Plain Sermons, preached at Archbishop Tenison's Chapel, Regent Street. Second Series

by James Galloway Cowan

St. John, ix., 4.

I must work the works of Him that sent me, while it is day: the night cometh, when no man can work.

I dwell not on these words in their relation to the context. I pause not to consider whether their utterance was a justification of the Sabbath-day miracle that was presently to be performed—“no opportunity must be lost, no delay allowed of working the works of God”—or whether they were but the thinking and resolving aloud (so characteristic of our Lord), by which He kept ever in mind His great mission, by which He continually stimulated and pressed on that human nature of His; willing indeed, but yet weak, though not sinful; and made it vigorously industrious in the work of God; or whether, once more, Christ here but personified Christians, and spoke not of Himself, not to keep Himself mindful and intent upon His work, but as their example and representative, as though He had said, “A work of God will now be manifested in the restoration of this blind man. It will not be delayed till the Sabbath is over. See me serving God and serving Him now, by instant doing of all possible work. Consider me your example. Let this be your resolution, ‘I must work the works of Him that sent me, while it is day: the night cometh, when no man can work.’” It matters little to us what feeling or motive immediately prompted our Lord to speak the text. His words at once commend themselves to us as those which we may, which we ought to adopt, even if they belong primarily to Him; which, rather, since they were the ruling maxim of Christ, must be the ruling maxim of Christians.

Well, then, these are our words (and Christ has shown us how to fulfil them), “I must work the works of Him that sent me, while it is day: the night cometh, when no man can work.”

“Him that sent me.” Have we yet to learn, my brethren, that God sent us into this world; that we came not here by chance, or on our own account; that we are not independent beings, free to wander about or linger to do, or forbear to do, as we please? By the will—for the accomplishment of the purposes—of God, we are here on a mission, His messengers, His agents, workers for Him. God has made all things for His own use and glory. None of us liveth unto himself—He sent us forth. He gave us a charge. He watches to see what we do with it. He waits for our return; rather, He appoints, and, whensoever He will, enforces our return. And what is the mission? What has He sent us to do? To work the works of God, and make them manifest, to promote, to show forth His glory, to become ourselves all that He would have us to be, and to light and guide others to the same end. Work for God! How few ever think of such a thing! Work for themselves (and for others like themselves) for food to eat and raiment to put on, for money, for power, for fame, for pleasure; men understand this; they acknowledge the necessity of it, or the inviting, constraining desirableness of it, and they do it—do it generally, do it well, and heartily. A really idle man, a man that works not some works, is a rarity, an object of contempt when he is seen, a despiser of himself. But, work for God! How many do that? Who does it heartily, and does it well? Whose thoughts are full of it, whose deeds accomplish it? What fruits come of it? There are some, not a few, thank God! who can give a satisfactory answer to such questions; whose lives continually give it, and whom God, for their works’ sake in Christ, greatly approves. But I speak now to the many, yea, I speak to all; for the work of God so generally neglected, is by none perfectly performed. To all, then, I solemnly address the questions: “Do you work for God?” and “What work do you work for Him?” You are tempted to justify yourselves. You are not the unbelieving, and rebellious, and profane of our race. You recognise a God of providence and grace, a moral ruler of the world, a waiting Judge. To this God you say your prayers, His word you read, and reverence, and receive. To Him you dedicate at least several hours of each seventh day; by His commandments you order your daily life. You do no wrong to your neighbour by word or deed; you strive to purify and sanctify your very feelings and thoughts; you believe in a Saviour; you accept His salvation; you try to love Him; you partake of His means of grace; you rest in Him, and look to Him for final redemption, and something you do occasionally by way of persuading others; and something you give for the furtherance of religious works. It is well, brethren, if you do this; if you go through the form, and do not inwardly contradict what is outward, but rather incline to it.

It is well, I say, because it is hopeful, it will, by grace, lead you farther; but if in your heart and soul you recognise God, and believe in a Saviour, then I am sure that you will not adduce what I have mentioned as specimens of the works of God. Acknowledgments that God ought to be served, pledges of service, they may be, but works they are not. And yet some, perhaps, would urge, “When the question was put, ‘What must we do that we may work the works of God?’ did not Christ answer, ‘This is the work of God, that ye believe on Him whom He hath sent”? and, say they, “Does not this show that literal working, as we work in and for the world, is not what God demands; that it is rather a mental assent, an entertaining and exercising of feelings, a believing, a thankful, a sanctifying remembrance of Christ’s work; a trust in it, a carefulness to do nothing that will render it ineffectual for our salvation, that is required of us? Surely, Christ has done the work Himself; we have but to accept it thankfully, and wait for it faithfully and holily.”

