"Who would misspend or neglect the morning season of his life, and lose that portion of honey which he might have gathered and gotten in ?"

ject I will presently offer some remarks, I do not hesitate to say that the man who sells his labour, or the produce thereof to another, deserves morally, socially, and religiously to be regarded as in a position no less honourable than that of the banker, the merchant, or the tradesman. Provided he labours honestly, zealously, and fulfils, according to his best ability, the contract that he undertakes, there is not the slightest reason why he should not be treated as an honourable man and a useful member of society. The person in what is called a higher sphere of life, who bows low to his banker, with whom he has occasionally to over-draw his account, or stoops with humiliation to a customer, from whom he hopes to extract profits, but swears at his gardener, perchance for a slight error committed in the arrangement of a flower-bed, performs the double part of the coward and the bully, and shows that he is at once the slave of one class of persons and the tyrant over another.

That labour is in itself worthy of honour, it will be easy to show. Although the doom of Adam was pronounced as a curse, and it was declared by an Almighty voice, "Cursed is the ground for thy sake; in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life: Thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth to thee; and thou shalt eat the herb of the field. In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken: for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return"—even in this Almighty decree nothing can be found to attach reproach to labour. The curse consisted in the act of disobedience to God, in the loss of God's favour, and in the sorrow that

"When we open our eyes in the morning, many varieties and businesses stand like earnest suitors, or as diligent clients at lawyers' doors, waiting to speak to our thoughts, and ready to press and crowd upon us."

should arise therefrom; but labour is pointed out as the means of amelioration of that curse, as the condition of atonement and reconciliation left open to him who had sinned. Hence it is sufficiently clear that as the disgrace of Adam fell upon the whole of Adam's race-upon kings as well as people-upon rich as well as poor-upon the strong as upon the weak-the man is worthy of honour who fulfils his part of the conditions imposed by an Almighty Ruler—the man who tills the ground, and destroys the thistles, who eats bread by the sweat of his face, and instead of perpetrating further disobedience, and adding to the sin of his first parent, pays day by day his part of the debt of atonement. He only is dishonoured who pays no regard to this decree, but wastes in idleness the life which God affords to him, and shifts the burden of his own share of toil to the shoulders of his fellow-sinners. Hence we find throughout the Holy Scriptures-in the Psalms, the Proverbs, and in the books of the New Testament-the constant praise of industry and censure of idleness. David, speaking of the condition of man, says, "Thou hast made him a little lower than the angels, and hast crowned him with glory and honour. Thou madest him to have dominion over the works of thy hands; Thou hast put all things under his feet; all the sheep and oxen, yea, and the beasts of the field; the fowls of the air, and the fish of the sea, and whatsoever passeth through the paths of the seas." In the Proverbs we find this beautiful reproof of idleness:-"How long wilt thou sleep, O sluggard? when wilt thou arise out of thy sleep? Yet a little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to sleep; so shall

"But let us speak with God first, and He will say something to our hearts that will comfort and guide them all day long."

:

thy poverty come as one that travelleth, and thy want as an armed man. And again: "I went by the field of the slothful, and by the vineyard of the man void of understanding; and lo, it was all grown over with thorns, and nettles had covered the face thereof, and the stone wall thereof was broken down. Then I saw, and considered it well; I looked upon it and received instruction. Yet a little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to sleep so shall thy poverty come," etc. Nor does this apply to man only. A virtuous woman is described as "seeking wool and flax, and working diligently with her hands." "She layeth her hands to the spindle, and her hands hold the distaff." "She considereth a field, and buyeth it: with the fruit of her hands she planteth a vineyard." "She looketh well to the ways of her household, and eateth not the bread of idleness. And it is said of such a woman that "her price is far above rubies." (Proverbs xxxi.)

Here we discover the operation of the curse of the ground: the thorns and the nettles spring up and cover it, wherever idleness allows that curse to exercise its awful influence, and where the hand of industry makes no mediation between the doom of the earth and the anger of God. In St. Luke we are told that "The labourer is worthy of his hire." And again in Timothy, "The labourer is worthy of his reward."

But if anything were wanting to aid the Scriptural arguments in favour of the dignity and honour of labour, it would be found in the fact that God was Himself the first worker; that he wrought the wonders of creation, and out

"Our labouring to get our minds and hearts early and thoroughly possessed in the morning with deep impressions of the divine power and goodness, will keep us close to God, and our duty to Him and to man all day long."

of chaos made a beautiful and a perfect world, dividing the night from the day, the waters from the land, making the sun to rule the day and the moon and stars to rule the night; that he created grass, and herbs, and trees yielding fruit; that he made every living creature that moveth, created man in his own image, male and female; and that, having completed this great and glorious work, He said to Adam, before the fall (Gen. i. 28), "Be fruitful and multiply, REPLENISH THE EARTH, AND SUBDUE IT; and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth." And in Genesis ii. 2, we find that " On the seventh day God ended his work which He had made; and He rested on the seventh day from all his work which He had made." Thus we see that labour was decreed for man, not as a curse, but as a great and cheerful work for him to fulfil. God was, in fact, the first labourer, and to man was committed the high privilege of inheriting and replenishing the grand work of an Almighty hand.

"If we venture to go into the world before we have first gone to God, we rashly rush into danger, because we take not God with us, whose guidance, grace, and strength is our great security."

MODESTY.

"Who art thou, O man, that presumest on thine own wisdom? or why dost thou vaunt thyself on thine own acquirements ?

"The first step towards being wise, is to know that thou art ignorant; and if thou wouldst not be esteemed foolish in the judgment of others, cast off the folly of being wise in thine own conceit.

"As a plain garment best adorneth a beautiful woman, so a decent behaviour is the greatest ornament of wisdom.

"The speech of a modest man giveth lustre to truth, and the diffidence of his words absolveth his error.

"He relieth not on his own wisdom; he weigheth the counsels of a friend, and receiveth the benefit thereof.

"He turneth away his ear from his own praise, and believeth it not; he is the last in discovering his own perfections,

"Yet, as a veil addeth to beauty, so are his virtues set off by the shade which his modesty casteth upon them.

"But behold the vain man, and observe the arrogant; he clotheth himself in rich attire, he walketh in the public street, he casteth round his eyes, and courteth observation.

"He tosseth up his head, and overlooketh the poor; he treateth his inferiors with insolence, and his superiors in return look down on his pride and folly with laughter. "He despiseth the judgment of others, he relieth on his own opinion, and is confounded.

"He is puffed up with the vanity of his imagination; his delight is to hear and to speak of himself all the day long.

"He swalloweth with greediness his own praise, and the flatterer in return eateth him up."-The Ancient Bramin.

III. PROFIT.

THERE are very few of the actions of man which do not properly come under the denomination of labour. The tree has a fixed habitation, its roots draw nourishment from the soil, its leaves feed upon the atmosphere, and rains and dews moisten its leaves and roots. Here is an instance of a living body existing without necessity for labour. But man, because of the greater perfection of his nature, from which he derives the will to plan and the power to pursue various modes of life, finds it necessary to seek those