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SUBJECT: 06 - 2CH 35:2 Cheer Up, My Comrades
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Cheer Up, My Comrades!
by
C. H. SPURGEON
(1834-1892)
"And Josiah set the priests in their charges, and
encouraged them to the service of the house of the
Lord"- 2Ch_35:2.
Josiah, as you remember, in the early part of his reign
set his face against the idolatries that prevailed, to
root them out of the land. He then bent his thoughts
upon repairing and beautifying the temple. After that
it was his heart's aim to restore the sacred services,
to observe the solemn feasts, and to revive the worship
of God after the due order, according to the words of
the book of the covenant that was found in the house of
the Lord. Our text tells us something of the method
with which he went to work; and it may well serve us as
a model.
The first thing is to get every man into his proper
place; the next thing is for every man to have a good
spirit in his present place, so as to occupy it
worthily. I will suppose, dear friends, that in the
providence of God you are in your place, and that by
the direction of God's Spirit you have also sought and
found the precise form of usefulness in which you ought
to exercise yourself. To-night it shall not be my
business to arrange you; but assuming that it is well
for you to keep where you are, my object shall be to
encourage you to do your work for your Lord without
being cast down. I am hardly going to preach so much as
to talk to different persons who are discouraged in the
work of the Lord, that we may rouse them up, rally them
round us, and encourage them to keep rank.
I. And, first, I would speak a little to THOSE WHO
THINK THAT THEY CAN DO NOTHING. They will tell me that
in such a sermon not a sentence can concern them: if I
am to encourage men to the service of the house of the
Lord, it will be in vain for them, as they can do
nothing at all. Well, dear friends, you must not take
that for granted; you must make quite sure that you
cannot do anything before I may venture to speak to you
as if it were a matter of fact; for sometimes there is
a want of way because there is a want of will. Though I
do not go so far as to allege that this is your case,
we know too well that "cannot" often does mean "will
not," and not to have triumphed may mean that you have
not tried. You have been so discouraged that you have
excused yourself for inaction, and your inaction has
grown into indolence. If a man, under the notion that
he could not lift his right hand, constantly kept it
still, I should not wonder if, after weeks and months,
it would become a matter of fact that he had not the
power to use it. It might actually stiffen for no
reason but because he had not moved it. Do you not
think that, before your muscles get rigid, it would be
well to exercise them by attempting some kind of
service? Especially you younger folk, if you do not
work for the Lord almost as soon as you are converted
it will be very difficult afterwards to make you take
to it. Aptitude, I have often noticed, comes with
employment, and through negligence and sloth people
become enervated and helpless. You say that you cannot
move your arm, and so you do not move it; take heed,
for by-and-by your pretence will become the parent of
real powerlessness.
But I will take what you have said as being true. You
are ill; the vigour you felt in the bright days of
health fails you now; you have to suffer pain,
weariness, and exhaustion; you are often detained at
home; and home seems now to you a gloomy hospital all
the day long, rather than a genial hostelry when
evening shadows fall. Little indeed, therefore, can you
do; so little that you are apt to reckon it as nothing
at all. The thought is a burden to you. You wish you
could serve the Lord. How constantly you have dreamed
of the pleasure since you have been denied the
privilege! How willing your feet would be to run; how
ready your hands would be to labour; how glad would
your tongue be to testify! You envy those who are able,
and you would fain emulate and excel them; not indeed
that you harbour ill-will against them, but you
devoutly wish that you could do some personal service
in the cause of your Master.
Now, I want to encourage you first by reminding you
that the law of the Son of David is the same as the law
of David himself; and you know the law of David about
those that went to the battle. There were some that
were lame, and some that were otherwise incapable of
action, and he left them with the baggage. "There," he
said, "you are very weary and ill: stop in the camp:
take care of the tents, and the ammunition, while we go
and fight." Now, it happened once on a time that the
men that went to fight claimed all the spoil. They
said, "These people have done nothing: they have been
lying in the trenches: they shall not carry off a share
of the booty." But King David there and then made a law
that they should share and share equally-those that
were in the trenches and those that engaged in the
fray. "As his part is that goeth down to the battle, so
shall his part be that tarrieth by the stuff: they
shall part alike. And it was so from that day forward,
that he made it a statute and an ordinance for Israel."
