Sudden Sorrow

DELIVERED ON LORD'S-DAY MORNING, JULY 8, 1877,

BY C. H. SPURGEON,

AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON

"Suddenly are my tents spoiled, and my curtains in a moment." Jeremiah
4:20.

"And when you are spoiled, what will you do?" Jeremiah 4:30.

JEREMIAH was describing the havoc of war, a war which was devastating
his country and bringing untold miseries upon the people. He says of
it, "My soul, my soul! I am pained at my very heart; my heart makes a
noise in me; I cannot hold my peace, because you have heard, O my soul,
the sound of the trumpet, the alarm of war. Destruction upon
destruction is cried; for the whole land is spoiled; suddenly are my
tents spoiled, and my curtains in a moment. How long shall I see the
standard, and hear the sound of the trumpet?"

How grateful we ought to be that war is not raging in our own land. We
should read those terrible stories which come to us concerning the
destruction of human life by the two armies in the East with the utmost
regret. On whichever side the victory may turn, it is still to be daily
lamented that men should slaughter men and glory in wholesale murder!
How true it is neither the elements in their fury, nor wild beasts in
their rage, have ever been such terrible enemies to man as men! We
should thank God that we dwell apart and see our harvests ripening
without the dread of their being reaped by invaders. We walk our
streets without the fear of bursting shells and seek our chambers
without the apprehension of being awakened in the dead of night by the
shouts of advancing adversaries.

Blessed be the Lord who has given centuries of peace to the fertile
hills and valleys of His chosen isle–

"O Britain, praise your mighty God, And make His honors known abroad!
He bade the ocean round you flow; Not bars of brass could guard you
so." Let the name of Jehovah our God be praised, this morning, for
giving peace in our borders and filling us with the finest of the
wheat. There are, however, in this land, and in all lands, whether at
war or peace, many calamities which come suddenly upon the sons of men
concerning which they may bitterly lament, "How suddenly are my tents
spoiled, and my curtains in a moment." This world, at its best, is not
our rest. There is nothing settled below the moon. We call this terra
firma, but there is nothing firm about it–it is tossed to and fro like
a troubled sea forevermore. We are never, for any long time, in one
stay–change is perpetually operating.

Nothing is sure but that which is Divine. Nothing is abiding except
that which comes down from Heaven. All things change as they pass
before us and perish in the using. At this moment your ship lies
becalmed–be not too secure, for within the next few minutes you may be
driving before a hurricane with bare poles. Today your garden is
planted with blooming flowers which are loading the air with their
perfume–rejoice not too much in their sweetness, for within a short
time nothing may remain–the spoiler may tear them up by the roots and
your garden may become a desolation. There is nothing bright,
beautiful, fair, lovely, or desirable beneath the sun which may not be
speedily withered!

Even as a vision are all these things–they are, and lo, they are not!
They flash upon us as the meteor which blazes in the midnight sky and
then leaves the darkness to be blacker than before. "Boast not yourself
of tomorrow," yes, boast not yourself of today, lest haply on that
morrow, or even in this very day, you may have to cry with Jeremiah,
"How suddenly are my tents spoiled, and my curtains in a moment!"

This expression may be, without any straining, very readily applied to
many matters and to three especially. First, to the sudden spoiling of
all human righteousness. Secondly, to the sudden spoiling of all
earthly comfort. And, thirdly–

and this is by no means an unusual thing–to the sudden spoiling of
human life, itself. May the Holy Spirit bless our meditations upon the
instability of all earth-born things so that we may despise the things
which are seen and temporal, and follow after the things unseen and
eternal!

I. A SUDDEN SPOILING HAPPENS TO HUMAN RIGHTEOUSNESS. Beloved, when I
put those two words together–"human righteousness"–I inwardly smile.
It sounds like a comedy or a satire, I scarcely know which! "What is
man that he should be clean? And he that is born of a woman that he
should be righteous?" Mere human nature and righteousness are two
things not easily joined together–and when they are united for a time,
they soon separate–for they agree no better than oil and water. There
is a Divine righteousness, worked out by our dear Redeemer and imputed
to all His believing people, which will remain–

"That glorious robe the same appears Then ruined nature sinks in years.
No age can change its glorious hue, The robe of Christ is ever new."

