Are You Prepared To Die?
A SERMON PREACHED BY C. H. SPURGEON, AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE
NEWINGTON.
"How will you do in the swelling of Jordan?" Jeremiah 12:5.
CANAAN may be considered as a type of two states or conditions in the
Christian's life. It was the land of rest to the children of Israel
after a weary pilgrimage in the wilderness. Now it is written that "we
who believe do enter into rest." A true Christian possessed of strong
faith will not have a wilderness state on earth so much as a land
flowing with milk and honey because his faith will give him the
substance of things hoped for and be the evidence of things not seen.
Many disciples live a life of depression, wretchedness, and discomfort
which would be completely changed if they had faith in God and lived a
higher life of devotedness and love.
Canaan may be fairly considered as a type of that better state of
Christianity which some enjoy. It is not altogether free from ills. The
Canaanite dwells in the land and there are still wars and fights, but
there is rest and there is the spirit of service developing itself in
the cultivation of the promised land. But Canaan is generally used to
shadow forth "the rest which remains for the people of God" beyond the
skies. Heaven is thus frequently described as corresponding to the
earthly inheritance of the Jews.
It is our hope–the end of our pilgrimage. It contains our Jerusalem
and the temple "not made with hands." When this is the view taken of
the type, then Jordan is not unnaturally likened unto death. Its dark
waters are made to picture forth to our minds the chill stream through
which we wade in our dying hour. It is a beautiful emblem and we have
all doubtless often sung Dr. Watt's hymn with much feeling–
"There is land of pure delight,
Where saints immortal reign.
Infinite day excludes the night,
And pleasures banish pain.
There everlasting spring abides,
And never-withering flowers.
Death, like a narrow sea, divides
This hea venly land from ours."
Taking "the swelling of Jordan" to represent the precise time of death,
the question really is what shall we do when we come to die? "How will
you do in the swelling of Jordan?"
I. We notice, in the first place, that this is an EXCEEDINGLY PRACTICAL
QUESTION. "How will you do?" is the enquiry. There are some subjects
which are more or less matters of pure faith and personal feeling. And
though all Christian doctrines bear more or less directly upon the
Christian life, yet they are not what is commonly meant by practical
subjects. Our text, however, brings us face to face with a matter which
is essentially a matter of doing and of acting– it asks how we mean to
conduct ourselves in the hour of death.
We sometimes hear the remark made by those who object to doctrinal
preaching that we are too speculative and utter our own opinions which
feed men's fancies but do not regulate their life. Now we believe that
every promise leads to a precept and every doctrine has its duty–so we
will not admit the justice of the insinuation even if we did preach
doctrine entirely to the exclusion of the Commandments–which we
emphatically deny. But here we have, at any rate, a topic practical
enough. I am only afraid it will be a little too much so for some! They
will turn it into a sentiment and a feeling and not act upon it so as
to put it into practice and exemplify its power in after days.
Christians may differ with me on some points, but I am sure that here
we are united in belief–we must die and ought not to die unprepared.
There is a divergence of opinion as to what we ought to do at the
commencement of our
Christian life–I maintain that we ought to follow Christ and be
immersed in water, "for thus it becomes us to fulfill all
righteousness." Others oppose that as being unnecessary, inexpedient,
or what not. We differ at the beginning of life, but we agree in the
end–we must die. And we all want to die the death of the righteous and
to have our last end like his.
II. We notice, in the second place, that it is UNDOUBTEDLY A PERSONAL
QUESTION. How will you do? It individualizes us and makes us, each one,
to come face to face with a dying hour. Now we all need this and it
will be well for each one of us to look for a minute into the grave. We
are too apt to regard all men as mortal but ourselves. Somehow we can
see frailty of life as well as all the other frailties which we possess
in common much more clearly in other people than we can in ourselves.
We are far too much blind to our own weakness and shall do well to ask
ourselves, each of us, "My Soul, how will you do in the swelling of
Jordan?" The ancient warrior who wept because before a hundred years
were passed he knew his immense army would be gone and not a man remain
behind to tell the tale, would have been wiser if he had wept also for
himself and left his bloody wars alone and lived as a man who must one
day die and find after death a day of judgment! Each one of you must
die. If I were addressing an assembly of the sages of the world, I
should say, "All your combined wisdom cannot lengthen the days of one
of you even a single minute. You may reckon the distance of the stars
and weigh worlds, but you cannot tell me when one of you will die, nor
how many grains of sand are left behind in the hourglass of time which
shows the exit of each spirit from the world."