Nor is the law of the Son of David less gracious. If by
sickness you are detained at home,-if for any other
reason, such as age or infirmity, you are not able to
enter into actual service, yet if you are a true
soldier and would fight if you could, and your heart is
in it, you shall share even with the best and bravest
of those who, clad in the panoply of God, encounter and
grapple with the adversary.
And, brethren, you have no reason to envy, though you
may admire to your heart's content, all who are
diligent and successful in the service of Christ. Let
me remind you of a law of the kingdom of heaven with
which you are all familiar-"He that receiveth a prophet
in the name of a prophet shall receive a prophet's
reward." In truth, it is a splendid appointment to be a
servant of the Lord. David thought so, for you often
read at the commencement of his psalms-"A prayer of
David, the servant of God," though you never read, "A
prayer of David, the king of Israel," for he thought
more of being enrolled a servant of God than of being
entitled a king of Israel. Health and strength, ability
and opportunity to fulfil a mission for the Master are
much to be desired, but these are not always to be
taken as reliable evidence of personal salvation. A man
may preach admirably, and he may work marvels in the
church, and yet himself not be a partaker of saving
grace. Hence, when the disciples came back from
preaching, and said, "Lord, even the devils are subject
to us through thy name," the Lord said, "Never the
less, in this rejoice not, but rather rejoice because
your names are written in heaven." Judas was amongst
them; Judas cast out devils; Judas preached the gospel;
and yet Judas was a son of perdition, and is lost for
ever. Because you cannot do much you must not infer
that therefore you are not saved; for if you were to be
among the chief of Christian workers it would not prove
that you were certainly a child of God. Do not fret,
then, because you are shut out from the cheerful
activities in which others share; for, as long as your
name is written in heaven, and your heart truly follows
after the Lord, you shall have an abundant recompense
at the last great day, even though here you are doomed
to be a sufferer rather than a worker.
But to me it seems more than possible that some of you,
dear friends, whose minds are tinged with melancholy,
have painted your own lot in deeper shades than the
justice of the case deserves. Is your life indeed a
dull routine, which, for lack of busy change and lively
enterprise, leaves no record behind? Not so, methinks.
"The rich relics of a well-spent hour" do sometimes
pour around your path a stream of light that cheers our
eyes, though it may escape your notice. Are you patient
under your sufferings? Do you try to keep the flesh in
subjection, to govern your spirit, to refrain from
murmuring, and to foster cheerfulness? That, my friend,
is doing a great deal. I am sure that the holy serenity
of a suffering child of God is one of the best sermons
that can ever be preached in a family. A sick saint has
often been more serviceable in a house than the most
eloquent divine could have been. They see how sweetly
you submit to the divine will, how patiently you can
bear painful operations, how the Lord gives you songs
in the night. Why, you are greatly useful. I have
sometimes been called to visit bedridden persons who
have been unable to rise for many, many years, and it
has been within my knowledge that their influence has
extended over whole parishes. They have been known as
poor pious women or as experienced Christian men, and
many have gone to visit them. Christian ministers have
said that they derived more benefit from sitting half-
an-hour talking to poor old Betsy than they did from
all the books in their library, and yet Betsy said that
she was doing nothing. Look at your case in that light,
and you will see that you can praise God upon your bed,
and make your chamber to be as vocal for God as this
pulpit ever can be.
