March 27

They took Absalom, and cast him into a great pit in the wood, and laid a very great heap of stones upon him. — 2 Sam 18:17

It has been said that every man lives for a funeral.

That is, a man’s funeral tells what kind of a man he has been. Absalom had already built a splendid monument, which he meant should mark his grave. Instead, however, of being laid away to rest in honor by a weeping nation, beneath the shadows of a noble pile, his mangled body was hurled in dishonor into a pit and covered with stones.

It was still true, however, that Absalom built his own monument. His own hand digged the grave of shame into which his body was cast. Sin’s harvest is sure and terrible. Too many young men think it is unmanly to be good, true–hearted, and pure, and that a “fast life” is the manly one. We have, in the story of Absalom, an illustration of the career of one who lived such a life, and we must notice that the story is written out to its last chapter.

The trouble too often is that men do not think of what the end will be.