Awake! Awake!

Awake! Awake!

A Sermon

(No. 163)

Delivered on Sabbath Morning, November 15, 1857, by the

REV. C.H. SPURGEON

at the Music Hall, Royal Surrey Gardens.

"Therefore let us not sleep as do others, but let us watch and be
sober."–1 Thessalonians 5:6.

WHAT SAD things sin hath done. This fair world of ours was once a
glorious temple, every pillar of which reflected the goodness of God,
and every part of which was a symbol of good, but sin has spoiled and
marred all the metaphors and figures that might be drawn from earth. It
has so deranged the divine economy of nature, that those things which
were inimitable pictures of virtue, goodness, and divine plenitude of
blessing, have now become the figures and representatives of sin. Tis
strange to say, but it is strangely true, that the very best gifts of
God have by the sin of man become the worst pictures of man's guilt.
Behold the flood! breaking forth from its fountains, it rushes across
the fields, bearing plenty on its bosom; it covers them awhile, and
anon it doth subside and leaves upon the plain a fertile deposit, into
which the farmer shall cast his seed and reap an abundant harvest. One
would have called the breaking forth of water a fine picture of the
plenitude of providence, the magnificence of God's goodness to the
human race; but we find that sin has appropriated that figure to
itself. The beginning of sin is like the breaking forth of waters. See
the fire! how kindly God hath bestowed upon us that element, to cheer
us in the midst of winter's frosts. Fresh from the snow and from the
cold we rush to our household fire, and there by our hearth we warm our
hands, and glad are we. Fire is a rich picture of the divine influences
of the Spirit, a holy emblem of the zeal of the Christian; but, alas!
sin hath touched this, and the tongue called "a fire;" "it is set on
fire of hell," we are told, and it is so evidently full often, when it
uttereth blasphemy and slanders; and Jude lifts up his hand and
exclaims, when he looks upon the evils caused by sin, "Behold how great
a matter a little fire kindleth." And then there is sleep, one of the
sweetest of God's gifts, fair sleep

"Tired nature's sweet restorer, balmy sleep."

Sleep God hath selected as the very figure for the repose of the
blessed. "They that sleep in Jesus," saith the Scripture. David puts it
amongst the peculiar gift's of grace: "So he giveth his beloved sleep."
But alas! sin could not let even this alone. Sin did over-ride even
this celestial metaphor; and though God himself had employed sleep to
express the excellence of the state of the blessed, yet sin must have
even this profaned, ere itself can be expressed. Sleep is employed in
our text as a picture of a sinful condition. "Therefore let us not
sleep as do others; but let us watch and be sober."

With that introduction, I shall proceed at once to the text. The
"sleep" of the text is an evil to be avoided. In the second place, the
word "therefore" is employed to show us that there are certain reasons
for the avoiding of this sleep. And since the apostle speaks of this
sleep with sorrow, it is to teach us that there are some, whom he calls
"others," over whom it is our business to lament, because they sleep,
and do not watch, and are not sober.

I. We commence, then, in the first place, by endeavoring to point out
the EVIL WHICH THE APOSTLE INTENDS TO DESCRIBE UNDER THE TERM SLEEP.
The apostle speaks of "others" who are asleep. If you turn to the
original you will find that the word translated "others" has a more
emphatic meaning. It might be rendered (and Horne so renders it) "the
refuse,"–"Let us not sleep as do the refuse," the common herd, the
ignoble spirits, those who have no mind above the troubles of earth.
"Let us not sleep as do the others," the base ignoble multitude who are
not alive to the high and celestial calling of a Christian. "Let us not
sleep as do the refuse of mankind." And you will find that the word
"sleep," in the original, has also a more emphatic sense. It signifies
a deep sleep, a profound slumber; and the apostle intimates, that the
refuse of mankind are now in a profound slumber. We will now try if we
can explain what he meant by it.

