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Reid & Sanders Operations Management, 6th Edition Solutions
1. Given the following information, determine the sample size needed if the standard time
estimate is to be within 5 percent of the true mean 97 percent of the time.
Answer:
With z = 2.17 and a = 0.05, the number of observations needed for each work element is:
2
2.17 0.20
Work element 1: n = 63
0.05 1.10
2
2.17 0.10
Work element 2: n = 30
0.05 0.80
2
2.17 0.15
Work element 3: n = 53
0.05 0.90
2
2.17 0.10
Work element 4: n = 19
0.05 1.00
2. Using the information in Problem 1, determine the sample size needed if the standard
time estimate is to be within 5 percent of the true mean 99 percent of the time.
Answer:
With z = 2.58 and a = 0.05, the number of observations needed for each work element is:
2
2.58 0.20
Work element 1: n = 89
0.05 1.10
2
2.58 0.10
Work element 2: n = 42
0.05 0.80
2
2.58 0.15
Work element 3: n = 74
0.05 0.90
2
2.58 0.10
Work element 4: n = 27
0.05 1.00
3. Using the following information, determine the sample size needed if the standard time
estimate is to be within 5 percent of the true mean 95 percent of the time.
Answer:
With z = 1.96 and a = 0.05, the number of observations needed for each work element is:
2
1.96 0.60
Work element 1: n = 97
0.05 2.40
2
1.96 0.20
Work element 2: n = 28
0.05 1.50
2
1.96 1.10
Work element 3: n = 126
0.05 3.85
2
1.96 0.85
Work element 4: n = 171
0.05 2.55
2
1.96 0.40
Work element 5: n = 97
0.05 1.60
2
1.96 0.50
Work element 6: n = 62
0.05 2.50
4. Using the information in Problem 3, calculate the sample size needed if the standard time
estimate is to be within 5 percent of the true mean 99 percent of the time. Calculate the
percentage increase in sample size for the higher precision.
Answer:
With z = 2.58 and a = 0.05, the number of observations needed for each work element is:
2
2.58 0.60
Work element 1: n = 167
0.05 2.40
2
2.58 0.20
Work element 2: n = 48
0.05 1.50
2
2.58 1.10
Work element 3: n = 218
0.05 3.85
2
2.58 0.85
Work element 4: n = 296
0.05 2.55
2
2.58 0.40
Work element 5: n = 167
0.05 1.60
2
2.58 0.50
Work element 6: n = 107
0.05 2.50
Use the following information from the Arkade Company for Problems 5–10.
Answer:
6. The Arkade Company has decided to use a 15 percent allowance factor based on job time.
Calculate the standard time for each work element and for the total job.
Answer:
ST = (NT)(AF), where AF = 1 + PFD = 1 + 0.15 = 1.15
7. Based on the standard time calculated in Problem 6, how many units should an employee
operating at 100 percent of standard complete during an eight-hour workday?
Answer:
Answer:
1 1
ST = (NT)(AF), where AF = = = 1.176
1 PFD 1 0.15
Work Element Standard Time (ST)
1 (1.14)(1.176) = 1.341
2 (0.85)(1.176) = 1.000
3 (0.88)(1.176) = 1.035
4 (0.99)(1.176) = 1.164
9. Based on the standard time calculated in Problem 8, how many units should an employee
operating at 100 percent of standard complete during an eight-hour workday?
Answer:
From Problem 8, the sum of the standard times is 4.540 minutes.
10. Compare the two standards calculated in Problems 6 and 8. What other factors should be
considered in selecting the method for determining the allowance factor?
Answer:
The standard time for the total job is greater when the 15 percent allowance factor is
based on time worked. Some of the factors that should be considered in selecting the
method for determining the allowance factor are the jobs similarities and whether they
have the same allowance factors. The allowance factor by time worked is better for jobs
with the same PFD allowances.
11. Jake’s Jumbo Jacks has collected the following information to develop a standard time for
building jumbo jacks.
Answer:
a)
Element Mean Observed Time
1 2.194
2 1.265
3 1.771
4 2.608
5 1.576
b)
Element Normal Time (NT)
1 (2.194)(0.9)(1) = 1.975
2 (1.265)(0.8)(1) = 1.012
3 (1.771)(1.10)(1) = 1.948
4 (2.608)(1.05)(1) = 2.738
5 (1.576)(0.95)(1) = 1.497
= 5.45 units/hour
12. Frank’s Fabricators has collected the following information to develop a standard time for
producing their high-volume Navigator III, a universal remote control. All of the times
are in minutes.
