Acacia John Bunyan - Online Library
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S P U R G E O N
O N
B U N Y A N
By C H A R L E S
H A D D O N
S P U R G E O N.
Spurgeon's preaching references to John Bunyan:
How has it come to pass, that in all times God's ministers have been made fearless
as lions, and their brows have been firmer than brass; their hearts sterner than
steel, and their words like the language of God? Why, it was simply for this reason;
that it was not the man who pleaded, but it was God the Holy Ghost pleading through
him. Have you never seen an earnest minister, with hands uplifted and eyes dropping
tears, pleading with the sons of men? Have you never admired that portrait from the
hand of old John Bunyan?—a grave person with eyes lifted up to heaven, the best of
books in his hand, the law of truth written on his lips, the world behind his back,
standing as if he pleaded with men, and a crown of gold hanging over his head. Who
gave that minister so blessed a manner, and such goodly matter? Whence came his skill?
Did he acquire it in the college? Did he learn it in the seminary? Ah, no. He learned
it of the God of Jacob; he learned it of the Holy Ghost; for the Holy Ghost is the
great counsellor who teaches us how to advocate his cause aright.
-from The Comforter
A Sermon (No. 5) Delivered on Sabbath Evening, January 21, 1855, by the REV. C.H.
SPURGEON At New Park Street Chapel, Southwark. "But the Comforter, which is
the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things
and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you."–John
14:26.
"Unto us who are called." I received a note this week asking me
to explain that word "called"; because in one passage it says, "Many
are called but few are chosen," while in another it appears that all who are
called must be chosen. Now, let me observe that there are two calls. As my old friend,
John Bunyan, says, the hen has two calls, the common cluck, which she gives daily
and hourly, and the special one, which she means for her little chickens. So there
is a general call, a call made to every man; every man hears it. Many are called
by it; all you are called this morning in that sense, but very few are chosen. The
other is a special call, the children's call. You know how the bell sounds over the
workshop, to call the men to work—that is a general call. A father goes to the door
and calls out, "John, it is dinner time"—that is the special call. Many
are called with the general call, but they are not chosen; the special call is for
the children only, and that is what is meant in the text, "Unto us who are called,
both Jews and Greeks, the power of God and the wisdom of God." That call is
always a special one. While I stand here and call men, nobody comes; while I preach
to sinners universally, no good is done; it is like the sheet lightning you sometimes
see on the summer's evening, beautiful, grand; but whoever heard of anything being
struck by it? But the special call is the forked flash from heaven; it strikes somewhere;
it is the arrow sent in between the joints of the harness. The call which saves is
like that of Jesus, when he said "Mary," and she said unto him "Rabonni."
Do you know anything about that special call, my beloved? Did Jesus ever call you
by name? Canst thou recollect the hour when he whispered thy name in thine ear, when
he said, "Come to me"? If so, you will grant the truth of what I am going
to say next about it—that it is an effectual call; there is no resisting it. When
God calls with his special call, there is no standing out. Ah! I know I laughed at
religion; I despised, I abhorred it; but that call! Oh, I would not come. But God
said, "Thou shalt come. All that the Father giveth to me shall come." "Lord,
I will not." "But thou shalt," said God. And I have gone up to God's
house sometimes almost with a resolution that I would not listen, but listen I must.
Oh, how the word came into my soul! Was there a power of resistance? No; I was thrown
down; each bone seemed to be broken; I was saved by effectual grace.
-from Christ Crucified
A Sermon (No. 7-8) Delivered on Sabbath Morning, February 11, 1855, by the REV. C.H.
SPURGEON At Exeter Hall, Strand. "But we preach Christ crucified, unto the Jews
a stumblingblock, and unto the Greeks foolishness; but unto them which are called,
both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God, and the wisdom of God." –1 Corinthians
1:23-24.