Now, my brethren, it may be easily shown that this is not believing in Him whom God hath sent. To believe in Him is to embrace Him as the Author, and Finisher, and Giver of Salvation; to be assured that salvation can only be had from Him, in Him, and on His terms; to learn of Him, therefore—and, of course, of His Apostles and Evangelists after Him, for to them even clearer teaching was intrusted—what are the terms, and then to fulfil them resolutely and precisely. Do you need that I should quote the actual words, the chapter, and verse, in which Christ, through the Spirit, tells us, that He has redeemed us to Himself; that He has purchased us for a peculiar people zealous of good works; that He has left us a definite work to do against His return; that on His return He will judge and reward us by our works; that He will condemn as workers against Him those who have not worked for Him; that it is vain to acknowledge Him and not do the things that He bids; that He has left us an example that we should follow His steps, in that He fulfilled all righteousness, and went about doing good, and proposed to Himself, as that which must be done, and done heartily and without delay, the works and the manifesting of the works of God, and made it His meat and drink to do the Father’s will; that He has said plainly, that whosoever would not take up the cross and follow Him could not be His disciple. O wo to those who dare to say this means: Sit still in worldliness, and look at and admire Him doing the labour and pursuing the path of godliness—that He has attached all His promises to certain deeds; that He is ever represented as judging, not what men have thought and felt, but what they have done and become by doing; that by the Spirit He has commanded “Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling;” and “Whether ye eat or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God;” and “He that gathereth not, scattereth abroad”? Oh, my brethren, let us be honest; we know, we dare not deny it, that a work, rather that many works are imposed upon us by God, and that it will not do for us merely to think of them, to sigh over them, to approach them carelessly, reluctantly, to call preferred employments by their name; but that with clear understanding with heart-devotion, with constant application and real labour, we must do the works of Him that sent us.

And, now, what are the works?

The first, and most vitally important, is, to “work out our own salvation;” not to attempt of ourselves to undo what Adam did; not by any course of zealous doing to seek to recommend ourselves to God as deserving a reward, to propose to purchase heaven, to go to God the Father directly for it, and expect to get it from Him, either as a right or as a gift of compassion: but, knowing that it is only to be had of Christ, to seek it from Christ in appointed ways, in the measure, on the conditions which He has prescribed for all, and to fulfil the conditions. We are not naturally born in grace; we do not naturally inherit glory. Christ, by right, the Saviour of all men, is, in fact, “specially” only the Saviour of them that believe; of them who actually apply to Him and depend on Him, and remain in communion with Him for grace; who serve Him by fulfilling His commands and copying His example, who use His grace and grow in it, and by its power transform themselves into the character which alone can dwell in heaven. Now, all this is work—real, anxious, laborious work; this obeying of Christ, this imitation of His example, and following in His steps, this putting off of the old man and putting on of the new man. Are you intent upon it? Do you perform it? Consider the means of grace, prayer, praise, divine instruction, holy communion; do you faithfully and diligently use them? Read the Decalogue with the commentary of the Sermon on the Mount. Can you honestly say, All this I keep and do? Study the life of Christ—is your life like it: like it in humility, in self-denial, in labour, in fact, in hope, in aim? Examine yourselves. Are you cleansed from evil propensities—are you adorned with Christian graces—are you fit in person, in will, in desire, for a heaven full of holiness, whose employment will be the doing of God’s work, as angels do it, whose relaxation, if I may so speak, will be the contemplation and the praise of God? What do you leave undone, what do you transgress of God’s will? What covetousness do you root out, what evil tempers do you subdue, what rash zeal do you curb, what indolence do you overcome? Are you worldly, sensual, ill-natured, proud, self-seeking? Have you any trace of these stains upon you? Are you wanting in obedience, in patience, in holiness, in love of God? You cannot enter heaven, it would close its gates against you, you would flee from it as a place of torment, while you are in such a state. Now, what are you doing, or attempting to appropriate Christ’s salvation, to secure God’s approbation, to qualify yourselves in character, in taste and desire for a purely spiritual, a gloriously holy heaven? You know what concentrated thought, what single aim, what diligent, anxious, persevering labour are necessary to make you good scholars, able statesmen, accomplished members of society, successful tradesmen, apt mechanics; or, to descend lower, ordinary earners of daily bread. You may guess, then, what measure of these things is needed to perfect you in saintliness, and therefore you are able to answer the question—oh, how must you answer it?—whether you fulfil the acknowledged requirement of the text, “I must work the works of Him that sent me.”

