Sermon 761. The Shrill Trumpet of Admonition

A sermon

(No. 761)

Delivered on Lord's-day Morning, JULY 21, 1867, by

C.H.SPURGEON,

At the Metropolitan Tabernacle, Newington

"Moab has been at ease from his youth, and he has settled on his lees, and has not been emptied from vessel to vessel, neitherhas he gone into captivity. Therefore his taste remained in him, and his scent is not changed. 'Therefore, behold, the dayscome,' says the Lord, 'that I will send unto him wanderers, that shall cause him to wander, and shall empty his vessels, andbreak their bottles.."- Jeremiah 48:11,12.

FOR a considerable season the country of Moab had been free from the inroads of war and the terrors of pestilence. The nationhad, therefore, become so conceitedly secure, that the Lord said, "We have heard the pride of Moab (he is exceedingly proud),his loftiness, and his arrogance, and his pride, and the haughtiness of his heart." The people became vain, dominating, boastful,and mocked at their afflicted neighbors the Israelites, manifesting ungenerous joy in their sorrows. "For was not Israel aderision unto you? Was he found among thieves? For since you spoke of him, you skipped for joy."

From this pride sprang luxury and all those other vices which find a convenient lair in the repose of unbroken prosperity.The warriors of Moab said, "We are mighty and strong men of war." As vainglorious sinners they defied all law and power. Trustingin Chemosh, they despised Jehovah, and magnified themselves against the Lord. The Prophet compares that country to wine, whichhas been allowed to stand unstirred and unmoved-it settles on its lees, grows strong, retains its aroma, and gathers dailyfresh body and spirit. "But," he says, "the day shall come when God shall shake this undisturbed liquor, when He shall sendwandering bands of Chaldeans that shall waste the country so that the bottles shall be broken and the vessels shall be emptiedand the proud prosperity of Moab shall end in utter desolation."

The unusual repose of Moab had been the envy of the people of Israel, but they might well cease to envy when they understoodhow suddenly a fire should come forth out of Heshbon, and a flame from the midst of Sihon and devour the corner of Moab-andhow soon the howling should be heard, "Woe be unto you, O Moab! The people of Chemosh perish: for your sons are taken captive,and your daughters captives." The fact that continued prosperity breeds carnal security is not only proved by the instanceof Moab, but is lamentably confirmed in the history of others.

In the first place, this is the common mischief of ungodly men. In the second place, this is the frequent danger of the mostgodly.

I. I shall first speak to THE UNCONVERTED, THE GODLESS, THE PRAYERLESS, THE CHRISTLESS. Many of you, though not all, becomelike Moab. At ease from your youth you are not emptied from vessel to vessel but settled upon your lees, and therefore yougrow careless and heedless. This is so common a mischief among the ungodly that the whole world was in this condition immediatelybefore the great deluge which destroyed the ancient race.

We read that "they married and were given in marriage." They did eat and did drink, and were drunk even until the day whenNoah entered the ark, and the floods came and swept them all away. The preacher of righteousness for 120 years warned themthat their sins had become intolerable to Heaven, and that vengeance would surely be taken upon their devices, but they laughedthe Prophet to scorn. They made "the old Fool," as they doubtless called him, the butt of their ridicule. The wits quotedhim as the chief of fools, and the drunkards in their songs spoke against him.

The disobedient worldlings of those olden times went upon their way as though their jollity would last forever and their sinwould go unpunished. How changed their notes when the rains descended with pitiless continuance-not in drops of mercy, fertilizingthe thirsty earth, but in cataracts of vengeance, sweeping away every living thing! How deep

their despair when the Lord drew up the sluices of the great "deep which lies under," and bade the long imprisoned floodsleap up from their dens and ravage the earth!

Then, as the despisers saw the Prophet's ark, alone, secure, and the Prophet's family, alone, delivered, they beheld and wondered-andperished as their long prosperity and carnal ease gave place to utter desolation. The world, however, is so little changedtoday that if the Lord Jesus Christ should now come, as come He will "in such an hour as you think not," He would find themass of men still in the same condition. Even at this day the enquiry is made, "Where is the promise of His coming? For sincethe fathers fell asleep all things continue as they were." Whenever our Lord shall come men will be unprepared for His advent,for "as it was in the days of Noah, so shall it be also in the days of the Son of

Man."

