The Great White Throne
DELIVERED ON SUNDAY EVENING, AUGUST 12, 1866,
BY C. H. SPURGEON, AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON.
"And I saw a great white throne, and Him that sat on it, from whose
face the earth and the Heaven fled away. And there was found no place
for them." Revelation 20:11.
MANY of the visions which John saw are very obscure, and although a man
who is assured of his own salvation may possibly be justified in
spending his days in endeavoring to interpret them, yet I am sure of
this–it will not be a profitable task for unconverted persons. They
have no time to spare for speculations, for they have not yet made sure
of positive certainties. They need not dive into difficulties, for they
have not yet laid a foundation of simplicities by faith in Christ
Jesus. Better far to meditate upon the Atonement than to be guessing at
the little horn. Better far to know the Lord Jesus in His power to
save, than to fabricate an ingenious theory upon the number of the
beast.
But this particular vision is so instructive, so unattended by serious
difficulties, that I may invite all here present to consider it, and
the more so because it has to do with matters which concern our own
eternal prospects. It may be, if God the Holy Spirit shall illuminate
the eyes of our faith to look and see that "great white throne and Him
that sat upon it," that we may reap so much benefit from the sight as
forever to make the arches of Heaven ring with gratitude that we were
brought in this world to look at the "great white throne." By so doing
we shall not be afraid to look upon it in the day when the Judge shall
sit, and the quick and dead shall stand before Him.
I shall, first, endeavor to explain what John saw. And then, in the
second place, I shall try to set forth the effect which I think would
be produced by this sight if the eyes of our faith should now be fixed
on it.
I. First, then, I have to call your very earnest attention to WHAT JOHN
SAW. It was a scene of the Last Day–that wondrous day whose coming
none can tell–
"For, as a thief unheard, unseen, it steals Through night's dark
shade."
When the eagle-eyed seer of Patmos, being in the Spirit, looked aloft
into the heavens, he saw a throne from which I gather that there is a
throne of moral government over the sons of men, and that He who sits
upon it presides over all the inhabitants of this world. There is a
throne whose dominion reaches from Adam in Paradise down to "the last
man," whoever he may be.
We are not without a Governor, Lawgiver, and Judge. This world is not
left so that men may do in it as they will, without a legislator,
without an avenger, without One to give reward or to inflict
punishment. The sinner, in his blindness looks, but he sees no throne,
and therefore he cries, "I will live as I like, for there is none to
call me to account." But John, with illuminated eye, distinctly saw a
throne, and a personal Ruler upon it who sat there to call His subjects
to account. When our faith looks through the glass of Revelation it
sees a throne, too. It were well for us if we felt more fully the
influence of that ever-present throne. That "the Lord reigns" is true,
Believer–tonight–and at all times.
There is a throne where sits the King eternal, immortal, invisible! The
world is governed by laws made and kept in force by an intelligent
Lawgiver. There is a moral Governor. Men are accountable, and will be
brought to account at the Last Great Day, when they shall all be either
rewarded or punished. "I saw a great white throne." How this invests
the actions of men with solemnity! If we were left to do exactly as we
willed without being called to account for it, it were wise, even then,
to be virtuous, for rest assured it is best for ourselves that we
should be good–and it is in itself malady enough to be evil.
But we are not so left. There is a Law laid down which involves a
penalty to break. There is a Lawgiver who looks down and spies every
action of man, and who does not suffer one single word or deed to be
omitted from His notebook. That Governor is armed with power. He is
soon coming to hold His assize, and every responsible agent upon the
face of the earth must appear at His bar and receive, as we are told,
"according to the deeds done in the body, whether they are good or
whether they are evil." Let it, then, be gathered from the text that
there is in very deed a personal and real moral Governor of the world,
an efficient and suitable Ruler–not a mere name, not a myth, not an
empty office–but a Person who sits on the throne, who judges right,
and who will carry out that judgment before long.
Now, Brothers and Sisters, we know that this moral Governor is God
Himself who has an undisputed right to reign and rule. Some thrones
have no right to be, and to revolt from them is patriotism. But the
best lover of his race delights the most in the monarchy of Heaven.
