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MISCELLANEOUS ARTICLES, ANECDOTES, &c.

WORK FOR GOD.

A VOICE FROM THE BRINK OF ETERNITY.
BY THE REV. JOHN HILTON.*

JESUS CHRIST was 66 a workman." He delighted to labour for the moral and spiritual elevation of man. No hours of idleness crept through his hands. No facilities for usefulness passed him unimproved. His motto was, "I must work the works of him that sent me while it is day; the night cometh when no man can work." Sent into the world by the Father to accomplish works of benevolence and of mercy, illustrative of the divine character, and especially to accomplish the sublime work of human redemption, he laboured in a manner the most earnest, the most disinterested, and the most persevering. Hence his language, "The zeal of thine house hath eaten me up;"

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I have a baptism to be baptized with, and how am I straitened till it be accomplished;" "My meat is to do the will of him that sent me, and to finish his work."

The state of religion and the statistical aspects of our community imperatively demand that every professed follower of this zealous Saviour should appropriate his motto, and conscientiously imitate his example. We have Circuits and congregations scattered over different parts of the kingdom. We have numerous Sabbath-schools in active operation. But nothing short of converted congregations and converted Sabbathschools can ever satisfy the man of God, whose heart yearns in sympathy with his dying master, and who sincerely desires the everlasting wellbeing of his fellows. An imperative necessity exists, therefore, for thoroughgoing, sterling, working Churches. Working Churches are essential to converted congregations.

Working Churches are essential to growing congregations and to widening Circuits. Working Churches must exist, if we are to have spirited and successful home mission operations. There may be among us regularity of attendance on constituted ordinances; external profession; real or assumed wealth-a beautifullyadjusted machinery of means, but we repeat, except we have truly vigorous, spiritual, working Churches, we can never be a really prosperous community. We shall have a name to live whilst we are dead. Alive and respectable we may seem before men, but be proclaimed "dead" by Him who searches the heart and tries the reins. How important, then, that we cordially embrace the motto of Jesus Christ, and promptly fulfil his behest, Go, work to-day in my vineyard!"

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Except there be spiritual vitality in our Churches they can never be working Churches. Great care must be taken, therefore, to maintain personal piety in masculine vigour. No amount of attention or professed zeal for others can avail much, so long as we are declining in the religion of the heart. What shall we do that we might work the works of God?" "This is the work of God, that ye believe on him whom he hath sent. A personal faith in Christ; a felt saving interest in his atoning work; a conscious peace with God, and a joyous assurance of eternal life are primary privileges springing out of the work of God.

"Work out," says Paul, "your own salvation with fear and trembling." For an individual to have a feeble impression of the importance of re

* We received this article just a few days before the death of our highlyesteemed and much-lamented brother. It was, doubtless, the last work he performed of a public kind, and was evidently written in the full view of eternity. Its earnestness, spirituality and faithfulness show plainly the state of his own mind at the period. It is emphatically a voice from the shores of eternity, and we hope it will be practically regarded.-ED.

ligion; a few slight convictions of its necessity, a name recorded in the books of the Church, and then to settle down into indifference and quietude and neglect, is not, most certainly, to "work out" his salvation. And yet such a man is the type of hundreds. Let us just track his footsteps. Rising from his slumbers, later than usual on the Sabbath morning, he comes late to the House of God; he has had no time for devotion. A few incoherent words, perhaps, froze on his lips in the closet, and an unimpressive service was hurried through in the family, but there was no sincere pouring out of the soul before God. As a consequence, the sanctuary-service is dull and unprofitable. The afternoon is spent in a mixed service of walking and sleeping, reading and talking. Night-if he can get to the sanctuary twice-night is a bare repetition of the morning. Then comes Monday morning, and away he goes into the world, never to be seen either at prayer-meeting, or class, or preaching thoughout the whole week until the next Sabbath witnesses the same heartless and profitless routine; and this he presumes is working out his salvation with fear and trembling! Awful formalism! Dangerous delusion! Incipient hypocrisy! Is this racing towards the goal? Is this wrestling for the prize? Is this fighting for salvation? Is this agonizing for the kingdom? Let us impress every member of our Churches with the solemn truth that you have a great work to do. Not only have you to realize salvation, but to retain it, with all its vitalizing influences, in the heart. You have to conquer the flesh; to subdue pride; to watch against carnal ease; to guard lest the devil should rock you to sleep in the soft cradle of the Church; to aspire after God; to obtain entire sanc ification; to be prepared for living; to be ready any moment for dying; and to be made meet to be partaker of the inheritance of the saints in light. What a stupendous work! Do it then, we entreat you, with all your might, and you will assuredly be prepared to take your place in a working Church.

