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Christian, instead of disputing, let me tell thee how to prove your religion. Live it out! live it out! Give the external as well as the internal evidence; give the external evidence of your own life. You are sick; there is your neighbor, who laughs at religion; let him come into your house. When he was sick, he said, “O, send for the doctor”; and there he was fretting, and fuming, and whining, and making all manner of noises. When you are sick, send for him; tell him that you are resigned to the Lord’s will; that you will kiss the chastening rod; that you will take the cup, and drink it, because your Father gives it. You need not make a boast of this, or it will lose all its power; but do it because you can not help doing it. Your neighbor will say, “There is something in that.” And when you come to the borders of the grave — he was there once, and you heard how he shrieked, and how frightened he was — give him your hand, and say to him, “Ah! I have a Christ that will do to die by; I have a religion that will make me sing in the night.” Let him hear how you can sing, “Victory, victory, victory!” through him that loved you. I tell you, we may preach fifty thousand sermons to prove the gospel, but we shall not prove it half so well as you will through singing in the night. Keep a cheerful frame; keep a happy heart; keep a contented spirit; keep your eye up; and your heart aloft, and you will prove Christianity better than all the Butlers, and all the wise men that ever lived. Give them the analogy of a holy life, and then you will prove religion to them; give them the evidence of internal piety, developed externally, and you will give the best possible proof of Christianity. Try and sing songs in the night; for they are so rare, that if thou canst sing them, thou wilt honor thy God.
I have been preaching all this while to the children of God, and now there is a sad turn that this subject must take, just one moment or so, and then we have done. There is a night coming, in which there will be no songs of joy — a night in which no one will even attempt to lead a chorus. There is a night coming when a song shall be sung, of which misery shall be the subject, set to the music of wailing and gnashing of teeth; there is a night coming when woe, unutterable woe, shall be the matter of an awful terrible miserere — when the orchestra shall be composed of damned men, and howling fiends, and yelling demons; and mark you, I speak what I do know, and testify the Scriptures. There is a night coming for a poor soul within this house tonight; and unless he repent, it will be a night wherein he will have to growl, and howl, and sigh, and cry, and moan and groan forever.
“Who is that?” sayest thou. Thyself, my friend, if thou art godless and Christless. “What!” sayest thou, “am I in danger of hell-fire?” In danger, my friend! Ay, more: thou art damned already. So saith the Bible. Sayest thou, “And can you leave me without telling me what I must do to be saved? Can you believe that I am in danger of perishing, and not speak to me?” I trust not; I hope I shall never preach a a sermon without speaking to the ungodly, for O! how I love them. Swearer, your mouth is black with oaths now; and if you die, you must go on blaspheming throughout eternity. But list to me, blasphemer! Dost thou repent tonight? Dost thou feel thyself to have sinned against God? Dost thou feel a desire to be saved? List thee! thou mayest be saved; thou mayest be saved as much as any one that is now here. There is another: she has sinned against God enormously, and she blushes even now, while I mention her case. Dost thou repent of thy sin? There is hope for thee. Remember him who said, “Go, and sin no more.” Drunkard! but a little while ago thou wast reeling down the street, and now thou repentest. Drunkard! there is hope for thee.
“Well,” sayest thou, “what shall I do to be saved?” Then again let me tell thee the old way of salvation. It is, “Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou art saved.” We can get no further than that, do what we will; this is the sum and substance of the gospel. Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, and be baptized, and thou shalt be saved. So saith the Scripture. Dost thou ask, “What is it to believe?” Am I to tell thee again? I can not tell thee, except that it is to look at Christ. Dost thou see that Saviour there? He is hanging on the cross; there are his dear hands, pierced with nails, nailed to a tree, as if they were waiting for the tardy footsteps, because thou wouldst not come. Dost thou see his dear head there? It is hanging on his breast, as if he would lean over, and kiss thy poor soul. Dost thou see his blood, gushing from his head, his hands, his feet, his side? It is running after thee; because he well knew that thou wouldst never run after it. Sinner! to be saved, all that thou hast to do is to look at that Man.
Canst thou do it now? “No,” sayest thou, “I do not believe it will save me.” Ah! my poor friend, try it; and if thou dost not succeed, when thou hast tried it, I am bondsman for my Lord — here, take me, bind me, and I will suffer thy doom for thee. This I will venture to say: if thou castest thyself on Christ, and he deserteth thee, I will be willing to go halves with thee in all thy misery and woe. For he will never do it: never, never, never!
No sinner was ever
Empty sent back,
Who came seeking mercy
For Jesus’ sake.
I beseech thee, therefore, try him, and thou shalt not try him in vain, but shalt find him “able to save to the uttermost them that come unto God by him.” Thou shalt be saved now, and saved forever.
May God give you his blessing! I can not preach as earnestly as I could wish; but, nevertheless, may God accept these words, and send them home to some hearts this night! and may you, my dear brethren and sisters, have songs in the night!
Clyde E. Fant Jr. and William M. Pinson Jr., A Treasury of Great Preaching: Spurgeon to Meyer, vol. 6 (Dallas: Word Publishing, 1995), 32–34.
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