XIII.

HOMELY HINTS ABOUT WORK.

"Let all things be done in order."-1 COR. xiv. 40.
"Do what thou dost, as if the earth were heaven,
And that thy last day were the judgment day;
When all's done, nothing's done."

KINGSLEY.

"A wise man scorneth nothing, be it never so small or homely,

For he knoweth not the secret laws that may bind it to great effects."
MARTIN TUPPER.

THE law of order requires to be duly combined with the law of work, else we shall walk at haphazard, hindering our own usefulness, and irritating the feelings of others. There may be much diligence, and faith, and zeal, without order, but there can be only partial success; nor without it can there be a thorough spirit of obedience, for it is one of the commands of God, "Let all things be done in order." It appears to be a thing of easy attainment, belonging to the essentially commonplace and uninteresting elements of work; hence is it so frequently neglected, and any admonitions on the subject generally received with weariness, if not contempt. Those however who have known the sadness of failure in their work, without any apparent cause,-unless it be the want of due

regularity and design,—will not disdain to listen to a few brief and homely words, and to such we say—

66

Be methodical!-The very idea of "living by rule" is frightful to many, especially to those who pique themselves on possessing something of genius," which they consider incompatible with method. Now if genius has accomplished much in the world without method, doubtless it would have accomplished much more with it; while those who have neither genius nor method, will find themselves but in a melancholy plight. When we rise in the morning to the light and the work of a new day,-unless we have some rules of action,-unless we know what we have to do, and when it is to be done, unless we have the hours parcelled out in some measure so that we need not waste large intervals in arranging and discussing, we run great risk of having our duties ill balanced,—giving undue space to the work that we like, and crushing into a corner the work that we do not like. While we allot, as far as possible, the different duties for the different hours, it is well to leave some but partially filled, to meet the emergencies of unexpected claims,-reserving some lighter employments for these "corners of time." The lesson that we may learn from the following resolution of Mrs. Fletcher of Madely, as recorded in her diary, will be found useful by those who for the first time are attempting to cultivate method. "I will endeavour to lay out my time by

rule, that I may know each hour what ought to be done; nevertheless I will cheerfully submit to have these rules broken or overturned, whenever the Providence of God thinks fit so to do."

Be punctual!-Punctuality is essential to method, but we make a distinction between the two, because with some degree of growing method, as regards our own duties, we may yet be heedless regarding the work and the method of others. Time is a gift, and if we choose to undervalue and mislay our own portion, we certainly have no right to appropriate what belongs to those around us. Yet when we forget to keep an appointment,-when we arrive an hour too late for the work to be done in concert with others, we have not only defrauded God of His service, but we have robbed our neighbours of hours that might have been usefully occupied. In some cases this is tantamount to the crime of stealing silver and gold,—for to many time is money. Charlotte Elizabeth said that by the want of punctuality in her friends interrupting her literary work, she had lost hundreds of pounds; still more is this true in the case of artisans and tradespeople, to whom want of punctuality is positive injustice; and yet how little is this social sin watched and striven and prayed against !

Be thorough!-Do not aim at more than you have strength or opportunity for; but what you attempt, do well it is better to do one duty thoroughly, than

half a dozen superficially; and as it is not the object of God that you should perform a certain number of services, but that you should so enter into the spirit of them as to glorify Him, and obtain from each its full amount of benefit for others, you will frustrate God's plan by their perfunctory performance. There is nothing too small to be done thoroughly,— no work so insignificant that we can say, "It is of no consequence how I do it." This thorough spirit will prevent procrastination, there will be no putting off till to-morrow the duty to be done, or the difficulty to be grappled with, which each day will grow more distasteful and more burdensome; it will also prevent the opposite tendency to undue haste, and the anticipation of future duty, when we ought to be absorbed in the present. Let there be also a combination of earnestness and reality so needful in all work, without which we shall walk through the vineyard as "in a vain show,”—without which our hearts will be far away in dreams, while our hands are mechanically employed.

Be wise!-Too often the usefulness of Christians is marred by a native want of wisdom. With the best intentions, they say and do just what is calculated to injure, instead of to profit, and they lay hold of the Apostolic injunction-" Be instant!" as an excuse for being very much oftener "out of season than in season.' Sometimes the defect proceeds from an overweening confidence in their own wisdom,

which makes them trust to this broken reed to extricate them from perplexities, to uphold in difficult paths, and to solve harassing doubts and fears; therefore God leaves them to these their counsellors, that after doing, saying, and thinking the most unwise things possible, they may become "fools" in their own estimation. The cure for both these cases is so simple and direct, that it need only be stated in these few words of Scripture-" If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him." All that is essential for the obtaining of this true wisdom, is to be ever bearing in mind our daily, hourly need of it, and ever pleading the full promise of its immediate supply; so that in all sincerity though not with fleshly wisdom, we may walk without erring in the highway of holiness.-(Is. xxxv. 8.) Be consistent !-The Christian is not as the unrecognised architect of the coral atoll and lagoon,— or as the builder of many of earth's proudest fanes; he is identified with his work, whatever it may be, and it will suffer loss, or increase in value according as he walks stedfastly in the ways of the Lord, or is driven hither and thither, as if by a strong wind; one day at work in the vineyard, the next immersed in folly and vanity; one day speaking words of precept, the next day unspeaking them by contrary words of example. God's servant must bear the badge of his

service at all times and in all places;

that he
that he may be