"I must work the works of Him that sent me, while it is day; the
night cometh, when no man can work."--John, ix. 4.
How constant and unremitting was Jesus in the service of His Heavenly
Father! "He rose a great while before day;" and, when His secret
communion was over, His public work began. It mattered not to Him where
He was: whether on the bosom of the deep, or a mountain slope--in the
desert, or at a well-side--the "gracious words" ever "proceeded out of
His mouth." We find, on one touching occasion, exhausted nature sinking,
after a day of unremitting duty; in crossing, in a vessel, the Lake of
Tiberias--"_He fell asleep_"! (Matt. viii.) He redeemed every precious
moment. His words to the Pharisee seem a _formula_ for all, "Simon, I
have somewhat to say unto _thee_"!
Oh, how our most unceasing activities pale into nothing before such an
example as this! Would that we could remember that each of us has some
great mission to perform for God, that religion is not a thing of dreamy
sentimentalism, but of energetic practical action; moreover, that no
trade, no profession, no position, however high or however humble in the
scale of society, can disqualify for this life of Christian activity and
usefulness! Who were the writers in the Bible? We have among them a
King--a Lawgiver--a Herdsman--a Publican--a Physician! Nor is it to high
spheres, or to great services only, that God looks. The widow's mite and
Mary's "alabaster box of ointment" are recorded as examples for
imitation by the Holy Ghost, while many more munificent deeds are passed
by unrecorded. We believe that God says, regarding the attempt of many a
humble Christian to serve Him by active duty, "I saw that effort, that
_feeble_ effort to serve and glorify Me; it was the very _feebleness_
of it I loved!"
Did it never strike you, notwithstanding the _dignity_ of Christ, and
the _activity_ of Christ, how little success comparatively He met with
in His public work? We read of no _numerous_ conversions; no Pentecostal
revivals in the course of His ministry. May not this well encourage in
the absence of great outward results? He sets up no higher standard than
this--"She hath done what she could." An artist may be _great_ in
painting a peasant as well as a king--_it is the way he does it_. Yes,
and if laid aside from the _activities_ of the Christian life, we can
equally glorify God by _passive endurance_. "Who am I," said Luther,
when he witnessed the patience of a great sufferer; "who am I? a wordy
preacher in comparison with this great doer."
Reader! forget not the motive of our motto verse, "_The night cometh!_"
Soon our tale shall be told; our little day is flitting fast, the
shadows of night are falling. "Our span length of time," as Rutherford
says, "will come to an inch." What if the eleventh hour should strike
after having been "all the day _idle_"? A long lifetime of opportunities
suffered to pass unemployed and unimproved, and absolutely _nothing_
done for God! A judgment-day come--our golden moments squandered--our
talents untraded on--our work undone--met at the bar of Heaven with the
withering repulse, "Inasmuch as ye did it _not_." "The time we have
lost," says Richard Baxter, "can not be recalled; should we not then
redeem and improve the little that remains? If a traveler sleep or
trifle most of the day, he must travel so much the faster in the
evening, or fall short of his journey's end."
"ARM YOURSELVES LIKEWISE WITH THE SAME MIND."
Twenty-eighth Day.