First, the apostle meant, that the refuse of mankind are in a state of
deplorable ignorance. They that sleep know nothing. There may be
merriment in the house, but the sluggard shareth not in its gladness;
there may be death in the family but no tear bedeweth the cheek of the
sleeper. Great events may have transpired in the world's history, but
he wots not of them. An earthquake may have tumbled a city from its
greatness, or war may have devastated a nation, or the banner of
triumph may be waving in the gale, and the clarions of his country may
be saluting us with victory, but he knoweth nothing.

"Their labor and their love are lost,

Alike unknowing and unknown."

The sleeper knoweth not anything. Behold how the refuse of mankind are
alike in this! Of some things they know much, but of spiritual things
they know nothing; of the divine person of the adorable Redeemer they
have no idea; of the sweet enjoyments of a life of piety they can not
even make a guess; toward the high enthusiasms and the inward raptures
of the Christian they can not mount. Talk to them of divine doctrines,
and they are to them a riddle; tell them of sublime experiences, and
they seem to them to be enthusiastic fancies. They know nothing of the
joys that are to come; and alas! for them, they are oblivious of the
evils which shall happen to them if they go on in their iniquity. The
mass of mankind are ignorant; they know not; they have not the
knowledge of God, they have no fear of Jehovah before their eyes; but,
blind-folded by the ignorance of this world, they march on through the
paths of lust to that sure and dreadful end, the everlasting ruin of
their souls. Brethren, if we be saints, let us not be ignorant as are
others. Let us search the Scriptures, for in them we have eternal life,
for they do testify of Jesus. Let us be diligent; let not the Word
depart out of our hearts; let us meditate therein both by day and
night, that we may be as the tree planted by the rivers of water. "Let
us not sleep as do others."

Again, sleep pictures a state of insensibility. There may be much
knowledge in the sleeper, hidden, stored away in his mind, which might
be well developed, if he could but be awakened. But he hath no
sensibility, he knoweth nothing. The burglar hath broken into the
house; the gold and silver are both in the robbers hands; the child is
being murdered by the cruelty of him that hath broken in; but the
father slumbereth, though all the gold and silver that he hath, and his
most precious child, are in the hands of the destroyer. He is
unconscious, how can he feel, when sleep had utterly sealed his senses!
Lo! in the street there is mourning. A fire hath just now burned down
the habitation of the poor, and houseless beggars are in the street.
They are crying at his window, and asking him for help. But he sleeps,
and what wots he, though the night be cold, and though the poor are
shivering in the blast? He hath no consciousness; he feeleth not for
them. There! take the title-deed of his estate, and burn the document.
There! set light to his farm-yard! burn up all that he hath in the
field; kill his horse and destroy his cattle; let now the fire of God
descend and burn up his sheep; let the enemy fall upon all that he hath
and devour it. He sleeps as soundly as if he were guarded by the angel
of the Lord.

Such are the refuse of mankind. But alas! that we should have to
include in that word "refuse" the great bulk thereof! How few there are
that feel spiritually! They feel acutely enough any injury to their
body, or to their estate; but alas! for their spiritual concerns they
have no sensation whatever! They are standing on the brink of hell, but
they tremble not; the anger of God is burning against them, but they
fear not; the sword of Jehovah is unsheathed, but terror doth not seize
upon them. They proceed with the merry dance; they drink the bowl of
intoxicating pleasure; they revel and they riot, still do they sing the
lascivious song; yea, they do more than this; in their vain dreams they
do defy the Most High, whereas, if they were once awakened to the
consciousness of their state, the marrow of their bones would melt, and
their heart would dissolve like wax in the midst of their bowels. They
are asleep, indifferent and unconscious. Do what you may to them; let
every thing be swept away that is hopeful, that might give them cheer
when they come to die, yet they feel it not; for how should a sleeper
feel anything? But, "Therefore let us not sleep, as do others; but let
us watch and be sober."