But other duties of great magnitude devolve upon us. Hear the word of God: "When thou art converted strengthen thy brethren." "No man liveth unto himself." "Let no man seek his own, but every man another's wealth." "Thou shalt in anywise rebuke thy neighbour, and not suffer sin upon him." "If thou warn not the sinner of his sins he shall die in his iniquity, but his blood will I require at thy hand." "Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature." him that knoweth to do good and doeth it not, to him it is sin."

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From these passages we learn that our labours are not to be confined to our own souls, but must be extended to the souls of others. We must seek our neighbour's edification and enlightenment and salvation. We must work to rescue him from guilt and death and hell. As "godliness is profitable unto all things," promote to the utmost of your power your neighbour's temporal interests, ameliorate his sufferings, assuage his sorrows, dissipate his ignorance, quicken his industry and raise him high as you can in the scale of social life, but oh, forget not his precious and immortal soul! Strive to rescue him from the grasp of Satan; labour to emancipate him from the dominion of sin; pluck him, if you can, as a brand from the fire; place him as a burning ruby in the crown of Immanuel, and you shall have a reward whose influences shall be for ever peaceful and whose glories shall never fade away. They that be wise shall shine as the brightness of the firmament, and they that turn many to righteousness as the stars for ever and ever."

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But we are painfully impressed with the fact that little or no work of this invaluable kind will ever be done except we practically acknowledge the intimate connexion subsisting between a pious Church and a working Church, Let us, my fellow Christians, reiterate this truth again and again; let us preach it to our own hearts and to our fellowmembers until we feel it, and feel it deeply until we act upon it promptly and zealously. The thing

is self evident. If we think slightingly of the value of our own souls, shall we not think slightingly of the value of other men's souls? If we neglect the sanctuary ourselves, or attend it irregularly, how can we urge others to be present? If we ourselves trifle with the Sabbath in its sacred obligations and spiritual exercises, how can we expect others to sanctify it? If we sleep over our own salvation, with what force can we urge others to be awake? If we are dead ourselves, can we possibly infuse life into others? Will an army of spiritual invalids ever subdue the strongholds of wickedness? Can health and vigour go forth from a hospital of sick professors? Can the Church convert the world if she herself need reconverting? Impossible! We must, then, earnestly work out our own salvation, to be prepared to work for the salvation of others. By maintaining intact the bond of union between Christ and our souls, by cultivating in a large measure the spirit and power of prayer, by realizing daily baptisms of the Holy Ghost, by a walk and conversation beyond the possibility of rebuke, and by a

uniform attention to holiness in heart and in life, we shall be "prepared unto every good work." Then shall we enter, not tardily and sluggishly, but promptly and spiritually into the comprehensive designs of a gracious God. Life will be desired simply to do the will of Christ; and great will be our anxiety to use all available means for the conversion of our neighbours, our friends, our relatives, nay, the whole world. But all this will most certainly be "a work." It will never be done by sighing over it and wishing it done. It will never be done by a little sentimental simpering, nor by coqueting with philosophic literature or polite infidels. It will demand the brain, the nerve, the muscle, the energy of the entire man. "The kingdom of heaven suffereth violence and the violent take it by force." 66 Agonize to enter in at the strait gate." "Others save, plucking

them out of the fire."

