Satan’s Banquet

Satan's Banquet

A Sermon

(No. 225)

Delivered on Sabbath Morning, November 28th, 1858, by the

REV. C.H. SPURGEON

at the Music Hall, Royal Surrey Gardens.

"The governor of the feast called the bridegroom, and saith unto him,
every man at the beginning doth set forth good wine; and when men have
well drunk, then that which is worse; but thou hast kept the good wine
until now."–John 2:9-10.

THE governor of the feast said more than he intended to say, or rather,
there is more truth in what he said than he himself imagined. This is
the established rule all the world over: "the good wine first, and when
men have well drunk, then that which is worse." It is the rule with
men; and have not hundreds of disappointed hearts bewailed it?
Friendship first–the oily tongue, the words softer than butter, and
afterwards the drawn sword. Ahithophel first presents the lordly dish
of love and kindness to David, then afterwards that which is worse, for
he forsakes his master, and becomes the counsellor of his rebel son.
Judas presents first of all the dish of fair speech and of kindness;
the Saviour partook thereof, he walked to the house of God in company
with him, and took sweet counsel with him; but afterwards there came
the dregs of the wine–"He that eateth bread with me hath lifted up his
heel against me." Judas the thief betrayed his Master, bringing forth
afterwards "that which is worse." Ye have found it so with many whom ye
thought your friends. In the heyday of prosperity, when the sun was
shining, and the birds were singing, and all was fair and gay and
cheerful with you, they brought forth the good wine; but there came a
chilling frost, and nipped your flowers, and the leaves fell from the
trees, and your streams were frosted with the ice, and then they
brought forth that which is worse,–they forsook you and fled; they
left you in your hour of peril, and taught you that great truth, that
"Cursed is he that trusteth in man, and maketh flesh his arm." And this
is the way all the world over–I say it once again–not merely with
men, but with nature too.

"Alas, for us, if thou wert all,

And nought beyond O earth;"

for doth not this world serve us just the same? In our youth it brings
forth the best wine; then we have the sparkling eye, and the ear
attuned to music; then the blood flows swiftly through the veins and
the pulse beats joyously; but wait a little and there shall come forth
afterwards that which is worse, for the keepers of the house shall
tremble, and the strong men shall bow themselves; the grinders shall
fail because they are few, they that look out of the windows shall be
darkened, all the daughters of music shall be brought low; then shall
the strong man totter, the grasshopper shall be a burden, and desire
shall fail, the mourners shall go about the streets. First there is the
flowing cup of youth, and afterwards the stagnant waters of old age,
unless God shall cast into those dregs a fresh flood of his
lovingkindness and tender mercy, so that once again, as it always
happeneth to the Christian, the cup shall run over, and again sparkle
with delight. O Christian, trust not thou in men; rely not thou upon
the things of this present time, for this is evermore the rule with men
and with the world–"the good wine first, and when ye have well
drunken, then that which is worse."

This morning, however, I am about to introduce you to two houses of
feasting. First, I shall bid you look within the doors of the devil's
house, and you will find he is true to this rule; he brings forth first
the good wine, and when men have well drunk, and their brains are
muddled therewith, then he bringeth forth that which is worse. Having
bidden you look there and tremble, and take heed to the warning, I
shall then attempt to enter with you into the banquetting house of our
beloved Lord and Master Jesus Christ, and of him we shall be able to
say, as the governor of the feast said to the bridegroom, "Thou hast
kept the good wine until now;" thy feasts grow better, and not worse:
thy wines grow richer, thy viands are daintier far, and thy gifts more
precious than before. "Thou hast kept the good wine until now."

I. First, we are to take a warning glance at the HOUSE OF FEASTING
WHICH SATAN HATH BUILDED: for as wisdom hath builded her house, and
hewn out her seven pillars, so hath folly its temple and its tavern of
feasting, into which it continually tempts the unwary. Look within the
banquetting house, and I will shew you four tables and the guests that
sit thereat; and as you look at those tables you shall see the courses
brought in. You shall see the wine cops brought, and you shall see them
vanish one after another, and you shall mark that the rule holds good
at all four tables–first the good wine, and afterwards that which is
worse–yea, I shall go further–afterwards, that which is worst of all.

