Spurgeon on Smoking

1895

Most of the stories about the late Mr. Spurgeon have been told, but here is one which appears in Mr. Adderly's magazine Goodwill which may be new to many:

Many years ago I met the late Mr. Spurgeon, who was a great smoker, at the supper table of a friend. Over our pipes he said: 'Once a pious lady took me to task about my smoking and said, "Do you read anything in the Bible about smoking?" "No," I answered, "but we do read of the people passing through the valley of Baca" (Psalms lxxxiv, 6, Bible Version).' "

The Nearer One Gets to God

1907

The nearer one gets to God the more good one can and will do for his fellow men.

Not One
There's not a heath, however rude,
But hath some little flower
To bright up its solitude
And scent the evening hour.

There's not a heart, however cast
By care and sorrow down,
But hath some memory of the past
To love and call its own.

The loudest prayers don't always carry the furthest.

Those who bring sunshine to the lives of others can not keep it from themselves.

We can only overcome the winds and flood which are against us so long as the Divine Power animates and sustains us.

God answers sharp and sudden on some prayers,
And thrusts the things we have prayed for in our face,
A gauntlet with a gift in't,
Every wish is like a prayer, with God.
— E. B. Browning.

Never be afraid to doubt if you only have the disposition to believe, and doubt in order that you may end in believing the truth.

"Deepen thy work in me, O Lord," was the prayer of one who was afraid of shallow views of sin and Christ. Let that prayer be ours!

We must be set on doing good, for goodness' sake and God's sake, apart from any thought of our own glory in the doing on it; apart from self-complacency that we have done so well.

We set up monumental stones over the graves of our joys, but who thinks of erecting monuments of praise for mercies received? We write four books of Lamentations and only one of Canticles, and are far more at home in wailing out a Miserere than in chanting a Te Deum. — C. H. Spurgeon.

The Free Liberty of Thinking for Yourself

1895

Free Thought

"Condemn no man for not thinking as you think. Let every one enjoy the full and free liberty of thinking for himself. Let every man use his own judgment, since every man must give an account of himself to God. Abhor every approach, in any kind or degree, to the spirit of persecution. If you cannot reason or persuade a man into the truth, never attempt to force a man into it. If love will not compel him to come, leave him to God. the judge of all." — John Wesley.


The Reality of God

"To doubt the reality of God's hearing prayer is like the raw apprentice doubting the power of the chisel to evolve beauty out of the marble, or the young musician doubting the effectiveness of the harp because his unskilled fingers cannot woo sweet harmonies from its strings. The laws of prayer are as reliable as the multiplication table or the principle of gravitation. 'Ye ask and receive not, because ye ask amiss." — Spurgeon.


God's Plans

"God never works only for today. His plan runs on and on. The web He weaves is from everlasting to everlasting; and if I can fill a part of that web, be it ever so insignificant, it will abide forever. And this is one of the most comforting thoughts to us. While on earth we may do something for eternity." — Bishop Simpson.