Page:A semi-centenary discourse.djvu/15

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progression, is the seal of God itself, whereby is stamped the likeness and image of that Being who gave to Moses the command Go forward. It does seem that God, through every progress made, whether in the arts or sciences, whether in the church or state, only reiterates what he said to Moses whilst they were resting before Baal Zephon. And from amid this world of life, where all are in commotion, and each one agitated upon its troubled bosom, pushing his way through the laboring multitudes, shall we single out the Christian man and say to him as the representative of a class of that busy world, you are an exception, whilst others should go forward you may stand still: this can never be; the Christian man can no more stand idle amid the conflicts of life than the earth on which he dwells can cease its revolutions and exist. Every one of us has work to do, around us as well as within us. We begin in childhood to act our part upon the stage of life: as we grow in age, in size, in strength, so grows our labor; as we develop our physical and mental man, so must we produce qualifications necessary for the employments and engagements of life, every man for his calling, as Paul records it. "But the manifestation of the spirit is given to every man to profit withal: for to one is given, by the spirit, the word of wisdom; to another the word of knowledge, by the same spirit; to another faith, by the same spirit; to another the gifts of healing, by the same spirit; to another the working of miracles; to another prophecy; to another discerning of spirits; to another divers kinds of tongues; to another the interpretation of tongues: but all these worketh that one and the selfsame spirit, dividing to every man severally as he will." There is therefore an obligation upon every Christian professor, a necessity of going forward in every calling,