Treasury of David Volume 2 by Charles Spurgeon - scotknight

Psalm 49 165Verse 8. For the redemption of their soul is precious, and it ceaseth for ever.Too great is the price, the purchase is hopeless. For ever must the attempt toredeem a soul with money remain a failure. Death comes and wealth cannotbribe him; hell follows and no golden key can unlock its dungeon. Vain, then,are your threatenings, ye possessors of the yellow clay; your childish toys aredespised by men who estimate the value of possessions by the shekel of thesanctuary.Verse 9. No price could secure for any man that he should still live for ever,and not see corruption. Mad are men now after gold, what would they be if itcould buy the elixir of immortality? Gold is lavished out of the bag to cheat theworm of the poor body by embalming it, or enshrining it in a coffin of lead, butit is a miserable business, a very burlesque and comedy. As for the soul, it istoo subtle a thing to be detained when it hears the divine command to soarthrough tracks unknown. Never, therefore, will we fear those base nibblers atour heels, whose boasted treasure proves to be so powerless to save.Verse 10. For he seeth that wise men die. Every one sees this. The proudpersecuting rich man cannot help seeing it. He cannot shut his eyes to the factthat wiser men than he are dying, and that he also, with all his craft, must die.Likewise the fool and the brutish person perish. Folly has no immunity fromdeath. Off goes the jester's cap, as well as the student's gown. Jollity cannotlaugh off the dying hour; death who visits the university, does not spare thetavern. Thoughtlessness and brutishness meet their end as surely as much careand wasting study. In fact, while the truly wise, so far as this world isconcerned, die, the fool has a worse lot, for he perishes, is blotted out ofremembrance, bewailed by none, remembered no more. And leave their wealthto others. Not a farthing can they carry with them. Whether heirs male of theirown body, lawfully begotten, inherit their estates, or they remain unclaimed, itmatters not, their hoardings are no longer theirs; friends may quarrel over theirproperty, or strangers divide it as spoil, they cannot interfere. Ye boasters, holdye your own, before ye dream of despoiling the sons of the living God. Keepshoes to your own feet in death's dark pilgrimage, ere ye seek to bite our heels.Verse 11. Their inward thought is, their houses shall continue for ever, andtheir dwelling places to all generations. He is very foolish who is more a foolin his inmost thought than he dare to be in his speech. Such rotten fruit, rottenat the core, are worldlings. Down deep in their hearts, though they dare not sayso, they fancy that earthly goods are real and enduring. Foolish dreamers! Thefrequent dilapidation of their castles and manor houses should teach thembetter, but still they cherish the delusion. They cannot tell the mirage from thetrue streams of water; they fancy rainbows to be stable, and clouds to be the