HOW C.H. SPURGEON CAME TO CHRIST
Biographical
note: C.H. Spurgeon was one of the greatest preachers England ever
produced. He preached weekly in Victorian London - when there were
several preachers all drawing great crowds at the same time - to
congregations numbering over 5,000 people. In line with the custom of
the time, he printed his famous "penny sermon" and these were sold,
literally, by the million throughout the whole world. Although he died
in 1892, his penny sermon continued to be published up to 1917 - 25
years after his death. 62 volumes - still being reprinted by Pilgrim
Publications - flowed from his pen. You can check out an internet site
which is in the process of getting them uploaded on to world wide
web. Spurgeon was a great contender for the faith. He opposed the
modernism of the Baptist Union of Great Britain and Ireland with all
his heart. You will enjoy reading how he came to know Christ as His
Saviour in these autobiographical lines below.
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Personally, I have to bless God for many good books; I thank Him for
Dr. Doddridge’s Rise and Progress of Religion in the Soul; for
Baxter’s Call to the Unconverted; for Alleine’s Alarm to
Sinners; and for James’s Anxious Enquirer; but my gratitude most
of all is due to God, not for books, but for the preached Word, —
and that too addressed to me by a poor, uneducated man, a man who had
never received any training for the ministry, and probably will never
be heard of in this life, a man engaged in business, no doubt of a
humble kind, during the week, but who had just enough of grace to say
on the Sabbath, "Look unto Me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the
earth."
BOOKS WERE GOOD - MAN WAS BETTER
The books were good, but the man was better. The revealed Word awakened
me; but it was the preached Word that saved me; and I must ever attach
peculiar value to the hearing of the truth, for by it I received the
joy and peace in which my soul delights. While under concern of soul, I
resolved that I would attend all the places of worship in the town
where I lived, in order that I might find out the way of salvation. I
was willing to do anything, and be anything, if God would only forgive
my sin.
A SIMPLE NEED
I set off, determined to go round to all the chapels, and I did go to
every place of worship; but for a long time I went in vain. I do not,
however, blame the ministers. One man preached Divine Sovereignty; I
could hear him with pleasure, but what was that sublime truth to a poor
sinner who wished to know what he must do to be saved? There was
another admirable man who always preached about the law; but what was
the use of ploughing up ground that needed to be sown? Another was a
practical preacher. I heard him, but it was very much like a commanding
officer teaching the manoeuvres of war to a set of men without feet.
What could I do? All his exhortations were lost on me. I knew it was
said, "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved;" but
I did not know what it was to believe on Christ. These good men all
preached truths suited to many in their congregations who were
spiritually-minded people; but what I wanted to know was, — "How
can I get my sins forgiven?" — and they never told me that. I
desired to hear how a poor sinner, under a sense of sin, might find
peace with God; and when I went, I heard a sermon on, "Be not deceived,
God is not mocked," which cut me up still worse; but did not bring me
into rest. I went again, another day, and the text was something about
the glories of the righteous; nothing for poor me! I was like a dog
under the table, not allowed to eat of the children’s food. I
went time after time, and I can honestly say that I do not know that I
ever went without prayer to God, and I am sure there was not a more
attentive hearer than myself in all the place, for I panted and longed
to understand how I might be saved.
AN UNEDUCATED PREACHER
I sometimes think I might have been in darkness and despair until now
had it not been for the goodness of God in sending a snowstorm, one
Sunday morning, while I was going to a certain place of worship. When I
could go no further, I turned down a side street, and came to a little
Primitive Methodist Chapel. In that chapel there may have been a dozen
or fifteen people. I had heard of the Primitive Methodists, how they
sang so loudly that they made people’s heads ache; but that did
not matter to me. I wanted to know how I might be saved, and if they
could tell me that, I did not care how much they made my head ache. The
minister did not come that morning; he was snowed up, I suppose. At
last, a very thin-looking man, a shoemaker, or tailor, or something of
that sort, went up into the pulpit to preach. Now, it is well that
preachers should be instructed; but this man was really stupid. He was
obliged to stick to his text, for the simple reason that he had little
else to say. The text was, —
LOOK UNTO ME, AND BE YE SAVED, ALL THE ENDS OF THE EARTH. (ISAIAH 45:22)
He did not even pronounce the words rightly, but that did not matter.
