The trials of the workman
"I will hedge up thy way with thorns" (Os. ii. 6)
THE words of the prophet, "I will hedge up thy way with thorns," apply in a greater or less degree to all men; for it was said to the father of the human race and to all his posterity: "Cursed is the earth in thy work: with labor and toil shalt thou eat thereof all the days of thy life. Thorns and thistles shall it bring forth to thee" (Gen. iii. 17, 18). Hence it is that thorns spring up everywhere, in the mansions of the rich as well as in the hovels of the poor. Yet there are some states in life where they seem to grow more luxuriantly than in others. Most of you, if not all of you, are in the employ others, and this is one of the states in life that has its abundance of thorns.
1. The thorns of the workman may be turned into roses by his being contented with his calling. Contentment with one's calling can be obtained by looking at the world as it is. It is an abode of trials, sufferings, a valley of tears. "The days of man," says Job, "are like the days of a hireling" (Job vii. 1). And the author of the "Imitation of Christ" tells us that mortal life is full of miseries, all signed around with crosses (Imit. bk. 2, c. 12). It is not only the state of the workman that
