THE BROKEN FENCE.

Charles Spurgeon · Talks to Farmers
"I went by the field of the slothful, and by the vineyard of the man
void of understanding; and lo, it was all grown over with thorns, and
nettles had covered the face thereof, and _the stone wall thereof was
broken down_. Then I saw, and considered it well: I looked upon it and
received instruction."--PROVERBS 24:30-32.


THIS slothful man did no hurt to his fellow-men: he was not a thief, nor
a ruffian, nor a meddler in anybody else's business. He did not trouble
himself about other men's concerns, for he did not even attend to his
own--it required too much exertion. He was not grossly vicious; he had
not energy enough to care for that. He was one who liked to take things
easily. He always let well alone, and, for the matter of that, he let
ill alone, too, as the nettles and the thistles in his garden plainly
proved. What was the use of disturbing himself? It would be all the same
a hundred years hence; and so he took things just as they came. He was
not a bad man, so some said of him; and yet, perhaps, it will be found
at last that there is no worse man in the world than the man who is not
good, for in some respects he is not good enough to be bad; he has not
enough force of character about him to serve either God or Baal. He
simply serves himself, worshipping his own ease and adoring his own
comfort. Yet he always meant to be right. Dear me! he was not going to
sleep much longer, he would only have forty winks more, and then he
would be at his work, and show you what he could do. One of these days
he meant to be thoroughly in earnest, and make up for lost time. The
time never actually came for him to begin, but it was always coming. He
always meant to repent, but he went on in his sin. He meant to believe,
but he died an unbeliever. He meant to be a Christian, but he lived
without Christ. He halted between two opinions because he could not
trouble himself to make up his mind; and so he perished of delay.

This picture of the slothful man and his garden and field overgrown with
nettles and weeds represents many a man who has professed to be a
Christian, but who has become slothful in the things of God. Spiritual
life has withered in him. He has backslidden; he has come down from the
condition of healthy spiritual energy into one of listlessness, and
indifference to the things of God; and while things have gone wrong
within his heart, and all sorts of mischiefs have come into him and
grown up and seeded themselves in him, mischief is also taking place
externally in his daily conduct. The stone wall which guarded his
character is broken down, and he lies open to all evil. Upon this point
we will now meditate. "The stone wall thereof was broken down."

Come, then, let us take a walk with Solomon, and stand with him and
consider and learn instruction while we _look at this broken-down
fence_. When we have examined it, let us _consider the consequences of
broken-down walls_; and then, in the last place, let us try to _rouse up
this sluggard that his wall may yet be repaired_. If this slothful
person should be one of ourselves, may God's infinite mercy rouse us up
before this ruined wall has let in a herd of prowling vices.

I. First let us take a LOOK AT THIS BROKEN FENCE.

You will see that in the beginning it was a very good fence, for it was
a stone wall. Fields are often surrounded with wooden palings which soon
decay, or with hedges which may very easily have gaps made in them; but
this was a stone wall. Such walls are very usual in the East, and are
also common in some of our own counties where stone is plentiful. It was
a substantial protection to begin with, and well shut in the pretty
little estate which had fallen into such bad hands. The man had a field
for agricultural purposes, and another strip of land for a vineyard or a
garden. It was fertile soil, for it produced thorns and nettles in
abundance, and where these flourish better things can be produced; yet
the idler took no care of his property, but allowed the wall to get into
bad repair, and in many places to be quite broken down.

Let me mention some of the stone walls that men permit to be broken down
when they backslide.

