Chapter L: Of Diligence

THE great Apostle, St. Paul, when he stood before King Agrippa, gave an account of his conversion and labors. He says that at midday a great light from heaven shone around him exceeding the brightness of the sun, which struck himself and his companions to the ground, and that a voice spoke to him, telling him that he was chosen to open the eyes of the people who were in darkness, and to bring them to enjoy the lot of the saints in heaven.

Now he adds: “I was obedient to the heavenly vision, preaching everywhere to the Jews and the gentiles” (Acts xxvi. 19, 20). We all know how he labored with his whole heart and soul, suffering pains, afflictions, fatigues, persecutions, almost passing belief, until he closed his eyes in death. What was the reason he gave himself so little rest?

It was because he was directed by the Lord to work, and because it was the Lord’s work he was doing. Now, you have the same reason for diligence and painstaking in your work that St. Paul had in his. He was told to work by a voice from heaven. “He was not unmindful of the heavenly vision.” You too have been told by a voice from heaven — the voice of the Holy Ghost — “Whatsoever ye do, do it from the heart, as to the Lord, and not to men. Knowing that ye shall receive from the Lord the reward of inheritance. Serve ye the Lord Christ” (Col. iii. 24).

This is the thought of all thoughts to be kept ever before the mind; which will give you strength and courage to do all that we should do, and to do it in the very best way.

Take, for example, a girl who has work to do from morning till night. Early in the morning of a washing-day she wakes up. There is a heap of clothes to wash; there is breakfast to get, and, it may be, the chief part of the work of a family to do. It will require all her time and strength to do it. When she wakes up it seems a dismal prospect to her. “Oh, dear! how I shall have to slave it to-day!”

But now the thought comes, “For Jesus Christ, oh! do it cheerfully for His sake.” In an instant she is out of bed. “Oh, yes!” she says, “I could not be better employed.” She draws water, makes the fire, fills her kettles; there is not a bit of sulkiness or grumbling about it. One thing goes off after another. It is astonishing how this thought makes her do everything so easily and so well. Her appetite is good; and at night she goes to bed full of good health, and with the best conscience in the world. Ah! this is the girl who has got the grand secret.

Yes, my dear girls, if you want to be good and happy, be diligent. Make it a point of conscience not to neglect your work, nor to do it in a lazy or careless way. It is a matter of conscience, for when you receive wages you are bound to give your labor in return. Look into a factory where hundreds of people are as busy as bees, and even there you will find many idlers. They say to themselves, “I don’t mean to kill myself working; I shall only get a day’s wages any how”; so they dawdle over their work as much as they dare. Others, who are paid by the actual work they do, slight it all they can, so as to get along faster and make a little more money at the end of the week. This is not true diligence, but dishonest haste. You are bound to discharge the duty or office you take upon yourself in a perfect manner, or as it is expected that it should be done.

And as the Lord will reward you for a faithful and diligent performance of it, so He will call you to account and judge you if you neglect it. This is why the Scripture says we must not be “eye-servants.”

What is an eye-servant? It is one, if I understand it, who does her duty when the employer’s eye is upon her, but who neglects it when her back is turned. One who is very plausible to one’s face; who says, “Oh, yes!” but who cannot be depended upon. Such girls do not care; they love their own ease and comfort more than they love their plain duty, more than they love to please God.

Go into the kitchen where such a girl works. What do you see? Well, you may seldom see it in order. The floor is dirty; unwashed dishes and dirty clothes are lying around, when everything ought to be put away. Breakfast, dinner, and supper are always behind-time.

Then, you find the potatoes half boiled, or the meat burnt so that you cannot eat it. The table is half set. The work is always done in a most slovenly manner, or not done at all.

Such a girl is the occasion of a great deal of sin. She provokes ill-temper and defrauds her employers of what they had a right to expect from her.

The Scripture describes it well: “As vinegar to the teeth and smoke to the eyes, so is the sluggard to him that sent him” (Prov. x. 25).

The mistress goes down into the kitchen; there are her girls sitting down with their hands in their laps, talking with one another, or with an acquaintance that has come in. There they have been a full half-hour, and everything behind-hand. It is enough to ruffle the temper of a saint.

Another girl is always running out to see the girl in the next house, leaving the dinner to take care of itself. Another has chamber-work to do: it is the same; until late in the morning all is in confusion. If the children are to be cared for, the poor little things are not half dressed, they get bruised and thumped because they are not watched and attended to as they ought to be.

If several girls are living together, there is an everlasting strife as to whose business it is to do this or to do that, and half the work is not done, and every now and then the only thing to do is to clear out the whole set and get another. Perhaps some poor innocent girl then has to suffer from the negligence of her companions.