Here, then, we have before us the grand purpose for which we have been sent into the world. In its

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highest and most sublime sense could Christ say, "The Father hath sent me into the world;" in a much subdued and inferior sense may the same language be appropriated by each individual Christian. "We are the workmanship of thy hand and the sheep of thy pasture; For we are his workmanship created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them." Every Christian is preserved in the world for the express purpose of doing the work of God. He is not placed here simply to eat and drink and vegetate. He is not intended merely to be diligent in business, to extend his commercial relationships, to accumulate wealth, to entwine the garland of honour around his brow, or to win even the noblest literary distinctions. He who thinks that these pursuits, coupled with the discharge of social duties, are all that God requires is awfully deceived. These constitute not the grand purpose of the Christian's life. His mission is to attain himself to the moral image of Christ and to aim at being the honoured instrument of turning many to righteousness. He is kept out of heaven that he may prevent others from going to hell. This is his noble calling! Here is his high vocation! Let us realize, then, the purpose for which we live ; and not merely theoretically, but practically, acknowledge that we are placed here to do the work of God.

The obligation under which we are laid thus to please God should be powerfully realized and deeply felt. "I must work the works of him that sent me;' I must do the works of God. I am placed under obligations the most powerful to do them; and if I wilfully neglect, I am certainly guilty in the sight of God and cannot expect his approbation as a 'faithful servant."

Some there are who, by their daily habit at least, say, "I won't work." Rebellion! Treason against "the King of kings!" How thoroughly ashamed of himself ought every professing Christian to be whose conduct speaks in language insulting and disloyal as this! His heart is not right. Practically negligent of his

own soul, we cannot be much surprised that he does little or nothing for the souls of others. He is like the man to whom was committed one talent, but who went and hid his Lord's money and then foolishly expected his Lord to approbate his idleness. He won't work. Some will say, "We are too busy with other things." This language too frequently means, "We are too busy with self to obey God; we are too busy with the world to cultivate the prosperity of the soul; we are too anxious to get rich to save the souls of our fellows." What an excuse is this! What a robbery of God! The servant is too busy with his own little petty affairs to attend to the interests and commands of his master. This may seem to some an insignificant matter, but it will have to be settled with the heart-searching Judge at the solemn bar of judgment.

Others, from timidity or sluggishness or unbelief, say, "I cannot work; I can do nothing in God's cause. You can do nothing! Why that very tongue which says, "I can do nothing," condemns you. With that very tongue you might say ten thousand words for Christ. With those hands you might give to the wretched and ignorant bundles of excellent and truth-speaking tracts. Do nothing! You must escape to the desert before you can avoid doing something. Your influence must be felt. "I have known a child of fourteen bring, by his persuasions, nine other persons to worship on a special occasion. I have known a child of seven, the instrument of converting one parent, and of bringing both under the means of grace. I have known a Christian woman, a poor widow, unusually deaf, the means of introducing seven or eight persons to the fellowship of the Church." Do nothing! You can do much, if your heart is only in its right place.

Neither I won't work, nor I am too busy to work, nor I cannot work, will avail for the salvation of the world or your own acquittal at the bar of God. I must work the works of God. I must labour to be holy. I must pray and labour for the salvation of perishing souls.

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do these things, is the feeling and resolve of every warm-hearted, spiritual, prosperous Christian. must individualize ourselves. demand is not merely thou, or he, or they must work, but I must work for God. This individuality needs bringing out more clearly in all our Churches. Individual obligation must be acknowledged; individual responsibility felt; individual action displayed. In matters both civil and ecclesiastical there is great proneness in men to lose their individuality in the masses. Many questions of civil freedom have been materially damaged because men of influence, instead of promoting them to the utmost of their power, have contented themselves with exclaiming, 'My signature can be of no avail. My presence will be worthless-my voice is powerless." So likewise in the Church of Christ. How often do parties dolefully complain, "The Church is very low; the Church wants reviving. I should like to see the Church improved." All the while forgetting that they are part of the Church, and that it is, to some extent at least, their neglect and worldliness and backsliding that cause the Church to languish. Their language ought rather to be, "I need reviving. I must get my soul quickened. I droop for want of love; I must seek a larger measure of it. I must be at my class. I must be at the prayermeeting. I must work for God. I must save souls."