In some old castle there is a deep cellar, where there is a vast amount of fixed
air and gas, which would kill anybody who went down. What does the guide say? "If
you go down you will never come up alive." Who thinks of going down? The very
fact of the guide telling us what the consequences would be, keeps us from it. Our
friend puts away from us a cup of arsenic; he does not want us to drink it, but he
says, "If you drink it, it will kill you." Does he suppose for a moment
that we should drink it. No; he tells us the consequences, and he is sure we will
not do it. So God says, "My child, if you fall over this precipice you will
be dashed to pieces." What does the child do? He says, "Father, keep me;
hold thou me up, and I shall be safe." It leads the believer to greater dependence
on God, to a holy fear and caution, because he knows that if he were to fall away
he could not be renewed, and he stands far away from that great gulf, because he
know that if he were to fall into it there would be no salvation for him. If I thought
as the Arminian thinks, that I might fall away, and then return again, I should pretty
often fall away, for sinful flesh and blood would think it very nice to fall away,
and be a sinner, and go and see the play at the theatre, or get drunk, and then come
back to the Church, and be received again as a dear brother who had fallen away for
a little while. No doubt the minister would say, "Our brother Charles is a little
unstable at times." A little unstable! He does not know anything about grace;
for grace engenders a holy caution, because we feel that if we were not preserved
by Divine power we should perish. We tell our friend to put oil in his lamp, that
it may continue to burn! Does that imply that it will be allowed to go out? No, God
will give him oil to pour into the lamp continually. Like John Bunyan's figure; there
was a fire, and he saw a man pouring water upon it. "Now," says the Preacher,
"don't you see that fire would go out, that water is calculated to put it out,
and if it does, it will never be lighted again;" but God does not permit that!
for there is a man behind the wall who is pouring oil on the fire; and we have cause
for gratitude in the fact, that if the oil were not put in by a heavenly hand, we
should inevitably be driven to destruction. Take care, then Christian, for this is
a caution.
-from Final Perseverance
A Sermon (No. 75) Delivered on Sabbath Morning, March 23, 1856, by the REV. C.H.
SPURGEON At New Park Street Chapel, Southwark. "For it is impossible for those
who were once enlightened, and have tasted of the heavenly gift, and were made partakers
of the Holy Ghost, And have tasted the good word of God, and the powers of the world
to come, If they shall fall away, to renew them again unto repentance; seeing they
crucify to themselves the Son of God afresh, and put him to an open shame."—Hebrews
6:4-6.
John Bunyan, in his "Siege of Mansoul," when the defeated townsmen were
seeking pardon, names Mr. Wet-eyes as the intercessor with the king. Mr. Wet-eyes–good
Saxon word! I hope we know Mr. Wet-eyes, and have had him many times in our house,
for if he cannot intercede with God, yet Mr. Wet-eyes is a great friend with the
Lord Jesus Christ, and Christ will undertake his case, and then we shall prevail.
-from Christ's First and Last Subject
A Sermon (No. 329) Delivered on Sabbath Morning, August 19th, 1860, by the REV. C.H.
SPURGEON at Exeter Hall, Strand. "From that time Jesus began to preach, and
to say, Repent: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand"—Matthew 4:17. "And
that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in his name among all nations,
beginning at Jerusalem"—Luke 24:47.
Oh, I have been praying that, while this morning I am trying to set forth Christ
as the end of the law, God may bless it to some hearts, that they may see what Christ
did, and may perceive it to be a great deal better than anything they can do; may
see what Christ finished, and may become weary of what they themselves have laboured
at so long, and have not even well commenced at this day. Perhaps it may please the
Lord to enchant them with the perfection of the salvation that is in Christ Jesus.
As Bunyan would say, "It may, perhaps, set their mouths a watering after it,"
and when a sacred appetite begins it will not be long before the feast is enjoyed.
It may be that when they see the raiment of wrought gold, which Jesus so freely bestows
on naked souls, they will throw away their own filthy rags which now they hug so
closely.
-from Christ the End of the Law
A Sermon (No. 1325) Delivered on Lord's-Day Morning, November 19th, 1876, by C. H.
SPURGEON, At the Metropolitan Tabernacle, Newington "For Christ is the end of
the law for righteousness to every one that believeth." —Romans 10:4.
Lest I weary you, I will be very brief upon the next point: the Holy Spirit within
us is for guidance. The Holy Spirit is given to lead us into all truth. Truth is
like a vast grotto, and the Holy Spirit brings torches, and shows us all the splendour
of the roof; and since the passage seems intricate, He knows the way, and He lead
us into the deep things of God. He opens up to us one truth after another, by His
light and by His guidance, and thus we are "taught of the Lord." He is
also our practical guide to heaven, helping and directing us on the upward journey.
I wish Christian people oftener inquired of the Holy Ghost as to guidance in their
daily life. Know ye not that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you? You need not always
be running to this friend and to that to get direction: wait upon the Lord in silence,
sit still in quiet before the oracle of God. Use the judgment God has given you;
but when that suffices not, resort to Him whom Mr. Bunyan calls "the Lord High
Secretary," who lives within, who is infinitely wise, and who can guide you
by making you to "hear a voice behind you saying, This is the way, walk ye in
it." The Holy Ghost will guide you in life; He will guide you in death; and
He will guide you to glory. He will guard you from modern error, and from ancient
error, too. He will guide you in a way that you know not; and through the darkness
He will lead you in a way you have not seen: these things will He do unto you, and
not forsake you.
