Homilist Zechariah 4:10 For who has despised the day of small things? for they shall rejoice… I. IT IS SELDOM WISE TO DESPISE "THE DAY OF SMALL THINGS." This is shown by history and observation. Look at nature. Into the hand of an infant may be put an acorn which shall be the parent of many forests. The Wye and the Severn may be turned whithersoever you please at their source, and a child may step over them. At their outset they are indebted to the very smallest possible rill, and even to the tears of rushes. Look at men. Rembrandt painted in a smithy; Pascal traced his Euclid with chalk; Wilkie drew his first rough sketch on the white-washed wails of his father's rooms with a burnt stick; and it was with a burnt stick on his father's barn door that one of Wales's most celebrated preachers learned to write. Luther was but the son of a miner, Carey a shoemaker, and Morrison a last maker! And who can help going back to the humble company of the Galilean fisherman who afterwards turned the world upside down. Sydney Smith made sport of the Baptist Missionary Society, because the first collection on its behalf was only £13, 2s. 6d.; and to come to a recent Lancashire political movement, who can forget the Anti-corn law league's "day of small things" and subsequent grand success? II. IT IS GENERALLY WRONG TO DESPISE "THE DAY OF SMALL THINGS." 1. There is a heartlessness in it. It is during "the day of small things" that men need sympathy and help. Johnson in composing his dictionary, and many others in all fields of labour. "To him that hath shall be given." At one point in a man's history, a kind word, a sympathising look, and a cordial grasp of the hand will be felt to be of more service than any amount of money at a subsequent stage in his career. 2. There is a cowardice in it. The cowardice of sneering at honest, well-meant efforts on a small scale. 3. There is an injustice in it. The injustice of withholding encouragement and praise from men who so act as to deserve success, whether they succeed or not. Blessed is the man who still believes that "wisdom is better than folly, though it fail to bring him bread during the reign of fools." The right — the Christian thing should take precedence of all calculations as to the scale of operations. The right must be weighed in its own scales — tested by its own standard.The extreme importance of not "despising the day of small things" in regard to — 1. The formation of bad and irreligious habits. 2. The formation of religious habits, and the cherishing of religious impressions and convictions. 3. The present attainments and spiritual stature of professing and real Christians. 4. The final prevalence of Christianity throughout the world. (Homilist.) Parallel Verses KJV: For who hath despised the day of small things? for they shall rejoice, and shall see the plummet in the hand of Zerubbabel with those seven; they are the eyes of the LORD, which run to and fro through the whole earth. |
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