The Spur

DELIVERED BY

C. H. SPURGEON,

AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON.

"Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with allyour might; for there is
no work, nor device, nor knowledge, nor wisdom, in the grave, where you
go." Ecclesiastes 9:10.

I FIND that these words, and those which precede them, have been
considered by some to be a sarcastic address to those persons of an
epicurean spirit who consider this world to be everything and will not
believe that there is a world to come. They are bidden to eat the fat
and drink the sweet, and enjoy life while they can–and if they have
anything that they wish to do, to get it done as quickly as they
can–because there is no work nor device in the grave. If this is the
meaning, we must regard it as spoken to them from their own standpoint
and so it is tantamount to their favorite maxim, "let us eat and drink,
for tomorrow we die."

It is possible that the royal preacher intended our text to be a
sardonic sarcasm, but I do not think so. I think the common
interpretation is the true one and that would make it run parallel with
the saying of our Lord, "Work while it is called day, for the night
comes wherein no man can work." It is an address to men, commending to
them promptness, determination and practical earnestness. Inasmuch as
they have but one life here on earth, they should give diligence to
accomplish all the right purposes which they have formed for this
world. Because once dead they cannot return, nor in the grave can they
carry out any of their resolves, they should do quickly what they mean
to do. May God give us Grace to make a right use of this exhortation.

First, we shall give this passage an evangelical voice to the
unconverted. Secondly, we shall find in it a stimulating voice to the
people of God.

I. First, we shall give it AN EVANGELICAL VOICE TO THE UNCONVERTED and
it will be necessary for us to say that there is nothing for the
unconverted man to do, by way of work or device with his hand in order
to his being saved. And, therefore, we do not address him and say to
him, "Do what your hand finds to do, in order that you may be saved by
it." That would be false doctrine and would tend to put the anxious
seeker upon the wrong track. The Gospel regards the unconverted man as
dead in trespasses and sins and it tells him that, first of all, he
must be quickened by a new life–he must be born-again, in fact–or
else he is not capable of those actions which would be acceptable with
God.

Neither if he were capable of them would the performance of them be the
way of salvation, for we are expressly told that our salvation is not
of works. Salvation from sin, and justification before God, come to us
in connection with the work of the Holy Spirit within us leading us to
faith in Jesus. And so salvation is entirely and alone of the Grace of
God. Repentance toward God and faith in our Lord Jesus Christ are the
evidences of saving Grace, and are at once the gifts of God and the
works of the renewed mind. Looking at this present moment upon faith,
repentance, prayer and the seeking of the Lord as being our works when
God's Grace has worked them in us, we would say to every unconverted
person, "It is high time that you should begin to think about the
solemn interests of your soul, for you will soon pass from the place of
saving knowledge and heavenly wisdom into the shades of forgetfulness."

Repentance is not a feeling which you may have, or may not have, and
yet be equally saved. You must repent of your sins or there can be no
forgiveness for you. Faith in Jesus Christ is not an optional thing, so
that a man may perhaps fare well at last, whether he believes or not.
"He that believes not shall be damned" is the emphatic declaration of
Christ Himself, not an invention of His disciples, but our Lord's own
declaration. You must have faith or you cannot be saved. And you must
be men of prayer, for without prayer no man shall be saved. The
sinner's first evidence of salvation is– "Behold he prays!" If there
is no prayer, there is no Grace. These things are indispensably
essential.

Note well, also, that it is essential that they be done with all our
might. The text says, "Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with all
your might." Nobody ever truly repented who repented in a half-hearted
way. We cannot repent in our sleep and so go to Heaven dreaming. Eve
was taken out of Adam when he was asleep, but our sins will not be
removed in

a like manner. Neither does any man believe in Jesus without thought
upon the matter–faith does not grow spontaneously and without our own
consent, like nettles in the sluggard's garden. Faith is not the fruit
of a swoon–it requires the exercise of the faculties. It is a simple
thing, but it is an earnest thing, a hearty thing. "If you believe with
all your heart," said Philip to the eunuch, "you may be baptized." It
is with the heart that man believes, and that sort of believing which
does not exercise the heart will never save the soul.

