Christian Activity 3

2. PERSEVERANCE should also characterize our exertion. We must be steadfast and immoveable. These expressions seem to imply some opposition which will try our constancy, and call for our resistance, and against which I feel it necessary to fortify you.

Your constancy will be tried by a misapprehension of your motives and designs. A Christian in the present world may be compared to a monarch passing among the blind, who, whatever might be the splendor of his dress, or the dignity of his deportment, perceive not the majesty which is immediately before them. The principles and the privileges of real religion are thus unknown to the unenlightened part of mankind. And of these principles scarcely one is more difficult of comprehension to such people than holy zeal. Hence it is little matter of surprise that our most vigorous exertions should be traced up to any other motives than those from which they flow. We are not, however, to abandon our plans of usefulness, or even to remodel them, at the dictates of that ignorance which cannot comprehend them. Raphael would not have altered the masterpieces of his pencil to please a blind critic; nor Handel his 'Messiah' at the suggestion of one who was ignorant of music.

Sometimes our steadfastness will be tried by INGRATITUDE. The world has not always known its best friends, nor should the world's best friends, on this account, become its enemies. It is more than probable that the Christian will often be hated and persecuted by the very objects of his mercy. In our attempts to do good, many things must be assumed concerning the people we would benefit, which will offend their pride, and be likely therefore to provoke their hostility. The misery of unconverted sinners is, however, too great to allow our pity to be repulsed by an ungrateful reception. The surgeon will not abandon his patient, because the painful process which he finds it necessary to pursue provokes at first the anger of the sufferer.

Let us not be disheartened by DERISION. There are not lacking men, who, in defiance of every dictate of reason, revelation, and humanity, treat with profane ridicule the fervor of religious zeal. 'Fanatic' is the epithet with which they load the character of the man, who, by the glorious gospel of the blessed God would attempt to rescue his fellow-creatures from the fetters of guilt, and the bondage of corruption. It is a shocking, but not an uncommon spectacle, to see men so awfully depraved as to make themselves merry with bantering the efforts of missionary ardor. It is easy to conceive how much sport such people would have found in Pilate's hall, in communion with his brutal soldiery, when the Redeemer of the world, clad in mockery of his office, was the object of their laughter. Whenever, my friends, you are brought to decide which shall influence your conduct—the miseries of mankind or the derision of a few skeptics—I trust there will be no hesitation as to the course you will adopt.

Let us only take care that our zeal be scriptural in its objects, pure in its motives, and prudent in its measures; and we may pursue our exertions disregarding alike the censures of the ignorant and the sneers of the profane; as the eagle in her flight towards the sun triumphs over every current, and pierces through every cloud that would obstruct her progress, and pursues her towering course amidst the beams of day.

Lack of success will sometimes try your perseverance. DISCOURAGEMENT often creeps over the frame from this source with a cold and deadly influence, which it is exceedingly difficult to resist. In such cases it will be well to remember that our success may be greater than it appears to be, and that it is a cause in which the smallest measure, though less than we could desire, is more than equivalent to all the labor of obtaining it. This, however, will be considered shortly more at large.

There is a still more dangerous enemy than all these, by which our constancy will be tried, and that is a spirit ofLUKEWARMNESS. The rock which the fury of a thousand storms could not shake—may waste away in time from some principle of decomposition concealed within itself. And the Christian, whom neither difficulty could appal, nor derision disturb, has, when the lethargy of lukewarmness has seized his energies, drawn around him the curtains of indolence, and sunk to repose amidst the groans of creation. Lukewarmness is the greatest enemy that the cause of the Redeemer has had to contend with, of all the foes that ever resisted its progress. Other enemies only attack the armies of the Lord; this enfeebles and betrays them.

Comparatively speaking, lukewarmness is pardonable anywhere else but in the work of the Lord. Connected as it is on one hand with the glory of Jehovah, and on the other with the eternal interests of mankind, it is a crime of awful magnitude. "Cursed," said the inspired prophet, "be he that does the work of the Lord deceitfully," or as the word more literally signifies, "that does it negligently." Beloved brethren, let us beware of all these causes that may arise to try our constancy, or to cool our zeal in the service of the Lord. This is not a work to be negligently performed, or to be lightly abandoned.

I shall, thirdly, explain the motive by which it is enforced, "Forasmuch as you know that your labor is not in vain in the Lord."

1. This may intend, first, that it shall not be unrewarded. If, indeed, we were not permitted to look beyond the present world for our reward, we would find it here. In the sweet consciousness of having done anything for the glory of the Redeemer, the cause of truth, and the deathless interests of man—there is a degree of felicity more solid and sublime than could be derived from all the wealth which avarice ever hoarded, or extravagance ever lavished. The spirit of Christian zeal is a source of unfailing happiness to itself. The very tears of its pity are as pleasant as the drops of a summer's day, and its smiles delightful as the face of nature, when brightened by the sun that follows the shower. But this is not all.

There is a rich reward, which after ripening through the years of time, we shall gather in the paradise above, and enjoy through the ages of eternity. Not that we can claim anything at the hand of our Lord. Not that there is any merit in our most ardent exertions; after we have done all, we must confess that we are unprofitable servants, and that we have done infinitely less than our whole duty. But there is a reward of righteousness, as well as a salvation from sin, that is all of grace. A reward which may consistently be urged upon the disciples of Christ as a motive to benevolence, without denying that all we receive from God is by way of gift. "The Lord Jesus is not unrighteous to forget our labor of love." Not an action of the life, not a word of the tongue, not a desire of the heart, not a farthing of property, not a moment of time, not a labor of the feet, devoted to his cause—shall be lost in oblivion. "Even the cup of cold water, given in his name, shall lose its reward." All will be mentioned by him at the last day—all acknowledged and commended before the assembled universe, in that solemn season, when one approving smile shed upon the spirit from his countenance will be of more worth than the plaudits of a world.

