A Drama in Five Acts

A Drama in Five Acts
A Sermon
(No. 481)
Delivered on Sunday Morning, November 23rd, 1862, by
Rev. C. H. SPURGEON,
At the Metropolitan Tabernacle, Newington
"But this I say, brethren, the time is short: it remaineth, that both
they that have wives be as though they had none; And they that weep, as
though they wept not; and they that rejoice, as though they rejoiced
not; and they that buy, as though they possessed not; And they that use
this world, as not abusing it: for the fashion of this world passeth
away."–1 Corinthians 7:29-31.
HOLY SCRIPTURE SELDOM gives a special rule for each particular case,
but it rather instructeth us by general principles applicable to all
cases. To meet every distinct moral emergency which could possibly
arise, and solve every separate problem of action, would require rather
a library than a volume. To men who are taught of the Spirit of God,
general principles are far more valuable than special precepts, and I
am half persuaded that it is so with all persons; for it is less
difficult to apply a general principle to a peculiar case than it is to
find out exactly what the particular case may be, and what the special
rule applicable to it. In writing to the Church at Corinth the apostle
had to answer several questions with regard to marriage; whether, for
instance, it was not better in those persecuting times, when men often
had to flee suddenly from their houses, that they should remain
unmarried; whether, again, supposing a person became a Christian after
marriage, it was lawful for him to separate from the person with whom
he was unequally yoked; and several other questions as to fitting
action in certain extraordinary positions. To these the apostle answers
with an "I suppose," or again, "Howbeit, for this speak I, not the
Lord;" as if he felt himself quite out of his element in attempting to
meet every case; but soon he lands on sure ground in the verses before
us, and seems to say, "Whatever may be the answers which I ought to
give to these special questions, of this one thing I am quite sure; I
say positively and without any doubt that the time is short, and
therefore it remaineth, whether ye are married or not, whether ye weep
or whether ye rejoice, whether ye buy or whether ye sell, that ye
should act in all these things as knowing, their temporary and
unsubstantial character."
Dear brethren, the important lesson which we endeavor to teach this
morning is just this–that because time is so short, and the things of
this world so frail and fleeting, it becomes us always to look at the
things which are seen in their true character, and never to build
substantial hopes on unsubstantial comforts, nor seek for solid joy
from unreal things.
In order that I may make this matter very plain, and may be the more
likely to enlist your attention, and to secure the friendship of your
memories in future years, I intend this morning to take you to a play.
Strange thing for me to do, who have never crossed the threshold of a
theater on any occasion, good or bad! Yet this morning I shall seat you
in front of the stage, and I shall put the worldling side by side with
you while the five acts are performed. I shall next invite you to
attend in the character of a Christian, to look through the whole and
discern its emptiness; then, in the third place, I shall point you to
the curtain which is quite sure to drop upon the scene; and then we
will walk out of this theater of unreal show, this fashion of this
world which passeth away, and see what there is to do in this world
which is real, practical, and lasting.
Do not suppose that the idea of taking you to a theater this morning is
original on my part; it is in my text. "The fashion of this world
passeth away,"–the word translated "fashion" is borrowed from the
changing scenes of the drama; where the splendid pageantry vanishes as
the scene changes. Nor will you think Holy Scripture too severe in its
comparison, when I remind you that one of the world's own poets has
said
"All the world's a stage,
And all the men and women merely players."
Nor will the most precise among you complain of the levity of a
metaphor which is sanctioned by Apostolic use; but I trust you will all
cheerfully listen, while in simple words I tell the story which the
bard of the sanctuary has sung in flowing verse.
"This life's a dream, an empty show;
But the bright world to which I go,
Hath joys substantial and sincere:
When shall I wake and find me there?"
I. WE WILL WITNESS "THE FASHION OF THIS WORLD" AS IT PASSES BEFORE US,
LISTENING TO THE WORLDLING'S COMMENT.
The first act introduces those that have wives. It opens with a
wedding. The bride and bridegroom advance to the altar in bridal
attire. The bells are ringing; crowds are cheering at the door, while
overflowing mirth is supreme within. In another scene we observe
domestic happiness and prosperity, a loving husband and a happy wife.
