Page:Cyclopedia of illustrations for public speakers, containing facts, incidents, stories, experiences, anecdotes, selections, etc., for illustrative purposes, with cross-references; (IA cyclopediaofillu00scotrich).pdf/817

 In sun and moon and star His message shines! The flowers that fleck the green fields are His fragrant lines.

His whisper in the breeze, And His the voice That bids the leaves upon the trees Sing and rejoice.

Go forth, O soul! nor fear Nor doubt, for He Shall make the ears of faith to hear— The eyes to see.

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WORD, THE, A HAMMER

Thor was the god of thunder. The most prized of all his possessions was his magic hammer. This was red hot, and always returned to his hand ready to be thrown again. He used it to drive boundary stakes, and also to punish his enemies. The ancient Northern peoples made the sign of the hammer, as later Christians did the cross, to ward off evils and to secure blessings.

What an allegory, all this, of the Word of God! (Text.)

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Words—See.

WORK

It was while Moses was at his common task that the call came to him. This wilderness training was simply a third school which he entered to fit him for the great work of his life. When God wants a man he usually calls one who is busy among the commonplace things of life. Commonplace duties are always glorified in God's sight. When God wanted a prophet he selected Amos from among the farmer-shepherds. When He wanted a poet He called a lad from keeping sheep. When He wanted an apostle He called a swearing tar from mending his net on the beach of Galilee. When He wanted a missionary He selected a Paul from among the tent-makers. When He wanted a deliverer of Israel He called a man from the commonplace duties of the desert. When God wanted to show man how much He loved him and honored toil, He chose to incarnate Himself in the carpenter of Nazareth.

"This is the gospel of labor, Ring it ye bells of the kirk; The Lord of Love, came down from above, To live with the men who work; This is the rose He planted, Here is the thorn-curst soil, Heaven is blest, with perfect rest, But the blessing of earth is toil." (Text.)

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Paul was not ashamed to work with his hands, altho he had been brought up at the feet of Gamaliel and taught according to the perfect manner of the law. He had not forgotten the custom of the Jews, who always taught their sons in early youth to work at some trade or handicraft. A true saying is that "an idle brain is the devil's workshop." Miss Dryer, a Chicago missionary, in addressing the ministers' meeting of that city in behalf of girls' sewing-schools, made the significant statement that in all her experience of many years she had never known of a fallen woman who knew how to sew. (Text.)

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Man's work is to labor and leaven As best he may—earth here with heaven, 'Tis work for work's sake that he's needing; Let him work on and on as speeding Work's end, but not dream of succeeding! Because if success were intended, Why, heaven would begin ere earth ended.

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See.

Work a Necessity—See.

WORK AND ART

Between digging a ditch to drain a meadow and composing a sonnet, what is there in common? Nevertheless, if we look closely into the matter, the ditch and the sonnet are much the same thing. We might even fairly challenge that category of "useful" and "fine." The useful are surely fine, for nothing is finer than use; and the fine, if they be not in a high sense useful, are not fine after all. The ditch is dug to increase the serviceableness to man of nature; the sonnet is composed to enable man to discern in nature a beauty (or serviceableness) to which he had heretofore been blind. From a broad standpoint, there is little to choose between them. The ditch is nothing in itself, but neither, strictly speaking, is the sonnet. They are both means to ends. The ditch is, perhaps, more distant from its end than the sonnet, but it is a link in the same chain. Moreover, the ditch will always be an honest