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Christian Service: Quotations from Burning Words

Life passes; work is permanent. It is all going - fleeting and withering. Youth goes. Mind decays. That which is done remains. Through ages, through eternity, what you have done for God, that, and only that, you are. Deeds never die.— F. W. ROBERTSON,

Every day in this world has its work; and every day as it rises out of eternity keeps putting to each of us this question afresh, "What will you do before to-day has sunk into eternity and nothingness again?" And now what have we to say with respect to this strange, solemn thing - Time? That men do with it through life just what the apostles did for one precious and irreparable hour in the garden of Gethsemane - they go to sleep.— F. W. ROBERTSON

Whoever lives a noble life for Christ and God - he is one of God's workmen, working on that building of which God is the supreme Architect.— H. W. BEECHER

There is one thing that makes life mighty in its veriest trifles, worthy in its smallest deeds, that delivers it from monotony, that delivers it from insignificance. All will be great, nothing will be overpowering, when, living in communion with Jesus Christ, we say as He says, My meat is to do the will of Him that sent me." 66 -— ALEXANDER MACLAREN,

The simple desire and purpose to please and honor and serve the Master will save your most ordinary work from being contemptible, and will give to your greatest service a beauty and acceptableness which bulk and bigness can never give.— S. E. HERRICK

My Master and my Lord! I long to do some work, some work for Thee; I long to bring some lowly gift of love For all Thy love to me.— HETTY BOWMAN

The ready, earnest heart that asks, "May I do this for Thee, Lord?" not "Must I do it?" has a blessed reward moment by moment.— CHRISTIAN AT WORK

Shall I grudge to spend my life for Him who did not grudge to shed His life-blood for me?— BEVERIDGE

While the passion of some is to shine, of some to govern, and of others to accumulate, let one great passion alone influence our breasts, the passion which reason ratifies, which conscience approves, which Heaven inspires, - that of being and doing good.— ROBERT HALL

We must be something in order to do something, but we must also do something in order to be something. The best rule, I think, is this: If we find it hard to do good, then let us try to be good. If, on the other hand, we find it hard to be good, then let us try to do good. Being leads to doing, doing leads to being. Yet below both as their common root is faith, - faith in God, in man, in ourselves, in the eternal superiority of right over wrong, truth over error, good over evil, love over all selfishness and all sin.— J. F. CLARKE

We are not to wait to be in preparing to be. We are not to wait to do in preparing to do, but to find in being and doing preparation for higher being and doing.— HENRY GILES

Nothing progresses more rapidly in a heart set upon doing good than an ability to be useful. They who at first are timid, shy, awkward, in such efforts, soon acquire courage, expertness, and efficiency.— JOHN ANGEL JAMES

There are multitudes in our congregations who are just waiting while they ought to be acting. They must work, if they would have God work in them. There can be no religion without obedience.— ICHABOD SPENCER

Give an earnest-hearted, devoted girl any true work that will make her active in the dawn, and weary at night, with the consciousness that her fellow-creatures have indeed been the better for her day, and the powerless sorrow of her enthusiasm will transform itself into a majesty of radiant and beneficent peace.— JOHN RUSKIN

God works, and therefore we work; God is with us, and therefore we are with God, and stand on His side.— C. H. SPURGEON

The Spirit never makes men the instruments of converting others until they feel that they cannot do it themselves; that their skill in argument, in persuasion, in management, avails nothing.— CHARLES HODGE

Learn these two things: never be discouraged because good things get on so slowly here, and never fail daily to do that good which lies next to your hand. Do not be in a hurry, but be diligent. Enter into the sublime patience of the Lord. Be charitable in view of it. God can afford to wait; why cannot we, since we have Him to fall back upon? Let patience have her perfect work, and bring forth her celestial fruits. Trust to God to weave your little thread into a web, though the patterns show it not yet.— GEORGE MACDONALD

I feel convinced that every man has given him of God much more than he has any idea of, and that he can help on the world's work more than he knows of. What we want is the single eye that will see what our work is, the humility to accept it, however lowly, the faith to do it for God, the perseverance to go on till death.— NORMAN MACLEOD

If you cannot be great, be willing to serve God in that which is small. If you cannot do great things for Him, cheerfully do little ones. If you cannot be an Aaron to serve at the altar, or a Moses to guide the tribes, consent to be "a little maid" to Naaman the Syrian, for the honor of God's prophets, or a little child, for Christ's sake, to be set by Him in the midst of the people, as an illustration of the sweetness of humility.— S. F. SMITH

God often works more by the life of the illiterate seeking the things that are God's, than by the ability of the learned seeking the things that are their own.— ST. ANSELM

God is a kind Father. He sets us all in the place where He wishes us to be employed; and that employment is truly "our Father's business." He chooses work for every creature which will be delightful to them, if they do it simply and humbly. He gives us always strength enough, and sense enough, for what He wants us to do; if we either tire ourselves, or puzzle ourselves, it is our own fault. And we may always be sure, whatever we are doing, that we cannot be pleasing Him, if we are not happy ourselves.— JOHN RUSKIN

