{"id":3860,"date":"2008-11-11T10:48:29","date_gmt":"2008-11-11T15:48:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.purposedriven.ca\/wiki\/ch-spurgeon\/ecclesiastes-78"},"modified":"2008-11-11T10:48:29","modified_gmt":"2008-11-11T15:48:29","slug":"ecclesiastes-78","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/purposedriven.ca\/wiki\/2008\/11\/11\/ecclesiastes-78\/","title":{"rendered":"Ecclesiastes 7:8"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

“Better is the end of a thing than the beginning thereof.” 
              — Ecclesiastes 7:8 <\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Look at David’s Lord and Master; see his beginning. He was despised and
rejected of men; a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. Would you
see the end? He sits at his Father’s right hand, expecting until his
enemies be made his footstool. “As he is, so are we also in this
world.” You must bear the cross, or you shall never wear the crown; you
must wade through the mire, or you shall never walk the golden
pavement. Cheer up, then, poor Christian. “Better is the end of a thing
than the beginning thereof.” See that creeping worm, how contemptible
its appearance! It is the beginning of a thing. Mark that insect with
gorgeous wings, playing in the sunbeams, sipping at the flower bells,
full of happiness and life; that is the end thereof. That caterpillar
is yourself, until you are wrapped up in the chrysalis of death; but
when Christ shall appear you shall be like him, for you shall see him
as he is. Be content to be like him, a worm and no man, that like him
you may be satisfied when you wake up in his likeness. That
rough-looking diamond is put upon the wheel of the lapidary. He cuts it
on all sides. It loses much-much that seemed costly to itself. The king
is crowned; the diadem is put upon the monarch’s head with trumpet’s
joyful sound. A glittering ray flashes from that coronet, and it beams
from that very diamond which was just now so sorely vexed by the
lapidary. You may venture to compare yourself to such a diamond, for
you are one of God’s people; and this is the time of the cutting
process. Let faith and patience have their perfect work, for in the day
when the crown shall be set upon the head of the King, Eternal,
Immortal, Invisible, one ray of glory shall stream from you. “They
shall be mine,” saith the Lord, “in the day when I make up my jewels.”
“Better is the end of a thing than the beginning thereof.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

“Better is the end of a thing than the beginning thereof.”                — Ecclesiastes 7:8 Look at David’s Lord and Master; see his beginning. He was despised andrejected of men; a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. Would yousee the end? He sits at his Father’s right hand, expecting until hisenemies be made his…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"twitterCardType":"","cardImageID":0,"cardImage":"","cardTitle":"","cardDesc":"","cardImageAlt":"","cardPlayer":"","cardPlayerWidth":0,"cardPlayerHeight":0,"cardPlayerStream":"","cardPlayerCodec":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3860","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/purposedriven.ca\/wiki\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3860","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/purposedriven.ca\/wiki\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/purposedriven.ca\/wiki\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/purposedriven.ca\/wiki\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/purposedriven.ca\/wiki\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3860"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/purposedriven.ca\/wiki\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3860\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/purposedriven.ca\/wiki\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3860"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/purposedriven.ca\/wiki\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3860"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/purposedriven.ca\/wiki\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3860"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}