As sure as God puts His children in the furnace he will be in the furnace with them. Charles H Spurgeon
The Lord gets His best soldiers out of the highlands of affliction. Charles Haddon Spurgeon
The man who never reads will never be read; he who never quotes will never be quoted. He who will not use the thoughts of other men's brains proves that he has no brains of his own. Charles Haddon Spurgeon
I'm so glad that God chose me before the foundation of the world, because he never would have chosen me after I was born! Charles Haddon Spurgeon (1834-1892)
Of two evils, choose neither. Charles Haddon Spurgeon
Feel for others--in your pocket. Charles Haddon Spurgeon
Ah! the bridge of grace will bear your weight, brother. Thousands of big sinners have gone across that bridge, yea, tens of thousands have gone over it. I can hear their trampings now as they traverse the great arches of the bridge of salvation. They come by their thousands, by their myriads; e'er since the day when Christ first entered into His glory, they come, and yet never a stone has sprung in that mighty bridge. Some have been the chief of sinners, and some have come at the very last of their days, but the arch has never yielded beneath their weight. I will go with them trusting to the same support; it will bear me over as it has borne them. C. H. Spurgeon
Sin is the transgression of the law: I will not own to sin when I am not conscious of it... When I have found intense pain relieved, a weary brain soothed,and calm refreshing sleep obtained by a cigar, I have felt grateful to God, and have blessed His name. C H Spurgeon
While Mr. Spurgeon was living at Nightingale Lane, Clapham, an excursion
was one day organised by one of the young men's classes at the Tabernacle.
The break with the excursionists was to call for the President on their way
to mid-Surrey.
It was a beautiful early morning, and the men arrived in high spirits, pipes
and cigars alight, and looking forward to a day of unrestrained enjoyment.
Mr. Spurgeon was ready waiting at the gate. He jumped up to the box-seat
reserved for him, and looking round with an expression of astonishment,
exclaimed: "What, gentlemen! Are you not ashamed to be smoking so early?"
Here was a damper! Dismay was on every face. Pipes and cigars one by one
failed and dropped out of sight. When all had disappeared, out came the
President's cigar-case. He lit up and smoked away serenely. The men looked
at him astonished. "I thought you said you objected to smoking, Mr. Spurgeon?"
one ventured.
"Oh no, I did not say I objected. I asked if they were not ashamed, and it
appears they were, for they have all put their pipes away." Amid laughter
the pipes reappeared, and with puffs of smoke the party went on merrily.
William Williams, Charles Haddon Spurgeon: Personal Reminiscences (London:
The Religious Tract Society,1895.), 30-32
It would be easy to show that at our present rate of progress the kingdoms of this world never could become the kingdom of our Lord and of His Christ. Indeed, many in the Church are giving up the idea of it except on the occasion of the advent of Christ, which, as it chimes in with our own idleness, is likely to be a popular doctrine. I myself believe that King Jesus will reign, and the idols be utterly abolished. . . . The Holy Ghost would never suffer the imputation to rest upon His holy name that He was not able to convert the world. Charles Haddon Spurgeon
Faith untried may be true faith, but it is sure to be little faith,
and it is likely to remain dwarfish so long as it is without trials. Faith
never prospers so well as when all things are against her: tempests are her
trainers, and lightnings are her illuminators. When a calm reigns on the
sea, spread the sails as you will, the ship moves not to its harbour; for
on a slumbering ocean the keel sleeps too. Let the winds rush howling forth,
and let the waters lift up themselves, then, though the vessel may rock,
and her deck may be washed with waves, and her mast may creak under the pressure
of the full and swelling sail, it is then that she makes headway towards
her desired haven. No faith is so precious as that which lives and triumphs
in adversity. Tried faith brings experience. Faith increases in solidity,
assurance, and intensity, the more it is exercised with tribulation. Faith
is precious, and its trial is precious too.
Charles Spurgeon, "Morning and Evening Daily Readings"
I do not come into this pulpit hoping that perhaps somebody will of
his own free will return to Christ. My hope lies in another quarter. I hope
that my Master will lay hold of some of them and say, "You are mine, and
you shall be mine. I claim you for myself." My hope arises from the freeness
of grace, and not from the freedom of the will.
Charles Haddon Spurgeon
Anxiety does not empty tomorrow of its sorrows,
but only empties today of its strength.
