^ Two men met upon a steamer during a Scotch excursion and they talked with interest of many things, among others of Sunday schools. " To tell the truth," said one, " I am not very enthusiastic about that kind of work. I was a teacher for many years, and after all I seem to have done no good." " Well, I do believe in Sunday school work," said the other. "As a lad I received life-long influences for good in my old class at school ; " and he named the school with which he had once been connected. ' Christina G. Rossetti, Christ Our All in All (Poetical Works, 242).
456 WEARINESS IN WELL-DOING
" Were you there," cried the other ; " that was where I taught
Were you there in my time ? My name is " " And I was your
scholar. I remember you now." The younger man gave his name, and memories succeeded each other concerning that old school unforgotten by both. There, side by side, stood the teacher, who believed he had done nothing, and the man he had influenced for life.^
^ In the early morning, when the dew was bright on the grass, a child passed along the highway, and sang as he went. It was spring, and the ferns were unfolding their green fronds, and the hepatica showed purple under her green fur. The child looked about him with his eager happy eyes, rejoicing in all he saw, and answering the birds' songs with notes as gay as their own. Now and then he dropped a seed here and there, for he had a handful of them ; sometimes he threw one to the birds ; again he dropped one for the squirrels ; and still again he would toss one into the air for very play, for that was what he loved best. Now it chanced that he passed by a spot where the earth lay bare, with no tree or plant to cover its brown breast. " Oh ! " said the child, " poor place, will nothing grow in you ? here is a seed for you, and now I will plant it properly." So he planted the seed properly, and smoothed the earth over it, and went his way singing, and looking at the white clouds in the sky and at the green things unfolding around him. It was a long, long journey the child had to go. Many perils beset his path, many toils he had to over- pass, many wounds and bruises he received on the way. When he returned, one would hardly have known, to look at him, that he was still a child. The day had been cruelly hot, and still the afternoon sun beat fiercely down on the white road. His clothes were torn and dusty ; he toiled on, and sighed as he went, longing for some spot of shade where he might sit down to rest. Presently he saw in the distance a waving of green, and a cool shadow stretching across the white glowing road ; and he drew near and it was a tree young and vigorous spreading its arms abroad, mantled in green leaves that whispered and rustled. Thankfully the child threw himself down in the pleasant shade, and rested from his weary journey, and as he rested he raised his eyes to the green whispering curtain above him and blessed the hand that planted the tree. The little green leaves nodded and rustled and whispered to one another : " Yes ! yes ! it is himself he is blessing. But he does not know, and that is the best of all ! " a
* Expotitory Tvnies, i. 12.
* Mrs. Laura Richards, The Silver Crown,
GAL. VI. 9 457
(3) In the very attempt at doing good we come across so much evil of which we had never dreamt. Evil is one thing looked at from a distance ; it is quite another when we get into close proximity with it. The angel of light is anything but an angel when we come face to face with him. Novitiates in Christian service come to their work with bright dreams, grand expectations, only to find that Kfe is a series of disillusionments. Fighting evil plays sad havoc with our cheap optimism, delivers us from our flippancy, convinces us that our rose-water schemes are utterly impracticable, and that our work is no mere child's play.
^ Suppose we are of those who have made the great choice, have been converted, as some would say. Well, thank God, we have made a good beginning ; but is the conflict won ? Wait for the end. You have met the enemy, and by the grace of God you have beaten him. Henceforward your life on earth will be a series of conflicts, unless you grow weary and faint. Persevere, and you will know why the life of Christ's followers is called a struggle or a race. You will begin to understand why the most experienced veterans are most cautious and circumspect; you will begin to know that you may not despise any help that God has given you. All the exultation and satisfaction which you felt at your first victory will have gone — given way to the silent earnestness of him whose every muscle is strained in his efforts to win the victory.^