1. At the first table to which I shall invite your attention, though I
beseech you never to sit down and drink thereat, sit the PROFLIGATE.
The table of the profligate is a gay table; it is covered over with a
gaudy crimson, and all the vessels upon it look exceedingly bright and
glistening. Many there be that sit thereat, but they know not that they
are the guests of hell, and that the end of all the feast shall be in
the depths of perdition. See ye now the great governor of the feast, as
he comes in? He has a bland smile upon his face; his garments are not
black, but he is girded with a robe of many colours, he hath a honied
word on his lip, and a tempting witchery in the sparkle of his eye. He
brings in she cup, and says, "Hey, young man, drink hereat, it
sparkleth in the cup, it moveth itself aright. Do you see it? It is the
wine-cup of pleasure." This is the first cup at the banquetting house
of Satan. The young man takes it, and sips the liquor. At first it is a
cautious sip; it is but a little he will take, and then he will
restrain himself. He does not intend to indulge much in lust, he means
not to plunge headlong into perdition. There is a flower there on the
edge of that cliff: he will reach forward a little and pluck it, but it
is not his intention to dash himself from that beetling crag and
destroy himself. Not he! He thinks it easy to put away the cup when he
has tested its flavour! He has no design to abandon himself to its
intoxication. He takes a shallow draught. But O how sweet it is! How it
makes his blood tingle within him. What a fool I was, not to have
tasted this before! he thinks. Was ever joy like this? Could it be
thought that bodies could be capable of such ecstacy as this? He drinks
again; this time he takes a deeper draught, and the wine is hot in his
veins. Oh! how blest is he! What would he not say now in the praise of
Bacchus, or Venus, or whatever shape Beelzebub chooses to assume? He
becomes a very orator in praise of sin? It is fair, it is pleasant, the
deep damnation of lust appeareth as joyous as the transports of heaven.
He drinks, he drinks, he drinks again, till his brain begins to reel
with the intoxication of his sinful delight. This is the first course.
Drink, O ye drunkards of Ephraim, and bind the crown of pride about
your head, and call us fools because we put your cup from us; drink
with the harlot and sup with the lustful; ye may think yourselves wise
for so doing, but we know that after these things there cometh
something worse, for your vine is the vine of Sodom, and of the fields
of Gomorrah, your grapes are grapes of gall, the clusters are bitter;
your wine is the poison of dragons and the cruel venom of asps.

Now with a leer upon his brow, the subtle govenor of the feast riseth
from his seat. His victim has had enough of the best wine. He takes
away that cup, and he brings in another, not quite so sparkling. Look
into the liquor; it is not beaded over with the sparkling bubbles of
rapture; it is all flat, and dull, and insipid; it is called the cup of
satiety. The man has had enough of pleasure, and like a dog he vomits,
though like a dog he will return to his vomit yet again. Who hath woe?
Who hath redness of eyes? They that tarry long at the wine. I am now
speaking figuratively of wine, as well as literally. The wine of lust
bringeth the same redness of the eyes; the profligate soon discovers
that all the rounds of pleasure end in satiety. "What!" says he, "What
more can I do? There! I have committed every wickedness that can be
imagined, and I have drained every cup of pleasure. Give me something
fresh! I have tried the theatres all round: there! I don't care so much
as one single farthing for them all. I have gone to every kind of
pleasure that I can conceive. It is all over. Gaiety itself grows flat
and dull. What am I to do?" And this is the devil's second course–the
course of satiety–a fitful drowsiness, the result of the previous
excess. Thousands there are who are drinking of the tasteless cup of
satiety every day, and some novel invention whereby they may kill time,
some new discovery whereby they may give a fresh vent to their iniquity
would be a wonderful thing to them; and if some man should rise up who
could find out for them some new fashion of wickedness, some deeper
depths in the deeps of the nethermost hell of lasciviousness, they
would bless his name, for having given them something fresh to excite
them. That is the devil's second course. And do you see them partaking
of it? Three are some of you that are having a deep draught of it this
morning. You are the jaded horses of the fiend of lust, the
disappointed followers of the will-o'-the-wisp of pleasure. God knows,
if you were to speak your heart out you would be obliged to say,
"There! I have tried pleasure, and I do not find it pleasure ; I have
gone the round, and I am just like the blind horse at the mill, I have
to go round again. I am spell-bound to the sin, but I cannot take
delight in it now as I once did, for all the glory on it is as a fading
flower, and as the hasty fruit before the summer.

