Small Beginnings Not to Be Despised 3
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PARENTS stand next in responsibility to ministers. The souls—no less than the bodies of their children are confided to their vigilant attention. They should be tremblingly concerned for the eternal salvation of their offspring, to whom they have been the means of communicating a sin-tainted existence. They should teach them the principles of true religion, enforce those precepts by admonition, recommend them by example, and follow them with prayer. Having done this they should then look for the fruit of their labors. No sooner does the feeblest appearance of true piety present itself, than it should be encouraged to the uttermost. Say not; it is only "the morning cloud or early dew which will soon vanish away."
How do you know it is? Cherish devout impressions upon their hearts—and, for this purpose, encourage them to unburden their minds to you; draw forth the state of their souls; question them in an affectionate manner; render yourselves their familiar friend, to whom all their feelings and their fears will be conveyed. What kind of Christian parent is that—who can treat any promising marks of piety in his child with neglect? Does the parent eagle wait for, and seize the favorable moment for teaching her eaglets, and assisting their first efforts, to prove their new-formed pinions; and the lark hover over the nest of her just fledged young, and with her wing and her song invite them to the skies—and shall not the Christian mother teach her young to soar to heaven, and help their first attempts!
SUNDAY SCHOOL TEACHERS, never forget that the ultimate object of your exertion, is to save the souls of your scholars from everlasting death! For this labor and pray. And should you perceive, at any time, in the little circles that collect around you on the Sabbath, a countenance oppressed with anxiety, and seeming, from behind a veil of modesty forbidding the use of words, to say, "What shall I do to be saved?" do not, I beseech you, do not pass it by with inattention and neglect. Do not, with a most guilty carelessness, exclaim, "O, it is only the emotions of a child whose mind is very susceptible, but which, I doubt not, will soon relapse into its former state of indifference. I have known her thus moved before, but she soon lost all her impressions again." And how did she come to lose them? Because you neglected to cherish and deepen them! Instead of such conduct, never let a tearful eye, a serious look, or enquiring countenance escape your notice. Remember—you watch for souls! The prize is infinite, and he that wins it is wise indeed.
CHRISTIANS, are there none among your acquaintances whose attention has recently been awakened and directed to the concerns of eternity, and who are in that state of deep concern which prepares them to welcome even a child that could instruct them in the things that belong to their peace? You have seen the change produced in their manner of attending upon the solemnities of public worship. You have beheld the head—which once was lifted so high in pride and vanity, dropping on the laboring bosom to conceal from the public gaze the emotions which had been excited within. You have seen the roving, restless eye—which so lately wandered round the assembly in vacant or curious mood, fixed on the preacher's lips, and suffused with the tear of godly sorrow. You have witnessed how serious, abstracted, and absorbed that countenance left the sanctuary, which used to depart in all the flutter of vanity and frivolity.
And can you be an indifferent spectator of all this? Shame on you if you can! Follow these newly awakened people home to the scene of their private solicitude. You will need no apology for the intrusion, but will be hailed with the exclamation, "How beautiful are the feet of him who brings glad tidings." Go and pour the balm of consolation into the heart which God has wounded. Go and soothe their anxieties, instruct their ignorance, and encourage their hopes. Aspire to the high honor and rich reward of assisting a soul in her efforts to gain the prize of immortality!
To those who are just COMMENCING the life of religion, the subject addresses itself with emphatic accents. If these beginnings of piety are not to be despised by spectators, much less should they be despised by the subjects of them. Neglect not the slightest impression or conviction of a religious nature. Do not, for the world, treat it with indifference. It may be your soul's rising beam, the dawn of an eternal day, the commencement of everlasting life. If your mind has been awakened from the deep slumber of an unregenerate state, be tremblingly anxious that it may not sink back again into spiritual lethargy. It is the day of your visitation from God. He has approached you with salvation in his hand.
"O, seek him while he may be found, call upon him while he is near." Do not say, "Depart from us, we desire not the knowledge of his ways." Our Lord, when desired by the Gergesenes to leave their coasts, complied with their requests, and visited them no more. A state of religious conviction forms a crisis in the history of every sinner. The balance of his destiny is then seen quivering, and angels and devils are watching with solicitude to see in what manner it will settle. Next to an actual plunge into the bottomless pit, there is nothing he should more dread than losing these first impressions, and relapsing again into the quietude of unconcern. Let him earnestly pray to God, and let the subject of his prayer be the permanency and increase of those views and feelings which have been recently produced in his soul.
In the progress of the work of grace, let not the YOUNG CONVERT be too much depressed and discouraged by the slowness of his attainments. If his knowledge is slow, if his hopes be sometimes low, his faith weak, his enjoyments limited—let him be roused to go forward, but not conclude that he has yet to begin the Christian race. Let him not compare himself with others who have been long in the way, and because he cannot reach their advances, be disheartened and discouraged. The new plant is not to compare itself with the veteran tree, and to be discouraged at its inferiority. Pride is often at the bottom of such discouragement. Humility would make us thankful for any measure of grace—and anxious to obtain more! Consciousness of our defects should not make us despond, but stir us up to diligence. The Christian cannot pass at once from the feebleness of infancy to the strength of manhood. He must go through the intermediate stages of the spiritual life.
The believer, whose strength and stature he so much admires, was once a babe like himself, and probably at one time was subject to all the fears that agitate his own bosom. Instead of saying, "Oh, I shall never understand the doctrines of the gospel, and may as well give up the study. I shall never overcome the world by faith, and may as well retire from the field. I shall never subdue the evil propensities of my nature, and may as well yield myself their captive;" let him think how much more knowledge, separation from the world, and control over his corruptions, God has already granted him, than he once possessed. If he does not see that the top-stone of the spiritual temple is likely soon to be brought forth, does he not discern the foundation rising out of the ground?
At the same time that discouragement is prevented, let not anyone rest SATISFIED with the day of small things. If we are not to think too little of beginnings, we are, on the other hand, not to think too much of them. Despondency is that enemy of religion, which it is the design of this discourse to attack and to destroy—and it would be an abuse of the subject, if indolence and self-delight should be encouraged. Why is the day of small things not to be despised? That the subject of them may not be discouraged from seeking greater things. Despondency prevents a person from doing anything—it chains him as with a fetter to the earth. To break this fetter has been the object of the present discourse—that the disenthralled captive might be set at liberty for noble exploits.
Let him arise from his prostration, and looking up to him who gives more grace—let him expect great things, and attempt great things. The man who thinks he has enough godliness—gives a decisive proof that he has none at all. There is in true godliness an insatiable thirst after larger attainments in knowledge, in faith, in hope, in love, and in purity. Therefore let every real Christian adopt the language of Paul, and act up to the assertion, "Not that I have already reached the goal or am already fully mature, but I make every effort to take hold of it because I also have been taken hold of by Christ Jesus. Brothers, I do not consider myself to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: forgetting what is behind and reaching forward to what is ahead, I pursue as my goal the prize promised by God's heavenly call in Christ Jesus." (Philippians 3:12-14)
To CONCLUDE—let us be anxious neither to mistake the day of small things—nor to despise it—nor to rest satisfied with it!
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