Charles H. Spurgeon (1834-1892)
English Baptist preacher
I must confess that I would rather hear people laugh than I would see them asleep in the house of God; and I would rather get the truth into them through the medium of ridicule than I would have it neglected, or leave people to perish through the lack of reception of the message. I do believe, in my heart, that there may be as much holiness in a laugh as in a cry; and that sometimes, to laugh is the better of the two, for I may weep, and be murmuring, and repining, and thinking all sorts of bitter thoughts against God; while, at another time, I may laugh the laugh of sarcasm against sin, and so evince a holy earnestness in the defence of the truth. I do not know why ridicule is to be given up to Satan as a weapon to be used against us, and not to be employed as a weapon against him. I will venture to affirm that the Reformation owed almost as much to the sense of the ridiculous in human nature as to anything else, and that those humorous squibs and caricatures, that were issued by the friends of Luther, did more to open the eyes of Germany to the abominations of the priesthood than the more solid and ponderous arguments against Romanism. I know no reason why we should not on suitable occasions, try the same style of reasoning. "It is a dangerous weapon," it will be said, "and many men will cut their fingers with it." Well, that is their own lookout; But I do not know why we should be so particular about their cutting their fingers if they can, at the same time, cut the throat of sin, and do serious damage to the great adversary of souls. – Spurgeon
If you want truth to go round the world you must hire an express train to pull it; but if you want a lie to go round the world, it will fly: it is as light as a feather, and a breath will carry it. It is well said in the old proverb, a lie will go round the world while truth is pulling its boots on.
Gems from Spurgeon (1859) p. 74
God is full of goodness; the very name "God" is short for "good."
If some men were sentenced to hear their own sermons, it would be a righteous judgment on them; but they would soon cry out with Cain, "My punishment is greater than I can bear."
We shall not adjust our Bible to the age; but before we have done with it, by God's grace, we shall adjust the age to the Bible.
Extracts from Spurgeon’s Book "All of Grace"
A certain man placed a fountain by the wayside, and he hung
up a cup near to it by a little chain. He was told some time
after that a great art-critic had found much fault with its
design. "But," said he, "do many thirsty persons drink at it?"
Then they told him that thousands of poor people, men, women, and
children, slaked their thirst at this fountain; and he smiled and
said, that he was little troubled by the critic's observation,
only he hoped that on some sultry summer's day the critic himself
might fill the cup, and he refreshed, and praise the name of the
Lord.
Here is my fountain, and here is my cup: find fault if you
please; but do drink of the water of life. I only care for this.
I had rather bless the soul of the poorest crossing-sweeper, or
rag-gatherer, than please a prince of the blood, and fail to
convert him to God.
Grace is the first and last moving cause of salvation; and faith, essential as it is, is only an important part of the machinery which grace employs. We are saved "through faith," but salvation is "by grace." Sound forth those words as with the archangel's trumpet: "By grace are ye saved." What glad tidings for the undeserving!
Faith occupies the position of a channel or conduit pipe.
Grace is the fountain and the stream; faith is the aqueduct along
which the flood of mercy flows down to refresh the thirsty sons
of men. It is a great pity when the aqueduct is broken. It is a
sad sight to see around Rome the many noble aqueducts which no
longer convey water into the city, because the arches are broken
and the marvellous structures are in ruins. The aqueduct must be
kept entire to convey the current; and, even so, faith must be
true and sound, leading right up to God and coming right down to
ourselves, that it may become a serviceable channel of mercy to
our souls.
Still, I again remind you that faith is only the channel or
aqueduct, and not the fountainhead, and we must not look so much
to it as to exalt it above the divine source of all blessing
which lies in the grace of God.
The pursuits of life illustrate faith in many ways. The
farmer buries good seed in the earth, and expects it not only to
live but to be multiplied. He has faith in the covenant
arrangement, that "seed-time and harvest shall not cease," and he
is rewarded for his faith.
The merchant places his money in the care of a banker, and
trusts altogether to the honesty and soundness of the bank. He
entrusts his capital to another's hands, and feels far more at
ease than if he had the solid gold locked up in an iron safe.
The sailor trusts himself to the sea. When he swims he takes
his foot from the bottom and rests upon the buoyant ocean. He
could not swim if he did not wholly cast himself upon the water.