Awhile the feaster remains in the putrid sea of his infatuation, but
another scene is opening. The governor of the feast commandeth another
liquor to be broached. This time the fiend bears a black goblet, and he
presents it with eyes full of hell-fire, flashing with fierce
damnation. "Drink of that, sir," says he, and the man sips it and
starts back and shrieks, "O God! that ever I must come to this!" You
must drink, sir! He that quaffs the first cup, must drink the second,
and the third. Drink, though it be like fire down your throat! Drink
it, though it be as the lava of Etna in your bowels! Drink! you must
drink! He that sins must suffer; he that is a profligate in his youth
must have rottenness in his bones, and disease within his loins. He who
rebels against the laws of God, must reap the harvest in his own body
here. Oh! there are some dreadful things that I might tell you of this
third course. Satan's house has a front chamber full of everything that
is enticing to the eye and bewitching to the sensual taste; but there
is a back chamber, and no one knoweth, no one hath seen the whole of
its horrors. There is a secret chamber, where he shovels out the
creatures whom he hath himself destroyed–a chamber, beneath whose
floor is the blazing of hell, and above whose boards the heat of that
horrible pit is felt. It may be a physician's place rather than mine,
to tell of the horrors that some have to suffer as the result of their
iniquity. I leave that; but let me tell the profligate spendthrift,
that the poverty which he will endure is the result of his sin of
extravagant spendthriftcy; let him know, also, that the remorse of
conscience that will overtake him is not an accidental thing that drops
by chance from heaven,–it is the result of his own iniquity; for,
depend upon it, men and brethren, sin carries an infant misery in its
bowels, and sooner or later it must be delivered of its terrible child.
If we sow the seed we must reap the harvest. Thus the law of hell's
house stands–"first, the good wine, then, afterwards, that which is
worse."

The last course remains to be presented. And now, ye strong men who
mock at the warning, which I would fain deliver to you with a brother's
voice and with an affectionate heart, though with rough language. Come
ye here, and drink of this last cup. The sinner has at the end brought
himself to the grave. His hopes and joys were like gold put into a bag
full of holes, and they have all vanished–vanished for ever; and now
he has come to the last; his sins haunt him, his transgressions perplex
him; he is taken like a bull in a net, and how shall he escape. He
dies, and descends from disease to damnation. Shall mortal language
attempt to tell you the horrors of that last tremendous cup of which
the profligate must drink, and drink for ever? Look at it: ye cannot
see its depths, but cast an eye upon its seething surface, I hear the
noise of rushing to and fro, and a sound as of gnashing of teeth and
the wailing of despairing souls. I look into that cup, and I hear a
voice coming up from its depths–"These shall go away into everlasting
punishment;" for "Tophet is prepared of old, the pile thereof is wood
and much smoke, the breath of the Lord, like a stream of brimstone,
shall kindle it." And what say ye to this last course of Satan? "Who
among us shall dwell with the devouring fire? Who among us shall dwell
with everlasting burnings?" Profligate! I beseech thee, in the name of
God, start from this table! Oh, be not so careless at thy cups; be not
so asleep, secure in the peace which thou now enjoyest! Man! death is
at the door, and at his heels is swift destruction. As for you, who as
yet have been restrained by a careful father and the watchfulness of an
anxious mother, I beseech you shun the house of sin and folly. Let the
wise man's words be written on thine heart, and be thou mindful of them
in the hour of temptation–"Remove thy way far from her, and come not
nigh the door of her house: for the lips of a strange woman drop as an
honeycomb, and her mouth is smoother than oil: but her end is bitter as
wormwood, sharp as a two edged sword. Her feet go down to death; her
steps take hold on hell."