In many cases _sound principles were instilled in youth_, but these are
forgotten. What a blessing is Christian education! Our parents, both by
persuasion and example, taught many of us the things that are pure and
honest, and of good repute. We saw in their lives how to live. They also
opened the word of God before us, and they taught us the ways of right
both toward God and toward men. They prayed for us, and they prayed with
us, till the things of God were placed round about us and shut us in as
with a stone wall. We have never been able to get rid of our early
impressions. Even in times of wandering, before we knew the Lord
savingly, these things had a healthy power over us; we were checked when
we would have done evil, we were assisted when we were struggling
toward Christ. It is very sad when people permit these first principles
to be shaken, and to be removed like stones which fall from a boundary
wall. Young persons begin at first to talk lightly of the old-fashioned
ways of their parents. By-and-by it is not merely the old-fashionedness
of the ways, but the ways themselves that they despise. They seek other
company, and from that other company they learn nothing but evil. They
seek pleasure in places which it horrifies their parents to think of.
This leads to worse, and if they do not bring their fathers' gray hairs
with sorrow to the grave it is no virtue of theirs. I have known young
men, who really were Christians, sadly backslide through being induced
to modify, conceal, or alter those holy principles in which they were
trained from their mother's knee. It is a great calamity when
professedly converted men become unfixed, unstable, and carried about
with every wind of doctrine. It shows great faultiness of mind, and
unsoundness of heart, when we can trifle with those grave and solemn
truths which have been sanctified by a mother's tears and by a father's
earnest life. "I am thy servant," said David, "and the son of thy
handmaid": he felt it to be a high honor, and, at the same time, a
sacred bond which bound him to God, that he was the son of one who could
be called God's handmaid. Take care, you who have had Christian
training, that you do not trifle with it. "My son, keep thy father's
commandment, and forsake not the law of thy mother: bind them
continually upon thine heart, and tie them about thy neck."

Protection to character is also found in the fact that _solid doctrines
have been learned_. This is a fine stone wall. Many among us have been
taught the gospel of the grace of God, and they have learned it well,
so that they are able to contend earnestly for the faith once delivered
to the saints. Happy are they who have a religion that is grounded upon
a clear knowledge of eternal verities. A religion which is all
excitement, and has little instruction in it, may serve for transient
use; but for permanent life-purposes there must be a knowledge of those
great doctrines which are fundamental to the gospel system. I tremble
when I hear of a man's giving up, one by one, the vital principles of
the gospel and boasting of his liberality. I hear him say, "These are my
views, but others have a right to their views also." That is a very
proper expression in reference to mere "views," but we may not thus
speak of _truth_ itself as revealed by God: that is one and unalterable,
and all are bound to receive it. It is not your view of truth, for that
is a dim thing; but the very truth itself which will save you if your
faith embraces it. I will readily yield my way of stating a doctrine,
but not the doctrine itself. One man may put it in this way, and one in
another; but the truth itself must never be given up. The spirit of the
Broad School robs us of everything like certainty. I should like to ask
some great men of that order whether they believe that anything is
taught in the Scriptures which it would be worth while for a person to
die for, and whether the martyrs were not great fools for laying down
their lives for mere opinions which might be right or might be wrong.
This Broad-churchism is a breaking down of stone walls, and it will let
in the devil and all his crew, and do infinite harm to the church of
God, if it be not stopped. A loose state of belief does great damage to
any man's mind.

We are not bigots, but we should be none the worse if we so lived that
men called us so. I met a man the other day who was accused of bigotry,
and I said, "Give me your hand, old fellow. I like to meet with bigots
now and then, for the fine old creatures are getting scarce, and the
stuff they are made of is so good that if there were more of it we might
see a few men among us again and fewer mollusks." Lately we have seen
few men with backbone; the most have been of the jelly-fish order. I
have lived in times in which I should have said, "Be liberal, and shake
off all narrowness": but now I am obliged to alter my tone and cry, "Be
steadfast in the truth." The faith once delivered to the saints is now
all the more attractive to me because it is called narrow, for I am
weary of that breadth which comes of broken hedges. There are fixed
points of truth, and definite certainties of creed, and woe to you if
you allow these stone walls to crumble down. I fear me that the slothful
are a numerous band, and that ages to come may have to deplore the
laxity which has been applauded by this negligent generation.

Another fence which is too often neglected is that of _godly habits
which had been formed_: the sluggard allows this wall to be broken down.
I will mention some valuable guards of life and character. One is the
habit of _secret prayer_. Private prayer should be regularly offered, at
least in the morning and in the evening. We cannot do without set
seasons for drawing near to God. To look into the face of man without
having first seen the face of God is very dangerous: to go out into the
world without locking up the heart and giving God the key is to leave it
open to all sorts of spiritual vagrants. At night, again, to go to your
rest as the swine roll into their sty, without thanking God for the
mercies of the day, is shameful. The evening sacrifice should be
devoutly offered as surely as we have enjoyed the evening fireside: we
should thus put ourselves under the wings of the Preserver of men. It
may be said, "We can pray at all times." I know we can: but I fear that
those who do not pray at stated hours seldom pray at all. Those who pray
in season are the most likely persons to pray at all seasons. Spiritual
life does not care for a cast-iron regulation, but since life casts
itself into some mould or other, I would have you careful of its
external habit as well as its internal power. Never allow great gaps in
the wall of your habitual private prayer.

