Workers for God, does the work seem hard? Are the difficulties great?
Are you weary and faint as you keep at your post? Does the hot sun of
temptation often tempt you to throw up the work? Think of Nehemiah's
builders. Hold on, cheer up, work well and bravely, remembering that the
reward is sure. We read of certain people who lived at Philippi whose
names were written in heaven. Who were these? (Phil. iv. 3.) St. Paul
tells us; they were his fellow-labourers, the workers of God in that
city.

No human hand, no hand of angel or archangel, enters the names on that
register, for it is the Lamb's book of life. None but the Lamb can open
it, none but He can write in it, none but He will read its contents in
the ears of the assembled universe.

What an honour, what a wonderful joy, what a glorious reward it will be
to each faithful worker, as he hears his own name read from the list!
Surely it will well repay him for all he has undergone in the working
days of earth.




CHAPTER V.

The Sword and the Trowel.


The sea is calm and quiet, blue as the sky above it, not a wave, not a
ripple is to be seen; it is smooth as polished silver, shining like a
mirror, and peaceful as the still lake amongst the mountains. On the sea