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 SERMON. 
 
 Eccles. IX., 10. 
 
 WHATSOEVER THY HAND FINDETH TO DO, DO IT WITH 
 THY MIGHT." 
 
 In these words it is implied, in the first place, that 
 we must labour or exert ourselves ; and, in the 
 second place, that our work is assigned to us and 
 not left to our choice : and then comes the injunc- 
 tion as to the manner in which our appointed work 
 is to be performed, " Whatsoever thy hand findeth 
 to do, do it with thy might." To these three points 
 I propose to call your attention this day, and may 
 the Spirit of God be with us, to bless what shall now 
 be said to the edification and comfort of our souls, 
 
 I. Although some things which are attainable by 
 others, may be, for reasons to which I shall presently 
 allude, beyond our reach ; — although success does 
 not invariably attend our labours ; — although the 
 object of our wishes does sometimes come to us as
 
 an unexpected boon ; — still it will be universally 
 admitted, for we intuitively perceive it, that the 
 rule is, that nothing worth having in this world can 
 be obtained without exertion and labour. This is 
 the constituted order of things. What we are 
 taught by revelation is this, that God has established 
 in heaven and upon earth a certain order of things, 
 a sequence of cause and effect, and this we call His 
 general Pro^^dence ; according to which order of 
 things divinely established, we find the rule to be 
 that success attends exertion, and that the conse- 
 quence of idleness is misery. 
 
 But we find from experience that this rule is not 
 without its exceptions ; so that in the verse follow- 
 ing our text, the wise man saith, " I returned and 
 saw under the sun, that the race is not to the swift, 
 nor the battle to the strong, neither yet bread to the 
 wise, nor yet riches to men of understanding." (Eccles. 
 ix.) The nde is that the race is to the swift, and the 
 battle to the strong ; but it is not an invariable ride, 
 because, in ways unknown and by the interposition 
 of undiscoverable causes, God doss from time to 
 time interfere, and prevents the occurrence of the 
 expected result. 
 
 Now this we call His special Providence. And be- 
 cause we believe in His special Providence, — in His 
 interference and interposition, — we pray : this belief 
 in a special Providence is the ground of prayer, one 
 of the purposes of prayer being to impress our minds 
 more deeply with that faith in a special Providence 
 which it calls into action. 
 
 But further : when we refer to the general Provi- 

 
 dence of God, we find that we are benefited by tlie 
 exertions of otliers as well as by our own, and that 
 they, in their turn, may be assisted by friendly offices 
 performed by ourselves. Except for a mother's care, 
 the infant could not be reared ; and we should remain 
 uninstructed savages, except for the education we 
 have received from others. 
 
 Throughout life there is a reciprocation of good 
 offices between man and man, and the Scriptures 
 teach us that the same rule holds good when we 
 refer to the special Providence of God. As we can 
 benefit one another by our actions, we can also 
 assist one another by our prayers. The pious 
 mother not only rocks her sick babe to sleep, she 
 prays also for the preservation of its life; and the 
 sick man not only sends lor his physician, but 
 asks for the prayers of the Church. Exertion and 
 prayer must be combined, — exertion with reference 
 to the general Providence of God, — prayer with 
 reference to the special Providence of God. 
 
 But further still : we are called not only to the help 
 of our fellow-creatures, but to the help of the Lord God 
 Almighty Himself. You remember the curse upon 
 Meroz : " Curse ye Meroz, said the Angel of the 
 Lord ; curse ye bitterly the inhabitants thereof, be- 
 cause they came not to the help of the Lord, to the 
 help of the Lord against the mighty." (Judges v. 23.) 
 And what but a call to the help of the Lord, is 
 the commission which our Divine ]\Iaster has given 
 to His Church when He has directed us to preach 
 the Gospel to every creature. In the execution of 
 the Divine mandate St. Paul saith, — " We, then, as
 
 workers together with God, beseech you that ye 
 receive not the grace of God in vain" (2 Cor. vi., 1) ; 
 remarking in another place, "We are hxbourers to- 
 gether with God." The assertion is at first startling, 
 but it is not in point of fact more mysterious than 
 the other two positions w^hich imply independent 
 action on the part of the creature, although his 
 actions will be rendered, by an overruling power, 
 conducive to the ends of the Creator. 
 