But, besides this, so to speak, selfish work, you have a work to do for and upon others. God Who wills to inform, and persuade, and save the world, appoints men, appoints you to accomplish His will. Like as Christ, besides qualifying Himself to be the Saviour, had also to proclaim, and recommend, and bestow salvation, so have you, while putting yourselves in the way of salvation, and diligently pursuing it, to be lights, and voices, and helping hands to others. You are lights of the world; you are ambassadors for Christ; you are your brothers’ keepers; you are teachers of God’s Word, and advocates of His cause, and treasurers of His gifts; you are under shepherds of Christ; you are fellow workers with Him, and dispensers of His manifold grace. God has given you these offices, and He has placed you where you may exercise them. He has given you authority over your children, and servants, and dependents. He has lent you influence over friends and associates. He has planted you in the midst of crowds of ignorant, indifferent, ungodly, that you may work for Him, in guiding, and persuading, and leading to salvation, in making manifest His glory. He has put into your power to contribute something—into the power of some to contribute much—to the various associations (which are, in fact, your agents), for doing the work of God in building and endowing additional churches, in providing more clergymen at home, in sending missionaries to the colonist and the heathen. You think, perhaps, that in the chief part of what I have said, I have been describing the clergy, and not the laity. But, brethren, the clergy are nothing but representatives, representatives, on the one hand, of God, teaching, exhorting, ministering grace in His name, by and from Him; representatives, on the other hand, of your prayers, and praises, and your works. You know whose would be the blame, and how great the blame, and how terrible the consequences, if the minister only confessed to God and praised Him, and partook of His sacraments. It is just the same, if he only teaches, and exhorts, and visits, and tends, and relieves; an empty sign, a mockery, a provocation of wrath, which will surely descend on those who cause it to be unreal, on those who do not make it real. Ministers we are, coming from God to you, going to God from you. Oh, you cannot suppose that if you leave two or three clergymen to deal with thousands of people, to inform them, to persuade them, to become acquainted with their wants, to relieve them out of their own poor means, you cannot suppose I say that in so doing, you are working the works of God, that when you have said your prayers, and listened to the sermon, and paid your pew rents, and dropped a superfluous coin into the plate of an occasional collection, you have obeyed and imitated Christ. No, brethren, you are under no such delusion of Satan. An awful responsibility is indeed upon the clergy. We have sworn to give ourselves wholly to a work in which your part is to support, and succour, and enable us. We are pledged to forego opportunities of acquiring fame, and gaining wealth and power, and taking pleasure. Wo to us, if we disregard the oath, if we cling to the things which we profess to have renounced! But if we fail, that will not excuse you; and if we are faithful without your adherence, the reward will be ours, the blood guiltily shed, or guiltily unstaunched, will be upon your heads. It is a solemn theme which I am discussing this morning, and I dare not but speak plainly upon it. Our fidelity will not profit you if you are not helpers of us. Our unfaithfulness, though we perish in it, will be visited on you, if you do not enable us, if you do not constrain us, by the power with which you should endow us, by the jealous concern which you should have for our work, by the diligent co-operation which you should exercise with us. It is easy to say, that you are not qualified for this, that your time is all engaged in your worldly calling, that you cannot spare from the means of your support, from the capital of your business, the money which the Church calls for. But, brethren, consider, that though God requires you to maintain yourselves and your families, though your worldly callings are appointed for you by God, though He allows you to give much time to them, to advance and enrich yourselves by them, yet all this is on the condition that you do not withhold from Him the direct service and offerings which constitute the one thing needful, the reward of which is all that shall survive this life, and this world! It was the fashion once among religionists to despise, to pronounce unclean (unfitting for the Christian), the use of the world, its callings, its profits, its pleasures. There is much danger of an opposite fashion prevailing in our days. The confining of religious service and worship to the honest, respectable, intellectual, liberal pursuit of some worldly vocation, “the religion of common life” as it is called, being regarded, not as the companion,—rather the handmaid—but the substitute (and a very good one, too) for pure spiritual religion. Both are wrong. The Christian may use the world, and in the right use of it he may be serving God. But he must not abuse it; and he does abuse it, if he allows himself to be engrossed by it; if he brings himself to a state, if he continues willingly in a state, where he is obliged to say, “I cannot spare any time or any money, my first thought, and concern, and provision must be for this life.”

You have heard, or read, perhaps, that a contented, conscientious, and cheerful abiding in and following of our worldly occupations, that even the housemaid’s sweeping and cleaning may be religious worship; and there is truth in the statement, otherwise the Apostle could not have exhorted “Whether ye eat or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God;” but, the Scriptural injunction means, “Prolong the remembrance of your spiritual worship: testify your yearning to get back to it: keep the face shining, when you come down from the glorious mount, so that while the world demands your bodies, your souls, your hearts and spirits may still be given to God, and even the bodily acts spiritualised by doing them in submission, in holy observance of the will of God, in thankful use of the means of support and helps to usefulness, which He thus affords you.” Worldly occupations and worldly goods are to the Christian what meals, and recreations, and sleep are to men generally: necessaries, supports of the lower life, refreshments, and invigorators for something better. Give yourselves wholly to these and you become sensualists, idlers, sluggards; and give yourselves wholly to the world and you are followers of Mammon and forsakers of God! You see the right use of the world, as far as this life is concerned, when the son toils to support an aged parent, when the young man struggles to get on, that he may establish a home, when the father seeks through his profession to provide for his family, when the lover of literature diligently tries to make his calling afford him money for books and time to read them. This is employing the world as a necessary means to a desired end. And so you see the right use of the world, in regard to a better life, in him who labours and perseveres, and advances in it with the view of getting as much out of it as he can for God.