They shall still be given to their vanities and indulging themselves in their sins till He shall come in the clouds of Heavento take vengeance upon the multitude who know not God. This is the abiding state of the world which lies in the Wicked One-settledon its lees, it is not emptied from vessel to vessel-and therefore it dreams itself into presumptuous peace. When pestilenceor war do not stir the nations they soon grow bold in sin and provoke the Lord to jealousy.

But, my dear Friends, it is generally very useless to talk about the world at large! Generalities have little effect uponour minds-we must come to particulars. We will draw one or two pictures which will represent some who are present here thismorning. Perhaps there may be but very few of the first sort-the bold offenders who are at ease in open sin. They began lifewith iniquity and they have made terrible progress in it. They have taken their degrees in the college of Beelzebub. Theyhave become Masters in the Art of Wickedness, Doctors in Belial, able to teach others also-corrupt and corrupting.

These men are not disturbed in their sins. Their conscience has been seared as with a hot iron. Things which others wouldtremble at are to them a jest. They make a mockery of sin. They play with burning coals of lust and carry fire in their bosomand boast that they are not burned. They go from iniquity to iniquity, as the vulture from carcass to carcass. They laborin the way of evil, as men dig for hidden treasure.

"And they say, How does God know? And is there knowledge in the Most High?" "And if He does know," they say, "what do we care?Who is Jehovah, that we should obey Him? Who is the Almighty, that we should tremble at His word?" Throughout this wickedcity there are hundreds and thousands who, having enjoyed until now an immunity in their sins, suppose that their transgressionsare as light a thing with God as with themselves. These are they of whom David said, "They are not in trouble as other men;neither are they plagued like other men. Therefore pride compasses them about as a chain. Violence covers them as a garment.Their eyes stand out with fatness. They have more than heart could wish...Behold, these are the ungodly who prosper in theworld; they increase in riches."

Yet, O you haughty ones, take heed, for Pharaoh, who was your prototype in the olden days, found the way of pride to be hardat the end. That haughty prince was like a great dragon with a neck of iron but the Lord tamed him at the Red Sea. When thewheels were taken off his chariots and they dragged heavily while the floods eagerly leaped upon him as their prey-then heknew that none exalts himself against Jehovah to prosper, for He breaks in pieces the mighty in His wrath and destroys themin His hot displeasure.

O you haughty ones, remember the king Belshazzar! He was another of your tribe, and how he grew great with the spoils of thenations. Remember that night of feasting when he drank out of the vessels of God in his daring blasphemy and stained the holythings of Jehovah with his drunkenness. Read yonder handwriting on the wall. Even now, O Des-piser, I can see it for you,though you see it not, and this is the interpretation: "You are weighed in the balances and found wanting. Your joy shallsoon be taken from you, and your life also, and what shall you do in the day when the Lord requires your soul?"

If there are any here this morning who have lived in sin and grown wanton and have altogether broken loose from Divine control,having taken out of their mouths the bit which restrains other men, let them be ashamed and abased this day, for as the Lordmy God lives, before whom I stand, if they will not tremble now, they shall tremble forever! If the voice of God's ambassadorshall not bring you to seek peace and forgiveness, the Lord shall send another herald, not of peace but of judgment who shallcome with another voice than mine, a voice which shall make cold sweat stand on your brow and your pulse to wax faint andfew, while the still small voice sounds terribly in your ear, "This night your soul is required of you."

A far more common form of that carelessness which is so destructive is that of men who give themselves wholly up to the world'sbusiness. Such men, for instance, as one whom Christ called, "Fool." You know the story-his fields brought forth plenteously,for he was a skillful farmer. He had bought the newest implements. He had tilled his ground after the most scientific fashion.He had doubled the crops, and increased his riches! This was the one object for which he lived. He was a grower of grain anda hoarder of gold, and nothing more. He said within himself that he must build a temple for his god-his god was himself-andhis temple was his barn.

