He that cleaveth wood shall be endangered thereby
Ecclesiastes 10:9
Oppressors may get their will of poor and needy men as easily as they can
split logs of wood, but they had better mind, for it is a dangerous
business, and a splinter from a tree has often killed the woodman. Jesus is
persecuted in every injured saint, and He is mighty to avenge His beloved
ones. Success in treading down the poor and needy is a thing to be trembled
at: if there be no danger to persecutors here there will be great danger
hereafter.
To cleave wood is a common every-day business, and yet it has its
dangers; so then, reader, there are dangers connected with your calling and
daily life which it will be well for you to be aware of. We refer not to
hazards by flood and field, or by disease and sudden death, but to perils of
a spiritual sort. Your occupation may be as humble as log splitting, and yet
the devil can tempt you in it. You may be a domestic servant, a farm
labourer, or a mechanic, and you may be greatly screened from temptations to
the grosser vices, and yet some secret sin may do you damage. Those who
dwell at home, and mingle not with the rough world, may yet be endangered by
their very seclusion. Nowhere is he safe who thinks himself so. Pride may
enter a poor man's heart; avarice may reign in a cottager's bosom;
uncleanness may venture into the quietest home; and anger, and envy, and
malice may insinuate themselves into the most rural abode. Even in speaking
a few words to a servant we may sin; a little purchase at a shop may be the
first link in a chain of temptations; the mere looking out of a window may
be the beginning of evil. O Lord, how exposed we are! How shall we be
secured! To keep ourselves is work too hard for us: only Thou Thyself art
able to preserve us in such a world of evils. Spread Thy wings over us, and
we, like little chickens, will cower down beneath Thee, and feel ourselves
safe!
