VI.]

VOCATION, CALLING,

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only one more I will bring forward; and that one, because we shall find in it a lesson more for ourselves than for others, and it is with such an one I would fain bring these lectures to a close. How important, I would observe then, is the truth which we express in the naming of our work in this world our 'vocation,' or, which is the same finding utterance in homelier Anglo-Saxon, our 'calling.' What a calming, elevating, ennobling view of the tasks which we find ourselves set in this world to do, this word would give us, if we did but realize it to the full. We did not come to our work by accident; we did not choose it for ourselves; but, under much which may wear the appearance of accident and self-choosing, came to it by God's leading and appointment. What a help is this thought to enable us to appreciate justly the dignity of our work, though it were far humbler work, even in eyes of men, than that of any one of us present! What an assistance in calming unsettled thoughts and desires, such as would make us wish to be something else than that which we are! What a source of confidence, when we are tempted to lose heart, and to doubt whether we shall be able to carry through our work with any blessing or profit to ourselves or to others! It is our vocation,' our 'calling;' and He who called' us to it, will fit us for it, and strengthen us in it.