Yet, further on in the performance, rosy children are climbing the
father's knee; the little prattlers are lisping their mother's name.
"Now," says our companion as he gazes with rapture, "This is real and
enduring, I know it is; this will satisfy me; I crave for nothing more
than this. Home is a word as sweet as heaven, and a healthy happy race
of children is as fine a possession as even angels can desire. On this
rock will I build all my hope; secure me this portion, and I cheerfully
renounce the dreamy joys of religion." We whisper in his ear that all
this is but a changing scene, and will by-and-bye pass away, for time
is short, and wife and children are dying creatures. The man laughs at
us, and says, "Fanatics and enthusiasts may seek eternal joys, but
these are enough me." He believes that if there be anything permanent
in the universe it is marrying and being given in marriage, educating
and bringing up a family, and seeing them all comfortably settled. He
is right in valuing the blessing, but wrong in making it his all. Will
he see his error before the curtain falls? Or will he continue to found
the hopes of an immortal spirit upon dying joys? See the green mounds
in the cemetery, and the headstone, with "Here he lies." Alas for thee,
poor deluded worldling, where is thy soul now? Doth it console thee
that the dust of thine offspring shall mingle with thine ashes? Where
hast thou now a home? What family hast thou now to care for? The first
act is over; take breath and say, "This also is vanity."
The tenour of the drama changes, alas, how soon! Household joys are
linked with household sorrows. They that weep are now before us in the
second act. The cloudy and dark days have come. There are parents
wringing their hands; a beloved child has died, and they are following
its corpse to the tomb. Anon, the merchant has suffered a tremendous
loss; he puts his hand to his aching head and mourns, for he knows not
what will be the end of his troubles. The wife is smitten by the hand
of death; she lies on her bed, blanched with sickness and wan with
pain; there is a weeping husband at her side, and then there is another
funeral, and in the dim distance I see the black horses again and
again. The woes of men are frequent, and sorrow's visits are not, like
those of angels, few and far between. Our man of the world, who is much
moved at this second act, foreseeing his own sorrows therein, weeps,
until he fairly sobs out his feelings, clutches us with earnestness,
and cries, "Surely this is awfully real; you cannot call this a
fleeting sorrow or a light affliction. I will wring my hands for ever;
the delight of my eyes has been taken from me; I have lost all my joys
now; my beloved in whom I trusted has withered like a leaf in autumn
before my face; now shall I despair; I shall never look up again!" "I
have lost my fortune," says the afflicted merchant, "and distress
overwhelms me; this world is indeed a wilderness to me; all its flowers
are withered. I would not give a snap of my finger to live now, for
everything worth living for is gone!" Sympathising deeply with our
friend, we nevertheless venture to tell him that these trials to the
Christian, because they are so short and produce such lasting good, are
not killing sorrows. "Ah," says he, "you men of faith may talk in that
way, but I cannot; I tell you these are real things." Like an English
sailor, who, seeing a play, sprung upon the stage to help a lady in
distress, believing that the whole was real, so do such men weep and
sigh, as if they were to mourn for ever, because some earthly good has
been removed. Oh that they knew that the depths of sorrow were never
yet explored by a mortal mourner! Oh that they would escape from those
lower deeps where immortal spirits weep and wail amidst an emphasis of
misery! The sorrows of time are trifles indeed when compared with the
pains of everlasting punishment; and on the other hand we reckon that
they me not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be
revealed in us. They are but light afflictions, which are but for a
moment, a mere pin's prick to the man of faith. Happy is the man whose
eyes are opened to see that heirs of heaven sorrow not as those who are
without hope. A real joy of heavenly origin is ever with believers, and
it is but the shadow of sorrow which falls upon them. There let the
curtain drop–let us enter into an eternal state, and what and where
are these temporary griefs?