Again: the sleeper cannot defend himself. Behold yonder prince, he is a
strong man, ay, and a strong man armed. He hath entered into the tent.
He is wearied. He hath drunken the woman's milk; he hath eaten her
"butter in a lordly dish;" he casteth himself down upon the floor, and
he slumbereth. And now she draweth nigh. She hath with her her hammer
and her nail. Warrior! thou couldst break her into atoms with one blow
of thy mighty arm; but thou canst not now defend thyself. The nail is
at his ear, the woman's hand is on the hammer, and the nail hath
pierced his skull; for when he slept he was defenseless. The banner of
Sisera had waved victoriously over mighty foes; but now it is stained
by a woman. Tell it, tell it, tell it! The man, who when he was awake,
made nations tremble, dies by the hand of a feeble woman when he
sleepeth.

Such are the refuse of mankind. They are asleep; they have no power to
resist temptation. Their moral strength is departed, for God is
departed from them. There is the temptation to lust. They are men of
sound principle in business matters, and nothing could make them swerve
from honesty; but lasciviousness destroyeth them; they are taken like a
bird in the snare; they are caught in a trap; they are utterly subdued.
Or, mayhap, it is another way that they are conquered. They are men
that would not do an unchaste act, or even think a lascivious thought,
they scorn it. But they have another weak point, they are entrapped by
the glass. They are taken and they are destroyed by drunkenness. Or, if
they can resist these things, and are inclined neither to looseness of
life nor to excess in living, yet mayhap covetousness entereth into
them; by the name of prudence it slideth into their hearts, and they
are led to grasp after treasure and to heap up gold, even though that
gold be wrung out of the veins of the poor, and though they do suck the
blood of the orphan. They seem to be unable to resist their passion.
How many times have I been told by men, "I can not help it, sir, do
what I may; I resolve, I re-resolve, but I do the same; I am
defenseless; I can not resist the temptation!" Oh, of course you can
not, while you are asleep. O Spirit of the living God! wake up the
sleeper! Let sinful sloth and presumption both be startled, lest haply
Moses should come their way, and finding them asleep should hang them
on the gallows of infamy for ever.

Now, I come to give another meaning to the word "sleep." I hope there
have been some of my congregation who have been tolerable easy whilst I
have described the first three things, because they have thought that
they were exempt in those matters. But sleep signifies also inactivity.
The farmer can not plow his field in his sleep, neither can he cast the
grain into the furrows, nor watch the clouds, nor reap his harvest. The
sailor can not reef his sail, nor direct his ship across the ocean,
whilst he slumbereth. It is not possible that on the Exchange, or the
mart, or in the house of business, men should transact their affairs
with their eyes fast closed in slumber. It would be a singular thing to
see a nation of sleepers; for they would be a nation of idle men. They
must all starve; they would produce no wealth from the soil; they would
have nothing for their backs, nought for clothing and nought for food.
But how many we have in the world that are inactive through sleep! Yes,
I say inactive. I mean by that, that they are active enough in one
direction, but they are inactive in the right. Oh how many men there
are that are totally inactive in anything that is for God's glory, or
for the welfare of their fellow creatures! For themselves, they can
"rise up early, and sit up late, and eat the bread of
carefulness;"–for their children, which is an alias for themselves,
they can toil until their fingers ache–they can weary themselves until
their eyes are red in their sockets, till the brain whirls, and they
can do no more. But for God they can do nothing. Some say they have no
time, others frankly confess that they have no will: for God's church
they would not spend an hour, whilst for this worlds pleasure they
could lay out a month. For the poor they can not spend their time and
attention. They may haply have time to spare for themselves and for
their own amusment; but for holy works, for deeds of charity, and for
pious acts they declare they have no leisure; whereas, the fact is,
they have no will.

