I love Charles Haddon Spurgeon! I loved him before I even knew he was Reformed (although I knew he was a Baptist). In fact, I loved him when I had no clue what the term “Reformed” meant in Christianity. By God’s grace, his little book All of Grace led to my salvation; and after the Lord saved me, his sermons nourished my soul and fed my spirit. I loved and continue to love him because God used him to hold forth the truths of Scripture in a winsome way and with such earnestness of heart — and he still holds it forth in our age, because, though he died, he still speaks to us via his sermons and books and other publications. Along with C.S. Lewis, St. Augustine, and a handful of others, Spurgeon has been one of the most influential Christian “greats” in my life. Anyway, all this to simply say, here are a few Spurgeon quotes from which I’ve recently profited:
You may judge a man by what he groans after.
That insatiable craving to know everything just draws away the life of men from what ought to be their insatiable craving, namely, to be like God, to know him, to trust him, to love him, and to serve him.
A man is made by that which he feeds upon, and for the best manhood you need the best food. As certain silk-worms have their silk coloured by the leaves on which they feed, so if we were to feed on Christ, and nothing else but Christ, we should become pure, holy, lowly, meek, gentle, humble; in a word, we should be perfect even as he is.
Nearness to God brings likeness to God. The more you see God the more of God will be seen in you.
Better to have a Christian’s days of sorrow, than a worldling’s days of mirth.
He who would have his spirit bowed down even to the very earth, has only to fix his thoughts upon himself and his circumstances, instead of looking to God and his promises.
To have something to do for Jesus, and to go right on with it, is one of the best ways to get over a bereavement, or any heavy mental depression. If you can pursue some great object, you will not feel that you are living for nothing.
I notice that people who have nothing to do but to sit down and stare into the black hole of their own nature, are generally very sad, and not often very virtuous; but they who, knowing how dark and sinful their nature is, trust Jesus for salvation, and then spend their lives in doing the will of the Lord, these are they who are both holy and happy.
The worst forms of depression are cured when Holy Scripture is believed.
It was a pretty remark I read, the other day, of a Christian man who said, I used to have many disappointments, until I changed one letter of the word, and chopped it into two, so that instead of ‘disappointments,’ I read it, ‘his appointments.’ That was a wonderful change, for ‘disappointments’ break your heart, but ‘his appointments’ you accept right cheerily.
The elect church is the favourite of heaven, the treasure of Christ, the crown of his head, the bracelet of his arm, the breastplate of his heart, the very centre and core of his love.
On earth he exercises towards her all the affectionate offices of Husband. He makes rich provision for her wants, pays all her debts, allows her to assume his name, and to share in all his wealth.
He calls the church, ‘My sister, my spouse.’ As if he could not express his near and dear relationship to her by any one term, he employs the two. ‘My sister’ — that is, one by birth, partaker of the same nature. ‘My spouse’ — that is, one in love, joined by sacred ties of affection that never can be snapped. ‘My sister’ by birth, ‘my spouse’ by choice. ‘My sister’ in communion, ‘my spouse’ in absolute union with myself. I want you who love the Saviour to get a full hold of this thought of near and dear kinship under this head. Oh, how near akin Christ is to all his people!
He has taken off some of the coarsest surface, but he will polish you yet to an exceeding beauty. I verily believe, if we could see ourselves as we shall be, it would make us laugh for very joy.
Check out Spurgeon.us for many, many, many more Spurgeon quotes! And, of course, there’s always the Spurgeon Archive.
