THE NECESSITY OF OCCUPATION.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XVI, Issue 196, 18 August 1881, Page 1

THE NECESSITY OF OCCUPATION.

The Rev. C. H. Spurgeon speaking at the Metropolitan Tabernacle, from; tbe text Galations ii. 20, observed that ! it had been asserted that the preachers of the G-ospel taught men to live for another world, and failed to teach themj to liye well for the present ,, life. Kothing could no mote untrue, for: no more practical moral teaching could be inculcated than that of the faithful ministeic of the Gospel who really: taught men how to live here below. It would be a pity if, in the process of being prepared for the : next life, man; became disqualified ior the duties of this. He (Mr Spurgeon) woul d venture to say that no lazy man could have faith in God. The believing man became an active man, and he who believed nothing did nothing. It was a: mark of faith that when it came into: the soul it suggested activity^ It did' not permit a man to remain listless andj indifferent, but made life lively, and! caused a man to wish to be doing! something. It was good for a man to have something to db, J and plenty of it The first man, Adam, though created! in a paradise, waß given something to do. God made him a gardener, and! his Eden would not be a paradise if he; had nothing to do but. to smell the; flowera and observe the scenery. Thei trimming of the garden gave a zest to his enjoyment thereof. Occupation was necessary to man aa man. but much! more so was the active working! principle of faith. This faith in God: bade men to be industrious. Even He i from his youth did not resemble the loitering son of a gentleman, but the toiling son of a carpenter. The, principle of faith would not allow teen; to go through the world [as loiterers. It also aided in ; ite.chodsing of.a lifeVproieesion or: career, and in preventing the! sad i- mistakes co often made in early life in the choosing of wrong callmga, which often occurred. How were men to be so! eeeen endeavoring to do what they, were mentally or physically incapable of accomplishing ?— the bird trying to imitate the fish, and the ox endeavoring to enter into competition with the race-horse. The world's precept "Make money honestly if you can; but make it anyhow," was put on one side by this faith, for the true Christian would embark in no enterprise in which the Saviour himself would not have engaged.