I say now to you, the wisest of you must die! And you know not but that
you may die before long. So with the mightiest and the richest of men.
Samson was mastered by a stronger than man and the wealthiest of men
cannot bribe Death to delay his dart for a single hour. We all come
into the world one by one and will go out of it alone, also. Loved ones
come to the brink of the dark stream, but there they shake hands and
say, "farewell," and we go on alone. The Prophet's companion and
successor followed his master till the fiery chariot came to take his
leader away. And when the messengers of God came they left the servant
behind, vainly crying, "My father, my father! The chariot of Israel and
the horsemen thereof."
We had better, therefore, take the question up as individuals–seeing
that it is one in which we shall be dealt with singly and be unable,
then, to claim or use the help of an earthly friend. I put to the
young, to the old–to the rich, to the poor–to each one of this vast
assembly! I put it as if we were alone before our God–"How will you do
in the swelling of Jordan?"
III. As a third thought we call attention to the fact that it is one of
the MOST SOLEMN questions. Death and life are stern and awful
realities. To say that anything "is a matter of life and death" is to
bring one of the most emphatic and solemn subjects under our notice.
Now the question we are considering this morning is of this character
and we must deal with it as it becomes us–as a subject involving the
everlasting interest of souls. The question is of infinite importance
to all, but there are some whose case is manifestly such that they need
to gird up the loins of their minds and address themselves to its
consideration with intense thought and care.
Let me call attention to one or two cases–for while I wish to stir up
all–I am bid to have special compassion on some, making a difference,
so that I may pluck them as brands out of the fire. I have been curious
enough to think that I should like to ask that question of a Jew, of
one who rejects Christ as the Messiah. "How will you do in the swelling
of Jordan?" According to the Law, and it is that under which every Jew
is born, "Cursed is everyone that continues not in all things that are
written in the book of the Law to do them."
Now there never was and never will be any man who did, or could,
"continue in all things written in the book of the Law to do them"! And
consequently every man becomes accursed. And it must be a dreadful
thing for a man to think of dying under the curse and ban of his own
religious faith! And yet every Jew is so cursed by his own book of
Law– accursed forever! What comfort will that yield him when he comes
to the swelling of Jordan? I have thought, too, that I should like to
ask the atheist, the unbeliever, this question, "How will you do in the
swelling of Jordan?"
He tells me, perhaps, that he believes in annihilation–he will need
comfort when he is lying upon that last weary bed. Will he get it out
of that well? The dreary blank of total destruction, of ceasing to
be–is there anything to help a spirit when it lies where it most wants
consolation, tossing to and fro in pain and weakness? I think not. I
should like also to put the question to a Roman Catholic–how will he
do "in the swelling of Jordan?"
Some time ago, you will remember, a Prince of the Catholic Church
departed–where did he go? I am not versed in such matters and should
not like to judge anybody's soul, but on the coffin of the Cardinal we
find a request that we would pray for his soul–and there have been
masses said for its repose. It is evident, therefore, that the
Cardinal's soul went somewhere where it needs praying for and to some
place where it is not in repose. Now if this is to be the lot for a
Cardinal Archbishop, there is but a poor outlook for an ordinary
professor of the same faith! If a prince in the church dies and does
not go to Heaven as we have been hoping, not to eternal rest–but to a
place where he needs our intercession and where he has no repose for
his soul–why then it must be dreadful work to die with such a creed as
that!
I would sooner have beneath my head the most prickly thorn bush than
have that for my dying pillow! Oh, we want something better than this!
We desire a hope more rapturous, more Divine, more full of immortality
than the certainty of going to a place where there is no repose and
where our souls need the prayers of sinful men on earth! But I do not
know that we have very much to do with any of these–they must "gang
their am gait"–they must go their own way. And if they are found wrong
at the last, we are sorry that it should be so. Our own business is
certainly the first matter in hand. Therefore, forgetting them, let the
question come to each of us, "How will you do in the swelling of
Jordan?"
