The Seed Sown and the Harvest Reaped

“And Philip ran thither to him, and heard him read the prophet Esaias, and said, Understandest thou what thou readest?” etc. — Acts VIII. 30-39.

SOMETIMES a sermon is reported and published word for word in full. At other times the report gives, in a more or less condensed form, the substance of the discourse. We possess a report of Philip’s discourse delivered that day in the desert to a solitary listener, but it is in an abbreviated form. It is the briefest report of a sermon that I ever saw; and yet it is the most complete. It is a wonderful example of much in little. “He preached unto him Jesus.” One precious word expresses the doctrine which the evangelist taught: that word is “J esus.” The matter of the sermon lies all in that one blessed name. But even that is not enough. The saving doctrine contained in this name was pressed on the heart and conscience of the hearer. It was not only Jesus; but Jesus unto him, then and there.

It is perhaps at this latter point that most of our preaching fails. In evangelical Churches there is a full declaration of the gospel. There is much sound exposition. All that is implied in the name Jesus, is exhibited skilfully and faithfully before the multitude. But the ministry often halts for want of courage to press Jesus upon the conscience of every man. The outspread sun-rays make all the ground bright; but the concentration of the rays on a spot makes that spot burn. Under the skilful preaching of Philip, the Ethiopian felt that Christ Jesus was then offered and pressed upon him the same as if there had not been another man in the world, the same as if the Son of God had come for the single purpose of redeeming him from sin, and leading him into holy rest.

While preaching depends effectually on the demonstration of the Spirit, it depends subordinately and instrumentally on the pointed application of the gospel method to the heart of the listener as if he were the only listener, and as if the Lord from heaven stood before him demanding an immediate answer. This home preaching took instant effect. The Ethiopian understood the message, and accepted Christ. He believed, was baptised, and went on his way rejoicing.

“He went on his way.” He must tread the desert although he is now a son of God and an heir of glory. He is not instantly carried home. He pursues his journey under the hot sun, and upon the hot sand. When Christ prayed for his disciples, he said, “I pray not that thou shouldest take them out of the world, but that thou shouldest keep them from the evil.” The winter is as cold and the summer as warm to Christ’s disciples as to other men. They pass through fire and water; but the Father brings them to a wealthy place at last.

The Ethiopian began that journey before he had found and accepted the Saviour; and now that he is in Christ a new creature, he does not stop or turn aside. He will complete the journey: when he reaches home he will do homage to his sovereign, enter his office, examine his books, give audience to his subordinates, and generally attend to all the duties of his high office in the kingdom.

Here is a useful lesson for Christians of all ranks and in all times. If your business was lawful and honest before, you need not desert it when you become a Christian. A child at school, a servant in the house, a clerk in the counting-room, a labourer in the field, a mechanic in the workshop, a. seaman before the mast, a merchant in the exchange, need not desert his calling when he enters a new life of faith.

Some people indeed must abandon their calling when they come to Christ. If the business has been sinful and injurious, the man will not remain in it an hour after he has become a new creature. Those fortune-tellers who haunted the precincts of the temple at Ephesus gave up their trade as soon as they believed. They came to the apostles to confess their wickedness and to burn their books. They gave up their trade and their stock-in-trade because, as soon as their minds were enlightened, they perceived that they were involved in an occupation which offended God and injured men. This becomes a test of truth in men, and an instrument of glory to God. Many a mischievous business has been abandoned and many an unjust gain abjured, when the eyes of an evildoer’s understanding have been enlightened and his heart made new.

But this Ethiopian gentleman would probably do more good by going home and conducting his business, than if he had abandoned his office and followed Philip northward. The Lord has need of witnesses everywhere, in schools and workshops, in families, in evening parties, in halls of judgment and legislation, in the army, and in ships at sea. Everywhere the earth is corrupt and needs salt. Every true Christian is a grain of salt; and for the world’s good the salt must be distributed, so as to be in contact with evil at every point. It behoves every disciple to have always his savour in him, for he does not know how “soon and how often the Lord may have need of him as a witness to truth.

He went on his way rejoicing. Reader, did any one ever whisper in your ear that though religion may be safe to die with, it is sad and melancholy to live in? Meet the enemy with the Master’s own reproof: “Get thee behind me, Satan, for thou savourest not the things which be of God, but the things which be of men.” It is not a sorrowful thing even for this world to know that the next is all your own. It is not a sad thing for any part of your pilgrimage over time to be assured that a place is prepared for you at the journey’s end — a place in the mansions of the Father’s house, purchased, prepared by him who loved you. It is not fitted to damp your joy in youth to have a hope each time you lie down to sleep that if you should not awake in this life you would awake in heaven. This Abyssinian prince did not wait till his dying day for the beginning of his gladness in Christ — he began to rejoice the moment he believed; and it is the nature of that light to shine more and more unto the perfect day.

Observe, as a closing lesson, what power a thirsting soul exerts, not over earth, but over heaven. An empty human heart, longing for the living water, can command all the fulness of the Godhead for its supply. There could not be rest in heaven while the eyes of that dignified negro were filled with tears and straining upward in the desert of Gaza. It is said of Jesus once in his personal ministry that “he must needs go through Samaria.” What power laid that necessity on the Son of God? Ah! the power was unseen by men, but felt by men’s Redeemer. A poor sinful woman at Sychar was thirsty, and he must cast himself in her way. So here, Heaven could not be still while the Ethiopian suffers from an unquenched soul- thirst on earth.

The drawing power of that longing soul was great beyond all calculation. It not only drew Philip away from his successful ministry in the cities; it drew forgiving love from its fountain in the eternal God.

In certain sandy tracts, both of Africa and America, where no rain ever falls, travellers sometimes fall in with a living plant. The sand is dry in which it is rooted, but it is not a dry root; it is a succulent herb. Its leaves are thick and full of sap. When they are cut, a stream of water flows from their veins to refresh the traveller.

How comes this? So far from being left in want, that lowly herb in the Sahara has all the waters of the Atlantic at its disposal. Although chained to the spot, and apparently doomed to die of thirst, it can draw a supply at will from earth and sea. A multitude of microscopic mouths open on the surface of every leaf. These, as they open and shut like the lips of a panting animal, suck the air that leans on their surface — suck from the air what moisture it contains. The air, divested of a portion of its moisture, draws from the distant ocean to fill the void. Thus the little lonely plant in the heart of the continent, growing in a rainless waste, by the mere silent, passive power of emptiness, draws its supply from the world’s great reservoir without stint. The mighty deep is compelled to part with its plenty, in order to supply the wants of the solitary, feeble herb.

Be of good cheer, disciples of the Lord Jesus, ye are of more value in his esteem than many succulent plants of the African desert. Blessed are they that thirst, for they shall be satisfied. Seek, and ye shall find. When I am weak, then am I strong. In the emptiness of a soul, feeling its want, and longing for supply, resides a power which will draw the water of life from the throne of God and of the Lamb.