Now see what the Bible tells the sluggard to do. It bids him go to the little ant, and "consider her
ways," that is, look on and see what she does. Have you ever watched the ants when they were
busy at work? It will give you very pleasant employment for half an hour on a summer's day. In
some places you may see small ant-hills scattered about, so close together that you can hardly
step without treading on them; and you may find other places where there are not so many, but
where the hills are much larger. I have seen them so large that you could hardly step over one of
them without touching it with your foot and breaking some part of it. And then how busy the
little creatures are! Just kneel down on the grass beside them, and notice how they work! You
will see one little fellow creeping along as fast as he can go, with a grain of sand in his mouth,
perhaps as large as his head. He does not stop to rest, but when he has carried his grain to help
build the hill, away he goes for another. You may watch them all day and never see them idle at
all.
You see why God tells the sluggard to go and look at the little ants: it is that when he sees them
so busy, he may be ashamed of himself for being idle, and learn to be "wise," or diligent in
whatever he undertakes. I should not think he could help going to work, after he had looked at
them a little while. The ants seem to be very happy, and I think it is because they are so busy.
God has put nobody in this world to be idle: even children have something to do. The inside of
an ant-hill is very curious, but it is not easy to examine it without destroying all the work that the
little insects have taken so much pains to finish. There is a kind of ant in warm climates that
builds for itself hills as high as a man. They are not made of sand, but of a kind of clay; and
have a great many cells or apartments, and many winding passages leading from one part to
another. All this is done, as the Bible says, without "guide, overseer or ruler;" that is, they have
no one to direct them how to do it. God gives them skill just as he does to the honey-bees in
building the beautiful cells which you have so often admired; all His works are wonderful.
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