C.H. Spurgeon – Words of Warning for Daily Living

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April 16

Those Who Take Not Warning
But another says: "I did not like the man himself; I did not like the man that blew the
trumpet; I could hear him, but I had a personal dislike to him, and so I did not take
any notice of what the trumpet said." Verily, God will say to you at last: "You fool,
what have you to do with that man; to his own master he stands or falls; your
business was with yourself." What would you think of a man who has fallen
overboard from a ship, and when he is drowning, some sailor throws him a rope, and
there it is. Well, he says, in the first place, "I do not like that rope; I don't think that
rope was made at the best manufactory; there is some tar on it too, I do not like it;"
and in the next place, "I do not like that sailor who threw the rope over, I am sure he
is not a kind-hearted man, I do not like the look of him at all;" and then comes a
gurgle and a groan, and down he is at the bottom of the sea; and when he was
drowned, they said that it served him right, and if he would not lay hold of the rope,
but would be making such foolish and absurd objections, when it was a matter of life
and death, then on his own head be his blood. And so shall it be with you at last. You
are so busy with criticizing the minister, and his style, and his doctrine, that your own
soul perishes. Remember you may get into hell by criticism, but you will never
criticize your soul out of it. You may there make the most you can of it. You may be
there and say: "I did not like the minister, I did not like his manner, I did not like his
matter;" but all your dislikings will not get one drop of water to cool your burning
tongue, nor serve to mitigate the unalleviated torments of that world of agony.