Doubtless there are dynasties which are tyrannies, and governors who
are despots. But none may dispute the right of God to sit upon His
throne, or wish that another hand held the scepter. He created all, and
shall He not judge all? He had a right, as Creator, to lay down His
laws, and, as those laws are the very pattern of everything that is
good and true, He has, therefore, because of this, an eternal right to
govern, in addition to the right which belonged to Him as Creator.
He is the Judge of all, who must do right from a necessity of His
Nature. Who else, then, should sit upon the throne, and who shall dare
to claim to do so? He may cast down the gauntlet to all His creatures
and say, "I am God, and beside Me there is none else." If He reveals
the thunder of His power, His creatures must silently admit that He is
Lord alone. None can venture to say that this throne is not founded
upon right. Moreover, there are some thrones on which kings, however
right, are deficient in might–but this is not the case with the King
of kings. We constantly see little princes whose crowns fit their heads
so ill that they cannot keep them on their brows. But our God has might
invincible as well as right infallible!
Who shall meet Him in battle? Shall the stubble defy the fire, or shall
the wax make war with the flame? Jehovah can easily swallow up His
enemies when they set themselves in battle array against Him. "Behold,
He touches the hills and they smoke! He looks upon the mountains and
they tremble! He breaks Leviathan in pieces in the depths of the sea.
The winds are His chariots, and the tempests are His messengers. At His
bidding there is day, and at His will night covers the earth. Who shall
stay His hand, or say unto Him, "What are You doing?" His throne is
founded in right and supported by might. You have Justice and Truth to
settle it, but you have Omnipotence and Wisdom to be its guards, so
that it cannot be moved.
In addition to this, His throne is one from the power of which none can
escape. The sapphire throne of God, at this moment, is revealed in
Heaven where adoring angels cast their crowns before it. And its power
is felt on earth, where the works of creation praise the Lord. Even
those who do not acknowledge the Divine government are compelled to
feel it, for He does as He wills, not only among the angels in Heaven,
but among the inhabitants of this lower world. Hell feels the terror of
that throne. Those chains of fire, those pangs unutterable, are the
awful shadow of the throne of Deity. As God looks down upon the lost,
the torment that flashes through their souls darts from His holiness
which cannot endure their sins.
The influence of that throne, then, is found in every world where
spirits dwell, and in the realms of inanimate nature it bears rule.
Every leaf that fades in the trackless forest trembles at the
Almighty's bidding, and every coral insect that dwells in the
unfathomable depths of the sea feels and acknowledges the Presence of
the all-present King. So, then, my Brethren, if such is the throne
which John saw, see how impossible it will be for you to escape from
its judgment when the great day of assize shall be proclaimed, and the
Judge shall issue His summons bidding you appear. To where can the
enemies of God flee? If up to Heaven their high-flown impudence could
carry them, His right hand of holiness would hurl them from there, or,
if under Hell's most profound wave they dive to seek a sheltering
grave, His left hand would pluck them out of the fire to expose them to
the fiercer light of His countenance!
Nowhere is there a refuge from the Most High. The morning beams cannot
convey the fugitive so swiftly as the almighty Pursuer could follow
him. Neither can the mysterious lightning flash, which annihilates time
and space, journey so rapidly as to escape His far-reaching hand. "If I
mount up to Heaven, You are there. If I make my bed in Hell, You are
there." It was said of the Roman empire under the Caesars that the
whole world was only one great prison for Caesar, for if any man
offended the emperor it was impossible for him to escape. If he crossed
the Alps, could not Caesar find him out in Gaul?
If he sought to hide himself in the Indies, even the swarthy monarchs
there knew the power of the Roman armies, so that they would give no
shelter to a man who had incurred imperial vengeance. And yet, perhaps,
a fugitive from Rome might have prolonged his miserable life by hiding
in the dens and caves of the earth. But oh, Sinner, there is no hiding
from God! The mountains cannot cover you from Him! Even if they would,
neither can the rocks conceal you. See, then, at the very outset, how
this throne should awe our minds with terror. Founded in right,
sustained by might, and universal in its dominion, look and see the
throne which John of old beheld!
This, however, is but the beginning of the vision. The text tells us
that it was a "white throne," and I would call your attention to that.
"I saw a great white throne." Why white? Does not this indicate its
immaculate purity? There is no other white throne, I fear, to be found.
