Kinship has its obligations! The tribes of Reuben and Gad would have been shamefully unbrotherly if they had claimed the conquered land and left the rest of Israel to fight for their portions alone.

We have received so much from the efforts and sufferings of saints who came before us. If we don't give back to the church of Christ with our best energies, we are unworthy to be enrolled in her ranks. Others are combating the errors of our age manfully! Others are rescuing perishing souls from the ruins of the fall! And if we fold our hands in idleness? We had better beware, lest the curse of Meroz fall upon us.

The Master of the vineyard asks, "Why stand ye here all the day idle?" Well? What is the idler's excuse?

Personal service to Jesus becomes all the more our duty because it is cheerfully and abundantly rendered by some. The toils of devoted missionaries and fervent ministers shame us if we sit still in indolence.

This is the temptation of those who are at ease in Zion: shrinking from trial. They would fain escape the cross and yet wear the crown! To them, tonight's question is very applicable.

If the most precious metals are tried in the fire, are we to escape the crucible? If the diamond must be vexed upon the wheel, are we to be made perfect without suffering? Who commanded the wind to cease from blowing because our bark is on the deep? Why and wherefore should we be treated better than our Lord?

The firstborn felt the rod—and why not the younger brethren?

It is a cowardly pride which would choose a downy pillow and a silken couch for a soldier of the cross. Wiser far is he who, being first resigned to the divine will, grows by the energy of grace to be pleased with it. That soul learns to gather lilies at the cross foot and, like Samson, to find honey in the lion.