"I will pull down my barns and build greater-there will I bestow my goods." This man's case is so common that if you wereto purchase his likeness many of you might think it was your own photograph, for do you not, even those of you who come toour places of worship, live unto yourselves? This is the end and object of the most of mankind-to live "respectably," to collecta "competence"-to provide, as they say, for their families, which is the Pharisaic cant phrase for selfishness. Do not themass of men worship their belly and bow down before no other shrine than self? Is not the life of millions clear, transparentselfishness?

"What shall we eat, and what shall we drink, and with what shall we be clothed?" This is the grand object of human research.The religion of the multitude is, "Today or tomorrow we will go into such a city and continue there a year, and buy and sell,and get gain." Gain is the world's summum bonum, the chief of all mortal good, the main chance, the prime object, the barometerof success in life, the one thing needful, the heart's delight! And yet, O Worldlings, you who succeed in getting gain andare esteemed to be shrewd and prudent-Jesus Christ calls you fools-and He is no thrower about of hard terms where they arenot deserved!

"You Fool," He said, and why? Because the man's soul would be required of him-and then whose would those things be which hehad gathered together? Ah, you who have been prosperous all your days, and made money, and risen in the world, and gathereda competence, and lived to gather wealth-if this is the one thing you care about, tremble and expect your doom! O you carelessones, do you dream that you were made to live for yourselves? Was this the object of your Maker that you should live to gathergold for yourselves and for your children?

Did He send you into this world merely that you might scrape together yellow clay? Has your Maker no claim upon you? The Lordwho preserves you in being-has He no demands upon you? And if you do not recognize His rights will He not enquire for themin the day when He makes visitation? I would read the text over to all of you unconverted prosperous people-"Moab has beenat ease from his youth, and he has settled on his lees, and has not been emptied from vessel to vessel, neither has he goneinto captivity. Therefore his taste remained in him, and his scent is not changed. 'Therefore, behold, the days come,' saysthe Lord, 'that I will send unto him wanderers, that shall cause him to wander, and shall empty his vessels, and break theirbottles.' "

Hear you yet again the word of the Lord by His servant Isaiah; "Rise up, you women that are at ease. Hear my voice you carelessdaughters. Give ear unto My speech. Many days and years shall you be troubled, you careless women, for the vintage shall fail,the gathering shall not come. Tremble, you women that are at ease. Be troubled, you careless ones."

A third case is more common, still-the man who forgets God and lives in slothful ease. There are many in the world who donot succeed in making money-who do not, indeed, make money their main object. They are content with what they have and gothrough the world with much satisfaction to themselves. They are well known for their easiness of temper and harmlessnessof disposition, and therefore they think themselves better than others. Yet my text, if read correctly, is a dreadful warningfor them!

Have you never read of the master who committed to his servants their various talents, giving to one five, and to anothertwo, and to another one? Now the man with the five talents, and he with the two, went both into the market and doubled theirmaster's money, putting it out at interest. And when their Lord returned they presented him with their gains.

But the servant with the one talent was one who loved great ease of mind and did not wish to agitate himself with business.So he took his shovel, and having taken the talent and wrapped it in a clean napkin (for he would treat it with respect, andhide it decorously), he deposited the napkin and the talent in the earth. And having covered it up so that no one should seetraces of the burial, he went his way, and was perfectly at ease-a fair picture, indeed, of many who ought to be serving God-butthey think they have little ability and therefore do not strive even to do what they can.

They are not openly sinful. They are not at all objectionable in temper or disposition-they are quiet, easy-going, good-temperedsouls-but the talent, where is it? Buried! Alas, it will have a resurrection, and when it rises, all rusty from that rottingnapkin, what a witness will it bear and how will the Master say, "You wicked and slothful servant!" Some of you do not reflectenough upon that word-the Master did not say, "You wicked spendthrift!" or, "You base robber!" but, "You wicked and slothfulservant." May not that name apply to you?