Behold ye, how many professing Christians there are that are asleep in
this sense! They are inactive. Sinners are dying in the street by
hundreds; men are sinking into the flames of eternal wrath, but they
fold their arms, they pity the poor perishing sinner, but they do
nothing to show that their pity is real. They go to their places of
worship; they occupy their well-cushioned easy pew; they wish the
minister to feed them every Sabbath; but there is never a child taught
in the Sunday-school by them; there is never a tract distributed at the
poor man's house; there is never a deed done which might be the means
of saving souls. We call them good men; some of them we even elect to
the office of deacons; and no doubt good men they are; they are as good
as Anthony meant to say that Brutus was honorable, when he said, "So
are we all, all honorable men." So are we all, all good, if they be
good. But these are good, and in some sense–good for nothing; for they
just sit and eat the bread, but they do not plow the field; they drink
the wine, but they will not raise the vine that doth produce it. They
think that they are to live unto themselves, forgetting that "no man
liveth unto himself, and no man dieth unto himself." Oh, what a vast
amount of sleeping we have in all our churches and chapels; for truly
if our churches were once awake, so far as material is concerned, there
are enough converted men and women, and there is enough talent with
them, and enough money with them, and enough time with them, God
granting the abundance of His Holy Spirit, which he would be sure to do
if they were all zealous–there is enough to preach the gospel in every
corner of the earth. The church does not need to stop for want of
instruments, or for want of agencies; we hare everything now except the
will; we have all that we may expect to give for the conversion of the
world, except just a heart for the work, and the Spirit of God poured
out into our midst. Oh! brethren, "let us not sleep as do others." You
will find the "others" in the church and in the world: "the refuse" of
both are sound asleep.

Ere, however, I can dismiss this first point of explanation, it is
necessary for me just to say that the apostle himself furnishes us with
part of an exposition; for the second sentence, "let us watch and be
sober," implies that the reverse of these things is the sleep, which he
means. "Let us watch." There are many that never watch. They never
watch against sin; they never watch against the temptations of the
enemy; they do not watch against themselves, nor against "the lusts of
the flesh, the lusts of the eye, and the pride of life." They do not
watch for opportunities to do good; they do not watch for opportunities
to instruct the ignorant, to confirm the weak, to comfort the
afflicted, to succor them that are in need; they do not watch for
opportunities of glorifying Jesus, or for times of communion; they do
not watch for the promises; they do not watch for answers to their
prayers; they do not watch for the second coming of our Lord Jesus.
These are the refuse of the world: they watch not because they are
asleep. But let us watch: so shall we prove that we are not slumberers.

Again: let us "be sober." Albert Barnes says, this most of all refers
to abstinence, or temperance in eating and drinking, Calvin says, not
so; this refers more especially to the spirit of moderation in the
things of the world. Both are right; it refers to both. There be many
that are not sober; they sleep because they are not so; for insobriety
leadeth to sleep. They are not sober–they are drunkards, they are
gluttons. They are not sober–they can not be content to do a little
business–they want to do a great deal. They are not sober–they can
not carry on a trade that is sure–they must speculate. They are not
sober–if they lose their property, their spirit is cast down within
them, and they are like men that are drunken with wormwood. If on the
other hand, they get rich, they are not sober: they so set their
affections things on earth that they become intoxicated with pride,
because of their riches–become purse-proud, and need to have the
heavens lifted up higher, lest their heads should dash against the
stars. How many people there are that are not sober! Oh! I might
especially urge this precept upon you at this time, my dear friends. We
have hard times coming, and the times are hard enough now. Let us be
sober. The fearful panic in America has mainly risen from disobedience
to this command–"Be sober;" and if the professors of America had
obeyed this commandment, and had been sober, the panic might at any
rate have been mitigated, if not totally avoided. Now, in a little
time, you who have any money laid by will be rushing to the bank to
have it drawn out, because you fear that the bank is tottering. You
will not be sober enough to have a little trust in your fellow-men, and
help them through their difficulty, and so be a blessing to the
commonwealth. And you who think there is anything to be got by lending
your money at usury will not be content with lending what you have, but
you will be extorting and squeezing your poor debtors, that you may get
the more to lend. Men are seldom content to get rich slowly, but he
that hasteth to be rich shall not be innocent. Take care, my
brethren–if any hard times should come, if commercial houses should
smash, and banks be broken–take care to be sober. There is nothing
will get us over a panic so well as every one of us trying to keep our
spirits up–just rising in the morning and saying; "Times are very
hard, and to-day I may lose my all; but fretting will not help it; so
just let me set a bold heart against hard sorrow, and go to my
business. The wheels of trade may stop; I bless God, my treasure is in
heaven; I can not be bankrupt. I have set my affections on the things
of God; I can not lose those things. There is my jewel; there is my
heart!" Why, if all men could do that, it would tend to create public
confidence; but the cause of the great ruin of many men is the
covetousness of all men, and the fear of some. If we could all go
through the world with confidence, and with boldness, and with courage,
there is nothing in the world that could avert the shock so well. Come,
I suppose, the shock must; and there are many men now present, who are
very respectable, who may expect to be beggars ere long. Your business
is, so to put your trust in Jehovah that you may be able to say,
"Though the earth be removed, and though the mountains be carried into
the midst of the sea, God is my refuge and strength, a very present
help in trouble; therefore will I not fear;" and doing that, you will
be creating more probabilities for the avoidance of your own
destruction than by any other means which the wisdom of man can dictate
to you. Let us not be intemperate in business, as are others; but let
us awake. "Let us not sleep"–not be carried away by the somnambulism
of the world, for what it is better than that?–activity and greed in
sleep; "but let us watch and be sober." Oh, Holy Spirit, help us to
watch and be sober.

