Evening and Morning
By Charles Haddon Spurgeon
November 1
Morning
"The
Church in thy house."—Philemon 2.
Is there a Church in this
house? Are parents, children, friends, servants, all
members of it? or are some still unconverted? Let us
pause here and let the question go round—Am I a member of the Church
in this house? How would father's heart leap for joy, and mother's eyes
fill with holy tears if from the eldest to the youngest all were saved! Let us
pray for this great mercy until the Lord shall grant it to us. Probably it had
been the dearest object of Philemon's desires to have all his
household saved; but it was not at first granted him in its fulness.
He had a wicked servant, Onesimus, who, having
wronged him, ran away from his service. His master's prayers followed him, and
at last, as God would have it, Onesimus was led to
hear Paul preach; his heart was touched, and he returned to Philemon, not only
to be a faithful servant, but a brother beloved, adding another member to the
Church in Philemon's house. Is there an unconverted servant or child absent
this morning? Make special supplication that such may, on their return to their home, gladden all hearts with good news of what grace
has done! Is there one present? Let him partake in the same earnest entreaty.
If
there be such a Church in our house, let us order it well, and let all act as
in the sight of God. Let us move in the common affairs of life with studied
holiness, diligence, kindness, and integrity. More is expected of a Church than
of an ordinary household; family worship must, in such a case, be more devout
and hearty; internal love must be more warm and unbroken, and external conduct
must be more sanctified and Christlike. We need not
fear that the smallness of our number will put us out of the list of Churches,
for the Holy Spirit has here enrolled a family-church in the inspired book of
remembrance. As a Church let us now draw nigh to the great head of the one
Church universal, and let us beseech Him to give us grace to shine before men
to the glory of His name.
Evening
"And
knew not until the flood came, and took them all away: so shall also the coming
of the Son of man be."—Matthew 24:39.
Universal was the doom,
neither rich nor poor escaped: the learned and the illiterate, the admired and
the abhorred, the religious and the profane, the old and the young, all sank in
one common ruin. Some had doubtless ridiculed the patriarch—where now
their merry jests? Others had threatened him for his zeal which they counted
madness—where now their boastings and hard speeches? The critic who
judged the old man's work is drowned in the same sea which
covers his sneering companions. Those who spoke patronizingly of the good man's
fidelity to his convictions, but shared not in them, have sunk to rise no more,
and the workers who for pay helped to build the wondrous ark, are all lost
also. The flood swept them all away, and made no single exception. Even
so, out of Christ, final destruction is sure to every man of woman born; no
rank, possession, or character, shall suffice to save a single soul who has not
believed in the Lord Jesus. My soul, behold this wide-spread
judgment and tremble at it.
How marvellous
the general apathy! they were all eating and drinking,
marrying and giving in marriage, till the awful morning dawned. There was not
one wise man upon earth out of the ark. Folly duped the whole race, folly as to
self-preservation—the most foolish of all follies. Folly in doubting the most true God—the most malignant of fooleries.
Strange, my soul, is it not? All men are negligent of their souls till grace
gives them reason, then they leave their madness and act like rational beings,
but not till then.
All, blessed be God, were safe
in the ark, no ruin entered there. From the huge elephant down to the tiny
mouse all were safe. The timid hare was equally secure with the courageous
lion, the helpless cony as safe as the laborious ox. All are safe in Jesus. My
soul, art thou in Him?