But the righteousness which comes of man is a dream–how suddenly does
it vanish from our view! Lighter than the spider's web, more subtle
than the mist, more fleeting than the wind–the very name of it is
vanity! Let us look at the history of human righteousness and begin in
the garden of Eden and lament the Fall. Human righteousness existed in
the bowers of Paradise and man was happy with his God. Adam was created
sinless. His mind was upon an equal balance and without tendency to
evil. He was placed in a garden of delights, with but one commandment
to test him, and that a very simple one, costing but slight self-denial
to obey.

We do not know how long Adam was in the garden, but we know that man,
being in honor, continues not, and in a very short time he and our
mother, Eve, were spoiled of all they had. The serpent crept in and
beguiled them. He who was a murderer from the beginning plundered them!
How suddenly were their tents spoiled and their curtains in a moment,
for their eyes were opened and they perceived that they had lost all!
The righteousness which covered them much better than a vesture had
been taken from them so that they were utterly naked before the eyes of
the living God. He is a cruel spoiler, indeed, who strips a man of
every garment. But thus completely were our first parents robbed and
despoiled!

They found that they had lost the garden wherein they had lived in such
content, lost peace, lost happiness, lost themselves, lost their
posterity, lost all! Everything was taken from them except that which
Infinite Mercy stepped in to give them in the form of a gracious
promise concerning the restoring Seed of the woman. Whenever we think
of the Fall we ought to be humbled and to be restrained from all idea
of self-righteousness, for if Adam, in his perfection, could not
maintain his righteousness, how can you and I, who are imperfect from
our very birth, hope to do so? If the thieves broke in and stole our
ancestor's righteousness when his tent was pitched amid the sunny
glades of Eden, how much more will our curtains be spoiled in this land
of the Ishmaelite and the Amalekite? If the old, wily serpent found a
way into the unfallen hearts of our first parents when they had no
surroundings to mislead them, how vain is it for us to hope to overcome
the Evil One so as to attain to everlasting life by the works of the
Law?

A second instance of this very commonly occurs in the failure of the
moralist's resolutions. See yonder young people tutored from their
childhood in everything that is good! Their character is excellent and
admirable, but will it so abide? Will not the enemy despoil their
tents? Often it is so. The young man starts in life with the conviction
that he is not of the common herd of sinners and will never descend to
their level. He has heard of other youths who have fallen into
temptation and destroyed themselves by dissipation, but he feels
certain that he shall do nothing of the kind. Like Hazael, he cries,
"Is your servant a dog that he should do this thing?"

He fancies that his ship can weather all storms and he plumes himself
upon the idea that the record of his life will be very different from
that of other men. How truly lovely, at first sight, he seems! How
honest, generous and true! Even looking upon him with the eyes of
Jesus, we might love him and only mourn that he lacks one thing. The
righteousness which he wears is merely an human one and it is
altogether in his own keeping, but he believes that he shall hold it
fast and never let it go. His tent is so well pitched that no wind from
the wilderness will ever overturn it!

Have not these delusions been sadly dispelled in hundreds of instances?
A fierce temptation arises and the man's resolutions are carried along
like thistle in the wind! The young man did not think that such a
temptation could ever happen to him. He had been kept by his parents
and friends like a flower in a conservatory and he could not believe
that the nights could be so bitterly frosty in the cold world outside.
But now he has to feel the nipping influence of sin and he

withers speedily. Satan, discovering his weakness, takes him at a
tender point. He brings before him that lust to which he has the
greatest tendency, sets before him that dainty delicacy of sin to which
he has the sweetest tooth and, by-and-by, the hopeful youth can no
longer talk of his virtues nor boast of his purity, for he has fallen
low.