But the third act comes on, and presents us with a view of those who
rejoice. It may be that the first-born son has come of age, and there
are great festivities. They are eating and drinking in the servants'
hall, and in the master's banquet chamber; there are high notes of joy,
and many compliments, and the smiling sire is as glad as man can be. Or
it is the daughter's wedding, and kind friends implore a thousand
blessings on her head, and the father smiles and shares the joy. Or it
is a gain in business, a fortunate speculation; or the profits of
industry have come flowing in, slowly perhaps, but still surely, and
the man is full of rejoicing; he has a house, and home, and friends,
and reputation, and honor, and he is, in the eyes of all who know him,
happy; those who do not know him, think he has no cares, that he can
have no sorrows, that his life must be one perpetual feast, and that,
surely there can be no spot in his sun, no winter in his year, no ebb
to follow his floods. Our friend by our side is smiling at this sunny
picture. "There," says he, "is not that real? Why, there must be
something in that! What more do you want? Only let me get the same, and
I will leave you the joys of faith, and heaven, and immortality, to
yourselves; these are the things for me; only let me laugh and make
merry, and you may pray as you will. Fill high the bowl for me; put the
roast and the viands on the table, and let me eat and drink, for
to-morrow I die." If we gently hint to our friend that all this passes
away like a vision of the night, and that we have learned to look on it
as though it were not, he laughs us to scorn, and accounts us mad when
he is most mad himself. As for ourselves, so far from resting upon the
softest couch that earth can give us, we spurn its vain delights.
"There's nothing round this spacious earth
That suits my large desire;
To boundless joy and solid mirth
My nobler thoughts aspire.
Where pleasure rolls its living flood,
From sin and dross refined,
Still springing from the throne of God,
And fit to cheer the mind."
But the fourth act of the drama is before us, and they that buy demand
our attention. The merchant is neither a mourner nor a man of mirth; in
the eyes of certain Mammonites he is attending to the one thing
needful, the most substantial of all concerns. Here feast your eyes, ye
hard, practical, earth-scrapers. There are his money-bags; hear how
they thump on the table! There are the rolls of bonds, the banker's
books, the title-deeds of estates, mortgages and securities, and the
solid investment in his country's own console. He has made a good thing
of life, and still he adheres business, as he should do; and, like a
painstaking man, he is accumulating still and piling up his heap,
meanwhile adding field to field and estate to estate, till soon he will
possess a whole county. He has just now been buying a large and very
fine house, where he intends to spend the remainder of his days, for he
is about to retire from business; the layover is busy making out the
transfer; the sum of money is waiting to be paid, and the whole thing
is as good as settled. "Ah! now," says our friend, who is looking on at
the play, "you are not going to tell me that this is all a shadow? It
is not; there is something very solid and real here, at least,
something that will perfectly satisfy me." We tell him we dare say
there is something that will satisfy him, but our desires are of a
larger span, and nothing but the infinite can fill them. Alas for the
man who can find satisfaction in earthly things! It will be only for a
time; for when he comes to lie upon his dying-bed, he will find his
buyings and his sellings poor things wherewithal to stuff a dying
pillow; he will find that his gainings and his acquisitions bring but
little comfort to an aching heart, and no peace to a conscience
exercised with the fear of the wrath to come. "Ah, ah!" he cries, and
sneers sarcastically, putting us aside as only fit for Bedlam, "Let me
trade and make a fortune, and that is enough for me; with that I shall
be well content!" Alas, poor fool, the snow melts not sooner than the
joy of wealth, and the smoke of the chimney is as solid as the comfort
of riches.
But we must not miss the fifth act. See the rich man, our friend whom
lately we saw married, whom we then saw in trouble, afterwards
rejoicing and then prospering in business, has entered upon a green old
age; he has retired, and has now come to use the world. You will notice
that in my text this is the last act of the drama. The world says he
has been a wise man and has done well, for all men will praise thee
when thou doest well for thyself. Now he keeps a liberal table, a fine
garden, excellent horses, and many servants, he has all the comforts in
fact that wealth can command, and as you look around his noble park, as
you gaze at his avenue of fine old trees, or stay a day or two at the
family mansion and notice all its luxuries, you hear your friend
saying, "Ay, there is something very real here; what do you think of
this?" When we hint that the gray hairs of the owner of all these
riches betoken that his time is short, and that if this be all he has
he is a very poor man, for he will soon have to leave it, and that his
regrets in leaving will make his death more pitiable than that of a
pauper, our friend replies, "Ah! ah! you are always talking in this
way. I tell you this is not a play. I believe it is all real and
substantial, and I am not, by any talking of yours, to be made to think
that it is unsubstantial and will soon be gone." O world, thou hast
fine actors, to cheat men so well, or else mortal man is an easy fool,
taken in thy net like the fishes of the sea. The whole matter is most
palpably a mere show, but yet men give their souls to win it.
