Of all commentators I believe Calvin to be the most candid. . . . He was no trimmer and pruner of texts. He gave their meaning as far as he knew it. -- C.H. SpurgeonBut now once in the end of the world hath he appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself.
The text tells us very precisely that in this first coming of our Lord He appeared to put away sin. Notice that fact. By His coming and sacrifice He accomplished many things, but His first end and object was to put away sin. You know what the modern babblers say. They declare that He appeared to reveal to us the goodness and love of God. This is true. But it is only the fringe of the whole truth. The fact is that he revealed God's love in the provision of a sacrifice to put away sin. Then, to say that He appeared to exhibit perfect manhood, and to let us see what our nature ought to be. This also is true, but it is only part of the sacred design. They say, He appeared to manifest self-sacrifice, and to set us an example of love to others. By His self-denial He trampled on the selfish passions of man. We deny none of these things, and yet we are indignant at the way in which the less is made to hide the greater. To put the secondary ends into the place of the grand object is to turn the truth of God into a lie. It is easy to distort truth by exaggerating one portion of it and diminishing another, just as the drawing of the most beautiful face may soon be made a caricature rather than a portrayal by neglect of proportion. You must observe proportion if you would take a true view of things. In reference to the appearing of our Lord, His first and chief purpose was to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself. The great object of our Lord's coming here was not to live, but to die. He has appeared, not so much to subdue sin by His teaching, as to put it away by the sacrifice of Himself. The master purpose which dominated all that our Lord did was not to manifest goodness, nor to perfect an example, but to put away sin by sacrifice. That which the moderns would thrust into the background, our Lord placed in the forefront. -- C.H. Spurgeon, commenting on Hebrews 9:26 in Devotional Classics of C.H. Spurgeon, p. 351Bless the Lord, O my soul: and all that is within me, bless his holy name.
God's eye is chiefly on the soul. Bring a hundred dishes to the table; He will carve of none but this. This is the savory meat He loves. He who is best desires to be served with the best. When we give God the soul in a duty, then we give Him the flower and the cream; by a holy chemistry we distill our spirits for Him. A soul inflamed in service is the cup of spiced wine of the juice of the pomegranate (Song of Solomon 8:2), which the spouse makes Christ to drink of. -- Thomas Manton
There is nothing that more exalts the glory of Divine grace and of redeeming love toward a soul than the consideration of God's holiness. For if your Maker were not of purer eyes than man is, yea, if His hatred to sin, and love to righteousness, were not greater than that of the noblest angel, His pardoning of sin, and patience toward transgressors, would not be such a wonderful condescension. But is His name infinitely holy so that the heavens are not clean in His sight? Is the smallest iniquity the abhorrence of His soul, and what He hates with a perfect hatred? Surely, then, His grace and love must be incomparably greater than our thoughts. -- William Dunlop
The well is seldom so full that water will at first pumping flow forth. Neither is the heart commonly so spiritual, after our best care in our worldly converse (much less when we somewhat overdo therein), as to pour itself into God's bosom freely, without something to raise and elevate it. Yea, often, the springs of grace lie so low that pumping will not fetch the heart up to a praying frame, but arguments must be poured into the soul before the affections rise. For this reason we find holy men using soliloquies and discourses with their hearts to bring them into a gracious temper, suitable for communion with God in ordinances. It seems by these verses that David either found or feared his heart would not be in so good a frame as he desired. So he redoubles his charge: he found his heart somewhat drowsy, which made him arouse himself in this way. -- William Gurnall (1617-1679)
The above three comments on Psalm 103:1 are from Devotional Classics of C.H. Spurgeon, p. 353O God, thou hast cast us off, thou hast scattered us, thou hast been displeased; O turn thyself to us again.
Thou hast made the earth to tremble; thou hast broken it: heal the breaches thereof; for it shaketh.
Thou hast shewed thy people hard things: thou hast made us to drink the wine of astonishment.
