THE GOSPEL OF HARD WORK.

A Sermon

DELIVERED IN REGENT SQUARE CHURCH,

ON SUNDAY MORNING, MAY 18TH, 1890, BY THE

REV. JOHN MCNEILL.

"Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might; for there is no work, nor device, nor knowledge, nor wisdom, in the grave, whither thou goest."-ECCLES. ix. 10.

A CALL to work, and a reason attached or annexed to the call! It is a strange old Book, the Book of Ecclesiastes. Perhaps of all Books in the Bible, I find myself getting to like it most and best without comment or commentator. Some call it pessimistic. I do not think it should be called either pessimistic or optimistic. I do not think we should try to fix upon it either of these two labels-each alike is too narrow and limited. Sometimes it is the one, and sometimes it is the other, but it is not distinctly the one or the other. Certainly, whatever it may be, it is not shallow. The difficulty, I suppose, in describing or labelling the Book lies here it is so complex, so varied, so thoroughgoing, or reckless, if you like, in every way. This is not the pessimism of "the moping owl, which from yonder ivy-mantled tower doth to the moon complain." The world is not a Vol. II.-No. 2.

ruin, neither is it the unreasoned optimism of the cuckoo on a soft, bright summer's morning, looking at everything in a shimmering haze, and gently repeating that this is the best of all possible worlds-for a cuckoo! The world is not at its best. The Book seems to be like a grave, reverend, greatly-travelled, much-experienced, but still God-fearing man. I would like to come to the man of this Book were I in great trouble, or were I in great joy, or were I disturbed by certain views of life." He seems to be almost or only stern and cold; stoical and cynical; but when you come close to him, you see he is not without tenderness, and a certain chastened hopefulness. If you are too enthusiastic, too hot, too excited, he draws that spirit all out of you, but takes care to breathe it back again, rectified. If you are too moping, or dull, he takes that out of you; and you will find, when you have let him say his say to the end, that you are neither in a screaming state of fanaticism and over-enthusiasm, nor are you dogged and sullen, or limp and lifeless. The end is neither infidelity, atheism, nor agnosticism. This is the conclusion of the whole hurly-burly and up-and-down of the business; its time and chance, its sadness, and its gladness, and its seemingly inextricable whirl. "Let us hear the conclusion," says he, "of the whole matter: Fear God, and keep His commandments, for this is the whole duty of man; for God shall bring every work into judgment, with every secret thing, whether it be good, or whether it be evil." Go on your way; plough out your furrow; hoe out your row; do not be too much uplifted, and do not be too much downcast. Here there is nothing abiding. But God, and righteousness, and truth abide, and shall abide for ever.

Here is a text in the midst of much that seems to be

melancholy-much that seems to be almost jaundiced. It is as though the writer went down and stood yonder at the Mansion House corner, in the midst of all the swim, and said, "What a bother and swelter and helter-skelter for nothing!" He seems to be jaundiced or cynical-but he is not that, for he breaks out here, and says, "Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might; for there is no work, nor device, nor knowledge, nor wisdom, in the grave, whither thou goest." He is not throwing the wet blanket over us, he is taking the wet blanket off; telling us to rouse ourselves; to remember how brief is our stay among the things of time; sobering us, settling us, taking all surcharge of either joy or sorrow out of us, and putting us under not a crushing, but a working pressure. soever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might."

"What

"Whatsoever." Notice, then, coming out of this text—and you know it is widened and deepened by many a Scripture besides, both in the Old Testament and the New, which comes flying to it, as we lift it up and make it prominentnotice, friends, how the Word of God has an eye to the whole scope and area and circumference of our life. Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might." The Bible is sometimes spoken of by people who neither read it nor practise it as being moonshine, as being so hazy and impracticable a Book that it does not look at present facts in actual life. A Book that talks a great deal about far-away things; abstractions, so they say, such as sin, and grace, and so on. It is a Book that talks about things that we think to be far away, and it brings them in upon us; and it is a Book which also lifts into the light of God and eternity whatever thing your hand finds to do. It is the most practical Book you ever read; it is

the wisest Book for worldly wisdom that ever man opened. I saw a book the other day on a bookstall entitled, “How to Make Money." I never dreamed of spending two shillings on buying that book: it is all in here, in the Bible; you can get it all for a penny from the British and Foreign Bible Society-everything about how to make money, and how to avoid losing money. I saw another book entitled, "The Evils of Gambling Exposed"; but really I did not buy it. It is all in here; all those evils are exposed here. And, again, I saw another book on "The Evils and Perils of the Stock Exchange." It is not worth buying, for it is all in here; it is all here splendidly. The Bible a book that does not refer to daily life? Why, it is a libel on the Book, and can only be uttered by people who do not read it, and who know the reason why-they are afraid to read it. "Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do." Let us begin at the very lowest level—your daily work, my brother; your daily task, my sister. Says this Book, "Live ever under the Great Taskmaster's eye." If you are a servant in the kitchen, right on up to the Queen on the throne, "Whatsoever your hand finds to do, do it with thy might." This text, and many another like it, reminds you that you live under the eyes of your Master, who is looking over your shoulder, and it tells you to do the work a little better-" do it with thy might;" put head, and heart, and conscience, and will, and energy, human and divine, into it-be your best in everything. Have we learnt this for our daily life? I speak here especially-I am only entitled to speak, perhaps, specially to young men ; my young brother, here is a word for you. You want enthusiasm ; oh, if you want to get that safely and successfully, make God's Word your strength. Your secular energy, your wisdom for this world, let it be

found in this Book, and "Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might." Do it not with weakness, not with one hand, not with what you can spare, but "be at it, all at it, and always at it." The Bible an impracticable book? The Bible rings with common sense, and we have got so little common sense, because we have got so little of the Bible in us. "Whatsoever thy hand." Are you a quilldriver? Then drive it a little better; consecrate your penpower to this Book, and to Him who stands behind it. Perhaps the want of that has been the ruin of you in your daily life. You grumble and complain, and think you have not a sphere suited to your great capabilities. Maybe I saw your master before I saw you to-day, and he has a different verdict. He says you have capabilities and powers, but that you need this text as the steam-power to drive them, and you have not got it. You are not using them; you are set to smaller things just now, and you are doing them in a careless and slack way; and while you are looking all abroad, wondering where you can see a place worthy of your ambitions, your master tells me he is on the verge of paying you off. Pardon me for putting it as plainly as that that is one application of the "Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do." My good woman, in your work at home— my servant lassie-"Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do "remember this text, and get your energy here-do it for God, do it with the calm daylight of eternity breaking over your face.

Religion won't spoil you in any kind of secular work, it will make you sacred in the midst of all the dangers of secularity. As I said to a company of working-men's wives, not long ago, so I say here: there is more polishing-paste in this text than we have ever taken out of it. It would