“It may save you much surprise and grief if you are forewarned that there will be great variations in your power of utterance. To-day your tongue may be the pen of a ready writer, to-morrow you thoughts and words may be alike frost-bound” (Charles Spurgeon, Lectures to My Students, p. 152).
Courage in the Pulpit
“I must urge upon you the necessity of being cool and confident. As Sydney Smith says, ‘A great deal of talent is lost to the world for want of a little courage'” (Charles Spurgeon, Lectures to My Students, p. 150).
Seems Reasonable
“Take it as a rule without exception, that to be able to overflow spontaneously you must be full” (Charles Spurgeon, Lectures to My Students, p. 145).
So Really Feed Them
“Churches are not to be held together except by an instructive ministry; a mere filling up of time with oratory will not suffice. Everywhere men ask to be fed, really fed” (Charles Spurgeon, Lectures to My Students, p. 140).
Always Consistent, Never Predictable
“Do not say what everybody expected you would say. Keep your sentences out of ruts. If you have already said, ‘Salvation is all of grace’ not not always add, ‘and not by human merit,’ but vary it and say, ‘Salvation is all of grace; self-righteousness has not a corner to hide its head in.’ . …
Egg the Pudding, But Don’t Overegg the Pudding
“It is well that there should be a goodly number of illustrations in our discourses. We have the example of our Lord for that: and most of the greatest preachers have abounded in similies, metaphors, allegories, and anecdotes. But beware of overdoing this business” (Charles Spurgeon, Lectures to My Students, p. 136).
Not Taxing Their Patience
“In order to maintain attention, avoid being too long. An old preacher used to say to a young man who preached an hour, — ‘My dear friend, I do not care what else you preach about, but I wish you would always preach about forty minutes.’ We ought seldom to go much beyond that — …
A Large Bible
“Yet further, do not repeat the same idea over and over again in other words. Let there be something fresh in each sentence. Be not forever hammering away at the same nail: yours is a large Bible; permit people to enjoy its length and breadth” (Charles Spurgeon, Lectures to My Students, p. 134).
The Preacher’s Responsibility to be Interesting
“If men’s minds are wandering far away they cannot receive the truth, and it is much the same if they are inactive. Sin cannot be taken out of men, as Eve was taken out of the side of Adam, while they are fast asleep” (Charles Spurgeon, Lectures to My Students, p. 127).
Warm to the Work
“Do not start at the highest pitch as a rule, for then you will not be able to rise when you warm with the work; but still be outspoken from the first” (Charles Spurgeon, Lectures to My Students, p. 117).