Wherefore, O sons of men, are ye thus beside yourselves? "Wherefore do
ye spend money for that which is not bread? and your labor for that
which satisfieth not?"
Dear friends, I have put before your mind's eye a fair picture of that
which men who live by sight and not by faith regard as being the chief
end of man, and the real object of his being. It is to be married; to
pass through the trials and joys of life with decency, to trade and
grow rich, and at last to use the comforts of this world without abuse:
a very comfortable and quiet picture, by no means the representation we
should have to present before you of the profligate, He profane, the
dissolute, or the debauched. There is nothing here but what is proper
and right, and yet everything is improper and everything becomes wrong
at once if these be thought to be the substantial things for which an
immortal spirit is to spend its fires, and for which an undying soul is
to exhaust its powers.
II. Let us now take the CHRISTIAN VIEW OF THIS DRAMA.
"Life is real; life is earnest:" it is real thus far to the Christian,
it is real for work and activity for God; it is real in the solemn
responsibility which it brings; it is real in the gratitude which we
owe to God for the comforts which he is pleased to bestow; it is real
to us so far as we can see God therein, and can turn everything to
God's glory. The unreality of this world to a Christian, is found in
the fact that time is short. This is the wand which torches the
substance and makes it, before the eye of wisdom, dissolve into a
shade. Time is short!
When the apostle declares that they that have wives, should be as
though they had none, he does not teach us to despise the marriage
state, but not to seek our heaven in it, nor let it hinder our serving
the Lord. It is supposed that there are some things which a man without
a wife and family can do–those things the man with a wife and family
should do. It is supposed that a man without a wife can give his time
to the cause of God: the man with a wife should do the same, and he
will not find it difficult to do so if God hath blessed him with one
who will second all his holy endeavors. It is supposed that a man
without a wife has no care: a man with a wife should have none, for he
should cast all his cares on God who careth for him. "He that careth
not for his own house is worse than a heathen man and a publican;" and
yet the apostle says, in the verse following my text, "But I would have
you without carefulness;" for we should learn to live by faith. The man
who has a large family, and many things to exercise his mind, should
yet, through the teaching of the Holy Spirit, lye as quietly and
comfortably as though he had none, depending and resting by simple
faith upon the providence and goodness of God. Then, again, it is
supposed that an unmarried man will find it easier to die, for there
will be none of that sorrow at leaving his beloved family: the man with
a wife and family should, by faith, find it just as easy since the
promise runs, "Leave thy fatherless children, and let thy widows trust
in me." Full of the same faithful tenderness and affection which
another husband would exhibit, and even excelling in love and kindness,
yet the Christian should look up to the divine Lord who is the husband
of the widow, and with confidence leave his offspring, and bid them
trust in his God. May God the Holy Ghost teach us how to walk in our
households, loving ever and yet remembering that all our kindred shall
pass away.
Again, there is the second act–weeping. Every Christian man must weep;
but the Apostle says that our sorrows are to be regarded by us, because
time is short, as though they were no sorrows at all. A man who knows
that his trials will not last long, can be cheerful under them. If he
sees a Father's hand in the midst of every adversity, and believes that
when he is tried he shall come forth like gold from the furnace; if he
knows with the Psalmist that "weeping may endure for the night, but
that joy cometh in the morning," why then grief has lost its weight,
and sorrow has lost its sting; and while the man weeps he yet rejoices,
seeing the rainbow of the covenant painted on the cloud. Happy man,
who, under bereavement, under crosses, and losses, can still cast his
burden upon God, and can say, "Although the fig tree shall not blossom,
neither shall fruit be in the vines; the labor of the olive shall fail,
and the fields shall yield no meat; the flock shall be cut off from the
fold, and there shall be no herd in the stalls: yet I will rejoice in
the Lord, I will joy in the God of my salvation!" The Christian man is
bound to live above his sorrows; he weeps, for "Jesus wept;" he may
mourn, for the faithful have been mourners often, but he must not so
mourn and weep as to be eaten up with grief; over the tops of the
rolling waves he must see the haven of peace, and rejoice evermore.
