This article is continued from edition 157.
First, we have Manton's illustrations, or similes, and then, Spurgeon's comment.
Manton:
A traveller and a merchant differ: a traveller goes from place to place that he may see; but a merchant goes from port to port that he may take in his cargo, and grow rich by traffic.
Spurgeon:
Thus there are travelling "hearers", who merely observe and criticise, and go their way very little the better for what they have heard. There are also merchant-hearers, who listen to profit, and make a gain to their souls out of every sermon. O Lord, put me among the wise merchantmen, and in my trading may I find the one pearl of great price, even Jesus, thy Son.
Manton:
The Spirit of God rides most triumphantly in his own chariot.
Spurgeon:
That is to say, he is best pleased to convey conviction and comfort by means of his own Word. God's Word, not man's comment upon God's Word, is the most usual means of conversion. This is done to put honour upon the divine revelation, and to make us prize it with all our heart. Our Lord said not only, "Sanctify them," but "Sanctify them through thy truth;" and then he added, "thy word is truth." The scriptures do not make our hearts burn until the Spirit kindles them into flames and then we say, "Did not our hearts burn within us while he talked with us by the way, and while he opened to us the scriptures." Let us reverence Holy Scripture, because the Holy Ghost is its author, expositor, preserver, and applier. We cannot too often use the weapon which the Spirit himself calls his Word.
Manton:
The earth is never the more unsettled because to giddy brains it seemeth to spin round.
Spurgeon:
Even so the salvation of the saints is sure, though to their trembling hearts it may seem to be in terrible jeopardy. A passenger crossing the channel is none the less in safety because he himself feels ready to give up the ghost with the nausea brought on by the rolling of the vessel. Our feelings are poor judges of facts. Some who felt sure of heaven are now in hell, and others who had almost lost hope can arrive in heaven for all that. My head may whirl and make me think that everything is spinning round, and yet I know those things to be steadfast as the hills. Therefore, I do not believe my feelings, but trust the facts. And so, when my poor silly heart imagines that the eternal promises will fail, I must chide its folly, and fall back upon the everlasting verities.
Manton:
There is a difference between merit and means; a schoolmaster may teach a child gratis, and yet the boy must himself take pains to get his learning. Mercy is never obtained but in the use of means: wisdom's dole is dispensed at wisdom's gate.
Spurgeon:
This is a very important remark, and tends to protect from the charge of legality those who earnestly exhort men to gospel duties. There is no "merit" for us in seeking the Lord, but we may not hope to find him without it. Prayer does not deserve and answer, and yet we are to pray without ceasing, and we may not hope to have unless we ask. The cup must be held under the flowing fountain, or it will not be filled; yet the cup does not create the water nor purchase it. All the exertion which a man makes in running the heavenly race will not merit the prize of eternal life, but it would not, therefore, be right for him to lie in bed and hope to win it.
Manton:
It is easier to crush the egg than to kill the serpent.
Spurgeon:
It is prudent to break up all the eggs we can find before the reptiles are hatched. Far greater wisdom will be shown in early dealings with an error or a temptation then allowing it time to make headway. In our own cases, it will be best to correct ourselves as soon as possible, and unhesitatingly to stamp out the first sparks of ill desire before passion rises to a flame. A serpent's egg a child can break, but who is to contend with a venomous creature which may be hatched from it, if it be left unbroken? So it is with that vice (of drink) which, the scripture says, "stingeth like a viper." The first glass can readily be refused; it is quite another matter to stop when the wine has entered the brain. The first impropriety we may readily avoid, but when unclean desires are fully aroused, who shall bridle them? O Lord, out of thy grace, teach me to crush sin speedily, lest it should gather strength and crush me
Manton:
A man goes to bed willingly and cheerfully, because he knows he shall rise again the next day. Confidence in the resurrection would make us go to the grave as cheerfully as we go to our beds.
Spurgeon:
This is a choice word; it needs not a line from us.