Men who are Down
Charles Spurgeon · John Ploughman's Talk; or, Plain Advice for Plain People
' Where the carcass is, thither will the eagles be gathered together."
Page 124.
NO man's lot is fully known till he is
dead : change of fortune is the lot
of life. He who rides in the carriage may
yet have to clean it. Sawyers change
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124 JOHN PLOUGHMAN'S TALK.
places, and he who is up aloft may have to
take his turn in the pit. In less than a
thousand years we shall all be bald and
poor too, and who knows what he may
come to before that ? The thought that we
may ourselves be one day under the win-
dow should make us careful when we are
throwing out our dirty water. With what
measure we mete it shall be measured to us
again, and therefore let us look well to our
dealings with the unfortunate.
Nothing makes me more sick of human
nature than to see the way in which men
treat others when they fall down the ladder
of fortune. " Down with him," they cry,
" he always was good for nothing."
" Down among the dead men, down, down, down,
Down among the dead men, there let him lie."
Dog won't eat dog, but men will eat each
other up like cannibals, and boast of it too.
There are thousands in this world who fly
like vultures to feed on a tradesman or a
merchant as soon as ever he gets into trou-
ble. Where the carcass is, thither will the
eagles be gathered together. Instead of a
little help, they give the sinking man a
MEN WHO ARE DOWN, 125
great deal of cruelty, and cry, " Serves him
right. " All the world will beat the man
whom fortune buffets. If providence smites
him, all men's whips begin to crack. The
dog is drowning, and therefore all his
friends empty their buckets over him. The
tree has fallen, and everybody runs for his
hatchet. The house is on fire, and all the
neighbors warm themselves. The man has
ill luck, therefore his friends give him ill
usage; he has tumbled into the road, and
they drive their carts over him : he is down,
and selfishness cries, " Let him be kept
down, then there will be the more room for
those who are up."
How aggravating it is when those who
knocked you down kick you for not stand-
ing up ! It is not very pleasant to hear
that you have been a great fool, and there
were fifty ways at least of keeping out of
your difficulty, only you had not the sense
to see them. You ought not to have lost
the game ; even Tom Fool can see where
you made a bad move. " He ought to have
locked the stable door ; " everybody can see
that, but nobody offers to buy the loser a
new nag. " What a pity he went so far on
126 JOHN PLOUGHMAN'S TALK.
the ice ! " That's very true, but that won't
save the poor fellow from drowning. When
a man's coat is threadbare, it is an easy-
thing to pick a hole in it. Good advice is
poor food for a hungry family.
" A man of words and not of deeds,
Is like a garden full of weeds."
Lend me a bit of string to tie up the traces,
and find fault with my old harness when I
get home. Help my old horse to a few
oats, and then tell him to mend his pace.
Feel for me and I shall be much obliged
to you, but mind you feel in your pocket,
or else a fig for your feelings.
Most men who go down hill meet with
Judas before they get to the bottom.
Those whom they helped in their better
days generally forget the debt, or repay it
with unkindness. The young sucker runs
away with the sap from the old tree. The
foal drains his mother, and then kicks her.
The old saying is, " I taught you to swim,
and now you would drown me," and many
a time it comes true. The dog wags his
tail till he gets the bone, and then he snaps
and bites at the man who fed him. Eaten
MEN WHO ARE DOWN. 127
bread is forgotten, and the hand that gave
it is despised. The candle lights others
and is burnt away itself. For the most part,
nothing is more easily blotted out than a
good turn. Everyone for himself is the
world's golden rule, and we all know who
takes the hindmost. The fox looks after
his own skin, and has no idea of losing his
brush out of gratitude to a friend.
A noble spirit always takes the side of
the weak, but noble spirits do not often
ride along our roads ; they are as scarce
as eagles : you can get magpies, and hawks,
and kites by the score, but the nobler breed
you don't see once in a lifetime. Did you
ever hear the crows read the burial service
over a dead sheep before they eat it?
Well, that's wonderfully like the neigh-
bors crying, " What a pity ! How did
it happen ? Oh, dear ! Oh, dear ! " and
then falling to work to get each of them a
share of the plunder. Most people will
help those who do not need it ; every trav-
eller throws a stone where there is a
heap already ; all the cooks baste the fat
pig, and the lean one gets burned.
128 JOHN PLOUGHMAN'S TALK.
u In times of prosperity friends will be plenty :
In times of adversity not one in twenty."
When the wind serves, all aid. While the
pot boils, friendship blooms. But flatterers
haunt not cottages, and the faded rose no
suitor knows. All the neighbors are cous-
ins to the rich man, but the poor man's
brother does not know him. When we
have a ewe and a lamb, everyone cries,
"Welcome, Peter!" The squire can be
heard for half-a-mile, if he only whispers,
but Widow Needy is not heard across
the park railings, let her call as she may.
Men willingly pour water into a full tub,
and give feasts to those who are not hun-
gry, because they look to have as good or
better in return. Have a goose and get a
goose. Have a horse of your own, and
then you can borrow one. It is safe to lend
barley where the barn is full of wheat, but
who lends or gives where there's none?
Who, indeed, unless it be some antiquated
old soul who believes in his Bible, and loves
his Lord, and therefore gives, " hoping for
nothing again "?
I have noticed certain gentry who pre-
tend to be great friends to a falling man
MEN WHO ARE DOWN. 129
because there are some few pickings yet to
to be got off his bones. The lawyer and
the money-lender will cover the poor fellow
with their wings, and then peck at him with
their bills till there's nothing left. When
these folks are very polite and considerate,
poor men had need beware. It was not a
good sign when the fox walked into the
hen-roost and said, " Good morning to you
all, my very dear friends. "
Dov/n men, however, must not despair,
for God is yet alive, and he is the friend of
the friendless. If there be no one else
found to hold out a hand to him who has
fallen, the Lord's hand shall not fail to
bring deliverance to those who trust him.
A good man may be put in the fire, but he
cannot be burned. His hope may be
drenched but not drowned. He plucks up
courage and sets a stout heart to a stiff hill,
and gets over rough ground where others
lie down and die. While there's life there's
hope. Therefore, my friend, if you've tum-
bled off the back of prosperity, John Plough-
man bids you not lie in the ditch, but up
with you and try again. Jonah went to the
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130 JOHN PLOUGHMAN'S TALK.
bottom of the sea, but he got to shore again
all the better for his watery journey.
** Though the bird's in the net,
It may get away yet ;
Though I'm down in the dust,
In my God I will trust,
I will hope in him still,
And leave all to his will ;
For he'll surely appear,
And will banish my fear."
Let it never be forgotten that when a
man is down he has a grand opportunity
for trusting in God. A false faith can only
float in smooth water, but true faith, like a
life-boat, is at home in storms. If our re-
ligion does not bear us up in time of trial
what is the use of it? If we cannot be-
lieve God when our circumstances appear
to be against us we do not believe him
at all. We trust a thief as far as we can
see him, shall we dare to treat our God in
that fashion ? No, no. The Lord is good,
and he will yet appear for his servants, and
we shall praise his name.
" Down among the dead men " ! No, sir, not I.
" Down among the dead men " ! I will not lie.
Up among the hopeful I will ascend,
Up among the joyful sing without end.