The goldsmith puts precious metal into the fire which seems
eager to consume it, but he receives it back again from the
furnace purified by the heat.
You cannot turn anywhere in life without seeing faith in
operation between man and man, or between man and natural law.
Now, just as we trust in daily life, even so are we to trust in
God as He is revealed in Christ Jesus.
Faith exists in different persons in various degrees,
according to the amount of their knowledge or growth in grace.
Sometimes faith is little more than a simple clinging to Christ;
a sense of dependence and a willingness so to depend. When you
are down at the seaside you will see limpets sticking to the
rock. You walk with a soft tread up to the rock; you strike the
mollusk a rapid blow with your walking-stick and off he comes.
Try the next limpet in that way. You have given him warning; he
heard the blow with which you struck his neighbour, and he clings
with all his might. You will never get him off; not you! Strike,
and strike again, but you may as soon break the rock. Our little
friend, the limpet, does not know much, but he clings. He is not
acquainted with the geological formation of the rock, but he
clings. He can cling, and he has found something to cling to:
this is all his stock of knowledge, and he uses it for his
security and salvation. It is the limpet's life to cling to the
rock, and it is the sinner's life to cling to Jesus. Thousands of
God's people have no more faith than this; they know enough to
cling to Jesus with all their heart and soul, and this suffices
for present peace and eternal safety. Jesus Christ is to them a
Saviour strong and mighty, a Rock immovable and immutable; they
cling to him for dear life, and this clinging saves them. Reader,
cannot you cling? Do so at once.
Faith is seen when one man relies upon another from a
knowledge of the superiority of the other. This is a higher
faith; the faith which knows the reason for its dependence, and
acts upon it. I do not think the limpet knows much about the
rock: but as faith grows it becomes more and more intelligent. A
blind man trusts himself with his guide because he knows that his
friend can see, and, trusting, he walks where his guide conducts
him. If the poor man is born blind he does not know what sight
is; but he knows that there is such a thing as sight, and that it
is possessed by his friend and therefore he freely puts his hand
into the hand of the seeing one, and follows his leadership. "We
walk by faith, not by sight." "Blessed are they which have not
seen, and yet have believed." This is as good an image of faith
as well can be; we know that Jesus has about Him merit, and
power, and blessing, which we do not possess, and therefore we
gladly trust ourselves to Him to be to us what we cannot be to
ourselves. We trust Him as the blind man trusts his guide. He
never betrays our confidence; but He "is made of God unto us
wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption."
Every boy that goes to school has to exert faith while
learning. His schoolmaster teaches him geography, and instructs
him as to the form of the earth, and the existence of certain
great cities and empires. The boy does not himself know that
these things are true, except that he believes his teacher, and
the books put into his hands. That is what you will have to do
with Christ, if you are to be saved; you must simply know because
He tells you, believe because He assures you it is even so, and
trust yourself with Him because He promises you that salvation
will be the result. Almost all that you and I know has come to us
by faith. A scientific discovery has been made, and we are sure
of it. On what grounds do we believe it? On the authority of
certain well-known men of learning, whose reputations are
established. We have never made or seen their experiments, but we
believe their witness. You must do the like with regard to Jesus:
because He teaches you certain truths you are to be His disciple,
and believe His words; because He has performed certain acts you
are to be His client, and trust yourself with Him. He is
infinitely superior to you, and presents himself to your
confidence as your Master and Lord. If you will receive Him and
His words you shall be saved.
Another and a higher form of faith is that faith which grows
out of love. Why does a boy trust his father? The reason why the
child trusts his father is because he loves him. Blessed and
happy are they who have a sweet faith in Jesus, intertwined with
deep affection for Him, for this is a restful confidence.
Certainly faith does for us what nothing else can do; it
gives us joy and peace, and causes us to enter into rest. Why do
men attempt to gain salvation by other means? An old preacher
says, "A silly servant who is bidden to open a door, sets his
shoulder to it and pushes with all his might; but the door stirs
not, and he cannot enter, use what strength he may. Another comes
with a key, and easily unlocks the door, and enters right
readily. Those who would be saved by works are pushing at
heaven's gate without result; but faith is the key which opens
the gate at once." Reader, will you not use that key? The Lord
commands you to believe in His dear Son, therefore you may do so;
and doing so you shall live. Is not this the promise of the
gospel, "He that believeth and is baptised shall be saved"? (Mark
16:16). What can be your objection to a way of salvation which
commends itself to the mercy and the wisdom of our gracious God?
