MATT. V, 47. "What do ye more than others?"
What is Christianity? Not merely a splendid picture, painted by the hand of a master. Else it were sufficient homage that we gazed on, and admired it. Nor is it simply a glorious melody, composed by some high master of harmony. For then it were sufficient, that we listened to it with delight. Nor are we to look upon it purely as a set of opinions respecting the great truths of the unseen world, and the eternal state. For then it were enough, that we held those opinions in all their strictness and orthodoxy. Nor is it the partaking, or the having partaken of certain rites and ceremonies, administered after an approved form. For then, a Romish priest at the head of a troop of dragoons might baptize, and so convert a country (like Mahomet) by force of the sword, and send them to heaven even against their will.
But why do we reject all these views of religion? Because they leave untouched the heart and the practice. Because, in the daily affairs between man and man, these things exercise no holy effects. There is a belief of Christianity which the bandit may entertain, which yet does not deter him either from robbery or murder. Because also religion, rightly understood, is intended to remedy the defects, and supply the wants of a corrupt and enfeebled creature. It is designed to restore the heart, with its affections and desires, to holiness; as the foundation of right conduct. It is on the ground of practice alone, that man can judge whether it is good or evil. For he is not conversant with the heart of his fellow. A wall is built between spirit and spirit, which not the most sagacious can overleap. A curtain is drawn over the thoughts of every man, behind which none but the Creator can pry. It is only then, on the ground of facts and results, that man is qualified to judge. And by its effects on the practice, must we decide respecting the excellence of every religion. It is a fair ground of decision; for if the inward principle implanted be good, the outward manifestations will be good also. If the tree be good, so will its fruits. Thus religion is the true art of living; and our religion professes to teach and to effect holiness towards God, and justice and kindness towards man.
As then every art has to do with practice, so religion, being the true art of living, its effects must be seen in conduct. Its last appeal is to the results it produces in the lives of those who receive it. On this footing it is in part to be judged. Thus the text may be considered in two lights - first, as a question from the world, and secondly, as a question from God. And first, let us regard it as a question addressed by the world to the professors of Christianity. "What do ye?" We ask not, what are your opinions upon the doubtful points where human understanding has stumbled, and fallen, from age to age. We do not require you to reconcile some of the seemingly contradictory statements of Scripture. We do not care to know to what section of the great body of Christian professors you belong; but let us see what are your lives? Religion is a practical thing, or it is good for nothing. How then does it influence your actions? What do you more of good in consequence of it? How are you checked by it from doing evil? We do not ask, how, in theory, you ought to act; but what is the actual result as seen in your conduct? This is a just appeal on the part of the world, to those who profess themselves Christians. According to the excellence of its fruits, so is the excellence of a religion. For it is possible, that a religion might be beautiful as a theory, and yet powerless as a matter of practice. Its doctrines might be true, and yet too weak to maintain a hold on man's rebel heart. The feelings it required, might be too delicate, or too lofty; or its required conduct incompatible with man's present circumstances. Christianity might have been what other religions are, solely a scheme of inducements presented to the will, without any power applied to carry those inducements into certain effect.
But the question advances yet a step, and enquires further, "What do ye more than others?" And this is also a fair question. For the religion of Christ professes itself more excellent than all - the one true, among a hundred false religions. And not only so. It condemns the very materials on which it has to labor. It condemns the world. It condemns the human heart. It declares that the world "lieth in wickedness;" a gaunt giant, wallowing in the blood that pours from a mortal wound in his side. It condemns man-in his thoughts and in his acts-in his acts before man, and his thoughts before God. It professes to set before him a more excellent way. It declares itself the discoverer and the provider of the only road that may lead safely over the difficult and dark mountains, wherewith the region of human life is girded. And lastly, it offers itself as a vast advance even upon the Jewish system, which it confesses to be true.
Thus then, it assumes to be a great improvement upon the existing state of things; a more powerful force for good, than any which the world has seen. This then must be judged of as true or false, not merely by its practical effects, but by its effects in advance of and beyond all other systems. And thus, if we consider the question as the question of the world, the demand is just, "What do ye more than others?"
It follows therefore, that if its practical effects are not in advance of the principles and practice of the world, and those of all other religions, it is a failure. For it rejects and condemns both these, and requires, that itself should be substituted in their room. If then, the effects of these be equal to those of Christianity, where is the reason for its adoption? Let the world go on as before!