There was, I thought, a glimpse of hope for me in that text. The
preacher began thus: —
"My dear friends, this is a very simple text indeed. It says,
‘Look.’ Now lookin’ don’t take a deal of pains.
It ain’t liftin’ your foot or your finger; it is just,
‘Look.’ Well, a man needn’t go to College to learn to
look. You may be the biggest fool, and yet you can look. A man
needn’t be worth a thousand a year to be able to look. Anyone can
look; even a child can look. But then the text says, ‘Look unto
Me.’ Ay!" said he, in broad Essex, "many on ye are lookin’
to yourselves, but it’s no use lookin’ there. You’ll
never find any comfort in yourselves. Some look to God the Father. No,
look to Him by-and-by. Jesus Christ says, ‘Look unto Me.’
Some on ye say, ‘We must wait for the Spirit’s
workin’.’ You have no business with that just now. Look to
Christ. The text says, ‘Look unto Me.’
Then the good man followed up his text in this way: —
"Look unto Me; I am sweatin’ great drops of blood. Look unto Me;
I am hangin’ on the cross. Look unto Me; I am dead and buried.
Look unto Me; I rise again. Look unto Me; I ascend to Heaven. Look unto
Me; I am sittin’ at the Father’s right hand. O poor sinner,
look unto Me! look unto Me!"
When he had gone to about that length, and managed to spin out ten
minutes or so, he was at the end of his tether. Then he looked at me
under the gallery, and I daresay, with so few present, he knew me to be
a stranger. Just fixing his eyes on me, as if he knew all my heart, he
said, "Young man, you look very miserable."
Well, I did; but I had not been accustomed to have remarks made from
the pulpit on my personal appearance before. However, it was a good
blow, struck right home. He continued, "and you always will be
miserable — miserable in life, and miserable in death, — if
you don’t obey my text; but if you obey now, this moment, you
will be saved." Then, lifting up his hands, he shouted, as only a
Primitive Methodist could do,
"Young man, look to Jesus Christ. Look! Look! Look! You have nothin’ to do but to look and live."
I saw at once the way of salvation. I know not what else he said,
— I did not take much notice of it, — I was so possessed
with that one thought. Like as when the brazen serpent was lifted up,
the people only looked and were healed, so it was with me. I had been
waiting to do fifty things, but when I heard that word, "Look!" what a
charming word it seemed to me! Oh! I looked until I could almost have
looked my eyes away. There and then the cloud was gone, the darkness
had rolled away, and that moment I saw the sun; and I could have risen
that instant, and sung with the most enthusiastic of them, of the
precious blood of Christ, and the simple faith which looks alone to
Him. Oh, that somebody had told me this before, "Trust Christ, and you
shall be saved." Yet it was, no doubt, all wisely ordered, and now I
can say, —
"E’er since by faith I saw the stream
Thy flowing wounds supply,
Redeeming love has been my theme,
And shall be till I die."
SATISFIED IN JESUS
I do from my soul confess that I never was satisfied till I came to
Christ; when I was yet a child, I had far more wretchedness than ever I
have now; I will even add, more weariness, more care, more heartache
than I know at this day. I may be singular in this confession, but I
make it, and know it to be the truth. Since that dear hour when my soul
cast itself on Jesus, I have found solid joy and peace; but before
that, all those supposed gaieties of early youth, all the imagined ease
and joy of boyhood, were but vanity and vexation of spirit to me. That
happy day, when I found the Saviour, and learned to cling to His dear
feet, was a day never to be forgotten by me. An obscure child, unknown,
unheard of, I listened to the Word of God; and that precious text led
me to the cross of Christ. I can testify that the joy of that day was
utterly indescribable. I could have leaped, I could have danced; there
was no expression, however fanatical, which would have been out of
keeping with the joy of my spirit at that hour. Many days of Christian
experience have passed since then, but there has never been one which
has had the full exhilaration, the sparkling delight which that first
day had. I thought I could have sprung from the seat on which I sat,
and have called out with the wildest of those Methodist brethren who
were present, "I am forgiven! I am forgiven! A monument of grace! A
sinner saved by blood!" My spirit saw its chains broken to pieces, I
felt that I was an emancipated soul, an heir of Heaven, a forgiven one,
accepted in Christ Jesus, plucked out of the miry clay and out of the
horrible pit, with my feet set upon a rock, and my goings established.
I thought I could dance all the way home. I could understand what John
Bunyan meant, when he declared he wanted to tell the crows on the
ploughed land all about his conversion. He was too full to hold, he
felt he must tell somebody.