Element
Observations 1 2 3 4 5 6
Cycle 1 1.10 3.00 0.92 1.23 1.46 1.80
Cycle 2 1.08 0.88 1.30 1.64 1.78
Cycle 3 1.15 3.20 0.85 1.26 1.55 1.76
Cycle 4 1.16 0.88 1.33 1.52 1.80
Cycle 5 1.07 3.10 0.90 1.28 1.62 1.82
Cycle 6 1.10 0.94 1.30 1.60 1.82
Rating factor 0.95 0.90 1.05 1.00 0.85 1.10
Frequency 1.00 0.50 1.0 1.0 1.0 1.0
Answer:
a)
Element Mean Observed Time
1 1.110
2 3.10
3 0.895
4 1.283
5 1.565
6 1.797
b)
Element Normal Time (NT)
1 (1.110)(0.95)(1) = 1.055
2 (3.10)(0.90)(0.5) = 1.395
3 (0.895)(1.05)(1) = 0.940
4 (1.283)(1.00)(1) = 1.283
5 (1.565)(0.85)(1) = 1.330
6 (1.797)(1.10)(1) = 1.976
g) The standard time for element 6 becomes 1.8975 minutes. The new standard time for
the Navigator III is 8.80 minutes/unit.
h) Since 0.377 minutes/unit is saved when using the new process, the total time saved for
20,000 Navigator IIIs each month is equal to 0.377(20,000) = 7540 minutes or 125
hours.
13. The following information is provided to you for each of five elements performed in
building the Aviator model, a basic universal remote control.
Answer:
a)
Element Normal Time (NT)
1 (0.96)(0.96)(1) = 0.9216
2 (3.10)(0.90)(0.5) = 1.595
3 (0.895)(1.05)(1) = 1.110
4 (1.283)(1.00)(1) = 1.116
5 (1.565)(0.85)(1) = 1.239
1 1
b) ST = (NT)(AF), where AF = = = 1.176
1 PFD 1 0.15
14. You have 25 observations of university policeman Sgt. Jack B. Nimble during his normal
workday. The results are shown here. Assume that the estimated proportion is to be
within 5 percent of the true proportion 95 percent of the time.
a) Based on your preliminary observations, how many total observations do you need to
estimate the proportion of time Sgt. Nimble spends doing paperwork?
b) How many total observations do you need to estimate the proportion of time Sgt.
Nimble spends on the phone?
c) How many total observations do you need to estimate the proportion of time Sgt.
Nimble seems to be unavailable?
Answer:
a) Based on the preliminary observations, the estimate of the proportion of time Sgt.
Nimble spends doing paperwork is 0.36 (9 observed times/25 observations taken).
2
1.96
n= (0.36)(1 – 0.36) = 355 observations
0.05
b) Based on the preliminary observations, the estimate of the proportion of time Sgt.
Nimble spends on the phone is 0.12 (3 observed times/25 observations taken).
2
1.96
n= (0.12)(1 – 0.12) = 163 observations
0.05
c) Based on the preliminary observations, the estimate of the proportion of time Sgt.
Nimble seems to be unavailable is 0.16 (4 observed times/25 observations taken).
2
1.96
n= (0.16)(1 – 0.16) = 207 observations
0.05
Answer:
a)
b)
Element Normal Time (NT)
1 (0.582)(0.95)(1) = 0.553
2 (1.515)(0.90)(0.25) = 0.341
3 (0.759)(1.0)(1) = 0.759
4 (0.319)(1.10)(1) = 0.351
5 (1.565)(0.90)(0.20) = 0.378
16. As a class project you have been asked to project the proportion of time a professor
spends on various activities. You have decided to use the work-sampling method. Your
initial observations are shown.
You are instructed that your estimates are to be within 5 percent of the true value with 97
percent confidence (z = 2.17).
a) Based on your initial observations, how many total observations are needed to
estimate the proportion of time the professor spends on each activity?
Answer:
a) Based on the preliminary observations, the estimate of the proportion of time the
professor spends grading is 0.10 (4 observed times/40 observations taken).
2
2.17
n= (0.10)(1 – 0.10) = 170 observations
0.05
Based on the preliminary observations, the estimate of the proportion of time the
professor spends doing administrative paperwork is 0.15 (6 observed times/40
observations taken).
2
2.17
n= (0.15)(1 – 0.15) = 241 observations
0.05
Based on the preliminary observations, the estimate of the proportion of time the
professor spends preparing for class is 0.125 (5 observed times/40 observations
taken).
2
2.17
n= (0.125)(1 – 0.125) = 207 observations
0.05
Based on the preliminary observations, the estimate of the proportion of time the
professor spends teaching class is 0.125 (5 observed times/40 observations taken).
2
2.17
n= (0.125)(1 – 0.125) = 207 observations
0.05
Based on the preliminary observations, the estimate of the proportion of time the
professor spends meeting with student(s) is 0.20 (8 observed times/40 observations
taken).
2
2.17
n= (0.20)(1 – 0.20) = 302 observations
0.05
Based on the preliminary observations, the estimate of the proportion of time the
professor spends on the phone is 0.05 (2 observed times/40 observations taken).
2
2.17
n= (0.05)(1 – 0.05) = 90 observations
0.05
Based on the preliminary observations, the estimate of the proportion of time the
professor spends working on research is 0.15 (6 observed times/40 observations
taken).
2
2.17
n= (0.15)(1 – 0.15) = 241 observations
0.05
Based on the preliminary observations, the estimate of the proportion of time the
professor is unavailable is 0.10 (4 observed times/40 observations taken).
