Weep not because the vessel of thy present comfort has gone out to sea, and thou hast lost sight of the white sails; it shall come back again to thee laden with nobler treasure.
Weep not because the sun has gone down, for it descendeth that the dews may be brought forth and the earth may be watered, and the flowers may drip with perfume.
Wait thou awhile, and the sun shall come back to thee again, and the morn shall be the brighter because of the gloom of the night. O sorrow not, heir of heaven, because the skies are clouded, the clouds are big with mercy; and each cloud is the mother of ten thousand blossoms, and harvests lie concealed in yonder darkness!
O be thou confident that amongst all thy jewels, all thy precious ornaments and tokens of love that God has given thee, thou hast nothing brighter than the jet jewels of affliction, no diamonds of a finer water than those of trouble.
Monday, December 31, 2007
Affliction, a School of Experience By Charles Spurgeon
Why should I dread to descend the shaft of affliction, if it leads me to a gold mine of spiritual experience? Why should I cry out if the sun of my prosperity goes down, if in the darkness of my adversity I shall be the better able to count the starry promises with which my faithful God has been pleased to gem the sky?
Go, thou sun, for in thy absence we shall see ten thousand suns; and when thy blinding light is gone, we shall see worlds in the dark which were hidden from us by thy light.
Many a promise is written in sympathetic ink, which you cannot read till the fire of trouble brings out the characters. "It is good for me that I have been afflicted that I might learn thy statutes."
Go, thou sun, for in thy absence we shall see ten thousand suns; and when thy blinding light is gone, we shall see worlds in the dark which were hidden from us by thy light.
Many a promise is written in sympathetic ink, which you cannot read till the fire of trouble brings out the characters. "It is good for me that I have been afflicted that I might learn thy statutes."
Affliction, a help to Piety By Charles Spurgeon
I have seen a little plant beneath an oak tree sheltered from the storn, and wind, and rain, and it felt pleased and happy to be so screened; but I have seen the woodman come with his axe and fell the oak, and the little plant has trembled with fear because its protection was removed.
"Alas! For me," it said, "the hot sun will scorch me, the driving rain will drown me, and the fierce wind will tear me up by the roots."
But instead of those dreadful results, the shelter being removed, the plant has breathed freer air, drank more of the dews of heaven, received more of the light of the sun, and it has sprung up and borne flowers which else had never bloomed, and seeds that never else had sown themselves in the soil.
Be glad when God thus visits thee, and when he takes away these overshadowing but dwarfing comforts, to make thee have a clear way between thee and heaven, so that heavenly gifts might come more plentifully to thee.
"Alas! For me," it said, "the hot sun will scorch me, the driving rain will drown me, and the fierce wind will tear me up by the roots."
But instead of those dreadful results, the shelter being removed, the plant has breathed freer air, drank more of the dews of heaven, received more of the light of the sun, and it has sprung up and borne flowers which else had never bloomed, and seeds that never else had sown themselves in the soil.
Be glad when God thus visits thee, and when he takes away these overshadowing but dwarfing comforts, to make thee have a clear way between thee and heaven, so that heavenly gifts might come more plentifully to thee.
Emblem of Christian Activity By Charles Spurgeon
A little stream flowed through a manufacturing town; an unhappy little stream it was, for it was forced to turn huge wheels and heavy machinery, and it wound its miserable way through factories where it was dyed black and blue, until it became a foul and filthy ditch, and loathed itself.
It felt the tyranny which polluted its very existence. Now, there came a deliverer who looked upon the streamlet and said, "I will set thee free and give thee rest." So he stopped up the water-course, and said, "Abide in thy place, thou shalt no more flow when thou art enslaved and defiled."
In a very few days the brooklet found that it had but exchanged one evil for another.
Its waters were stagnating, they were gathering into a great pool, and desiring to find a channel. It was in its very nature to flow on, and it foamed and swelled, and pressed against the dam which stayed it. Every hour it grew more inwardly restless!
It threatened to break the barrier, and it made all who saw its angry looks tremble for the mischief it would do ere long. It never found rest until it was permitted to pursue an active course along a channel which had been prepared for it among the meadows and corn fields.
Then, when it watered the plains and made glad the villages, it was a happy streamlet, perfectly at rest.
So our souls are made for activity, and when we are set free from the activities of our self-righteousness and the slavery of our sin, we must do something, and we shall never rest until we find that something to do.
It felt the tyranny which polluted its very existence. Now, there came a deliverer who looked upon the streamlet and said, "I will set thee free and give thee rest." So he stopped up the water-course, and said, "Abide in thy place, thou shalt no more flow when thou art enslaved and defiled."