Live as with God; and, whatever be your calling, pray for the gift that will perfectly qualify you in it.— HORACE BUSHNELL

A pure, sincere, and stable spirit is not distracted though it be employed in many works; for that it works all to the honor of God, and inwardly being still and quiet, seeks not itself in any thing it doth.— THOMAS À KEMPIS

O Master, let me walk with Thee In lowly paths of service free; Tell me Thy secret; help me bear The strain of toil, the fret of care.— W. GLADDEN

God is the best helper, but He loves to be helped. Be earnest in prayer, but do not neglect human means. You must help yourself in all manner of ways, and then the Lord will be with you.— SAVONAROLA

Christ seeketh your help in your place; give Him your hand.— RUTHERFORD

The worst days of darkness through which I have ever passed have been greatly alleviated by throwing myself with all my energy into some work relating to others.— J. A. GARFIELD

Let us imitate Him who sought the mountain-tops as His refreshment after toil, but never left duties undone or sufferers unrelieved in pain. Let us imitate Him who turned from the joys of contemplation to the joys of service without a murmur when His disciples broke in on His solitude with, "All men seek Thee;" but never suffered the outward work to blunt His desire for, nor to encroach on, the hour of still communion with His Father. Lord, teach us to work; Lord, teach us to pray.— ALEXANDER MACLAREN

Your only safety lies in placing yourself in circumstances which will make exertion necessary, and which will secure Divine assistance. Never mind your infirmities. You have nothing to do with them. Your business is to trust, and to go forward. If you wait till the sea becomes land, you will never walk on it. You must leave the ship, and, like Peter, set your feet upon the waves, and you will find them marble. Toil on, and in thy toil rejoice;— EDWARD PAYSON

For toil comes rest, for exile, home; Soon shalt thou hear the bridegroom's voice, The midnight peal: "Behold, I come."— HORATIUS BONAR

When four rowers are in a boat, with their backs to the bow, their simple office is to pull the oars. The steersman's office is to look ahead and work the helm. The moment that the rower turns steersman, and tries to look over his shoulder or outpull his fellow oarsman, the boat loses headway. So you and I are placed with our backs to the future. In our hands are the oars of Christian endeavor. Let God steer the boat, and let us attend to the oars.— T. L. CUYLER

And yet the doing is ours, not His. He inspired it, we wrought it out. He quickened, but we brought forth. His the heart-beat, but ours the hand-stroke; His the influence, ours the effluence.— GEORGE C. LORIMER

Stand up from among the dead, and patiently work as one waiting for the judgment-seat of Christ.— W. P. MACKAY

So, my brethren, let us do our work, that others entering on it may carry it forward through after generations. Thus shall the work of the fathers become the glory of their children; and in the end, when the mystery of God shall be finished, we shall see, in its completed beauty and proportion, the great fabric into which we put our little all; and we shall rejoice at once in the skill of the Architect and the diligence of the successive builders.— Wm. M. TAYLOR

Look to the end; and resolve to make the service of Christ the first object in what remains of life, without indifference to the opinion of your fellow men, but also without fear of it.— H. P. LIDDON

Your salvation is His business; make His service your business and delight.— RICHARD FULLER

The question is not merely what we can feel, but what we can do for Christ; not how many tears we can shed, but how many sins we can mortify; not what raptures we can experience, but what self-denial we can practice; not what happy frames we can enjoy, but what holy duties we can perform; not simply how much we can luxuriate at sermon or at sacrament, but how much we can exhibit of the mind of Jesus in our intercourse with our fellow men; not only how far above earth we can rise to the bliss of heaven, but how much of the love and purity of heaven we can bring down to earth; in short, not how much of rapt feeling we can indulge, but how much of religious principle we can bring to bear on our whole conduct.— JOHN ANGEL JAMES,

"Work out your own salvation." Work, as well as believe; and in the daily practice of faithful obedience, in the daily subjugation of your own spirits to His Divine power, in the daily crucifixion of your flesh with its affections and lusts, in the daily straining after loftier heights of godliness and purer atmospheres of devotion and love,- make more thoroughly your own what you possess. Work into the substance of your souls that which you have. "Apprehend that for which you are apprehended of Christ; " and remember that not a past act of faith, but a present and continuous life of loving, faithful work in Christ, which is His and yet yours, is the holding fast the beginning of your confidence firm unto the end.— ALEXANDER MACLAREN

If we truly feel that the Lord liveth, before whom we stand, we shall want nothing else for our work but His smile; and we shall feel that the light of His face is all we need. That thought should deaden our love for outward things. How the things that we fever our souls by pursuing, and fret our hearts when we lose, will cease to attract! How small and vulgar the "prizes" of life, as people call them, will appear!— ALEXANDER MACLAREN