A prayer, too–a prayer accepted in Heaven, is not a dull, cold thing.
It is not a saying of prayers, a using of certain holy words, just as
wizards of old were accustomed to mutter their enchantments. Oh, no! It
is the yearning of the spirit after God, the passionate longing of the
creature to get to the Creator and to be reconciled to Him. "The
kingdom of Heaven suffers violence, and the violent take it by force."
And without a holy violence we shall not gain entrance at the gates of
mercy. Prayer is no child's play, but requires all our might. In order
to eternal life there must be faith, there must be repentance, there
must be prayer–and these must all be real, deep, fervent–or else they
are not such as God gives and they are not true evidences of salvation.

Moreover, the text urges us to immediate action because death is
coming. Now I feel quite sure that the bulk of the unconverted part of
my congregation is made up of persons who have fully resolved one day
to repent. If I were now sent as a commissioner from Satan and were
wickedly to ask you to make a contract with the powers of darkness that
you never would repent, that you never would believe in Jesus and that
you never would pray, you would start back from so dreadful a compact!
You would feel as if a most profane bargain were proposed to you. You
would suspect the presence of Mephistopheles or some other form of the
arch-deceiver. And yet your actions practically come to the same thing.
For how many years have you lived without attending to your souls?

"Oh, but we mean to!" Yes, and you meant to 20 years ago. "Oh, but we
really do mean it, now!" Yes, and you were quite as earnest when you
were but children in Sunday school. Since then you have had different
times of awakening and you have resolved and re-resolved–but you
remain the same. Will it always be so? If so, why do you start back
from promising to let it be so? If you think it right to continue as
unbelievers, what is right today will be right tomorrow and what has
been convenient today will be as convenient tomorrow! And though you
say, "Go your way for this time: when I have a more convenient season I
will send for you," it will come to pass with you as with Felix–the
convenient season will never come and you will remain unsaved. And yet
you are dying men and women!

As I look you in the face, I read, "Mortality!" written across your
brows. There is not a body here but what, unless the Lord shall come,
will lie in the cold grave and turn to dust! And there is not a soul
here but what shall pass into the disembodied state and by-and-by,
after the Resurrection, shall stand before the Judgment Seat of God!
Yet all this while you are trifling about your best interests–not
about your purses, nor about your property–but about your souls! About
yourselves, your truest selves! Sirs, is this wise? You are not short
of wit in other things–how are you, then, so short of it in this? If
you must play at hazard, let it be with something cheaper than your
souls! If there must be risks, go risk your houses and risk your
health–but risk not your souls and their everlasting interests!

The voice of Wisdom says today–you must repent! You must believe! You
must seek God in prayer! Therefore, since death is near you, do it, do
it with all your might and do it now, for before long you will be where
these things never can be done! In a very short time every unconverted
person here will be in the land where there are no Sabbaths. You can
waste them now–they hang heavy on some men's hands–but you will not
be galled with Sabbaths there, or worried with calls to go up to the
House of God and think about your souls. We who are preachers of the
Gospel are very troublesome to you and often make your consciences
uneasy– soon you will no longer be troubled with us.

There will be none to cry to you to have mercy on yourselves. There
will none whose loving importunity shall be a weariness to you. None
will annoy you with their expostulations, or burden you with
invitations. You will be in the land where there are no Sabbaths and no
preachers. And there will be no Bibles there. You will not say there,
as you did this afternoon, "It is dry reading–that Bible." You will
not be tired of hearing promises there. No promise and no Gospel will
ever salute your ears in that dark realm of despair! And there will be
no Mercy Seat there. You do not pray now, though God will hear you–but
in a future state prayer will be altogether out of season. God hears
not the ungodly when once they are cast away from His Presence.

They may call, but He has said, "I will not answer. They refused Me,
and therefore I will mock at their calamity, I will laugh when their
fear comes." I pray you remember that there will be no Jesus there, no
Fountain filled with blood

in which to wash away crimson stains. There will be no Redeemer to
cover a naked soul with His righteousness, no Savior to say, "Be of
good cheer, your sins are forgiven you." There will be no Spirit of God
there to plead with your conscience and to be resisted. There will be
no Grace of God there to show you your sins and to show you the atoning
Sacrifice. I pray you, have a little patience with us who preach to
you, for our time is short and you will soon be rid of us. Have a
little patience with your Bible–it will soon enough be out of your
way! Have a little patience with your poor Christian mother who tries
to bring you to the Savior–she will be far from you soon!