So is it in the third part. The Christian has his rejoicings, and he is
not forbidden to be happy; indeed, he is commanded to rejoice; and the
things of this life he may freely enjoy with the double zest of the
mercy itself, and of the God who gave it to him. But still, believer,
in all thy joys, remember to hold them with a loose hand. Never so hold
thy joys as if they were all in all to thee. Though it be wife, or
child, or property, or health, or wealth, or fame, still ever stand
ready to surrender all into thy Father's hand, feeling that these,
after all, are not thy joys; that thou hast better springs to drink
from than those which earth's summers can dry up, and that thou hast
rivers of pleasure deeper and broader than any which earth's winter
shall be able to freeze. Do thou still stand steadily to this, that, as
earth cannot cast thee down to despair, so it cannot lift thee up so as
to make thee forget thy God. Learn in these things to rejoice as though
thou hadst them not, and let this be thy solace, that thy name is
written in heaven.
So, too, in the matter of buying and possessing. It is not wrong for a
Christian to trade and to trade well. I cannot see any reason why a
Christian should be a fool; in fact, those who are fools in business
are very often a great dishonor to the Christian religion, for a fool
is very often first-cousin, if not father, to a knave. But, still,
while we buy and sell it should always be thus–"This is not my real
trade; this is not the way in which I really get rich, for my treasure
is beyond the skies, where moth devours not, and where rust cannot
consume." Handle these things, brethren, knowing that they take to
themselves wings and flee away; look at them as transient objects which
are to be used and sanctified in the passing, not your own, but lent to
you for a time; to be repaid at last, with interest, in the day when
the Master saith, "Give an account of thy stewardship, for thou mayest
be no longer steward." A man may be as rich as Croesus, and his wealth
will never hurt him if he does not hold it with a tight hand; and a man
may be as happy as happiness can make him here, and yet it will not
hurt him if he learns to keep it under his feet. But oh! when one's
rejoicings or possessions get the upper hand of us there is as dreadful
a drowning in a sea of pleasure as in a sea of misery. Keep before your
mind the words of our sweet singer–
"To thee we owe our wealth and friends,
And health, and safe abode;
Thanks to thy name for meaner things,
But they are not my God.
What empty things are all the skies,
And this inferior clod!
There's nothing here deserves my joys,
There's nothing like my God."
The last scene is the using of the things of this life. The creatures
of God are given us to be used. John the Baptist may be an ascetic, but
the Son of Man is come eating and drinking. The Christian man knows
that the mercies which God has given him are to be used, but while he
uses them he must use them as though he did not use them. That is a
high philosophy which I fear me not many of us have learned, the
philosophy of the apostle when he said, "I have learned in whatsoever
state I am, therewith to be content. I know both how to be abased, and
I know how to abound." That man is the fullgrown and true Christian
whom circumstances cannot alter! He trusts in God when he is penniless,
and he trusts in his God just the same when he is rich; he rests on God
when he can enjoy nothing, and he rests on him just the same when he
can enjoy everything; he learned to build on the Rock of Ages when he
had no comfort, and he builds on the Rock of Ages now, when he has
every comfort! This, I take it, is where the apostle would have us
brought. To the true Christian the things of this world are only real
so far as they involve responsibility; but, seeing that time is short,
he looks on life as men look upon a play; he sees a monarch strut, and
he says, "Ah! he is to pull off his robes behind the stage!" He sees a
peasant or a beggar, and he smiles and thinks of the time when the king
and the peasant shall be equal, and the servant and his lord shall
stand before one tribunal to give an account of the things done in the
body. Send your souls longing after real and unchanging joys, for these
splendid, gaudy, shifting scenes, mock the beholder and delude his
hopes. Gorgeous as the colors of the bubble, and quite as frail,
farewell ye worthless things, our spirit leaves you for eternal
mansions in the skies.