I go a step farther; I believe that there is a great guardian power
about _family prayer_, and I feel greatly distressed because I know that
very many Christian families neglect it. Romanism, at one time, could do
nothing in England, because it could offer nothing but the shadow of
what Christian men had already in substance. "Do you hear that bell
tinkling in the morning?" "What is that for?" "To go to church to pray."
"Indeed," said the Puritan, "I have no need to go there to pray. I have
had my children together, and we have read a passage of Scripture, and
prayed, and sang the praises of God, and we have a church in our house."
Ah, there goes that bell again in the evening. What is that for? Why, it
is the vesper bell. The good man answered that he had no need to trudge
a mile or two for that, for his holy vespers had been said and sung
around his own table, of which the big Bible was the chief ornament.
They told him that there could be no service without a priest, but he
replied that every godly man should be a priest in his own house. Thus
have the saints defied the overtures of priestcraft, and kept the faith
from generation to generation. Household devotion and the pulpit are,
under God, the stone walls of Protestantism, and my prayer is that these
may not be broken down.

Another fence to protect piety is found in _week-night services_. I
notice that when people forsake week-night meetings the power of their
religion evaporates. I do not speak of those lawfully detained to watch
the sick, and attend to farm-work and other business, or as domestic
servants and the like; there are exceptions to all rules: but I mean
those who could attend if they had a mind to do so. When people say, "It
is quite enough for me to be wearied with the sermons of the Sunday; I
do not want to go out to prayer-meetings, and lectures, and so
forth,"--then it is clear that they have no appetite for the word; and
surely this is a bad sign. If you have a bit of wall built to protect
the Sunday and then six times the distance left without a fence, I
believe that Satan's cattle will get in and do no end of mischief.

Take care, also, of the stone wall of _Bible reading_, and of speaking
often one to another concerning the things of God. Associate with the
godly, and commune with God, and you will thus, by the blessing of God's
Spirit, keep up a good fence against temptations, which otherwise will
get into the fields of your soul, and devour all goodly fruits.

Many have found much protection for the field of daily life in the stone
wall of _a public profession of faith_. I am speaking to you who are
real believers, and I know that you have often found it a great
safeguard to be known and recognized as a follower of Jesus. I have
never regretted--and I never shall regret--the day on which I walked to
the little river Lark, in Cambridgeshire, and was there buried with
Christ in baptism. In this I acted contrary to the opinions of all my
friends whom I respected and esteemed, but as I had read the Greek
Testament for myself, I felt bound to be immersed upon the profession of
my faith, and I was so. By that act I said to the world, "I am dead to
you, and buried to you in Christ, and I hope henceforth to live in
newness of life." That day, by God's grace, I imitated the tactics of
the general who meant to fight the enemy till he conquered, and
therefore he burned his boats that there might be no way of retreat. I
believe that a solemn confession of Christ before men is as a thorn
hedge to keep one within bounds, and to keep off those who hope to draw
you aside. Of course it is nothing but a hedge, and it is of no use to
fence in a field of weeds, but when wheat is growing a hedge is of great
consequence. You who imagine that you can be the Lord's, and yet lie
open like a common, are under a great error; you ought to be
distinguished from the world, and obey the voice which saith, "Come ye
out from among them, be ye separate." The promise of salvation is to the
man who with his heart believeth and with his mouth confesseth. Say
right boldly, "Let others do as they will; as for me and my house, we
will serve the Lord." By this act you come out into the king's highway,
and put yourself under the protection of the Lord of pilgrims, and he
will take care of you. Oftentimes, when otherwise you might have
hesitated, you will say, "The vows of the Lord are upon me: how can I
draw back?" I pray you, then, set up the stone wall, and keep it up, and
if it has at any corner been tumbled over, set it up again, and let it
be seen by your conduct and conversation that you are a follower of
Jesus, and are not ashamed to have it known.