II. Thus I have occupied a great deal of time in explaining the first
point–What was the sleep which the apostle meant? And now you will
notice that the word "therefore" implies that there are CERTAIN REASONS
FOR THIS. I shall give you these reasons; and if I should cast them
somewhat into a dramatic form, you must not wonder; they will the
better perhaps, be remembered. "Therefore," says the apostle, "let us
not sleep."

We shall first look at the chapter itself for our reasons. The first
reason precedes the text. The apostle tells us that "we are all the
children of the light and of the day; therefore let us not sleep as do
others." I marvel not when, as I walk through the streets after
nightfall, I see every shop closed and every window-blind drawn down;
and I see the light in the upper room significant of retirement to
rest. I wonder not that a half an hour later my footfall startles me,
and I find none in the streets. Should I ascend the staircase, and look
into the sleeper's placid countenances, I should not wonder; for it is
night, the proper time for sleep. But if, some morning, at eleven or
twelve o'clock, I should walk down the streets and find myself alone,
and notice every shop closed, and every house straitly shut up, and
hearken to no noise, should say, "Tis strange, tis passing strange, tis
wonderful. What are these people at? Tis day-time, and yet they are all
asleep. I should be inclined to seize the first rapper I could find,
and give a double knock, and rush to the next door, and ring the bell,
and so all the way down the street, or go to the police station, and
wake up what man I found there, and bid them make a noise in the
street; or go for the fire-engine, and bid the firemen rattle down the
road and try to wake these people up. For I should say to myself,
"There is some pestilence here; the angel of death must have flown
through these streets during the night and killed all these people, or
else they would have been sure to have been awake." Sleep in the
daytime is utterly incongruous. "Well, now," says the apostle Paul, "ye
people of God, it is day time with you; the sun of righteousness has
risen upon you with healing in his wings; the light of God's Spirit is
in your conscience; ye have been brought out of darkness into marvelous
light; for you to be asleep, for a church to slumber, is like a city
a-bed in the day, like a whole town slumbering when the sun is shining.
It is untimely and unseemly."