-from The Covenant Promise of the Spirit
A Sermon (No. 2200) Delivered on Lord's-Day Morning, April 12th, 1891, by C. H. SPURGEON,
At the Metropolitan Tabernacle, Newington "And I will put my spirit within you."–Ezekiel
36:27.
First, the Christian should speak of Christ's upholding power. What a strange expression
this is, "The Lord upholdeth all that fall"! Yet remember John Bunyan's
quaint old saying,— "He that is down needs fear no fall; He that is low, no
pride; He that is humble, ever shall Have God to be his guide."
So David says, "The Lord upholdeth all that fall." What a singular expression!
How can he hold up those that fall? Yet those that fall, in this sense, are the only
persons that stand. It is a remarkable paradox; but it is true. The man who stands
on his feet, and says, "I am mighty,—I am strong enough to stand alone;"—down
he will go; but he who falls into Christ's arms, he who says,— "But, oh! for
this no power have I, My strength is at thy feet to lie;"— that man shall not
fall. We may well talk, then, of Christ's upholding power. Tell it to Christians;
tell how he kept you when your feet were going swift to hell; how, when fierce temptations
did beset you, your Master drove them all away; how, when the enemy was watching,
he compassed you with his mighty strength; how, when the arrows fell thickly around
you, his mighty arm did hold the shield before you, and so preserved you from them
all. Tell how he saved you from death, and delivered your feet from falling by making
you, first of all, fall down prostrate before him.
-from Christian Conversation
A Sermon (No. 2695) Intended for Reading on Lord's-Day, October 7th, 1900, Delivered
by C. H. SPURGEON, At the Metropolitan Tabernacle, Newington. On a Lord's-day Evening
in the autumn of 1858. "They shall speak of the glory of thy kingdom, and talk
of thy power."–Psalm 145:11.
Beware, my dear Christian friends, of living by feeling. John Bunyan puts down Mr.
Live-by-feeling as one of the worst enemies of the town of Mansoul. I think he said
he was hanged. I am afraid he, somehow or other, escaped from the executioner, for
I very commonly meet him; and there is no villain that hates the souls of men and
causes more sorrow to the people of God than this Mr. Live-by-feeling. He that lives
by feeling will be happy today, and unhappy tomorrow; and if our salvation depended
upon our feelings, we should be lost one day and saved another, for they are as fickle
as the weather, and go up and down like a barometer. We live by faith, and if that
faith be weak, bless God that weak faith is faith, and that weak faith is true faith.
If thou believest in Christ Jesus, though thy faith be as a grain of mustard seed,
it will save thee, and it will, by-and-bye, grow into something stronger... and it
is not great faith that is essential to salvation, but faith that links the soul
to Christ; and that soul is, therefore, saved. Instead of mourning so much that thy
faith is not strong, bless God that thou hast any faith at all, for if he sees that
thou despisest the faith he has given thee, it may be long before he gives thee more.
Prize that little, and when he sees that thou art so glad and thankful for that little,
then will he multiply it and increase it, and thy faith shall mount even to the full
assurance of faith.
-from Encouragement for the Depressed
A Sermon (No. 3489) Published on Thursday, December 9th, 1915. Delivered by C. H.
SPURGEON, At the Metropolitan Tabernacle, Newington On Lord's-day Evening, 27th,
August 1871. "For who hath despised the day of small things?"—Zechariah
4:10.
"The way of salvation is coming to Christ and I am afraid I do not come in the
right way." Dear, dear, how unwise we are in the matter of salvation! We are
much more foolish than little children are in common, everyday life. A mother says
to her little child, "Come here, my dear, and I will give you this apple."
Now I will tell you what the first thought of the child is about; it is about the
apple; and the second thought off the child is about its mother; and the very last
thought he has is about the way of coming. His mother told him to come, and he does
not say, "Well, but I do not know whether I shall come right." He totters
along as best he can, and that does not seem to occupy his thoughts at all. But when
you say to a sinner, "Come to Christ, and you shall have eternal life,"
he thinks about nothing but his coming. He will not think about eternal life, nor
yet about Jesus Christ, to whom he is bidden to come, but only about coming, when
he need not think of that at all, but just do it—do what Jesus bids him—simply trust
him." "What kind of coming is that," says John Bunyan, "which
saves a soul?" and he answers, "Any coming in all the world if it does
but come to Jesus."
-from Coming to Christ
A Sermon (No. 3509) Published on Thursday, April 27th, 1916. Delivered by C. H. SPURGEON,
At the Metropolitan Tabernacle, Newington. On Lord's-day Evening, June 17th, 1868.
"To whom coming."—1 Peter 2:4.