It is not then enough, that its theory should be correct; that its picture of the nature and perfections of the Godhead are glorious and true; that its reconciling of difficulties is satisfactory; that its teaching of the resurrection and of judgment to come is real truth, and more than nature could have discovered. No: the appeal is to the practice it produces. It would be wise to prefer rather a religion, whose theory possessed less truth than the Christian, provided its practical effects were superior. Men would rather make use of some practice in husbandry, the principle of which they do not know, provided' it gave them an excellent harvest, than put in force some process the principle of which was theoretically true, but which, applied to practice, somehow always ended in failure. Its position in short may be illustrated thus.
Suppose a person, professing himself a farmer, to come from a distance, and engage land in a neighbourhood where he is not known. He is no sooner arrived, than he gives himself out as the professor of a new system of managing a farm. He condemns with a high hand all the ordinary processes of agriculture, as he sees them going on around him.
He assures the neighbouring farmers, that they have never understood their business: that they have blindly followed in the errors of their fathers, and wasted the powers of their land. By this he implies, (whether he declares it or not,) that they do not know what a satisfactory and sufficient crop means: for farming is a practical thing, and the principle of an act is good or bad according to its effects in practice. He implies also, (whether he declares it or not,) that he is possessed of higher and more effectual principles of management. But he does not merely leave them to find this out by reasoning; he openly-tells them so. He is a scientific farmer. Their method of preparing the land by ploughing is wrong: it should be by digging. Their seed is of a bad kind. They should use a foreign grain, and prepare it in an especial way. Their manure is wrongly applied. It should be adapted, on chemical and scientific principles, to the land to be cultivated.
It is clear, in this case, that there is a controversy between the ordinary farmers, and the new comer. A question is to be decided between him and them. And the appeal is made to the comparative effects of their respective systems. Nature is made the umpire: and the harvest, the time of decision. When then the new comer lectured learnedly on the soil, and described the chemical nature of heavy and light land, and the respective manures suited to each, the unlearned farmer might reasonably reply,-' I am not scholar enough to discover whether what you say be true or false; whether your principle is better than mine or no; but I cannot be deceived in autumn: I am capable at least of knowing a good crop from a bad; and till that time I am content to wait.'
In such a case as this therefore, the decision would turn-not merely on the question, whether the new comer had a good crop or not; but, as compared with the others, whether his was considerably better than all his neighbors: and the words of the text would apply to his scheme also, "What doest thou more than others?"
If, when the harvest drew on, his crop was so little different from his neighbors, that none but a practised eye could detect any, the least, difference: he would justly be exposed to the ridicule of his equals. It is not enough for him that his harvest-home is no worse than his neighbors'. That it is not better is the loss of his cause. That it is not greatly superior, proves, that his professed scientific principles are a failure, being either misconceived or misapplied. If he attempted to defend himself, because his knowledge of chemistry rendered him certain of the nature of the soil, and of the treatment suited to it: the most ignorant might answer him, 'Your theory, Sir, may be all very fine; I am no judge of such matters.: but I do not see the difference in your crops. I am well content with my father's plans, they have served their time and will mine; and at least I should like to know what is the advantage of all the extra trouble and labor you take, when your crop is no greater than ours.' This would be answer enough to overthrow his scheme, in the eyes of every sensible man. For his plan condemned all that went before it. It professed to be superior, upon improved principles. But principles can be judged of only by their results. And superior principles can only be judged of by superior results. That the effect, then, was not greatly in advance, was enough to cover him with reproach and ridicule; as a weak enthusiast and a troublesome busybody.
Or imagine again that, after declaring that digging was the only mode of cultivating land with any prospect of success, and foreign grain the only seed that would repay the labor, it were found that on one or two of his fields, he was using the plough, and native seed. The neighbors would then rightly overwhelm him with the question, ' How is this? Did you not condemn the plough? And yet you are using it! You condemned all seed of home growth: but I see you are sowing your field with it! Yes, yes, we understand you now! Yes! We see that you profess to despise the old way; yet you practise it notwithstanding. We shall know how far in future we are to trust your words.'
Is it even thus, with the Christian when, after declaring, by his profession, that the world lieth in wickedness, he is found mingling in its places of amusement? Is it not, even thus, with him when, after professing that riches are so great a snare, that it is barely possible that the rich should be saved, he anxiously scrapes together every sixpence for his children?
But suppose the case altered. The farmers, from the first, strong in their own practice and that of all the country round, ridicule the new comer, and his new spade-husbandry. They deride his lectures upon the composition of the soil; they throw contempt upon his farming instruments, and his foreign seed. They hold him up to scorn everywhere, as a weak-brained idiot. They prophesy his total failure, and are anxious for the time when he shall be driven from amongst them with scorn, as a bankrupt, and a fool that prated of what he knew not, and would be wiser than his neighbors.