IV. Remember, in the fourth place, that this question was put by way of
REBUKE to the Prophet Jeremiah. He seems to have been a little afraid
of the people among whom he dwelt. They had evidently persecuted him
very much, mocking him and laughing him to scorn. But God tells him to
make his face like flint and not to care for them, for, says He, "If
you are afraid of them, how will you do in the swelling of Jordan?"
This ought to be a rebuke to every Christian who is subject to the fear
of man. I do not believe that any preacher will be long in his pulpit
without having the temptation to be afraid of some man or another. And
if he does not stand very firmly upon his integrity he will find some
of the best of his friends getting the upper hand with him. And this
will never do with God's minister. He must deal out God's Word
impartially to rich or poor, to good or bad. And he must determine to
have no master except his Master who is in Heaven–no bit nor bridle
for his mouth except that of prudence and discretion–which God Himself
shall put there.
If we are afraid of a man that shall die and the son of man that is
crushed before the moth, how fearful shall we be when we have to talk
with the grim king of terrors! If we are afraid of puny man, how shall
we be able to face it out before the dread ordeal of the Day of
Judgment? Yet I know some Christians that are very much abashed by the
world's opinion–by the opinion of their family circle–or of the
workshop. Now what does it matter, after all? There is an old proverb,
that "he is a great fool that is laughed out of his coat." And there
was an improvement on it, that "he was a greater fool who was laughed
out of his skin."
And there is another, that "he is the greatest fool of all who is
laughed out of his soul." He that will be content to be damned in order
to be fashionable pays dearly, indeed, for what he gets. Oh, to dare to
be singular, if to be singular is to be right! But if you are afraid of
man, what will you do in the swelling of Jordan? The same rebuke might
be applied to us when we get fretful under the little troubles of life.
You have losses in business, vexations in the family–you all have
crosses to carry–but my text comes to you and it says, "If you cannot
bear this, how will you do in the swelling of Jordan? If your religion
is not equal to the ordinary emergencies of common days, what will you
do when you get to that extraordinary day which will be to you the most
important day of your being?"
Come Friends, be not bowed down with these things! Bear them cheerfully
since there is much sterner work to do than any that you have met with
in the battle of life. And the same reproof might come to us when we
get petulant under pains of body. There are some of us who, as soon as
we get a little sick, become so fretful that those who like us best are
farthest from us! We can scarcely have a little depression of spirit
but straightway we are ready to give up all for lost and like Jonah,
say, "We do well to be angry even unto death." Now this ought not to
be! We should quit ourselves like men and not be perturbed with these
little rivulets–for if these sweep us away, what shall we do when
Jordan is swollen to the brim and we have to pass through that?
When one of the martyrs, whose name is the somewhat singular one of
Pommily, was confined previous to his burning, his wife was also taken
up upon the charge of heresy. She, good woman, had resolved to die with
her husband and she appeared, as far as most people could judge, to be
very firm in her faith. But the jailer's wife, though she had no
religion, took a merciful view of the case as far as she could do so
and thought, "I am afraid this woman will never stand the test. She
will never burn with her husband–she has neither faith nor strength
enough to endure the trial." Therefore, one day calling her out from
her cell, she said to her, "Lass, run to the garden and fetch me the
key that lies there."
The poor woman ran willingly enough. She took the key up and it burned
her fingers, for the jailer's wife had made it red hot. She came
running back crying with pain. "Yes, Wench," said the jailer's wife,
"if you cannot bear a little burn in your hand, how will you bear to be
burned in your whole body?" And this, I am sorry to add, was the means
of bringing her to recant the faith which she professed, but which
never had been in her heart.
I apply the story thus–If we cannot bear the little trifling pangs
which come upon us in our ordinary circumstances which are, as it were,
the burning of our hands, what shall we do when every pulse beats pain
and every throb is an agony and the whole tenement begins to crumble
about the spirit that is so soon to be disturbed? Come, let us pluck up
courage! We have yet to fight the giant! Let us not be afraid of these
dwarfs! Let the ordinary trials of every day be laughed to scorn! In
the strength of Divine Grace, let us sing with our poet–
"Weak as I am, yet through Your strength, I all things can perform."
For if we cannot bear these, how will we do in the swelling of Jordan?
