To The Work! To The Work! Part 6

I once heard an Englishman speak about Christ feeding the five thousand with the five barley loaves and the two small fishes. He said that Christ may have taken one of the loaves and broken off a piece and given it to one of the disciples to divide. When the disciple began to pa.s.s it round he only gave a very small piece to the first, because he was afraid it would not hold out. But after he had given the first piece it did not seem to grow any the less; so the next time he gave a larger piece, and still the bread was not exhausted. The more he gave, the more the bread increased, until all had plenty.

At the first all could be carried in one basket; but when the whole mult.i.tude had been satisfied the disciples gathered up twelve baskets full of fragments. They had a good deal more when they stopped than when they began. Let us bring our little barley loaves to the Master that He may multiply them.

You say you have not got much; well, you can use what you have. The longer I work in Christ's vineyard the more convinced I am that a good many are kept out of the service of Christ, deprived of the luxury of working for G.o.d, because they are trying to do some great thing. Let us be willing to do little things. And let us remember that nothing is small in which G.o.d is. Elijah's servant came to him and told him he saw a cloud not larger than a man's hand. That was enough for Elijah.

He said to his servant, "Go, tell Ahab to make haste; there is the sound of abundance of rain." Elijah knew that the small cloud would bring rain. Nothing that we do for G.o.d is small.

I remember holding meetings some years ago at a certain place, and I met a young lady at the house where I was staying. She told me she had a Sunday afternoon cla.s.s in a mission-school. At one of our afternoon meetings I saw this lady sitting right in front; she must have been there early to get a good seat. After the service I met her, and I said: "I saw you at the meeting to-day; I thought you had a cla.s.s."

"So I have."

"Did you get some one to take it for you?" "No."

"Did you tell the Superintendent you were not to be there?" "No."

"Do you know who had the cla.s.s?" "No."

"Do you know if any one was there to take it?" "I am afraid there was n.o.body; for I saw a good many of the teachers of the school at your meeting."

"Is that the way you do the Lord's work?" "Well, you know, I have only five little boys. I thought it would not make any difference."

Only five little boys! Why, there might have been a John Knox, or a Wesley, or a Whitefield, or a Bunyan there. You cannot tell what these boys might become. One of them might become another Martin Luther; there might be a second Reformation slumbering in one of these five little boys. It is a great thing for any one to take "five little boys" and train them for G.o.d and for eternity. You may set a stream in motion that will flow on after you are dead and gone.

Little did the mothers of the Wesleys know what would be the result, when she trained her boys for G.o.d and for His kingdom. See what mighty results have flowed from that one source. It is estimated that there are to-day 25,000,000 adherents of the Methodist faith, and over 5,000,000 communicants. It is estimated there are 110,000 regular and local preachers in the United States alone. Two new churches are being built every day in the year; and the work of the Methodist Church is spreading over this great Republic. And all this has been done in about a hundred and fifty years. Let not mothers think that their work of training children for G.o.d is a small one. In the sight of G.o.d it is very great; many may rise up in eternity to call them blessed.

I have now in my mind a mother who has had twelve boys. They have all grown up to be active Christians. A number of them are preachers of the Gospel; and all of them are true to the Son of G.o.d. There are very few women in our country who have done more for the nation than that mother. It is a great thing to be permitted to touch G.o.d's work, and to be a co-worker with Him.

There is a bridge over the Niagara River. It is one of the great highways of the nation; trains pa.s.s over it every few minutes of the day. When they began to make the bridge, the first thing they did was to take a boy's kite and send a little thread across the stream. It seemed a very small thing, but it was the beginning of a great work.

So if we only lead one soul to Christ, eternity alone may tell what the result will be. You may be the means of saving some one who may become one of the most eminent men in the service of G.o.d that the world has ever seen.

We may not be able to do any great thing; but if each of us will do _something_, however small it may be, a goof deal will be accomplished for G.o.d. For a good many years I have made it a rule not to let any day pa.s.s without speaking to some one about eternal things. I commenced it away back years ago, and if I live the life allotted to man, there will be 18,250 persons who will have been spoken to personally by me. That of course does not take into account those to whom I speak publicly. How often we as Christians meet with people, when we might turn the conversation into a channel that will lead them up to Christ.