Besides, dear friends, do you not think we frequently
limit our estimate of serving God to the public
exercises of the sanctuary, and forget the strong
claims that our Lord has upon our private fidelity and
obedience? You say, "I cannot serve God," when you
cannot teach in the school or preach in the pulpit,
when you are unable to sit on a committee or speak on a
platform: as if these were the only forms of service to
be taken into account. Do you not think that a mother
nursing her baby is serving God? Do you not think that
men and women going about their daily toil with patient
industry discharging the duties of domestic life are
serving God? If you think rightly you will understand
that they are. The servant sweeping the room, the
mistress preparing the meal, the workman driving a
nail, the merchant casting up his ledger, ought to do
all in the service of God. Though, of course, it is
very desirable that we should each and all have some
definitely religious work before us, yet it is much
better that we should hallow our common handicraft, and
make our ordinary work chime with the melodies of a
soul attuned for heaven. Let true religion be our life,
and then our life will be true religion. That is how it
ought to be. "Whether ye eat or drink, or whatsoever ye
do, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks
unto God and the Father by him." So, then, let the
stream of your common life as it flows on, obscure,
unobserved, be holy and courageous; you will find that
while "they also serve who only stand and wait," you
shall not be neglected or overlooked who simply sit at
Jesus' feet and listen to his words when you can do no
more. This is service done for him which he can
appreciate; complain who may.
Know, too, my dear sister, that by thy sorrows the Lord
has drawn out thy sympathies. Thou, my dear brother,
know that by the discipline which has chastened thee,
thou hast learned to be a comforter. Say you, then,
that you cannot do anything? I know a few secrets about
you that you forget. You do not reckon yourself up as
we reckon you. Did you not try to cheer a poor
neighbour the other day by telling of the Lord's
goodness to you when you were very sick yourself? How
started from your eye that tear most sacred shed for a
fellow-creature's pain? Is it not your habit, poor
sufferer as you are, to let drop just a few words for
your Master to others in a like condition whenever you
can? You tell me that you cannot do anything. Why, dear
hearts, the refreshing of God's saints is one of the
highest works in which anyone can be occupied. God will
send prophets to his servants at times when they need
to be rebuked; if he wants to comfort them he generally
sends an angel to them, for that is angel's work. Jesus
Christ himself, we read, had angels sent to minister to
him. When? Was it not in the garden of Gethsemane, when
he was bowed down with sorrow? Comforting is not
ordinary work: it is a kind of angelic work. "There
appeared unto him an angel strengthening him." A
prophet was sent to warn the Israelites of their sin;
but when a Gideon was to be encouraged to go and fight
for his country, it was the angel of the Lord that came
to him. So I gather that comforting work is angel's
work. You, dear kind Christian men and women, who think
that you are not able to do anything but to condole or
to console with cheery words some souls cast down and
sore dismayed, you are fulfilling a most blessed
office, and doing work which many ministers find it
difficult to perform. I have known some who have never
known suffering or ill-health, and when they try to
comfort God's weary people they are dreadfully awkward
over it. They are like elephants picking up pins: they
can do it, but it is with a wonderful effort. God's
tried people comfort each other con amore; they take to
the work as a fish to water. They understand the art of
speaking a word in season to him that is weary, and
when this is the case they may not complain that they
are doing nothing.
And yet, beloved, you who thought that you did nothing,
and now perceive that you are really useful, will, I
hope, perceive that there is still a wider region into
which you may advance. Breathe to-night the prayer of
Jabez, who was more honourable than his brethren,
because he was the child of his mother's sorrow; and
this was the prayer-"Oh that thou wouldest bless me
indeed, and enlarge my coast"! Ask God to open up to
you a larger region of usefulness, and he will do it.
II. Now let me address a few words to another class of
workers WHO THINK THAT THEY ARE LAID ASIDE.