2
2.17
n= (0.10)(1 – 0.10) = 170 observations
0.05
b) The proportion of time the professor spends teaching class is 30/302 = 9.9%.
c) The proportion of time the professor spends working on research is 45/302 = 14.9%.
d)
Activity Observed Time spent (hours)
Grading (30/302)(54) = 5.36
Administrative paperwork (50/302)(54) = 8.94
Preparing for class (30/302)(54) = 5.36
Teaching class (30/302)(54) = 5.36
Meeting with student(s) (66/302)(54) = 11.80
On the phone (17/302)(54) = 3.04
Working on research (45/302)(54) = 8.05
Unavailable (34/302)(54) = 6.08
17. Your 20 observations of Dr. Knowitall reveal the following information. Assume that the
estimate is to be within 5 percent of the true proportion 95 percent of the time.
Away on emergency 4
Not available 4
a) Calculate the sample size needed to estimate the proportion of time Dr. Knowitall
spends away on emergencies.
b) Calculate the sample size needed to estimate the proportion of time Dr. Knowitall
spends reviewing test results.
c) Calculate the minimum number of observations that must be made to complete the
work-sampling analysis.
Answer:
a) Based on the preliminary observations, the estimate of the proportion of time Dr.
Knowitall spends away on emergencies is 0.20 (4 observed times/20 observations
taken).
2
1.96
n= (0.20)(1 – 0.20) = 246 observations
0.05
b) Based on the preliminary observations, the estimate of the proportion of time Dr.
Knowitall spends reviewing test results is 0.15 (3 observed times/20 observations
taken).
2
1.96
n= (0.15)(1 – 0.15) = 196 observations
0.05
18. You need to develop a labor time estimate for a customer order of 20 network
installations. It is estimated that the first installation will require 60 hours of labor, and a
learning curve of 90 percent is expected.
a) How many labor-hours are required for the fifteenth installation?
b) How many labor-hours are required for the twentieth installation?
c) How many labor-hours are required to complete all 20 installations?
d) If the average labor cost is $32.00, what is the total labor cost for installing the
networks?
Answer:
a) T = 60 hours, and the coefficient from Table 11-9 is 0.663.
Number of labor-hours = 60(0.663) = 39.78 hours
19. Students in an operations management class have been assigned six similar computer
homework problems. Alexis needed 40 minutes to complete the first problem. Assuming
an 80 percent learning curve, how much total time will Alexis need to complete the
assignment?
Answer:
T = 40 minutes, n = 6, total learning curve coefficient = 4.299
Total time = 40(4.299) = 171.96 minutes, or 2.87 hours.
20. Your company has received an order for 20 units of a product. The labor cost to produce
the item is $9.50 per hour. The setup cost for the item is $60 and material costs are $25
per unit. The item is sold for $92. The learning rate is 80 percent. Overhead is assessed at
a rate of 55 percent of unit labor cost.
a) Determine the average unit cost for the 20 units if the first unit takes four hours.
b) Determine the minimum number of units that need to be made before the selling price
meets or exceeds the average unit cost.
Answer:
a) n =20, total learning curve coefficient = 10.485
b) If Total Revenue ≥ Total Cost, the selling price per unit exceeds the average unit cost.
92n ≥ 60 + 25n + 1.55(9.5)(4)(total learning curve coefficient for n)
More simply, 67n – 60 = 58.9 (total learning curve coefficient); While several
approaches may be taken from here, the simplest may be by trial and error. The
production becomes profitable at n = 4.
How soon would the world be overcome if all who profess that faith
were faithful to it! Wo to the rebellious children who compromise
truth with the world, and in effect deny their Lord and Master! Who
hath required this at their hands? Do they not follow with the crowd
who cry, "Lord, Lord! and yet do not the things which He says"? Will
they have the adoption and the glory? Will they aim at the honor
implied in these words, "Ye are my witnesses?" Will ye indeed be
sons? Then see the path wherein His footsteps shine! The way is
open! see that ye walk therein! The false apostles, the deceitful
workers shall have their reward; the same that those of old had, the
praise and esteem of men; while the faith of those who truly call
Him Father and Lord, and who walk in the light as He is in the light,
who submit, like Him and His true followers, to be counted as "the
filth of the world, and the offscouring of all things", shall be found
unto praise, and honor, and glory!
The true Christian does not seek to hide himself in a corner; he
lets his light shine before men, whether they will receive it or not;
and thereby is his Father glorified. Having thus served, by the will of
God, the hour of his departure at length arrives. The angels beckon
him away; Jesus bids him come; and as he departs this life he looks
back with a heavenly smile on surviving friends, and is enabled to
say, "Whither I go, ye know, and the way ye know." An entrance is
ministered unto him abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of his
Lord and Savior.
III. Having considered the state to which we look, and the mode
of our admission, let us consider the condition of it. This is implied in
the word "so." "For so an entrance shall be ministered unto you." In
the preceding part of this chapter, the apostle has pointed out the
meaning of this expression, and in the text merely sums it all up in
that short mode of expression.
The first condition he shows to be, the obtaining like precious faith
with him, through the righteousness of God and our Savior Jesus
Christ. Not a faith which merely assents to the truths of the gospel
record, but a faith which applies the merits of the death of Christ to
expiate my individual guilt; which lays hold on Him as my sacrifice,
and produces, in its exercises, peace with God, a knowledge of the
divine favor, a sense of sin forgiven, and a full certainty, arising from
a divine impression on the heart, made by the Spirit of God, that I
am accepted in the Beloved and made a child of God.