IF MY READER has not followed me step by step as he has read
my pages, I am truly sorry. Book-reading is of small value unless
the truths which pass before the mind are grasped, appropriated,
and carried out to their practical issues. It is as if one saw
plenty of food in a shop and yet remained hungry, for want of
personally eating some. It is all in vain, dear reader, that you
and I have met, unless you have actually laid hold upon Christ
Jesus, my Lord. On my part there was a distinct desire to benefit
you, and I have done my best to that end. It pains me that I have
not been able to do you good, for I have longed to win that
privilege. I was thinking of you when I wrote this page, and I
laid down my pen and solemnly bowed my knee in prayer for
everyone who should read it. It is my firm conviction that great
numbers of readers will get a blessing, even though you refuse to
be of the number. But why should you refuse? If you do not desire
the choice blessing which I would have brought to you, at least
do me the justice to admit that the blame of your final doom will
not lie at my door. When we two meet before the great white
throne you will not be able to charge me with having idly used
the attention which you were pleased to give me while you were
reading my little book. God knoweth I wrote each line for your
eternal good. I now in spirit take you by the hand. I give you a
firm grip. Do you feel my brotherly grasp? The tears are in my
eyes as I look at you and say, Why will you die? Will you not
give your soul a thought? Will you perish through sheer
carelessness? Oh, do not so; but weigh these solemn matters, and
make sure work for eternity! Do not refuse Jesus, His love, His
blood, His salvation. Why should you do so? Can you do it?
I beseech you,
Do not turn away from your Redeemer!
If, on the other hand, my prayers are heard, and you, my
reader, have been led to trust the Lord Jesus and receive from
Him salvation by grace, then keep you ever to this doctrine, and
this way of living. Let Jesus be your all in all, and let free
grace be the one line in which you live and move. There is no
life like that of one who lives in the favour of God. To receive
all as a free gift preserves the mind from self-righteous pride,
and from self-accusing despair. It makes the heart grow warm with
grateful love, and thus it creates a feeling in the soul which is
infinitely more acceptable to God than anything that can possibly
come of slavish fear. Those who hope to be saved by trying to do
their best know nothing of that glowing fervour, that hallowed
warmth, that devout joy in God, which come with salvation freely
given according to the grace of God. The slavish spirit of self-
salvation is no match for the joyous spirit of adoption. There is
more real virtue in the least emotion of faith than in all the
tuggings of legal bond-slaves, or all the weary machinery of
devotees who would climb to Heaven by rounds of ceremonies. Faith
is spiritual, and God who is a spirit delights in it for that
reason. Years of prayer-saying, and church-going, or chapel-
going, and ceremonies, and performances, may only be an
abomination in the sight of Jehovah; but a glance from the eye of
true faith is spiritual and it is therefore dear to Him. "The
Father seeketh such to worship him." Look you first to the inner
man, and to the spiritual, and the rest will then follow in due
course.
If you are saved yourself, be on the watch for the souls of
others. Your own heart will not prosper unless it is filled with
intense concern to bless your fellow men. The life of your soul
lies in faith; its health lies in love. He who does not pine to
lead others to Jesus has never been under the spell of love
himself. Get to the work of the Lord--the work of love. Begin at
home. Visit next your neighbours. Enlighten the village or the
street in which you live. Scatter the word of the Lord wherever
your hand can reach.
Reader, meet me in heaven! Do not go down to hell. There is
no coming back again from that abode of misery. Why do you wish
to enter the way of death when Heaven's gate is open before you?
Do not refuse the free pardon, the full salvation which Jesus
grants to all who trust Him. Do not hesitate and delay. You have
had enough of resolving, come to action. Believe in Jesus now,
with full and immediate decision. Take with you words and come
unto your Lord this day, even this day. Remember, O soul, it may
be
now or never
with you. Let it be now; it would be horrible that it should
be never.
Again I charge you,
meet me in heaven.
A.W.Robertson
"The greatest proof that the Bible is inspired is that it has stood so much bad preaching."
"There are so many young Spurgeons, but so few of them grow up."
"It is easier to preach than it is to talk, because when you talk you have to say something."
"Give a man an open Bible, an open mind, a conscience in good working order, and he will have a hard time to keep from being a Baptist."