We, who now trouble you by desiring to do you good, will soon be out of
your way. Ah, poor Souls! Poor Souls! Soon you will be out of God's
way, and out of Christ's way, and out of Mercy's way–banished from the
Savior's Presence–and that because the kingdom of God came near to
you, but you put it away from you, for you would have none of the
Lord's reproofs. You turned, every one to his own way, and rejected the
counsels of God against yourselves. Beloved Hearers, may none of you
stand in that plight! While I breathe the prayer that it may not be so,
may I ask you to pray for yourselves that it will not be so? Will you
let me whisper in your ear, as though I stood close by each one of you
now, and I will softly and lovingly say–Repent, and believe in Jesus,
now, with all your might. God help you, "for there is no work, nor
device, nor knowledge, nor wisdom in the grave where you go."

II. But now I have another task, and that is to set forth my text as A
STIMULATING VOICE TO GOD'S OWN

PEOPLE. Beloved Brothers and Sisters, our text reminds you that you
have a work to do. You have not the work to do of saving yourselves.
That is done–the dear Redeemer has finished it. "It is finished," says
the Savior, and that is joy for you. But now you have another work to
do because you are saved. Man was not created to be idle. He was not
elected to be idle. He was not redeemed to be idle. He was not
quickened to be idle and he is not sanctified by God's Grace to be

idle.

Every Christian, while resting in Christ's work for justification is,
himself, a worker, ordained to bring forth fruit unto God's Glory. Have
we been bought with he blood of Jesus and can we be idlers in our
Redeemer's vineyard? The love of Jesus to us must provoke love in our
heart to Jesus and that love must show itself by deeds of service for
His name. I am sure we feel that. Do you not feel, Brothers and
Sisters, as members of the Christian Church, that you have each a work
to do? You love the Church and you would not like to be idle members of
it. As soldiers in one great army you eagerly desire to promote the
prosperity of the host–as members of the body of Christ you wish to
perform your office to your Head and your fellow members. I know you
do.

The vows of Christ are on you and the vows of the Church of God are on
you, too. Moreover, I know that my dear Brethren have a love for the
Truth of the Gospel. Does it not grieve you when you hear false
doctrines and when you see the idols set up again–the idols which your
fathers abhorred, set up in the national temples of God? Your heart is
provoked to jealousy–I know it is–and you feel, each one of you, that
you have the Truth of God committed to your charge and that you are
bound to bear testimony to it. This you wish to do most completely. In
addition, you feel that you should seek the souls of others. Here is a
great city of three millions and more of people, perishing for lack of
knowledge–and if you are God's people you would, if it were possible,
snatch them from the flames and deliver them from the wrath to come.

Do you not feel that each one of you, according to his position, has a
work appointed him? I know I have mine. There are times without number
in which I have wished that I could become the pastor of some little
country Church with two or three hundred hearers, over whose souls I
could watch with incessant care, about whose circumstances I could
fully inform myself and with whom I could plead individually. Here are
so many, so very, very many! You are counted by thousands. What can I
do with you? My soul is burdened with the weight of the work to which
the Lord has called me! Yet I know it is my work and it must be done.

You are parents, some of you. Do you not feel that you are called to
bring up your children in the fear of God? Are you doing it? Few
Christians in these days feel as they ought to–that as parents they
are bound to instruct their children in the things of God. You are
masters–do you care for your servants? Have you no desire to see your
households ordered aright? Oh, I trust you are not such heathen men and
publicans that you care not for your own households! You live in
neighborhoods where you are brought into contact with your fellow men
of all sorts. Do you not know that you are put there as lights in dark
places–as handfuls of salt in the midst of putrefaction?

Have you never felt that you are debtors? Do you not feel it your duty
to battle against error? Isn't it your duty to coming generations to
stand steadfast to the Truth of God today, which if it falls today, may
not rise again for many a century? Have you felt that your obligations
extend as far as your influence extends and that if you are not serving
God with your influence you are doing harm with it? If you are a
Christian you are like an oil lamp, which, if it does not yield light,
gives forth a foul smell as its wick smokes. You are doing mischief if
you are not doing good. You set an example of idleness and indifference
to the things of God to sinners which will make them say, "There is
nothing in religion! Why should we make any stir about it, when even
these who profess to enjoy it do not live as if they were in earnest,
and care not whether our souls are lost or saved?"

