“A minister should not preach before the people, but he should preach right at them; let him look straight at them; if he can, let him search them through and through, and take stock of them, as it were, and see what they are like, and then suit his message to them” (Charles Spurgeon, Lectures …
Cutting the Throat of Sin
“I do believe in my heart that there may be as much holiness in a laugh as in a cry; and that, sometimes, to laugh is the better thing of the two, for I may weep, and be murmuring, and repining, and thinking all sorts of bitter thoughts against God; while, at another time, I …
Go, Therefore
“We are to go out into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature, not to stop in our chapels waiting for every creature to come in to hear what we have to say. A sportsman, who should sit at his parlour window, with his gun loaded all ready for shooting partridgees, would …
Stoop to Conquer
“If they sneer at anecdotes, we smile at them and their sneers, and wish them more sense and less starch” (Charles Spurgeon, Lectures to My Students, p. 362).
Metaphors Are Fun That Way
“You may build up laborious definitions and explanations and yet leave your hearers in the dark as to your meaning; but a thoroughly suitable metaphor will wonderfully clear the sense” (Charles Spurgeon, Lectures to My Students, p. 349).
Taking Issue With the Careless
“Spare neither labour in the study, prayer in the closet, nor zeal in the pulpit. If men do not judge their souls to be worth a thought, compel them to see that their minister is of a very different opinion” (Charles Spurgeon, Lectures to My Students, p. 345).
Lowly, Not Servile
“Manly persons are disgusted, and suspect hypocrisy when they hear a preacher talking molasses. Let us be bold and outspoken, and never address our hearers as if we were asking a favour of them, or as if they would oblige the Redeemer by allowing Him to save them. We are bound to be lowly, but …
Speaking of Non-Evangelistic Calvinists . . .
“A system which cannot touch the outside world, but must leave arousing and converting work to others, whom it judges to be unsound, writes its own condemnation” (Charles Spurgeon, Lectures to My Students, p. 343).
Pathos Is No Fallacy
“They require not so much reasoning as heart-argument — which is logic set on fire . . . argument must be quickened into persuasion by the living warmth of love. Cold logic has its force, but when made red hot with affection the power of tender argument is inconceivable . . . When passionate zeal …
Powder Without Shot
“The best way to preach sinners to Christ is to preach Christ to sinners. Exhortations, entreaties, and beseechings, if not accompanied with sound instruction, are like firing off powder without shot.” (Charles Spurgeon, Lectures to My Students, p. 341).