The charge of sloth was quite enough. His doom was swift and terrible. The great sentence which our Lord will pronounce uponmen at the last is not for doing wrong, but for not doing right. "I was hungry, and you gave Me no meat. I was thirsty, andyou gave Me no drink. I was a stranger, and you took Me not in. Naked, and you clothed Me not. Sick, and in prison, and youvisited Me not." "Lord," they might have said, "we were not immoral or dishonest!" That is not the question. You did no serviceto your Lord. It is not enough to abstain from outward sin and so to be negatively moral! Unless you bring forth fruits untorighteousness you have not the life of God in you! And however much you may be at ease, there shall come a rough awakeningto your slumbers and the shrill sound of the archangel's trumpet shall be to you no other than the blast of the trumpet ofcondemnation because you took your ease when you should have served your God.

A still more sorrowful thought burns its way across my mind. There are many in the professing Christian Church who are inthe same state as Moab. They called to see the Church officers and asked if they could be accepted into the Church. No objectionwas made. The pastor conversed with them. They talked very fairly and they deceived him. They have been baptized. So oftenas the table of communion is spread they sit with God's people and partake of the emblems of the Savior's crucified body.But though their profession is a very comely one and their outward conduct exceedingly honorable, yet they lack inward DivineGrace.

They have the virgin's lamp but they have no oil in the vessel with their lamps. And yet so comfortable are these professorsthat they slumber and sleep! I have known many a true Believer much troubled for fear he should be a hypocrite- while manya hypocrite has never asked a question! Thousands who have gone safely to Heaven, have, on the road, stopped many times andput their fingers to their brow and said, "Am I a true Believer? What strange perplexities arise! Have I really passed fromdeath to life, or is it a fancy and a dream?"

And yet I say to you that the hypocrite has gone singing on his way, secure, as he thought, of passing through the gate ofpearl-until he found himself at last dragged hack to the hole in the side of the hill-which is the secret gate of Hell! Many,who were fair to look upon have been rotten at the core-such fruit as the King could not accept at His table. O you who neverask whether you are Christians, begin to question yourselves! Examine yourselves whether you are in the faith! Let not presumptionhold you in its deadly embrace! Remember, you may think yourself a Believer and everybody else may think so, too, and youmay fail to find out your error until it is too late to rectify it! You may persevere for years in "the way which seems rightunto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death." Be you not, O you professors, like Moab, that had settled upon hislees!

Equally true is this of the mass of moral men who are destitute of faith in Jesus. They hear of the convictions and troublesof an awakened conscience, and they inwardly sneer at such fanaticism and boast that they never stooped to such feelings."Here is a man that snivels out," as they call it, "a confession of his guilt. I never was so guilty as he," cries the moralist!"I have no doubt but what it will be all right with me at last. I pay my neighbors their own. I give a guinea to a hospitalwhen they ask me for it. I am a first-rate tradesman. Of course I have sown a few wild oats, and I still indulge a little,but who doesn't? Who dares deny that I am a good-hearted fellow?"

Plainly this gentleman has not been into spiritual captivity. He has never felt the burden of sin, never known what the weightof guilt is. Do you envy him? You may sooner envy the dead in their graves because they suffer no pain. You may better envythe man who has fallen into insensibility, or the wretch whose limbs are mortified-how can he feel when death has marked himfor its own? Those pangs and throes and bitter regrets, and tossing to and fro of a wounded conscience are signs of the dawnof spiritual life!

It is by such things as these that we are led to put our trust in Jesus-and those who have never felt them may well lamentbefore the Lord and pray that they may experience them-that they may be brought soundly and safely out of their self-righteousnessand led to rest upon the finished work of the dear Redeemer! Ah, my dear Hearer, if you, this

morning, have been troubled in your soul, be thankful for it! If your circumstances are full of anxiety, if you are not reconciledto God you may be thankful for adversity, and ask that it may drive you to Jesus!

If sin has become nauseous to you. If the pleasures which once satisfied your spirit have now lost their savor. If you cannotenjoy yourself with the world as you did once, I am glad of it! God loves you too well to let you build your nest here. Hemeans to flog you out of your sins if you will not be drawn out of them by the gentler cords of His love. He is putting thornsinto the nest that the bird may mount up to Heaven! Fly to your heavenly Father as the prodigal of old when he could not fillhis belly with the husks which the swine did eat! Better to suffer a present disturbance which will end in life, than enjoythe ease which is, itself, a protracted death. God give you to be saved through Jesus Christ!

