A SHORT SERMON ON DOING GOOD.
By Albert Stone
TEXT: “Withhold not good from them to whom it is due, when it is in the power of thine hand to do it.” Prov. 3:27. The Scriptures are the development of the divine benevolence. The above text is a gospel sentiment. But the gospel is not alone in manifesting the goodness of God. The same principle that moved the Father to give his Son to redeem the world, moved him to dispense the law as a rule of government of his creatures. God requires of men that they should imitate him in doing good to mankind. And this requirement has a moral basis, and rests on the relations we sustain to God and our fellows. The obligation to do good to others is not a mere compliment, but a necessity. It is interwoven with all our interests that pertain to this world and the next. Nor is it left to us to measure the extent of our benevolence by any standard which our own feelings may erect. To possess real value it must be exercised according to a rule which God has prescribed. The extent of benevolent action definitely set forth in the text that stands at the head of this article, “when it is in the power of thine hand to do it,” is an exact measure. It requires no more and can accept of no less. To do good to others, then, to the extent of our power is not an act of complaisance merely, but a debt as verily as a note of hand for value received. A note of hand is based on certain relations existing between the parties. The obligation to benevolent action is based on the relation we sustain to God and our fellow-men, and is made plain, in both testaments, and is enforced by the law of God, and the example of Christ. The motive that moved the Saviour to the greatest acts of self-denial and suffering ever witnessed on earth, was, “The joy that was set before him.” Heb. 12:2. In view of saving lost men and honoring his Father’s law, the sufferings and shame of the cross became endurable. It will not be denied that the love and benevolence of Christ were to the extent of his power. Let the same motive move us in our spheres of action. The field for benevolent effort was never greater than now nor the calls more pressing. Men are perishing for lack of knowledge. The masses are in darkness. Honest-hearted men and women are ensnared in the entanglements of sects and creeds, and the traps of Satan. Have we power to do them good? Is there any light to which we can point them? Can we do anything that will help them break the snare of the devil and discern the signs of the present time? There certainly is something we can do for them, and instead of a burden should it not be our joy to do it, and that to the extent of our power? Will there be any excuse for us in the Judgment if we fail to do all that is in the power of our hand to do? Doing a little in the direction of duty will never accomplish what God requires us to do. When shall we wake to the testimony of the Spirit, “Not one half done that should be?” Has the angel recorded this testimony in Heaven, and shall we meet it in the day of God? Oh! when will the message, “Thou must prophesy again,” be fulfilled at this poor, dying rate? But this work is moving and some are doing more, perhaps, than would be required, or than they have power to continue to do, because others are not doing what they should. I have no spirit of fault-finding while I write, but I would stir up the minds of young men and others to feel more deeply in regard to their own individual and respective duties in this work. Volunteers! volunteers are called for. Who will volunteer, yield to conviction of duty and take hold of the work just as God would have them to do? It is not a drudgery, but a privilege to work in the vineyard of the Lord. There is a joy set before the faithful servants of the Lord as there was before Christ. His joy consisted in saving others; ours consists in sharing in that work; his, in reigning on the throne of David; ours, in being subjects of his righteous government, in the prospective gift of immortality, and in seeing the King in his beauty. Christ endured and overcame in view of the joy set before him. Let the same motive stimulate us to endure hardness as good soldiers, and afflictions as seeing him who is invisible, and to sacrifice and labor for others’ benefit to the extent of our power. My heart goes out after the dear workers in the cause as I read the weekly reports from the broad and whitening field. If encouragement from my poor pen could reach them, I would cheer their hearts and make them glad. I would say to each, Fear not, for God is with you; be not dismayed, for he is your God. Jesus in the sanctuary pleads for your success, the third angel with a host of associates watches over you, soon victory will come, and then the golden gates will welcome you. Thanks be to God, Joel’s trumpet is being blown in Zion. The alarm is sounding in God’s holy mountain, and soon the day of the Lord—the dark and cloudy day to all the wicked of the earth—will be here.