"The Wages Of Sin Is Death!"

Hard work, and bad pay!
(Archibald Brown, "Hard Work and Bad Pay!" 1868)

"The wages of sin is death!" 
Romans 6:23

What! 

is the reward for all that hard toil--

death? Yes, death! Oh, extraordinary wages--

but more astonishing still, that any 

should be found to work for them!

The death of the body, is but one 
result of sin. If sin had not found 
its way into GOD'S fair earth--
then death also would have 
been forever a stranger. Death 
is the dark shadow that sin casts. 

For six thousand years men have 
been receiving the wages of death. 
Death has passed upon all men, 
for all have sinned.

Think of the aggregate of sorrow that 
has come on this fallen world through death, 
the fruit of sin. Could all the groans that 
have burst from broken-hearted mourners 
since our first parents wept over their 
murdered son, be gathered into one--
what a deep thunder-peal of anguish 
it would be! 

Were all the tears collected that 
death has caused to flow--
what a briny ocean they 
would constitute! 

Let those call sin a trifle who dare--
but to us it is clear that what could 
bring on man so dreadful a curse as 
death, must in itself be something 
unutterably horrible! 

And yet mere physical death, is 
the least that is meant here. 
If this was all the LORD meant--
if men when they die, die like dogs--
there would be no occasion for 
the agony of soul we often have. 

But alas! alas! the death referred to 
here is a death that never dies! 

It is placed in contrast to "eternal life." 
It means eternal death; in another  
word,  HELL! 

Here, poor sinner, are your wages--
here is the result of a life's toil 
for satan, HELL!

Let me say moreover, sin pays some 
of its wages now; it gives sometimes 
an installment of Hell on earth. 

The wretched debauchee often finds it so. 
Mark his haggard countenance, his 
trembling gait; follow him to the hospital--
no don't--
let his end remain secret; 
terrible are the wages he receives!

Look at the drunkard; he is paid 
for his sin in his home, until not a 
single stick remains to tell of a place 
that once was bright and happy. 

Have you ever seen a drunkard in 
delirium tremens? If so, you will never 
doubt about the wages he receives 
in this life. Hearken to his shrieking--
listen to his raving as he imagines 
he is being dragged to Hell by 
ten thousand fiery snakes!  

This is all included in the wages "death;" 
and yet after all, this is nothing. If the only 
wages for sin were those received in a 
lifetime, we could be calmer. But oh, 
Eternity, Eternity is sin's long pay-day--
and the wages paid is Hell!

Suppose a person were to go 
to a blacksmith and say to him, 
'I want you to make me a long 
and heavy chain--
I will pay you well for it.' 

The blacksmith, for the sake of the money, 
commences it; and after toiling hard for 
some time, finishes it. The person calls, 
and says on looking at it, 

'Yes, it is a good chain--
but not long enough; work on it 
another week, I will then call and pay 
you for it.' Encouraged by the promise 
of full reward, the blacksmith toils on, 
adding link to link. When his employer 
calls again, he praises him as before--
but still insists that 'the chain is too short.' 
'But,' says the blacksmith, 'I can do no more; 
my iron is all gone, and my strength too.'

'Oh then, just add a few more links, 
the chain will then answer my purpose, 
and you shall be well paid.' The blacksmith, 
with his remaining strength, and last few 
scraps of iron, adds the last link he can. 

'The chain will now do,' says the man, 
'you have worked hard and long; I will now 
pay you your wages.' And taking the chain, 
he suddenly binds the blacksmith hand and 
foot, and casts him into a furnace of fire!

Such are the wages of sin. 
It promises much--
but its reward is damnation!

Servants of sin and satan, 
behold your future doom! 

Be honest, and confess that your service
is hard work, and bad pay. GOD forbid 
that in this large concourse of people, 
there should be a single one who will ever 
learn by bitter, eternal experience that 
"the wages of sin is death!"

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GraceGems just published Archibald Brown's powerful evangelistic sermon, 
"Hard Work and Bad Pay!"