The throne of our own happy land, I believe, is as white and as pure as
any throne might well be on earth. But there have been years, even in
the annals of that throne, when it was stained with blood and not many
reigns back it was black with debauchery. Not always was it the throne
of excellence and purity, and even now, though our throne possesses a
lustrous purity, rare enough among earthly thrones, yet in the sight of
God there must be in everything that is earthly something that is
impure, and therefore the throne is not white to Him.
As for many other thrones that are still existing, we know that with
them all is not white. This is neither the day nor the hour for us to
call the princes to the bar of God, but there are some of them who will
have much to answer for, because in their schemes of aggrandizement
they took no account of the blood which would be shed or of the rights
which would be violated. Principle seldom moves the royal mind. The
knavish law of policy is the basis of king-craft–a policy worthy of
highwaymen and burglars. And some kings are little. On the continent of
Europe there are not a few thrones which I might describe as either
black, or crimson, as I think of the turpitude of the conduct of the
monarch, or of the blood through which he has waded his way to
dominion.
But this is a great white throne, a throne of hallowed monarchy that is
not stained with blood nor defiled with injustice. Why, then, is it
white for purity? Is it not because the King who sits on it is pure?
Hark to the thrice sacred hymn of the cherubic band and the seraphic
choir, "Holy, holy, holy, Lord God of Sabaoth." Creatures who are
perfectly spotless, themselves, unceasingly reverence and adore the yet
superior holiness of the great King. He is too great to need to be
unjust, and He is too good to be unkind. This King has done no wrong,
and can do no wrong–and He is the only King of whom this can be said
without fiction. He who sits on this white throne is Himself the
Essence of holiness, justice, truth, and love. O fairest of all
Thrones! Who would not be a willing subject of your peerless
government?
Moreover, the throne is pure because the law the Judge dispenses is
perfect. There is no fault in the statute Book of God. When the Lord
shall come to judge the earth, there will be found no decree that bears
too harshly upon any of His creatures. "The statutes of the Lord are
right." They are true and righteous altogether. That Book of the Ten
Commands in which you find a summary of the Divine will, who can
improve it? Who can find anything in excess in it, or point out
anything that is wanting? "The Law of the Lord is perfect, converting
the soul," and well may that be a white throne from which there
emanates such a Law!
But you know that with a good law and a good lawgiver, yet sometimes
the throne may make mistakes, and it may be stained by ignorance, if
not by willful injustice. But the sentence which shall go forth from
this great white throne shall be so consistent with justice that even
the condemned culprit himself must give his unwilling assent to it.
"They stood speechless," it is said–speechless because they could
neither bear the sentence nor in any way impugn it. It is a white
throne since never was a verdict delivered from it of which the culprit
had a right to complain. Perhaps there are some here who view this as a
matter of hope, but to ungodly persons it will be the very reverse.
Oh Sinner, if you had to be judged before an impure tribunal, you
might, perhaps, escape. If the King were not holy, unholiness might,
perhaps, go unpunished. If the law were not perfect, offenses might be
condoned. Or if the sentence were not just, you might, through
partiality, escape. But where everything is so pure and white–
"Careless sinner, What will become of you?"
I have thought, too, that perhaps this throne is said to be a white
throne to indicate that it will be eminently conspicuous. You will have
noticed that a white object can be seen from a very great distance. You
may have observed, perhaps, on the Welsh mountains, a white cottage far
away, standing out conspicuously. The Welsh like to make their cottages
intensely white, so that though you would not have perceived it, had it
been left of a stone color, you see it at once, for the bright
whitewashed walls catch your eye. I suppose that a marksman would
prefer a white object to aim at before almost any other color.
And this great white throne will be so conspicuous that all the
millions who were dead, but who shall rise at the sound of the last
trumpet, shall all see it–nor shall it be possible for a single eye to
close itself against the sight! We must see it–it shall be so striking
a sight that none of us will be able to prevent its coming before us.
"Every eye shall see Him." Possibly it is called a white throne because
of its being such a convincing contrast to all the colors of this
sinful human life. There stand the crowd, and there is the great white
throne. What can make them see their blackness more thoroughly than to
stand there in contrast with the perfections of the Law and the Judge
before whom they are standing? Perhaps that throne, all glistening,
will reflect each man's character. As each unforgiven man shall look at
that white throne, its dazzling whiteness will overcome him and cover
him with confusion and with terror when he sees his own defilement in
contrast with it.
