who should com- 
 plete these works, who keep up those ? 
 Whose should be the "four thousand 
 stalls, with their horses ; " the " weight 
 of gold ; " the " traffic of the spice mer- 
 chants ; " the ships that every three years 
 came bringing " gold and silver, ivory, apes, 
 and peacocks " ? If only there had been 
 a freight or express train to the other 
 world ! — But no : the stern law : " When 
 he dieth he shall carry nothing away : 
 his glory shall not descend after him " (Ps. 
 xlix. 17), was as unbending for the king as 
 for the poorest beggar in his streets, who 
 9 
 
130 Until tJie Evening. 
 
 indeed had nothing to carry. And again 
 the poor rich king who " withheld not 
 his heart from any good " save one, cried 
 out : 
 
 "Vanity of vanities : all is vanity." 
 " Whosoever drinketh of this water shall 
 thirst again " (Jn. iv. 13). 
 
 And taking Solomon's stand-point, we 
 might well join him in praising " the dead 
 more than the living." But now just turn 
 things round, and begin with, " Seek first 
 the kingdom." For those whose life is 
 " hid with Christ," who do all things in 
 his name, seeking his glory not their own ; 
 for them the world is a wide harvest 
 field, and the mere work is glory. When 
 " life is to do the will of God," no disap- 
 pointment is possible ; neither can failure 
 come in. 
 
 " I run no risks, for come what will, 
 Thou always hast Thy way." 
 
Until the Evening. 131 
 
 " Of the increase of his government and 
 peace, there shall be no end " (Is. ix. 7). 
 
 Therefore working for that, you cannot 
 fail. " Sovereigns die, and sovereignties," 
 — said Carlyle : " how all dies, and is for 
 a time only, yet fancies itself real ! " But 
 this of which we speak, is - 
 
 " The everlasting kingdom of our Lord 
 and Saviour Jesus Christ" (2 Pe. i. 11). 
 
 " Whose dominion is an everlasting do- 
 minion, and his kingdom is from genera- 
 tion to generation" (Dan. iv. 34). 
 
 It is a bank that cannot break : and cent 
 per cent but faintly shadows forth the 
 " good measure, pressed down, and shaken 
 together, and running over," — of the divi- 
 dends. Take all the stock in it you can. 
 And do not blame me for using an every- 
 day figure : one sometimes sees great things 
 best so. 
 
 Thus living, not only for but with the 
 
132 Until the Evening-. 
 
 Lord ; going hour by hour and day by day 
 close after his leading ; we get rid, too, of 
 the pain of unfinished work. Up to this mo- 
 ment " it is done as thou hast commanded ; " 
 and a sudden call to the Presence Cham- 
 ber means only that further work here was 
 not ours to do. 
 
 " Other men laboured, and ye have en- 
 tered into their labours " (Jn. iv. 38). 
 
 So yet other men into ours. You think 
 nobody can carry on your work so well 
 as you yourself ? But if it is the Lord's 
 work, probably he knows about that : if 
 not, indeed, it matters little what is 
 done with it ; it is sure to be burned up, 
 sooner or later. 
 
 Doubtless there were other churches and 
 Christians for Paul to visit and strengthen, 
 — yet he could say : 
 
 "I have finished my course" (2 Ti. 
 iv. 7). 
 
Until the Evening. 133 
 
 And assuredly he had thought of many 
 further things he might do, — but still : 
 
 " I am now ready to be offered up " (2 Ti. 
 iv. 6). 
 
 And when a man says " now " in that 
 connection, he means it. The Lord knew 
 best, in this as in other things. 
 
 "Thy counsels of old are faithfulness 
 and truth " (Is. xxv. 1). 
 
 Could anything be better? And the 
 Lord's faithful soldiers are not " retired 
 upon half pay," but only ordered to report 
 for higher duty ; called to join their regi- 
 ments in the better land. 
 
 " One army of the living God, 
 To his command we bow : 
 Part of his host have crossed the flood, 
 And part are crossing now." 
 
 This is the grand, simple, every-day truth 
 for us all, — and yet I believe many a one 
 gets little good from it. All very well for 
 
134 Until tlie Evening. 
 
 Paul, you think, but for you — your work 
 never seems to amount to much. The la- 
 bour is hard, the results discouraging. 
 
 " It is a glorious thing," said one of our 
 soldiers on the battle-field, " to die looking 
 up." — But it is also a glorious thing to 
 live looking up. Remember, 
 
 " We are labourers together with God " 
 (i Co. iii. 9). 
 
 '•' Fellow helpers to the truth" (3 Jn. 8). 
 
 " Your work of faith, and labour of love, 
 and patience of hope in our Lord Jesus 
 Christ " (1 Th. i. 3), can never be in vain. 
 
 " I hated life," — said poor King Solo- 
 mon, — "because the work that is wrought 
 under the sun is grievous unto me. 
 
 " I looked on all the works that my 
 hands had wrought, and on the labour that 
 I had laboured to do : and, behold, all was 
 vanity and vexation of spirit, and there was 
 no profit under the sun" (Eccle. ii. 11). 
 
Until the Evening. 135 
 
 True again, O wise-foolish king, of 
 things done only for oneself. 
 
 " What shall it profit a man, if he shall 
 gain the whole world, and lose himself, or 
 be cast away ? " (Mark viii. 36). 
 
 But of lives lived humbly " in the name 
 of the Lord Jesus," a greater than Solomon 
 has answered : 
 
 " Write : Blessed are the dead that die 
 in the Lord from henceforth : Yea, saith 
 the Spirit, that they may rest from their 
 labours ; and their works do follow them " 
 (Rev. xiv. 13). 
 
 " Mine elect shall long enjoy the work 
 of their hands " (Is. Ixv. 22). 
 
 Yes, for you, O faithful servants, the 
 crooked things shall " be made straight," 
 and " that which is wanting " shall be num- 
 bered : even " the years eaten by the cater- 
 pillar and the locust shall be restored." 
 
 " He that goeth forth and weepeth, bear- 
 
136 Until the Evening. 
 
 ing precious seed, shall doubtless come 
 again with rejoicing, bringing his sheaves 
 with him " (Ps. cxxvi. 6). 
 
 " The world passeth away, and the lust 
 thereof : but he that doeth the will of God, 
 abideth for ever" (1 Jn. ii. 17). 
 
 Wherefore, " Let the peace of God rule 
 in your hearts, to the which also ye are 
 called in one body ; and be ye thankful " 
 (Col. iii. 15). 
 
 University Press: John Wilson & Son, Cambridge. 
 
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