Each woman here as well as each man, if converted, should feel, "I have
a work to do for God." If you are converted as a child, sing your
hosannas to the King. And if you are born to God in your declining
years, still bring forth fruit in old age. Even if you are confined to
the bed of weakness there is a something to be done by you before you
enter Heaven and the voice of the text says, "Whatever your hand finds
to do, do it with all your might." That is a most weighty point and
none may question it. All Believers have a work to do.

The second thing is this–Our text indicates the wisest course to
follow. It is–Do it, do it at once, do not talk about it, do not
regret that you have not done it and sit down and fret because you have
done so little in the past. It is little use crying over the spilt milk
of your past life. If you have not done what you should, up, Man, and
do what you can! "Whatever your hand finds to do, do it." Many prefer
to find fault with the way in which other people do their work. Yes,
and if you look round the Tabernacle, you will see a great many
imperfections in the preacher, in the deacons, in the elders and in the
members–and possibly none of the workers among us do their work
exactly as your superior wisdom would dictate.

There are persons here who have done a great deal of good, but you have
a notion that you could tell them how to do it in a better fashion
though you do nothing yourself! Oh, Sir, have done with it! Go, Sir,
and do your own work and I will do mine in my own way. I do not suppose
you will do my work better than I do it if you try, and I do not
suppose I can do yours better than you can do it, if I take your place.
"Whatever your hand finds to do, do it." Our text exhorts us to do our
work now. Do not talk about doing it tomorrow, do it at once! The
impetus of the text carries the thought as far as that, seeing that
death may come tonight–do it now, even now. What wonders would have
been done if tomorrows were todays!

What great achievements have passed through that young man's
imagination! He has often pictured how useful he will be. His daydream
has been so very vivid that he has mistaken the will for the deed and
complacently reviewed his fine resolutions as if they had already been
carried out! He has felt himself to be somebody on the strength of what
he was going to do. What draughts men make upon the future and how
hopefully they reckon upon meeting them when the time comes. Like
insolvent traders they maintain their present position by discounting
bills which they will never honor and live as if they were rich–when
all their wealth is represented by the wretched forgeries of their own
false promises!

Oh, Sirs, do not promise to do anything tomorrow–leave off promising
and come to real actions! Never mind what you wild do next year! What
will you do now? "Whatever your hand finds to do, do it," and do it at
once and on the spot. If I knew that my hearers had resolved to be very
diligent next week or next month, I should conclude that my sermon was
wasted upon them. The fact is, if the sermon quickens, a man feels
uneasy and begins to put his fingers into his pocket and his thoughts
into his heart, and he says, "What can I do before I sleep tonight? I
do not feel comfortable in idleness. Is there not some poor person I
could visit? Is not there some poor sinner who is going the wrong road
whom I might, perhaps, lead aright?" An inward impulse makes the man
feel as though he walked on hot coals till he has done something for
the Lord. Do not quench these impulses, if the thing is good, do it–do
it now!

But Solomon says, "Do it with all your might." There are several ways
of doing the same action. One man will do a thing and he has done it.
Another has performed the same action, but has practically done
nothing. What a difference there is in preaching! Words may be uttered
in a lukewarm manner and produce no result, while by another preacher
nothing better shall be said, but it shall be said earnestly and the
effect will be marvelous. One hates to see a workman finnicking with a
hammer, touching the nails as though he loved them too well to hurt
them, but one likes to see a workman driving his nails home, working as
though he meant it.

The masters of assemblies should remember this. If a thing is worth
doing, let it be done well. If it is not worth doing, let it alone.
Every man who preaches should aim at preaching his best sermon every
time he mounts the pulpit. Every Sunday school teacher ought to teach
his best. Every Evangelist in the street ought to preach up to his
highest level, if it is only to a dozen. Jesus Christ ought never to
have our second best–never! Our best is all too poor for Him. Let us
never put Him off with our inferior fruits. Do it–"do it with all your
might." And, once more, do it all, for the text says, "Whatever your
hand finds to do, do it." That is to say, do it all.

