The Spurgeon Series 1857 & 1858. Charles H. Spurgeon

this, if they are unregenerate they are still dead. That girl, dead in the room, upon her bed, had little about her that could show her death. Not yet had the loving finger closed the eyelid; there seemed to be a light still lingering in her eye; like a lily just nipped off; she was as fair as life itself. The worm had not yet begun to gnaw her cheek, the flush had not yet faded from her face; she seemed almost alive. And so it is with some I have here. You have all that heart could wish for, except the one needful thing; you have all things except love to the Saviour. You are not yet united to him by a living faith. Ah! then, I grieve to say it, you are dead! you are dead! As much dead as the worst of men, although your death is not as apparent. Again, I have in my presence young men who have grown to riper years than that fair damsel who died in her childhood. You have much about you that is lovely, but you have just begun to indulge in evil habits; you have not yet become the desperate sinner; you have not yet become altogether noxious in the eyes of other men; you are only beginning to sin, you are like the young man carried out on his bier; you have not yet become the confirmed drunkard; you have not yet begun to curse and blaspheme God; you are still accepted in good society; you are not yet cast out; but you are dead, thoroughly dead, just as dead as the third and worst case. But I dare say I have some characters that are illustrations of that case too. There is Lazarus in his tomb, rotten and putrid; and so there are some men not more dead than others, but their death has become more apparent, their character has become abominable, their deeds cry out against them, they are put out of decent society, the stone is rolled to the mouth of their tomb, men feel that they cannot hold acquaintance with them, for they have so utterly abandoned every sense of right, that we say, “Put them out of sight, we cannot endure them!” And yet these putrid ones may live; these last are not more dead than the maiden upon her bed, though the death has more fully revealed itself in their corruption. Jesus Christ must quicken the one as well as the other, and bring them all to know and love his name.

      8. 1. Now, then, I am about to enter into the minutiae of the difference of these three cases. I will take the case of the young maiden. I have her here today; I have many illustrations of her present before me; at least, I trust so. Now, will you allow me to point out all the differences? Here is the young maiden; look upon her; you can bear the sight; she is dead, but oh! beauty lingers there; she is fair and lovely, though the life has departed from her. In the young man’s case there is no beauty; the worm has begun to eat him; his honour has departed. In the third case, there is absolute rottenness. But here there is beauty still upon her cheek. Is she not amiable? Is she not lovely? Would not all love her? Is she not to be admired, even to be imitated? Is she not fairest of the fair? Indeed that she is; but God the Spirit has not yet looked upon her; she has not yet bent her knee to Jesus, and cried for mercy; she has everything, except true religion. Alas! for her; alas! that so fair a character should be a dead one. Alas! my sister; alas! that you, the benevolent, the kind one, should yet be, after all, dead in your trespasses and sins. As Jesus wept over that young man who had kept all the commandments, and yet one thing he lacked, so I weep over you this morning. Alas! you fair one, lovely in your character, and amiable in your conduct, why should you lie dead? For you are dead, unless you have faith in Christ. Your excellence, your virtue, and your goodness, shall avail you nothing; you are dead, and dead you must be, unless he makes you live.

      9. Note, too, that in the case of this maiden, whom we have introduced to you, the daughter of Jairus, she is yet caressed; she has only been dead a moment or two, and the mother still presses her cheek with kisses. Oh! can she be dead? Do not the tears rain on her, as if they would sow the seeds of life in that dead earth again? — earth that looks fertile enough to bring forth life with only one living tear? Indeed, but those salt tears are tears of barrenness. She does not live; but she is still caressed. Not so the young man; he is put on the bier; no man will touch him any more, or else he will be utterly defiled. And as for Lazarus, he is shut up with a stone. But this young maiden is still caressed; so it is with many of you; you are loved even by the living in Sion; God’s own people love you; the minister has often prayed for you; you are admitted into the assemblies of the saints, you sit with them as God’s people, you hear as they hear, and you sing as they sing. Alas! for you; alas! for you, that you should still be dead! Oh! it grieves me to the heart, to think that some of you are all that heart could wish, except that one thing; yet lacking what is the only thing that can deliver you. You are caressed by us, received by the living in Sion into their company and acquaintance, approved of and accepted; alas! that you should yet be without life! Oh! in your case, if you are saved, you will have to join with even the worst in saying, “I have been quickened by divine grace, or else I have never lived.”