At length the time of harvest is come. The ordinary farmers are about to put in the sickle into their wheat-fields. But it strikes them all, that they should like just to look at the crops of the enthusiastic fool that lectured them in the spring. They go in a body to take a look at them. Side by side with his, lies the wheat-field of one of their neighbours, cultivated on the old principle. They stand and are astonished. They look first at the one field, and then at the other, and are confounded. At length one of them finds words. 'Well this is very strange! What to make of his principles I do not know, but such a field of wheat (and I have seen many) I never beheld since I was born! Why it is twice the value of ours! How large the grain! How strong the straw! How thickly it grows! There can be no mistake about that at all events. I can never laugh at his principles again, if they produce such crops as this!' His words express the thoughts of all. They depart confounded and abashed. Here then, after the reference of the affair on both sides, to the result, it has succeeded. As in the former instance, so in this also-the judgment is without appeal. The harvest has pronounced sentence. In such a case, whether for or against, the sentence is conclusive. The mouths of all are closed by a discovery of the effect. Those who laughed most at his principles, are obliged to confess that though they ridiculed it at first there must be something in it! That is, the excellence of the effect has proved the superior excellence of the principles on which he proceeded. The farmers thenceforth may not adopt either his principles, or his practice, because they like best the old way in which they were brought up, and because the new way requires the trouble of learning, and its processes are more laborious than the old, but they stand self-condemned, if they do not.
Now, like this, is the case as it stands between the Christian and the world. He testifies against both its principles and its practice. He professes to be in possession of a nobler principle of life, than the world or nature can furnish. But superior excellence of principle can only be known by superior effects in practice. Therefore the world is curious to see his practice. It is this alone that can decide the controversy between them. He must show greater excellence of conduct than they can exhibit, or else, his profession is a failure. His opinions they will not regard. His words they will value but little. What does he more than others," will be the cry. They are right. The deeds are to decide. If you should recommend me to buy a timepiece, which you tell me is patent and new, and that every part of it is of superior construction, and that its principle is of the last discovery, and that it was made by the very first workmen; I ask, ' What is the advantage of it? Does it keep time better than any other?' If you only tell me, 'It keeps time very well:' that is not enough. If it does not keep time better, why should I part with my oId clock? The answer is satisfactory. Nothing can be justly urged against it. What is a patent but a failure, if its results are not superior? So is it with the world. We recommend them to exchange their old principles of thought, of word, and of action, for those of Christ's Gospel. We assure them of their great superiority. They in return look to our conduct. We must show greater excellence in our practice, or else our appeal will be considered a failure. It is not enough, that we do not steal. They can show many of their number, of upright behaviour. It is not enough that we do not swear. They can show many who do not profane their lips with an oath. The world thinks it enough to do no harm. This is not enough for the Christian. He must not merely be negatively good; that is, do no harm; he must also show himself positively good, by manifesting active kindness, and practical holiness.
Assure yourselves, then, that he who takes upon himself to be a Christian indeed, is the subject of a careful scrutiny. Men that do not practise aright themselves, nevertheless know well enough what ought to be. They are judges of the character you exhibit, if they are not of the doctrines you profess. They expect more from you, than they do from your neighbors; and they are right. Except you manifest signs of excellence greater than they can show, your Christian profession is useless.
Mark also, the world has a keen, because a prejudiced eye. The Christian is not here as a friend among friends, who will forget his faults and failings, and endeavor to make the most of his excellencies. No. the Christian is regarded as a spy and an enemy. He is the subject of another king, and guided by other laws, He impugns their practice, and thus draws down their dislike. He troubles their consciences, by calling on them to act on the same principles as himself, and to return to Him from whom they have revolted. This rouses enmity. The Christian is a rival artist. He has studied in another school, and his master he commends as infinitely superior to any that the world can show. We know what is the consequence of such a step. The painter whose picture has been blamed, waits till his rival shall exhibit one of his. He then goes to look at it with no very favorable eye. He is prepared at once to see every fault, and will not be slow to point it out. It is not enough to win praise then, that average ability and care should be displayed. If any praise is to be won, it must be extorted. It must be founded on excellence that cannot be overlooked or denied. His testimony in its favor is unwilling, and it demands mighty energy to compel praise. It is a bill unwillingly paid. Every item that can be objected to, will. As many 'buts' as possible will be thrown into the account. On the other hand, if there be any obvious fault, it will be unsparingly commented on, and regarded as decisive against any merit in the picture. So is it with the world's testimony to the Christian. He is looked on with no favorable eye. His acts, if possible, will be misinterpreted. His faults will be unsparingly noticed. His good deeds must be of transparent and unimpeachable evidence, else they will be overlooked or denied. Thus must his character be such as not merely to invite, but to compel commendation. It was so once, both in the master and the disciple - in the master, when they confessed, “He hath done all things well " - in the disciple, as the record of God manifests. The princes of Persia's kingdom were gathered together to ruin a rival: a man whose principles and practice alike they hated. But what is their testimony? "We shall find none occasion against this Daniel, except we find it concerning the law of his God." What conduct must that have been, which, even from enemies, could have extorted such words of praise!