WHAT A CHANGE!
It is not everyone who can remember the very day and hour of his
deliverance; but, as Richard Knill said, "At such a time of the day,
clang went every harp in Heaven, for Richard Knill was born again," it
was e’en so with me. The clock of mercy struck in Heaven the hour
and moment of my emancipation, for the time had come. Between half-past
ten o’clock, when I entered that chapel, and half-past twelve
o’clock, when I was back again at home, what a change had taken
place in me! I had passed from darkness into marvellous light, from
death to life. Simply by looking to Jesus, I had been delivered from
despair, and I was brought into such a joyous state of mind that, when
they saw me at home, they said to me, "Something wonderful has happened
to you;" and I was eager to tell them all about it. Oh! there was joy
in the household that day, when all heard that the eldest son had found
the Saviour, and knew himself to be forgiven, — bliss compared
with which all earth’s joys are less than nothing and vanity.
Yes, I had looked to Jesus as I was, and found in Him my Saviour. Thus
had the eternal purpose of Jehovah decreed it; and as, the moment
before, there was none more wretched than I was, so, within that
second, there was none more joyous. It took no longer time than does
the lightning-flash; it was done, and never has it been undone. I
looked, and lived, and leaped in joyful liberty as I beheld my sin
punished upon the great Substitute, and put away forever. I looked unto
Him, as He bled upon that tree; His eyes darted a glance of love
unutterable into my spirit, and in a moment, I was saved.
THE SUFFERINGS OF CHRIST
Looking unto Him, the bruises that my soul had suffered were healed,
the gaping wounds were cured, the broken bones rejoiced, the rags that
had covered me were all removed, my spirit was white as the spotless
snows of the far-off North; I had melody within my spirit, for I was
saved, washed, cleansed, forgiven, through Him that did hang upon the
tree. My Master, I cannot understand how Thou couldst stoop Thine awful
head to such a death as the death of the cross, — how Thou
couldst take from Thy brow the coronet of stars which from old eternity
had shone resplendent there; but how Thou shouldst permit the
thorn-crown to gird Thy temples, astonishes me far more. That Thou
shouldst cast away the mantle of Thy glory, the azure of Thine
everlasting empire, I cannot comprehend; but how Thou shouldst have
become veiled in the ignominious purple for awhile, and then be mocked
by impious men, who bowed to Thee as a pretended king; and how Thou
shouldst be stripped naked to Thy shame, without a single covering, and
die a felon’s death; — this is still more incomprehensible.
But the marvel is that Thou shouldst have suffered all this for me!
Truly, Thy love to me is wonderful, passing the love of women! Was ever
grief like Thine? Was ever love like Thine, that could open the
flood-gates of such grief? Was ever love so mighty as to become the
fount from which such an ocean of grief could come rolling down? There
was never anything so true to me as those bleeding hands, and that
thorn-crowned head. Home, friends, health, wealth, comforts — all
lost their lustre that day when He appeared, just as stars are hidden
by the light of the sun. He was the only Lord and Giver of life’s
best bliss, the one well of living water springing up unto everlasting
life. As I saw Jesus on His cross before me, and as I mused upon His
sufferings and death, I thought I saw Him cast a look of love upon me;
and then I looked at Him, and cried, —
"Jesus, lover of my soul, Let me to Thy bosom fly."