III. And now, dear friends, I want your attention a few minutes while I
point you to THE CURTAIN WHICH IS SOON TO DROP UPON ALL THESE THINGS,
it bears this short device, "TIME IS SHORT."
It is very difficult to keep men in mind of the fact that they are
mortal. We confess that we are mortal, but we profess by our actions
that we are immortal. Said a man of eighty-two concerning another of
seventy, when he wanted to buy his land and could not get it at the
price he wished–"Never mind, So-and-so is an old man, he will soon be
dead, and then I'll buy it." Though he was ten or twelve years older
than the other, yet the other must of course, soon die, while he, in
his own thoughts, must live for many a year. How short time is! Do we
not, dear friends, get more and more that impression? I am but young
compared with very many of you, yet the impression constantly grows
upon my mind. Why, it seems but the day before yesterday when I plucked
the first early primrose of spring, while the flowers were breaking up
from under the earth, and the buds were ready to burst from the sheath!
It was only as yesterday that we were walking in the fields and were
remarking that the corn was just beginning to be tinged with the golden
hue of harvest! Only a few Sabbaths ago I was talking to you of Ruth in
the harvest-fields, and of the heavily-laden waggon that was pressed
down with sheaves; and now the leaves are almost all gone; but few
remain upon the trees; these frosty nights and strong winds have swept
the giants of the forest till their limbs are bare, and the hoar frosts
plate them with silver. Then, before we shall have time to burn the
winter's log, we shall see the snow-drops and the yellow crocus
heralding another spring! At what a rate we whirl along! Childhood
seems to travel in a waggon, but manhood at express-speed. As we grow
older I am told that the speed increases till the gray-headed old man
looks back upon all his life as being but a day; and I suppose, if we
could live to be a hundred and thirty we should feel the same, till,
like Jacob, we should say, "Few and evil have been the days of thy
servant!" and, if we could live as long as Methuselah, I doubt not our
life would appear shorter still. How time flies, not only by the
measurement of the seasons, but by ourselves! A few days ago I trudged
with my satchel on my back to school, or joined in boyish sport. How
lately was it when the boy became a youth, and must be doing something,
and was teaching other boys as he had been taught in his day. It was
but yesterday I came to Park Street to address some few of you, and yet
how time has fled since then, till now some nine years of our ministry
have passed. No weaver's shuttle, no arrow from a bow, no swift post,
no meteor seems to fly at a rate so wonderful as does our life! We
heard of one the other day who had seen Wesley preach, and so we find
ourselves side-by-side with the last century, and those old people have
known some others in their youth who told them of the yet older time,
and you find that going through the history of some ten or twelve
persons you are carried back to the days of William the Conqueror, and
you see our country taken by the Normans, and then you fly back to
ancient British times as with a thought. You no longer say, "How long
the nation has existed!" for it is as a sleep. You stand by some old
cliff and see a deposit of shells, and as you remember that it may have
taken a million of years to have formed that bed, you think–"What is
man? and what is time? It is not here, but gone!" We have only to think
of what time is to conclude at once that time is not! It is but a
little interlude in the midst of the vast eternity; a narrow neck of
land jutting out into the great, dread, and unfathomable sea of
everlastingness!
But while time is thus short, its end is absolutely sure. That curtain
yonder must fall soon! It must fall; it is inevitable. I cannot prevent
my death by the most regular habits of life; the most skillful
physician cannot preserve my life for me; a host of angels, should they
swear to make me immortal, could not! When the time comes, die I must!
