"Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with all your
might, for in the grave, where you are going, there is neither working nor
planning nor knowledge nor wisdom." Eccles. 9:10
We have here a solemn warning, peculiarly impressive to
some, yet applicable to all. To the AGED CHRISTIAN, these words seem to say,
"You are nearing the grave, and you have still much to do. Seek to realize
the position in which you stand. You are 'a worker, together with God,' in
the world--placed here to advance His glory--to promote the interests of His
kingdom--to improve every talent entrusted to your care. The time, in which
you can labor and show diligence, is rapidly passing away. Opportunities of
doing good are not to be recalled at will. If not seized upon at the moment,
they are gone forever. The sunshine is declining--the shadows are falling
longer and deeper around you--the evening of life is closing in--the last,
the eleventh hour will soon be here; therefore take heed, and 'whatever your
hand finds to do, do it with your might.'"
To the YOUNG, a similar warning is given, "Look abroad on
the world--see, there, the field for labor, the field you are called upon to
assist in tilling. Are there no hungry to be fed? no naked to be clothed? no
ignorant to be instructed? Have you time for pleasure and gaiety--time for
worldly interaction and the festive scene--but none for works of charity and
labors of love? How is it with your own spiritual condition? Are you growing
in grace? increasing in the love of prayer? more earnest in studying God's
Word? in seeking the illumination of the Holy Spirit? Remember who it was
that suggested the momentous question, 'What shall it profit a man if he
gains the whole world, and lose his own soul? or what shall a man give in
exchange for his soul?'"
He, who is indifferent about his own state before God,
will scarcely be interested in regard to the condition of his fellow-men. To
struggle in behalf of others, we must first struggle for ourselves--real
religion knows nothing of that spurious charity which would attend to all to
the neglect of self, and seek to promote the salvation of the souls of
others, while the man allows his own to perish. Every man's own soul is, to
him, a treasury of heavenly treasures--the salvation of that soul ought to
be to him "the one thing needful." See yon swimmer struggling amid the
foaming billows--he gazes round him with an anxious eye--he grasps the
floating spar--his shipmates are wrestling with the angry waves--but what to
him is the danger of others compared with his own?--he sees the distant
shore--oh! that he might plant his foot on the stable rock--he presses
on--leaves behind him the struggling crowds; his first and chief anxiety is
to reach the shore--to save his own life.
Or, see that crowded hall where thousands have assembled
to hear the message of the gospel--a cry is raised that the building has
given way--the immense assemblage is moved--onwards the excited thousands
rush--friends, acquaintances, all are left behind--escape is the only, the
all-pervading thought; and, as they hurry along, every eye is fixed on the
doorway, and every heart beats with the desire for self-preservation. Even
so, with regard to the salvation of the soul. "Escape for your life," is the
warning given; the time is short and uncertain--if you do not secure it
before you go to the grave, afterward it will be impossible.
And, if there is much to be done for ourselves, there is
much, too, for others. How numerous the claims from the domestic
circle! Parents! those children who surround you, look up to you for
instruction; and this you are to enforce, by the uniform illustration of a
holy and devoted life, and by the fervor of persevering and importunate
prayer. Have you a family altar? Is the Sabbath hallowed in your dwelling?
Have you endeavored to obey the Savior's injunction, "allow them to come
unto me, and forbid them not?"
Reader! whoever you are, there is a work assigned you.
Something may be done for God--some department of Christian benevolence
there is, in which you are called to put forth the activities of your
nature. It does not require very splendid talent to be useful. The great
thing needed, is a sincere and earnest desire to do good. God requires of
you, not according to what you have not, but according to what you have. Oh,
how many are there, living on from day to day in selfish indolence, instead
of laboring "to do what they can," in the circle in which they move, for the
good of men, and for the glory of God! How many are spending their lives
without one effort to make "a bad world better!" They are satisfied if they
led, as they imagine, harmless lives--forgetting, that sins of omission
as well as sins of commission--duties neglected as well as duties
performed, are noted down in the book of God's remembrance.
Christian reader! are you doing "what your hand finds to
do" in the work of the Lord? Thank God! there is no one without
opportunity--no one without encouragement. The man, to whom God has
entrusted the talent of wealth, may help in sending the gospel--the good
news of a Savior's love--to those who have never yet heard of the name of
Jesus. He may send the devoted missionary to bear the tidings of salvation
to far-distant lands, and what is his encouragement? "My word shall not
return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and
prosper in the thing whereunto I sent it." This is his encouragement--better
far and more enduring than the monumental grave-stone--that every soul
converted, is reclaimed to God--every soul brought to the saving knowledge
of Christ, becomes an heir of eternal life--every soul rescued from the
dominion of Satan, from the tyranny of sin, is a glorious monument of Divine
power and Divine grace, that will stand imperishably through eternity to
honor God.