This is what the text was originally meant to teach. We will now use it
for a further purpose.
V. The question may be put as A MATTER OF CAUTION. In this assembly
there are some who have no hope, no faith in Christ. Now I think if
they will look within at their own experience they will find that they
are by no means completely at ease. The pleasures of this world are
very sweet, but how soon they sour if they do not sicken the appetite!
After the night of merriment there is often the morning of regret. "Who
has woe? Who has redness of eyes? They that tarry long at the wine.
They that go to seek mixed wine."
It is an almost universal confession that the joys of earth promise
more than they perform and that in looking back upon them the wisest
must confess with Solomon, "Vanity of vanities, all is vanity." Now if
these things seem to be vanity while you are in good bodily health, how
will they look when you are in sickness? If vanity while you can enjoy
them, what will they appear when you must say farewell to them all? If
it were vanity to the rich man while he was clothed in purple and fine
linen and fared sumptuously every day, what greater vanity it must have
been when it was said, "This night your soul shall be required of you:
then whose shall those things be which you have provided?"
How will you do in Jordan when these joys shall vanish and there shall
be a dreary blank before you? Moreover, you feel already that
conscience pricks you. You cannot live without God and be perfectly at
ease unless you are one of those few who are given up to judicial
blindness and hardness of heart. You could not take an hour quietly to
think about yourself and your state and yet go to your bed easily. You
know right well that the only way some of you can keep your peace of
mind at all is by going from one gay assembly to another and from one
party of frolic to another, or else from business to business and from
care to care.
Your poor soul, like the infant which is to be cast into Moloch's arms,
cries, and you do not hear its cries because you drown it with the
noisy drums of this world's pleasures and cares. But still you are not
at rest–there is a worm in your fair fruit–there are dregs at the
bottom of your sweetest cups and you know it. Now, if even now you are
not perfectly at peace–if in this land of peace wherein you have
trusted you are getting weary of these things–then "how will you do in
the swelling of Jordan?"
Moreover, you sometimes have, if I am not mistaken, very strange
apprehensions. I have known some of the most reckless sinners who have
had fearful times when nobody could cheer them when a certain fearful
looking of judgment has haunted them. The most superstitious people in
the world are those who are the most profane. It is a strange thing
that there is always that weak point about those who seem to be most
hardened. But you that are not thus hardened–you know that you dare
not look forward to death with any pleasure–you cannot! To go to the
grave is never very joyous work with you. Yes, and if you were certain
that there could be no more death, it would be the best news that you
had ever heard! But to some of us it would be the worst that could ever
come.
Ah, well! If the very thought of death is bitter, what will the reality
be? And if to gaze at it from a distance is too hard a thing for your
mind, what will it be to pass under its yoke–to go through its dark
valley, to feel its dart–to know that the poison is rankling in your
veins? What will you do? "How will you do in the swelling of Jordan?"
Well, I shall not describe what you will do, though I have seen it and
you must have seen it, too. Sometimes a man dies at ease, like a sheep,
because he has been dosed with the opium of self-confidence. At other
times the man is awakened and sees the dreadful doom to which death is
driving him and starts back and shrinks from the wrath to come and
cries and shrieks– and perhaps swears that he will not die! And yet
die he must–dragged down to that place where he must lift up his eyes
to see nothing that can give him hope–nothing that can take away the
sharpness of his anguish.
I leave this point. God make it a caution to many now present. Some of
you men and women here may be nearer death than you dream of. I wish
you would answer the question, "How will you do in the swelling of
Jordan?"
VI. But now I intend to use the question as EXCITING MEDITATION in the
breasts of those who have given their hearts to Christ and who,
consequently, are prepared to die whenever the summons may come. Well,
what do we mean to do–how shall we behave ourselves when we come to
die? I sat down to try and think this matter over, but I cannot, in the
short time allotted to me, even give you a brief view of the thoughts
that passed through my mind.
I began thus, "How shall I do in the swelling of Jordan?" Well, as a
Believer in Christ, perhaps I may never come there at all, for there
are some that will be alive and remain at the coming of the Son of Man
and these will never die For so says the Apostle–"Behold, I show you a
mystery; we shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, in a
moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump."