If those who profess the Gospel of Christ were but half as zealous
in seeking after this enjoyment as they are in discovering creaturely
objections to its attainment, it would be enjoyed by thousands who
at present know nothing of its happy reality. Such persons,
unfortunately for themselves, employ much more assiduity in
searching a vocabulary to find out epithets of reproach to attach to
those who maintain the doctrine than in searching that volume
which declares that "if you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of
his Son into your hearts, crying Abba, Father"; and that "he that
believeth hath the witness in himself." In whatever light a scorner
may view this doctrine now, the time will come when, being found
without the wedding garment, he will be cast into outer darkness.
O sinner! cry to God this day to convince thee of thy need of this
salvation, and then thou wilt be in a condition to receive it:
BIOGRAPHICAL NOTE
I came down from heaven not to do mine own will but the will of
him that sent me.—John vi., 38.
I am going to ask you a question, my dear brethren, so trite, and
therefore so uninteresting at first sight, that you may wonder why I
put it, and may object that it will be difficult to fix the mind on it,
and may anticipate that nothing profitable can be made of it. It is
this: "Why were you sent into the world?" Yet, after all, it is perhaps
a thought more obvious than it is common, more easy than it is
familiar; I mean it ought to come into your minds, but it does not,
and you never had more than a distant acquaintance with it, tho
that sort of acquaintance with it you have had for many years. Nay,
once or twice, perhaps you have been thrown across the thought
somewhat intimately, for a short season, but this was an accident
which did not last. There are those who recollect the first time, as it
would seem, when it came home to them. They were but little
children, and they were by themselves, and they spontaneously
asked themselves, or rather God spake in them, "Why am I here?
how came I here? who brought me here? What am I to do here?"
Perhaps it was the first act of reason, the beginning of their real
responsibility, the commencement of their trial; perhaps from that
day they may date their capacity, their awful power, of choosing
between good and evil, and of committing mortal sin. And so, as life
goes on, the thought comes vividly, from time to time, for a short
season across their conscience; whether in illness, or in some
anxiety, or at some season of solitude, or on hearing some preacher,
or reading some religious work. A vivid feeling comes over them of
the vanity and unprofitableness of the world, and then the question
recurs, "Why then am I sent into it?"
And a great contrast indeed does this vain, unprofitable, yet
overbearing world present with such a question as that. It seems out
of place to ask such a question in so magnificent, so imposing a
presence, as that of the great Babylon. The world professes to
supply all that we need, as if we were sent into it for the sake of
being sent here, and for nothing beyond the sending. It is a great
favor to have an introduction to this august world. This is to be our
exposition, forsooth, of the mystery of life. Every man is doing his
own will here, seeking his own pleasure, pursuing his own ends; that
is why he was brought into existence. Go abroad into the streets of
the populous city, contemplate the continuous outpouring there of
human energy, and the countless varieties of human character, and
be satisfied! The ways are thronged, carriage-way and pavement;
multitudes are hurrying to and fro, each on his own errand, or are
loitering about from listlessness, or from want of work, or have come
forth into the public concourse, to see and to be seen, for
amusement or for display, or on the excuse of business. The
carriages of the wealthy mingle with the slow wains laden with
provisions or merchandise, the productions of art or the demands of
luxury. The streets are lined with shops, open and gay, inviting
customers, and widen now and then into some spacious square or
place, with lofty masses of brickwork or of stone, gleaming in the
fitful sunbeam, and surrounded or fronted with what simulates a
garden's foliage. Follow them in another direction, and you find the
whole groundstead covered with large buildings, planted thickly up
and down, the homes of the mechanical arts. The air is filled, below,
with a ceaseless, importunate, monotonous din, which penetrates
even to your innermost chamber, and rings in your ears even when
you are not conscious of it; and overhead, with a canopy of smoke,
shrouding God's day from the realms of obstinate, sullen toil. This is
the end of man!
Or stay at home, and take up one of those daily prints, which are
so true a picture of the world; look down the columns of
advertisements, and you will see the catalog of pursuits, projects,
aims, anxieties, amusements, indulgences which occupy the mind of
man. He plays many parts: here he has goods to sell, there he wants
employment; there again he seeks to borrow money, here he offers
you houses, great seats or small tenements; he has food for the
million, and luxuries for the wealthy, and sovereign medicines for the
credulous, and books, new and cheap, for the inquisitive. Pass on to
the news of the day, and you will learn what great men are doing at
home and abroad: you will read of wars and rumors of wars; of
debates in the legislature; of rising men, and old statesmen going off
the scene; of political contests in this city or that country; of the
collision of rival interests. You will read of the money market, and
the provision market, and the market for metals; of the state of
trade, the call for manufactures, news of ships arrived in port, of
accidents at sea, of exports and imports, of gains and losses, of
frauds and their detection. Go forward, and you arrive at discoveries
in art and science, discoveries (so-called) in religion, the court and
royalty, the entertainments of the great, places of amusement,
strange trials, offenses, accidents, escapes, exploits, experiments,
contests, ventures. Oh, this curious restless, clamorous, panting
being, which we call life!—and is there to be no end to all this? Is
there no object in it? It never has an end, it is forsooth its own
object!