Again, in the supposed challenge of the world, another point is to be observed. You cannot stand alone if you are a true follower of Christ. The interests of your religion are bound up with you. They identify the one with the other. They look on you as a specimen of your religion. And to it they will attribute, however unjustly, all your faults. Are you melancholy and ill-tempered? They will not be slow to remark it. They will say, 'See what a melancholy thing religion is. You may read it in that man's countenance. He is not at peace with himself, and he will not let others enjoy it.' Or are you covetous? They will at once lay their finger on this your sin, and make it an argument against religion. 'There is my neighbor,' they will say, 'that makes great pretence to religion, but he is just as fond of money as any of us. I make no pretensions to be a saint myself, but I do not see that those who do, are so much better than other people.' Thus the honor of Christ is bound up with your lives. If the effect is not in some degree in proportion to the excellence of the means used, we count it a failure. You cannot fall into open sin, without a thousand ears hearing of it, and a thousand tongues echoing the tale, and that tale, be you well assured, will lose nothing by the carriage. Take heed then. One false step does more harm to the cause of Christ, than a hundred acts of good can undo. One sinful act is regarded as a demonstration against religion, and opens the mouth of the adversary to say all manner of evil. Hence God was so justly angry with David, and more heavily visited him, not only because his act was abominable in itself, but because he had "given occasion to the enemies of God to blaspheme."
It is true, that in every such case, the fault is in the offender, and not in his religion. It was against its principles that he so sinned. It was against its commands, against its threatenings. But that the world will not see. They will not listen to your doctrines. They will triumph in the defective practice. "What do ye more than others?" will be the cry; and if the practice be not manifestly above that of others, it will quickly by unfriendly minds be stated as below it. The infidel strikes the severest blow against the Christian when he can say, 'See how these Christians live. They pretend that it is a principle of theirs to love their neighbor as themselves. Yet hear their slanderous tongues. They profess to be followers of the meekest and most humble of men. Yet see how proud they are; how long they resent an affront; how slow to forgive! '
On the other hand, there is something in the holy and consistent life of a Christian, which is above all argument. The world is forced to confess it. The infidel himself cannot refute it. The poorest and most uneducated can show this unanswerable argument. It is before him at all times; it meets him at every turn; it thrusts itself on his notice. The poor man's arguments for the truth of his religion, the infidel may puzzle and confound; but there is something in a holy life, that confounds him. 'I can refute the man's argument,' he may say to himself in secret: 'they are not worth mentioning; but how is it that he is always contented, always cheerful, always ready to do a kindness, even to his enemies - always at peace, and ready to die? I have seen him in affliction, and grievous pain, but he never murmured; while It that have sought for happiness everywhere, am discontented at all times.' Such an appeal is irresistible. Its silent eloquence confounds him. Like the heavy harvest of the farmer I have supposed, it shuts the mouth. The conclusion unwillingly wrung from him must be the same. 'There must be something in it.' That is, as it would be stated by one unprejudiced, this man's principles are true, and mine are wrong.
But it is time to view the question in another light. It may be justly regarded then, as the question of our great master, looking at the conduct of professing Christians. And as such, we may apply it to their two great classes: the. Christian in name only, and the real, spiritual Christian.
