Newport weekly independent., 1903-01-09

10 expect, ana that the unklnuly crlI' icism and strong opposition met with are more than they can endure. They become discouraged, they lose heart and confidence, they are ready to throw up their hands in despair and give up the task altogether. It is then that God comes, as He came to Ierubbabel, and whispers to the trou- bled soul to look away from self and the discouragements and learn that it is mot by might, nor by power" but by the Spirit of God that His work is to be accomplished. Oh, what a lesson to learn! No Christian can do constant and successful work for God until he has mourned in despair with Zerubbabel over the uncompleted wall and temple of the task God has given him to do, and has finally, in the last dying hope of utter Encouragement, looked up and caught a vision of the Eternal God and beheld His omnipo- tent arm moving to his aid.
 l imagine l can see Zerubbabel sit ting with bowed head in his home after another discouraging day on the city wall and amidst the unsightly ruins of the temple. It has been a push and drive all day, and apparently nothing done. He has been unable to inspire the people with sense of the task before them. They are more con cerned about their homes and the qualification of their own desires and the carrying out of their own plans than they are to perform the work of the Lord. He has just about made up his mind that with the morning light he will send in his resignation and abandon the people to their indif- ference and their fate, when To! a gentle tap on the door announces a visitor. Without looking up, too dis couraged to be hospitable, or even civil. he impatiently bids the waiting you ever felt as Zerubbabel did that night? Have you come home discour- aged from Sunday school, from church, from young peoples meeting, from junior meeting, from any of the varied forms of religious activity which it may be God has called you to perform for Him, and thrown your- self into chair or upon the couch and, covering your face with your hands, given way to your discourage ment? Such experiences come to us all. But let us return to Zerubbabel and see who his visitor is and what his message.
 The door is pushed open and the prophet, Zechariah, enters. A quick glance at the bowed figure tells him the whole story. God has sent him just in time. God always comes when the soul is best prepared to receive His message and to learn the Divine les son. If the prophet had come few days before, when Zerubbabel was con- fidently depending upon himself and was planning new method to arouse the people to the task before them, his message would not have been re- ceived or understood. But now the Jewish leader has come to the end of his resources. He has tried every thing to make the Lords work go. Perhaps he had stirred the good la- dies up and had tried church suppers and bazars on the temple site to en- courage the rebuilding. Perhaps he had offered prizes out on the city wall for the fastest and best worker, or had started unique little entertainments. sort of side shows, you know, to draw the crowds out to the walls in the hope that once he had enticed them there he could set them to work. And so it had gone on, day after day. Each day saw a failure of his own plans. and each night sleepless eyes and wakeful brain sought for new meth ods to be tried on the morrow. Have you ever been in poor Zerubba bel's fix? Have you wrestled in such des- perate way with the work of the Lord ? We'll, at last his resourceful brain, and his wonderful patience and persever- ance, failed him. The prophet un- derstands it all as he quickly advances across the room through the gather ing gloom. With a tender touch, born of the infinite love of God which floods his soul after his wonderful visions. hN l'ihNN' iiiS btii' lIloH lHt DoWtu head of the discouraged leader, and speaks in cheery, confident tones: This is the word of the Lord unt O Zerubbabel: Not by might. nor by power, but by My Spirit, saith the Lord of Hosts."
 Like drowning man grasps after a straw, the soul of Zerubbabel eagerly drinks in the prophets message. As he lifts his head new light bursts in upon his soul. He is humbled as he realizes how he has magnified his own importance in the Lords work and has failed to reckon God as a fac tor in the tasks given him to do. Here was a revelation to him of the re- lation which God always sustains to the work He gives His children to do for Him. Here was d powerful factor in the accomplishment of the great pub lie and religious enterprises which he had entirely overlooked. A new hope kindled in his breast as he felt the arm, of God yoc lipIyol ;,, I, ;c