Before the days of Saul, Israel had been brought very low; during his government it had suffered from internal strife, and his reign was closed by an overwhelming disaster at Gibeon. David found himself the possessor of a tottering throne, troubled with the double evil of factions at home, and invasion from abroad. He traced at once the evil to its true source, and began at the fountainhead. His were the politics of piety, which after all are the wisest and most profound. He knew that the displeasure of the Lord had brought calamity upon the nation, and to the removal of that displeasure he set himself by earnest prayer. O God, thou hast cast us off. Thou hast treated us as foul and offensive things, to be put away; as mean and beggarly persons, to be shunned with contempt; as useless dead boughs, to be torn away from the tree, which they disfigure. To be cast off by God is the worst calamity that can befall a man or a people; but the worst form of it is when the person is not aware of it and is indifferent to it. When the divine desertion causes mourning and repentance, it will be but partial and temporary. When a cast off soul sighs for its God it is indeed not cast off at all. Thou has scattered us. David clearly sees the fruits of the divine anger, he traces the flight of Israel's warriors, the breaking of her power, the division in her body politic, to the hand of God. Whoever might be the secondary agent of these disasters, he beholds the Lord's hand as the prime moving cause, and pleads with the Lord concerning the matter. Israel was like a city with a breach made in its wall, because her God was wroth with her. These first two verses, with their depressing confession, must be regarded as greatly enhancing the power of the faith which in the after verses rejoices in better days, through the Lord's gracious return unto his people.
Thou hast been displeased. This is the secret of our miseries. Had we pleased thee, thou wouldst have pleased us; but as we have walked contrary to thee, thou hast walked contrary to us. O turn thyself to us again. Forgive the sin and smile once more. Turn us to thee, turn thou to us. Aforetime thy face was towards thy people, be pleased to look on us again with thy favour and grace. Some read it, 'Thou wilt turn to us again,' and it makes but slight difference which way we take it, for a true hearted prayer brings a blessing so soon that it is no presumption to consider it already obtained. There was more need for God to turn to his people than for Judah's troops to be brave, or Joab and the commanders wise. God with us is better than strong battalions; God displeased is more terrible than all the Edomites that ever marched into the valley of salt, or all the devils that ever opposed the church. If the Lord turn to us, what care we for Aramnaharaim or Aramzobah, or death, or hell? but if he withdraw his presence we tremble at the fall of a leaf.
Thou hast made the earth to tremble. Things were as unsettled as though the solid earth had been made to quake; nothing was stable; the priests had been murdered by Saul, the worst men had been put in office, the military power had been broken by the Philistines, and the civil authority had grown despicable through insurrections and intestine contests. Thou hast broken it. As the earth cracks, and opens itself in rifts during violent earthquakes, so was the kingdom rent with strife and calamity. Heal the breaches thereof. As a house in time of earthquake is shaken, and the walls begin to crack, and gape with threatening fissures, so was it with the kingdom. For it shaketh. It tottered to a fall; if not soon propped up and repaired it would come down in complete ruin. So far gone was Israel, that only God's interposition could preserve it from utter destruction. How often have we seen churches in this condition, and how suitable is the prayer before us, in which the extremity of the need is used as an argument for help. The like may be said of our personal religion, it is sometimes so tried, that like a house shaken by earthquake it is ready to come down with a crash, and none but the Lord himself can repair its breaches, and save us from utter destruction.
