posted by Phil Johnson
The PyroManiacs devote some space each weekend to highlights from The Spurgeon Archive. The following excerpt is from "A Prophetic Warning," a sermon preached by Spurgeon at the Metropolitan Tabernacle that remained unpublished until Thursday, May 9th, 1912—more than twenty years after Spurgeon died.
hristian love also embraces the truth. Them that love God and his divine Son, love the truth which he has committed to them. The Church is the trustee of the gospel: she is "the pillar and ground of the truth." And when men begin to play with the truth, and think that one set of doctrines is as good as another, and that nothing is of any particular importance, evil must come.In former days, our fathers counted it a small thing to go to prison for a doctrine, or to be burnt to death for a testimony. Look at the multitudes in Holland who were drowned, or who were tied to ladders and roasted to death for nothing but their conviction that believers should be baptized. Nowadays, people consider Scriptural views of baptism to be a mere trifle.
I question whether our present Broad Churchmen think that there is any doctrine worth a person's losing the first joint of his little finger for: as to burning to death for a truth, that must seem a great absurdity to these liberal theologians. Now that things have reached this pass, need we wonder that heresies and all manner of errors rush in torrents down our streets? When she can afford to trifle with truth, what is the church worth?
2 comments:
So true. It turns my mind to a peculiar specific: seminary professors.
We've talked before about the drawbacks of the current seminary system, where men who are to lead churches are schooled often by men who never have done and never will do so. Doesn't much error, compromise, and complacency start there, take root in men's hearts, then filter down into the church?
Not a serious proposal, but the imagination might entertain how different seminary education might be if the profs were required to preach the Gospel in some hostile setting for a time before being hired. Could be a winnowing experience.
This thought comes to mind a lot as one sees Big Names jawing on and on about trimming off this and that Biblical position that the world frowns on.
Well all this makes leading family worship and devotions seem like just small potatoes, yet how else is it possible to raise up sons and daughters that will lay hold of and earnestly contend for the faith as Spurgeon calls?
Preaching and teaching the gospel rightly to a five year old at home is not hard, it just takes lots of time, effort, patience, prayer, etc. It's the home turf, much less anything considered hostile! Yet, how many out of a hundred faithfully even do just that?
I'd be delighted to find that I'm completely daft in my assumption, but nonetheless, count me as one who is aiming high for both true and godly maturity in my little ones!
Let us be faithful in doing little and perhaps by grace we will find it is not so difficult to also be faithful in doing much. But then, what do I know? I'm just a husband, father, part time Sunday school teacher, and (hopefully someday soon again) church trumpeter.
Thanks for contending for the faith so earnestly on this site - its not going unnoticed!
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