Keep to your religious principles like men, and do not turn aside for
the sake of gain, or respectability. Do not let wealth break down your
wall, for I have known some make a great gap to let their carriage go
through, and to let in wealthy worldlings for the sake of their society.
Those who forsake their principles to please men will in the end be
lightly esteemed, but he who is faithful shall have the honor which
cometh from God. Look well to this hedge of steadfast adherence to the
faith, and you shall find a great blessing in it.

There is yet another stone wall which I will mention, namely, _firmness
of character_. Our holy faith teaches a man to be decided in the cause
of Christ, and to be resolute in getting rid of evil habits. "If thine
eye offend thee"--wear a shade? No; "pluck it out." "If thine arm offend
thee"--hang it in a sling? No; "cut it off and cast it from thee." True
religion is very thorough in what it recommends. It says to us, "Touch
not the unclean thing." But many persons are so idle in the ways of God
that they have no mind of their own: evil companions tempt them, and
they cannot say, "No." They need a stone wall made up of noes. Here are
the stones "no, _no_, NO." Dare to be singular. Resolve to keep close to
Christ. Make a stern determination to permit nothing in your life,
however gainful or pleasurable, if it would dishonor the name of Jesus.
Be dogmatically true, obstinately holy, immovably honest, desperately
kind, fixedly upright. If God's grace sets up this hedge around you,
even Satan will feel that he cannot get in, and will complain to God
"hast thou not set a hedge about him?"


I have kept you long enough looking over the wall, let me invite you in,
and for a few minutes let us CONSIDER THE CONSEQUENCES OF A BROKEN-DOWN
FENCE.

To make short work of it, first, _the boundary has gone_. Those lines of
separation which were kept up by the good principles which were
instilled in him by religious habits, by a bold profession and by a firm
resolve, have vanished, and now the question is, "Is he a Christian, or
is he not?" The fence is so far gone that he does not know which is his
Lord's property and which remains an open common: in fact, he does not
know whether he himself is included in the Royal domain or left to be
mere waste of the world's manor. This is for want of keeping up the
fences. If that man had lived near to God, if he had walked in his
integrity, if the Spirit of God had richly rested on him in all holy
living and waiting upon God, he would have known where the boundary was,
and he would have seen whether his land lay in the parish of All-saints,
or in the region called No-man's-land, or in the district where Satan is
the lord of the manor. I heard of a dear old saint the other day who,
when she was near to death, was attacked by Satan, and, waving her
finger at the enemy, in her gentle way, she routed him by saying,
"Chosen! chosen! chosen!" She knew that she was chosen, and she
remembered the text, "The Lord that hath chosen Jerusalem rebuke thee."
When the wall stands in its integrity all round the field, we can resist
the devil by bidding him leave the Lord's property alone. "Begone! Look
somewhere else. I belong to Christ, not to you." To do this you must
mend the hedges well so that there shall be a clear boundary line, and
you can say, "Trespassers, beware!" Do not yield an inch to the enemy,
but make the wall all the higher, the more he seeks to enter. O that
this adversary may never find a gap to enter by!

Next, when the wall has fallen, _the protection is gone_. When a man's
heart has its wall broken all his thoughts will go astray, and wander
upon the mountains of vanity. Like sheep, thoughts need careful folding,
or they will be off in no time. "I hate vain thoughts," said David, but
slothful men are sure to have plenty of them, for there is no keeping
your thoughts out of vanity unless you stop at every gap and shut every
gate. Holy thoughts, comfortable meditations, devout longings, and
gracious communings will be off and gone if we sluggishly allow the
stone wall to get out of repair.

Nor is this all, for as good things go out so bad things come in. When
the wall is gone every passer-by sees, as it were, an invitation to
enter. You have set before him an open door, and in he comes. Are there
fruits? He plucks them, of course. He walks about as it were a public
place, and he pries everywhere. Is there any secret corner of your heart
which you will keep for Jesus? Satan or the world will walk in; and do
you wonder? Every passing goat, or roaming ox, or stray ass visits the
growing crops and spoils more than he eats, and who can blame the
creature when the gaps are so wide? All manner of evil lust and desires,
and imaginations prey upon an unfenced soul. It is of no use for you to
say, "Lead us not into temptation." God will hear your prayer, and he
will not lead you there; but you are leading yourself into it, you are
tempting the devil to tempt you. If you leave yourself open to evil
influences the Spirit of God will be grieved, and he may leave you to
keep the result of your folly. What think you, friend? Had you not
better attend to your fences at once?