The ship Boastful has struck on a rock and is going down! The
self-confident young man now finds himself to be human–being human, to
be liable to temptation! Being tempted–to be ready to yield to sin. "I
saw the tents of Cushan in affliction, and the curtains of the land of
Midian did tremble," for the cords of resolution are broken and the
stakes of principle are loosed. Alas, poor human righteousness, you are
soon smitten on the forehead and speedily rolled in the dust! How soon
does the comeliness of human nature pass away in the hour of trial!
Many a young man and young woman, opening their eyes all of a sudden
after temptation, have had to cry," How suddenly are my tents spoiled
and my curtains in a moment!"

Ah, you that think yourselves beyond all danger of falling into sin!
But you know not yourselves–you understand not the plague of your own
hearts, for if you did, you would see that you carry within your souls
all manner of iniquity which only waits for an opportunity to develop
itself! And when it finds a fit occasion, it will display its deadly
nature and then you will mourn that you did not seek a new heart and a
right spirit at the hands of Christ.

My second text asks, "And when you are spoiled, what will you do?" And
I would earnestly answer it for any of you who have gone through this
experience. Do not try to reestablish that righteousness of yours which
has been so thoroughly spoiled, but look for something better! Quit the
tent for a mansion! Flee from the curtains of self to the walls of
salvation! Your own resolutions have failed you, therefore leave such a
sandy foundation and build upon the Rock of Divine Strength! Go and
confess your sins with deep contrition–ask the Lord Jesus to wash you
in His precious blood–and then desire Truth in the inward parts and
ask that in the hidden parts the Holy Spirit may make you to know
wisdom. So shall it come to pass that you shall no longer build upon
the sand, nor yet with wood and hay and stubble, but on the Rock with
gold and silver and precious stones!

Another liability of human righteousness is one which I must not call a
calamity, seeing it is the commencement of the greatest blessing. I
mean when the Spirit of God comes to deal with human righteousness, by
way of illumination and conviction. Here we can speak of what we know
experimentally. How beautiful our righteousness is and how it
flourishes like a comely flower till the Spirit of God blows upon
it–and then it withers quite away, like the grass in the hot sun! The
first lesson of the Holy Spirit to the heart is to lay bare its
deceivableness and to uncover before us its loathsomeness, where we
thought that everything was true and acceptable. What a different
character you gave yourself, dear Friend, before the Spirit of God
dealt with you! To what were you compelled to give yourself afterwards!

Truly, your beauty consumed away like a moth. You began to mourn over
your holiest things, for you saw the sin which polluted them. And as
for your transgressions, which you thought so little of, when the
Spirit of God set them in a true light, you found them to be hideous
and horrible offenses against the God of Love. Before you emblazoned
your name in letters of gold, but when you learned the truth, you chose
a black inscription and, with a heavy hand, you wrote out your own
condemnation, feeling that you were bound to do so.

Now, it is a great mercy when the Spirit of God brings home the truth
to the heart and makes a man see the deceptiveness of outward
appearances. I pray that it may happen to you all if it has never done
so. May your tents be spoiled until you see yourselves to be utterly
undone–for you are so by nature whether you see it or not! I would ask
all who are under conviction of sin to answer this question, "When you
are spoiled, what will you do?" May you reply, "We know what we will
do. We will flee away from self to Jesus! Our precious things are
removed and our choice treasure is taken from us, therefore we take the
Lord Jesus to be our All in All."

If such is your resolve, you are fulfilling the end and design of the
ever blessed Spirit who works in order to wean us, for then we turn to
Jesus and seeks for that clothing which the matchless righteousness of
Christ Jesus, alone, can afford. But there will come to all human
righteousness one other time of spoiling if neither of those should
happen which I have mentioned before. Remorse will come and that very
probably in the hour of death, if not before. Apart from the Holy
Spirit, conscience often does its work in a very terrible fashion and
tears to pieces, before a man's eyes, the curtains of righteousness
which he had so laboriously woven.