"Dear sir," says one, "I wish you would encourage me. I
used to be useful once; at least, I was recognized as
one of a band of men who worked together right
heartily, but since I have changed my residence I am
unknown in the neighborhood where I am living, and I
seem to have dropped out of the ranks. I have done
little or nothing lately, and I feel uneasy about it. I
wish that I could get to work." My dear brother, I hope
you will; but do not waste five minutes in thinking it
over. These times need so much Christian effort that
when a man asks me, "How shall I do work for Christ"? I
am accustomed to say, "Go and do it." "But what is the
way to do it"? Start at once. Get at it, my brother. Do
not be out of harness a minute. But suppose that you
are obliged to desist awhile, do not let your interest
in the cause of our Lord and Master decline. Some of
the best of God's workers have been laid aside for long
periods. Moses was forty years in the desert, doing
nothing. A greater than he, our blessed Saviour
himself, was thirty years,-I will not say doing
nothing, but certainly doing no public work. When you
are in a retired and inactive position, be preparing
for the time when God brings you out again. If you are
put away on the shelf, do not rust there, but pray the
Master to brighten you up so that when he comes to use
you again you may be fully fitted for the work which he
has in hand for you.
While you must be laid aside, I want you to do
this,-pray for others that are at work. Help them;
encourage them. Do not get into that peevish, miserable
frame of mind which grudges and undervalues other men's
works. Be not like the dog in the manger. Some people,
when they cannot do anything themselves, do not like
anybody else to be diligent and laborious. Say, "If I
cannot help, I will never hinder, but I will cheer my
brethren."
Spend your time in prayer that you may be fit for the
Master's use, and, meanwhile, be prompt in helping
others. You remember that, at the siege of Gibraltar,
when the fleet surrounded it and determined to storm
the old rock, the governor fired red-hot shot down upon
the men of war. The enemy did not at all admire the
governor's warm reception. Think how it was done. Here
were gunners on the ramparts firing away, and every man
in the garrison would have liked to do the same. What
did those do who could not serve a gun? Why, they
heated the shot; and that is what you must do. I am
master gunner here generally: heat my shot for me, if
you will. Keep the furnace going, so that when we do
fire off a sermon it may be red-hot, through your
earnest prayers. When you see your friends sitting in
the Sunday-school, or standing out in the street
working for God, if you cannot join them yet say,
"Never mind: I will heat the shot for them. My prayers
shall not be wanting, if I can contribute nothing
else." That is counsel for you who are for awhile laid
on the shelf.
III. Others there are who are much discouraged because
THEY HAVE BUT SMALL TALENT. "Oh," they say, "I wish I
could serve Jesus Christ like Paul, or like
Whitefield-that I could range the country through
proclaiming his dear name and winning thousands of
converts. But I am slow of speech and dull of thought,
and what I attempt produces little or no effect." Well,
brother, mind that you do what you can. Do you not
recollect the parable of the men who had talents
entrusted to them? I do not want to lay undue stress
upon the fact that it was the man who had one talent
who buried it. Yet why is he represented as doing so? I
think it was not because the men of two and five
talents do not sometimes bury theirs, but because the
temptation lies most with the one talent people. They
say, "What can I do? What is the use of me? I may be
excused." That is the temptation. Brother, do not be
entangled in that snare. If your Lord has only given
you one talent he does not expect you to make the same
interest upon it as the man does with five; but still
he does expect his interest, and therefore do not wrap
your talent in a napkin. It is but with strength
imparted that any of us can serve him. We have nothing
to consecrate to him but the gift we have first
received from him. You are weak. You feel it; but what
says your God to you? "Not by might nor by power, but
by my Spirit, saith the Lord." He can make you useful
though you have no extraordinary endowments. Grape-shot
may do great execution, though it cannot compare with
grenade or bomb-shell. A sinner may be brought to
Christ by the simple earnestness of a peasant or an
artisan, without calling in the aid of a professor's
learning or a preacher's eloquence. God can bless you
far above what you think to be your capacity, for it is
not a question of your ability but of his aid. You have
no self-reliance, you tell me. Then take refuge in God,
I entreat you, for you evidently want more of the
divine succor. Go and get it; it is to be had. He girds
the weak with strength. "The young men shall faint and
be weary, but they that wait upon the Lord shall renew
their strength." Why, I think you are more likely to do
good than if you had five talents, for now you will
pray more and you will depend more upon God than you
would have done if you had possessed strength of your
own.