And then there is another evil, for _the land itself will go away_.
"No," say you; "how can that be?" If a stone wall is broken down round a
farm in England a man does not thereby lose his land, but in many parts
of Palestine the land is all ups and downs on the sides of the hills,
and every bit of ground is terraced and kept up by walls. When the walls
fall the soil slips over, terrace upon terrace, and the vines and trees
go down with it; then the rain comes and washes the soil away, and
nothing is left but barren crags which would starve a lark. In the same
manner a man may so neglect himself, and so neglect the things of God,
and become so careless and indifferent about doctrine, and about holy
living, that his power to do good ceases, and his mind, his heart, and
his energy seem to be gone. The prophet said, "Ephraim is a silly dove,
without heart:" there are flocks of such silly doves. The man who
trifles with religion sports with his own soul, and will soon degenerate
into so much of a trifler that he will be averse to solemn thought, and
incapable of real usefulness. I charge you, dear friends, to be sternly
true to yourselves and to your God. Stand to your principles in this
evil and wicked day. Now, when everything seems to be turned into marsh
and mire and mud, and religious thought appears to be silently sliding
and slipping along, descending like a stream of slime into the Dead Sea
of Unbelief--get solid walls built around your life, around your faith,
and around your character. Stand fast, and having done all, still
stand. May God the Holy Ghost cause you to be rooted and grounded, built
up and established, fixed and confirmed, never "casting away your
confidence, which hath great recompense of reward."


Lastly, I want, if I can, TO WAKE UP THE SLUGGARD. I would like to throw
a handful of gravel up to his window. It is time to get up, for the sun
has drunk up all the dew. He craves "a little more sleep." My dear
fellow, if you take a little more sleep, you will never wake at all till
you lift up your eyes in another world. Wake at once. Leap from your bed
before you are smothered in it. Wake up! Do you not see where you are?
You have let things alone till your heart is covered with sins like
weeds. You have neglected God and Christ till you have grown worldly,
sinful, careless, indifferent, ungodly. I mean some of you who were once
named with the sacred name. You have become like worldlings, and are
almost as far from being what you ought to be as others who make no
profession at all. Look at yourselves and see what has come of your
neglected walls. Then look at some of your fellow-Christians, and mark
how diligent they are. Look at many among them who are poor and
illiterate, and yet they are doing far more than you for the Lord Jesus.
In spite of your talents and opportunities, you are an unprofitable
servant, letting all things run to waste. Is it not time that you
bestirred yourself? Look, again, at others who, like yourself, went to
sleep, meaning to wake in a little while. What has become of them? Alas,
for those who have fallen into gross sin, and dishonored their
character, and who have been put away from the church of God; yet they
only went a little farther than you have done. Your state of heart is
much the same as theirs, and if you should be tempted as they have been,
you will probably make shipwreck as they have done. Oh, see to it, you
that slumber, for an idle professor is ready for anything. A slothful
professor's heart is tinder for the devil's tinderbox; does your heart
thus invite the sparks of temptation?

Remember, lastly, the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. Shall he come and
find you sleeping? Remember the judgment. What will you say to excuse
yourself, for opportunities lost, time wasted, and talents wrapped up in
a napkin, when the Lord shall come?

As for you, my unconverted friend, if you go dreaming through this
world, without any sort of trouble, and never look to the state of your
heart at all, you will be a lost man beyond all question. The slothful
can have no hope, for "if the righteous scarcely are saved," who strive
to serve their Lord, where will those appear who sleep on in defiance of
the calls of God? Salvation is wholly and alone of grace, as you well
know; but grace never works in men's minds toward slumbering and
indifference; it tends toward energy, activity, fervor, importunity,
self-sacrifice. God grant us the indwelling of his Holy Spirit, that all
things may be set in order, sins cut up by the roots within the heart,
and the whole man protected by sanctifying grace from the wasters which
lurk around, hoping to enter where the wall is low. O Lord, remember us
in mercy, fence us about by thy power, and keep us from the sloth which
would expose us to evil, for Jesus' sake. Amen.