2. Do ye see that other table yonder in the middle of the palace? Ah!
good easy souls! Many of you had thought that you never went to the
feast of hell at all; but there is a table for you too; it is covered
over with a fair white cloth, and all the vessels upon the table are
most clean and comely. The wine looks not like the wine of Gomorrah, it
moveth aright, like the wine from the grapes of Eshcol; it seems to
have no intoxication in it; it is like the ancient wine which they
pressed from the grape into the cup having in it no deadly poison. Do
ye see the men who sit at this table? How self-contented they are! Ask
the white fiends who wait at it, and they will tell you, "This is the
table of the self-righteous: the Pharisee sits there. You may know him;
he has his phylactery between his eyes; the hem of his garment is made
exceeding broad; he is one of the best of the best professors." "Ah!"
saith Satan, as he draws the curtain and shuts off the table where the
profligates are carousing, "be quiet; don't make too much noise, lest
these sanctimonious hypocrites should guess what company they are in.
Those self-righteous people are my guests quite as much as you, and I
have them quite as safely." So Satan, like an angel of light, brings
forth a gilded goblet, looking like the chalice of the table of
communion. And what wine is that? It seems to be the very wine of the
sacred Eucharist; it is called the wine of self-satisfaction, and
around the brim you may see the bubbles of pride. Look at the swelling
froth upon the bowl–"God, I thank thee, that I am not as other men
are, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this publican." You
know that cup, my self-deceiving hearers; Oh that ye knew the deadly
hemlock which is mixed therein. "Sin as other men do? Not you; not at
all. You are not going to submit yourself to the righteousness of
Christ: what need you? You are as good as your neighbours; if you are
not saved, you ought to be, you think. Don't you pay everybody
twenty-shillings in the pound? Did you ever rob anybody in your life?
You do your neighbours a good turn; you are as good as other people."
Very good! That is the first cup the devil gives, and the good wine
makes you swell with self-important dignity, as its fumes enter your
heart and puff it up with an accursed pride. Yes! I see you sitting in
the room so cleanly swept and so neatly garnished, and I see the crowds
of your admirers standing around the table, even many of God's own
children, who say, "Oh that I were half as good as he." While the very
humility of the righteous provides you with provender for your pride.
Wait awhile, thou unctious hypocrite, wait awhile, for there is a
second course to come. Satan looks with quite as self-satisfied an air
upon his guests this time as he did upon the troop of rioters. "Ah!"
says he, "I cheated those gay fellows with the cup of pleasure–I gave
them, afterwards, the dull cup of satiety, and I have cheated you, too;
you think yourselves all right, but I have deceived you twice, I have
befooled you indeed." So he brings in a cup which, sometimes, he
himself doth not like to serve. It is called the cup of discontent and
unquietness of mind, and many there be that have to drink this after
all their self-satisfaction. Do you not find, you that are very good in
your own esteem, but have no interest in Christ, that when you sit
alone and begin to turn over your accounts for eternity, that they do
not square somehow–that you cannot strike the balance exactly to your
own side after all, as you thought you could? Have not you sometimes
found, that when you thought you were standing on a rock, there was a
quivering beneath your feet? You heard the Christian sing boldly,–

"Bold shall I stand in that great day,

For who aught to my charge shall lay?

While, thro' thy blood, absolv'd I am

From sin's tremendous curse and shame."

And you have said, "Well, I cannot sing that, I have been as good a
Churchman as ever lived, I never missed going to my church all these
years, but I cannot say I have a solid confidence." You had once a hope
of self-satisfaction; but now the second course has come in, and you
are not quite so contented. "Well," says another, "I have been to my
chapel, and I have been baptized, and made a profession of religion,
though I was never brought to know the Lord in sincerity and in truth,
and I once thought it was all well with me, but I want a something
which I cannot find." Now comes a shaking in the heart. It is not quite
so delightful as one supposed, to build on one's own righteousness. Ah!
that is the second course. Wait awhile, and mayhap in this world, but
certainly in the hour of death, the devil will bring in the third cup
of dismay, at the discovery of your lost condition. How many a man who
has been self-righteous all his life, has, at the last discovered that
the thing whereon he placed his hope had failed him. I have heard of an
army, who, being defeated in battle, endeavoured to make good a
retreat. With all their might the soldiers fled to a certain river,
where they expected to find a bridge across which they could retreat
and be in safety. But when they came to the stream, there was heard a
shriek of terror–"The bridge is broken, the bridge is broken!" All in
vain was that cry; for the multitude hurrying on behind, pressed upon
those that were before and forced them into the river, until the stream
was glutted with the bodies of drowned men. Such must be the fate of
the self-righteous. You thought there was a bridge of ceremonies; that
baptism, confirmation, and the Lord's Supper, made up the solid arches
of a bridge of good works and duties. But when you come to die, there
shall be heard the cry–"The bridge is broken, the bridge is broken!"
It will be in vain for you to turn round then. Death is close behind
you; he forces you onward, and you discover what it is to perish,
through having neglected the great salvation, and attempting to save
yourself through your own good works. This is the last course but one:
and your last course of all, the worst wine, your everlasting portion
must be the same as that of the profligate. Good as you thought
yourself to be, inasmuch as you proudly rejected Christ, you must drink
the winecup of the wrath of God; that cup which is full of trembling.
The wicked of the earth shall wring out the dregs of that cup, and
drink them; and you also must drink of it as deep as they. Oh, beware
in time! Put away your high looks, and humble yourselves under the
mighty hand of God. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and ye shall be
saved.