One other word. As you are not enriched with many
talents, mind you economize those you have. Do you know
how merchants and tradesmen who have only a small
capital in business manage to compete with those who
have larger means? They try to turn their money over
every day. The costermonger cannot afford to deal out
his goods to gentlemen who will pay him in three
months. Not he. He must get his ready money at the
door, and then go and buy another stock to-morrow
morning, and turn it over, or else he could not pick up
his living with so small a capital. If you have only
ninepence, make it "nimble," and you will get as much
profit out of a nimble ninepence as another out of a
lazy crown. Activity often makes up for lack of
ability. If you cannot get force by the weight of the
ball, get it by the velocity with which it travels. A
little man with one talent all ablaze may become a
perfect nuisance to the devil, and a champion for
Christ. As for that great divine with his five talents,
who marches on so sleepily, Satan can always overmatch
him and win the day. If you can but turn over your one
talent again and again, in the name of God, you may
achieve great wonders. So I would encourage you in the
work of the Lord.
IV. With workers WHO ARE UNDER GREAT DIFFICULTIES I
would now have a word. I have known the day when
perplexities pleased me, dilemmas afforded me delight,
and instead of declining a difficult task I rather like
it. Even now I enjoy puzzling over a problem, and
attempting what others decline. Nothing good in this
world can be effected without difficulty. The biggest
diamonds lie under heavy stones which sluggards cannot
turn over. That which is easy to do is hardly worth
doing. In the face of difficulty the man of ardent,
persevering spirit braces up his nerves, sharpens his
wits, and brings all his powers into play to achieve an
object that will reward his efforts. Have you great
difficulties dear friend? You are not the first worker
for God who has had difficulties to encounter. Let us
go back to Moses again. He was to bring Israel out of
Egypt; but his path did not appear very plain. He must
go before Pharaoh and issue God's command. Pharaoh
looked him through when he said, "Let my people go."
The haughty monarch was greatly surprised to hear
anybody, especially a Hebrew, talk like that; and so he
bade him begone. But Moses returns with, "Thus saith
the Lord, Let my people go"; and his courage was not
even then crowned with immediate success. There must be
plague upon plague, plague upon plague, till at last
proud Pharaoh's heart was broken, the Israelites were
saved from the hand of him that hated them; and Egypt
was glad when they departed. This, however, was but the
beginning of the mission of Moses. His was a life of
difficulty-the meekest man, but the most provoked; and
until he got to the top of Pisgah, and his gracious
Master kissed away his soul, the prophet of Horeb had
never done with difficulties. Any good thing, I say,
especially any good thing done for God, must be
surrounded with difficulties, and resisted by
adversaries. Look at Nehemiah, and Ezra, and
Zerubbabel, and those that built Jerusalem, the second
time. These good men wrought zealously, but Sanballat
and Tobiah were jeering and jesting, and trying to
throw down the wall. If you build a city without
difficulty, it is not Jerusalem. Be sure of that. As
soon as ever you begin working for God you will find a
great power working against you. If you encounter
opposition, take it as a good sign. When our young men
go to a provincial town to preach, and I want to know
how they are getting on, after listening to their
story, I ask, "Has somebody slandered you yet? Do the
newspapers denounce you as a fool"? If they say "No," I
conclude that they are not getting on much. If Christ's
cause is prospering the world will reproach the soul-
winner; if you do damage to the devil's kingdom he will
roar at you. Should your course be smooth, it is
because he says, "There is nothing to disturb me in
that man's monotonous talk. I need not let fly the
fiery dart of calumny at him: he is a chip in the
porridge, I will let him alone." Such a man generally
goes through life very comfortably. People say, "He is
a quiet, inoffensive sort of man." We do not want such
soldiers in the service of Christ. "What a disagreeable
person"! said a king once of an officer whose sword
rattled on the floor. "That sword of his is most
offensive." "Sire," said the officer, "that is exactly
what your majesty's enemies think." When ungodly
persons say that we are troublesome, we are not broken-
hearted at being out of their good looks. If the king's
enemies think us troublesome, we reckon it to be high
praise. When you, my dear brother, meet with
opposition, encounter it with prayer. Exercise more
faith. Antagonists ought never to hinder your going
forward in the cause of Christ. Diamond must cut
diamond. There is nothing so hard in this world but you
can cut it with something harder. If you ask God to
steel your soul up to the conquering point, and to make
your resolution like an adamant stone, you can cut your
way through an alp of diamond in the service of your
Lord and Master.