 In our Theological enquiries, we are to act on the 
 same principles which we adopt in our Scientific in- 
 vestigations. When a scientific man has been brought 
 to a certain point by a process of reasoning, he pauses 
 to ascertain w^hether his conclusions harmonize with 
 the facts of nature ; and if they do not, then he at 
 once perceives and admits that, in his conclusions, 
 there must be some undetected fallacy or concealed 
 error. In like manner, in our Theological enquiries, 
 we must test our conclusions by reference to the 
 facts revealed to us in the sacred Scriptures. There 
 is an appeal, in the one case, to the Book of God's 
 Works, — and in the other, to the Book of God's 
 W^ord. 
 
 AVe are not to argue in this w^ay : ' such and such 
 beino: the attributes of God, such and such must be 
 their inevitable consequence.' For, it frequently 
 occurs, that a revelation is made expressly to warn 
 us AGAINST some conclusion which would seem logi- 
 cally to foUow from a stated principle, — but which we 
 have no right to persevere in, when warned against 
 it, because with all the circumstances of the case we 
 have not been made acquainted. For example, God
 
 is Omniscient, — but we are warned not to infer from 
 this that prayer is useless ; but, on the contrary, to 
 understand that although God knows what we want 
 before we ask, and is ready to give more than either 
 we desire or deserve, — yet, according to the order of 
 things which He hath established in the Universe, 
 there are some things which He will do upon our 
 asking, but which, in the absence of prayer, He will 
 withhold. Again, there is foreknowledge in God, — 
 but we are not therefore to infer that there is no 
 freedom of will in man ; for both facts are revealed 
 in Scripture, although we are not instructed how 
 the two facts are to be reconciled : all we know 
 is, that God certainly predestinates, and that, as 
 certainly, man within certain limits is free. The 
 leading idea of Christianity is the Atonement. — 
 But men have rejected this fundamental fact of our 
 religion, throuo;h false inferences deduced from 
 another fact — the Divine omnipotence and mercy. 
 God is Almighty, and all-merciful : but God, though 
 Almighty, could not pardon the human race until 
 an atonement had been offered, and a satisfaction 
 made to that law on the maintenance of which 
 depends the happiness not only of rational creatures 
 upon earth, but of all the hosts of heaven. 
 
 This is what God could not do. 
 
 There is no greater inconsistency in saying this, 
 than in saying that a good man cannot commit 
 robbery or wrong : as a man, of course, he has the 
 power to take what is not his own, or to place 
 another man's signature to a bond. But this, as an 
 honest man, he cannot do. Precisely so we say,
 
 God could not pardon man when the human race by 
 transgression fell, because as our poet expresses it : 
 
 A God all mercy, is a God unjust. 
 
 His justice is shewn, in requiring an atonement before 
 issuing a pardoji ;— His infinite, His inconceivable 
 mercy is shewn, in Himself making the atonement, 
 ■ — for God, we know, was in Christ reconciling the 
 world to Himself, 
 
 And now applying this principle to the case before 
 us : althoufifh the most High God does not stand in 
 need of our help, — although His will must eventually 
 prevail, though earth and hell be leagued together 
 against Him, — yet He honors men as well as augels 
 by employing them in His service. As He has 
 imparted to them reason, and given unto them free- 
 dom of will, so does He honor His holy ones by 
 calling them to His help, in the warfare which, for 
 a while. He permits to exist between Himself and 
 the powers of darkness. He hath ordained and 
 constituted the services of angels and men in a 
 wonderful order, — and it is through man that He 
 confers happiness upon man, even, in the Second 
 Person of the Godhead being Himself incarnate ; 
 that as by man came death, so by man should come 
 the resurrection of the dead. 
 
 n. But we are next to observe that the work 
 we are to do is not to be selected by our own judg- 
 ment : it is work assigned to us, — a vocation, a 
 calling : not what the head suggests, but what the 
 hand finds, — what comes to hand.
 