3. Some of you have as yet escaped the lash, but there is a third table
crowded with most honourable guests. I believe there have been more
princes and kings, mayors and aldermen, and great merchants sitting at
this table, than at any other. It is called the table of worldliness.
"Humph," says a man, "Well, I dislike the profligate; there's my eldest
son, I've been hard at work saving up money all my life, and there's
that young fellow, he will not stick to business: he has become a real
profligate, I am very glad the minister spoke so sharp about that. As
for me–there now; I don't care about your self-righteous people a
single farthing; to me it is of no account at all; I don't care at all
about religion in the slightest degree; I like to know whether the
funds rise or fall, or whether there is an opportunity of making a good
bargain; but that's about all I care for." Ah! worldling, I leave read
of a friend of yours, who was clothed in scarlet, and fine linen, and
fared sumptuously every day. Do you know what became of him? You should
remember it, for the same end awaits yourself. The end of his feast
must be the end of yours. If your God is this world, depend upon it you
shall find that your way is full of bitterness. Now, see that table of
the worldly man, the mere worldling, who lives for gain. Satan brings
him in a flowing cup, "There," says he, "Young man, you are starting in
business; you need not care about the conventionalities of honesty, or
about the ordinary old-fashioned fancies of religion; get rich as quick
as ever you can. Get money–get money–honestly if you can, but, if
not, get it anyhow," says the devil; and down he puts his tankard.
"There," says he, "is a foaming draught for you." "Yes," says the young
man, "I have abundance now. My hopes are indeed realised." Here, then,
you see the first and best wine of the worldling's feast, and many of
you are tempted to envy this man. "Oh, that I had such a prospect in
business," says one, "I'm not half so sharp as he is, I could not deal
as he deals; my religion would not let me. But how fast he gets rich! O
that I could prosper as he does." Come, my brother, judge not before
the time, there's a second course to come, the thick and nauseous
draught of care. The man has got his money, but they that will be rich,
fall into temptation and a snare. Wealth ill-gotten, or ill-used, or
hoarded, brings a canker with it, that does not canker the gold and
silver, but cankers the man's heart, and a cankered heart is one of the
most awful things a man can have. Ah! see this money-lover, and mark
the care which sits upon heart. There is a poor old woman, that lives
near his lodge gate. She has but a pittance a week, but she says,
"Bless the Lord, I have enough!" She never asks how she is to live, or
how she is to die, or how she is to be buried, but sleeps sweetly on
the pillow of contentment and faith; and here is this poor fool with
untold gold, but he is miserable because he happened to drop a sixpence
as he walked along the streets, or because he had an extra call upon
his charity, to which the presence of some friend compelled him to
yield; or perhaps he groans because his coat wears out too soon.

After this comes avarice. Many have had to drink of that cup; may God
save any of us from its fiery drops. A great American preacher has
said, "Covetousness breeds misery. The sight of houses better than our
own, of dress beyond our means, of jewels costlier than we may wear, of
stately equipage, and rare curiosities beyond our reach, these hatch
the viper brood of covetous thoughts; vexing the poor, who would be
rich; tormenting the rich, who would be richer. The covetous man pines
to see pleasure; is sad in the presence of cheerfulness; and the joy of
the world is his sorrow, because all the happiness of others is not
his. I do not wonder that God abhors him. He inspects his heart as he
would a cave full of noisome birds, or a nest of rattling reptiles, and
loathes the sight of its crawling tenants. To the covetous man life is
a nightmare, and God lets him wrestle with it as best he may. Mammon
might build its palace on such a heart, and Pleasure bring all its
revelry there, Honour all its garlands–it would be like pleasures in a
sepulchre, and garlands on a tomb." When a man becomes avaricious, all
he has is nothing to him; "More, more, more!" says he, like some poor
creatures in a terrible fever, who cry, "Drink, drink, drink!" and you
give them drink, but after they have it, their thirst increases. Like
the horse-leech they cry, "Give, give, give!" Avarice is a raving
madness which seeks to grasp the world in its arms, and yet despises
the plenty it has already. This is a curse of which many have died; and
some have died with the bag of gold in their hands, and with misery
upon their brow, because they could not take it with them into their
coffin, and could not carry it into another world. Well, then, there
comes the next course. Baxter, and those terrible old preachers used to
picture the miser, and the man who lived only to make gold, in the
middle of hell; and they imagined Mammon pouring melted gold down his
throat, "There," say the mocking devils, "that is what you wanted, you
have got it now; drink, drink, drink!" and the molten gold is poured
down. I shall not, however, indulge in any such terrible imaginations,
but this much I know, he that liveth to himself here, must perish; he
who sets his affections upon things on earth, hath not digged deep–he
has built his house upon the sands; and when the rain descends, and the
floods come, down must come his house, and great must be the fall
thereof. It is the best wine first, however; it is the respectable
man,–respectable and respected,–everybody honours him,–and
afterwards that which is worse, when meanness has beggared his wealth,
and covetousness has maddened his brain. It is sure to come, as sure as
ever you give yourself up to worldliness.