And now, if you look to the text again, you will find there another
argument. "Let us, who are of the day, be sober, putting on the
breastplate of faith and love." So, then, it seems, it is war-time; and
therefore, again, it is unseemly to slumber. There is a fortress,
yonder, far away in India. A troop of those abominable Sepoys have
surrounded it. Blood thirsty hell-hounds, if they once gain admission,
they will rend the mother and her children, and cut the strong man in
pieces. They are at the gates: their cannon are loaded, their bayonets
thirst for blood, and their swords are hungry to slay. Go through the
fortress, and the people are all asleep. There is the warder on the
tower, nodding on his bayonet. There is the captain in his tent, with
his pen in his hand, and his dispatches before him, asleep at the
table. There are soldiers lying down in their tents, ready for the war,
but all slumbering. There is not a man to be seen keeping watch there
is not a sentry there. All are asleep. Why, my friends, you would say,
"Whatever is the matter here? What can it be? Has some great wizard
been waving his wand, and put a spell upon them all? Or are they all
mad? Have their minds fled? Sure, to be asleep in wartime is indeed
outrageous. Here! take down that trumpet; go close up to the captain's
ear, and blow a blast, and see if it does not awake him in a moment.
Just take away that bayonet from the soldier that is asleep on the
walls, and give bin a sharp prick with it, and see if he does not
awake." But surely, surely, nobody can have patience with people
asleep, when the enemy surround the walls and are thundering at the
gates.

Now, Christians, this is your case. Your life is a life of warfare; the
world, the flesh, and the devil; that hellish trinity, and your poor
flesh is a wretched mudwork behind which to be intrenched. Are you
asleep? Asleep, when Satan has fire-balls of lust to hurl into the
windows of your eyes–when he has arrows of temptation to shoot into
your heart–when he has snares into which to trap your feet? Asleep,
when he has undermined your very existence, and when he is about to
apply the match with which to destroy you, unless sovereign grace
prevents? Oh! sleep not, soldier of the cross! To sleep in war-time is
utterly inconsistent. Great Spirit of God forbid that we should
slumber.

But now, leaving the chapter itself, I will give you one or two other
reasons that will, I trust, move Christian people to awake out of their
sleep. "Bring out your dead! Bring out your dead! Bring out your dead!"
Then comes the ringing of a bell. What is this? Here is a door marked
with a great white cross. Lord, have mercy upon us! All the houses down
that street seem to be marked with that white death cross. What is
this? Here is the grass growing in the streets; here are Cornhill and
Cheapside deserted; no one is found treading the solitary pavement
there is not a sound to be heard but those horse-hoofs like the hoofs
of death's pale horse upon the stones, the ringing of that bell that
sounds the death-knell to many, and the rumbling of the wheels of that
cart, and the dreadful cry, "Bring out your dead! Bring out your dead!
Bring out your dead!" Do you see that house? A physician lives there.
He is a man who has great skill, and God has lent him wisdom. But a
little while ago, whilst in his study, God was pleased to guide his
mind, and he discovered the secret of the plague. He was plague-smitten
himself, and ready to die; but he lifted the blessed phial to his lips,
and he drank a draught and cured himself. Do you believe what I am
about to tell you? Can you imagine it? That man has the prescription
that will heal all these people; he has it in his pocket. He has the
medicine which, if once distributed in those streets, would make the
sick rejoice, and put that dead man's bell away. And he is asleep! he
is asleep! He is asleep! O ye heavens! why do ye not fall and crush the
wretch? O earth! how couldst thou bear this demon upon thy bosom? Why
not swallow him up quick? He has the medicine; he is too lazy to go and
tell forth the remedy. He has the cure, and is too idle to go out and
administer it to the sick and the dying! No, my friends, such an
inhuman wretch could not exist! But I can see him here to-day. There
are you! You know the world is sick with the plague of sin, and you
yourself have been cured by the remedy which has been provided. You are
asleep, inactive, loitering. You do not go forth to

"Tell to others round,

What a dear Saviour you have found."

