God's work recognised.
"They perceived that this work was wrought of our God." The work which had been done was so great; it had been accomplished by so feeble a people, in spite of so much opposition and so many obstacles, and in so short a time, that the people around, even those most opposed, could not but recognise that the God of Israel had wrought with his servants. The work of Christ's servants may produce a similar impression on others, not only fellow Christians, but those without. It is much to be desired that our work should be of such a kind, and so favoured of God, as to make such an impression.
I. WHEN IS GOD'S HAND APPARENT IN THE WORK OF HIS PEOPLE?
1. When the work done is manifestly good in itself. This can hardly be said of the merely outward: of the erection of churches, however grand and beautiful; of the maintenance of imposing services; of the gathering of great crowds, or the making of mere proselytes. Such work may spring from good and tend to good; but it may not. Merely human motives and impulses, perhaps quite unchristian, may explain all. But when the bad become good, and the good become eminently so; when through Christian teaching and influence the licentious become pure, drunkards sober, the proud humble, the selfish benevolent, the harsh kind; when a Christian people shines in the beauty of the loftiest Christian holiness and love, and especially in those practical virtues which all can appreciate, then the conviction is likely to be produced on others that God is working in and by them.
2. When the work done is extensive. Whole neighbourhoods, a whole class of irreligious and morally degraded men, have sometimes been transformed by the preaching of the gospel; even a nation to a great extent quickened and elevated. He must be blinded by sin or the worst bigotry who fails to see in such changes the agency of God.
3. When such beneficial changes are wrought very rapidly. As the work to which the text refers.
4. When serious difficulties and formidable opposition are overcome.
5. When the work proves lasting.
6. When the human instrumentality is manifestly insufficient to account for the results.
II. THE EFFECTS WHICH THE PERCEPTION OF GOD's HAND IN SUCH WORK WILL PRODUCE.
1. On the workers. Gratitude, humility, encouragement to labour on.
2. On fellow Christians. Praise to God. Recognition of the workers as their brethren. Prayer for them. Congratulations and good wishes. Co-operation if practicable. At least respect, and the withholding of censorious criticism.
3. On those desiring good for themselves. Attraction toward such people. "We will go with you, for we have heard"—nay, we see—"that God is with you."
4. On enemies. Discouragement, mortification, perhaps abandonment of active opposition (see Exodus 14:25); perhaps transformation into friends and fellow workers, which is best of all.
In conclusion—
1. The evidences of Divine agency in Christianity and its effects should be seriously pondered by unbelievers.
2. Blindness to God's agency in the work of Christians is a fearful symptom. Yet it is found in some who profess to be Christians in respect to the work of those who "follow not with" them. Let them beware lest they become partakers of the guilt of those highly religious men of our Lord's day who saw not God in the works of Christ, but ascribed them to the agency of the devil, and whom he warned against, if he did not pronounce guilty of the unpardonable sin of "blasphemy against the Holy Ghost."
3. Let all Christians pray for such manifestations of the power of the Holy Spirit in the Church as shall produce general conviction of his agency. The ordinary condition of our Churches, and results of their work, are, alas, little fitted to produce such a conviction. "Awake, awake, put on strength, O arm of the Lord; awake, as in the ancient days, in the generations of old."
HOMILIES BY W. CLARKSON