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So long as men allow their individuality to be absorbed by an organized society, so long as their cry is, "The society needs this and the Church must do that," so long shall we be weak and inefficient. But when the earnest prayer of every soul is, “Revive me, O my heavenly Father, revive me. Hast thou not a blessing reserved for me?" and when the anxious inquiry of every heart shall be, "Lord, what wilt thou have me to do?"-then shall we see bright and prosperous days dawn upon the Church and the world. "A little one shall become a thousand, and a small one a strong nation."

You cannot work for God by proxy I must alone. You may give money to send

the heralds of salvation to the fardistant lands of heathenism, or you may support gospel and charitable institutions at home, but you can never transfer your individual responsibility to other shoulders. I must give money, you must give money. I must work for God, you must work for God. I must personally try to save souls, you must personally try to save souls. There are many deceiving themselves in this matter. By their money-gifts they hope to be absolved in the court of conscience and at the judgment-bar from their individual responsibility to labour. "I give to this fund; I subscribe to that society; I aid that institution," is the secret language of their hearts; and then dreaming that they have put a healing plaster upon their conscience, and that God will most certainly applaud their liberality at the last great day, they surrender themselves to fleshly ease and worldly business, and dreamy speculations and more active moneygetting, ignorant, apparently, that there is blood, the blood of neglected souls, on the skirts of their garments.

Christian reader, by no gifts you can possibly make, by no excuses you can plead, can you ever escape your individual responsibility to work for God. The sovereign of the rich man no more absolves him than does the penny of the poor man. The demands of a shop or a counting-house no more absolve the tradesman than does the daily toil of the artisan. There is only one way by which you can escape from this solemn individual responsibility, and that is, by renouncing your Christianity, by forsaking your Saviour, by ruining your soul. Fearful alternative! Awful risk! Oh, then, let all alike feel, "I must work the works of God." Whether you be a pauper in the parish or a servant in the family, whether you be a scholar in the Sabbath-school or a teacher in his class, whether you be an artisan in a workshop or a tradesman behind a counter, whether you be incorporated in a genteel profession or dwell upon your own estate, no matter, if you are a Christian, if you have a single spark of genuine piety,

you are obliged to employ personally all direct as well as indirect means to save souls. "I must work the works of him that sent me."

We must work as long as we have opportunity. "I must work the works of him that sent me," said Christ, "while it is day." The day lasts until night comes. Life lasts until death comes; so long, therefore, as life continues, must we work for God. Some professing Christians wish to be superannuated from this work. They imagine that their day has expired even before the shadows of affliction have covered them or the night of death set in. "They must curtail their contributions, they must restrict their labours, they must give up their work. Other and younger shoulders should bear the burdens they have borne for many years, and they should be allowed to retire altogether." Experience and common-sense both teach that a man cannot work so much for God in a state of affliction as in a state of health, in the decrepitude of age as amid the vigour of youth; but is there no work adapted to twilight as well as to noon-day? Is there no work adapted to affliction? None to old age? The old man who presses heavily on his stick and bends over the grave, can still traverse his little garden-plot and pluck a weed, or trim a flower, or cast a seed! The old woman who occupies the chimneynook from dewy morn to dusky eve, can still ply her fingers and her needles with surprising vigour. Even so the afflicted Christian and aged veteran may still proclaim a truth or counteract an evil for Christ. So long as we can labour for our daily bread, so long as we can lift a hand or put a foot across the threshold, so long as we can articulate a single word, so long may we do some little for God. The promise to those who walk the vale of life is, "They shall still bring forth fruit in old age; they shall be fat and flourishing." We like to see a venerable tree, after withstanding the raging storms of bygone years, standing erect, knarled though it be, amid the younger trees of the field, and vieing with them in the production of the most luscious

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