There is the precious gospel; you do not go and put it to the lips of a
sinner. There is the all-precious blood of Christ; you never go to tell
the dying what they must do to be saved. The world is perishing with
worse than plague: and you are idle! And you are a minister of the
gospel; and you have taken that holy office upon yourself; and you are
content to preach twice on a Sunday, and once on a weekday, and there
is no remonstrance within you. You never desire to attract the
multitudes to hear you preach; you had rather keep your empty benches,
and study propriety, than you would once, at the risk of appearing
over-zealous, draw the multitude and preach the word to them. You are a
writer; you have great power in writing; you devote your talents alone
to light literature, or to the production of other things which may
furnish amusement, but which can not benefit the soul. You know the
truth, but you do not tell it out. Yonder mother is a converted woman:
you have children, and you forget to instruct them in the way to
heaven. You, yonder, are a young man, having nothing to do on the
Sabbath-day, and there is the Sunday school; you do not go to tell
those children the sovereign remedy that God has provided for the cure
of sick souls. The death-bell is ringing even now; hell is crying out,
howling with hunger for the souls of men. "Bring out the sinner! Bring
out the sinner! Bring out the sinner! Let him die and be damned!" And
there are you, professing to be a Christian, and doing nothing which
might make you the instrument of saving souls–never putting out your
hand to be the means in the hand of the Lord, of plucking sinners as
brands from the burning! Oh! May the blessing of God rest on you, to
turn you from such an evil way, that you may not sleep as do others,
but may watch and be sober. The world's eminent danger demands that we
should be active and not be slumbering.

Hark how the mast creaks! See the sails there, rent to ribbons.
Breakers ahead! She will be on the rocks directly. Where is the
captain? Where is the boatswain? Where are the sailors? Ahoy there!
Where are you? Here's a storm come on. Where are you? You are down in
the cabin. And there is the captain in a soft sweet slumber. There is
the man at the wheel, as sound asleep as ever he can be; and there are
all the sailors in their hammocks. What! and the breakers ahead? What!
the lives of two hundred passengers in danger, and here are these
brutes asleep? Kick them out. What is the good of letting such men as
these be sailors, in such a time as this especially? Why, out with you!
If you had gone to sleep in fine weather we might have forgiven you. Up
with you, captain! What have you been at? Are you mad? But hark! the
ship has struck; she will be down in a moment. Now you will work, will
you? Now you will work, when it is of no use, and when the shrieks of
drowning women shall toll you into hell for your most accursed
negligence, in not having taken care of them. Well, that is very much
line a great many of us, in these times too.

This proud ship of our commonwealth is reeling in a storm of sin; the
very mast of this great nation is creaking under the hurricane of vice
that sweeps across the noble vessel; every timber is strained, and God
help the good ship, or alas! none can save her. And who are her captain
and her sailors, but ministers of God, the professors of religion?
These are they to whom God gives grace to steer the ship. "Ye are the
salt of the earth;" ye preserve and keep it alive, O children of God.
Are ye asleep in the storm? Are ye slumbering now? If there were no
dens of vice, if there were no harlots, if there were no houses of
profanity, if there were no murders and no crimes, oh! ye that are the
salt of the earth, ye might sleep; but to-day the sin of London crieth
in the ears of God. This behemoth city is covered with crime, and God
is vexed with her. And are we asleep, doing nothing? Then God forgive
us! But sure of all the sins he ever doth forgive, this is the
greatest, the sin of slumbering when a world is damning–the sin of
being idle when Satan is busy, devouring the souls of men. "Brethren,
let us not sleep" in such times as these; for if we do, a curse must
fall upon us, horrible to bear.

