Sinner, Pity for the – Charles Spurgeon

I HEAR enchanting music, which seems more a thing of Heaven than of earth: it is one of Handel’s half-inspired oratorios. Yonder sits a man who says, “I hear nothing to commend.” He has not the power to perceive the linked sweetnesses, the delicious harmonies of sounds. Do you blame him? No, but you who have an ear for music say, “How I pity him, he misses half the joy of life!” Here, again, is a glorious landscape, hills and valleys, and flowing rivers, expansive lakes, and undulating meadows. I bring to the point of view a friend whom I would gratify, and I say to him, “Is not that a charming scene?” Turning his head to me he says, “I see nothing.” I perceive that he cannot enjoy what is so delightful to me; he has some little sight, but he sees only what is very near, and he is blind to all beyond. Now, do I blame him? Or if he proceed to argue with me, and say, “You are very foolish to be so enthusiastic about a nonexistent landscape, it is merely your excitement,” shall I argue with him? Shall I be angry with him? No, but I shed a tear and whisper to myself, “Great are the losses of the blind.” Now, you who have never heard music in the name of Jesus, you are to be greatly pitied, for your loss is heavy. You who never saw beauty in Jesus, and who never will forever, you need all our tears. It is Hell enough not to love Christ! It is the lowest abyss of Tartarus, and its fiercest flame, not to be enamored of the Christ of God.