Have you ever seen a sinner happy and contented, because he is
self-deluded? But all of a sudden he has found out that his lies and
hypocrisy were known to God and would be all exposed and punished. At
such a time, instead of turning

to God, he has despaired and said, "I am lost, there is no hope for
me," and therefore he has plunged into deeper sin and become worse! And
all the while, like the vulture at Prometheus' liver–conscience has
continued tearing away at his heart, eating into his very soul and
drinking the blood of joy out of his life till he has been dried up by
an anguish from which he could not escape! I have seen men die so–the
consolations of the Gospel have been sounded into a deaf ear! They have
lifted up their hands as though they would thrust the minister away!

When he talked of mercy, they replied that there was none for them. And
when he spoke of cleansing, they declared that their sin was of more
than scarlet hue and never could be washed away. Oh, how suddenly are
their tents spoiled and their curtains in a moment! And when spoiled
thus, what does a man do? What, but give himself up to that everlasting
despair, which has, at last, overtaken him! While any man is yet alive
I would exhort him to apply to Christ–though it were the last breath
he breathed. I would still hold up the Redeemer before his expiring
gaze! But when remorse has fully set in, this is seldom of any use.
They cry, "Too late, too late!" They continue to refuse their Savior
and pass away naked, poor and miserable to stand before God's righteous
bar to hear the sentence of their conscience confirmed forever by the
mouth of the Eternal Judge!

In that dreadful day their overthrow will be terrible, indeed! God save
us from this. I hope, dear Friends, that all of us know what it is to
have seen all our tents spoiled of all the precious things in which our
pride boasted itself–and that we have now become rich in the riches of
the Lord Jesus and secure in the cleft of the Rock which was opened in
His side. If we have done so, we shall not regret, but greatly rejoice,
that our tents were suddenly spoiled and our curtains in a moment!

II. The words of our text are exceedingly applicable to THE SPOILING OF
ALL EARTHLY COMFORTS. Sudden destruction to all our earthly comforts is
common to all sorts of men. It may happen to the best, as well as to
the worst. Did it not so occur to Job, who on a certain morning was
amazed by messenger after messenger hastening to tell him that all his
property was swept away? Last of all came one who told him that his
entire family had been destroyed! Sudden sorrow happened, also, to
rebellious Pharaoh as well as to pious Job, for at the dead of night he
was awakened to bewail the firstborn of him that sat upon the throne
and heard throughout all the land of Egypt a chorus of lamentations on
account of a similar calamity which had happened to every household.

Neither the just nor the unjust can tell when tribulation will befall
them! David returns from among the Philistines and he finds Ziklag
burned with fire and his wives and his children carried away captive.
Yet not to the righteous, only, are such trials, for Belshazzar feasts
in his palace in Babylon and that same night he was slain! An arrow
pierces the heart of wicked Ahab, but gracious Josiah fell in the same
manner–with impartial feet does calamity come to the door of all kinds
of men! As darts the hawk upon its prey, so does affliction fall upon
the unsuspecting sons of Adam. As the earthquake all of a sudden
overthrows a city, so does adversity shake the estate of mortals.

Sudden trial comes in various forms. Sometimes it is the loss of
property as in the instance of Lot when the kings came and took him
captive and all that he had. Then was he utterly spoiled! The same
thing has happened in ordinary commerce, as in the case of Jehoshaphat
when he made ships to go to Tarshish and they were broken at
Eziongaber. His letters were opened one morning and the merchant, who
thought himself rich as a prince, found that he had become a bankrupt!
These are but common things in days of panic and convulsion.

