a Father in
heaven. There are thousands on earth, from the highest to the lowest,
who can say honestly--to take the commonest instance--every parent can
say it--"I have a heavy work to do, a heavy responsibility to fulfil.
God knows I did not seek it, thrust myself into it; it was thrust upon
me. It came to me in the course of nature or of society, and
circumstances over which I had no control. In one word it was MY DUTY.
But now that I have my duty to do, behold I cannot do it. I try my best,
but I fail. I come short daily of my own low standard of duty. How much
more of God's perfect standard of it! And the burden of responsibility,
the regret for failure, is more than I can bear.

To such we may answer, hallow your Father's name, and be of good cheer.
YOUR FATHER has given you your work. Because He is a Father, He is
surely educating you for your work. Because He is a Father, He will
surely set you no task which you are unable to fulfil. Because He is a
Father, He will help you to fulfil your task. Your station and calling
is His will; and because it is a Father's will it is a good will.

And the Judge of your work--He is no stern taskmaster, no unfeeling
tyrant, but Jesus Christ, your Lord, who died for you on the Cross. He
knows what is in man. He remembereth that we are but dust. Else the
spirit would fail before Him and the souls which He has made. He can be
touched with the feeling of our infirmities, seeing that He was tempted
in all things like as we are, yet without sin. He can sympathise
utterly; He can make all just allowances; He will judge not by outward
results, but by the inward will and desire. He will judge not by the
hearing of the ear, nor the seeing of the eye, as the shallow cruel world
judges, but He will judge righteous judgment. Trust your cause to Him,
and trust yourself to Him. Believe that if He can sympathise, He can
also help; for from Him, as well as from His Father, proceeds the Holy
Spirit, the Lord and giver of life, the spirit of wisdom and
understanding, the spirit of power and might, the spirit of knowledge and
the fear of the Lord, and He will inspire you to see your duty, and do
your duty, and rejoice in your duty, in spite of weariness and failure,
and all the burdens of the flesh and of the spirit.

"Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven." If that were done, it
would abolish all the vice of the world, and therefore