Spurgeons Gems 5160

Preface

For more than a century, Charles Haddon Spurgeon’s works have been consistently recognized, and their usefulness and impact have continued to the present day, even in the outdated English of the author’s own day.

Why then should expositions already so successful and of such stature and proven usefulness require adaptation, revision, rewrite or even editing? The answer is obvious. To increase its usefulness to today’s reader, the language in which it was originally written needs updating.

Though his writings have served other generations well, just as they came from the pen of the author in the nineteenth century, they still could be lost to present and future generations, simply because, to them, the language is neither readily nor fully understandable.

My goal, however, has not been to reduce the original writing to the vernacular of our day. It is designed primarily for you who desire to read and study comfortably and at ease in the language of our time. Obviously archaic terminology and passages obscured by expressions not totally familiar in our day have been revised and lengthy paragraphs have been shortened. However, neither Spurgeon’s meaning nor intent have been tampered with. Some may take exception with any alteration of the manuscript, however I am more concerned that the modern reader be able to benefit from the work without being obstructed by unnecessary difficulties. No substantive or doctrinal alterations have been made. I feel quite certain that if Spurgeon were alive today, he would speak the language used today.

Tony Capoccia

All Scripture references are taken from the HOLY BIBLE: NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION (C) 1978 by the New York Bible Society, used by permission of Zondervan Bible Publishers. Spurgeon’s Gems #51 – #60 by Charles Haddon Spurgeon (1834-1892)

Gem #51 – Love Not the World

Hate the world, value its treasure at a cheap price, estimate its gems as nothing but fakes, and its strength as nothing but dreams. Do not think that you will lose any pleasure, but rather remember the saying of that early Church leader Chrysostom, “Despise riches, and you will be rich; despise glory, and you will be glorious; despise injuries, and you will be a conqueror; despise rest, and you will gain rest; despise the earth, and you will gain heaven!”

Gem #52 – True Beauty

I gaze on beauty, and may myself be deformed. I admire the light, and may yet dwell in darkness, but if the light of the face of God rests upon me, I shall become like Him. The characteristics of His appearance will be on me, and the great outline of His attributes will be mine. Oh, wondrous mirror, which renders the beholder lovely! Oh, admirable mirror, which does not reflect self with its imperfections, but gives a perfect image to those that are unattractive.

Gem #53 – Our Works

You cannot get to heaven by your works. You might as well seek to reach the stars on a treadmill, as to go to heaven by works; for as you take one step, you will always be where you were before. If you cannot be perfect, God will not save you by works.

Gem #54 – God’s Sovereignty

The worm is not to complain, because God did not make it an angel, and the fish that swims the sea must not complain because it has no wings to fly into the highest heavens. God had a right to make his creatures just what He pleased, and though men may dispute His right, He will hold and keep it intact against all comers. He protects His right and makes proud men acknowledge it, in all His gifts He continually reminds us of His sovereignty.

Gem #55 – The God of the Present

Don’t you know that God is an eternal self-existent Being; that to say He loves now, is, in fact, to say He always did love, since with God there is no past, and can be no future. What we call past, present, and future, He wraps up in one eternal now. And if you say He loves you now, you say He loved you yesterday; He loved you in eternity past; and He will love you forever; for now with God is past, present, and future.

Gem #56 – Man’s Strength

They that go off to fight, boasting that they can do it, shall return with their banners trailed in the dust and with their armor stained with defeat; for God will not go with the man who goes in his own strength.

Gem #57 – Think of God

Let your mind stroll upon the great doctrines of the Godhead: consider the existence of God from before the foundations of the world; behold Him who is, and was, and is to come, the Almighty; let your soul comprehend as much as it can of the Infinite, and grasp as much as possible of the Eternal, and I am sure, if you have minds at all, they will shrink with awe. The elevated archangel bows himself before his Master’s throne; and we shall cast ourselves into the lowest dust when we feel what lowly nothings, what insignificant specks we are when compared with our all-adorable Creator.

Gem #58 – God’s Gifts

Faith is the gift of God. Does my earthly, natural father love me because he fed me, and because he clothed me? No, he clothed and fed me because he loved me, but his love was prior to his gift. His gifts did not draw his love to me, because he loved me before he gave them. And if any man says, “God loves me because I can do this or that for him,” he talks nonsense.

Gem #59 – Peace and Joy

Peace is the flowing of the brook, but joy is the rushing of the waterfall when the brook is filled and bursts its banks, and gushes down upon the rocks.

Gem #60 – The Lasting Works of Man

Many men have said of their works, “They shall last forever;” but how they have been disappointed! In the age following the flood, they made the bricks and built old Babel’s tower, and they thought, “This will last forever.” But God confounded their language; they never finished it. By His sovereignty he scattered the men and left the tower a monument to their folly. Old Pharaoh and the Egyptian monarchs built their pyramids, and they said, “They shall stand forever,” and so indeed they still do stand; but the time is approaching when age shall devour even these.

So it is with all the proudest works of man, whether they have been his temples or his kingdoms, he has written “everlasting” on them; but God has ordained their end, and they have passed away. The most stable things have vanished like shadows and bubbles of the moment, speedily destroyed at God’s bidding. Where is Nina, and where is Babylon? Where are the cities of Persia? Where are the high places of Edom? Where are Mob, and the princes of Gammon? Where are the temples of the heroes of Greece? Where are the vast armies of the Roman Emperors? Have they not all passed away? And though in their pride they said, “This kingdom is an everlasting one; this queen of the seven hills (Rome) shall be called the eternal city,” its pride is dimmed; and she who sat alone, and said, “I will not be a widow, but a queen forever,” she has fallen, has fallen, and in a little while she shall sink like a millstone in the flood, her name being a curse and a byword, and her site the habitation of wild animals.

Man calls his works eternal–God calls them transitory; man conceives that they are built of rock–God says, “No sand, or worse than that–they are built of air.” Man says he erects them for eternity–God blows on them for a second, and where are they? Like the fragments of a vision, they are passed and gone forever.

Transcribed by Tony Capoccia of BIBLE BULLETIN BOARD MODEM (318)-949-1456 BOX 130 300/1200/2400/9600/19200/38400 DS HST

SHREVEPORT, LA 71110