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‘Shall the axe boast itself against him that beweth therewith? or shall the saw magnify itself against him that shaketh it? as if the rod should shake itself against them that lift it up, or as if the staff should lift up itself, as if it were no wood.’
Isa_10:15
I. The real connection of human industry with God.
II. The disconnection of industrial pursuits from God in the minds of men generally.
I. Let us learn to separate human handiwork from human sin. Cain sinned in refusing the Divinely appointed sacrifice, but he embodied a Divine idea in building a city. Egypt may construct pyramids if she will cease to make the lives of Israel bitter by exacting an unreasonable service in the building. Tyre may retain her navy if she will not make slaves of the children of God. Nineveh and Babylon shall find their walls a defence, and their palaces a glory if they will remember God their Maker. There is no more sin in palatable food prepared by the hand of man than in God’s finest wheat and sweetest honey.
II. The forms in which this evil of disconnecting God from human industry is developed are such as these—God’s law is not applied to human labour. Work is not performed in a devotional spirit. God’s honour is not sought thereby. ‘As a science, religion consists in the knowledge of the relations between God and man; as a living principle, in the exercise of the corresponding affections; as a rule of duty, in the performance of the actions which these affections prescribe.’ When the axe boasts itself against him that heweth therewith, there can neither be religious science, religious principle, nor religious life. And you have one of two things—a man in appearance everywhere irreligious, or a man in appearance religious everywhere but in his business. And then what have you? A whited sepulchre, a man-lie, or a rebel, open and avowed, against God the Creator. Trace this to its results. Banish religion from human industry, and you remove the chief salutary restraint!