HE SAID COME AND I FLEW TO HIM
He said, "Come," and I flew to Him, and clasped Him; and when He let me
go again, I wondered where my burden was. It was gone! There, in the
sepulchre, it lay, and I felt light as air; like a winged sylph, I
could fly over mountains of trouble and despair; and oh! what liberty
and joy I had! I could leap with ecstasy, for I had much forgiven, and
I was freed from sin. With the spouse in the Canticles, I could say, "I
found Him;" I, a lad, found the Lord of glory; I, a slave to sin, found
the great Deliverer; I, the child of darkness, found the Light of life;
I, the uttermost of the lost, found my Saviour and my God; I, widowed
and desolate, found my Friend, my Beloved, my Husband. Oh, how I
wondered that I should be pardoned! It was not the pardon that I
wondered at so much; the wonder was that it should come to me. I
marvelled that He should be able to pardon such sins as mine, such
crimes, so numerous and so black; and that, after such an accusing
conscience, He should have power to still every wave within my spirit,
and make my soul like the surface of a river, undisturbed, quiet, and
at ease. It mattered not to me whether the day itself was gloomy or
bright, I had found Christ; that was enough for me. He was my Saviour,
He was my all; and I can heartily say, that one day of pardoned sin was
a sufficient recompense for the whole five years of conviction. I have
to bless God for every terror that ever scared me by night, and for
every foreboding that alarmed me by day. It has made me happier ever
since; for now, if there be a trouble weighing upon my soul, I thank
God it is not such a burden as that which bowed me to the very earth,
and made me creep upon the ground, like a beast, by reason of heavy
distress and affliction. I know I never can again suffer what I have
suffered; I never can, except I be sent to hell, know more of agony
than I have known; and now, that ease, that joy and peace in believing,
that "no condemnation" which belongs to me as a child of God, is made
doubly sweet and inexpressibly precious, by the recollection of my past
days of sorrow and grief. Blessed be Thou, O God, forever, who by those
black days, like a dreary winter, hast made these summer days all the
fairer and the sweeter! I need not walk through the earth fearful of
every shadow, and afraid of every man I meet, for sin is washed away;
my spirit is no more guilty; it is pure, it is holy. The frown of God
no longer resteth upon me; but my Father smiles, I see His eyes,
— they are glancing love; I hear His voice, — it is full of
sweetness. I am forgiven, I am forgiven, I am forgiven!
WHY THE WORD WAS BLESSED TO ME
When I look back upon it, I can see one reason why the Word was blessed
to me as I heard it preached in that Primitive Methodist Chapel at
Colchester; I had been up betimes crying to God for the blessing. As a
lad, when I was seeking the Saviour, I used to rise with the sun, that
I might get time to read gracious books, and to seek the Lord. I can
recall the kind of pleas I used when I took my arguments, and came
before the throne of grace: "Lord, save me; it will glorify Thy grace
to save such a sinner as I am! Lord, save me, else I am lost to all
eternity; do not let me perish, Lord! Save me, O Lord, for Jesus died!
By His agony and bloody sweat, by His cross and passion, save me!" I
often proved that the early morning was the best part of the day; I
liked those prayers of which the psalmist said, "In the morning shall
my prayer prevent Thee."
CAN YOU BE SURE THAT YOU ARE SAVED?
The Holy Spirit, who enabled me to believe, gave me peace through
believing. I felt as sure that I was forgiven as before I felt sure of
condemnation. I had been certain of my condemnation because the Word of
God declared it, and my conscience bore witness to it; but when the
Lord justified me, I was made equally certain by the same witnesses.
The Word of the Lord in the Scripture saith, "He that believeth on Him
is not condemned," and my conscience bore witness that I believed, and
that God in pardoning me was just. Thus I had the witness of the Holy
Spirit and also of my own conscience, and these two agreed in one. That
great and excellent man, Dr. Johnson, used to hold the opinion that no
man ever could know that he was pardoned, — that there was no
such thing as assurance of faith. Perhaps, if Dr. Johnson had studied
his Bible a little more, and had had a little more of the enlightenment
of the Spirit, he, too, might have come to know his own pardon.
Certainly, he was no very reliable judge of theology, anymore than he
was of porcelain, which he once attempted to make, and never succeeded.
I think both in theology and porcelain his opinion is of very little
value.
HOW CAN A MAN KNOW THAT HE IS SAVED?
How can a man know that he is pardoned? There is a text which says,
"Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved." I believe
on the Lord Jesus Christ; is it irrational to believe that I am saved?
"He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life," saith Christ, in
John’s Gospel. I believe on Christ; am I absurd in believing that
I have eternal life? I find the apostle Paul speaking by the Holy
Ghost, and saying, "There is therefore now no condemnation to them that
are in Christ Jesus. Being justified by faith, we have peace with God."