Frequently the calamity comes in the form of the loss of one dear to
us. So came it to the Shunammite, whose child had been such a comfort
to her. He fell on a day that he went into the field unto the reapers
and he said, "My head, my head," and very soon the little gift from
Heaven had left a childless mother to weep over his little lifeless
form. So happened it to Jacob, who sent his darling son away with a
kiss, but before many hours had passed, he saw his garment covered with
blood and exclaimed, "An evil beast has devoured him! Joseph is,
without doubt, torn in pieces." You cannot be sure of child, or wife,
or husband. The fondest love may be torn from your side and the dearest
babe may be taken from your bosom. Here below nothing is certain but
universal uncertainty. One way or another God knows how to bring the
rod home to us and to make us smart till we cry out, "How suddenly are
my tents spoiled, and my curtains in a moment."

Now, this might well be expected. Do we wonder when we are suddenly
deprived of our earthly comforts? Are they not fleeting things? When
they came to us, did we receive a lease with them, or were we promised
that they should last forever? Jonah sat under his withered gourd
wringing his hands and complaining of God, but if you and I had been
there

we might have said, "What ails you, Man? Are you surprised that gourds
wither?" "I murmur," he says, "because I have lost the shade which
screened me from the sun." "But, Man, is it not the nature of a gourd
to die? It came up in a night! Do you marvel that it perished in a
night? A worm at the root of a gourd surely is no novelty. O Prophet,
be not angry with your God–this is what you should look for from such
a growth."

If our tents are spoiled, we should remember that they are tents and
not fortresses. They are curtains and not bulwarks. The thief can
readily enough enter and spoil the habitation which is made of such
frail material. Do you wonder that your offspring die? Why so? Across
your children's brows, if you read aright there is written the word,
"mortal." Did you expect a mortal mother to bring forth an immortal
son? Did you, a dying father, expect to be the parent of a daughter who
would never see death? Your love is astonishing, but your reason is
not! Your affection counts it strange, but your understanding judges it
to be according to the frequent course of Nature.

Your children came to you and you received them into your home and
heart with the knowledge that they were mortal and, therefore, you are
not deceived. Bow, therefore, to the Divine will and say, "The Lord
gave, and the Lord has taken away. Blessed be the name of the Lord."
You lament that you have lost your riches. Are you surprised at that?
Do you keep birds? Do you wonder when they fly away? What are riches
but birds of a golden feather? They take to themselves wings, we are
told, and fly away! It is not the most marvelous thing in the world, if
your boy has a tame bird, and he comes to you and says, "Father, my
bird has taken wings and fled away." "Dear child," you say, "I always
wondered that it did not do so before now."

So may you say to the merchant who has lost his property in
trading–the marvel is not that wealth departs but that it stays with
any man, seeing it is the nature of winged things to fly away! Clouds
dissolve, bubbles burst, snowflakes melt and even so do this world's
treasures waste away! Moreover, our earthly comforts were never given
to us to be held forever by a Covenant of Salt. They are always loans
and never gifts! All that we possess here below is God's property! He
has only loaned it out to us and what He lends, He has a right to take
back again. We hold our possessions and our friends, not upon freehold,
but upon a lease terminable at the Supreme Owner's option! Do you
wonder when the holding ceases?

Do you know the parable of the wise Jewish woman? When her husband, the
Rabbi, had gone out to teach, his disciples, certain neighbors in great
sorrow, brought home to her the corpses of her only children, two sweet
boys who had been drowned. She took them upstairs, laid them upon a bed
and covered them with a sheet. She then waited in her deep affliction
till her husband came home, grieving most of all for the sorrow which
would overwhelm him. She stood at the door and mournfully said, "My
husband, do you know that a great tribulation has happened unto me? A
Friend had lent me a treasure and, while I have had it, it has been a
great joy to me, but this day He has taken it back, again, and I know
not what to do."

"My Beloved," said the Rabbi, "Speak not so! Can it be a sorrow to you
to return that which you have borrowed? O daughter of Abraham, you
cannot harbor dishonesty in your soul! If the treasure has been lent,
be grateful to him who permitted you the loan and send it back with
cheerfulness." "Is this what you say?" she asked. "Come here." Then she
turned back the coverlet and he gazed upon the cold faces of his two
children. And he said "You have spoken wisely, O Woman, for I
understand that God has lent these children to me and that I must not
complain because He has taken back His own."