"O God!" he says, "how can I bear to be judged by such a One as You
are? I could face the judgment seat of my fellows, for I could see
imperfections in my judges, but I cannot face You, You dread Supreme,
for the awful whiteness of Your throne, and the terrible splendor of
Your holiness utterly overcome me! Who am I, sinner as I am, that I
should dare to stand before that great white throne!"
The next word that is used by way of adjective is "great." It was a
"great white throne." You scarcely need me to tell you that it is
called a great white throne because of the greatness of Him who sits
upon it. Speak of the greatness of Solomon? He was but a petty prince.
Speak of the throne of the Mogul or his Celestial Majesty of China, or
of the thrones of Rome and Greece before which multitudes of beings
assembled? They are nothing–mere representatives of associations of
the grasshoppers of the world–who are as nothing in the sight of the
Lord Jehovah! A throne filled by a mortal is but a shadow of dominion.
This will be a great throne because on it will sit the great God of
earth, and Heaven, and Hell–the King eternal, immortal, invisible–who
shall judge the world in righteousness, and His people with equity.
Brethren, you will see that this will be a "great white throne" when we
remember the culprits who will be brought before it. Not a handful of
criminals, but millions upon millions, "multitudes, multitudes, in the
Valley of Decision." And these not all of the lesser sort–not serfs
and slaves alone whose miserable bodies rested from their oppressors in
the silent grave–but the great ones of the earth shall be there. Not
alone the down-trod serf who toiled for nothing, and felt it sweet to
die, but his tyrant master who fattened on his unrewarded toils shall
be there!
Not alone the multitudes who marched to battle at their master's
bidding, and who fell beneath the shot and the shell, but the emperors
and kings who planned the conflict shall be there! Crowned heads no
greater than heads uncrowned. Men who were demigods among their fellows
shall mix with their slaves, and be made as vile as they! What a
marvelous procession! With what awe the imagination of it strikes the
heart! What a pompous appearing! Ah! Ah! You downtrodden multitudes,
the great Leveler has put you all upon a footing now! Death laid you in
one equal grave, and now Judgment finds you standing at one equal bar
to receive the sentence of One who fears no king, and dreads no
tyrant–who has no respect of persons–but who deals justice alike to
all!
Can you picture the sight? Land and sea are covered with the living who
once were dead! Hell is empty, and the grave has lost its victims! What
a sight will that be! Xerxes on his throne with a million marching
before him must have beheld a grand spectacle, but what will this be?
No flaunting banner, but the ensigns of eternal majesty! No gaudy
courtiers, but assembled angels! No sound of drum nor roar of cannon,
but the blast of the archangel's trumpet and the harps of ten thousand
times ten thousand holy ones! There will be unrivalled splendor, it is
true, but not that of heraldry and war! Mere tinsel and gewgaw shall
have all departed, and in their place there shall be the splendor of
the flashing lightning and the deep bass of the thunder. Jesus, the Man
of Sorrows, with all His angels with Him shall descend–the pomp of
Heaven being revealed among the sons of men!
It will be a great white throne because of the matters that will be
tried there. It will be no mere quarrel about a suit in Chancery, or an
estate in jeopardy. Our souls will have to be tried there! Our future,
not for an age, not for one single century, but forever and forever!
Upon those balances shall hang Heaven and Hell–to the right shall be
distributed triumph without end. To the left destruction and confusion
without a pause–and the destiny of every man and woman shall be
positively declared from that tremendous throne! Can you perceive the
greatness of it? You must measure Heaven! You must fathom Hell! You
must compass eternity–and until you can do this you cannot know the
greatness of this great white throne!
Great, last of all, because throughout eternity there shall always be a
looking back to the transactions of that day. That day shall be unto
you, you Saints, "the beginning of days," when He shall say, "Come, you
blessed of My Father." And that day shall be to you who perish, the
beginning of days, too. Just as that famous night of old in Egypt, when
the first-born were spared in every house where the lamb had shed its
blood was the first of days to Israel–but to Egypt the night when the
first-born felt the avenging angel's sword was a dread beginning of
nights forever. Many a mother reckoned from that night when the
Destroyer came, and so shall you reckon throughout a dread eternity
from the day when you see this great white throne!