And, as my death is inevitable, so it may be very near. Let each man
remember that! How soon it may be we cannot tell! Every Sabbath there
are some in this house who are dead before the next Sabbath. I am not
now venturing a guess; it is a matter of fact, a matter of fact, too,
that comes under my own cognizance very frequently. According to our
population and the gradual number of deaths, there must be some out of
this congregation here this morning who will have gone the way of all
flesh before next Sabbath-day! There was one–I look at her seat now,
and a brother sitting near by looks there with sorrow!–who was with us
one Sabbath-day, and we soon heard that she had gone to enjoy the
Eternal Sabbath! At a Church-meeting last week, no less than three of
our sisters were reported as having fallen asleep in Jesus within a
week. Ah! how near is death to us! Perhaps he now stands looking over
thy shoulder, young man; God holds back his hand, but the dart of death
is close to thy heart, and soon,–ah, how soon!–may you be taken to
the place appointed for all living! Go, thou strong man, and remember
that thou art a mass of feebleness! Go, thou young man, and remember
that death reaps green corn! Go, thou old man, and expect the sickle!
And go, thou rich man, and remember that thou shalt soon leave
everything that thou hast, and then where art thou if thou hast no
treasure in heaven, if thou hast not laid up in store for immortality?
And I must add here that, to those who have no God, death, while
inevitable and very near, will be most awful and tremendous! There was
a dreadful story told in the papers of this last week. At the seaport
town of Garliestown one day last week, certain workmen were busy
preparing a better berth for a vessel which seems to have taken the
ground a little too soon. On a sudden some one raised a cry that the
ship was listing over, and while some four men were able to escape, one
poor fellow was unable to do so, and the ship fell upon his lower
extremities and loins. Now this was thought, perhaps, to be no great
danger, for they could take away the sludge and extricate him. So they
began to shore the ship, and willing hands brought ropes and blocks,
and wedges, and earnest strength. But they soon discovered that the
thing was impossible from the nature of the bottom of the river, and
from the position of the cargo, which, I suppose, they could not
speedily remove. The man was jammed under the bulwarks, and must remain
fixed there without hope. There was just one awful hour before the
coming tide would reach the spot. Well might a solemn hush succeed the
frantic labors of the townsmen as death was seen riding on the
advancing flood. The poor creature had to lie there that hour as the
tide came gently in. A minister stood his side praying with him; let us
trust that his soul found peace with God! But O the terror of his
position; well might he say, "Cover my head, that I may not see the
water." Steadily the cold unpitying waters flowed on until a corpse was
hidden where an hour or so before a strong man labored. This is a
graphic picture of the position of every ungodly man! He does not know
it, but the waves of time are coming up about him now, and we cannot
help him to escape. The load of his sins is on his loins: he cannot
deliver himself; the great waters of God's wrath must swallow him up
quick. O, sinner, would that I could save thee! Alas, it is not in my
power! But there is an arm that can deliver thee; there is one who can
lift the burden off thee, and say to thee, "Be free!" Believe in him
and thou shalt never die! Trust thou in his power and rest thyself on
his love, and thou shalt escape as a bird out of the snare of the
fowler; and when death cometh it shall be no death to thee, but a
peaceful migration from the land of shadows to the world of substance.
God help us to be wise, that we may remember our latter end!
I would say a few more words to the sinner. I cannot think, O
worldling, why thou shouldest love this world so much when it is so
soon to vanish! In the old Greek cities they had a king every year,
and, because it was so poor a thing to be a king for only one year and
then to be a common man again, all the citizens dreaded to be kings.
How canst thou long to be rich, when thou art only to be rich for so
short a time? When the sailor is just about to furl his sail because he
is near the port, he will not fret himself with some little
inconvenience in the ship; and wherefore art thou so sore vexed with
all these little trials, when thou art so near the eternal haven? When
men buy property on a short lease, they will not give much for it, for
they are only to have it for a brief term; wherefore spendest thou thy
soul to buy this world? What will it profit thee, if thou gain it, if
thy soul be lost? When men have a house and they are soon to leave it,
they will not lay out much in repairing it; wherefore, then, caress
thou so much for thy body? Why mindest thou so much this life; the bell
is even now trembling to toll for thee, and the grave is yawning that
it may swallow thee up? Oh man! Oh man! I would that thou wert wise!
