IV. Do not watch your environment. Verse four. "He that observeth^the wind shall not sow and he that regardeth the clouds shall not reap." The farmer that must have ideal surrounding- never does anything. It is so in everything: No better thought could come to a young man starting out in life than the, suggestioris of this verse. The man who is always blaming his circumstances" f^r his inactiyity has not faith enough to be a minister ór a missionary or a business man. We have nothing to do with the environment. We may rejoice in favorable situations to a certain extent, but our faith is in God who sent us„ not in the good or the bad environment. Be not elated by that which is pleasant nor cast down' by that which is unfavorable. God knows the facts. The best farmer watches not the clouds. The best worker is not cast down by appearances. This takes faith. This is the spirit of a seasoned worker. Equipment nevfr gives courage. "The children of Ephraim being armed and carrying bows, turned back in the day of battle." • " ' ' There is good equipment in our day. There may be a call by and by to go out from it all and work with or without equipment as God shall direct. V. Diligence. Faithfulness to the end. ®Tn the morning sow thy seed and in the evening withhold not thy hand." In'the morning of life with its enthusiasm and when evening comes with its weakness and lessened strength. This is a word for the older workers. Do not say "There is no more for me to do." Natural zeal will decay, but if you have God you will still bring forthifruit in old age VI. Let us look forward to finding our reward "after many days " Not now but in the coming years.
Gladstone on the Bible.
r * * HE late Premier of . Great Britain, celebrated as a statesman and a scholar, thus expresses himself in his "Introduction to * the People's Bible": "Heaven and eartrh shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away," As they have lived and wrought, so thev will live and work. From the teacher's chair and from the pastor's pulpit; in the hum- blest hymn that ever mounted to the car of God from beneath a cottage roof, and in the. rich, melodious, choir Of the noblest cathedral, "their sound is gone out into all lands and their words into the ends of the world. Nor here alone but in a thousand silent and unsuspected forms will they unweariedly prosecute their holy office.
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