Consider then the question, as addressed by our Lord, to the unconverted. 'I have placed you by my providence in this land of Christianity. I have bestowed the Bible on you, that you might know my will. Since you are ignorant, and a sinner, I have condescended to teach you the one way of salvation. "I have set my minister to instruct you sabbath by sabbath. Your understanding has been enlightened by the knowledge of the truth. Where now are its fruits? What do you show of excellence more than the heathen? Do you value yourself on your" payment to each of their due?" So does the Mussulman, the follower of the false prophet Mahomet. "Because you do harm to no one?" Many a Hindoo might be found, that worships his wooden idol, of whom it might be said as truly as of you, that he does not injure his neighbor. Is this all you have to plead? Have I died, and has the Holy Ghost striven so long with you, and yet is your heart as ungodly, and your conduct as unprofitable, as the very heathen's? Have all my gifts been bestowed in such rich abundance, and do you present no nobler fruits? Go to, "Judge, I pray you, betwixt me and my vineyard, What could have been done more for my vineyard that I have not done in it?" Wherefore is it thus barren of good? "I will take away the hedge thereof and it shall be trodden down; it shall not be pruned, nor digged, I will also command the clouds, that they rain no rain upon it." "Cast ye the unprofitable servant into outer darkness: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth." "To whom much is given, of him much shall be required: and to whom men have committed much, of him they will ask the more." "He that knew his Lord's will, and did it not, shall be beaten with many stripes." Do you plead that you are no worse than others? You have no need to be worse. The" world lieth in wickedness." How should you be worse than" lying in wickedness?" No worse? How should you be worse than "dead in trespasses and sins?" No worse? I demanded that you should be better by far. "What do ye more than others?" was my reasonable demand!
Others are tracking the broad road of death with careless step, others are fulfilling the desires of an animal mind, and of a heart at enmity with me. If you are as others, you must take their doom. If you are of the world, you must be visited with the visitation of its ungodly tenants.'
But view this question, lastly, as an appeal to the spiritually minded, "the saints,'; as they are called, in contempt by the world; in honor by God. "What do ye more than others?" You are possessed of higher principles. Are you acting up to them? You are to compare yourself with a nobler standard, than the opinion of goodness which your fellows entertain. ~re you at all above their standard? Are you approaching daily to the standard of God? Or are you contenting yourselves with what you are, and ceasing to press on? Examine yourselves. Are you ever acting on higher principles than the world around you? What are your deeds? What your tempers? Will they bear comparison with those of the world? Sometimes indeed, (a thing which should cover the Christian professor with shame,) they will not. There are Christian masters and mistresses, that are always of sour, ungracious temper, both towards their servants and children. They do not speak kindly when they do aright. They scold severely when they do wrong. They speak harshly, even where the fault is partly, if not wholly their own. So forbidding is their presence, that their servants would prefer to live with an ungodly master or mistress, rather than with them. Here, then, they are not only not above the world, but below it. They are a blot on religion. They are a slander to the Gospel of Christ. They will not bear comparison even with the ungodly world. Many a worldly master, by his kind temper, words, and manner, wins the esteem of his servants and dependants. It is in" him an affair of nature, an originally amiable temperament. It springs from no higher source. O what is grace, if it do not exceed nature!
But we proceed yet higher. There are certain tempers and practices, in which the world can imitate successfully the Christian character. By natural amiability and politeness, Christian kindness may be successfully imitated. By education, the show of evil tempers may be kept in the background, and thus this Christian virtues of patience and forbearance may be counterfeited. But there are certain principles which the world cannot imitate. And such are those which the Savior enforces in the verses whence the text is taken. He demands that his followers should not merely love their friends - that the world may do. Sinners and publicans -the very lowest and most worthless of mankind-can do that. They are to love their very enemies. To love them, even though they may be still enraged; to speak well of them, though they are spoken ill of in return; to pray for and do good to them that despitefully use them and persecute them. Here then the Christian is called on to discover himself. Has any offended him? Is he to resent it, and to bristle up against the offender, to speak evil of him whenever he can? The world can do that. Human nature requires no teaching there. But if he is possessed of a loftier principle, here is its display to begin. He is to forgive at once. He is to pray for the offender, and do him good. He is to imitate herein, and show himself a child of his heavenly father: for he maketh his sun to rise, and sendeth his fertilizing rain both on the evil and the good, and waters the fields of him who is acting in opposition to his laws, and perhaps daily blaspheming his name. This is what the world cannot do. None but the Holy Spirit can effect this. And here may the Christian show his superiority. Yes - we are like Moses and Aaron, standing before Pharaoh. Do we promise ourselves an easy victory? That we have but to present ourselves, and the day is ours? If we think so, we shall be bitterly mistaken. The world can imitate most of the graces of the Christian. Do we throw down our rod before Pharaoh, and it becometh a serpent? They have magicians, who can do in like manner with their enchantments. Except then, our conduct exceed theirs in excellency; "except Aaron's rod swallow up their rods;" in what way are we superior? We must advance beyond them. We must not cease, till like Moses we have driven them from the field; till they do in like manner with their enchantments, but in vain; and confess as the baffled sorcerers of old "This is the finger of God."