This thought we wish to keep ever before us. My real hope is the coming
of the Lord Jesus Christ. I would far rather see the Master return than
see the messenger, Death. I regulate my life as one who is looking for
and hastening unto the coming of the Son of Man. I will not pay more
attention to the servant than to the Lord of All. "Come, Lord Jesus!
Yes, come quickly," is the prayer of our hearts continually. And as the
bride of Christ, we ought to have our hearts filled with rapture at the
thought of His return to claim us as His own. If He sends for us, "It
is well." But best of all, if He comes Himself again the second time
without sin unto salvation. A sweet truth, which we place first in our
meditation. I may not sleep, but I must and shall be changed!
Then I thought again, "How shall I do in the swelling of Jordan?" I may
go through it in the twinkling of an eye. Remember that good man who
some time ago was getting ready to preach as usual, but the sermon was
never delivered on earth? I mean the President of the Wesleyan
Conference–how speedily was he taken to his rest! And how happy it is
just to close one's eyes on earth and open them in Heaven! Such, also
was the death of one of God's aged servants, Mr. Alleine, who had
battled well for the Truth of God. He was suddenly taken ill and was
advised to retire to bed. "No," he said, "but I will die in my chair.
And I am not afraid to die."
He sat down and only had time to say, "My life is hid with Christ in
God," and he closed his eyes with his own hands and fell asleep. When
Ananias, a martyr, knelt to lay his white head upon the block, it was
said to him as he closed his eyes to receive the stroke, "Shut your
eyes a little, Old Man, and immediately you shall see the light of
God." I could envy such a calm departing. Sudden death, sudden Glory!
Taken away in Elijah's chariot of fire–with the horses driven at the
speed of lightning so that the spirit scarcely knows that it has left
the clay before it sees the brightness of the beatific vision! Well,
that may take away some of the alarm of death–the thought that we may
not be even a moment in the swelling of Jordan!
Then again, I thought if I must pass through the swelling of Jordan,
yet the real act of death takes no time. We hear of suffering on a
dying bed. The suffering is all connected with life, it is not death.
The actual thing called death, as far as we know, does not cost a
pang–it is the life that is in us that makes us suffer–death gives
one kind pin's prick and it is all over. Moreover, if I pass through
the swelling of Jordan, I may do so without suffering any pain. A dying
bed is sometimes very painful with certain diseases, and especially
with strong men it is often hard for the body and soul to part. But it
has been my happy lot to see some deaths so extremely pleasing that I
could not help remarking that it were worth while living only for the
sake of dying as some have died!
We have seen consumption for instance–how gently it takes down the
frame very often. How quietly the soul departs. And in old age and
debility how easily the spirit seems to get away from the cage that was
broken, which only needed one blow and the imprisoned bird flies
straight away to its eternal resting place! Well, then, as I cannot
tell in what physical state I may be when I come to die, I just tried
to think again, how shall I do in the swelling of Jordan? I hope I
shall do as others have done before me who have built on the same Rock
and had the same promises to be their succor.
They cried, "Victory!" So shall I, and after that die quietly and in
peace. If the same transporting scene may not be mine, I will at least
lay my head upon my Savior's bosom and breathe my life out gently
there. You have a right, Christian, to expect that as other Christians
die, so shall you. How will you die? Why, you will die as your sainted
mother did! You will die as your father did. When the time came for the
"silver cord to be loosed and the golden bowl to be broken, for the
pitcher to be broken at the fountain and the wheel broken at the
cistern," the pitcher was broken and the cord loosed and their spirits
went to God who gave them. How will you die?
Why, as I mused on this I took down my little book of "Promises," for I
thought I shall certainly do as God says I shall. Well, how is that?
"When you pass through the rivers I will be with you." And again,
"Though I pass through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear
no evil." And again, "He shall swallow up death in victory." And again,
"He shall make all your bed in your sickness." And yet again, "Fear
not, I am with you. Be not dismayed, I am your God. I will never leave
you nor forsake you." You know what a many dying pillows God has made
for His dear people in the hour of their departure! "How shall I do in
the swelling of Jordan?" Why, manfully, patiently, if God shall keep
His promise as we know He will!
