The Spurgeon Series 1855 & 1856. Charles H. Spurgeon
my thoughts are weak! Old Adam is too strong for this young child to draw or drag; but God speak to you, dear hearts; God send the truth home, and then we shall rejoice together, both he that sows and he that reaps, because God has given us the increase. God bless you! may you all be born again, and have that faith that overcomes the world!
Have I that faith which looks to Christ,
O’ercomes the world and sin —
Receives him Prophet, Priest, and King,
And makes the conscience clean?
If I this precious grace possess,
All praise is due to thee;
If not, I seek it from your hands;
Now grant it, Lord, to me.
{a} Proteus: Greek and Roman Mythology. A sea god, the son of Oceanus and Tethys, fabled to assume various shapes. OED.
{b} Mawworm: the name of Dr. Cantwell, the hypocrite, in The Hypocrite, by Isaac Bickerstaff
{c} Puseyism: A name given by opponents to the theological and ecclesiastical principles and doctrines of Dr. Pusey and those with whom he was associated in the “Oxford Movement” for the revival of Catholic doctrine and observance in the Church of England which began about 1833; more formally and courteously called Tractarianism. OED.
{d} Leonidas: Leonidas was a king of Sparta, who died fighting bravely at the Battle of Thermopylae in August, 480 BC. See Explorer “http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leonidas_I”
{e} Xenophon: (ca. 430-354 BC), son of Gryllus, of the deme Erchia of Athens, also known as Xenophon of Athens, was a soldier, mercenary, and a contemporary and admirer of Socrates. He is known for his writings on the history of his own times, preserving the sayings of Socrates, and the life of ancient Greece. See Explorer “http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xenophon”
{f} Matthias: The priest who started the Maccabee Revolution in 167 BC. The Jewish people feared the Greek soldiers who had taken over their temple and rededicated it to their pagan god, Zeus. The soldiers overpowered the Jews, and forced them into worshiping Zeus. An old man named Matthias began the battle when he killed a Jewish man who was about to offer the sacrifice of a pig to Zeus. See Explorer “http://www.mahalo.com/the-maccabees”
{g} Leviathan: The name of some aquatic animal of enormous size, frequently mentioned in Hebrew poetry. Job 41 OED.
The Bible
No. 15-1:109. A Sermon Delivered On Sunday Evening, March 18, 1855, By C. H. Spurgeon, At Exeter Hall, Strand.
I have written to him the great things of my law, but they were counted as a strange thing. {Hosea 8:12}
1. This is God’s complaint against Ephraim. It is no small proof of his goodness, that he stoops to rebuke his erring creatures; it is a great argument of his gracious disposition, that he bows his head to notice terrestrial affairs. He might, if he pleased, wrap himself with night as with a garment; he might put the stars around his wrist for bracelets, and bind the suns around his brow for a coronet; he might dwell alone, far, far above this world, up in the seventh heaven, and look down with calm and silent indifference upon all the doings of his creatures; he might do as the heathens supposed their Jove {a} did, sit in perpetual silence, sometimes nodding his fearful head to make the Fates {b} move as he pleased, but never taking thought of the little things of earth, disposing of them as beneath his notice, engrossed within his own being, swallowed up within himself, living alone and retired, and I, as one of his creatures might stand by night upon a mountain top, and look upon the silent stars, and say, “You are the eyes of God, but you do not look down on me; your light is the gift of his omnipotence, but your rays are not smiles of love to me. God, the mighty Creator, has forgotten me; I am a despicable drop in the ocean of creation, a withered leaf in the forest of beings, an atom in the mountain of existence. He does not knows me; I am alone, alone, alone.” But it is not so, beloved. Our God is of another order; he notices every one of us. There is not a sparrow or a worm, but is found in his decrees. There is not a person upon whom his eye is not fixed. Our most secret acts are known to him. Whatever we do, or bear, or suffer, the eye of God still rests upon us, and we are beneath his smile, — for we are his people; or beneath his frown, — for we have erred from him.
2. Oh! how ten thousand fold merciful is God, that, looking down upon the race of man, he does not smile it out of existence. We see from our text that God looks upon man, for he says of Ephraim, “I have written to him the great things of my law, but they were counted as a strange thing.” But see how when he observes the sin of man he does not dash him away and spurn him with his foot; he does not shake him by the neck over the gulf of hell, until his brain does reel, and then drop him for ever; but rather, he comes down from heaven to plead with his creatures; he argues with them; he puts himself, as it were, upon a level with the sinner, states his grievances, and pleads his claim. Oh Ephraim, I have written to you the great things of my law, but they have been to you as a strange thing! I come here to night in God’s stead, my friends, to plead with you as God’s ambassador, to charge many of you with a sin; to lay it to your hearts by the power of the Spirit, so that you may be convicted of sin, of righteousness, and of a judgment to come. The crime I charge you with is the sin of the text. God has written to you the great things of his law, but they have been to you as a strange thing. It is concerning this blessed book, the Bible, that I mean to speak tonight. Here lies my text — this Word of God. Here is the theme of my discourse, a theme which demands more eloquence than I possess; a subject upon which a thousand orators might speak at once; a mighty, vast, incomprehensive theme, which might engross all eloquence throughout eternity, and still it would remain unexhausted.
3. Concerning the Bible, I have three things to say tonight and they are all in my text. First, its author, “I have written”; secondly, its subjects — the great things of God’s law; and thirdly, its common treatment — It has been accounted by most men a strange thing.
4. I. First, then, concerning this book, who is THE AUTHOR? The text says that it is God. “I have written to him the great things of my law.” Here lies my Bible — who wrote it? I open it, and I find it consists of a series of tracts. The first five tracts were written by a man called Moses. I turn further on and I find others. Sometimes I see David is the penman, at other times, Solomon. Here I read Micah, then Amos, then Hosea. As I turn further on, to the more luminous pages of the New Testament, I see Matthew, Luke, and John, Paul, Peter, James and others; but when I shut up the book, I ask myself who is the author of it? Do these men jointly claim the authorship? Are they the compositors of this massive volume? Do they between themselves divide the honour? Our holy religion answers, “No!” This volume is the writing of the living God: each fetter was penned with an Almighty finger; each word in it dropped from the everlasting lips, each sentence was dictated by the Holy Spirit. Albeit, that Moses was employed to write his histories with his fiery pen, God guided that pen. It may be that David touched his harp and let sweet Psalms of melody drop from his fingers, but God moved his hands over the living strings of his golden harp. It may be that Solomon sang Canticles of love, or gave out words of consummate wisdom, but God directed his lips, and made the Preacher eloquent. If I follow the thundering Nahum when his horses plough the waters, or Habakkuk when he sees the tents of Cushan in affliction; if I read Malachi, when the earth is burning like an oven; if I turn to the smooth page of John, who tells of love, or the rugged, fiery chapters of Peter, who speaks of the fire devouring God’s enemies; if I turn to Jude, who launches forth anathemas upon the foes of God, everywhere I find God speaking: it is God’s voice, not man’s; the words are God’s words, the words of the Eternal, the Invisible, the Almighty, the Jehovah of this earth. This Bible is God’s Bible; and when I see it, I seem to hear a voice springing up from it, saying, “I am the book of God: man, read me. I am God’s writing: open my leaf, for I was penned by God; read it, for he is my author, and you will see him visible and obvious everywhere.” “I have written to him the great things of my law.”
5. How do you know that God wrote the book? That is just what I shall not try to prove to you. I could, if I pleased, give a demonstration, for there