Let me inspirit you in the face of assailants. The
forces ranged against you might be stumbling-blocks to
fools, but they shall only prove a stimulus to men. One
day your honour shall be the greater and your reward
shall be the higher because of these adverse elements.
Therefore, be brave and fear not, but advance in the
strength of God.
V. Fain would I now speak a passing word of comfort to
another class of workers-THOSE THAT ARE NOT
APPRECIATED. I am not going to say much, because I have
not much sympathy with them. Yet I know that the
smallest slight chafes those who are over sensitive.
They murmur, "I do my best, and nobody thanks me." You
think yourself a martyr, and complain that you are mis-
represented. Be it so, dear friend; that was your
Master's lot, and it is the lot of all his servants.
This is a cross we must all carry, or we shall never
wear the crown. Do you fancy that this is a new
experience? Look at Joseph. His brethren could not bear
him, and yet it was he that saved the family and fed
them in time of famine. Look at David. His brothers
asked why he had left the charge of the sheep to come
down to the battle, suspecting that the pride of his
heart had brought him among the soldiers and the
standards. Yet nobody could bring back Goliath's head
but that young David. Take a lesson from the ruddy
hero; take no notice of what your brethren say about
you. Go and bring back the giant's head. A good
adventure is the best answer to evil accusations. If
you are serving the Master let their scandal stir you
up to more self-consecration. If they cry out against
you as too forward, serve the Lord with more vigour,
and you will antidote the venom of their tongues. Did
you enter into Christ's work in order to be honoured
among men? Then retire from it, for you came with a bad
motive. But if you enlisted purely to bring honour to
Him, and to win his smile, what more do you want? What
more do you want? Be not therefore disheartened because
you are not applauded. Be certain of this, that to be
kept in the rear rank is often necessary to future
eminence. If you take a man and put him in front, and
pat him on the back and say, "What a great man he is"!
he will make a false step before long, and there will
be an end of your hero; but when a man is brought
forward by God, he is often one whom everybody
criticizes, finds fault with, and declaims as an
impostor, but the banter he is exposed to serves as
ballast for his mind. When he comes off with success he
will not be spoiled with conceit, for the grace of God
will make him bow with gratitude. The sword that is
meant for a princely hand, to split through skull and
backbone in the day of battle, must be annealed in the
furnace again and again; it cannot be fit for such
desperate work until it has passed through the fire
full many a time. Do not ask to be appreciated. Never
be so mean as that. Appreciate yourself in the serenity
of conscience, and leave your honour with your God.
VI. I must speak now, in the last place, a little more
at length to THOSE WHO ARE DISCOURAGED BECAUSE THEY
HAVE HAD SO LITTLE SUCCESS.
It was my great delight a few evenings ago to meet a
splendid band of men and women who are the Sunday-
school teachers of this church. You will think it
strange that I did not till then thoroughly estimate
the extent of their work, as I had never added up the
total of the various schools; but when I did so, and
found that they mounted up to six thousand children, I
felt full of joy. I shall run over with delight if they
increase to twelve thousand in another twelve months.
For so large a district this would not be too many, but
still our present number is most encouraging. Now, I
know that some of our teachers are working away in back
streets, in rooms not connected with any place but
this, and we hardly knew of them, because they were
pursuing their simple, unobtrusive labours so quietly.