And now, once more, my brethren, put aside what you see and
what you read of the world, and try to penetrate into the hearts, and
to reach the ideas and the feelings of those who constitute it; look
into them as closely as you can; enter into their houses and private
rooms; strike at random through the streets and lanes: take as they
come, palace and hovel, office or factory, and what will you find?
Listen to their words, witness, alas! their works; you will find in the
main the same lawless thoughts, the same unrestrained desires, the
same ungoverned passions, the same earthly opinions, the same
wilful deeds, in high and low, learned and unlearned; you will find
them all to be living for the sake of living; they one and all seem to
tell you, "We are our own center, our own end." Why are they
toiling? why are they scheming? for what are they living? "We live to
please ourselves; life is worthless except we have our own way; we
are not sent here at all, but we find ourselves here, and we are but
slaves unless we can think what we will, believe what we will, love
what we will, hate what we will, do what we will. We detest
interference on the part of God or man. We do not bargain to be rich
or to be great; but we do bargain, whether rich or poor, high or low,
to live for ourselves, to live for the lust of the moment, or, according
to the doctrine of the hour, thinking of the future and the unseen
just as much or as little as we please."
Oh, my brethren, is it not a shocking thought, but who can deny
its truth? The multitude of men are living without any aim beyond
this visible scene; they may from time to time use religious words, or
they may profess a communion or a worship, as a matter of course,
or of expedience, or of duty, but, if there was sincerity in such
profession, the course of the world could not run as it does. What a
contrast is all this to the end of life, as it is set before us in our most
holy faith! If there was one among the sons of men, who might
allowably have taken his pleasure, and have done his own will here
below, surely it was He who came down on earth from the bosom of
the Father, and who was so pure and spotless in that human nature
which He put on Him, that He could have no human purpose or aim
inconsistent with the will of His Father. Yet He, the Son of God, the
Eternal Word, came, not to do His own will, but His who sent Him,
as you know very well is told us again and again in Scripture. Thus
the Prophet in the Psalter, speaking in His person, says, "Lo, I come
to do thy will, O God." And He says in the Prophet Isaiah, "The Lord
God hath opened mine ear, and I do not resist; I have not gone
back." And in the gospel, when He hath come on earth, "My food is
to do the will of him that sent me, and to finish his work." Hence,
too, in His agony, He cried out, "Not my will, but thine, be done;"
and St. Paul, in like manner, says, that "Christ pleased not himself;"
and elsewhere, that, "tho he was God's Son, yet learned he
obedience by the things which he suffered." Surely so it was; as
being indeed the eternal coequal Son, His will was one and the same
with the Father's will, and He had no submission of will to make; but
He chose to take on Him man's nature and the will of that nature;
he chose to take on Him affections, feelings, and inclinations proper
to man, a will innocent indeed and good, but still a man's will,
distinct from God's will; a will, which, had it acted simply according
to what was pleasing to its nature, would, when pain and toil were
to be endured, have held back from an active cooperation with the
will of God. But, tho He took on Himself the nature of man, He took
not on Him that selfishness, with which fallen man wraps himself
round, but in all things He devoted Himself as a ready sacrifice to
His Father. He came on earth, not to take His pleasure, not to follow
His taste, not for the mere exercise of human affection, but simply
to glorify His Father and to do His will. He came charged with a
mission, deputed for a work; He looked not to the right nor to the
left, He thought not of Himself, He offered Himself up to God.
Hence it is that He was carried in the womb of a poor woman,
who, before His birth, had two journeys to make, of love and of
obedience, to the mountains and to Bethlehem. He was born in a
stable, and laid in a manger. He was hurried off to Egypt to sojourn
there; then He lived till He was thirty years of age in a poor way, by
a rough trade, in a small house, in a despised town. Then, when He
went out to preach, He had not where to lay His head; He wandered
up and down the country, as a stranger upon earth. He was driven
out into the wilderness, and dwelt among the wild beasts. He
endured heat and cold, hunger and weariness, reproach and
calumny. His food was coarse bread, and fish from the lake, or
depended on the hospitality of strangers. And as He had already left
His Father's greatness on high, and had chosen an earthly home; so
again, at that Father's bidding, He gave up the sole solace given Him
in this world, and denied Himself His mother's presence. He parted
with her who bore Him; He endured to be strange to her; He
endured to call her coldly "woman," who was His own undefiled one,
all beautiful, all gracious, the best creature of His hands, and the
sweet nurse of His infancy. He put her aside, as Levi, His type,
merited the sacred ministry, by saying to His parents and kinsmen,
"I know you not." He exemplified in His own person the severe
maxim, which He gave to His disciples, "He that loveth more than
me is not worthy of me." In all these many ways He sacrificed every
wish of His own; that we might understand, that, if He, the Creator,
came into His world, not for His own pleasure, but to do His Father's
will, we too have most surely some work to do, and have seriously
to bethink ourselves what that work is.
Yes, so it is; realize it, my brethren;—every one who breathes,
high and low, educated and ignorant, young and old, man and
woman, has a mission, has a work. We are not sent into this world
for nothing; we are not born at random; we are not here, that we
may go to bed at night, and get up in the morning, toil for our
bread, eat and drink, laugh and joke, sin when we have a mind, and
reform when we are tired of sinning, rear a family and die. God sees
every one of us; He creates every soul, He lodges it in the body, one
by one, for a purpose. He needs, He deigns to need, every one of
us. He has an end for each of us; we are all equal in His sight, and
we are placed in our different ranks and stations, not to get what we
can out of them for ourselves, but to labor in them for Him. As Christ
had His work, we too have ours; as He rejoiced to do His work, we
must rejoice in ours also.