The Christian whose power is more limited, may still
contribute to this glorious work according as the Lord has blessed him, yes
even although he treads the path of poverty, and can spare but little of his
worldly substance--he may give kind and sympathizing words--he may cheer and
encourage others in well-doing--he may be a friend to the friendless and a
strengthener of those who are ready to faint--he may address the words of
warning to those who are careless and indifferent about their religious
interests--and, above all, he may exercise a powerful and persuasive
influence, by a daily, consistent Christian walk--by showing to all around
him, "brotherly kindness and charity," and by manifesting in every word and
action, "meekness, forbearance, patience, humility, long-suffering."
To give diligence in all this, he must be a man of
watchfulness and prayer--he must feel and realize that the cause of Christ
has been, as it were, committed to his care, and that he must lose no
opportunity, while life is prolonged, to uphold and to extend it. Just in
proportion as he apprehends what Christ has done for his own soul, will he
be constrained "henceforth to live, not unto himself, but unto Him who died
for him, and rose again," and feel that he is bound to lay out his time and
talents for the promotion of his Master's glory, and the good of his
fellow-men. And knowing that life is short--and the time for showing
fidelity in the vineyard of his Lord rapidly passing away, he will put forth
all his energies--and strive with ever-increasing diligence, to do the work
of Him who has sent him.
Reader! remember the animating promise, "Be faithful unto
death, and I will give you a crown of life." The rewards of eternity--while
all purchased by the blood of Christ--will be conferred according to the
amount of diligence and fidelity shown upon earth. And while
it is, indeed, a glorious thing, to have an entrance into that bright world
of bliss, which "eye has not seen, nor ear heard, neither has entered into
the heart of man;" yet, oh, surely the true child of God should desire, not
only to enter, but to enter joyfully--to enter "abundantly"--to secure the
most radiant prize--the choicest crown of glory--to have a place near the
celestial throne, a lofty station in the Savior's kingdom.
To be privileged to enter the gates of the heavenly
Jerusalem, is an honor far too great for sinful man; and, he who is
permitted to mingle with the glorious company who stand upon the sea of
glass, will find eternity too short to utter all his Savior's praise. But,
as an eminent servant of God has said, "it is indolence, and not humility,
which would make contentment with the lowest, a reason for not aspiring to
the highest. To tell you, therefore, that "in the grave, where you are
going, there is neither working nor planning nor knowledge nor wisdom"--it
is telling the wrestler, that the glass is running out, and the game is not
won--it is telling the warrior, that the shadows are thickening, and the
victory is not complete--it is telling the racer, that night is drawing on,
and the goal is not reached. It is just blowing an alarm-peal--just the
upbraiding of lethargy--just the animating to effort. Is it a time to be
idle, when each moment's delay may take a pearl from the crown--sway from
the scepter? Is it a time to be inactive, when every second leaves me a step
lower than I might have ascended in the scale of triumph and of majesty? Is
it a time to sit with folded hands, when the grave is opening, and there is
work to be done which can only be done here, and the day is approaching, on
which rewards shall be bestowed, and perhaps, as yet, I am but last in the
rank of candidates?"
Rather, ought we not to rouse ourselves to redoubled
diligence--to manly, vigorous effort--to toil, endurance, suffering, and
shame, if need be, for the cause of Christ? saying, "Whatever our hand finds
to do," God helping us, "we will do it with our might," for "the night is
far spent, and the day is at hand."
Reader! labor to do God's work, and be this your daily
prayer–
"Now may grace be imparted to each one of us--so to
believe and to rejoice in Christ Jesus--so to follow His footsteps, and to
imitate His example--that, finally, we may all meet together, as His
ransomed people, in the heavenly kingdom!"
"Oh! grant that I may love You first,
The source of all my heart desires;
While forth upon my brethren burst
The kindly beams Your love inspires.
"Give me strong faith, to know, to feel,
And to believe You ever near;
Watching my wayward spirit's weal,
Receiving each repentant tear.
"So, safely through this world's turmoil,
Unhurt, untainted, may I roam,
Until o'erpast each mortal toil,
I find in heaven a welcome home."