^ In the church at Somerville, New Jersey, where I was after- wards pastor, John Vredenburgh preached for a great many years. He felt that his ministry was a failure, and others felt so, although he was a faithful minister preaching the gospel all the time. He died, and died amid some discouragements, and went home to God ; for no one ever doubted that John Vredenburgh was a good Christian minister. A little while after his death there came a great awakening in Somerville, and one Sabbath two hundred souls stood up at the Christian altar espousing the cause of Christ, among them my own father and mother. And what was peculiar in regard to nearly all of those two hundred souls was that they dated their religious impressions from the ministry of John Vredenburgh.2
^ Some years ago an orphan obtained a humble position in a bank through the kindness of a friend. His friend said to him : " All I will ask of you is that you should be the first to come and the last to go, and that you should never refuse extra
' L^raan Abbott. ' The Autobiography of T. De Witt Talmage, 17.
46o WEARINESS IN WELL-DOING
work." The lad went on faithfully, but for yeans no one seemed to observe him. He had the work, but not the thanks. Then a day came when he was promoted, and he ig climb- ing the ladder now. He had faith to believe and to go on, and the harvest came. Many give over, and all their lives are a disappointment.^
3. Now, lastly, what is the cure for weariness ?
(1) To prevent this evil there muBt be increased consecratioa We must renew our engagement to be the Lord's. The weariness of religious exercises can be removed only by waiting upon Him who will renew our strength. The loss of personal interest in spiritual things can be restored only by communion with Him in whom are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. The hyacinth will flourish for a while in a vase of water, but if it is to perpetuate itself, to bring forth fruit and seed, it must be restored to its native soil. And so your Christian life, left to itself, with- out any of its usual elements of growth, may for a time seem to put forth beautiful blossoms under the impetus it has received ; but in order to grow vigorously and bring forth the peaceable fruits of righteousness, it must be planted anew in the soil of faith and love in Christ Jesus from which it sprang.
There is a way by which most of us may get back our eager- ness for God's service, and get it back immediately. It is by remembering our sins or some particular wrong-doing, from the guilt of which we trust to God to hold us pardoned. No other method so suddenly makes a man — a man who has had some such history — real, and brings him to his knees with a full heart. " My sin is ever before me " — weariness passes immediately at that thought. For the proof one has that God has really forgiven him his sins and has accepted him, is that he himself is now serving God, that he has now given himself to God. And if for a moment he discovers himself reluctant and disobedient towards God, does it not mean for such a man that the old things are back upon him once more, the old sin, the old fear, the old desolation of soul ? In a moment the whole life of such a man becomes keen towards God, and altogether willing. He feels bound to Christ by an awful yet blessed secret. And after the sudden anguish has passed his heart is filled to breaking with
» W. R. Nicoll, Sunday Evening, 131.
GAL. VI. 9 461
new fresh love and gratitude. " Lord, what wouldst Thou have me to do." ^
Lord, many times I am aweary quite
Of mine own self, my sin, my vanity — Yet be not Thou, or I am lost outright, Weary of me.
And hate against myself I often bear,
And enter with myself in fierce debate : Take Thou my part against myself, nor share In that just hate.
Best friends might loathe us, if what things perverse
We know of our own selves, they also knew: Lord, Holy One ! if Thou who knowest worse Shouldet loathe us too ! *
(2) It is because in trying to do the best we can it often seems, as regards direct and immediate efifects and with reference only to a limited period of time and a limited portion of human society, as if we were contending against nature itself, that we are so apt to lose heart in well-doing. To prevent this consequence of taking a narrow view of things, the best that can be done is to take a wider view, namely, that development, progress, is the law of human life and society, though the process may seem to be, and in point of fact is, slow and unequal. In trying to do the best we can, in never losing heart in the business, we are partners with the Eternal in accelerating that process, however it may seem that our effort and endeavour is for the time unavailing and abortive. However it may seem to be fighting against nature and the course of things, it is in reality, and in a wider view, working out the eternal order, to keep on trying to do our best in the face of all difficulties and reverses. That is a view of things to the truth of which history is a witness. There is progress, though it is slow. To take that view, and to give it the place which it ought to hold in all our thoughts, is the best provision that can be made by us against the great calamity of losing heart in well-doing.