St. Paul on one occasion speaks of the world as a scene in a
theater. Consider what is meant by this. You know, actors on a stage
are on an equality with each other really, but for the occasion they
assume a difference of character; some are high, some are low,
some are merry, and some sad. Well, would it not be simple
absurdity in any actor to pride himself on his mock diadem, or his
edgeless sword, instead of attending to his part? What, if he did but
gaze at himself and his dress? what, if he secreted, or turned to his
own use, what was valuable in it? Is it not his business, and nothing
else, to act his part well? Common sense tells us so. Now we are all
but actors in this world; we are one and all equal, we shall be
judged as equals as soon as life is over; yet, equal and similar in
ourselves, each has his special part at present, each has his work,
each has his mission,—not to indulge his passions, not to make
money, not to get a name in the world, not to save himself trouble,
not to follow his bent, not to be selfish and self-willed, but to do
what God puts on him to do.
Look at the poor profligate in the gospel, look at Dives; do you
think he understood that his wealth was to be spent, not on himself,
but for the glory of God?—yet forgetting this, he was lost for ever
and ever. I will tell you what he thought, and how he viewed things:
he was a young man, and had succeeded to a good estate, and he
determined to enjoy himself. It did not strike him that his wealth had
any other use than that of enabling him to take his pleasure. Lazarus
lay at his gate; he might have relieved Lazarus; that was God's will;
but he managed to put conscience aside, and he persuaded himself
he should be a fool, if he did not make the most of this world, while
he had the means. So he resolved to have his fill of pleasure; and
feasting was to his mind a principal part of it. "He fared sumptuously
every day"; everything belonging to him was in the best style, as
men speak; his house, his furniture, his plate of silver and gold, his
attendants, his establishments. Everything was for enjoyment, and
for show, too; to attract the eyes of the world, and to gain the
applause and admiration of his equals, who were the companions of
his sins. These companions were doubtless such as became a person
of such pretensions; they were fashionable men; a collection of
refined, high-bred, haughty men, eating, not gluttonously, but what
was rare and costly; delicate, exact, fastidious in their taste, from
their very habits of indulgence; not eating for the mere sake of
eating, or drinking for the mere sake of drinking, but making a sort
of science of their sensuality; sensual, carnal, as flesh and blood can
be, with eyes, ears, tongue steeped in impurity, every thought, look,
and sense, witnessing or ministering to the evil one who ruled them;
yet, with exquisite correctness of idea and judgment, laying down
rules for sinning;—heartless and selfish, high, punctilious, and
disdainful in their outward deportment, and shrinking from Lazarus,
who lay at the gate, as an eye-sore, who ought for the sake of
decency to be put out of the way. Dives was one of such, and so he
lived his short span, thinking of nothing but himself, till one day he
got into a fatal quarrel with one of his godless associates, or he
caught some bad illness; and then he lay helpless on his bed of pain,
cursing fortune and his physician that he was no better, and
impatient that he was thus kept from enjoying his youth, trying to
fancy himself mending when he was getting worse, and disgusted at
those who would not throw him some word of comfort in his
suspense, and turning more resolutely from his Creator in proportion
to his suffering;—and then at last his day came, and he died, and
(oh! miserable!) "was buried in hell." And so ended he and his
mission.
This was the fate of your pattern and idol, oh, ye, if any of you be
present, young men, who, tho not possest of wealth and rank, yet
affect the fashions of those who have them. You, my brethren, have
not been born splendidly, or nobly; you have not been brought up in
the seats of liberal education; you have no high connections; you
have not learned the manners nor caught the tone of good society;
you have no share of the largeness of mind, the candor, the
romantic sense of honor, the correctness of taste, the consideration
for others, and the gentleness which the world puts forth as its
highest type of excellence; you have not come near the courts of the
mansions of the great; yet you ape the sin of Dives, while you are
strangers to his refinement. You think it the sign of a gentleman to
set yourselves above religion; to criticize the religious and professors
of religion; to look at Catholic and Methodist with impartial
contempt; to gain a smattering of knowledge on a number of
subjects; to dip into a number of frivolous publications, if they are
popular; to have read the latest novel; to have heard the singer and
seen the actor of the day; to be well up with the news; to know the
names and, if so be, the persons of public men, to be able to bow to
them; to walk up and down the street with your heads on high, and
to stare at whatever meets you; and to say and do worse things, of
which these outward extravagances are but the symbol. And this is
what you conceive you have come upon the earth for! The Creator
made you, it seems, oh, my children, for this work and office, to be
a bad imitation of polished ungodliness, to be a piece of tawdry and
faded finery, or a scent which has lost its freshness, and does not
but offend the sense! O! that you could see how absurd and base
are such pretenses in the eyes of any but yourselves! No calling of
life but is honorable; no one is ridiculous who acts suitably to his
calling and estate; no one, who has good sense and humility, but
may, in any state of life, be truly well-bred and refined; but
ostentation, affectation, and ambitious efforts are, in every station of
life, high or low, nothing but vulgarities. Put them aside, despise
them yourselves. Oh, my very dear sons, whom I love, and whom I
would fain serve;—oh, that you could feel that you have souls! oh,
that you would have mercy on your souls! oh, that, before it is too
late, you would betake yourselves to Him who is the source of all
that is truly high and magnificent and beautiful, all that is bright and
pleasant and secure what you ignorantly seek, in Him whom you so
wilfully, so awfully despise!