 § 
 
 The worldly man, whether professing godliness or 
 not, asks the question, ' How can I be most useful f 
 ■ — disguising, even from himself, the pride and am- 
 bition which the question implies. He places 
 himself among those who say, " We are the people 
 and wisdom will die with us." (Job. xii., 2.) He 
 becomes a busybody in other men's matters : — over 
 the laws of the land, and over the very principles of 
 the Gospel, he assumes for himself a dispensing 
 power, and while causing confusion in Church and 
 State, he despises what are called the minor duties 
 of life, until he finds at last that the world's applause 
 is no compensation for the reproaches of conscience, 
 and for the miseries resulting from a neglected home. 
 
 This grand mistake is committed by a forgetful- 
 ness of that truth to which I have already adverted, 
 that although God confers upon us the high honor 
 of employing His people in His service. He never- 
 theless does not stand in need of our assistance : that 
 although He calls us to His help, the vocation is not 
 for His advantage, but for ours. If we are His 
 servants, then we are to do, not what we think 
 most useful in the Master's cause, but what the 
 Master requires. What the master requires of his 
 servants, what the captain demands of his soldiers, 
 is obedience : and we, recollect, are the sworn ser- 
 vants and soldiers of the Lord Jesus Christ. 
 
 It is not merely a question of pious feeling on 
 our part, or of right intention, — these are essential 
 to the Christian character, but they are not sufficient 
 as indicators of Christian duty. AVhat should w^e 
 think of the soldier, who, under the influence of
 
 10 
 
 patriotic feeling and intention, should join the 
 British army, and on reaching the camp should say, 
 my business is to defeat the enemy, I shall do it 
 in my own way : as for your military discipline, 
 and your camp regulations, they may do well enough 
 for others, but I shall do what I think most 
 useful 1 
 
 The Commander-in-Chief of our Indian army, in 
 commendinir one of his Lieutenant-Generals, ex- 
 presses himself thus : — " He has the rare merit of 
 uniting the greatest boldness and a firm and correct 
 judgment, with the most scrupulous regard for his 
 orders and instructions." And this is the principle 
 upon which the soldier and servant of the Lord 
 Jesus Christ is to act ; this the principle upon 
 which Saint Paul, ever bold in action and firm in 
 judgment, was seen to act when he refused to stretch 
 himself beyond his measure. 
 
 Hence the question of the humble-minded Christian 
 is, — not. How can I be most useful '? — but, What is 
 my duty 1 What are the commands of my heavenly 
 King 1 And he is enabled to answer this question 
 by his fiuth in the special Providence of God. 
 
 He traces the circumstances under which he is 
 placed, not to chance, — but to the decree of God. 
 Whether we are to earn our livelihood by manual or 
 intellectual labour, — that is to say, in a profession 
 or a trade, in this station of life or in that, depends 
 upon a variety of circumstances over which we have 
 no control ; on the circumstances, for example, of our 
 birth and the antecedents of our parents. We did 
 not choose our parents or our social position ; and
 
 11 
 
 though we have some freedom of choice when we 
 commence life, as to the precise trade or profession 
 we shall adopt, — the choice is again limited by 
 circumstances : the peasant cannot choose to be a 
 peer, or a peer to be a prince : and if by labour we 
 improve our circumstances, this is still only within 
 a limited range ; the tradesman may rise to be a 
 Magistrate, — the soldier from a subaltern to a 
 General, — the la\^yer from a pleader to a Judge, — 
 but tradesmen, soldiers, lawyers, they still remain. 
 