Do not pick it over and say, "All these things I could do for Christ,
but I shall only do a part of them. Here is a duty which I could
perform with my gloves on, like a gentleman. I could do this without
trouble, labor, or expense and earn a good deal of credit by it. This
is the kind of thing I will do." Do you think God will accept such
obedience as that? Man, do it, if it stains you from head to foot with
mire, if it brings contempt upon you and the universal hiss of all your
fellows. Whatever–whatever God appoints you to do, do it right
straight through. Servants, like beggars, must not be choosers, but
what their masters appoint, they must do. And with such a Master, who
never can appoint us a dishonorable task, it is a shame that we should
think any service too hard. "Whatever your hand finds to do, do it,"
and do it at once.

The meat of the text lies in the next thought, namely, that there is an
argument to every earnest Christian for intense zeal in the fact of the
certain approach of death–"for there is no work, nor device, nor
knowledge, nor wisdom, in the grave, where you go." Unless the Lord
shall come, we shall all die and that quickly. Life at the longest is
very short. When I consider how many claims there are upon a Christian
and how much a loving heart desires to do–and then think how short is
the space of time into which we must need crowd all–I am depressed in
spirit, but sternly resolute to condense much work into a small space.
The heathen said, "Work is long, and life is short." But I will venture
to alter the sentence and say, "The service of God is long and life is
short"–far too short for us to perform all our desires.

What, then, is the argument from the shortness of life but just
this–work for God with all your might! If you have so little time,
waste none of it. If there is so small a space entrusted to you, suffer
no wastes and by-ends, but fill up the narrow space with precious
things–gold, silver and precious stones–holy works done in earnest
for Jesus Christ! The work girl sat in her little room and her fingers
flew as she passed the needle rapidly–because she had but that tiny
bit of candle and feared her task might prove longer than her light.
May we not also fear that our work for Jesus may prove greater than the
time in which we may perform it? At any rate, we cannot afford to throw
away a moment.

Remember solemnly that life may end in a single moment. How suddenly
death comes across our path! It came almost into my house this morning,
for I was scarcely risen from my bed before I was told that a little
child belonging to my coachman had died in an instant, though she had
seemed to be in perfect health the moment before. The thought came to
me with power, "It might have been the master instead of the servant's
child." I know no more reason why it should have been the little one
than myself. Sudden death has, perhaps, come as near to you lately. It
is not a very unusual thing to see death in the street in such a city
as this, or to hear of it in the common talk of the day.

My Friend, would you like to die at this moment? "No," you say, "I have
many things I would wish to finish." Finish them, Brothers and Sisters,
finish them at once! Set your house in order, for you must die, and not
live. "I should like to have prayed with my children more earnestly
than I have ever done." Go home and do it, for you may never have
another opportunity! "I should like to have my Sunday school class
around me once more before I die, to tell them about the Savior more
earnestly than I did this afternoon." Dear Brother, dear Sister, take
advantage of your next opportunity in the class–teach as though you
might never teach again!

Say to yourself, "What is there I have left undone? I will do it
immediately. What is there that is half done that needs finishing? I
must finish it at once. What is there that I have done so badly, that
if I went to Heaven I might almost wish to come back to set it right?
Let me finish it now. What is there that I should like to amend? Let me
make amends now." I have read of Dr. Chalmers that one evening he
stayed with a company of friends at a gentleman's house and they spent
the evening, as we are, too, much in the habit of doing, very
pleasantly, but not very profitably, talking upon general subjects, not
at all to be forbidden, but at the same time not much to be commended.
There was among the number a Highland chief, who had attracted Dr.
Chalmers' notice, and he had talked with him, but nothing was said
about the things of God.

In the middle of the night a bitter cry was heard in the hospitable
habitation and there was a rush to the bedroom, where it was found that
the Highland chief was in the agonies of death. Dr. Chalmers expressed
(and he was not a man whom we could blame for laxity in that direction)
his bitter regret that he had allowed that last evening of the man's
life to pass over without having spoken to him concerning the things of
God. The regret was most proper, but it had been better if it had never
been necessary. Such a regret may have occurred to ourselves–do not
let it occur again. If you do not die, the person whom you are
concerned about may die–therefore, "whatever your hand finds to do, do
it"–for death may come on a sudden.

