of labour from the thought of which he shrank when he was young.

And so the man learns that man doth not live by bread alone, but by
every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God; that not in the
abundance of things which he possesses, not in money; not in
pleasure, not even in comforts, does the life of man consist: but in
this--to learn his duty, and to have strength from God to do it.
Truly said the prophet--'It is good for a man to learn to bear the
yoke in his youth.'

After that sharp training a man will prosper; because he is fit to
prosper. He has learnt the golden lesson. He can be trusted with
comforts, wealth, honour. Let him have them, if God so will, and use
them well.

Only, only, when a time of ease and peace comes to him in his middle
age, let him not forget the warning of the latter part of the
chapter.

For there is another danger awaiting him, as it awaited those old
Jews; the danger of prosperity in old age. Ah my friends, that is a
sore temptation--the sorest, perhaps, which can meet a man in the
long struggle of life, the temptation which success brings. In
middle age, when he has learnt his business, and succeeded in it;
when he has fought his battle with the world, and conquered more or
less; when he has made his way up, and seems to himself safe, and
comfortable, and thriving; when he feels that he is a shrewd,
thrifty, experienced man, who knows the world and how to prosper in
it--Then how easy it is for him to say in his heart--as Moses feared
that those old Jews would say--'My might and the power of my wit has