God's very service is wages; His ways are strewed with roses, and paved with joy that is unspeakable and full of glory, and with peace that passeth understanding.— THOMAS BROOKS,

The sense that a man is serving a Higher than himself, with a service which will become ever more and more perfect freedom, evokes more profound, more humbling, more exalted emotions than any thing else in the world can do. The spirit of man is an instrument which cannot give out its deepest, finest tones, except under the immediate hand of the Divine Harmonist.— J. C. SHAIRP

A servant with this clause Makes drudgery divine; Who sweeps a room, as for Thy laws, Makes that and the action fine. -— GEORGE HERBERT

Let us endeavor to commence every enterprise with a pure view to the glory of God, continue it without distraction, and finish it without impatience.— FENELON

The man who labors to please his neighbor for his good to edification has the mind that was in Christ. It is a sinner trying to help a sinner. Even a feeble, but kind and tender man, will effect more than a genius, who is rough and artificial.— RICHARD CECIL

If the world is ever conquered for our Lord, it is not by ministers, nor by office-bearers, nor by the great, and noble and mighty, but by every member of Christ's body being a working member; doing his work; filling his own sphere; holding his own post; and saying to Jesus, "Lord, what wilt Thou have me to do?"— THOMAS GUTHRIE

Jesus was a great worker, and His disciples must not be afraid of hard work.— C. H. SPURGEON

A divine life is hidden in every seed we sow for Jesus. It matters not how small the seed may be, nor in what secluded part of the vineyard it may be sown - a prayer, a word, a look, a pressure of the hand - God's almighty energy is enfolded in every seed which we sow in the Master's name and for His glory.— A. E. KITTREDGE

I believe that when Paul plants and Apollos waters, God gives the increase; and I have no patience with those who throw the blame on God when it belongs to themselves.— C. H. SPURGEON

If a man is unable to find the way to Jesus, he ought to be led. It is good work this bringing the blind to Him who alone can give them sight.— H. CLAY TRUMBULL

When men's hearts are melted under the preaching of the word, or by sickness, or the loss of friends, believers should be very eager to stamp the truth upon the prepared mind. Such opportunities are to be seized with holy eagerness.— C. H. SPURGEON

We may talk of the best means of doing good; but, after all, the greatest difficulty lies in doing it in a proper spirit. Speakthe truth in love, "in meekness instructing those that oppose themselves "- with the meekness and gentleness of Christ.— NETTLETON

We serve Him most who take the most Of His exhaustless love. Give me a faithful heart - Likness to Thee,— ALICE CARY

That each departing day Henceforth may see Some work of love begun, Some deed of kindness done, Some wanderer sought and won, Something for Thee.— S. D. PHELPS

I rejoice that the reign of Christ is such, while it thrills the soul with emotions, and opens before the highest intellect the most boundless conceptions, we are left at the same time ready, though our hearts be thrilled, to have our hands filled for deeds of benevolence and love. The happiest moments may be the busiest moments.— BISHOP SIMPSON

Be ashamed to die until you have gained some victory for humanity. -— HORACE MANN

The man who has given himself to his country loves it better; the man who has fought for his friend honors him more; the man who has labored for his community values more highly the interests he has sought to conserve; the man who has wrought and planned and endured for the accomplishment of God's plan in the world sees the greatness of it, the divinity and glory of it, and is himself more perfectly assimilated to it.— R. S. STORRS

Theodore Cuyler found Mr. Moody laboring in a Missionroom in the city of Brooklyn. With him was a handful of plain people. Cuyler whispered to him, "Slow work this, is it not? Moody looked at him and said, "Did you ever light a fire? I am lighting my fire; " and he kindled it to such good purpose that anon it blazed over two continents. Do not mourn the past, my brother; it has given place to better times. Do not dread the coming of the future; it shall dawn in brighter and safer glory. Come, and upon the altars of the faith be anointed as the Daniels of to-day, at once the prophet and the worker-the brow bright with the shining prophecy, the hands full of earnest and of holy deeds.— Wm. M. PUNSHON

Go, then, young men, where glory waits you. The field is the world. Go where the abjects wander, and gather them into the fold of the sanctuary. Go to the lazarettos where the moral lepers herd, and tell them of the healing balm. Go to the haunts of crime, and float a gospel message upon the feculent air. Go wherever there are ignorant to be instructed, timid to be cheered, and helpless to be succored, and stricken to be blessed, and erring to be reclaimed. Go wherever faith can see, or hope can breathe, or love can work, or courage can venture. Go and win the spurs of your spiritual knighthood there.— Wm. M. PUNSHON,

Our work, abiding, shall bring to us the endless glory with which God at last overpays the toils, even as now He overanswers the poor prayers of His laboring servants.— ALEXANDER MACLAREN

To-day, let us rise and go to our work. To-morrow, we shall rise and go to our reward.— RICHARD FULLER

Nay, be they many, be they few, My thought but holds the end in view; And fills each day's full measure up With service sweet and patient hope.— MRS. HELEN M. BROWN