Remember solemnly that while we have been speaking in this Tabernacle
we have been spending a part of our allotted time. Every time the clock
ticks our time grows less and less, and less. I have a great love for
old-fashioned hourglasses because they make you see the time go, as the
sands run. I remember in Milan Cathedral seeing the sun travel along
the ecliptic line on the floor of the cathedral and I realized time's
ceaseless motion. Every minute our life-candles are shorter! Every
pulse makes the number of pulses less. Quick, then, man! Quick! Quick!
Quick! Death is behind you. Can you not hear his footfall? He pursues
you as the hound its prey. Quick! Quick with your work and your
service, for soon may his skeleton hand be laid upon your shoulder to
palsy your hand of skill and silence your tongue of eloquence forever.

And let us remember that when we die there is no return to the field of
labor. I have known persons (and this is talking about a very
commonplace thing, but it may be a very useful thing). I have known
husbands who meant to make their wills in a proper way and to provide
for their wives as they should do, but they have died and the will has
been unmade, and the future life of the wife has been full of a sorrow
which might have been avoided by the proper use of the pen. Do not
leave anything undone which ought to be done! Leave nothing undone
which may be for the good of others, for you cannot come back to do it.
Anything you have to do for the glory of God, get it done at once, for
you will not be able to return.

I fancy, for a moment, how I should preach to you if I should die
tonight, and should be allowed to come back to preach to you once more.
I know how you would listen! It would be a very strange sermon, but you
would catch every word, I am sure. I know how I should preach. I should
say, "Blessed be God for letting me come back to have one more trial
with my unconverted hearers, for perhaps they may yet be led to Jesus."
I do not think I would have anything to say to you who are converted,
that morning, if I had that opportunity. I should leave the 99 and go
after the sheep that is gone astray. I should preach to the lost one
and salt my words with tears and burn my lips with flaming love. Yet
that is exactly how we ought to preach always!

Now put it to yourselves. If you had to die and were permitted to come
back to speak once more to your children, to your neighbors, to your
Sunday school class, or to anyone else committed to your care, how
would you address them? Do it just that way now–with the same ardor,
zeal, and tenderness. Do you say you cannot? That is very likely. Ask
God to help you. His Grace waits to aid you–it is what you need and
what you must have in order to succeed. Seek it, seek it at His hands
who gives liberally and upbraids not. In such fashion must every one of
us go about the work allotted to us, because there is no work nor
device in the grave to which we are journeying.

Our text has a peculiar bearing upon some persons. May I be happy
enough to catch their ears. There are persons here present, perhaps,
who have a very heavy charge upon them and to them the text speaks. I
am one of that company. With the heavy charge of this Church, the
College and the Orphanage, and I know not what besides, I hear a voice
saying to me, "Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with all your
might." It would ill become me to loiter–above all men I must labor.
Some of you have wealth. Permit the text to speak to you
also–"Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with all your might," for
you can not take your money with you, neither can you serve God with it
when you are gone, "for there is no work, nor device, nor knowledge,
nor wisdom, in the grave, where you go."

Some of you possess much influence, for you are large employers. And I
know some–I need not go into details– whom God has placed in peculiar
positions where they lead and guide the minds of others. I charge you
by the living God, do not let the blood of any man's soul be on your
hands! Go with holy diligence before Him who will weigh you in the
scales before long, lest it be said of you, "You are weighed in the
balances and found wanting." By the blood that bought you, I beseech
you, if the Lord has trusted you with 10 talents, put them out to
interest, lest a tenfold judgment come upon you!

I know not how to speak as I should, but I feel I am speaking most of
all to myself here. I charge you, O my Heart, be faithful to your
trust! It were better for me that I had never been born than that I
preach to these people carelessly, or keep back any part of my Master's
Truth! Better to have been a devil than a preacher playing fast and
loose with God's Word and by such means working the ruin of the souls
of men. To other preachers I say what I have said to myself, and to
each one of you whom God has put in solemn charge–see to it that what
He gives you to do, you do with all your might.

Next, I speak to those of you who are advanced in years. If you have up
to now done much for Christ, be thankful for it. But if you have
not–if you have loitered–oh, my dear Brothers and Sisters, may I, who
am, as it were, but a youth compared with you, may I take an old man by
the hand and say–Dear Brother, there can be for you here, in the order
of nature, but a short time to serve God. Do immediately, with all your
might, what you can. Let your last days, if they have not the vigor of
your youth, at any rate have a yet more eager desire for God's Glory.
It would seem a strange thing for a man to get nearer to Heaven and to
be less heavenly minded, to be more ripe for Glory as to his age, and
to be less mature in Grace. O that you may live while you live and bear
a good testimony during life's eventide!

