Nehemiah 5:7 Then I consulted with myself, and I rebuked the nobles, and the rulers, and said to them, You exact usury, every one of his brother… Some persons are deaf to the voice of justice until it is repeated loudly by thousands of their fellow-men. The silent voice of principle and right they will not hear, and the gentle rebuke of some one faithful friend they will despise; but when righteous. ness enlists public opinion on its side, when many are seen to be its advocates, then these very persons will show that they have relics of conscience left, and they yield to right demands because they see them not only to be just, but to be popular. This is the main point with those of the feebler sort, and we turn the scale if, like Nehemiah, we "set a great assembly against them." I set a great assembly against — I. THE UNCONVERTED. 1. The great assembly of all the godly that are upon the earth. They all testify against you. (1) By their consistent life. (2) By their joy in God. (3) By their very horror at your sin.They cannot bear to think of that which awaits you. Holy Whitfield, when he began to touch upon that subject, would, with the tears streaming down his cheeks, cry, "The wrath to come! the wrath to come!" It was too much for him. He could but repeat those words and there cease. 2. All the inspired writers of the Bible. 3. The departed saints. 4. The whole company of the angels. 5. God Himself. "The face of the Lord is against them that do evil, to cut off the remembrance of them from the earth." 6. Jesus Christ, the Son of God. II. THOSE WHO SAY THAT SIN IS A VERY PLEASNT AND PROFITABLE THING. Oh, what an assembly it would be if I could bring up from the hospitals the wretches who are suffering an earthly hell from their sins I Go over the casual ward, enter the union-house, spend an evening in a low lodging-house, and sit down and hear the tales of sons of ministers, of sons of gentlemen, of sons of noblemen, of men that once were merchants, traders, lawyers, doctors, who have brought themselves down by nothing else than their own extravagance and sin to eat the bread of pauperism. III. THOSE WHO SAY THAT TRUE RELIGION MAKES PEOPLE MISERABLE. I have suffered as much of bodily pain as most here present, and I know also about as much depression of spirit at times as any one; but my Master's service is a blessed service, and faith in Him makes my soul leap for joy. I would not change with the most healthy man, or the most wealthy man, or the most learned man, or the most eminent man in all the world, if I had to give up my faith in Jesus Christ. It is a blessed thing to be a Christian and all God's people will tell you so. By the living saints that do rejoice, and by the dying saints who die without a fear, I set an assembly against the man who dares slander true religion by saying that it does not make men happy. ( C. H. Spurgeon.) Parallel Verses KJV: Then I consulted with myself, and I rebuked the nobles, and the rulers, and said unto them, Ye exact usury, every one of his brother. And I set a great assembly against them. |
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