 But if such be the force of circumstances, and if 
 circumstances be assigned to us not by chance but 
 by God, then the Christian man will hear in the 
 circumstances under which he is placed, the voice of 
 the Lord saying, ' In performing the duties of thy 
 station, thou art performing the duties to which I 
 call thee ; thou art obeying My command.' This, 
 it is, which gives dignity to the huml)lest office. 
 It matters not what our work may be : to sit on 
 a throne, or to kneel a petitioner before it ; — to be 
 waited upon as a master, or to serve as a menial ; — 
 to repel the enemies of our country, or to conduct 
 its affairs ; — to fight the battle, or to watch the 
 stuff ; — to command, or to obey ; — to manage an 
 estate, or to cultivate a farm ; — to conduct a com- 
 mercial firm, or to serve in the shop, or to labour 
 in the mill ; — to give the mind to a profession, or 
 the hand to a trade ; — to relieve distress, or to resist 
 oppression ; — to plead as an advocate, or to sit as a 
 judge ; — to argue, or to decide ; — to write, or to 
 read ; — to sweep the street, or to walk in it ; — to 
 preach the gospel, or to hear it ; — to administer the
 
 12 
 
 sacraments, or to receive them : — the single question 
 relates as to the principle upon which the action 
 is done ; and all actions, however insignificant in 
 themselves, are raised to the same elevation, when 
 what is done, is done simply because it is God's 
 command, — the marching orders of the great Captain 
 of our salvation. 
 
 III. And now, my Brethren, to apply these ob- 
 servations to our own case and circumstances, when 
 I am speaking to you, for the first time, from this 
 pulpit. 
 
 If the inhabitants of this ancient City, and of the 
 Diocese in general, shall do the work which their 
 hands find to do, by co-operating with the Chapter 
 to carry into full effect the wishes of my revered and 
 much-loved predecessor, indicated in his noble be- 
 quest (in addition to 3,000 pounds spent upon this 
 Cathedral in his life time) of 2,000 pounds to 
 be expended, wholly or in part, in rendering this 
 Cathedral Church more available for the purposes of 
 public worship ; — if by their generosity this Church 
 shall be prepared for an evening service, and the 
 nave opened to the masses of the people, as in the 
 case of the Metropolitan and other Cathedrals ; — if 
 in the progress of events these things should happen 
 — we should not have to urge it upon our Brethren 
 of the Clergy, to volunteer their services for the 
 pulpit. This would be to us a labour of joy as well 
 as of love, for we know that the primary duty of a 
 Minister of Christ is to preach the gospel to the 
 poor, — to proclaim the tidings of salvation to lost, 
 perishing sinners, Avherever a door may be opened
 
 13 
 
 to us by the Providence of God. No ; tliis would 
 be unnecessary. But mark, my Brethren, the point at 
 which the injunction of our text emphatically aims. 
 The greater duties of life every conscientious man 
 will endeavour to perform with energy and zeal : 
 but even conscientious men require to be reminded 
 occasionally that they are not to despise the day of 
 small thino;s, and that nothino; is beneath our care 
 which God in his Providence allots to us as a duty, 
 or briuo;s to hand. 
 
 Let me, then, briefly advert to those duties which, 
 despised too often by the world, are imposed 
 upon us as members of a Cathedral Church. The 
 duty of prayer as well as of action devolves, as we 
 have already seen, on each individual man; — and so 
 is it also with reo-ard to that ao;2;reo;ate of individuals 
 who are incorporated under the title of The Nation. 
 As we act nationally, so are we to pray nationally. 
 As the nation appoints some to conduct the national 
 councils, and others to maintain the nation's cause 
 in the field of battle, — so are we appointed to invoke 
 a blessing on all that the nation does. This duty 
 we are to perform with our might ; but this duty 
 can only be properly discharged by those, whose 
 hearts, renewed by grace, are under the sanctifying 
 influence of the Holy Ghost, and therefore, my 
 brethren, it is by the study of Scripture and by 
 much and earnest private prayer, that we must 
 prepare our souls for the solemn and devout per- 
 formance of a public duty, the careless and indevout 
 performance of which may be detrimental to the 
 church and realm in which it is tolerated, — and will
 
 14 
 
 infallibly bring down the Divine curse upon our 
 own souls. 
 
 And this is closely connected with another duty 
 ■which pertains to those who are members of a 
 Cathedral establishment : I allude to the duty of 
 setting an example to all the Churches in the Dio- 
 cese, of regularity, reverence, and decorum in the 
 performance of the sacred offices of the Church. 
 What oiu' hand findeth to do is to carry out the 
 Liturgy in all the simple grandeur which our 
 Reformers designed, and which has won for it the 
 admiration of ages, — neither adding to nor detract- 
 ing from its ceremonial. It is thus that the Liturgy 
 becomes to the soul, as the wave to the ship, not 
 adding to its intrinsic value, not being confounded 
 with the unseen wind which fills the sail, nor with 
 the Divine pilot who stands at the helm, but never- 
 theless heaving it upwards towards heaven, and 
 assisting to waft it on its way. 
 
