Evening, September 20
Go To Morning Reading
“In the evening withhold not thy hand.”
Ecclesiastes 11:6
In the evening of the day opportunities are plentiful: men return from their labour, and the
zealous soul-winner finds time to tell abroad the love of Jesus. Have
I no evening work for Jesus? If I have not, let me no longer withhold
my hand from a service which requires abundant labour. Sinners are
perishing for lack of knowledge; he who loiters may find his skirts
crimson with the blood of souls. Jesus gave both his hands to the
nails, how can I keep back one of mine from his blessed work? Night
and day he toiled and prayed for me, how can I give a single hour
to the pampering of my flesh with luxurious ease? Up, idle heart;
stretch out thy hand to work, or uplift it to pray; heaven and hell
are in earnest, let me be so, and this evening sow good seed for the
Lord my God.
The evening of life has also its calls. Life is so short that a morning of manhood’s vigour, and an evening of decay, make the whole of it. To some it
seems long, but a four-pence is a great sum of money to a poor man.
Life is so brief that no man can afford to lose a day. It has been
well said that if a great king should bring us a great heap of gold,
and bid us take as much as we could count in a day, we should make
a long day of it; we should begin early in the morning, and in the
evening we should not withhold our hand; but to win souls is far nobler
work, how is it that we so soon withdraw from it? Some are spared
to a long evening of green old age; if such be my case, let me use
such talents as I still retain, and to the last hour serve my blessed
and faithful Lord. By his grace I will die in harness, and lay down
my charge only when I lay down my body. Age may instruct the young,
cheer the faint, and encourage the desponding; if eventide has less
of vigorous heat, it should have more of calm wisdom, therefore in
the evening I will not withhold my hand.