There are many burdened hearts all around us; can we not help to remove these burdens? Some one has represented this world as two great mountains--a mountain of sorrow and a mountain of joy. If we can each day take something from the mountain of sorrow and add it to the mountain of joy, a good deal will be accomplished in the course of a year.

I remember Mr. Spurgeon making this remark a few days ago: When Moses went to tell the king of Egypt that he would call up the plague of frogs upon the land, the king may have said: "Your G.o.d is the G.o.d of frogs, is He? I am not afraid of them; bring them on, I do not care for the frogs!" Says Moses: "But there are a good many of them, O king." And he found that out.

So we may be weak and contemptible individually, but there a good many Christians scattered all over the land, and we can accomplish a great deal between us. Supposing each one who loves the Lord Jesus were to resolve to-day, by G.o.d's help, to try and lead one soul to Christ this week. Is there a professing Christian who cannot lead some soul into the kingdom of G.o.d? If you cannot I want to tell you that there is something wrong in your life; you had better have it straightened out at once. If you have not an influence for good over some one of your friends or neighbors, there is something in your life that needs to be put right. May G.o.d show it to you to-day!

I have little sympathy with the idea that a Christian man or woman has to live for years before they can have the privilege of leading anyone out of the darkness of this world into the kingdom of G.o.d. I do not believe, either, that all G.o.d's work is going to be done by ministers, and other officers in the Churches. This lost world will never be reached and brought back to loyalty to G.o.d, until the children of G.o.d wake up to the fact that they have a mission in the world. If we are true Christians we should all be missionaries. Christ came down from heaven on a mission, and if we have His Spirit in us we will be missionaries too. If we have no desire to see the world discipled, to see man brought back to G.o.d, there is something very far wrong in our religion.

If you cannot work among the elder people you can go to work among the children. Let Christians speak kindly to these boys and girls about their souls; they will remember it all their lives. They may forget the sermon, but if some one speaks to them personally, they will say: "That man or woman must be greatly interested in me or they would not have been at the trouble to speak to me." They may wake up to the fact that they have immortal souls, and even if the preaching goes right over their heads, a little personal effort may be a means of blessing to them.

This personal and individual dealing is perfectly Scriptural. Philip was called away from a great work in Samaria to go and speak to one man in the desert. Christ's great sermon on Regeneration was addressed to one man; and that wonderful discourse by our Lord on the Water of Life was spoken to one poor sinful woman. I pity those Christians who are not willing to speak to one soul; they are not fit for G.o.d's service. We shall not accomplish much for G.o.d in the world, if we are not willing to speak to the ones and twos.

Another thing: Do not let Satan make you believe that the children are too young to be saved. Of course you cannot put old heads on young shoulders. You cannot make them into deacons and elders all at once.

But they can give their young hearts to Christ.

A good many years ago I had a mission school in Chicago. The children were mostly those of unG.o.dly parents. I only had them about an hour out of the week, and it seemed as if any good they got was wiped out during the week. I used to think that if ever I became a public speaker I would go up and down the world and beseech parents to consider the importance of training their children for G.o.d and eternity. On one of the first Sabbaths I went out of Chicago I impressed this on the congregation.

When I had finished my address an old white-haired man got up. I was all in a tremble, thinking he was going to criticise what I had said.

Instead of that he said: "I want to indorse all that this young man has spoken. Sixteen years ago I was in a heathen country. My wife died and left me with three motherless children. The first Sabbath after her death my eldest girl, ten years old, said: 'Papa, may I take the children into the bedroom and pray with them as mother used to do on the Sabbath?' I said she might.