Don't you see how natural it is that loans should be returned to their
lender in due season? Say not, "I am the man that has seen affliction
by the rod of His wrath," as though you were the chief or the only
sufferer, for in this thing there has no trial happened to you but such
as is common to men. Cry not in dismay, "How suddenly are my tents
spoiled, and my curtains in a moment!" for when war is raging, it is
little surprising that tents should be spoiled! It is according to the
nature of things that in a world which brings forth thorns and briars
in all its furrows, some of the sharp points should pierce your flesh!

Once more, we live in a world that is full of thieves, and it is no
wonder if our joys are stolen. Our Master has warned us that our
habitations here below are not thief-proof. He forbids us, therefore,
to lay up our treasure where thieves break through and steal. The mud
houses of the East are very soon entered by burglars. They break a hole
wherever they please and steal a man's wealth while he sleeps. And this
present life is of the same fashion. This world swarms with thieves
such as false friends and deceivers, slanderers and cavilers, losses in
business and crosses in our expectations,

unkindness of enemies and fickleness of acquaintances and especially
sickness and death! We must not marvel, therefore, if some thief or
other should take away the dear delight which makes our tent so happy.

Beloved, since these calamities may be expected, let us be prepared for
them. "How?" you ask. Why, by holding all earthly things loosely–by
having them as though you had them not–by looking at them as fleeting
and never expecting them to abide with you. Love the creature in the
measure in which the creature may be loved and no more! Mortal things
may only be loved in their proportion–never make them your gods, nor
suffer your heart to live upon them or stay itself upon them–for if
you do, you are preparing sorrow for yourself and, "When you are
spoiled, what will you do?"

You will cry with Micah, "They have taken away my gods." If you suffer
your heart to be filled with earthly things while you have them, you
will have your heart broken when they are taken away! Let us take care
to make good use of our comforts while we possess them. Since they
hastily fly by us, let us catch them on the wing and diligently employ
them for God's Glory. Let us be careful to place our chief treasure in
Heaven, for, as old Swinnock says, "A worldling's wealth lies in the
earth. Therefore, like wares laid in low damp cellars, it corrupts and
molds. But the godly man's treasure is in Heaven and, like commodities
laid up in high rooms, it continues sound and safe."

Treasure in the skies is treasure, indeed! Where moth and rust and
thief can reach is no fit place for us to store our treasures! Let us
commit our all to the custody of God who is our All in All. Such a
blessed thing is faith in God that if the Believer should lose
everything he possesses here below, he would have small cause for
sorrow so long as he kept his faith. If a rich proprietor with
thousands of acres of land, in walking down the street were robbed of
his handkerchief, he would not lie down in despair, nor even make a
great noise over his loss. "Ah," he would say, "they could only steal a
mere trifle! They could not rob me of my parks and farms and yearly
incomes."

Believers invest their true wealth in a bank which never breaks. And as
for their earthly substance, it is not theirs at all, but their
Lord's–and they desire only to employ it for His cause so that if He
takes it away they are bound to look upon themselves as not losers–but
as, in some measure, released from responsibility! And they may thank
their Lord for such relief. Be sure you use this world as not abusing
it and fix all your joy and love and hope and trust in the eternal
God–and then, happen what may–you will be safe. "You will keep him in
perfect peace whose mind is stayed on You, because he trusts in You."

But let me solemnly remind you that in times when we meet with sudden
calamity, God is putting us to the test and trying the love and faith
of those who profess to be His people. "When you are spoiled, what will
you do?" You thought you loved God–do you love Him now? You said He
was your Father, but that was when He kissed you! Is He your Father now
that He chastens you? The ungodly kick against God–they can only
rejoice in Him while He gives them sweet things. But His true children
learn to kiss the rod! Can you believe in Jesus when distress is upon
you and when need assails you as an armed man? You talked of your faith
in summer weather–have you faith, now, in the long, wintry nights?