Turn not away your eyes from the magnificent spectacle till you have
seen the glorious Person mentioned in the words, "And Him that sat on
it." I wonder whether anything I have said has made you solemnly think
of the great day. I am afraid I cannot speak so as to get at your
hearts, and if not, I had better be silent. But do now, for a moment,
think upon Him who sat upon the great white throne. The most fitting
One in all the world will sit upon that throne! It will be God, but
hearken, it will also be Man. "He shall judge the world by this Man,
Christ Jesus, according to my Gospel," says the Apostle. The Judge has
to be God. Who but God were fit to judge so many, and to judge so
exactly? The throne is too great for any but for Him of whom it is
written, "Your throne, O God, is forever and ever; a scepter of
righteousness is Your scepter."
Christ Jesus, the Son of God, will judge, and He will judge as Man as
well as God. And how fitting it is that it should be so! As Man He
knows our infirmities. He understands our hearts, and we cannot object
to this, that our Judge should be, Himself, like we are. Who better
could judge righteous judgment than One who is "bone of our bone and
flesh of our flesh"? And then, there is this fitness about it. He is
not only God and Man, but He is the Man, the Man of men! Of all men the
most manly, the type and pattern of manhood. He will be the test in His
own Person, for if a man is like Christ, that man is right. But if a
man is otherwise than Christ-like, that man deserves to be condemned.
That wondrous Judge needs only look upon His own Character to read the
Law and to review His own actions to discern whether other men's
actions are right or wrong.
The thoughts of many hearts were revealed by Christ on earth, and that
same Christ shall make an open exhibition of men at the Last Great Day.
He shall judge them. He shall discern their spirits. He shall find out
the joints and the marrow of their being–the thoughts and intents of
the heart He shall lay bare. Even you, Believer, will pass the test
before Him! Let no man deceive you with the delusion that you will not
be judged–the sheep appeared before the great dividing Shepherd as
well as the goats–those who used their talents were called to account
as well as he who buried his pound, and the disciples themselves were
warned that their idle words would bring them into judgment.
Nor need you fear a public trial. Innocence courts the light. You are
not saved by being allowed to be smuggled into Heaven untested and
unproved, but you will, in the righteousness of Jesus, pass the solemn
test with joy! It may not be at the same moment as the wicked that the
righteous shall be judged (I shall not contend for particulars), but I
am clear that they will be judged, and that the blood and righteousness
of Jesus are provided for this very cause–that they may find mercy of
the Lord in that day.
Sinner! It is far otherwise with you! Your ruin is sure when the
testing time comes! There will be no witnesses needed to convict you,
for the Judge knows all. The Christ whom you despised will judge you!
The Savior whose mercy you trampled on–in the fountain of whose blood
you would not wash, the despised and rejected of men–it is He who
shall judge righteous judgment to you, and what will He say but this,
"As for these, My enemies, who would not that I should reign over them,
cut them in pieces before my eyes!"
II. I need a few minutes–and I have but too few left–to DRAW THE
INFERENCES WHICH FLOW FROM
SUCH A SIGHT AS THIS–and so turn the vision to practical account.
Believer in Christ, a word in your ear. Can you see the great white
throne, and Him that sits upon it? I think I see it now. Then let me
search myself. Whatever profession I may make, I shall have to face
that great white throne. I have passed the elders. I have been approved
by the pastor. I stand accepted by the Church. But that great white
throne is not passed yet.
1 have borne a reputable character among my fellow Christians. I have
been asked to pray in public and my prayers have been much admired, but
I have not yet been weighed in the last balances–and what if I should
be found wanting! Brother Christian, what about your private prayers?
Can you live in neglect of the closet and yet remember that your
prayers will be tried before the great white throne? Is your Bible left
unread in private? Is your religion nothing but a public show and sham?
Remember the great white throne, for mere pretense will not pass there!
Brother Christian, what about your heart and your treasure? Are you a
mere money-hunter? Do you live as others live? Is your delight in the
fleeting present? Do you have dealings with the throne of Heaven? Have
you a stony heart towards Divine things? Have you little love to
Christ? Do you make an empty profession, and nothing more? Oh, think of
that great white throne, that great white throne! Why, there are some
of you, who, when I preach a stirring sermon, feel afraid to come again
to hear me! Ah, but if you are afraid of my voice, how will you bear
His voice who shall speak in tones of thunder?