Thou hast showed thy people hard things. Hardships had been heaped upon them, and the psalmist traces these rigorous providences to their fountainhead. Nothing had happened by chance, but all had come by divine design and with a purpose, yet for all that things had gone hard with Israel. The psalmist claims that they were still the Lord's own people, though in the first verse he had said, 'thou hast cast us off.' The language of complaint is usually confused, and faith in time of trouble ere long contradicts the desponding statements of the flesh. Thou hast made us to drink the wine of astonishment. Our afflictions have made us like men drunken with some potent and bitter wine; we are in amazement, confusion, delirium; our steps reel, and we stagger as those about to fall. The great physician gives his patients potent potions to purge out their abounding and deep seated diseases. Astonishing evils bring with them astonishing results. The grapes of the vineyard of sin produce a wine which fills the most hardened with anguish when justice compels them to quaff the cup. There is a fire water of anguish of soul which even to the righteous makes a cup of trembling, which causes them to be exceeding sorrowful almost unto death. When grief becomes so habitual as to be our drink, and to take the place of our joys, becoming our only wine, then are we in an evil case indeed. -- C.H. Spurgeon commenting on Psalm 60:1-3 in A Treasury of DavidFavour is deceitful, and beauty is vain: but a woman that feareth the Lord, she shall be praised. Give her of the fruit of her hands; and let her own works praise her in the gates. (Religion [holiness] is the root of happiness. Piety has charms which abide in all their freshness when mere fleshly beauty has given place to the wrinkles of old age. May the new household be founded in prayer, built up in holiness, and crowned with the divine blessing). -- C.H. Spurgeon commenting on Proverbs 31:30, 31 in Spurgeon's Devotional Bible, p. 778
*Carter, Tom (compiler), Jay E. Adams (introduction), 2,200 Quotations: From the Writings of Charles H. Spurgeon: Arranged Topically or Textually and Indexed by Subject, Scripture, and People, ISBN: 080105365X 9780801053658. Alternate title: SPURGEON AT HIS BEST, TWO THOUSAND TWO HUNDRED QUOTATIONS.
"An excellent anthology of Spurgeon quotations, arranged both topically and by Bible reference. Spurgeon is the master of illustration and the 'illuminating remark' that make Scripture live." -- Publisher
"Here are some reasons why you need this book. Church historians call Charles Spurgeon 'the Prince of Preachers,' and for good reason! Though he died in 1892, virtually every pastor on earth today knows his name. Few Christian leaders, if any, have been more quoted than Charles Spurgeon.
"I spent 10 years reading all of Spurgeon's published sermons -- 3,561 of them. They were contained in 63 volumes totaling about 20 million words and 38,000 pages. I discovered keen insights into biblical teachings and dagger-like applications of God's truth -- all spoken in vivid word pictures.
"This book contains 2292 of the choicest quotations from Spurgeon's lips. This is the cream of the crop from his enormous -- and very expensive -- supply of published sermons. You can look up what Spurgeon said about 300 topics from 'Affliction' to 'Zeal' and hundreds of biblical references from Genesis through Revelation. On the subject of 'Prayer' alone, this book has more than 100 choice stories, insights, and challenging remarks.
"May you derive as much spiritual benefit from reading these quotations as I did from discovering and compiling them!" -- Tom Carter, the author
"Almost 2300 quotes from all 63 volumes of Spurgeon's published sermons. Has two parts: Topical with 1500 quotes (300 topics); and Quotations Applicable to Specific Texts (Genesis-Revelation). Excellent for the pastor looking for memorable quotes, anecdotes and Biblical insights. . . . Jay Adams finds it to be profitable both for the pastor and layman." -- GCB
*Spurgeon, C.H. (1834-1892), A Complete Textual Index to C.H. Spurgeon's Sermons: Published in the New Park Street Pulpit and the Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit 1855 to 1917.
*Spurgeon, C.H. (1834-1892), Spurgeon's Devotional Bible: Selected Passages From the Word of God With Running Comments, ISBN: 0852343434 0852340583. Alternate title: Originally published under the title, THE INTERPRETER: SPURGEON'S MORNING AND EVENING DEVOTIONS FROM THE BIBLE.
"For anyone who wants to restore daily devotions on an individual or family basis, SPURGEON'S DEVOTIONAL BIBLE is the perfect answer. One can read through this book in a year when morning and evening devotions are maintained. . . .
"The gist of the entire Bible is found between the covers of this book. . . . some verses [and chapters], were omitted in whole or in part, but they are always summarized in such a way that the narrative or teaching remains clear. The emphasis is always on Scripture . . ." -- Publisher
Commenting on typology is a way to convince piers of the reality and immediacy of the Gospel. The concise, succinct, erudite comments point again and again to parallels in Scripture to the life and work of Christ. For example, see the comments on the life of Joseph, on the first Passover, and on God's provision of manna for Israel in the wilderness.