Are there any of you who fear that you have toiled in
vain and spent your strength for nought? I would
entreat you, dear friends, not to be satisfied with
casting in the seed unless you reap some good results;
yet do not be so faint-hearted as to give up because of
a little disappointment. Though you cannot be satisfied
without fruit, yet do not cease to sow because one
season proves a failure. I would not have our friends
the farmers abandon agriculture because this year they
have a bad crop: if they were to measure their future
prospects by the present failure, it would be a great
pity. If you have preached or taught, or done work for
Christ with little success until now, do not infer that
you will always be unsuccessful. Regret the lack of
prosperity but do not relinquish the labour of seeking
it. You may reasonably be sorrowful, but you have no
right to despair. Non-success is a trial of faith which
has been endured by many a trusty servant who has been
triumphant in the issue. Did not the disciples toil all
night, and catch nothing? Did we not read just now of
some who cast the net, and yet took no fish? Did not
our Lord say that some seed would fall on stony ground,
and some among the thorns, and that from these there
would be no harvest? What good did Jeremiah do? I have
no doubt he laboured, and God blessed him, but the
result of his preaching was that he said, "The bellows
are burned in the fire." He had blown up the fire till
he had burnt the bellows, but no man's heart was
melted. "Woe is me"! said he. "Oh that my head were
waters, and mine eyes a fountain of tears"! I do not
know what was the result of Noah's ministry, but I do
know that he was a preacher of righteousness for a
hundred and twenty years, and yet he never brought a
soul into the ark except his own family. Poor preaching
we may count it judging by the influence it exerted:
and yet we know that it was grand preaching, such as
God commended. Do not, then, grudge the time, or the
strength, you lay out in the service of our great Lord
because you do not see your efforts thrive, for better
men than you have wept over failure.
Remember, too, that if you really do serve the Lord
thoroughly and heartily, he will accept you and
acknowledge your service, even though no good should
come of it. It is your business to cast the bread on
the waters: if you do not find it after many days, that
is not your business. It is your business to scatter
the seed; but no farmer says to his servant, "John, you
have not served me well, for there is no harvest." The
man would say, "Could I make a harvest, sir? I have
ploughed, and I have sowed. What more could I do"? Even
so our good Lord is not austere, nor does he demand of
us more than we can do. If you have ploughed and if you
have sowed, although there should be no harvest, you
are clear and accepted. Did it never strike you that
you may be now employed in breaking up ground and
preparing the soil from which other labourers who come
after you will reap very plentifully. Perhaps your
Master knows what a capital ploughman you are. He has a
large farm, and he never means to let you become a
reaper because you do the ploughing so well. Your
Master does not intend you to take part in the harvest
because you are such a good hand at sowing; and as he
has crops that need sowing all the year round he keeps
you at that work. He knows you better than you know
yourself. Perchance if he were once to let you get on
the top of a loaded wagon of your own sheaves, you
would turn dizzy and make a fall of it; so he says,
"You keep to your ploughing and your sowing, and
somebody else shall do the reaping." Peradventure when
your course is run you will see from heaven, where it
will be safe for you to see it, that you did not labour
in vain nor spend your strength for nought. "One soweth
and another reapeth." This is the divine economy. I
think that every man that loves his Master will say,
"So long as there does but come a harvest, I will not
stipulate about who reaps it. Give me faith enough to
be assured that the reaping will come, and I will be
content." Look at William Carey going to India, his
prayer being "India for Christ." What did Carey live to
see? Well, he saw good-speed enough to rejoice his
heart: but certainly he did not see the fulfillment of
all his prayer. Successive missionaries have since gone
and spent their life on that vast field of enterprise.