Now let me speak to you all again–I mean you that are in Christ. "How
will you do in the swelling of Jordan?" Why, you will do as a man does
who has had a long day's walk and he can see his home. You will clap
your hands. You will sit down upon the next milestone with tears in
your eyes and wipe the sweat from your face and say, "It is well, it is
over. Oh how happy it is to see my own roof-tree and the place where my
best friends, my kindred, dwell. I shall soon be at Home–at Home
forever with the Lord."
How will we do? Why we will do as a soldier does when the battle is
fought! He takes off his armor, stretches himself out at length to
rest. The battle is all over. He forgets his wounds and reckons up the
glory of the victory and the reward which follows. So will we! We will
begin to forget the wounds and the garments rolled in blood and we will
think of the "crown of life that fades not away." How will we do in the
swelling of Jordan? We will do as men do when they launch for a foreign
country. They look back upon those they leave behind and wave their
handkerchiefs as long as they can see them–but they are soon gone.
And we will bid adieu to dear ones. They shall have the tears, but we
shall have the joy–for we go to the islands of the blest, the land of
the hereafter, the home of the sanctified–to dwell with God forever!
Who will weep when he starts on such a voyage and launches on such a
blessed sea? What will we do when we come into the swelling of Jordan?
Why I think, dear Friends, we shall then begin to see through the veil
and to enjoy the Paradise of the blessed which is ours forever! We will
make that dying bed a throne and we will sit and reign there with
Christ Jesus! We will think of that river Jordan as being one tributary
of the river of Life which flows at the foot of the jasper Throne of
the Most High!
We will live in the land of Beulah on the edge of Jordan with our feet
in the cold stream, singing of the better land. We will hear the songs
of angels as celestial breezes bring them across the narrow stream. And
sometimes we will have in our bosom some of the spices from the
Mountains of Myrrh which Christ shall give us across the river. And
when we come to die, what will we do in the swelling of Jordan? Why we
will try and bear our dying testimony–
"My joyful soul on Jordan's shore, Shall raise one Ebenezer more."
Oh, that was a grand thing when Joshua said to the twelve men, "Take up
twelve stones and set them down in the midst of Jordan where the
priests' feet stood still. And take up twelve other stones and set them
up on the other side of Jordan, where the children of Israel first trod
the promised shore." You and I will do this–we will leave twelve
stones in the midst of Jordan. They shall tell our friends and kindred
here of the good words we said, the adieu we gave them and the joyful
hopes which cheered us–the song we sang when death began to stay our
throat. And then we will raise another Ebenezer in Heaven!
There shall be twelve stones there that will tell the angels and the
principalities of the love which cleft the Jordan and brought us
through it as on dry land. This is how we will do in the swelling of
Jordan! We are not looking forward to death with any fear, with any
dread. When we get home tonight we shall begin to take off our garments
one by one. We shall not shed a tear. Nor shall we when we come to
die–
"Since Jesus is mine, I will not fear undressing, But gladly put off
these garments of clay. To die in the Lord is a comfort and blessing,
Since Jesus to Glory through death led the way."
This is how we shall do in the swelling of Jordan–take off our
garments to put on the celestial robes. As the bridegroom longs for the
marriage day, and as the bride waits until she is joined unto her
husband in wedlock, even so our spirits wait for God. As the exile
pants to be delivered and the galley slave to be separated from his
oar, so we wait to be set free for Glory and immortality! As she that
mourns her absent lord pines for his return. As the child longs to
reach his father's house and to see his father's face, so do we!–
"My heart is with Him on His Throne, And ill can brook delay, Each
moment listening for His voice, 'Make haste and come away.'"
I must finish, for time has gone. But I meant to have said a word or
two by way of warning. I can only do so now briefly, abridging them and
compressing the thoughts as tightly as I can. "How will you do in the
swelling of Jordan?" may well be used by way of warning. I think, dear
Friends, you ought to ask yourselves one question. Some of you never
think of dying and yet you should. You say you may live long–you
may–and you may not. If there were a great number of loaves upon this
table and you were to eat one every day and if you were told that one
of those loaves had poison in it, I think you would begin every one
with great caution. And knowing that one of them would be your death,
you would take each up with silent dread.
