The Battle of Life

T. Spurgeon.

Ecclesiastes 8:8

There is no man that has power over the spirit to retain the spirit; neither has he power in the day of death…

The leaves are always falling from the forest trees in autumn-time. Unheard, unnoticed, they flutter every morning to the ground, but anon there is a crash in the forest as a giant tree, decayed, comes headlong to the earth, and the winds that helped to bring it down seem to moan among the trees that still stand firm. "Howl, fir-tree, for the cedar has fallen." Sometimes even the falling of a leaf is noticed, if it happens to tumble down exactly at one's feet, or even the falling of a little branch or twig will startle one, should it chance to light upon one's head or hand. It is even so with mortals in the matter of death.

I. THERE IS NO "CASTING OFF" OF WEAPONS IN THE WAR. In every other war there is, for one or other of the contending parties obtains a return in triumph, a blowing of the trumpet and a beating of the drums, an unharnessing of armour and a laying by of sword and spear and shield, a tide of congratulations flowing in from king or queen, and from a grateful country that has been delivered from impending danger. "But," says the Preacher, "there is no casting off of weapons in that war." It must be fought out to the bitter end, it must be waged till the vanquished combatant at last surrenders at discretion to the Black Prince of death. The struggle begins at birth. What tussles the infants have for life! Have we not seen them from their earliest breath fighting with the dragon that, as it were, waited for their birth? Fight, little stranger, fight! Fight thou must if thou wouldest live at all, for there are, even in thy weakest days, a thousand enemies who fain would drain thy life away! Moreover, the fight is specially fierce at times. When sickness threatens, and disease invades, and when we are called to pass through places specially unwholesome, or to engage in occupations peculiarly perilous, oh, how hot the battle then becomes.

II. Another rendering of this remarkable expression will give us this idea, THERE IS NO "CASTING OFF" WEAPONS IN THAT WAR. By this, I understand that there is not in any mortal hand a weapon, of whatsoever a description, that is likely to avail against this king of fears. You know how it is in the present day with the art of war, as some are pleased to call it. If one man invents a gun of special calibre, or a bullet of peculiarly penetrating powers, another forthwith invents an armour that resists them both; this has no parallel in the matter of life and death. There can be found for death's shot and shell no armour that can resist it. Goliath's spear, though it be like a weaver's beam, will not defend him from the stroke of death; Saul's javelin, though he aim it better than when he cast it at active David, is not likely to pin death to the wall; and the gilded sword of bribery, with its jewelled hilt, is vain against this adversary. Elizabeth exclaimed, "All my possessions for a moment of time!" but there was no casting of the weapons in that war, even for the virgin queen. We are virtually defence-less. "It is appointed unto man to die."

III. Yet, again, there is this rendering of the passage. "THERE IS NO SENDING OF A SUBSTITUTE IN THAT WAR," I believe that the conscription, where it obtains, allows for substitution; that one may, at least on certain conditions, send another in his place to serve his country; but there is no such provision here. There is, indeed, the possibility of one taking another's place temporarily. A brave miner, for instance, has said to another in equal peril with himself, "Only one of us can get out of this: you may go, and I will die." "Death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned." If this be true, is it not very marvellous how unconcerned most are! It was enjoined upon the ancient Thebans that before they erected a house they should build a sepulchre in its neighbourhood, and the Egyptians were wise enough to bring round at their feasts an image of death, that the guests might be reminded of their mortality. "Ponder, O man, eternity," for "there is no sending of a substitute in that war."

IV. THERE IS NO EXEMPTION FROM FIGHTING IN THIS BATTLE — no excuse from joining in this campaign. We all are hastening to the bourne from which no traveller returns. You know that in the days of Moses there were certain exemptions and excuses in connection with the military service. Such was the mercy of God that He arranged that, if a man had built a new house, he was not called to take up arms, he must go and dedicate it. After the house-warming he might go to the battle, but not before. Or if one had planted a vineyard, he should wait till he had eaten of it: lest another should reap the result of his labours. 'Twas the same with the newly-married man; and for the faint-hearted there was this kind provision made, that they should go back to their homes; not, indeed, so much for their own sakes, aa lest their brethren should become faint-hearted too. There are no such considerations in this case: there cannot be. I heard only last week of one who was married for two short days, and was taken under heartrending circumstances from his bride. We sometimes talk about sudden death, and it is awfully sudden for those who are looking on and living still, but I believe there should be no such thing as sudden death to any who know the power of death and the certainty of it.

(T. Spurgeon.)