With what result? A result amply sufficient to justify
all their toil, but, as compared with the millions that
sit in heathendom, utterly inadequate to the craving of
the church, much less to the crown of Christ. It does
not much matter how any one man fares. The mighty
empire will revert to the world's Redeemer, and I can
almost trace in the records of the future the writing
of "These be the names of the mighty men whom David
had," as the valiant deeds of his heroes are chronicled
by our Lord. When old St. Paul's cathedral had to be
taken down in order to make room for the present noble
edifice, some of the walls were immensely strong and
stood like rocks. Sir Christopher Wren determined to
throw them down by the old Roman battering-ram. The
battering-ram began to work, and the men worked at it
for hours and hours, day after day, without apparent
effect. Blow after blow came on the wall; tremendous
thuds that made the bystanders tremble. The wall
continued to stand till they thought it was a useless
operation. But the architect knew. He continued working
his battering-ram till every particle of the wall felt
the motion, and at last over it went in one tremendous
ruin. Did anybody commend those workmen who caused the
final crash, or ascribe all the success to them? Not a
bit of it. It was the whole of them together. Those who
had gone away to their meals, those who had begun days
before, had as much honour in the matter as those who
struck the last blow. And it is so in the work of
Christ. We must keep on battering, battering,
battering, and at last-though it may not be for another
thousand years-the Lord will triumph. Though Christ
cometh quickly he may not come for another ten thousand
years, but in any case idolatry must die, and truth
must reign. The accumulated prayers and energies of
ages shall do the deed, and God shall be glorified.
Only let us persevere in holy effort, and the end is
sure. When a certain American general was fighting they
said, "What are you doing"? He said, "I am not doing
much, but I keep pegging away." That is what we must
do. We cannot do much at any one time, but we must keep
on. We must keep on pegging away at the enemy, and
something will come of it by-and-by.
Possibly, dear friends, some of you who think you have
had slender success may have had a great deal more than
you know of. Others there may be whose want of success
should suggest to them to try somewhere else, or else
to try some other method. If we cannot do good in one
way we must do it in another. Bring the matter before
God in prayer. Cry mightily to him, for he will help
you yet to do it, and his shall be the glory. When he
has laid you low, when he has taught you how
inefficient you are, when he has driven you in despair
to rely implicitly upon himself, then it may be that he
will give you more trophies and triumphs than you ever
dreamed of. Anyhow, whether I prosper in life or not is
not my question. To bring souls to Christ is my main
endeavour, but it is not the ultimate proof of my
ministry. My business is to live for God, to lay aside
self, and give myself up wholly to him, and if I do
that I shall be accepted whatever else may happen. I
wish we had the spirit of that brave old man who was
condemned to the stake. They were going to burn him. He
knew that the sentence was to be carried out the next
morning, but with a soul full of courage, and with a
merry heart, he sat the last thing at night talking
with his friends-faggots and fire to face in the
morning, recollect-and he said to one of them, "I am an
old tree in my Master's orchard. When I was young I
bore a little fruit by his grace. It was unripe and
sour, but he bore with it: and I have grown mellow in
my older days and brought forth some fruit for him by
his grace. Now the tree has grown so old that my Master
is going to cut it down and burn the old log. Well, it
will warm the hearts of some of his family while I am
burning"; and he even smiled for joy to think that he
might be put to so good a purpose. I want you to have
that spirit, and to say, "I will live for Christ while
I am young: I will die for him, and warm the hearts of
my brethren. You know that the persecutions of those
martyr days begat such heroism and gallantry among
disciples as prudent people in peaceful times can
scarcely credit. It is said of the old Baptist church
over in the City that the members went to Smithfield
early one morning to see their pastor burnt, and when
some one asked the young people what they went there
for, they said that they went to learn the way. That is
splendid! They went to learn the way. Oh, go to the
Master's cross to learn the way to live and die! See
how he spent himself for you, and then sally forth and
spend yourselves for him. "Though Israel be not
gathered, yet shall ye be glorious in the sight of the
Lord." Though you may think that you do not succeed,
your whole-hearted consecration shall be your honour in
the day of the Lord. By your hallowed life, and your
humble service, you shall bring glory to his name. O
Lord, set us in our charges, and encourage us in the
service of thy house! "Let the beauty of the Lord our
God be upon us; establish thou the work of our hands:
yea, the work of our hands establish thou it." May the
blessing of our covenant God rest upon you, my
brethren, for Jesus' sake. Amen.
Provided by:
Tony Capoccia
Bible Bulletin Board
internet: hyperlink
Box 318
Columbus, NJ 08022