He, alone, the Son of God, "the brightness of the Eternal Light,
and the spotless mirror of His Majesty," is the source of all good and
all happiness to rich and poor, high and low. If you were ever so
high, you would need Him; if you were ever so low, you could offend
Him. The poor can offend Him; the poor man can neglect his divinely
appointed mission as well as the rich. Do not suppose, my brethren,
that what I have said against the upper or the middle class will not,
if you happen to be poor, also lie against you. Though a man were
as poor as Lazarus, he could be as guilty as Dives. If you were
resolved to degrade yourselves to the brutes of the field, who have
no reason and no conscience, you need not wealth or rank to enable
you to do so. Brutes have no wealth; they have no pride of life; they
have no purple and fine linen, no splendid table, no retinue of
servants, and yet they are brutes. They are brutes by the law of
their nature; they are the poorest among the poor; there is not a
vagrant and outcast who is so poor as they; they differ from him,
not in their possessions, but in their want of a soul, in that he has a
mission and they have not, he can sin and they can not. Oh, my
brethren, it stands to reason, a man may intoxicate himself with a
cheap draft, as well as with a costly one; he may steal another's
money for his appetites, though he does not waste his own upon
them; he may break through the natural and social laws which
encircle him, and profane the sanctity of family duties, tho he be not
a child of nobles, but a peasant or artisan,—nay, and perhaps he
does so more frequently than they. This is not the poor's
blessedness, that he has less temptations to self-indulgence, for he
has as many, but that from his circumstances he receives the
penances and corrections of self-indulgence. Poverty is the mother
of many pains and sorrows in their season, and these are God's
messengers to lead the soul to repentance; but, alas! if the poor
man indulges his passions, thinks little of religion, puts off
repentance, refuses to make an effort, and dies without conversion,
it matters nothing that he was poor in this world, it matters nothing
that he was less daring than the rich, it matters not that he
promised himself God's favor, that he sent for the priest when death
came, and received the last sacraments; Lazarus too, in that case,
shall be buried with Dives in hell, and shall have had his consolation
neither in this world nor in the world to come.
My brethren, the simple question is, whatever a man's rank in life
may be, does he in that rank perform the work which God has given
him to do? Now then, let me turn to others, of a very different
description, and let me hear what they will say, when the question is
asked them. Why, they will parry it thus: "You give us no
alternative," they will say to me, "except that of being sinners or
saints. You put before us our Lord's pattern, and you spread before
us the guilt and ruin of the deliberate transgressor; whereas we
have no intention of going so far one way or the other; we do not
aim at being saints, but we have no desire at all to be sinners. We
neither intend to disobey God's will, nor to give up our own. Surely
there is a middle way, and a safe one, in which God's will and our
will may both be satisfied. We mean to enjoy both this world and the
next. We will guard against mortal sin; we are not obliged to guard
against venial; indeed it would be endless to attempt it. None but
saints do so; it is the work of a life; we need have nothing else to
do. We are not monks, we are in the world, we are in business, we
are parents, we have families; we must live for the day. It is a
consolation to keep from mortal sin; that we do, and it is enough for
salvation. It is a great thing to keep in God's favor; what indeed can
we desire more? We come at due time to the sacraments; this is our
comfort and our stay; did we die, we should die in grace, and
escape the doom of the wicked. But if we once attempted to go
further, where should we stop? how will you draw the line for us?
The line between mortal and venial sin is very distinct; we
understand that; but do you not see that, if we attended to our
venial sins, there would be just as much reason to attend to one as
to another? If we began to repress our anger, why not also repress
vainglory? Why not also guard against niggardliness? Why not also
keep from falsehood, from gossiping, from idling, from excess in
eating? And, after all, without venial sin we never can be, unless
indeed we have the prerogative of the Mother of God, which it would
be almost heresy to ascribe to any one but her. You are not asking
us to be converted; that we understand; we are converted, we were
converted a long time ago. You bid us aim at an indefinite vague
something, which is less than perfection, yet more than obedience,
and which, without resulting in any tangible advantage, debars us
from the pleasures and embarrasses us in the duties of this world."