4. The fourth table is set in a very secluded corner, in a very private
part of Satan's palace. There is the table set for secret sinners, and
here the old rule is observed. At that table, in a room well darkened,
I see a young man sitting to-day, and Satan is the servitor, stepping
in so noiselessly, that no one would hear him. He brings in the first
cup–and O how sweet it is! It is the cup of secret sin. "Stolen waters
are sweet, and bread eaten in secret is pleasant." How sweet that
morsel, eaten all alone! Was there ever one that rolled so delicately
under the tongue? That is the first; after that, he brings in
another,–the wine of an unquiet conscience. The man's eyes are opened.
He says, "What have I done? What have I been doing? Ah," cries this
Achan, "the first cup you brought me, I saw sparkling in that a wedge
of gold, and a goodly Babylonish garment; and I thought, Oh, I must
have that;' but now my thought is, What shall I do to hide this, where
shall I put it? I must dig. Ay, I must dig deep as hell before I shall
hide it, for sure enough it will be discovered."

The grim governor of the feast is bringing in a massive bowl, filled
with a black mixture. The secret sinner drinks, and is confounded; he
fears his sin will find him out. He has no peace, no happiness, he is
full of uneasy fear; he is afraid that he shall be detected. He dreams
at night that there is some one after him; there is a voice whispering
in his ear, and telling him "I know all about it; I will tell it." He
thinks, perhaps, that the sin which he has committed in secret will
break out to his friends; the father will know it, the mother will know
it. Ay, it may be even the physician will tell the tale, and blab out
the wretched secret. For such a man there is no rest. He is always in
dread of arrest. He is like the debtor I have read of; who, owing a
great deal of money, was afraid the bailiffs were after him: and
happening one day to catch his sleeve on the top of a palisade, said,
"There, let me go; I'm in a hurry. I will pay you to-morrow," imagining
that some one was laying hold of him. Such is the position in which the
man places himself by partaking of the hidden things of dishonesty and
sin. Thus he finds no rest for the sole of his foot for fear of
discovery. At last the discovery comes; it is the last cup. Often it
comes on earth; for be sure your sin will find you out, and it will
generally find you out here. What frightful exhibitions are to be seen
at our police courts of men that are made to drink that last black
draught of discovery. The man who presided at religious meetings, the
man who was honoured as a saint, is at last unmasked. And what saith
the judge–and what saith the world of him? He is a jest, and a
reproach, and a rebuke everywhere. But, suppose he should be so crafty,
that he passes through life without discovery–though I think it is
almost impossible–what a cup he must drink when he stands at last
before the bar of God! "Bring him forth, jailor! Dread keeper of the
dungeon of hell, lead forth the prisoner." He comes! The whole world is
assembled, "Stand up, sir! Did you not make a profession of religion?
did not every body think you a saint?" He is speechless. But many there
are in that vast crowd who cry, "We thought him so." The book is open,
his deeds are read: transgression after transgression all laid bare. Do
you hear that hiss? The righteous, moved to indignation, are lifting up
their voices against the man who deceived them, and dwelt among them as
a wolf in sheep's clothing. Oh, how fearful it must be to bear the
scorn of the universe! The good can bear the scorn of the wicked but
for the wicked to bear the shame and everlasting contempt which
righteous indignation will heap upon them, will be one of the most
frightful things, next to the eternal endurance of the wrath of the
Most High, which, I need not add, is the last cup of the devil's
terrible feast, with which the secret sinner most be filled, for ever
and ever.

