The solemn days of life.
"What will ye do in the solemn day?" "What will ye do in the day of assembly?—when ye shall he despoiled of everything by the Assyrians; for the Israelites who remained in the land after its subjection to the Assyrians did worship the true God, and offer unto him the sacrifices appointed by the Law, though in an imperfect manner; and it was a great mortification to them to be deprived of their religious festivals in the land of strangers" (Elzas). The "solemn day" here evidently refers to one of the great Jewish feasts, either the Feast of the Passover, the Pentecost, or of the Tabernacles; and the literal meaning seems to be—What will yon children of Abraham do when you are deprived by tyrannic strangers of the privilege of attending those solemn assemblies? Though the word "assembly" would be a better rendering than "solemn," yet inasmuch as these festive assemblies were very solemn, and the privation of them of all things the most solemn, we shall accept the word for purposes of practical application. There are solemn days awaiting all of us, and the appeal in the text is evermore befitting and urgent.
I. THE DAY OF PERSONAL AFFLICTION is a "solemn day." The day comes either by disease, accident, or infirmities of age, when, withdrawn from scenes of business, pleasure, or profession, we shall be confined to some lonely room, and languish on the couch of suffering and exhaustion. Such a day must come to all, and such a day will be "solemn"—a day with but little light in the firmament of earthly life, a day of darkness, and perhaps of tempests. "What will ye do in the solemn day?" What can you do? You will not be able to extricate yourself kern the sad condition. No man can raise himself out of that physical suffering and weakness that are destined to come on his frame. What will ye do so as to be sustained in soul? Skeptical reasonings will be of no service, the recollections of past life will be of no service. "What will ye do in that solemn day?"
II. THE DAY OF SOCIAL BEREAVEMENT is a "solemn day." Much of the charm of life is in our social loves, the love of partners, parents, children, friends. The time must come when ruthless death will tear them from the heart. This will be a solemn day. What a dark day with the soul is that when we return from the grave where we have left for ever some dear object of the heart, and when we enter the home where the loved one was the center and charm of the circle! Truly, a sunless, saddening day is this. And yet such a day must come to all. "What will ye do in this solemn day?" What will yon do for consolation? What word of comfort has science to offer, has the world to present? What will you do?
III. THE DAY OF DEATH is a "solemn day." This awaits every man. "What man is he that liveth and shall not see death?" "There is no man that hath power over the spirit to retain the spirit; neither hath he power in the day of death: and there is no discharge in that war." What a "solemn day" is this! All earthly connections dissolving, the world receding, eternity parting its awful folds. What will ye do in this day, when heart and flesh shall fail? What will sustain your spirit then? Will you count your wealth? Will you gather about your dying bed your worldly companions? Will you seek to bury the remembrance of your past life? Something must be done—this you will feel; but what?
IV. THE DAY OF JUDGMENT is a "solemn day." "We must all appear before the judgment-seat of Christ." What a day will that be! A "great and notable" day. "Howl ye, for the day of the Lord is at hand." What will ye do? Will ye call "to the mountains and rocks to fall on you, and hide you from the eyes of him that sitteth on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb"?
CONCLUSION. "What will ye do in the solemn day?" "Do!" Why, do what you should do every day of your life—exercise a practical and unbounded faith in the love of God through our Lord Jesus Christ. "I am persuaded that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord."
"'Tis not the Stoic's lessons, got by rote,
The pomp of words and pedant dissertations,
That can sustain thee in that hour of terror:
Books have taught cowards to talk nobly of it,
But when the trial comes they stand aghast.
Hast thou considered what may happen after it?
How thy account may stand, and what the answer?"
(Nicholas Rowe)
D.T.