'Doth not He render to every man according to his works?' There is
such a judgment both in the present and in the future for Christian
men as for others. And not only what they do, but what they
inconsistently fail to do, comes into the category of their works, and
influences their position. It does so in the present, for no man can
cherish such a maimed Christian life as makes such negligence possible
without robbing himself of much that would tend to his own growth in
grace and likeness to Jesus Christ. The unfaithful servant is poorer
by the pound hidden in the napkin which might all the while have been
laid out at interest with the money-changers, which would have
increased the income whilst the lord was absent. We rob ourselves of
blessed sympathies and of the still more blessed joy of service, and
of the yet more blessed joy of successful effort, by our indolence and
our negligence. Let us not forget that our works do follow us in this
life as in the life to come, and that it is here as well as hereafter,
that he that goeth forth with a full basket and scatters the precious
seed with weeping, and yet with joy, shall doubtless come again
bringing his sheaves with him. And if we stretch our view to take in
the life beyond, what gladness can match that of the man who shall
enter there with some who will be his joy and crown of rejoicing in
that day, and of whom he shall be able to say, 'Behold I and the
children whom Thou hast given me!'
I venture earnestly to appeal to all my hearers for more faithful
discharge of this duty. I pray you to open your ears to hear, and your
eyes to see, and your hearts to feel, and last of all, your hands to
help, the miseries of the world. Solemn duties wait upon great
privileges. It is an awful trust to have Christ and His gospel
committed to our care. We get it because from One who lived no life of
luxurious ease, but felt all the woes of humanity which He redeemed,
and forbore not to deliver us from death, though at the cost of His
own. We get it for no life of silken indolence or selfish disregard of
the sorrows of our brethren. If there is one tear we could have dried
and didn't, or one wound we could have healed and didn't, that is a
sin; if we could have lightened the great heap of sorrow by one grain
and didn't, that is a sin; and if there be one soul that perishes
which we might have saved and didn't, the negligence is not merely the
omission of a duty, but the doing of a deed which will be 'rendered to
us according to our works.'