II. We shall pause a minute and then speak to THE BELIEVER. It is one of the most common and most dangerous of all evils thatcan happen to a Christian, to fall into a state of carnal security in which he grows self-confident, insensible, careless,inactive, and worldly. Beloved in the Lord. My fellow Christians, I speak to you this morning very earnestly- the more sobecause I have experienced and I fear at the present moment I am suffering from the disease of which I am about to speak toyou.

John Bunyan tells us that on many occasions he preached as a man in chains preaching to men in chains-that is to say-the evilwhich he warned them of he felt in his own soul. It is much so this morning with me. But before I plunge into the subject,let me utter one note by way of caution. These lips shall never say a word against the full assurance of faith and againstthe holy confidence which the Holy Spirit gives to the people of God!

You can not be too confident in God. You can not be too sure of your salvation if you base that salvation upon the work ofChrist. Therefore I will not speak a syllable against holy quietness and assurance forever, which are the special privilegesof the elect. The danger I am to warn you of I will now endeavor to describe. A Christian man finds himself for a long timewithout any remarkable trouble. His children are spared to him. His home is happy, his business extremely prosperous-he has,in fact, all that heart can wish. When he looks round about him he can say with David, "The lines are fallen unto me in pleasantplaces; yes, I have a goodly heritage."

Now, the danger is that he should think too highly of these secondary things, and should say to himself, "My mountain standsfirm, I shall never be moved." Some of God's children are tossed to and fro, and vexed every morning. But if we are not, theflesh will whisper, "There must be something better in me than in them. Perhaps they are chastened on account of sins whichI have not fallen into. I am a special favorite."

And then, though the man would never dare to put it in words, yet an indistinct feeling creeps over him that there is no needfor him to be so watchful as other people-he would be sure not to fall if he were tempted. In fact he wonders how some ofhis Brethren can live as they do live-he is sure he could not do so. He feels that he could fight with any temptation andcome back more than a conqueror. He has grown so strong that he feels himself a Samson! He knows much more now than he usedto, and thinks himself too old a bird to be caught with chaff, as he might have been some years ago. "Ah," he thinks, "I ama model Christian."

He does not say as much, but that lurks in his mind. His heart is much hampered with earthly things, and his mind much bloatedwith self-conceit. He has not been poured from vessel to vessel. He has not been sternly tried by Providence, or sorely temptedby the devil. He has not been led to question his own conversion. He has fallen into a profound calm, a deep, dead, peace-ahorrible lethargy-and his inmost heart has lost all spiritual energy. The great disease of England is consumption, but I supposeit would be difficult to describe the causes and workings of consumption and decline.

The same kind of disease is common among Christians. It is not that many Christians fall into outward sin and so on, but throughoutour Churches we have scores who are in a spiritual consumption-their powers are all feeble and decaying. They have an unusuallybright eye-they can see other people's faults exceedingly well-and sometimes they have a flush on their cheeks which looksvery much like burning zeal and eminent spiritual life, but it is occasional and superficial. Vital energy is at a low ebb-theydo not work for God like genuinely healthy workmen.

They do not run in the race of His commandments like athletic racers, determined to win the prize. The heart does not beatwith a throb moving the entire man as a huge engine sends the throbbing of its force throughout the whole of the machinery.They go slumbering on, in the right road, it is true, but loitering in it. They serve God, but it is by the day, as we say,and not by the piece. They do not labor to bring forth much fruit-they are content with here and there a little shriveledcluster upon the topmost bough.

That is the state of mind I want to describe, and it is produced in 99 out of every 100 Believers by a long course of prosperityand absence of spiritual trouble. The rapid results of this consumption are just these-a man in such a state soon gives upcommunion with God. It is not quite gone at first, but it is suspended. His walk with God is broken and occasional. His prayersvery soon suffer. He does not forget his morning and evening devotions-perhaps if he did conscience would prick him-but hekeeps up that form. However, he has lost the soul of prayer and only retains the shell. There is no wrestling prayer now.