I pause now, but it is just to gather up my strength to beg that
anything I may have said, that shall have the slightest personal
bearing upon any of my hearers, may not be forgotten. I beseech you,
men and brethren, if now you are eating the fat, and drinking the sweet
of hell's banquet, pause and reflect what shall the end be? "He that
soweth to the flesh, shall of the flesh reap corruption. He that soweth
to the spirit, shall of the spirit reap life everlasting." I cannot
spare more time far that, most assuredly.

II. But you must pardon me while I occupy only a few minutes in taking
you into the HOUSE OF THE SAVIOUR, where he feasts his beloved. Come
and sit with us at Christ's table of outward providences. He does not
feast his children after the fashion of the prince of darkness: for the
first cup that Christ brings to them is very often a cup of bitterness.
There are his own beloved children, his own redeemed; who have but
sorry cheer. Jesus brings in the cup of poverty and affliction, and he
makes his own children drink of it, till they say, "Thou hast made me
drunken with wormwood, and thou hast filled me with bitterness." This
is the way Christ begins. The worst wine first. When the serjeant
begins with a young recruit, he gives him a shilling, and then,
afterwards, come the march and the battle. But Christ never takes his
recruits so. They must count the cost, lest they should begin to build,
and not be able to finish. He seeks to have no disciples who are
dazzled with first appearances. He begins roughly with them, and many
have been his children who have found that the first course of the
Redeemer's table has been affliction, sorrow, poverty, and want.

In the olden time, when the best of God's people were at the table, he
used to serve them worst, for they wandered about in sheep-skins and
goat-skins, being destitute, afflicted, tormented, of whom the world
was not worthy, and they kept on drinking of these bitter cups for many
a day; but let me tell you afterwards he brought out sweeter cups for
them, and you that have been troubled have found it so. After the cup
of affliction, comes the cup of consolation, and, oh, how sweet is
that! It has been the privilege of these lips to drink that cup after
sickness and pain; and I can bear witness, that I said of my Master,
"Thou hast kept the best wine until now." It was so luscious, that the
taste thereof did take away every taste of the bitterness of sorrow;
and I said, "Surely the bitterness of this sickness is all past, for
the Lord has manifested himself to me, and given me his best wine."
But, beloved, the best wine is to come last. God's people will find it
so outwardly. The poor saint comes to die. The master has given him the
cup of poverty, but now no more he drinks thereof, he is rich to all
the intents of bliss. He has had the cup of sickness; he shall drink of
that no more. He has had the cup of persecution, but now he is
glorified, together with his Master, and made to sit upon his throne.
The best things have come last to him in outward circumstances. There
were two martyrs once burned at Stratford-le-Bow; one of them was lame,
and the other blind, and when they were tied to the stake, the lame man
took his crutch and threw it down, and said to the other, "Cheer up,
brother, this is the sharp physic that shall heal us, I shall not be
lame within an hour of this time nor shalt thou be blind." No, the best
things were to come last. But I have often thought that the child of
God is very much like the crusaders. The crusaders started of on their
journey, and they had to tight their way through many miles of enemies
and to march through leagues of danger. You remember, perhaps, in
history, the story that when the armies of the Duke of Bouillon came in
sight of Jerusalem, they sprang from their horses, clapped their hands,
and cried, "Jerusalem, Jerusalem, Jerusalem." They forgot all their
toils, all the weariness of the journey and all their wounds, for there
was Jerusalem in their sight. And how will the saint at last cry,
"Jerusalem, Jerusalem," when all sorrow, and all poverty, and sickness
are past, and he is blest with immortality. The bad wine–bad did I
say? nay the bitter wine is taken away, and the best wine is brought
out, and the saint sees himself glorified for ever with Christ Jesus.