How important is this principle! How vast the multitude of points to which it may be applied! Are the men of the world cheerful at times, when all things are going prosperously with them? You must be cheerful at all times. For do you believe that all things are ordered for your good? You may not murmur then like the rebels against his government. You must be contented in adversity and in poverty. You must "rejoice in tribulations also." You must be forbearing, not only to the good and gentle, but also to the froward. May the worldly go to church regularly on the Sabbath? You must do more. You must be more in your closet in secret prayer, more in meditation and thanksgiving, over your Bible more, more in your conversation. Is the conversation of the worldly at times harmless? Yours more; it must be "good to the use of edifying, that it may minister grace to the hearers." So in the matter of giving. Many a worldly man is generous - will give nobly to right objects. You are to do more: not merely to give on the impulse of the moment, but on a steady principle; from a regular fund, and where there is no hope of return, nor any prospect or opportunity of praise from man. You are to deny yourself; to take up your cross, and follow in the Master's train. This the world cannot do. You are to root out all evil tempers that dwell within: to crucify the flesh, with the affections and lusts. Your end and aim is perfection: and that alone. You have a perfect example. You are to be striving to be as your Master. You are to rest in nothing short of it. You are not to be contented with what you are now. What do ye more than others?" is to be the cry perpetually urging you on from the things behind, to those which are before.
Remember, you are to embrace all the virtues which the world can show, and to add to your conduct graces which they cannot obtain. For it is certain that to the eye of man, and judged by his standard, there are excellencies of temper and conduct which appear brightly in the character of the unregenerate: a solitary flower blooming amidst the ruins and weeds of a once noble castle. To you therefore this is a stirring appeal. Can there be found here and there kindness, generosity, Justice, candor, patience, even in a heart alienated altogether from God? And ought they not most brightly to appear in me, if I am indeed renewed from on high? Yes! "what do ye more than others?" The world's offspring may be adorned perhaps with some pretty pebble of nature's sandy beach, and imperfect polishing; on you are to sparkle all the real gems from a far country, that met and blazed in united lustre on the breastplate of the High Priest. For you are not left to nature's barren wishes, and unfruitful search. For you it is written, "Seek and ye shall find, ask and ye shall have, knock and it shall be opened to you." For you promises are laid up, embracing your every need. To your keeping is committed something of the glory of God. For men look to you as an exemplification of the Christian's life. They judge you by a higher standard than men of their own class. They look for more. And if you fall, you bring a slander on the Gospel by your unholy deed. You stab with the sword of a friend. You are always in the presence of judges, and those judges prejudiced against you. Let it be your care then, that the adversary may be ashamed, having no evil thing to say of you. "What do ye more than others?" It is the carping cry of the world, anxious to find a flaw, lest it should stand self-condemned. Be your lamp so burning, that none can dispute its brightness.
The text is the demand of Christ. Ye, who from eternity's far depths were elected out of the world, "what do ye more than others?" Your hearts are orchards, tended by the Spirit of grace, are these starveling fruits your chief produce? Ye, watered by dew from on high, can your garden show no lovelier flowers, than the wild stragglers that here and there star the barren rocks? Ye vineyards of mine own planting, do the wild vine and the fig tree of the wayside exceed you? For you, the Redeemer at God's right hand pleads, and the Spirit below intercedes; and promises unutterable-the harp of joy-the palm of triumph-the kingdom that cannot be shaken, beckon you onward! Ye say ye love me, for the love I have manifested, for the love that still pours its benefits upon you. It is well. "If ye love me, keep my commandments." By faith overcome the world! Let your hope be as gold not unconsumed only, but gleaming brightly in the furnace. Let love, lit by a flame from heaven, reflect again thither the rays it has caught.
The means of advance, the grace that will carry you onward are always at hand. Why does not the ship sail? Tis not the fault of the breeze. That blows full astern, right onward into the desired haven! It must be that the anchor is not heaved up, or the mast is not lifted, or the sail is not set. It must be because the heart clings too fondly below, or faith's' eye has become misty and dim, or hope has fainted or love's watch-fire is sunk into the embers. Christian is it so with you? Arise! the chief captain calls! 'Up be doing. We may not "sleep as do others" but as children of the day, be pressing onwards to 'its eternal source!