When they came out of the room after a time I saw that my eldest daughter had been weeping. I called her to me, and said: 'Nellie, what is the trouble?' 'Oh, father,' she said, 'after we went into the room I made the prayer that mother taught me to make.' Then, naming her little brother, He made the prayer that mother taught him. Little Susie didn't use to pray when mother took us in there because mother thought she was too young. But when we got through she made a prayer of her own. I could not but weep when I heard her pray. She put her little hands together and closed her eyes and said: 'O G.o.d, you have taken away my dear mamma, and I have no mamma now to pray for me.

Won't you bless me and make me good just as mamma was, for Jesus Christ's sake, Amen.'" "Little Susie gave evidence of having given her young heart to G.o.d before she was four years old. For sixteen years she has been at work as a missionary among the heathen."

Let us remember that G.o.d can use these little children. Dr. Milnor was brought up a Quaker, became a distinguished lawyer in Philadelphia, and was a member of Congress for three successive terms. Returning to his home on a visit during his last Congressional session, his little daughter rushed upon him exclaiming. "Papa! papa! do you know I can read?" "No?" he said, "let me hear you!" She opened her little Bible and read, "Thou shalt love the Lord thy G.o.d with all thy heart." It was an arrow in her father's heart, It came to him as a solemn admonition. "Out of the mouth of babes," G.o.d's Spirit moved within him. He was driven to his closet, and a friend calling upon him found he had been weeping over the _Dairyman's Daughter_. Although only forty years of age, he abandoned politics and law for the ministry of the Gospel. For thirty years he was the beloved rector of St. George's Church, in Philadelphia, the predecessor of the venerated Dr. Tyng.

Dear mothers and fathers, let us in simple faith bring our children to Christ. He is the same to-day as when He took them in His arms and said: "Suffer the little children to come unto Me and forbid them not; for of such is the kingdom of heaven."

I may not do much with all my care, But I surely may bless a few; The loving Jesus will give to me, Some work of love to do; I may wipe the tears from some weeping eyes, I may bring the smile again To a face that is weary and worn with care, To a heart that is full of pain.

I may speak His name to the sorrowful, As I journey by their side; To the sinful and despairing ones I may preach of the Crucified.

I may drop some little gentle word In the midst of some scene of strife; I may comfort the sick and the dying With a thought of eternal life.

_Marianne Farningham_

CHAPTER VII.

"SHE HATH DONE WHAT SHE COULD."

In the gospel by Mark we read: "After two days was the feast of the Pa.s.sover, and of unleavened bread: and the Chief Priests and the Scribes sought how they might take Him by craft, and put Him to death.

But they said, not on the feast day, lest there be an uproar of the people. And being in Bethany in the house of Simon the leper, as He sat at meat, there came a woman having an alabaster box of ointment of spikenard, very precious; and she brake the box, and poured it on His head. And there were some that had indignation within themselves, and said, Why was this waste of the ointment made? For it might have been sold for more than three hundred pence, and have been given to the poor. And they murmured against her. And Jesus said, 'Let her alone; why trouble ye her? She hath wrought a good work for Me. For ye have the poor with you always, and whensoever ye will ye may do them good; but Me ye have not always. She hath done what she could; she is come aforehand to anoint My body to the burying. Verily I say unto you, wheresoever this Gospel shall be preached throughout the whole world, this also that she hath done shall be spoken of for a memorial of her.'"

John tells us in his Gospel who this woman was. "Then Jesus six days before the Pa.s.sover came to Bethany, where Lazarus was which had been dead, whom He raised from the dead. There they made Him a supper, and Martha served; but Lazarus was one of them that sat at the table with him. Then took Mary a pound of ointment of spikenard, very costly, and anointed the feet of Jesus, and wiped his feet with her hair; and the house was filled with the odor of the ointment. Then saith one of His disciples, Judas Iscariot, Simon's son, which should betray Him: 'Why was not this ointment sold for three hundred pence, and given to the poor?' This he said, not that he cared for the poor; but because he was a thief, and had the bag, and bare what was put therein. Then said Jesus, 'Let her alone: against the day of My burying hath she kept this. For the poor always ye have with you; but Me ye have not always.'"

