OF THE REV. C. H. SPURGEON OF LONDON. Second Series. NEW YORK: SHELDON AND COMPANY. BOSTON: GOULD & LINCOLN. CHICAGO: S. C. GRIGGS & CO. THE NEW YORK; 287017 ASTOR. LENOX AND 1 By special arrangement SHELI & COMPANY will publish the Sermons of the REV. C. H. SPURGEON, and it is the author's wish that no parties shall infringe this contract. *Charles T.Harbeck 24, MAR 04 T. B. STEREOTYPED BY SMITH & SON, 82 & 84 Beekman-st. PRINTED BY 79 John-street. PREFACE. EBENEZER! Hitherto the Lord hath helped me. Truly may the writer say this. In fact he is compelled, before he proceeds to write a few words of preface, to express his hearty thanks that he is able to write at all. Great and sore troubles have rolled over his head; he has been exceedingly cast down. His mournful song was, for a time, "Turn, turn thee to my soul, Bring thy salvation near; When will thy hand release my feet "The tumult of my thoughts Doth but enlarge my woe: But now, by merciful restoration, he can again sing of the loving-kindness of the Lord, and make known his faithfulness unto all generations. Renewed health and vigor demand new exertion and fresh gratitude. May divine grace constrain us to the one, and divine love impel us to the other. Reader, it is no egotism on our part when we say, "O magnify the Lord with me, and let us exalt his name together." It is a source of great thankfulness that the Lord has Ies T Harbeck spared us to see another year, and has allowed us to complete a second volume. To his upholding grace be glory, world without end. How shall the lips of unworthy men be able to show forth the wondrous grace of the Lord Jesus in preserving his people from year to year, and especially when they are exposed to perils from friends and foes, from without and within, from success and from sadness? To him be all glory given, that his servants are kept in his right hand, and are not given over to the will of their enemies. Let feeble saints take courage. He who has helped us hitherto, will not desert us in our future times of need. The same doctrines which we taught last year are repeated in these sermons. We have met with nothing which has shaken our faith in the "good old paths," but with many things which have constrained us to cleave unto the Word of the Lord with fixed heart and determined spirit. Would that the time were come, when the pure truth of the Gospel would be more fully received among us. Our ministry is a testimony that no new theology is needed to stir the masses and save souls; we defy all the negative theologians in England to give such proof of their ministry as we can. If we must be fools in glorying, we do; we must boast that the old doctrines are victorious, and that the Lord the Spirit has most signally honored them. We do not cite the overwhelming and ever-increasing multitudes who listen to us as a proof in this matter, but we do and will glory in the power of the Gospel, in that it has brought so many to the arms of Christ, and raised so many from the dunghill. In every place where the old Gospel has been proclaimed, it has had its trophies from the worst of men, and we are no exception to the rule. The slain of the Lord have been many. His arrows have found out the hearts of his enemies; many |