SERMON XII.

PROVERBS xxii, 29.

Seest thou a man diligent in his business? he shall stand before kings; he shall not stand before mean

men.

ACTION is every-where manifest. The sun is turning on his axis; the stars are moving in their courses; the earth is revolving in its orbit. Winds blow,rivers run, oceans roll. Birds are on the wing; cattle rove round a thousand hills; man goeth forth to his labours; angels are ascending and descending between heaven and earth. God himself works ;God is the most constant and powerful Agent in the universe. Though perpetually giving life and activity to his creatures, He never rests nor tires. A wakeful, active spirit pervades his works. Were a planet to stop in its course, it would destroy or derange the system. If a man is idle, it disturbs the moral order around him; a train is laid for unnumbered evils: Most of the troubles in this life; all the miseries of the life to come, result from the wrong employment of time.

Though at the commencement of his course, a man may labour with those, or be employed by those, who are mean, and low, and base; yet being diligent, he will rise; he will be distinguished; he will leave his murky atmosphere, his former associates; he will mingle in better society, and be admitted among persons of the highest standing. A diligent man will become independent and respectable.

The bible, and those sermons, which are conformable to the bible, give instructions pertaining to this life, as well as that to come ;-they would make us good here, that we may be happy hereafter. It is, therefore, an indispensable duty to discuss topics like that suggested by the text; for such texts are parts of holy inspiration. No one then can object, lest he should manifest an ignorance of what is proper, or a pride which refuses instruction. The subject now selected, is as really inculcated in the Old and New Testaments, as are regeneration or the divine influences.

My object is to exhibit some of the reasons for diligence.

I. The make and character of body and mind indicate that they were formed for action. If man were not designed for action, why should every limb and faculty be adapted to such a purpose? If you enter the shop of a mechanic, and survey his tools, his axe, his saw, and his hammer, do you not conclude they were formed for use? But what instrument is more adapted for use, than the hands of man? Not an implement of the artisan is so ingeniously contrived for

labour. All the limbs, organs, and senses, speak the same language.

Is not the mind as evidently formed for action and diligence? Why else this perpetual inquisitiveness of spirit, this restlessness of desire,-this intensity of passion, this glowing ambition,—this daring enterprise, this insatiable thirst for wealth, pleasure, and fame? Why is such energy of power given, if not to be exerted?

Since the fall of man labour has become necessary. The surly earth refuseth sustenance to man, unless she be corrected, disciplined, and subdued. Briars and thorns, serpents and tigers, she offers for your provision:-but these must be destroyed; wheat, rye, and barley must be sown; flocks and herds must be reared; houses and barns must be built;-numerous labours must be executed if man would live in this world. In China it is a maxim, that if one man be idle, some man must suffer for food and clothing ; because the country will barely support them all, if all are industrious. This may, in some degree, be applicable to all countries.

II. Diligence is necessary to sustain the bodily and mental powers. Give a man wealth; let him recline on the sofa of pleasure; let him call his servants around him; let him indulge in every luxury, and avoid every exertion of body or mind, and how long will his faculties remain unimpaired? How long will it be ere his sinews will be unstrung, his muscles relaxed, his nerves shattered, his mind gloomy and sad, his health gone, and a thousand miseries shrouding every prospect? In vain do nurses and physicians

minister their opiates and cordials;-in vain they advise him to roll in the carriage of pleasure. The light of the sun, and the fair face of nature, no longer animate his spirits; the flowers, and gardens, the fields, and harvests, have no pleasures for him. Such is the effect of idleness, of rest, of luxury. So necessary is diligence.

III. By diligence, you will form a habit of labour, which will render it pleasant, and even necessary to your comfort. By custom, what was unpleasant becomes desirable; what was painful becomes agreeable; what was odious becomes necessary. However improbable this might, at first view, seem, it is demonstrated by daily experience, and the known laws of the human mind. By custom, labour becomes pleasant, promotive of our comfort, and in the strong language of common life, a second nature. The man, who in boyhood was delighted to escape from his task, to frolick in the field and sport in the water, is now unmoved, and continues cheerfully at his labour, notwithstanding all the parade and splendour of some great festive celebration. The child often considers his book and his school the greatest afflictions, and his father and teacher little better than tyrants for requiring his daily task; but by degrees, frequently by very slow degrees, he acquires a habit of reading and study; now his book becomes a luxury, and the privilege of mental improvement the richest felicity of his life. This, in a great degree, is true of every occupation and pursuit. Exertions of duty are satisfactory to the mind; they are recollected with self-complacency; they swell the tide of our happiness.

IV. Inestimable advantages result from diligence. Compare the idle and the diligent man. The idler drags himself along through the mire of poverty, chilled by the neglect of his friends, torn with the briars of their contempt. Drowsiness will clothe a man in rags ; his poverty and want shall come as an armed man. The diligent hand maketh rich; he that tilleth his land shall be satisfied with bread; in all labour is profit.

Look round the land. Who are the rich men, the opulent merchants, the great landholders? Who are the men of knowledge, luminaries of church and state, the guides of public opinion? Without numerous exceptions, they are men, who a few years since, were not worth an acre of ground. Their hands, and resolute hearts, and habits of diligence, constituted all their wealth. They began life with nothing. They laboured, they studied, they persevered;-they were frugal of money, frugal of time;-they were industrious. They did not run to listen to this concert of music, nor to that eloquent advocate at the bar. Not all the pomp and noise that accompany the anniversary of our nation's freedom, could draw them from their shops, their fields, their studies. When invited to some neighbouring auction or military parade, they would severally reply ;-" God sent me into the world to till my land,-me to tend my shop,-me to pursue my studies. I have no concern with shows and parades." These are the great men,-these are the rich men, to whom the idle go for a piece of bread. Such men acquire reputation. He, who is diligent, who is faithful, in season, and out of season, will be respect

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