THE ROOK,

AS AN EXAMPLE OF INDUSTRY.

GREAT are the blessings of industry, and many are the promises attached to the diligent use of time. Whatever may be a man's condition in life, unless it has pleased God to afflict him with disease of body or mind, nothing can release him from the obligation to work. To the rich as well as to the poor the command is addressed, "Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might." (Eccles. ix. 10.) If spiritual blessings are to be obtained, it is by diligently seeking for them; for it is written, "The soul of the sluggard desireth and hath nothing, but the soul of the diligent shall be made fat" (Prov. xiii. 4); and again, "He is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him." (Heb. xi. 6.) So also, if temporal advantages are desired, it is folly to expect them without a diligent and persevering use of the means necessary to obtain them; for "The hand of the diligent maketh rich" (Prov. x. 4); and "The hand of the diligent shall bear rule." (Prov. xii. 24.)

Looking abroad into the world, we see proofs of constant activity in all God's creatures. Day and night, summer and winter, cold and heat, succeed

each other with steady, unremitting course. There is on all sides a never-ceasing active performance of our Maker's will. The tides of the ocean never cease their ebb and flow; the vegetable world is constantly at work, either in pouring forth the flowers and fruits of summer, or in preparing, beneath the wintry snows and storms, for another season. Animals, in their wild state, are diligent in searching for food, and diligent in preparing a safe retreat for their young. Insects are remarkably diligent, labouring throughout the short period of their lives to supply the wants belonging to their condition; and even those creatures which lie hidden and torpid during a portion of the year, and might, at first sight, appear to resemble the human sluggard in wasting much of their existence, even these are fulfilling the law of their Creator, who has so formed them as to make it quite necessary for them to retreat from the severity of the weather, and to pass in a deep sleep that time of the year when it would be difficult, if not impossible, for them to obtain their proper food.

Thus, all creatures are obeying, with constant and regular course, the will of Him who formed them, until we arrive at man, the most highly gifted of all, the most highly blessed of all; and here, alas! we find the idler, the sluggard, the consumer of precious time. If such persons could once be persuaded to taste the pleasures of activity, they would feel that the following sayings are true:

"None so little enjoy life, and are such burdens to themselves, as those who have nothing to do.

"The active only have the true relish of life. "He who knows not what it is to labour, knows not what it is to enjoy.

"Recreation is only valuable as it unbends us; the idle know nothing of it.

"It is exertion that renders rest delightful, and sleep sweet and undisturbed."

If we desire to be constantly diligent and active in duty, we may find encouragement in the examples not only of all wise and good men, but in that of some of the lower animals around us. Should it be considered beneath the dignity of man to look for examples for his own conduct in those of the lower animals, let him recollect that he has been told by his Divine Master to go to the ant for instruction, and to consider the lilies of the field and the fowls of the air, that he may learn lessons of wisdom.

Where shall we look, then, among the creatures God has formed for lessons of industry, and patterns of an active life? What beast, or bird, or insect, is capable of supplying us with an example of that constant and diligent use of time which we are so apt to forget to be a duty? What creature is there, whose frequent occurrence, and whose active habits, shall come before us as a reproach for every hour spent in idleness, and every neglect of known duty? whose cheerfulness shall reprove our discontent, whose early rising shall shame our sloth, whose sense of justice shall point to upright dealing; whose behaviour to its fellows shall be a lesson on social duties, but whose general habit in every thing

that it sets about shall be-activity-untiring, unceasing activity?

Such an example is given to us in THE ROOK; and such lessons may be gained from the history and habits of that well-known bird. Let us then consider them with this intent.

None but those who are confined by their employments to the heart of great cities are altogether

ignorant of the habits of this bird; for it does not shun the abodes of man, but rather prefers to live very near to them. Where unmolested, rooks build in large communities among the fine old trees that