Do I speak to those who have been lately converted and are past middle
age? At what a rate, my dear Brothers and Sisters, ought you to live!
Remember, Martin Luther was converted in middle life, but he did a
great work before he died and many a distinguished servant of God has
begun late, but has worked well and made a good day's work of it before
his sun went down. There is no reason why you should not copy the
example. God can do much by you, though your time is short. Then I also
address myself to those of delicate constitutions who may be here. Some
of you must often be reminded of death by the trembling you feel in
your own bodies. I do not exhort you to do anything that would injure
your constitutions by imprudence, for God does not require us to be
suicides. But whatever service it is in your power to do, do it, so
that there may not be mingled with the sorrow of your future sickness
any reflection upon yourself because when you had the power to serve
God you did not use it.

I would also speak to those who have been the subjects of high impulses
and noble thoughts. There are choice spirits in the world, into whose
ears the Holy Spirit whispers grand designs such as He does not reveal
to all men. Here and there He finds a soul that He makes congenial to
Himself and then He inspires it with great wishes, deep longings and
grand designs for glorifying God. Do not quench them, Brothers and
Sisters! Do not starve them by holding them back, but as death is
coming, do what is in you, and do it with all your might! No man knows
what God means to do through his agency, for oftentimes the very
feeblest have conceived the greatest purposes. John Pounds and his
ragged-school– who was John Pounds? A poor cobbler. Robert Raikes,
with his Sunday school–who was Robert Raikes? Nobody in particular,
but nevertheless Sunday schools have come to something.

You may have a sublime conception in your soul. Do not strangle
it–nurse the Heaven-born thought for God– and the first opportunity
you can find, carry out the idea to its practical issues and throw your
might into it. I think there must be some young Christian here who
loves his Master and who means to do something for Him before he dies.
Brother, what you do, do quickly. Do I not address some young man of a
noble spirit who feels, "I could be wealthy, I could gain a position in
my profession, I could become famous and get honor for myself, but from
this hour I will lay all down at the foot of the Cross and lay myself
out for the good of souls and the glory of God"? Give me your hand, my
Brother, for you and I are of one mind in this. But I charge you go and
do it! Do not dream, but work! Do not listen to the sirens which would
enchant you by their music and draw you from the rough sea of duty.
Launch forth in God's name, yield yourself up to the winds of Heaven
and they will bear you straight on in the course of devoted service.
The Lord help you to do with all your might what you find to do.

And, lastly, there is a peculiar voice in the text to those who will
die in the next few days–those here present, I say, who will die
within the next few days. "Well," you say, "and who are they?" "Ah,"
say I, "that I cannot tell you." It may be the speaker and it may be
you into whose eyes the speaker's eyes are gazing now. Here are within
this house tonight not less, I suppose, than 6,000 persons. And,
according to the averages of human life, a certain number of us will,
in all probability, be in another world within a very short space of
time–say, within a year. Yes, and to some one of us the angel may be
sent tonight! Now, to that man or to that woman the voice of the text
is very strong–"Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with all your
might." You have only three days to live. You have only a week to live.
You have only a fortnight to live. You have only three weeks to live.
Finish, then, your labor for your Lord.

"Ah," you say, "if I were that man, I should be very busy the next
three weeks and very earnest in prayer." As you do not know but what
you may be that man, go act in such a manner! Set your house in order,
draw near to God. Seek to glorify His name. Live in the bosom of Christ
and whether you die or not, it will make no difference to you, for you
to live will be Christ, and to die will be gain–and so you will be
satisfied whichever way it may be! O Brothers and Sisters, we have not,
most of us, begun to live yet! I feel very often like the chicken in
the shell, which has chipped its shell a little and begun to see that
there is a great world outside.

We have not as yet begun to serve God as He ought to be served. The
divinely born manhood within us, the Divine life which God infuses, is
it not sadly clogged and hampered? May God set us free and raise us up
to the highest standard of a consecrated life and His shall be the
praise for evermore. Amen.

PORTION OF SCRIPTURE READ BEFORE SERMON–Ecclesiastes 9.
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The Apple Tree in the Woods