Chapter XXII (3)

+II. The diligent man will reap some reward for his diligence.+ It is not, of course, possible to take this proverb in an absolutely literal sense, because many diligent men never saw the face of a king. But without diligence it is hardly possible for any man to obtain any position of honour, or if he do he is not likely to retain it. But there is another sense in which diligence may bring a man before kings. Caxton was a diligent man, and by his diligence came literally to stand before the King of England. But he has, by his invention of the printing-press, stood before kings and princes from that hour to this, for they have all learned to honour his name, and to acknowledge their obligation to him. Every time a royal traveller takes his seat in a locomotive James Watt stands before him, for his ability to move with ease and speed from place to place is the result of that man's diligence, and his name is held in honour in consequence. And instances might be multiplied indefinitely, in which diligence has caused a man to stand before not only the kings of his own time, but of succeeding generations.

On this subject see also Homiletics on chap. xii. 24, page 285.

_OUTLINES AND SUGGESTIVE COMMENTS._

Of all the qualities which kings especially look to and require in the choice of their servants, that of despatch and energy in the transaction of business is the most acceptable. . . . There is no other virtue which does not present some shadow of offence to the minds of kings. Expedition in the execution of their commands is the only one which contains nothing that is not acceptable.--_Bacon._

God loves nimbleness; "What thou doest, do quickly," said Christ to Judas, though it were so ill a business that he were about.--_Trapp._

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