Can you trust the Lord when the fierce winds from the wilderness
threaten to overturn your tent? Has the Holy Spirit given you the faith
of God's elect which can bear a strain? That faith which cannot endure
trial is no faith at all! If the death of a child, or the loss of
wealth, or being struck down by disappointment or sickness shall make
you doubt your God, what will you do when you come to die? If, in
running with footmen you are wearied, what will you do when you contend
with horses? If these minor trials overwhelm you, what will you do in
the last dread day when all things pass away from your sight? This is a
trying time for your heart–a testing time for your faith.

If all things are right within us when our tents are spoiled, we shall
live closer to God than ever and thus we shall be gainers by our losses
because they have increased our spirituality and our peace. It would be
a blessed thing to be like the planet Venus, of which it is certain
that the earth can never come between her and the sun. The world often
hides our God from us and when our comforts are swept away there is all
the less likelihood of its doing so. If our bereavements bring us into
the clear and ever-abiding sunlight of the Lord's own face, we may be
thankful to lose that which before caused the eclipse–

"Nearer, my God, to You! Nearer to You! What, though it is a cross
Thatraises me,

This, still, my cry shall be, Nearer to Thee, Nearer to Thee!"

Blessed is he who is resolved with Job and, by God's Grace, is enabled
to abide by it, "Though He slay me, yet will I trust in Him." We should
learn to give up everything that is dear to us in this present life and
find our comfort in the hopes of the next world! So that, like David,
when his darling child had been taken away, we may say, "I shall go to
him. He shall not return to me." Happy and blessed is the man who acts
thus! He shall not be cast down in the cloudy and dark day. "He shall
not be afraid of evil tidings. His heart is fixed, trusting in the
Lord." Oh, you worldlings, what will you do in the time of trouble? How
will you comfort your hearts in the day of visitation?

Most of you young people are full of fun and mirth and I am glad you
have happy times. But the holidays of youth are not forever! Your tents
will be spoiled, one of these days, as surely as you live–and what
will you do then? All the joy which you can draw from this world's
wells will turn to brackish water before long and you will loathe
it–what will you do, then? Nothing will remain of all this momentary
mirth when the heyday of your youth is over and the evil days come! And
the days draw near when you shall say, I have no pleasure in them. Why,
then, are you so taken up with fickle, fleeting joys? I beseech you
seek substantial happiness! Ask for eternal blessings! Draw near to God
by Jesus Christ and seek unfading bliss in His abiding love.

III. In the third place there may come A SUDDEN SPOILING OF LIFE,
ITSELF. In a moment, prostrated by

disease and brought to Death's door, frail man may well cry out, "How
suddenly are my tents spoiled, and my curtains in a moment!" It is by
no means unusual for men to die very suddenly. One does not wish to
suggest an unhappy thought, but this is so salutary a consideration
that it ought never to be absent from us–we are but dust and may be
dissolved in an instant by death! We are continually surprised that one
and another have suddenly been called away–yet it is more strange that
so many remain!–

"Our life contains a thousand springs, And fails if one is gone,
Strange that a harp of a thousand strings Should keep in tune so long."

In this large congregation, Death's work is very manifest to one who
stands upon this central tower of observation! During the last few days
we, as a Church and congregation, have lost several from our midst. I
will not point out the seats which are, today occupied by others, where
old friends have sat for many years. But so it is, that some have gone
quite suddenly from us and their graves are scarcely filled in. Who
will be next? It frequently happens that those who are apparently very
healthy and strong are among the first to fall. Our friends who are
continual invalids remain with us, some of them, many months and even
many years after we have sorrowfully given them up.

