, 1875-07-12
CHICAGO, MONDAY, JULY -, 1876.

work for him to do, or that no man hath hired
hin. Tho Master bss work for each one and
bids blm do It. His call In 100 work to-day in
Ny vineyard or. "uo 20 also Into the vino
J, Js.d;, HGd % wt.tsver u rieht | ~ R.ye
We are TO be sure that we do tho work Of slio
Lord. And Ne sre to learn what that work IL by
i!is Word. guided by Hin ap,Eit and Providence.
Tho wnrk Of Tho Lord Il vans enough ard varied
enough 10 suit ~ ouF diTersi1od taienta aud on
do"ments: It In around mn on every hide. NO
may find It daily And hourly II wo will. We al
ought 10 be *orkers for God aud truth, that 40
may do our part to fil1 the world with r,ghteouh-
,'eea, and to peopo lna.an with tho redeemed.
And sbia ieada naturally to the sccont Icsaon
81 Tue te1t: "Aboundlng I'll tho work Of tho
Lord" IhtH lhpguaye inplies nut ouly CArintiRn
work. but good deal Of it,. We can all neo that
Iora sna DO o"g te ihs II s ioeoa soaf /, be.e1 e
than nothing. but this IL not what the text con-
tompistes. Paul doubtless mcsut 70 call hia
btethreu to do al they could; 10 work up to ths
tulI measure Of the,r ability. Bo lie worked. He
put his whole noul and s:te1,RtA Intu the work IT
the Lord. I1e compared hfs iabofa tor Christ aud
souls 10 The et1urtn OF thoaa wbu run iu race Of
fight il . warfare. the most oatncBt and tnbo1i-
Gus efforts known AnlonE men. have roue-
tunes aeen Christians III health and strength WHO
hce.ncd afraid leht they ahoutd d. loo much but
! Deser BAw dying ChriAtiAn whu Thought Aa
had dono too much. few yeats ngo hoard
cssa-ge TO young minister at h,n ordination, aud
upon the Apostolic charge. "Take heed to thy
self" threo things wero Haid to tho young man:
"Don's atudy too much; don't preach too much
don't visit too much" The whole spirit Of Tho
Charge seemed to be that the young 1nau should
AVA, with all sncl counsel ms this, say,
wtothcr to ministers or psivate Christlaur.
/ would rather glvo buth mnistess and
churches cs1o,'s motto: Attempt great
things for God; espect great things
f'om God" Where in tho Bible h,o na
counsol!od to do just !tsIe III the work Of Uod7
We read rathor that he that nows bountifully
shall reap also bountifallY, while he taas SONS
spsttngiy shail reap a!eo sparingly. Tho measure
o. our aniltY y eVeryHhero mAda the measure
OF our obltvssion. / am penuatlod that mu'ti-
t'ides Of Christians, 10 our tsmos, fail to uuder-
sand how mich she7 would DO tor Uod and souls
II ohly they would do What thoy could. We
sone tlrnoH sec what little handful Of Christians
can do III some Of Our weak. struggling cluicleu,
whele they 500 thst they must wnrR or die. Ke-
sutta arc attained altogether beyond vlati is often
1aanzed tD our largo CHURCHES in propottloa 10
tLeir relative strength. | do not belisve there is
large church in the land that emalosa tithe OF
lila strength in tho work Of tbs Lori. Our
record tho past year probably would not Bnt7es
by comparison with the average of churches IT
tta size; apd yet AN peshual led that No are
fully abba to do teu fold the chafeh work wc haro
boeu doing, and no one Le bur1east. Wo have
done Romc work for God aud ronla tho past yea1.
hut do not think wo should be reatiY to claim
tLat we have sbonnded in tbat aork. And We.
this In tho call. II s not that We shall do ttio
work, but nn abundance: tlat ~e shuild wo:k
according to the sbilisy that Gud has given us.
And thin call does not como to tho pastor alone,
though 1t doos come to hiln; nor to tue dcacous
alone, though II Gomez to them; nor alouo to
thosa who seom to be ptlass IN the church..
though IL coues to them but it comes to all: to
The Christian Of largest culture mud smallest to
the wealthcst Christian mud tho Eoarest; to tho
Christian Of largest experience aud OF the short
est; to tbs Christian who can do most for tho
Mahter aud least, 1t cones to YOU and you, s.,t
y,ou, my hrothar my ss!er, aud to me.
