The Spurgeon Series 1855 & 1856. Charles H. Spurgeon

think they are not worth your attention? Reflect a moment, man. Where are you standing now?

      Lo, on a narrow neck of land,

      ’Twixt two unbounded seas I stand;

      An inch of time, a moment’s space,

      May lodge me in that heavenly place,

      Or shut me up in hell.

      I remember standing on a seashore once, upon a narrow neck of land, thoughtless that the tide might come up. The tide kept continually washing up on either side, and wrapped in thoughts I still stood there, until at last there was the greatest difficulty in getting on shore; the waves had washed between me and the shore. You and I stand each day on a narrow neck, and there is one wave coming up there; see, how near it is to your foot; and lo, another throws at every tick of the clock: “our hearts, like muffled drums, are beating funeral marches to the tomb.” We are always tending downwards to the grave each moment that we live. This Book tells me that if I am converted, when I die there is a heaven of joy and love to receive me; it tells me that angels’ pinions shall be stretched, and I, borne by strong cherubic wings, shall out soar the lightning, and mount beyond the stars, up to the throne of God, to dwell for ever,

      Far from a world of grief and sin

      With God eternally shut in.

      Oh! it makes the hot tear run from my eye, it makes my heart too big for my body, and my brain whirls at the thought of

      Jerusalem, my happy home,

      Name ever dear to me.

      Oh! that sweet scene beyond the clouds; sweet fields arrayed in living green, and rivers of delight. Are not these great things? But then, poor unregenerate soul, the Bible says, if you are lost, you are lost for ever; it tells you, that if you die without Christ, without God, there is no hope for you, that there is a place without a gleam of hope, where you shall read in burning letters, “You knew your duty, but you did not do it”; it tells you that you shall be driven from his presence with a “depart you cursed.” Are not these great things? Yes, sirs, as heaven is desirable, as hell is terrible, as time is short, as eternity is infinite, as the soul is precious, as pains to be shunned, as heaven is to be sought, as God is eternal, and as his words are sure, these are great things, things you ought to listen to.

      14. III. Our last point is THE TREATMENT WHICH THE POOR BIBLE RECEIVES IN THIS WORLD. It is accounted a strange thing. What does that mean — the Bible accounted a strange thing? In the first place, it means that it is very strange to some people, because they never read it. I remember reading, on one occasion, the sacred story of David and Goliath, and there was a person present, positively grown up to years of maturity, who said to me, “Dear me! what an interesting story; what book is that in?” And I remember a person once coming to me in private; I spoke to her about her soul, she told me how deeply she felt, how she had a desire to serve God, but she found another law in her members. I turned to a passage in Romans, and read to her, “The good that I would I do not; and the evil which I would not that I do!” She said, “Is that in the Bible? I did not know it.” I did not blame her because she had no interest in the Bible until then; but I did wonder that there could be found people who knew nothing about such a passage. Ah! you know more about your ledgers than your Bible; you know more about your business journals than what God has written. Many of you will read a novel from beginning to end, and what have you got? A mouthful of froth when you are done. But you cannot read the Bible; that solid, lasting, substantial, and satisfying food goes uneaten, locked up in the cupboard of neglect; while anything that man writes, a catch of the day, is greedily devoured. “I have written to him the great things of my law, but they were counted as a strange thing.” You have never read it. I bring the broad charge against you. Perhaps you say, I ought not to charge you with any such thing. I always think it better to have a worse opinion of you than too good a one. I charge you with this: you do not read your Bibles. Some of you never have read it through. I know I speak what your heart must say, is honest truth. You are not Bible readers. You say you have the Bible in your houses: do I think you are such heathens as not to have a Bible? But when did you read it last? How do you know that your spectacles, which you have lost, have not been there for the last three years? Many people have not turned over its pages for a long time, and God might say to them, “I have written to you the great things of my law, but they have been accounted to you a strange thing.”

      15. There are others who read the Bible, but when they read it, they say it is so horribly dry. That young man over there says it is a “bore”; that is the word he uses. He says, “My mother said to me, when you go up to town, read a chapter every day. Well, I thought I would please her, and I said I would. I am sure I wish I had not. I did not read a chapter yesterday or the day before. We were so busy. I could not help it.” You do not love the Bible, do you? “No, there is nothing in it which is interesting.” Ah! I thought so. But a little while ago I could not see anything in it. Do you know why? Blind men cannot see, can they? But when the Spirit touches the scales of the eyes they fall off, and when he puts eye salve on, then the Bible becomes precious. I remember a minister who went to see an old lady, and he thought he would give her some precious promises out of the word of God. Turning to one he saw written in the margin, “P,” and he asked, “What does this mean?” “That means precious, sir.” Further down he saw “T. and P.,” and he asked what the letters meant. “That,” she said, “means tried and proven, for I have tried and proven it.” If you have tried God’s word and proven it; if it is precious to your souls, then you are Christians; but those people who despise the Bible, have “neither part nor lot in the matter.” If it is dry to you, you will be dry at last in hell. If you do not esteem it as better than your necessary food, there is no hope for you, for you lack the greatest evidence of your Christianity.

      16. Alas! alas! the worst case is to come. There are some people who hate the Bible, as well as despise it. Is there such a one who has come in here? Some of you said, “Let us go and hear what the young preacher has to say to us.” This is what he has to say to you: “Behold you despisers, and wonder and perish.” This is what he has to say to you: “The wicked shall be turned into hell, and all that forget God.” And this, again he has to say to you: “Behold there shall come in the last days, mockers like yourselves, walking after your own lusts.” But more: he tells you tonight that if you are saved, you must find salvation here. Therefore, do not despise the Bible, but search it, read it, and come to it. Rest well assured, oh scorner, that your laughs cannot alter truth, your jests cannot avert your inevitable doom. Though in your hardihood you should make a league with death, and sign a covenant with hell — yet swift justice shall overtake you, and strong vengeance strike you low. In vain do you jeer and mock, for eternal verities are mightier than your sophistries: nor can your smart sayings alter the divine truth of a single word of this volume of Revelation. Oh! why do you quarrel with your best friend, and ill treat your only refuge? There yet remains hope even for the scorner. Hope in a Saviour’s veins. Hope in the Father’s mercy. Hope in the Holy Spirit’s omnipotent agency.

      17. I am finished when I have said one more thing. My friend, the philosopher, says it may be very well for me to urge people to read the Bible; but he thinks there are a great many sciences far more interesting and useful than theology. Extremely obliged to you for your opinion, sir. What science do you mean? The science of dissecting beetles, and arranging butterflies?; “No,” you say, “certainly not.” The science, then, of arranging stones, and telling us of the strata of the earth? “No, not exactly that.” Which science then? “Oh, all sciences,” you say, “are better than the science of the Bible.” Ah! sir, that is your opinion, and it is because you are far from God, that you say so. But the science of Jesus Christ is the most excellent of sciences. Let no one turn away from the Bible, because it is not a book of learning and wisdom. It is. Would you learn about astronomy? It is here: it tells you of the Sun of Righteousness and the Star of Bethlehem. Would you learn about botany? It is here: it tells you of the plant of renown — the Lily of the Valley and the Rose of Sharon. Would you learn about geology and mineralogy? You shall learn it here: for you may read of the Rock of Ages, and the White Stone with a name engraved on it, which no