This is what you will say; but your premises, my brethren, are
better than your reasoning, and your conclusions will not stand. You
have a right view why God has sent you into the world; viz., in order
that you may get to heaven; it is quite true also that you would fare
well indeed if you found yourselves there, you could desire nothing
better; nor, it is true, can you live any time without venial sin. It is
true also that you are not obliged to aim at being saints; it is no sin
not to aim at perfection. So much is true and to the purpose; but it
does not follow from it that you, with such views and feelings as you
have exprest, are using sufficient exertions even for attaining
purgatory. Has your religion any difficulty in it, or is it in all respects
easy to you? Are you simply taking your own pleasure in your mode
of living, or do you find your pleasure in submitting yourself to God's
pleasure? In a word, is your religion a work? For if it be not, it is not
religion at all. Here at once, before going into your argument, is a
proof that it is an unsound one, because it brings you to the
conclusion that, whereas Christ came to do a work, and all saints,
nay, nay, and sinners to do a work too, you, on the contrary, have no
work to do, because, forsooth, you are neither sinners nor saints; or,
if you once had a work, at least that you have despatched it already,
and you have nothing upon your hands. You have attained your
salvation, it seems, before your time, and have nothing to occupy
you, and are detained on earth too long. The work days are over,
and your perpetual holiday is begun. Did then God send you, above
all other men, into the world to be idle in spiritual matters? Is it your
mission only to find pleasure in this world, in which you are but as
pilgrims and sojourners? Are you more than sons of Adam, who, by
the sweat of their brow, are to eat bread till they return to the earth
out of which they are taken? Unless you have some work in hand,
unless you are struggling, unless you are fighting with yourselves,
you are no followers of those who "through many tribulations
entered into the kingdom of God." A fight is the very token of a
Christian. He is a soldier of Christ; high or low, he is this and nothing
else. If you have triumphed over all mortal sin, as you seem to think,
then you must attack your venial sins; there is no help for it; there is
nothing else to do, if you would be soldiers of Jesus Christ. But, oh,
simple souls! to think you have gained any triumph at all! No; you
cannot safely be at peace with any, even the least malignant, of the
foes of God; if you are at peace with venial sins, be certain that in
their company and under their shadow mortal sins are lurking.
Mortal sins are the children of venial, which, tho they be not deadly
themselves, yet are prolific of death. You may think that you have
killed the giants who had possession of your hearts, and that you
have nothing to fear, but may sit at rest under your vine and under
your fig-tree; but the giants will live again, they will rise from the
dust, and, before you know where you are, you will be taken captive
and slaughtered by the fierce, powerful, and eternal enemies of God.
The end of a thing is the test. It was our Lord's rejoicing in His last
solemn hour, that He had done the work for which He was sent. "I
have glorified thee on earth." He says in His prayer, "I have finished
the work which thou gavest me to do; I have manifested thy name
to the men whom thou hast given me out of the world." It was St.
Paul's consolation also, "I have fought the good fight, I have finished
the course, I have kept the faith; henceforth there is laid up for me
a crown of justice, which the Lord shall render to me in that day, the
just judge." Alas! alas! how different will be our view of things when
we come to die, or when we have passed into eternity, from the
dreams and pretenses with which we beguile ourselves now! What
will Babel do for us then? Will it rescue our souls from the purgatory
or the hell to which it sends them? If we were created, it was that
we might serve God; if we have His gifts, it is that we may glorify
Him; if we have a conscience, it is that we may obey it; if we have
the prospect of heaven, it is that we may keep it before us; if we
have light, that we may follow it, if we have grace, that we may save
ourselves by means of it. Alas! alas! for those who die without
fulfilling their mission; who were called to be holy, and lived in sin;
who were called to worship Christ, and who plunged into this giddy
and unbelieving world; who were called to fight, and who remained
idle; who were called to be Catholics, and who did but remain in the
religion of their birth! Alas for those who have had gifts and talent,
and have not used, or have misused, or abused them; who have had
wealth, and have spent it on themselves; who have had abilities,
and have advocated what was sinful, or ridiculed what was true, or
scattered doubts against what was sacred; who have had leisure,
and have wasted it on wicked companions, or evil books, or foolish
amusements! Alas! for those of whom the best can be said is, that
they are harmless and naturally blameless, while they never have
attempted to cleanse their hearts or to live in God's sight!
The world goes on from age to age, but the Holy Angels and
Blessed Saints are always crying Alas, alas! and Wo, wo! over the
loss of vocations, and the disappointment of hopes, and the scorn of
God's love, and the ruin of souls. One generation succeeds another,
and whenever they look down upon earth from their golden thrones,
they see scarcely anything but a multitude of guardian spirits,
downcast and sad, each following his own charge, in anxiety, or in
terror, or in despair, vainly endeavoring to shield him from the
enemy, and failing because he will not be shielded. Times come and
go, and man will not believe, that that is to be which is not yet, or
that what now is only continues for a season, and is not eternity.
The end is the trial; the world passes; it is but a pageant and a
scene; the lofty palace crumbles, the busy city is mute, the ships of
Tarshish have sped away. On heart and flesh death is coming; the
veil is breaking. Departing soul, how hast thou used thy talents, thy
opportunities, the light poured around thee, the warnings given
thee, the grace inspired into thee? Oh, my Lord and Savior, support
me in that hour in the strong arms of Thy sacraments, and by the
fresh fragrance of Thy consolations. Let the absolving words be said
over me, and the holy oil sign and seal me, and Thy own body be
my food, and Thy blood my sprinkling; and let my sweet mother
Mary breathe on me, and my angel whisper peace to me, and my
glorious saints, and my own dear father, Philip, smile on me; that in
them all, and through them all, I may receive the gift of
perseverance, and die, as I desire to live, in Thy faith, in Thy
Church, in Thy service, and in Thy love.
BUSHNELL
UNCONSCIOUS INFLUENCE
BIOGRAPHICAL NOTE
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