We Bhonlu all abound 10 tho work
Of the LurJ." What, pray, woull become Of tnla
church II ono-ilaif Of its enrolled mombers who
could he easily SOLICITED, were doing no more tor
it, growth. prosperity. aud uscfalnesB than tho
other Lalf A1s doing1 Why. ws should hardly
live month. Wo aloutd rather como to 4
sudden stop: And yet ~here ia it taught that
whole church7 Tho trouble in nearly ali our
churches is Tint tEoro arc a:f4reat many men-
bets who seon to bo only b7srders. Tnoy. do
not tsko their place In Tho faulty to do tholr
ahaso for family prosperity and uBatnlness.
but Nc muns pass to the next lesson OF tho
text, "A1waYB aboundinH III tho work Ut tho
Lord" Tho lesaon haro IL Ia the wolt ''al-
ways." Tha does not look like periodical or
steady work, aycry day aliac. We sometimes
soe Christians aud churches who "AbJund i'll
tho work OF tho Lord " for 5 little while; they
are full of zeal; soe1n ready inr any service; and
they. ,rcally DO noble aud good work. Tho
trouble with them is shoy do no. continue.
For one canso Of another they iay down thele
work; retro from 1t, and really become ldiers in
she Masters vinsYard. They do nvt ~ = ralo
reach thls state al at onco. They rather retro
from 1t lltttc by little. They lesyo on one duty
to-day aud auothnr to-morrow. AT first. per.
hnps, they neglect their closets then they arc
Bllent in tho psayer-meetlng tucn they attend
tho prayer meetinE oulY lrtceularly; then thcy
retire from tho kabbatA.school; theu, perhaps,
the family altar Ia neglected thou theY bec0na
inconstaut III thclr attendance At Church. But
long bsfoIe thoY haye takau a!t tlese steps they
have lott on all direct Christian work to toaa
stnness to Josuss their voices arc no longer
heard pleading for The CAUSE Ut tho Master;
they do !i:t!o Of nothing to sent tho Goapel to
thn perishinR. Have auy Ut you ever known any
Of this kind OF o1periance9 IL it nut ~ ex-
pcrionce ali too COMMON in our chuEchch2
But need not toll you that this ia not what
thu taxi contotnp1Ates. Certainly tli. IL not 'a!
ways AbouudinE." And yet thers ID pot Chris
tian who loAr8 mo Who 10 not ready to gay that
We should bo uniform In our fidelity; that wo
should be everyday Chttstnus,-~orkers oyery
day for Him ho has dooo 10 much for us. Tl.ls
Afe-the whole Of Ate-ts a1e timo 10 work; the
reatlng.time Will como by md bs. It il tue dead
who ehan rest from thvir iaboru mt tho living.
Whas NO mead ID our e1uschas-iu thus CHURCH
ta steady, uniform work for Chrst aud lila canss
on the part Of al thu members. snail wo have
1t Ia the futuref
Having thus looked at the Lessons Of tho text,
let u no turn to the work before I'd In entering
upon 4 n8" year Of cur chuteh-llfe.
Aud hrst, tAInk VIC should ain 10 bring
much larger nuu.ber OF people horo under tho
direct influence OF the meaus Ut grace. ! mean
BY this that No should labor kroAt!y to increase
the attondAuco upon our Sabbath serv,cus our
prAyar-meetlnKa, and our sunday.Bchool.
We have had much to encourage liz in this re-
spect IN the paat. aud yst wo all know thht wo
enlored upon our work year aHo eucompassed
stth manifold hlndeEaneeH md discoursgciuents.
Tha formation Of this church cut Of tho two
that preceded It was Dor without ia htndoraucea
kllke within And without. What thuso hn-
terAuces we're l will not dotaih yuu tu recount.
But whlls they oxlbtod in all tholr fo.ce II MAS
lsfdlJ possible TO gather people atouud us ia
large numborB. anu, AH4 it besu posaha. it
would hardly have leeu desirable. Time and la.
bos vera needed to romoVs these hindeeanccA 60
~ to prepare she way Tor = healthy incleasu. 1