This is the last time we have a glimpse of the family at Bethany. It was Christ's last week there, and here we have the last recorded interview between Christ and that lovely family.

Speaking of Martha and Mary some one has said: "They were both dear to Jesus and they both loved Him, but they were different. The eye of one saw His weariness and would give to Him; the faith of the other apprehended His fulness and would draw from Him; Martha's service was acceptable to the Lord and was acknowledged by Him, but He would not allow it to disturb Mary's communion. Mary knew his mind; she had deeper fellowship with Him; her heart clung to Himself."

I want to call your attention specially to one clause from this fourteenth chapter of Mark, "She hath done what she could." If some one had reported in Jerusalem that something was going to happen at Bethany on that memorable day, that should outlive the Roman Empire, and all the monarchs that had ever existed or would exist, there would have been great excitement in the city. A good many people would have gone down to Bethany that day to see the thing that was going to happen, and that was to live so long. Little did Mary think that she was going to erect a monument which would outlive empires and kingdoms. She never thought of herself. Love does not think of itself.

What does Christ say: "Wheresoever this Gospel shall be preached throughout the whole world, this also that she hath done shall be spoken of for a memorial of her."

This one story has already been put into three hundred and fifty different languages, and it is now in circulation in every nation under heaven. Day by day this story is being printed and published.

One society in London alone prints, every working hour of the day, five hundred records of this act that took place at Bethany. It is being spread abroad in all the corners of the earth. It will be told out as long as the Church of G.o.d exists. Matthew speaks of it; so does John; and so does Mark.

Men seek to erect some monument that will live after they are dead and gone. This woman never thought to erect a monument; she simply wanted to lavish her love upon Christ. But the act has lived and will continue to live while the Church is on earth. It is as fresh to-day as it was a hundred years ago: it is fresher than it was five hundred years ago. In fact there never was a time when it was so well known as to-day. Although Mary was herself unknown outside of Bethany when she performed the act, now it is known over all the world. Kings have come and gone; empires have risen and crumbled. Egypt, with its ancient glories, has pa.s.sed away. Greece, with its wise men and its mighty philosophers and its warriors, has been almost forgotten. The great Roman empire has pa.s.sed away. We do not know the names of those who are buried in the Pyramids, or of those who were embalmed in Egypt, with so much care and trouble, but the record of this humble life continues to be an inspiration to others.

Here is a woman whose memory has outlived Caesar, Alexander, Cyrus, and all the great warriors of the ancient world. We do not know that she was wealthy, or beautiful, or gifted, or great in the eye of the world. What we do know is that she loved the Savior. She took this box of precious ointment and broke it over the body of Christ. Some one has said it was the only thing He ever received that He did not give away. It was a small thing in the sight of the world. If there had been daily papers in those days, and some Jerusalem reporter had been looking out for items of news that would interest the inhabitants, I suppose he would not have thought it worth putting into his paper. Yet it has outlived all that happened in that century, except, of course, the sayings, and the other events connected with the life of Christ.

Mary had Christ in her heart as well as in her creed. She loved Him and she showed her love in acts.

Thank G.o.d, everyone of us can love Christ, and we can all do something for Him. It may be a small thing; but whatever it is it shall be lasting; it will outlive all the monuments on earth. The iron and the granite will rust and crumble and fade away, but anything done for Christ will never fade. It will be more lasting than time itself.

Christ says: "Heaven and earth shall pa.s.s away, but My word shall not pa.s.s away."

Look again and see that woman in the temple. Christ stood there as the people pa.s.sed by and cast their offerings into the treasury. The widow had but two mites and she cast it all in. The Lord saw that her heart was in it, and so He commended her. If some n.o.bleman had cast in a thousand dollars Christ would probably not have noticed it, unless his heart had gone with it. Gold is of little value in heaven. It is so plentiful there that they use it to pave the streets with; and it is transparent gold, much better gold than we have in this world. It is when the heart goes with the offering that it is accepted of Christ.

So He said of this woman: "She hath cast in more than they all." She had done all she could.