He used to rise in the night to plead with God and he would wrestle till the tears fell fast, but it is not so now. He doespray, but not with that Divine energy which made Jacob a victor at Jabbok's brook. By degrees his conversation is not whatit used to be. He was once very earnest for Christ and would introduce religious topics in all companies. He has become discreetnow, and holds his tongue. He is quite ready to gossip about the price of wheat and how the markets are, and the state ofpolitics, and whether you have been to see the Sultan-but he has no words for Jesus Christ, the King in His beauty.

Spiritual topics have departed from his general conversation. And now, strange to say, "the minister does not preach as heused to do." At least, the backslider says so. The reason why I think he is mistaken, is that the Word of God itself is notso sweet to him as it once was and surely the Bible cannot have altered! He used to read it and feast on the promises. Heused to carry a pocket Testament with him wherever he went, and take it out that he might have a sip by the way. Where ishis Testament now?

As for going to hear the Word of God, now it is dull work. He does come, he would not like to be away-if David's seat wereempty, he would begin to be pricked in his conscience-he is there, but he is there in vain. There is little savor about theWord to him. Hymns which used to be delightful for their melody now pall upon his ears, and he is now noticing the tune orwhether somebody else sings correctly. The prayers in which he used to join with so much fervency are very flat to him now.He is poring over his ledger even in the House of God.

These are the gray hairs which come upon a man, and sometimes, for want of self-examination, multiply rapidly, and the manknows it not till spiritual senility has come upon him. After awhile the professor slackens a good deal in his liberality.He does not think the cause of God is worth the expense that he used to spend upon it. And as to his own personal effortsto win souls, he does not give up his Sunday school class, nor his street preaching, nor distributing of tracts, perhaps,but he does all mechanically-it is mere routine. He might just as well be a robot and be wound up, only the fault is thathe is not wound up and he does not do his work as he should. Or, if he does it outwardly, there is none of the life of Godin what he does.

Do you know such a man? He who speaks to you knows him and has wept over him. That man has sometimes been himself! I do notthink I am less earnest than the most of my fellow Christians, and indeed, I could not bear to be like some of them. But still,I am very far from being content with myself. I pray God that I may never sink down to the dishonorable depths of indolencewhich some Christians live in. Sooner may my right hand forget her cunning and my tongue speak no more my Master's Word-Iwere utterly unworthy to be His minister if such were the case.

But oh, I pray to be baptized in fire and live in it as in my element, and breathe the immortal flame of zealous love to Jesus!But I cannot as I would. This heavy heart, this sluggish clay still make me move heavily when I would gladly fly as a seraphin my Master's service. Brethren, do you ever feel the same? I know some of you do, for I can see the traces of it. Very muchof this sluggishness is brought on by long-continued respite from trouble-

"More the treacherous calm I dread Than tempests rolling overhead." It were better to be in perpetual storms and to be drivento-and-fro in the whirlwind, and to cling to God than to flounder at sea in the most peaceful and calm days. I would soonerbe blown to pieces in battling with the devil and his crew than be put out of commission and left to rot, plank by plank,and timber by timber, in inglorious ease.

Dear Friends, the great secret danger coming out of all this is that when a man reaches the state of carnal security he isready for any evil! What heart-breaking news is sometimes brought to us who are set over the Christian Church. Such-and-sucha man, whom we knew as a high professor and who has sat with us at the table of fellowship and seemed to be greatly advancedin spiritual things, has fallen into some act of vice which is positively disgusting-from which the soul revolts! And thisis the very man with whom we took sweet counsel and went up to the House of God in company!

If the history of these great offenders could be traced, it would be very much like this-they began well, but they slackenedby degrees-till at last they were ripe for foul sin. We have heard of two Negroes who were accustomed to go into the bushto pray and each of them had worn a little path in the grass. Presently one of them grew cold and was soon found in open sin.His Brother warned him that he knew it would come to that because the grass grew on the path that led to their place of prayer.