Do searching sermons seem to go through you like a blast of the north
wind, chilling your very marrow and curdling your blood? Oh, but what
must it be to stand before that dread tribunal? Are you doubting now?
What will you do then? Can you not bear a little self-examination? How
will you bear that God-examination? If the scales of earth tell you
that you are lacking, what message will the scales of Heaven give you?
I do warn you, fellow professors, speaking to you as I desire to speak
now to my own heart, "Examine yourselves, whether you are in the faith.
Prove your own selves. Know you not your own selves how that Jesus
Christ is in you, except you be reprobates?"
Having spoken a word to the Christian, I should like to say to every
one of you, in remembrance of this great white throne, shun hypocrisy!
Are you tempted to be baptized though you are not a Believer, in order
to please parents and friends? Beware of that great white throne, and
think how your insult to God will look at that Last Great Day! Are you
persuaded to put on the cloak of religion because it will help your
business, or make you seem respectable? Beware, you hypocrite! Beware
of that great white throne, for of all the terrors that shall come
forth from it, there shall be none more severe than those which shall
scathe the mere professor who made a profession of religion for gain!
If you must be damned, be damned any way than as a hypocrite–for they
deserve the deepest Hell who for gain make a profession of godliness.
The ruin of By-Ends and Hypocrisy will be just, indeed. O you
high-flying professors, whose wings are fastened on with wax, beware of
the sun which will surely pour its heat upon you, for fearful will be
your fall from so great a height! But there are some of you who say, "I
do not make any profession of religion." Still my text has a word to
you. Still I want you to judge your actions by that Last Great Day.
O Sir, how about that night of sin? "No," you say, "never mind it.
Bring it not to my mind." It shall be brought to your remembrance, and
that deed of sin shall be published far wider than upon the housetops,
proclaimed to all the multitudes who have ever lived since the first
man, and your infamy shall become a byword and a proverb among all
created beings! What do you think of this, you secret sinners? You
lovers of wantonness and chambering? Ah, young man, you have commenced
by filching, but you will go on to be a downright thief. It is known,
Sir, and, "be sure your sin will find you out." Young woman, you have
begun to dally with sin, and you think none has seen you, but the most
Mighty One has seen your acts and heard your words–there is no curtain
between Him and your sin!
He sees you clearly, and what will you do with these sins of yours that
you think have been concealed? "It was many years ago," you tell me.
Yes, but though buried these many years to you, they are all alive to
Him, for everything is present to the all-seeing God–and your
forgotten deeds shall one day stand out present to you, also. My
Hearers, I implore you, do nothing which you would not do if you
thought God saw you, for He does see you! Oh, look at your actions in
the light of the judgment. Oh, that secret tippling of yours–how will
that look when God reveals it? That private lust of yours which nobody
knows of–how would you dare to do it if you remembered that God knows
it?
Young man, it is a secret, a fearful secret, and you would not whisper
it in anyone's ear–but it shall be whispered– no, it shall be
thundered out before the world! I pray you, Friend, think of this!
There is an Observer who takes notes of all that we do and will publish
all to an assembled universe. And as for us all, are we ready to meet
that Last Great Day? I had many things to say to you, but I cannot keep
you to say them now, lest you grow weary. But if tonight the trumpet
should be sounded, what would be your state of mind? Suppose that now
every ear in this place should be startled with a blast most loud and
dread, and a voice were heard–
"Come to judgment, Come to judgment, come away"?
Supposing some of you could hide in the vaults and in the foundations,
would not many of you rush to the concealment? How few of us might go
down these aisles walking steadily into the open air and saying, "I am
not afraid of judgment, for 'there is therefore now no condemnation to
them that are in Christ Jesus.' "
Brothers and Sisters, I hope there are some of us who could go gladly
to that judgment seat, even if we had to traverse the jaws of death to
reach it. I hope there are some of us who can sing in our hearts–
"Bold shall I stand in that great day
For who anything to my charge shall lay?
While, through Your blood, absolved I am
From sin's tremendous curse and blame."