If I know that my trust is fixed on Jesus only, and that I have faith
in Him, were it not ten thousand times more absurd for me not to be at
peace, than for me to be filled with joy unspeakable? It is but taking
God at His Word, when the soul knows, as a necessary consequence of its
faith, that it is saved. I took Jesus as my Saviour, and I was saved;
and I can tell the reason why I took Him for my Saviour. To my own
humiliation, I must confess that I did it because I could not help it;
I was shut up to it. That stern law-work had hammered me into such a
condition that, if there had been fifty other saviours, I could not
have thought of them, — I was driven to this One. I wanted a
Divine Saviour, I wanted One who was made a curse for me, to expiate my
guilt. I wanted One who had died, for I deserved to die. I wanted One
who had risen again, who was able by His life to make me live. I wanted
the exact Saviour that stood before me in the Word, revealed to my
heart; and I could not help having Him. I could realise then the
language of Rutherford when, being full of love to Christ, once upon a
time, in the dungeon of Aberdeen, he said, "O my Lord, if there were a
broad hell betwixt me and Thee, if I could not get at Thee except by
wading through it, I would not think twice, but I would go through it
all, if I might but embrace Thee, and call Thee mine!" Oh, how I loved
Him! Passing all loves except His own, was that love which I felt for
Him then. If, beside the door of the place in which I met with Him,
there had been a stake of blazing faggots, I would have stood upon them
without chains, glad to give my flesh, and blood, and bones, to be
ashes that should testify my love to Him. Had He asked me then to give
all my substance to the poor, I would have given all, and thought
myself to be amazingly rich in having beggared myself for His
name’s sake. Had He commanded me then to preach in the midst of
all His foes, I could have said, —
"There’s not a lamb in all Thy flock I would disdain to feed,
There’s not a foe, before whose face I’d fear Thy cause to plead."
GOD'S WORD IS TRUE THEREFORE I AM SAVED
Has Jesus saved me? I dare not speak with any hesitation here; I know
He has. His Word is true, therefore I am saved. My evidence that I am
saved does not lie in the fact that I preach, or that I do this or
that. All my hope lies in this, that Jesus Christ came to save sinners.
I am a sinner, I trust Him, then He came to save me, and I am saved; I
live habitually in the enjoyment of this blessed fact, and it is long
since I have doubted the truth of it, for I have His own Word to
sustain my faith. It is a very surprising thing, — a thing to be
marvelled at most of all by those who enjoy it. I know that it is to me
even to this day the greatest wonder that I ever heard of, that God
should ever justify me. I feel myself to be a lump of unworthiness, a
mass of corruption, and a heap of sin, apart from His almighty love;
yet I know, by a full assurance, that I am justified by faith which is
in Christ Jesus, and treated as if I had been perfectly just, and made
an heir of God and a joint-heir with Christ; though by nature I must
take my place among the most sinful. I, who am altogether undeserving,
am treated as if I had been deserving. I am loved with as much love as
if I had always been godly, whereas aforetime I was ungodly.
SUBSTITUTION
I have always considered, with Luther and Calvin, that the sum and
substance of the gospel lies in that word Substitution, — Christ
standing in the stead of man. If I understand the gospel, it is this: I
deserve to be lost forever; the only reason why I should not be damned
is, that Christ was punished in my stead, and there is no need to
execute a sentence twice for sin. On the other hand, I know I cannot
enter Heaven unless I have a perfect righteousness; I am absolutely
certain I shall never have one of my own, for I find I sin everyday;
but then Christ had a perfect righteousness, and He said, "There, poor
sinner, take My garment, and put it on; you shall stand before God as
if you were Christ, and I will stand before God as if I had been the
sinner; I will suffer in the sinner’s stead, and you shall be
rewarded for works which you did not do, but which I did for you." I
find it very convenient everyday to come to Christ as a sinner, as I
came at the first. "You are no saint," says the devil. Well, if I am
not, I am a sinner, and Jesus Christ came into the world to save
sinners. Sink or swim, I go to Him; other hope I have none. By looking
to Him, I received all the faith which inspired me with confidence in
His grace; and the word that first drew my soul — "Look unto Me,"
— still rings its clarion note in my ears. There I once found
conversion, and there I shall ever find refreshing and renewal.
I SPEAK FROM EXPERIENCE
Let me bear my personal testimony of what I have seen, what my own ears
have heard, and my own heart has tasted. First, Christ is the
only-begotten of the Father. He is Divine to me, if He be human to all
the world besides. He has done that for me which none but a God could
do. He has subdued my stubborn will, melted a heart of adamant, broken
a chain of steel, opened the gates of brass, and snapped the bars of
iron. He hath turned for me my mourning into laughter, and my
desolation into joy; He hath led my captivity captive, and made my
heart rejoice with joy unspeakable, and full of glory. Let others think
as they will of Him, to me He must ever be the only-begotten of the
Father: blessed be His holy name!
