The central Presbyterian. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1856-1908, 1876-04-26
SEEKING a SIGN.

n0ur, the Doru 6enus every one OI uS lntC
His vineyard. Every Christian has his
place in the sphere which God, in His own
Providence, has marked out, and according
to the measure of the ability which he has
given and the neglect of that work will only
deprive us of the compensation and reward
when, at the close Of the day, the Master
comes and distributes according to our fdel.
ity. One pan has genius; let that be conse-
Grated. Another man has leisure; let that
be conse secrated. One may be shut up in a
narrow circle where the influence is diffused
over few that is his field. This mother may
be remanded to the nursery, and have little
opportunity for usefulness except to mould
the little circle that gathers around her knee;
that is her plat in the garden of the Lord,
which she is to cultivate faithfully. But
when apparent success is withheld, how do
the hands hang down in impatience! There
are some hundred or more of you in this
church, who every Sabbath day gather in
mission schools the little Arabs in our streets,
that you may smooth and stroke them down
into gentleness, and teach them the precious
gospel which is treasured in your own hearts.
Oh, if these untamed ones would instantly
lay down their wildness; if you could, with
sort of mesmeric power, make them trac-
table and kind; if they would receive Christ
at the first recital of the story Of the cross,
and come aocking, like doves to their win.
dows, into the Church of the Redeemer
under the stimulus Of such success you could
labor to the end without fatigue. But if it
pleaseS God to test your patience for awhile,
and to prove that you are honest in your con-
Secration to His service; if days and months
and years pass by before you see the fruit
of your TOLL justleaveit it to you to say how
many there are who drop by the way in their
encouragement and dependency; and how
those who remain steadfast are obliged to go
into the market places and bring in other
recruits to take the places of those who,
through incidence Or unbelief, fall away be.
cause God does not give them the wonder
and the sign they are seeking.
Indeed touch at this point one of the
mortifying weaknesses of the ministry. If
there be q class of men who know the
scorching power of this rebuke of the Sa.
viour, Except ye see signs and wonders, ye
will not believe it is the class which rep
resent this morning from tbs pulpit. Oh,
how sadly do they come to God with Isaiah's
lamentation, "Who hath believed our re-
port, and to whom is the arm of the Lord
revealed! !" And then the dependency and
the gloom darken until, like Jeremiah, they
exclaim, go, Lord, thou hast deceived me,
and / was deceived. / will not make
mention of him, nor speak any more in his
name" Until at last the word of the Lord
is like fire within their bones; and weary
with forbearing, they resume the message
and proclaim the offers of full salvation,
whether men will hear or whether they will
forbesr. speak not to you, but to myself,
and to all who preach the gospel, the re-
proof of the Master, Except ye see signs
and wonders, ye will not believe" What
if it be given to US, as it was given to Jere-
miah of old, to execute only mission of re-
buke upon the earth (; suppose the melan-
choly Office to be assigned to US which the
Saviour took as Hs portion, to be despised
and rejected of men; suppose whilst We
preach the unsearchable riches of grace to
our fellow-men, they trample under foot the
Son of God, and consider the blood of the
covenant, by which they are sancti6ed, an
unholy thing-what then? Our business is
to work in our sphere patiently until the
end shall come; and then, with the apparent
failure of our toll, to lay it down at the
Redeemer's feet, assured that "we are unto
God sweet SAVIOR of Christ, in them that
are saved and in them that perish" Re.
suits ! Who of US in this life are competent
to measure what we call results What do
you and / know of the articulations of Gods
great plan of providence and grace? 1t is
made up Of myriads of minute parts, wheels
revolving within wheels, each having its ap-
propriste function, with motions that are
retrograde as we'll as motions that are pro-
gressive; with action and with reaction
Not until the hereafter, when God gathers
up all this and expounds it to us in the glory
of His throne, can we measure the results.
Then shall we know that never was true
prayer offered, never was an honest effort
made by Christian upon the earth, never
was cup of cold water given to disciple,
never was there wayside charity which
none knew except the hand from which it
fell-but it all went up as memorial before
God !; to meet US in the day of our reward.
All Christian toll and Christian effort and
Christian prayer have their results; unin-
telligible to US, but all exact parts of the
stupendous and gracious plan which will be
disclosed to US in the world to come. And
vet, whose conscience is not smitten by the
reproof, Except ye see signs and wonders
in the miraculous success which attends your
labor, eye will not believe "-Dr Palmer
Discourses.
Mr.. SpURGEoN is troubled as Mr.. Moody
is by the good people who will come to hear
him, while the bad people stay away. So