Thou art to live for ever, for ever, for ever, either
"In flames that no abatement know,
Though briny tears for ever flow."
or else in joy beyond degree. Which shall it be with thee, man? If thou
diest as thou art, O sinner, remember, there remaineth nothing for thee
but a fearful looking for of judgment and of fiery indignation! I pray
thee by the love of God, to consider thy ways. Thus saith the Lord unto
thee this day by my lips, as truly as he spake to Hezekiah by the
prophet of old, "Set thy house in order, for thou shalt die and not
live." How wilt thou stand, sinner, in the day when the Lord cometh to
make inquisition for sin, and to avenge their iniquity upon the heads
of the unpardoned? Fly, sinner; God help thee by his grace to fly now
to yonder open door, where Jesus waits to receive thee and to put away
thy sin. Whosoever believeth on him is not condemned. Like as Moses
lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so the Son of man is
lifted up that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have
everlasting life.
IV. Come, come, ye wise men, rise and leave this theater, we have seen
enough of it. "The fashion of this world passeth away;" and for you and
for me happy shall it be when it shall have passed away for ever. But
is there nothing real? Can I do nothing real here? Is there nothing I
can do that shall last for ever? Yes, the soul is lasting. Then let me
see to my own soul. Let me make my calling and election sure, for I
shall have been of all fools the most mad, if I shall have trifled with
these things and yet have neglected my soul. The Roman emperor,
Claudius, once invaded Great Britain, but his performance only
consisted of gathering pebbles and shells from the sea-coast. This
shall be my triumph, this my sole reward, if here in this world I live
only to gather wealth. At the last I shall be as though I gathered
pebbles, for these things shall be of no value to me if my soul shall
perish. O Lord, by thy rich grace set me upon a sure foundation, and
make me right before thy face.
Yes, there are some real things besides my own soul. There are other
men's souls. What am I doing for them? Am I teaching, am I preaching,
or, if I am not doing this, am I helping others to preach? Am I doing
my best to add to the kingdom of Christ by the ingathering of
immortals? Have I a sphere in the ragged school or in tract
distributing, or am I helping in some way or other to do good? For, if
not, my life is a play, I am doing nothing real; I am only hurrying
here and there, and when it comes to the last I shall have been as a
workmen that has neglected his own work to play with children in the
streets! Dig up your buried talents, O idlers. Work while it is called
to-day, O ye who are given to slumber.
Yes, there is something real–there is Christ's Church. The Church that
is to shine like the stars in heaven for ever, the Bride of the
Lamb–what am I doing for Her? Do I seek the good of Jerusalem? As a
member of the Church, do I contribute to its strength? Do I give of my
substance to her efforts, and of my talents to her doings? Do I cast
myself wholly into the arms of Christ, and work for him! Yes, there is
something real–Jesus is so. Am I glorifying him here on earth? When I
see him in his poor people, do I feed him? When he shivers at my door
in the garb of poverty, do I clothe him? When I know that he hath need,
do I visit him? If so, I am doing real things. If I devote my life to
God, to Christ, to his Church, to the souls of men, and if my own soul
is saved, then I am living; but if not, I am dead while I live. "Let us
live while we live!" Alas! how many are dying while they live,
drivelling while they live! Oh! the scores of pounds we spend on
ourselves; the hundreds we give to our own comfort! And where is that?
It is gone like smoke! But that which is given to God lasts and
endures; it is treasured up in God's bank; that which is given to the
poor and needy is made–though unrighteous mammon–to be treasured up
in heaven! But I know many practical persons will say, "Yes, this is a
very pretty speech for a young minister; but these ministers do not
understand business; they cannot be expected to understand temporal
matters." I would to God ye understood them half so well, for our
understanding in this matter we know is sound; and when you shall come
to see these things in the light of eternity streaming between the
curtains of your dying bed, you will understand, then, that there was
nothing worth living for but God, and Christ, and his Church; and you
will give your verdict then with mine to this, that truly to live must
be Christ, or else to die never can be gain!
God add his blessing, and may some be led to trust in Jesus this
morning!