"Oh, that I could now adore Him, Like the Heavenly host above, Who for
ever bow before Him, And unceasing sing His love! Happy songsters! When
shall I your chorus join?"
CHRIST IS FULL OF GRACE
Again, I bear my testimony that He is full of grace. Ah, had He not
been, I should never have beheld His glory. I was full of sin to
overflowing. I was condemned already, because I believed not upon Him.
He drew me when I wanted not to come, and though I struggled hard, He
continued still to draw; and when at last I came to His mercy-seat, all
trembling like a condemned culprit, He said, "Thy sins, which are many,
are all forgiven thee: be of good cheer." Let others despise Him; but I
bear witness that He is full of grace.
CHRIST IS FULL OF TRUTH
Finally, I bear my witness that He is full of truth. True have His
promises been; not one has failed. I have often doubted Him, for that I
blush; He has never failed me, in this I must rejoice. His promises
have been yea and amen. I do but speak the testimony of every believer
in Christ, though I put it thus personally to make it the more
forcible. I bear witness that never servant had such a Master as I
have; never brother had such a Kinsman as He has been to me; never
spouse had such a Husband as Christ has been to my soul; never sinner a
better Saviour; never soldier a better Captain; never mourner a better
Comforter than Christ hath been to my spirit. I want none beside Him.
In life, He is my life; and in death, He shall be the death of death;
in poverty, Christ is my riches; in sickness, He makes my bed; in
darkness, He is my Star; and in brightness, He is my Sun. By faith I
understand that the blessed Son of God redeemed my soul with His own
heart’s blood; and by sweet experience I know that He raised me
up from the pit of dark despair, and set my feet on the rock. He died
for me. This is the root of every satisfaction I have. He put all my
transgressions away. He cleansed me with His precious blood; He covered
me with His perfect righteousness; He wrapped me up in His own virtues.
He has promised to keep me, while I abide in this world, from its
temptations and snares; and when I depart from this world, He has
already prepared for me a mansion in the Heaven of unfading bliss, and
a crown of everlasting joy that shall never, never fade away. To me,
then, the days or years of my mortal sojourn on this earth are of
little moment. Nor is the manner of my decease of much consequence.
Should foe men sentence me to martyrdom, or physicians declare that I
must soon depart this life, it is all alike, —"A few more rolling
suns at most shall land me on fair Canaan’s coast."
WHAT DEATH IS TO A CHRISTIAN
What more can I wish than that, while my brief term on earth shall
last, I should be the servant of Him who became the Servant of servants
for me? I can say, concerning Christ’s religion, if I had to die
like a dog, and had no hope whatever of immortality, if I wanted to
lead a happy life, let me serve my God with all my heart; let me be a
follower of Jesus, and walk in His footsteps. If there were no
hereafter, I would still prefer to be a Christian, and the humblest
Christian minister, to being a king or an emperor, for I am persuaded
there are more delights in Christ, yea, more joy in one glimpse of His
face than is to be found in all the praises of this harlot-world, and
in all the delights which it can yield to us in its sunniest and
brightest days. And I am persuaded that what He has been till now, He
will be to the end; and where He hath begun a good work, He will carry
it on.
A MULTITUDE OF BLESSINGS IN CHRIST
In the religion of Jesus Christ, there are clusters even on earth too
heavy for one man to carry; there are fruits that have been found so
rich that even angel lips have never been sweetened with more luscious
wine; there are joys to be had here so fair that even the nectared wine
of Paradise can scarcely excel the sweets of satisfaction that are to
be found in the earthly banquets of the Lord. I have seen hundreds and
thousands who have given their hearts to Jesus, but I never did see one
who said he was disappointed with Him, I never met with one who said
Jesus Christ was less than He was declared to be. When first my eyes
beheld Him, when the burden slipped from off my heavy-laden shoulders,
and I was free from condemnation, I thought that all the preachers I
had ever heard had not half preached, they had not told half the beauty
of my Lord and Master. So good! so generous! so gracious! so willing to
forgive! It seemed to me as if they had almost slandered Him; they
painted His likeness, doubtless, as well as they could, but it was a
mere smudge compared with the matchless beauties of His face. All who
have ever seen Him will say the same. I go back to my home, many a
time, mourning that I cannot preach my Master even as I myself know
Him, and what I know of Him is very little compared with the
matchlessness of His grace. Would that I knew more of Him, and that I
could tell it out better!
CH Spurgeon
THE END