This work, by a modern Puritan, is preeminently practical. Spurgeon emphasizes application of Scripture to everyday life. Key verses appear at the top of each page.
Spurgeon's discerning mind has captured essential and profound lessons. He brings together Old and New Testament passages with similar lessons. Here is little known insight that should not be ignored or overlooked.
The Bible is full of wisdom on human behavior, real psychology, and Spurgeon points out these lessons everywhere.
The text is the Authorized King James Version.
A footnote at the bottom of page 643 (Baker Book House edition), states "In this reading the first five notes are from Lange's Commentary. All through the work we have gathered from every available source." Looking at other works by Spurgeon, for example, THE TREASURY OF DAVID, and knowing that he had a huge library, it could be expected he selected freely from the works of other authors. Poetry has been added after the Bible selection and notes. It would appear the notes and poetry have not been documented for practical purposes, to make the book seamless and uncluttered. It is a drawback, however, to not know which notes and poetry was from Spurgeon's pen and which he selected from other authors.
The Interpreter: Spurgeon's Devotional Bible. Alternate title: SPURGEON'S DEVOTIONAL BIBLE: SELECTED PASSAGES FROM THE WORD OF GOD WITH RUNNING COMMENTS.
"THE INTERPRETER: SPURGEON DEVOTIONAL BIBLE contains the text of the entire Bible, along with Spurgeon's reflections on nearly every verse. This Bible, arranged topically instead of canonically, allows readers to experience the text of Scripture along with Charles Spurgeon himself. His commentary illuminates the texts, and provides notes on interpretation and application of the Bible. The Logos Bible Software edition of THE INTERPRETER: SPURGEON'S DEVOTIONAL BIBLE was originally published in London by Passmore and Alabaster from 1869-1887." -- Publisher
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C.H. Spurgeon wrote, among other things:
*Spurgeon, C.H., and Wilbur M. Smith, The Best of C.H. Spurgeon: In one Handy Volume, ISBN: 0801081009 9780801081002 0801082676 9780801082672. Alternate title: THE TREASURY OF C.H. SPURGEON.
See also: The sovereign grace of god: his everlasting mercy and lovingkindness, The doctrine of man (human nature, total depravity), Selection of covenant heads for positions of leadership, Works of c.h. spurgeon including works recommended by c.h. spurgeon, and so forth, and so on.
C.H. Spurgeon Gems, e-text online
http://www.spurgeongems.org//
Charles Haddon Spurgeon Quotes on Calvinism, the Covenanters, Christ as Conquering King, Christmas, and Much More! (Calvinism and Predestination Series)
"Summary: Enjoy this feast of quotes from C.H. Spurgeon. It's a delightful compilation of Spurgeon's words which are not only in keeping with the footsteps of the older Puritan and Reformation flock of the Lord (which Spurgeon clearly loved), but which are also in agreement with Scripture -- or that system of doctrine sometimes nicknamed 'Calvinism.'
"The quotes on limited atonement are especially insightful and should help refute the anti-Calvinistic nonsense now being spread by Dave Hunt and others.
"Also, whether Spurgeon was a postmillennialist or not can be debated elsewhere, but the quotes provided here prove that these parts of his teaching were in accordance with the postmillennialism of the Bible.
"We also do not doubt that Spurgeon equivocated concerning his testimony regarding Christmass, thus we have included only his comments on this subject which are in harmony with Holy Scripture (no fairy tales or magic wands here)."
Charles Haddon Spurgeon Quotes on Calvinism, the Covenanters, Christ as Conquering King, Christmas, and Much More! (Calvinism and Predestination Series)
http://www.swrb.com/newslett/actualnls/SPURGEON-QUOTES.htm
Spurgeon Quotes Free Audio MP3
http://www.sermonaudio.com/sermoninfo.asp?sermonID=130422417
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