It might put many of us much about to say that. It is easy to speak of
full assurance, but, believe me, it is not quite so easy to have it in
earnest in trying times. If some of you get the finger-ache your
confidence oozes out at your joints, and if you have but a little
sickness you think, "Ah, it may be cholera, what shall I do?" If you
cannot bear to die, how, then, will you bear to live forever?
Could you not look Death in the face without a shudder–then how will
you endure the Judgment? Could you gaze upon Death, and feel that he is
your friend and not your foe? Could you put a skull upon your dressing
table, and commune with it as your memento moni? Oh, it may well take
the bravest of you to do this, and the only sure way is to come as we
are to Jesus, with no righteousness of our own to trust to, but finding
all in Him! When William Carey was about to die, he ordered to have put
upon his tombstone this verse–
"A guilty, weak, and helpless worm, On Christ's kind arms I fall. He is
my strength, my righteousness, My Jesus, and my All."
I would like to wake up in eternity with such a verse as that in my
mind, as I wish to go to sleep in this world with such a hope as that
in my heart–
"Nothing in my hand I bring, Simply to the Cross I cling."
Ah, I am talking about what some of us will know more of, perhaps,
before this week is over! I am speaking now upon themes which you think
are a long way off, but a moment may bring them near. A thousand years
is a long time, but how soon it flies! One almost seems, in reading
English history, to go back and shake hands with William the
Conqueror–a few lives soon bring us even to the flood. You who are
getting on to be forty years old, and especially you who are sixty or
seventy, must feel how fast time flies. I only seem to preach a sermon
one Sunday in time to get ready for the next.
Time flies with such a whirl that no express train can overtake it, and
even the lightning flash seems to lag behind it. We shall soon be at
the great white throne! We shall soon be at the judgment bar of God.
Oh, let us be making ready for it! Let us not live so much in this
present, which is but a dream–an empty show–but let us live in the
real, substantial future. Oh that I could reach some heart here
tonight! I have a notion that I am speaking to someone here who will
not have another warning. I am sure that with such throngs as crowd
here Sunday after Sunday, I never preach to the same congregation
twice. There are always some here who are dead between one Sunday and
another. Out of such masses as these it must be so according to the
ordinary computation.
Who among you will it be who will die this week? Oh, ponder the
question well! Who among you will dwell with the devouring flames? Who
among you will abide with everlasting burnings? If I knew you I would
gladly bedew you with tears! If I knew you who are to die this week, I
would gladly come and kneel down at your side and implore you to think
of eternal things. But I do not know you, and therefore, by the living
God I do implore you all to fly to Jesus by faith! These are no
trifles, Sirs, are they? If they are, I am but a sorry trifler, and you
may go your ways and laugh at me! But if they are true and real, it
becomes me to be in earnest, and much more does it become you to be in
earnest.
"Prepare to meet your God!" He comes! Prepare now! "Now is the accepted
time. Now is the day of salvation!" The gates of mercy are not closed!
Your sin is not unpardonable! You may yet find mercy! Christ invites
you. His blood drops cry to you–
"Come and welcome,
Come and welcome, Sinner, come."
Oh, may the Holy Spirit put life into these poor words of mine, and may
the Lord help you to come now! The way to come, you know, is just to
trust in Christ. It is all done when you trust in Christ! Throw
yourselves right on Him, having nothing else to trust to. See now, my
whole weight leans on the front of this platform. Should this rail give
way, I fall. Lean on Christ just in that way–
"Venture on Him, venture wholly, Let no other trust intrude."
If you can get a grip of the Cross, and stand there beneath the crimson
canopy of the Atonement, God Himself cannot smite you, and the Last
Great Day shall dawn upon you with splendor and delight, and not with
gloom and terror. I must send you away, but not until all Believers
present have given you an invitation to return to the Lord Jesus. To do
this we will sing the following verses–
"Return, O wanderer, to your home.
Your Father calls for you!
No longer now an exile roam
In guilt and misery,
Return, return!
Return, O wanderer, to your home, 'Tis Jesus calls for you! The Spirit
and the bride say, Come!
Oh now for refuge flee; Return, return.
Return, O wanderer, to your home,
'Tis madness to delay!
There are no pardons in the tomb, And brief is mercy's day. Return!
Return!"