Ah, we do not know to what we may descend when we begin to go downhill! Down, down, down, is easy and pleasant to the flesh,but if we knew where it would end we should pray God that we might sooner die than live to plunge into the terrors of thatdescent! Who would think that David, the man after God's own heart, should come to be the murderer of his friend Uriah, torob him of his wife? O David, are you so near to Heaven and yet so near to Hell?

There is a David in every one of our hearts, and if we begin to backslide from God we do not know to what extent we may slip!Just as in certain constitutions there is a readiness for cholera and other pestilential disorders through their bad stateof health, so there is a state of mind in which a professor is most likely to be betrayed into foul sin. When the seed oftemptation is floating in the air, the backslider is the man who will receive it and nurture it in his soul till it bringsforth evil fruit. God save us from this by His Holy Spirit!

I must pass on to observe God's cure for this malady. His usual way is by pouring our settled wine from vessel to vessel.If we cannot bear prosperity, the Lord will not continue it to us. We may pamper our children and spoil them, but the DivineFather will not. If we cannot bear the sweets He will give us the bitters. When the Lord takes down His rod-earthly parentsmay play at chastening their children, but God does not-He is in earnest and I warrant you we smart when God lays on the rod!But we make the rod ourselves! We force our Father to smite us because we cannot be obedient and humble without it.

Staying for awhile in the valley of Aosta in Northern Italy, we found the air to be heavy, close, and humid with pestilentialexhalations. We were oppressed and feverish-one's life did not seem worth a pin. We could not breath freely. Our lungs hada sense of having a hundred atmospheres piled upon them. Presently, at midday, there came a thunderclap, attended by big dropsof rain, and a stiff gale of wind which grew into a perfect tornado, tearing down the trees. Then followed what the poet calls"sonorous hail," and then again the lightning flashes and the thunder, peal on peal, echoing along the Alps.

But how delightful was the effect! How we all went out upon the veranda to look at the lightning and enjoy the music of thethunder! How cool the air and bracing! How delightful to walk out in the cool evening after the storm! Then you could breatheand feel a joy in life!

Full often it is thus with the Christian after trouble. He has grown to be careless, lethargic, feverish, heavy and readyto die-and just then he has been assailed by trouble-thundering threats have rolled from God's mouth. Flashes of lightninghave darted from Providence! The property vanished, the wife died, the children were buried, trouble followed trouble-andthen the man has turned to God-and though his face was wet with tears of repentance, yet he has felt his spirit to be remarkablyrestored!

When he goes up to the House of God it is far more sweet to hear the Word than before. He could not pray before but now heleans his head on Jesus' bosom and pours out his soul in fellowship! Eternity now exerts its heavenly attractions and theman is saved from himself! Have you ever dreamed that you were trying to walk and could not? You felt as though you couldnot move a foot and someone was about to overtake you who would do you serious mischief-and you longed to run and could notstir an inch!

That is the state of mind in which we get when we would, but cannot pray. When we would, but cannot repent. When we want tobelieve and cannot. When we would give a world for one single tear, would almost pawn our souls to obtain a quiver of spiritualfeeling, but are insensible, still-

"It nothing is felt, 'tis only pain To find 'I cannot feel.'"

Do you ever sink into that petrified condition? It is horrible! Horrible indeed! Horrible! If you can be its victim and yetbe happy, I tremble for you! If you see your danger and betake yourself to earnest prayer, you shall come off more than aconqueror-but it will need more than man to do this-it will need God within us to keep us from such a tremendous peril.

What ought we to do if we are prospering? We should remember that prevention is better than cure and if God is prosperingus, the way to prevent lethargy is to be very grateful for the prosperity which you are enjoying. Do not pray for trouble-you will have it quickly enough without asking for it. Be grateful for your prosperity, but make use of it. Do all you possiblycan for God while He prospers you in business. Try to live very closely to Him. It ought not to be so difficult for us tocling close to Jesus when Providence is favorable to us.

Some saints have dwelt at ease year after year and have been all the better for it. They have had few troubles and yet livednear to God and why not you? If you will take care that your wealth is laid out for God, that your prosperity is spent inHis service, you may have a succession of bright days. Watch the very first symptoms of declining, and fly to Christ, theGreat Physician! He will give you the balm of Gilead which will prevent the mischief and you may bear the heat of prosperityas safely as the chill blasts of adversity.