Now you have so many days and in one of these days there is the poison
of death. I do not know which one. It may be tomorrow. It may not be
until many a day has gone. But I think you ought to handle all your
days with holy jealousy. Is not that a fair parable? If it is, then let
me ask you to think upon the question, "How will you do in the swelling
of Jordan?" You grant that you will die and you may die soon. Is it not
foolish to be living in this world without a thought of what you will
do at last?
A man goes into an inn and as soon as he sits down he begins to order
his wine, his dinner, his bed. There is no delicacy in season which he
forgets to request. There is no luxury which he denies himself. He
stays at the inn for some time. By-and-by there comes the bill and he
says, "Oh, I never thought of that–I never thought of that!" "Why,"
says the landlord, "here is a man who is either a born fool or else a
thief! What? Never thought of the reckoning–never thought of
settling-day!" And yet this is how some of you live! You have this and
that and the other thing in this world's inn, (for it is nothing but an
inn), and you have soon to go your way and yet you have never thought
of settling-day!
"Well," says one, "I was casting up my accounts this morning." Yes, I
remember a minister making this remark when he heard of one that cast
up his accounts on Sunday. He said, "I hope that is not true, Sir."
"Yes," he said, "I do cast up my accounts on Sunday." "Ah, well," he
said, "the Day of Judgment will be spent in a similar manner–in
casting up accounts and it will go ill with those people who found no
other time in which to serve themselves except the time which was given
them that they serve God."
You have either been a dishonest man, or else you must be supremely
foolish to be spending every day in this world's inn and yet to be
ignoring the thought of the great day of account! But remember, though
you forget it, God forgets not. Every day is adding to the score.
Photographed in Heaven is every action that you perform. Your very
thoughts are photographed upon the eternal mind. And in the day when
the book shall be opened it will go ill with you. Perhaps you will say,
as one did in the Book of Kings, "Well, I was busy here and there. I
was looking after my family and my property. I was looking after
politics. I was seeing after such-and-such an investment. And my soul
is gone."
Yes, but that would not bring it back again. And what shall it profit
you, though you gain the whole world and lose your own soul? It is no
business of mine what becomes of you, except this–I do desire to talk
with you at all times, that if you perish it may not be laid at my
door. What would you say to that soldier who should be told by his
commanding officer to fight with the foe on the field of battle and the
so-called soldier were to reply, "I don't know anything about battle or
fighting. I never thought of the battlefield, I can do anything but
fight"?
The general would be sorely amazed. He would want to know what the
soldier lived for, if it were not to fight and defend his country in
the hour of his country's need. What do we live for if it is not to
prepare for a hereafter life and for the day for which all days were
made? What? Are we sent into this world and told that we are to
"prepare to meet our God," and we do everything else but that one
thing? This will not be wise. And when the Lord of the whole earth
shall come out of His place to judge the sons of men, bitterly shall we
rue our folly!
Be wise now! Remember this and consider your latter end. What words
shall I use to urge you to consider the subject and take my warning? Is
Heaven a place you would like to enter? Is Hell a place you would like
to avoid, or will you make your bed in it forever? Are you in love with
eternal misery that you run to it so madly? Oh, stop! Turn! Turn! Why
will you die? I do pray you stop and consider. Consideration does no
man harm. Second thoughts here are for the best. Think and think and
think again and oh, may God lead you, through thinking, to feel your
danger and may you then accept that gracious remedy which is in Christ
Jesus!
For whoever believes in Him is not condemned! Whoever trusts in Christ
is saved! Sin is forgiven, the soul is accepted, the spirit is blessed
the moment it trusts the Savior. Before I close the subject I must
guide your thoughts to what is the true preparation for death. Three
things present themselves to my mind as being our duty in connection
with the dying hour. First seek to be washed in the Red Sea of the dear
Redeemer's blood. Come in contact with the death of Christ and by faith
in it you will be prepared to meet your own. Without giving an opinion
upon the merit of that system of medicine which professes to cure
diseases by producing an effect upon the system akin to the original
malady, or as they put it, "like curing like," we recommend it in
spiritual things.
Come into union with Christ's death and that will take away the evil
and sting of your own. Be buried with Him in Baptism unto death and
have part with Him in the reality symbolized in that blest ordinance
and you will not dread Jordan's swellings if the full tide of the
Redeemer's blood has rolled over you so that you are washed and clean.