Consumption keeps many for long months lingering slowly into
everlasting life, while strong, hearty persons are in an instant taken
away! It is therefore no new thing for men to die suddenly. Not one man
or woman here has a guarantee that he or she shall live till tomorrow.
It is almost a misuse of language to talk about life insurance, for we
cannot insure our lives–they must forever remain uninsured as to their
continuance here. If I could be a prophet, this morning, and point out
one and another and say, "That man will be dead before next Sunday."
Or, "That woman will not live a week," I should feel I had a very
painful duty to discharge.

But is it not wise for us to reflect that it may happen to any one of
us? There are no reasons by which we can prove that we shall escape the
mighty Hunter for another day! We are ready enough to think of this for
others, for all men think all men mortal but themselves–but practical
wisdom would lead us to suggest to ourselves that we are mortal and
that, perhaps, the death arrow which has just left the bow of God may
be aimed at our hearts. The question is, "When you are spoiled, what
will you do?" When all of a sudden the curtains of our tent shall tear
in two and the tent pole shall be snapped and the body shall lie a
desolate ruin, what will we do?

I will tell you what some of us know that we would do. We know that
when the earthly house of this tabernacle is dissolved we have a
building of God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens!
As poor, guilty sinners, we have fled to Christ for refuge and He is
ours and we know that He will surely keep what we have committed to Him
until that day! Therefore we are not afraid of all that the Spoiler can
do. We are not afraid of you, O Death, for you are the porter that
shall open the gates of immortality! And you, you worms, we are not
afraid of you, for though you devour

this body, yet you shall not destroy it, for in our flesh we shall see
God! O Grave, we are not dismayed at your gloom, for what are you but a
refining pot out of which this poor earthly body shall arise free from
all corruption?

Time, we fear not your trials! Eternity, we dread not your terrors! Our
soul shall dwell at ease, come what may! Glory be to the blessed name
of the Lord Jesus, we shall rise because He has risen! We shall live
because He lives and reign because He reigns! We are not afraid of the
Spoiler! But O, Worldling, when you are spoiled, what will you do? Rich
men, your acres will be yours no longer–no parks for you to roam over,
no fine trees to boast of, no ancestral halls in which to glorify
yourselves! You will have nothing left–no barns, no ripening harvests,
no noble horses or fattened sheep–you must leave them all and if these
are your treasures, what will you do when God requires your soul of
you?

Then the largeness of the amount invested will only make it all the
harder to die and palaces and gardens will make the pang of separation
yet more keen! You will find it a dreadful wrench to be torn away from
that in which your heart so much delighted. "When you are spoiled, what
will you do?" Your money bags will not ease your conscience. All the
leases, title deeds and mortgages that you can heap upon yourself will
not warm your dying heart into the life of hope! What will you do?
Alas, what will you do? And you, you worldlings who have no wealth, but
live for present pleasure– where, then, will be your wine cups and
your dances? Where your draughts of mighty ale, your oaths and
blasphemies?

Where, then, your midnight revelry and wantonness? When you shall
appear before the Judge of all the earth, what will be left to you?
When all these unhallowed pleasures are swept away, what remains? Yes,
you lover of pleasure, make merry and rejoice today, but "when you are
spoiled, what will you do?" With your children about you, rejoice in
your home and live at ease without God but, "when you are spoiled, what
will you do?" Despise religion if you will–and count it all a dream
invented to make men sour and wretched–but when you are dying and your
pulse is faint and failing, what will you do?

What can you do? Opportunities over and space for repentance nearly run
out–what will you do? The thought perhaps, will seize you, then, "Too
late, too late! I cannot enter now." The voice which says, "Behold the
Bridegroom comes," will startle you in the midnight of your ignorance
just as you are about to die–and then you will wring your hands in
everlasting despair because you did not, in due time, seek Him who can
save you from the wrath to come! Awake, I beseech you, your sluggish
hearts, and look forward to your latter end! I pray that I may leave
one or two solemn thoughts upon the minds of the careless. Better
still, I pray God the Holy Spirit to lead them, now, to believe on the
Lord Jesus to the saving of their souls! Amen.
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