Dear Friends,
Sometimes spiritual truths are best understood using illustrations that include things familiar to us in our everyday lives. To come up with some of his best illustrations Charles Spurgeon would spend considerable blocks of time walking down the street, through gardens, into the fields and woods, and visiting those places where his parishioners worked and lived. It is surely one of the reasons he has been called, “The Prince of Preachers." One of the best preachers in all church history.
He gives some credit for learning to do this to the Puritan Thomas Manton. Speaking of Manton’s writings (which consist of 22 volumes, mostly sermons), Spurgeon says, “There is not one poor discourse in the whole collection; he is evenly good, constantly excellent.” Along with Richard Sibbes (another Puritan) Manton was one of Spurgeon’s ‘mentors’ as a preacher. His first book of illustrations, entitled “Feathers for Arrows” was phenomenally popular, so 13 years later he wrote a second book of illustrations called, “Flowers from a Puritan’s Garden” – for obvious reasons. I chose four favorites, though I have updated words and shortened a couple. Enjoy.
The Best Way to Grow as a Christian
“We have seen a hedge of bushes all thick with dry leaves throughout the winter. Neither frost nor wind nor snow of winter has removed the old dead foliage, but the new growth of spring pushes them off. The new life dislodges the old. So, our old habits and corruptions are best removed by the growth of new graces… It is as the new life buds and opens that the old worn-out things of our former life are compelled to release their hold on us. Our wisdom lies in living near to God, that by the power of his Holy Spirit all our graces may grow and exercise a sin-expelling power in our lives. The new leaves of grace push off our old dry withered affections and habits of sin. With converts from the world, it is often better not to lay down stringent rules regarding worldly amusements but allow the new life and its holier joys to push out the old pleasures. In this way the change will come more naturally and more effectively.”
Giving To God's Work
“A cheerful giver is also a willing giver. We are not to be like the young grape that must be pressed and squeezed to get the juice out when it is not yet ripe. Rather, we ought to be like the honeycomb that drips spontaneously with fresh honey.”
Satan Cast Out or Manifest in a Different Form?
“Of what use are reforms if they are brought about by an evil agency? If sobriety is the fruit of pride, it grows upon a pernicious root, and though the person is no longer intoxicated with alcohol, the mind will still be drunk with pride… If outward ungodliness is abandoned out of a desire to gain human applause, the Pharisee created will be a very slender improvement over the sinful prodigal. Satan’s casting out of Satan is a deceitful work; for his intent is to establish his empire by pretending to overthrow it. There must be another power at work, or little is accomplished… A power stronger than Satan must enter by force of grace, and hurl him out by divine force, and take full possession, or the man may be a different man but not a new man.”
Getting Children into the Church Early
“I remember well, in my early days, seeing on my grandmother’s fireplace mantel an apple contained in a small-necked bottle. This was a great wonder to me, and I tried to investigate it. My question was, “How did the apple get inside so small a bottle?” The apple was quite as big around as was the base of the bottle; but by what means was it put within it? Though it was treason to touch the treasures on the mantel, I took down the bottle, and convinced my youthful mind that the apple could never have passed through its neck… But since there was no philosopher at hand to suggest any other hypothesis, I let the matter rest. Then, the next summer, I chanced to see upon the branch of an apple tree another bottle with a tiny apple growing inside. My cousin had put a branch with a small apple on it through the neck of the bottle while it was extremely small and it grew inside... This discovery of my juvenile days has served as an illustration to this very day. We need to get the little ‘apples’ [the little children] into the bottle, the church, while they are small. Let us bring the young children into the house of God by means of the Sabbath school, in the hope that they will grow within it to love the place where His honor dwells, and there seek and find eternal life.”
Spurgeon was wise enough to take time to learn from God’s “Second Book” – His creation. A “book” which declares His glory and the work of His hands, pours forth speech every day and conveys knowledge every night, as it acts as His ‘silent’ voice in all the world (Psalm 19:1-4 / Proverbs 6:6-9 / Romans 1:18-20). We would be wise to study that book as well. For 'written' in the pages of God's second book we call creation, are many treasures that are abundantly useful to those seeking to explain the spiritual and Gospel realities in God's first and primary book – the Bible.
With You in the Service of the Gospel, Pastor Jeff
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