"Be not deceived—what a man sows, that shall he also reap." What, beyond the commendation of his great Master, the diligent servant shall receive, we are neither able nor anxious to know. We are not acquainted with all those honors and felicities which are concealed behind the veil of what is mortal and material. No one can fully explain to us the words of the prophet, "They that turn many to righteousness shall shine as the stars in the firmament of heaven."

One thing we may calculate upon, that we shall behold in heaven the happy spirits whom we may be the instruments of conducting to its joys. If to rescue a fellow creature from the jaws of death, and to restore him to the comforts of social life; if to witness the transports with which he looks, first upon his friends, and then upon his deliverer, be the purest, strongest bliss that earth affords; conceive what it must be to witness the raptures of an immortal spirit, plucked from everlasting ruin, and, through our instrumentality, put in possession of "an inheritance incorruptible, undefiled, and that fades not away." This will be like adding heaven to heaven, and multiplying the joys of paradise again and again. "Your labor shall not be in vain in the Lord!"

2. Which may intend also that it shall not be unsuccessful. Were nothing to result from our labor to others, much would be derived to ourselves. But all the benefit of our efforts will not be confined to our own interests. We do not pretend to say that there will not be partial failures; local and temporary discouragements. This would be to deny the testimony of experience, and to limit the Holy One of Israel. Some minds and some places, after the most laborious and skillful cultivation, exhibit the melancholy appearance of lands abandoned to incorrigible barrenness.

The language of the text implies natural tendency. Such labor as I now enjoin, distributing the Holy Scriptures and religious tracts; sending well qualified missionaries to the heathen, and preaching the Gospel in dark benighted corners of our own land; instructing the ignorant and poor—has a natural tendency, or, in other words, a peculiar adaptation, under the blessing of God, to effect the conversion of unregenerate sinners. These are the means appointed by Jehovah for carrying into effect his benevolent intentions concerning this guilty world; upon which, when judiciously, ardently, and perseveringly applied, we may as rationally expect the blessing of heaven, as the farmer does upon the toils of the field.

If sublimity of design; if exhaustless sufficiency, and the wisest adaptation of means to the end; if the testimony of experience; if assured conformity to the purposes of the Eternal Mind—be any encouragement to hope for success—then has the Christian philanthropist, of all other people, the least ground to fear that he shall labor in vain, or spend his strength for nothing. For thus says the Lord, "For just as rain and snow fall from heaven, and do not return there without saturating the earth, and making it germinate and sprout, and providing seed to sow and food to eat, so My word that comes from My mouth will not return to Me empty, but it will accomplish what I please, and will prosper in what I send it to do." (Isaiah 55:10-11)

The work of the Lord, with whatever local or temporary failures it may be attended, shall triumph eventually over every obstacle. The truth of God has declared it, and has given the promise into the hand of Omnipotence to be performed. How many centuries shall roll before the Sun of Righteousness will pour forth the noontide glory of the millennial day, we have no means to conjecture; it is sufficient for us to know that such a period will arrive, and that our humble exertions are in the line of events which accelerate its approach, and contribute to its triumphs. If the limits of this sermon would permit, or the state of your minds required it, I could direct a whole current of prophetic language over your zeal, which, like the breath of heaven, would fan the spark into a flame. "The earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea." The decree has passed the lips of Jehovah, "That Christ shall have the heathen for his inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for his possession."

And however slowly he may appear to enter upon his yet desolate heritage, the time must arrive when he shall reign over a spiritual kingdom, knowing no limits but the circumference of the globe. Amidst all the changes of this mortal state, the work of the Lord must tend to its ultimate perfection. The spiritual temple must proceed, and we have had the evidence of twenty memorable years, that it depends not for its success upon the political aspect of the times. This sacred edifice, "has remained for ages a splendid and immutable fabric, which time could not crumble, nor persecution shake, nor revolutions change; which has stood among us like some stupendous and majestic Apennine, that, while the earth was rocking at its feet, and the heavens were roaring round its head, balanced itself upon the base of its eternity, the solemn memorial of what was, the sublime prediction of what must be."

Brethren, upon the scaffolding that surrounds that edifice you are employed. If other men labor in the fire, you will not. Yours is not the discouragement of the painter, the poet, or the architect, who, after they have finished their most elaborate productions, may reflect with a sigh that they have only prepared a costly sacrifice to be offered, in its turn, upon 'the altar of time'.

Yours is not the mortification of the philosopher, who, after spending his life to build up a theory, may close his existence with a fear lest, while his monument is yet fresh, the hand of a successor should demolish at a stroke the labor of his life. None of these fears need distress your mind or paralyze your zeal. Whatever work you do for the Lord shall stand forever! Here, and here only, is certainty and durability. The end of all things is at hand, the solemn catastrophe of nature and of art; and then, when the mightiest productions of genius, which now so captivate and astonish, shall be but as a garland to deck the funeral pile of expiring nature, the work which we now do for the Lord shall be seen, untouched by the flames, the only remaining monument of successful labor upon earth, the only achievement which shall be crowned with the glory of immortal fame in heaven!

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