      10. And now will you look at this maiden again? Note, she has no grave clothes on her yet; she is dressed in her own clothes, just as she retired to her bed a little sick, so she lies there; not yet have the napkin and the shroud been wrapped about her; she still wears the sleeping attire, she is not yet given up to death. Not so the young man over there — he is in his grave clothes; not so Lazarus — he is bound hand and foot. But this young maiden has no grave clothes upon her. So with the young person we wish to speak of this morning; she has as yet no evil habits, she has not yet reached that point, the young man over there has begun to have evil habits; and that grey headed sinner is bound hand and foot by them; but as yet she appears just like the living, she acts just like the Christian; her habits are fair, goodly, and comely; there seems to be little wrong with her. Alas! alas! that you should be dead, even in your fairest clothes. Alas! you who have set the garland of benevolence on your brow, you who do gird yourself with the white robes of outward purity, if you are not born again, you are still dead. Your beauty shall fade away like a moth; and in the day of judgment you will be severed from the righteous, unless God shall make you live. Oh! I could weep over those young ones who seem at present to have been delivered from forming any habits which could lead them astray, but who are yet unquickened and unsaved. Oh! would to God, young man and young woman, you might in early years be quickened by the Spirit.

      11. And will you notice, yet once more, that this young maiden’s death was a death confined to her bedroom. Not so with the young man; he was carried to the gate of the city, and many people saw him. Not so Lazarus; the Jews came to weep at his tomb. But this young woman’s death is in her bedroom. Indeed, so it is with the young woman or the young man I mean to describe now. His sin is as yet a secret thing, kept to himself: as yet there has been no breaking forth of iniquity, but only the conception of it in the heart, just the embryo of lust, not as yet broken out into act. The young man has not yet drained the intoxicating cup, although he has had some whisperings of the sweetness of it; he has not yet run into the ways of wickedness, though he has had temptations thrust upon him; as yet he has kept his sin in his bedroom, and most of it has been unseen. Alas, my brother, alas! my sister, that you who in your outward conduct are so good, should yet have sins in the chamber of your heart, and death in the secrecy of your being, which is as true a death as that of the grossest sinner, though not so thoroughly revealed. Would to God that you could say, “And he has quickened me, for with all my loveliness, and all my excellence, I was by nature dead in trespasses and sins.” Come, let me just press this matter home. I have some in my congregation that I look upon with fear. Oh! my dear friends, my much loved friends, how many are there among you, I repeat, that are all that the heart could wish for, except that one thing — that you do not love my Master. Oh! you young men who come up to the house of God, and who are outwardly so good; alas! for you, that you should lack the root of the matter. Oh! you daughters of Sion, who are always present at the house of prayer, oh! that you should yet be without grace in your heart! Take heed, I beseech you, you fairest, youngest, most upright, and most honest; when the dead are separated from the living, unless you are regenerated, you must go with the dead; though you are never so fair and goodly, you must be cast away, unless you live.

      12. 2. Thus, I am finished with the first case; now we will go to the young man, who stands second. He is not more dead than the other, but he is further gone. Come, now, and stop the bier; you cannot look upon him! Why, the cheek is sunken — there is a hollowness there; not as in the case of the maiden, whose cheek was still round and ruddy. And the eye — oh! what a blackness is there! Look on him; you can see that the gnawings of the worm will soon burst forth; corruption has begun its work. So it is with some young men I have here. They