But if you have fallen into such a state, I should say to you, since you cannot use a preventative, now take to the cure-and the one cure is the Holy Spirit. Go to the Cross of Christ again, Christian, if you have fallen from your first estate.Go as you hope you went at first. Go with your deadness, and sloth, and lethargy-and put your trust in the precious bloodand ask the Lord Jesus to fill you with the Spirit once again-that you may be renewed. Try to get a due estimate of your indebtednessto God's Divine Grace. Try to see the danger of your lethargy. Think more of eternity and less of time.

Tear yourself away a little from your worldly engagements, if possible. If you can, get a day of fasting and of prayer, certainlyof prayer, but the fasting will help you to school your body as well as your soul. Fetch the proud flesh down somehow-makea desperate effort! It were better for you to do this now than for God to do it by sharp affliction. Trouble yourself thatHe may not trouble you. Humble yourself that He may not humble you. Put away your fancied security, and by strong crying andtears turn again to your former state of nearness to the living God. May the Lord help you, dear Friends, in this.

I have thought that our text describes the state of our country just now, for we are getting into a perfect whirl of excitement.Gaiety and frivolity are leading to sad sin in high places and this is much due to our prosperity. I hope God may never sendus war or pestilence, but religion never prospers more than in troublous times. There was never an age when England was soreligious as during our Civil War. Perhaps no time when more people were in Church in the City of London since London wasLondon, than during the Plague-for then they all crowded to hear the Gospel-and they would, again, if such a thing shouldcome.

We are growing nationally rich and nationally luxurious. I fear that prophets of evil will soon be sent to us to utter bitterthreats. May God have mercy upon us, pardon the horrible crimes done in the name of trade unions, and at the same time teachour princes to reign in righteousness and our great men to care less for vice and vanity and more for the cause of the poor!I am always afraid lest this should become the state of our Church, too. We have had 13 years of such prosperity that we haveall wondered at it. And there is one remark that our dear friend, Jonathan George, made when this place was being built whichI have never forgotten, and which often comes up in my mind.

He reminded us of this text, "You shall fear and tremble for all the good that God shall make to pass before you." We havehad so much good, so many conversions, so much brotherly love, so much zeal for God that I am always afraid lest we shouldfall from our present happy state. And the sure way of doing so is by ceasing to labor for God-ceasing from zeal and industry.By the way, there are many of you who do not come to the Prayer Meeting as you ought to do. Some of you are getting very laxat week-night services and I know what will come when that is the case.

When week-night services are badly attended, farewell to the life of godliness! If you have good excuses, I need not remindyou of them, you will remember them yourselves. But many of you have no justifiable excuses-you are becoming cold and indifferent.We are very much, in our position as a Church, as Esther was to the Jews. If she did not do her part, Mordecai told her, Godwould do it by somebody else and put her away. And so it is with us-if we lag and loiter in work for Christ, He will put usaway as a Christian Church-depend upon it! Not from His eternal love, for that He never will do, but from our position ofhonor and usefulness.

May it please Him to remove me, His unworthy servant, and give me rest from my labors, before such a catastrophe as that shouldoverwhelm us. My Brothers and Sisters, may we never be settled on our lees. May God always call us to fresh labor and inspireus with new zeal! Or, if He does not do that, may He send clap after clap of thundering affliction. Better that the Churchshould lose its leaders than lose its life! Better that the pastor's coffin should be there before you. Better that many shouldfall into poverty than that this Church should become like so many other Churches-a mere sleeping place for those who needcomfort, and a place for Sunday repose.

Eternal God, You who know what our heart feels, keep us from this evil and never suffer us, as a Church, to become like lukewarmLaodicea which You did spit out of Your mouth! Owing You so much, O Jesus, may we love You much in return and be found faithfulwhen You shall come to reward Your people and to be glorified in Your saints. God bless us, dear Friends, according to this,our desire, for Jesus' sake. Amen.