This sermon was not preached at the Tabernacle, but at Surrey Chapel. In it, Spurgeon shows something of his versatility and adaptability, without losing anything of his urgency and vitality. He is as fervent in calling Christ’s people to serve as he is in calling needy sinners to Christ. He sticks close to his text, setting forth Christ in his labour and then bringing an appropriate question and exhortation to the disciples of Christ as to whether or not we are truly following in the footsteps of our Master. He closes the sermon with more direct application to saints, a forceful reminder of our mortality, pressing us to consider the shortness of time. That itself gives rise to that same deep concern for the lost: life is short, time is passing, opportunity flies away—we cannot serve God until we have trusted in Christ. I wonder if, should a preacher emphasise such themes today, he might be labelled as legalistic and morbid! No doubt Spurgeon was in his own day. Do we give him a pass ‘because he’s Spurgeon’? Perhaps worse, do we offer a cool applause to the sentiment without a warm response to the exhortation? Let us, like our Saviour, work while it is day; the night comes when no-one can work.

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