In a very few days the brooklet found that it had but exchanged one evil for another.
Its waters were stagnating, they were gathering into a great pool, and desiring to find a channel. It was in its very nature to flow on, and it foamed and swelled, and pressed against the dam which stayed it. Every hour it grew more inwardly restless!
It threatened to break the barrier, and it made all who saw its angry looks tremble for the mischief it would do ere long. It never found rest until it was permitted to pursue an active course along a channel which had been prepared for it among the meadows and corn fields.
Then, when it watered the plains and made glad the villages, it was a happy streamlet, perfectly at rest.
So our souls are made for activity, and when we are set free from the activities of our self-righteousness and the slavery of our sin, we must do something, and we shall never rest until we find that something to do.
The Dying View of Christian Activity By Charles Spurgeon
One feels sometimes in prospect of death like the venerable Bede, who, when he had nearly translated the Gospel of St. John, said to the young man who was writing from his dictation, "Write fast, write fast, for I am dying. How far are you now? How many verses remain?"
"So many."
"Quicker, quicker," said he, "write more quickly, quickly for I shall be dying."
When at length he said, "I have come to the last verse," the good old man folded his arms, sung the Doxology, and fell asleep in Jesus.
Quickly brother, quickly, you will never get through the chapter if you do not work and write quickly. Quickly, quickly, your time of dying is so near. Quickly, and then when you have done, if you have worked quickly for Christ, though it is not of debt but of grace, you will be able to say at last, "Lord, now lettest thy servant depart in peace," and with the Doxology on your quivering lip you will go to sing the Doxology in sweeter strains above.
"So many."
"Quicker, quicker," said he, "write more quickly, quickly for I shall be dying."
When at length he said, "I have come to the last verse," the good old man folded his arms, sung the Doxology, and fell asleep in Jesus.
Quickly brother, quickly, you will never get through the chapter if you do not work and write quickly. Quickly, quickly, your time of dying is so near. Quickly, and then when you have done, if you have worked quickly for Christ, though it is not of debt but of grace, you will be able to say at last, "Lord, now lettest thy servant depart in peace," and with the Doxology on your quivering lip you will go to sing the Doxology in sweeter strains above.
Christian Activity By Charles Spurgeon
Oh! I would that some Christians would pay a little attention to their legs, instead of paying it all to their heads. When children's heads grow too fast it is a sign of disease, and they get the rickets, or water on the brain.
So, there are some very sound brethren, who seem to me to have got some kind of disease, and when they try to walk, they straightway make a tumble of it, because they have paid so much attention to perplexing doctrinal views, instead of looking, as they ought to have done, to the practical part of Christianity.
By all means let us have doctrine, but by all means let us have precept too. By all means let us have inward experience, but by all means let us also have outward "holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord." "We walk." This is more than some can say.
They can affirm - "We talk; we think; we experience; we feel; but true Christians can say, with the apostle Paul, "We walk."
Oh that we may ever be able to say it too!
Here, then, is the activity of the Christian life.
So, there are some very sound brethren, who seem to me to have got some kind of disease, and when they try to walk, they straightway make a tumble of it, because they have paid so much attention to perplexing doctrinal views, instead of looking, as they ought to have done, to the practical part of Christianity.
By all means let us have doctrine, but by all means let us have precept too. By all means let us have inward experience, but by all means let us also have outward "holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord." "We walk." This is more than some can say.
They can affirm - "We talk; we think; we experience; we feel; but true Christians can say, with the apostle Paul, "We walk."
Oh that we may ever be able to say it too!
Here, then, is the activity of the Christian life.
Aquaintanceship with Christ By Charles Spurgeon
Witnesses about other things exaggerate, but witnesses concerning Jesus Christ always fall short. Painters have frequently won repute by making portraits fairer than the originals, but none can ever paint Jesus with a pencil that shall give too much lustre to his noble face.
He is so glorious that even angels who have seen him all their lives, and bowed before him where his splendour is best revealed, could not tell to man nor to one another the thousandth part of his excellencies. If you want to know him you must see him for yourself. You must make him your personal aquaintance; you must press by faith into the inner circle, and cry wit the spouse, :Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth, for thy love is better than wine."
He is so glorious that even angels who have seen him all their lives, and bowed before him where his splendour is best revealed, could not tell to man nor to one another the thousandth part of his excellencies. If you want to know him you must see him for yourself. You must make him your personal aquaintance; you must press by faith into the inner circle, and cry wit the spouse, :Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth, for thy love is better than wine."
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