1. “I have caused thee to see it with thine eyes, but thou shalt not go over thither”-these words were, indeed, especially and mysteriously applicable to him to whom they were thus spoken. Nevertheless, the case of Moses, however striking, was not exceptional. Rather it is true that to labour and not to see the end of our labours, to sow and not to reap, to be removed from this earthly scene before our work has been appreciated, and when it will be carried on not by ourselves, but by others-this is a law so common in the highest characters of history that none can be said to be altogether exempt from its operation.
Among those who may be called, by distinction, the leaders of the world's secular history, we have an illustrious example in the case of Columbus, the intrepid explorer who had found the New World of the West, but who died almost brokenhearted, and with the chains of his shameful imprisonment still hanging on the wall of his room, reminding how the jealousies of king and courtiers, the base intrigues of covetous enemies, and the calumnies of his own mutinous followers, had frustrated all his plans and ruined all his hopes. For, not only to discover, but to help to settle, and above all to bring the good tidings of Christ to, those far-off lands-this had been his hope, his ambition. And, indeed, an empire mightier and richer than he dreamt of, and a Christianity ampler, purer, and more free-all this should result, in the years to follow, from the achievement of his tireless patience and undaunted bravery. But it was for him only to open the way, not to enter in. He saw with his eyes, but might not go over thither. So was it also with that intrepid Englishman, one of the chief leaders of this world's spiritual history, William Tyndale. Not long after the death of Columbus, dining one day at the table of Sir John Walsh in Gloucestershire, and rebuking the priests who were present because they neither knew the Scriptures themselves nor were willing that others should learn, he declared that, if God gave him life and strength, there should come a time when every ploughboy in England should know more of the Bible than they did. And right nobly he fulfilled his vow; for our English Bible of to-day, so familiar in every home, is practically Tyndale's work. But he himself, when his work was done, was strangled and burnt before the dream of his life began to fulfil itself. He beheld, from afar, the Promised Land, but he might not enter there.1 [Note: T. F. Lockyer, The Inspirations of the Christian Life, 162.]
2. To speak of the lot of those who do not see the end of their labours in terms which imply or suggest it to be the most tragic and pathetic that can befall the sons of men is to forget the dignity of all true and noble toil, and to sin at once against reason and against faith.
(1) Against reason: for who does not feel that their fate is a most happy one as compared with that of those who either have no great work to do, or are incapable of doing it; who have no fair and large opportunity of serving their fellows, or who cannot rise to it when it comes? Who does not feel that, die when they will, their life mounts to a triumphant close as compared with that of reformers or statesmen, whose work is done, or is snatched away from them, long before their life comes to a close, who outstay their welcome, perhaps outlive their reputation, lag superfluous on the stage, and at last sink into an unhonoured grave?
(2) And if it be true-as surely it is true-that
The sun, the moon, the stars
Send no such light upon the ways of men
As one great deed;
if it be true of those who do such deeds that
Their examples reach a hand
Far thro' all years, and everywhere they meet
And kindle generous purpose, and the strength
To mould it into action pure as theirs,
it is plain that the great men taken from us, prematurely, as we think, so far from having ceased from their labours, even in this world, as we thoughtlessly assume, may be doing far more in and for the world now that they have passed out of it than they did while still in it. As, indeed, is demonstrably true of Moses. For large and heroic as was the service he rendered to Israel, and through Israel to the world, while he wore flesh about him, it was as nothing compared with the influence he is exerting on the present generation. It is many centuries since he was buried in the grave of which no man knew or knows; and yet he is alive, active, at work in and upon the world, to this day; doing more for men than ever, not only by the inspiration of his historic life and example, but also by the direct and incalculable effects of his legislation and teaching. His ten commandments are inscribed in our very statute-books as well as on the walls of our churches; and his great words and deeds “shed light on the ways of men” in all Muhammadan as well as in all Christian lands.
At the time of the Reformation there was a preacher at Cambridge named Chaderton. One of his converts, Culverwell by name, became a preacher in turn, and was the means of the conversion of one John Winthrop, who afterwards became famous as Governor Winthrop. Another of Chaderton's converts was William Perkins, who also became a preacher. Two of his converts were John Cotton, of Boston, and John Robinson, the Pilgrim Father. Now, Governor Winthrop, John Cotton, of Boston, and John Robinson, the Pilgrim Father, were among the chief of those who laid the splendid Puritan foundations of the United States, so that the great Christian commonwealth across the Atlantic is largely the indirect fruit of the work of the Cambridge preacher named Chaderton.1 [Note: B. J. Gibbon, The True Ritual, 29.]
