Spurgeon Answers: What is Faith?

Charles Spurgeon, the prince of preachers, answers:

"Faith is not a blind thing; for faith begins with knowledge. It is not a speculative thing; for faith believes facts of which it is sure. It is not an unpractical, dreamy thing; for faith trusts, and stakes its destiny upon the truth of revelation. That is one way of describing what faith is.

Let me try again. Faith is believing that Christ is what He is said to be, and that He will do what He has promised to do, and then to expect this of Him."

"All of Grace", The C.H. Spurgeon Collection, (AGES Digital Software, version 1.02), 33

Twelve Proverbs from Spurgeon, Part 2

"Make yourself an ass, and everyone will lay his sack on you."

"Man proposes, but God disposes."

"Never cackle till your egg is laid."

"One may say too much even upon the best subject."

"Paddle your own canoe."

"Praise invigorates the wise, but intoxicates the foolish."

"Pray to God, but keep the hammer going."

"Read men as well as books."

"Relatives are best with a wall between them."

"Ugly women, finely dressed, are the uglier for it."

"Zeal is fit only for wise men, but is mostly found in fools. The more's the pity if so it be."

And finally for the sake of Mother's Day:

"Never trust a man who will speak ill of his mother."

Salt Cellars, Volume 2, from the Charles H. Spurgeon Library, AGES Software

*These proverbs were compiled by Charles Spurgeon and not necessarily original to him.

Twelve Proverbs from Spurgeon

"A bad husband cannot be a good man
He fails in the tenderest duties, and must be bad at heart."

"A good husband makes a good wife."

"A fool is never wrong."

"Be low in humility but high in hope."

"Be not everybody's dog that whistles you."

"Be not first to quarrel, nor last to make it up."

"Do the duty that lies nearest thee."

"Even among apostles there was a Judas."

"Fore-think, though you cannot foretell."

"Good fences make good neighbors."

"Good things are often hard."

"If an ass goes a-traveling, he won't come home a horse."

Salt Cellars, Volume 1, from The Charles H. Spurgeon Library, AGES Software.

*These proverbs were compiled by Charles Spurgeon and not necessarily original to him.

Too Much of One Doctrine

Douglas Wilson (whose blogging on Piper's book responding to NT Wright) has this great quote from Spurgeon:

"It is not true that some doctrines are only for the initiated; there is nothing in the Bible which is ashamed of the light . . . All revealed truth in harmonious proportion must be your theme . . . Do not insist perpetually upon one truth alone. A nose is an important feature in the human countenance, but to paint a man's nose alone is not a satisfactory method of taking his likeness: a doctrine may be very important, but an exaggerated estimate of it may be fatal to an harmonious and complete ministry" (Charles Spurgeon, Lectures to My Students, pp. 74-75).