Omaha daily bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 187?-1922, 1910-10-22
rhe rawer of q Great VOC

The Power OF n Great WORT.
Text: Nehemiah. C:2. IL am doing great
work so that cannot come down. The
author Of these words is one OF the great
statesmen OF history. a nation builder.
Independent OF the fact that Nehemiah is
a Bible character the historian has given
him a place among the great molders Of
human progress Our text gives us
feature Of his greatness When his enemies
planned his downfall, he was saved by
the power Of his great work lie had
I commission so important that following
that kept him on the heights Of security,
away from the temptations and dangers
VI life
Read his story as we have it in thls
/ book Of the Bible; as fascinating as
modern day romance truely historical and
based on the theory that man receives his
work from his Creator
We might make a sermon from a study
/ OF his character as revealed in this chapter.
| First, he man OF prayer He be-
lieved that he was working In harmony
with the will of God. The great, move
mentE OF the world are based on the be-
lief that there is a heart and mind in the
universe that knows and cares and when
we know and obey the divine will al
things are possible. This gives us the
]
| ageous; he belongs to that class OF whom
/ kipling sings, who worship The God Of
/ the Unafraid' And, third, he was prac-
1 teal; no dreamy sentimentalist. He used
I mind and hand. He believed he could see
and hear God, and think His thoughts with
the natural faculties which God had
created for his use. This made him man
OF action, confident that God expected
something Of him, confident in his ability
/ to meet the expectation. These were the
| foundation stones I'm the success OF this
J life. We have characters to build like the
prophets, We also have a city to build
Every citizen must feel his share Of the
responsibility. But let us centralize our
thoughts.
An oft overlooked commandment from
Gods word reads six days shalt thou
labor and do all thy work" / know no
logic by which we could argue the proper
observance OF the seventh day or the
first day TO be more a religious duty
than the right use of the six days. Car
lyle declared, The latest gospel is, know
thy work and do IT," lie found perennial
nobleness, even sacredness in It. Blessed
is he who has found his work. let him ask
no other blessedness. He has a work. a
life purpose. He has found it and will fol-
low it, How, as a free flowing channel
dug and torn by noble force through the
sour mud swamp Of ones existence, like
an ever deepening river, there 1t runs and
flows, draining off the sour, fostering
water gradually from the root OF the re-
hottest grass blade, making. instead OF
residential swamp, green, fruitful
meadow with its clear flowing stream.
Labor is life. All work Of man is as the
swimmers: as waste ocean threatens to
devour him. II he face it not bravely
1t will keep its word By incessant wise
defiance Of It, lusty rebuke and buffet Of
It, behold how II Loyalty supports him
bears him as its conqueror along" Sc
much for Carlyles thought But do we moi
| find the same truth both lived and ex
pressed in the life Of the Man of Galnlee'
Il must work the works of Him who SEN
me while Il is day, for the night cometh.'
And speaking OF His task, He said, "AnC
how am 1 Strengthened till It be accom-
plished," And the gladdest, most tri
umphant note in all the message Of Jesu
Is in that declaration to His Father at tn
T close OF his earthly ministry Il glorifle'
Thee on the earth, having accomplished
p the work which Thou hast given me I,
l. do" Jesus knew sorrow as we are in
capable of knowing It, yet He lived IN,
gladdest. freest life the world has eve
witnessed. And here is the story Of tn
J Masters success and His JOY in It; the &C
complIshment Of a God-given commission
It was the giadness that every one SHOULD
feel in the completion Of any WORTH
work.
Just as an artist might rejoice over hi
finished canvass after years Of struggle
to express his conception OF truth ant
beauty, knowing that he had given t,
men something that would make life
sweeter and stronger. Or, as the inventor
might triumph in the mechanism which