There is a poor prisoner in a cell. His hair is all matted, over his
eyes. A few weeks ago the judge put on the black cap, and commanded
that he should be taken to the place from whence he came, and hung by
the neck until dead. The poor wretch has his heart broken within him,
whilst he thinks of the pinion, of the gallows, and of the drop, and of
after-death. . O! who can tell how his heart is rent and racked, whilst
he thinks of leaving all, and going he knoweth not where! There is a
man there, sound asleep upon a bed. He has been asleep there these two
days, and under his pillow he has that prisoners free pardon. I would
horsewhip that scoundrel, horsewhip him soundly, for making that poor
man have two days of extra misery. Why, if I had had that man's pardon,
I would have been there, if I rode on the wings of lightning to get at
him, and I should have thought the fastest train that ever run but
slow, if I had so sweet a message to carry, and such a poor heavy heart
to carry it to. But that man, that brute, is sound asleep, with a free
pardon under his pillow, whilst that poor wretch's heart is breaking
with dismay! Ah! do not be too hard with him: he is here today. Side by
side with you this morning there is sitting a poor penitent sinner; God
has pardoned him, and intends that you should tell him that good news.
He sat by your side last Sunday, and he wept all the sermon through,
for he felt his guilt. If you had spoken to him then, who can tell? He
might have had comfort; but there he is now–you do not tell him the
good news. Do you leave that to me to do? Ah! sirs, but you can not
serve God by proxy; what the minister does is nought to you; you have
your own personal duty to do, and God has given you a precious promise.
It is now on your heart. Will you not turn round to your next neighbor,
and tell him that promise? O! there is many an aching heart that aches
because of our idleness in telling the good news of this salvation.
"Yes," says one of my members, who always comes to this place on a
Sunday, and looks out for young men and young women whom he has seen in
tears the Sunday before, and who brings many into the church, "yes, I
could tell you a story. He looks a young man in the face, and says,
"Haven't I seen you here a great many times?" " Yes." "I think you take
a deep interest in the service, do you not?" "Yes, I do: what makes you
ask me that question?" "Because I looked at your face last Sunday, and
I thought there was something at work with you." "O! sir," he says,
"nobody has spoken to me ever since I have been here till now, and I
want to say a word to you. When I was at home with my mother, I used to
think I had some idea of religion; but I came away, and was bound
apprentice with an ungodly lot of youths, and have done everything I
ought not to have done. And now, sir, I begin to weep, I begin to
repent. I wish to God that I knew how I might be saved! I hear the word
preached, sir, but I want something spoken personally to me by
somebody." And he turns round; he takes him by the hand and says, "My
dear young brother, I am so glad I spoke to you; it makes my poor old
heart rejoice to think that the Lord is doing something here still.
Now, do not be cast down; for you know, "This is a faithful saying, and
worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to
save sinners.'" The young man puts his handkerchief to his eyes, and
after a minute, he says, "I wish you would let me call and see you,
sir." " O! you may," he says. He talks with him, he leads him onward,
and at last by God's grace the happy youth comes forward and declares
what God has done for his soul, and owes his salvation as much to the
humble instrumentality of the man that helped him as he could do to the
preaching of the minister.

Beloved brethren, the bridegroom cometh! Awake! Awake! The earth must
soon be dissolved, and the heavens must melt! Awake! Awake! O Holy
Spirit arouse us all, and keep us awake.

III. And now I have no time for the last point, and therefore I shall
not detain you. Suffice me to say in warning, there is AN EVIL HERE
LAMENTED. There are some that are asleep, and the apostle mourns it.

My fellow sinner, thou that art this day unconverted, let me say six or
seven sentences to thee, and thou shalt depart. Unconverted man!
unconverted woman! you are asleep today, as they that sleep on the top
of the mast in time of storm; you are asleep, as he that sleeps when
the water-floods are out, and when his house is undermined, and being
carried down the stream far out to sea; you are asleep, as he who in
the upper chamber, when his house is burning and his own locks are
singeing in the fire, knows not the devastation around him; you are
asleep–asleep as he that lies upon the edge of a precipice, with death
and destruction beneath him. One single start in his sleep would send
him over, but he knows it not. Thou art asleep this day; and the place
where thou steepest has so frail a support that when once it breaks
thou shalt fall into hell: and if thou wakest not till then, what a
waking it will be! "In hell he lifted up his eyes, being in torment;"
and he cried for a drop of water, but it was denied him. "He that
believeth in the Lord Jesus Christ, and is baptized shall be saved; he
that believeth not shall be damned." This is the gospel. Believe ye in
Jesus, and ye shall "rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory."