WHAT JESUS SAYS TO HIS PEOPLE

'You have praised Me, I will praise you; you think much of Me, I think quite as much of you. You use great expressions for Me, I will use just the same for you. You say My love is better than wine, so is yours to Me. You tell Me all My garments smell of myrrh, so do yours. You say My word is sweeter than honey to your lips, so is yours to Mine; all that you say of Me, I say it to you. I see Myself in your eyes, I can see My own beauty in you. And whatever belongs to Me, belongs to you. Therefore, O My love, I will sing back the song - you have singing it to your beloved and I will sing it to My beloved. You have sung it your husband, I will sing it to My sister, My spouse.' 

Charles Spurgeon in Julian Hardyman, Jesus. Lover of My Soul, p.95.

THE IMPORTANCE OF HAVING ENEMIES

'The good man has enemies. He would not be like his Lord if he had not.'

Charles Spurgeon, Psalms (Volume 1), p.91.  

GOD'S USE OF SIN

'...when the winding up of the chapter comes perhaps we shall see that our sins committed have been the means of saving us from other sins that would have been our ruin. Many believers would have grown too proud to be borne with if some infirmity had not plucked the plume from their helmets and made them mourn with brokenness of heart before God. God can bring good out of evil by his overwhelming grace, while on the other hand our good works have often puffed us up and led us into pride...' 

Charles Spurgeon in Charlie Cleverly, The Song of Songs, p.217. 

SONG OF SONGS

'The historical books I may compare to the outer courts of the Temple; the Gospels, the Epistles, and the Psalms, bring us into the holy place or the Court of the priests; but the Song of Solomon is the the most holy place: the holy of holies, before which the veil still hangs to many an untaught believer...The Song is a golden casket, of which love is the key rather than learning.' 

Charles Spurgeon in Charlie Cleverly, Song of Songs: Exploring the Divine Romance, p.15.

SUFFERING

'I am sure that I have run more swiftly with a lame leg than I ever did with a sound one. I am certain that I have seen more in the dark than I ever saw in the light, - more stars, most certainly, - more things in heaven if fewer things on earth. The anvil, the fire, and the hammer, are the making of us; we do not get fashioned much by anything else. That heavy hammer falling on us helps to shape us; therefore let affliction and trial and trouble come.' 

Charles Spurgeon in Zack Eswine, Spurgeon's Sorrows, p.139. 

SUFFERING & THE INCARNATION

'The afflicted do not so much look for comfort to Christ as he will come a second time...as to Christ as he came the first time, a weary man and full of woes.' 

Charles Spurgeon in Zack Eswine, Spurgeon's Sorrows, p.85. 

HUMAN WEAKNESS

'When you see men faint, do not blame them. Perhaps, by their faintness, they have proved of what stuff they are made. They have done as much as flesh and blood can do, and therefore they are faint.' 

Charles Spurgeon in Zack Eswine, Spurgeon's Sorrows, p.48. 

DEPRESSION & THE CHRISTIAN

'We do not profess that the religion of Christ will so thoroughly change a man as to take away from him all his natural tendencies; it will give the despairing something that will alleviate that despondency, but as long as that is caused by a low state of body, or diseased mind, we do not profess that the religion of Christ will totally remove it. No, rather, we do see every day that amongst the best of God's servants, there are those who are always doubting, always looking to the dark side of every providence, who look at the threatening more than the promise, who are ready to write bitter things against themselves...' 

Charles Spurgeon in Zack Eswine, Spurgeon's Sorrows: Realistic Hope for those who Suffer from Depression, p.38. 

HELL

'If sinners be damned, at least let them leap to Hell over our dead bodies. And if they perish, let them perish with our arms wrapped about their knees, imploring them to stay. If Hell must be filled, let it be filled in the teeth of our exertions, and let not one go unwarned and unprayed for.' 

Charles Spurgeon in Mark Jones, Knowing Christ, p.196. 

PREACHING

'It may be light work to you men of genius and learning; but to me it is life and death work. Often have I thought that I would rather take a whipping with a cat-o'-nine-tails than preach again.'

Charles Spurgeon in Kent and Barbara Hughes, Liberating Ministry from the Success Syndrome, p.182.

CRITICISM

'Brother, if any man thinks ill of you, do not be angry with him; for you are worse than he thinks you to be. If he charges you falsely on some point, yet be satisfied, for if he knew you better he might change the accusation, and you would be not gainer by the correction. If you have your moral portrait painted, and it is ugly, be satisfied; for it only needs a few blacker touches, and it would be still nearer the truth.'

Charles Spurgeon in CJ Mahaney, 'The Pastor and Personal Criticism', p.11. Available at: www.sovereigngraceministries.org/Reference/CJ_Mahaney_P_PC.pdf

SUFFERING & MINISTRY

'The lesson of wisdom is BE NOT DISMAYED BY SOUL-TROUBLE. Count it no strange thing, but as part of ordinary ministerial experience. Should the power of depression be more than ordinary, think not that all is over with your usefulness. Cast not away your confidence, for it hath great recompense of reward. Even if the enemy's foot be on your neck, expect to rise and overthrow him. Cast the burden of the present, along with the sin of the past and the fear of the future, upon the Lord, who forsaketh not his saints. Live by the day - aye, by the hour. Put no trust in frames and feelings. Care more for a grain of faith than a ton of excitement. Trust in God alone, and lean not on the reeds of human help. Be not surprised when friends fail you; it is a failing world. Never count upon immutability in man; inconstancy you may reckon upon without fear of disapointment. The disciples of Jesus forsook him; be not amazed if your adherents wander away to other teachers: as they were not your all when with you, all is not gone from you when with their departure.

Serve God with all your might when the candle is burning, and then when it goes out for a season, you will have less to regret. Be content to be nothing, for that is what you are. When your own emptiness is painfully forced upon your consciousness, chide yourself that you ever dreamed of being full, except in the Lord. Set small store by present rewards; be grateful for earnests by the way, but look for the recompensing joy hereafter. Continue, with double earnestness to serve your Lord when no visible result is before you. Any simpleton can follow the narrow path in the light; faith's rare wisdom enables us to march on in the dark with infallible accuracy, since she places her hand in that of her Great Guide. Between this and heaven there may be rougher weather yet, but all is provided for by our covenant Head. In nothing let us be turned aside from the path which the divine call has urged us to pursue. Come fair or come foul, the pulpit is our watch-tower, and the ministry our warfare; be it ours, when we cannot see the face of God, to trust under the THE SHADOW OF HIS WINGS.'

Charles Spurgeon, 'The Minister's Fainting Fits' in Lectures to My Students, p.191.

SUCCESS & MINISTRY

'My witness is that those who are honoured of their Lord in public, have usually had to endure a secret chastening, or to carry a peculiar cross, lest by any means they exalt themselves, and fall into the snare of the devil.'

Charles Spurgeon, 'The Minister's Fainting Fits' in Lectures to My Students, p.191.

SUFFERING

'If it be inquired why the Valley of the Shadow of Death must so often be transversed by the servants of King Jesus, the answer is not far to find. All of this promotive of the Lord's mode of working, which is summed up in these words, "Not by might nor by power, but by my Spirit, saith the LORD." Instruments shall be used, but their intrinsic weakness shall be clearly manifested; there shall be no division of the glory, no diminishing the honour due to the Great Worker. The man shall be emptied of self, and then filled with the Holy Ghost.'

Charles Spurgeon, 'The Minister's Fainting Fits' in Lectures to My Students, p.191.

REST

'Rest is not waste time. It is economy to gather fresh strength.'

Charles Spurgeon, 'The Minister's Fainting Fits' in Lectures to My Students, p.187.

MINISTRY & REST

'He who forgets the humming of the bees among the heather, the cooing of the woodpigeons in the forest, the song of birds in the woods, the rippling of rills among the rushes, and the sighing of the wind among the pines, needs not wonder if his heart forgets to sing and his soul grows weary. A day's breathing of fresh air upon the hills, or a few hours' ramble in the beech woods' umbrageous calm, would sweep the cobwebs out of the brain of scores of our toiling ministers who are now but half alive. A mouthful of sea air, or a stiff walk in the wind's face, would not give grace to the soul, but it would yield oxygen to the body, which is next best.'

Charles Spurgeon, 'The Minister's Fainting Fits' in Lectures to My Students, p.184.

SUFFERING & MINISTRY

'...infirmities may be no detriment to a man's career of special usefulness; they may even have been imposed upon on him by divine wisdom as necessary qualifications for his peculiar course of service. Some plants owe their medicinal qualities to the marsh in which they grow; others to the shades in which alone they flourish. There are precious fruits put forth by the moon as well as by the sun. Boats need ballast as well as sail; a drag on the carriage-wheel is no hindrance when the road runs downhill. Pain has, probably, in some cases developed genius; hunting out the soul which otherwise might have slept like a lion in its den.'

Charles Spurgeon, 'The Minister's Fainting Fits' in Lectures to My Students, p.181.

MONEY

'We need not covet money, for we shall always have our God and God is better than gold, his favour is better than fortune.'

Charles Spurgeon in Brian Rosner, How to get really rich, p.141.

PROSPERITY

'The Christian far oftener disgraces his profession in prosperity than in adversity. It is a dangerous thing to be prosperous. The crucible of adversity is a less severe trial for the Christian than the firing-pot of prosperity.'

Charles Spurgeon in Randy Alcorn, Money, Possessions & Eternity, p.420.

DOUBT

'It seems to me that doubt is worse than trial. I had sooner suffer any affliction than be left to question the gospel or my own interest in it.'

Charles Spurgeon in Nancy Guthrie (Ed.), Be Still My Soul, p.104.