 But in this Cathedral Church, although it is 
 proper to allude to these circumstances, it is 
 unnecessary to dw^ell upon them, — for this Church 
 has been distinguished, under my predecessor, among 
 the Cathedrals of England, for the decorous obser- 
 vance of the capitular statutes, and the reverential 
 tone in which the services have been conducted. 
 I only desire therefore, in conclusion, to remark, 
 that in acting on the principle now enforced, we 
 are following the example of our dear Lord and 
 Master Jesus Christ Himself. 
 
 We delight to dweU on His wondrous works : 
 and to refer to the wisdom He uttered when He
 
 15 
 
 spake as never man spake : we love to think of our 
 clear Lord and Master giving sight to the blind 
 and causing the lame to walk, — of His cleansing 
 the leper and causing the deaf to hear, of His 
 raising the dead and of His preaching the Gospel 
 to the poor. We dwell with feelings of adoration and 
 love upon His precious death, — upon His glorious 
 resurrection, — upon His triumphant Ascension, — we 
 worship Him as our Prophet, Priest, and King — 
 the true Melchizedek. 
 
 But, my brethren, with reference to our present 
 subject, — let us recollect that He did not take 
 this honor upon Himself ; — He commenced not His 
 ministry until He received an outward appointment 
 or call at His baptism, — and at that time, saith St. 
 Luke, "Jesus began to be about thirty years of 
 age." And where was He during those previous 
 nine and twenty years 1 Where was He, (endowed 
 with powers which might have shaken the world, 
 which might have caused oppression to tremble 
 on its throne and vice to hide its diminished head) 
 where was He to whom the Spirit was given not by 
 measure 1 We read not of a single miracle, not of 
 one mighty work, not of a discourse, scarcely of a 
 speech, during all those nine and twenty years. For 
 nine and twenty years He was labouring, a poor 
 man, earning His daily bread in a carpenter s shop : 
 His innate greatness discernible not even to His 
 nearest of kin, — His brethren according to the flesh 
 being among the last to believe in Him, when His 
 ministry commenced. He did not say, the hammer 
 and the chisel and the saw are beneath the consi-
 
 16 
 
 deration of one conscious of miraculous power ; He 
 did not enquire wliether He could not be more useful 
 in debating witli the Pharisees, or in seeking to 
 conduct the councils of the Sanhedrim, — than in the 
 carpenter's shop, — no, what His hand found to do, 
 He did Avith His might. 
 
 And in doing this was He doing nothing for our 
 salvation 1 
 
 Such a question will not be asked by those who 
 remembCE' what our Lord came to do 1 He came to 
 magnify the law by His obedience to it, the obedience 
 of Him who on becoming man, did not cease to be 
 God, before relaxing its penalties on our behalf. — 
 Lo ! I come, He said, in the volume of the. book 
 it is written of me, in the everlasting covenant of 
 redemption it is recorded, to do thy will, God. 
 
 It is by His obedience that we are saved, aD.d in 
 every act of obedience on His part, there is atoning 
 virtue visible to the eye of faith. He obeyed, though 
 exposed to the temptations of Satan and the perse- 
 cutions of diabolical men : He obeyed when in His 
 agony, He drank the cup of spiritual destitution : 
 He obeyed even unto death, and His death being the 
 consummation of His obedience is the atonement 
 for our sins. 
 
 And, my brethren. He obeyed, — His was a life of 
 obedience, during those nine and twenty years of 
 obscurity, when, with a heart bleeding in pity to 
 mankind, — He stirred not from His obscure abode, 
 but did with His might, what, in Joseph's shop, His 
 hand found to do. 
 
 TT. HAYLEr MASON; PMNTEE, CHICHE8TBB.
 
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