If guilt is on your conscience, it will be as a millstone round your
neck and you will sink to endless woe! But if the love of Jesus is in
your heart, it will buoy up your head and keep you safe so that
although heart and flesh fail you, you will have God to be the strength
of your heart and your portion forever!
Again, learn of the Apostle Paul to "die daily." Practice the duty of
self-denial and mortifying of the flesh till it shall become a habit
with you and when you have to lay down the flesh and part with
everything, you will be only continuing the course of life you have
pursued all along. No wonder if dying should prove hard work if you are
completely unused to it in thought and expectation! If Death comes to
me as a stranger, I may be startled–but if I have prepared myself to
receive him, he may come and knock at my door and I shall say, "I am
ready to go with you, for I have been expecting you all my life."
How beautiful this expression of the Apostle, "I am ready to be offered
up and the time of my departure is at hand." He was waiting for death
as for a friend, and when it came I am sure he was well pleased to go.
He tells us he had "a desire to depart and to be with Christ which is
far better." Even so may we learn to look at the time when we shall
hear the summons, "Come up higher," as to a time to be longed for
rather than dreaded. Learn to submit your will to God's will daily.
Learn to endure hardness as a good soldier of the Cross so that when
the last conflict comes it may find you able, by the Grace of God, to
bear the brunt of the final contest with unflinching courage.
And as the last preparation for the end of life, I should advise a
continual course of active service and obedience to the commands of
God. I have frequently thought that no happier place to die in could be
found than one's post of duty. If I were a soldier I think I should
like to die as Wolfe died–with victory shouting in my ear! Or as
Nelson died in the midst of his greatest success. Preparation for death
does not mean going alone into the chamber and retiring from the world,
but active service–"doing the duty of the day in the day."
The best preparation for sleep, the healthiest soporific, is hard work
and one of the best things to prepare us for sleeping in Jesus is to
live in Him an active life of going about doing good. The attitude in
which I wish Death to find me is with light trimmed and loins
girt–waiting and watching–at work, doing my allotted task and
multiplying my talent for the Master's Glory. Idlers may not anticipate
rest, but workers will not be unwilling to welcome the hour which shall
hear the words, "It is finished."
Keep your eye upon the recompense of the reward. Lay up treasures in
Heaven and thus you will be ready to cross the stream and enter the
beloved land where heart and treasure have gone beforehand to prepare
the way. Washed in the blood of Christ! Accustomed to submit to
whatever God wills and to find our pleasure in doing His will on earth
as we hope to do it in Heaven! Joined to a life of holy service I am
persuaded that we shall be prepared with one of old to say, "I have
fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith."
And with him, calmly and joyfully, to anticipate the crown which fades
not away. God bring you to this point, for Jesus Christ's sake. Amen.
TO MY READERS–DEAR FRIENDS, Refreshed in body and mind I am on my way
homeward to my pulpit and my work. I trust that my absence from labor,
so profitable to my own health, may prove to be no loss to you from the
stores which I have gathered in my traveling. It is no small strain
upon a man's mental powers to preach to the same people and to publish
the sermons for eleven years consecutively. In time the mind which
continually labors ceases to be fresh and vigorous and craves for rest.
The soil without fallow grows poor. Rest is true medicine.
That rest, I bless God, I have been enabled to enjoy in the most
agreeable and instructive manner and trust that it will enable me, by
Divine assistance, to avoid the sameness and repetition which are sure
signs of exhaustion of mind and poverty of thought. To be in the very
best condition to be used of God is my heart's desire. I would be a bow
well-strung. An arrow sharpened by the King. He who works for God
should seek to do his work well and should strive to be fit for labor.
To feed the saints and gather in Christ's blood-bought wanderers is my
highest ambition resting or working–my eye is on this.
The most indefatigable must sometimes submit to rest in order to avoid
being laid aside altogether. But work is the happiest and best state
for Believers. And I feel that it is so. Oh that we, like the spirits
before the Throne, could serve God day and night without sin or
ceasing! May I beg a continued interest in my readers' earnest prayers.
And may I hope that if ever they receive a blessing in reading my
discourses they will kindly introduce them to their friends and
neighbors. Yours to serve in the Gospel, Bell Alp, Switzerland, June
16th, 1865 C. H. SPURGEON.