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I. HERE IS THE RECOGNITION OF THE FACT THAT MAN IS A VOLUNTARY WORKER. "The appeal implies that he is" free both in the expenditure of his "money and the prosecution of his "labour.' Every part of the universe, works, but man only is a free worker. He works, not as material bodies work, by an outward force, nor as brutes, by blind impulses, but by his own deliberate purpose, — by choice and plan. There are at least four, considerations which bind, with indissoluble bonds, our faith to the doctrine of man's voluntary action.

1. It is not impossible for the Almighty to create a being that shall be wholly free in action.

2. There is an antecedent probability that He would create such a being. A creature endowed with this independency of action would of all creatures be most like Himself, most fitted to show forth His glory. And as He created the universe for the manifestation of Himself, would it not be probable that, having the power to do would it now look to you," says the philosophic Saxon, King Alfred, "if there were any very powerful king, and he had no freemen in all his kingdom, but that all were slaves?" "Then," said I, "it would be thought by me neither right not reasonable if men that were in a servile condition only, should attend upon him." "Then," quoth he, "it would be more unnatural if God, in all His kingdom, had no free creature under his power." Therefore,. He made two rational creatures, free. angels. and men, and gave them the great gift of freedom.

3. The mental constitution of man seems to provide for this freedom of action. Man is so formed that he always acts from purpose.

4. The consciousness of universal man attests the fact of human freedom.

II. HERE IS THE RECOGNITION OF THE FACT THAT MAN AS A VOLUNTARY WORKER SHOULD AIM AT THE ATTAINMENT OF MORALLY STRENGTHENING AND SATISFYING GOOD. What is the moral bread? Ask first what is the strength of the soul, — the moral stamina? Godliness. Where is the "bread" which both strengthens and satisfies the soul? Christ says, "I am the Bread of life."

III. HERE IS THE RECOGNITION OF THE FACT THAT MAN, AS A VOLUNTARY WORKER, FREQUENTLY MISAPPLIES HIS POWER. He spends his "money" for that which is not "bread," and his labour for that which "satisfieth not." What is it to expend your property and labour in vain?

1. To strive after power as the chief end is to do so.

2. To strive after wealth as the chief end is to do so.

3. To strive after knowledge as the chief end is to do so. Neither scientific ideas, nor poetic creations, nor artistic embellishments are bread.

4. To strive after happiness as the chief end, is to do so. From this subject we may infer —

(1)  The immense amount of waste human labour that is constantly going on in the world.

(2)  The well-being of man consists not in the form of his labour, but in the principle that inspires and controls it.

(3)  The exquisite fitness of Christianity to man's condition.

(Homilist.)

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KJV: Wherefore do ye spend money for that which is not bread? and your labour for that which satisfieth not? hearken diligently unto me, and eat ye that which is good, and let your soul delight itself in fatness.

WEB: Why do you spend money for that which is not bread? and your labor for that which doesn't satisfy? listen diligently to me, and eat you that which is good, and let your soul delight itself in fatness.