Terwyl ek oor vrees vir God lees vir my referaat van Saterdag, kom ek op die volgende skrywe van Spurgeon af:
"Doodsvrees" hierdie. Die Engelse praat van scare the living daylights out of them.
Spurgeon, bekend vir sy "gevleuelde" taal, stel nie teleur met sy uitbeelding van Bunyan se beskrywing van die lot van die psalm-singende Metodis nie: sewe duiwels sal die skynheilige skepsel met nege toue vasbind en van die pad na die hemel (wat hy gedink het hy bewandel) wegsleep en hom deur 'n agterdeur reguit in die hel in instoot.
Maar Spurgeon gebruik die beeld om tot eerlike self-ondersoek aan te spoor. Dit is vir hom, self 'n "professor" wat psalms sing, belangrik om na binne te kyk en gedurig te toets of 'n mens regtig is waar jy dink jy is.
En dan is die beeld van die sewe duiwels 'n goeie aansporing daartoe.
Spurgeon wou sy hoorders aanspoor tot egte spiritualiteit, tot geleefde geloof. Hy het dit gedoen in die taal van sy tyd en in bybelse taal.
Hoe bring 'n mens, wonder ek, in ons tyd, mense daartoe om te begryp hoe lewensbelangrik dit is om op jouself te let en te toets of 'n mens jou nog in die gees van Christus bevind?
Hier is die stuk:
What must be the apostate professor's doom when his naked soul appears before God? How will he bear that voice, "Depart, ye cursed; thou hast rejected me, and I reject thee; thou hast played the harlot, and departed from me: I also have banished thee forever from my presence, and will not have mercy upon thee."
What will be this wretch's shame at the last great day when, before assembled multitudes, the apostate shall be unmasked?
See the profane, and sinners who never professed religion, lifting themselves up from their beds of fire to point at him.
"There he is," says one, "will he preach the gospel in hell?"
"There he is," says another, "he rebuked me for cursing, and was a hypocrite himself!"
"Aha!" says another, "here comes a psalm-singing Methodist--one who was always at his meeting; he is the man who boasted of his being sure of everlasting life; and here he is!"
No greater eagerness will ever be seen among Satanic tormentors, than in that day when devils drag the hypocrite's soul down to perdition. Bunyan pictures this with massive but awful grandeur of poetry when he speaks of the back-way to hell. Seven devils bound the wretch with nine cords, and dragged him from the road to heaven, in which he had professed to walk, and thrust him through the back-door into hell.
Mind that back-way to hell, professors! "Examine yourselves, whether ye be in the faith."
Look well to your state; see whether you be in Christ or not. It is the easiest thing in the world to give a lenient verdict when oneself is to be tried; but O, be just and true here. Be just to all, but be rigorous to yourself. Remember if it be not a rock on which you build, when the house shall fall, great will be the fall of it. O may the Lord give you sincerity, constancy, and firmness; and in no day, however evil, may you be led to turn aside.