And now, we will sit down at the table of inward experience. The first
cup that Christ brings to his children, when they sit at that table, is
one so bitter that, perhaps, no tongue can ever describe it,–it is the
cup of conviction. It is a black cup, full of the most intense
bitterness. The apostle Paul once drank a little of it, but it was so
strong that it made him blind for three days. The conviction of his sin
overpowered him totally; he could only give his soul to fasting and to
prayer, and it was only when he drank of the next cup that the scales
fell from off his eyes. I have drank of it, children of God, and I
thought that Jesus was unkind, but, in a little while, he brought me
forth a sweeter cup, the cup of his forgiving love, filled with the
rich crimson of his precious blood. Oh! the taste of that wine is in my
mouth this very hour, for the taste thereof is as the wine of Lebanon,
that abideth in the cask for many a day. Do you not remember, when,
after you had drunk the cup of sorrow, Jesus came and showed you his
hands and his side, and said, "Sinner, I have died for thee, and given
myself for thee; believe on me?" Do you not remember how you believed,
and sipped the cup, and bow you believed again and took a deeper
draught, and said, "Blessed be the name of God from this time forth and
for ever; and let the whole earth say, Amen,' for he hath broken the
gates of brass, and cut the bars of iron in sunder, and let the
captives go free?" Since then the glorious Master has said to you,
"Friend, come up higher!" and he has taken you to upper seats in the
best rooms, and he has given you sweeter things. I will not tell you,
to-day, of the wines you have drank. The spouse in Solomon's Song may
supply the deficiency of my sermon this morning. She drank of the
spiced wine of his pomegranate; and so have you, in those high and
happy moments when you had fellowship with the Father, and with his
Son, Jesus Christ. But tarry awhile, he has kept the best wine yet. You
shall soon come near the banks of the Jordan, and then you shall begin
to drink of the old wine of the kingdom, that has been barrelled up
since the foundation of the world. The vintage of the Saviour's agony;
the vintage of Gethsemane shall soon be broached for you, the old wine
of the kingdom. You are come into the land "Beulah," and you begin to
taste the full flavour of the wines on the lees well refined. You know
how Bunyan describes the state which borders on the vale of death. It
was a land flowing with milk and honey; a land where the angels often
came to visit the saints, and to bring bundles of myrrh from the land
of spices. And now the high step is taken, the Lord puts his finger
upon your eyelids and kisses your soul out at your lips. Where are you
now? In a sea of love, and life, and bliss, and immortality. "O Jesus,
Jesus, Jesus, thou hast indeed kept the best wine until now! My Master!
I have seen thee on the Sabbath, but this is an everlasting Sabbath. I
have met thee in the congregation, but this is a congregation that
shall ne'er break up. O my Master! I have seen the promises, but this
is the fulfilment. I have blessed thee for gracious providences, but
this is something more than all these: thou didst give me grace, but
now thou hash given me glory; thou wast once my shield, but thou art
now my sun. I am at thy right hand, where there is fullness of joy for
ever. Thou hast kept thy best wine until now. All I ever had before was
as nothing compared with this."

And, lastly, for only time fails me, I could preach a week upon this
subject. The table of communion is one at which God's children must
sit. And the first thing they must drink of there, is the cup of
communion with Christ in his sufferings. If thou wouldst come to the
table of communion with Christ, thou must first of all drink of the
wine of Calvary. Christian, thy head most he crowned with thorns. Thy
hands must be pierced, I mean not with nails, but, spiritually thou
must be crucified with Christ. We must suffer with him, or else we
cannot reign with him; we must labour with him first, we must sup of
the wine which his Father gave him to drink, or else we cannot expect
to come to the better part of the feast. After drinking of the wine of
his sufferings, and continuing to drink of it, we must drink of the cup
of his labours, we must be baptized with his baptism, we must labour
after souls, and sympathise with him in that ambition of his heart–the
salvation of sinners, and after that he will give us to drink of the
cup of his anticipated honours. Here on earth we shall have good wine
in communion with Christ in his resurrection, in his triumphs and his
victories, but the best wine is to come at last. O chambers of
communion, your gates have been opened to me; but I have only been able
to glance within them; but the day is coming when on your diamond
hinges ye shall turn, and stand wide open for ever and ever; and I
shall enter into the king's palace and go no more out. O Christian!
thou shalt soon see the King in his beauty; thy head shall soon be on
his bosom; thou shalt soon sit at his feet with Mary; thou shalt soon
do as the spouse did, thou shalt kiss him with the kisses of thy lips,
and feel that his love is better than wine. I can conceive you,
brethren, in the very last moment of your life, or rather, in the first
moment of your life, saying, "He has kept the best wine until now."
When you begin to see him face to face, when you enter into the closest
fellowship, with nothing to disturb or to distract you, then shall you
say "The best wine is kept until now."

A saint was once dying, and another who sat by him said–"Farewell,
brother, I shall never see you again in the land of the living." "Oh,"
said the dying man, "I shall see you again in the land of the living
that is up yonder, where I am going; this is the land of the dying." Oh
brethren and sisters, if we should never meet again in the land of the
dying, have we a hope that we shall meet in the land of the living, and
drink the last wine at last.