AMONG the many literary treasures so carefully preserved by Mr. S purgeon, there are two sets of books containing his first brief Outlines of Sermons, and the more lengthy manuscripts which he used to prepare until the claims of his London pastorate made impossible to continue doing so any longer. Probably, by that time, he also felt that he did not need to write so fully as in his early preaching days; and, shortly afterwards, as he often told his students, the revision of his printed Sermons gave him all the advantages that he might have derived from more elaborate preparation for the pulpit.
The first volume of Outlines must have been commenced very soon after Mr. Spurgeon began to preach, for the second written in it was only the fourth discourse delivered by the youthful evangelist. The text was Revelation 21:27, and it was preached at Barton, near Cambridge, on February 9th, 1851. This fact fixes, approximately, the date of the commencement of that wonderful world-wide ministry which the Lord so long and so greatly blessed, and which He still continues most graciously to own and use. Such intense interest attaches to these early records, that the Autobiography would be incomplete unless it included at least a few specimens of the beloved preacher’s first homiletic efforts. Mr. Spurgeon had himself intended, long ago, to publish a selection from them; in the Preface to The New Park Street Pulpit for 1857, he announced that he hoped shortly to issue a volume, of his earliest Sermons, while Pastor at Waterbeach, but this was prevented by the pressure of his rapidly increasing work. The Outlines are valuable, not only because of their intrinsic merits, but also as the first products of the mind and heart which afterwards yielded so many thousands of discourses to the Church and the world, for the glory of God and the good of men. It must be remembered that they were made by a youth of sixteen; literally, “the boy-preacher.” At the beginning of Vol. I. is a textual index, showing that the seventy-seven Outlines were based upon passages taken from fifteen Books in the Old Testament, and sixteen in the New Testament; while at the end is a subject index, which bears a remarkable resemblance to those which set forth the contents of every volume of the Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit. Happy preacher, who commenced, as he continued, and concluded, the ministry he “received of the Lord Jesus, to testify the gospel of the grace of God.” As indicating the character of the whole series, the first three Sermon-notes are given in the present work, together with one Outline from each of the succeeding volumes, facsimile reproductions of the highly-adorned title-pages of Vols. I. and II., and the characteristic inscriptions written by Mr. Spurgeon at the commencement and conclusion of most of the volumes.
OUTLINE 1. — ADOPTION.
“Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to Himself according to the good pleasure of His will.” — Ephesians 1:5.
Meaning of the term. Common among Romans. Two instances in Scripture, — Moses and Esther. Adoption differs from Justification and Regeneration.
I. THE SENSE IN WHICH BELIEVERS ARE SONS OF GOD.
Not as Jesus. More so than creatures.
(i) In some things spiritual adoption agrees with civil
1. In name and thing. 2. To an inheritance. 3. Voluntary on the part of the Adopter. 4. Taking the Adopter’s name. 5. Received into the Family. 6. Considered as children: food, protection, clothing, education, attendance provided. 7. Under the control of the Father.
(ii) In some things they disagree
I. Civil adoption requires the consent of the adopted. 2. Civil adoption was intended to provide for childless persons. 3. In civil adoption, the adopted had something to recommend him. 4. The nature of a son could not be given. 5. The children did not inherit till their father’s death. 6. The Pontifex might make it void.
II. THE CAUSE OF ADOPTION.
I. The Person: Father. Son. Spirit.
2. The free-grace, not works.
III. THE OBJECT OF IT.
Elect sinners, not angels. All believers. not all men, but justified men.
IV. THE EXCELLENCY OF IT.
I. It is an act of surprising grace. (1 John 3:1.) Consider the persons. 2. It exceeds all others. 3. It makes men honorable. 4. Brings men into the highest relations. 5. Includes all things. 6. Immutable and everlasting.
V. THE EFFECT OF IT
I. Share in the love, pity, and care of God. 2. Access with boldness. 3. Conformity to the image of Jesus. 4. The Holy Spirit. 5. Heirship.
Encouragement. Appeal to saints and sinners.
OUTLINE II. — NECESSITY OF PURITY FOR AN ENTRANCE INTO HEAVEN.
“And there shall in no wise enter into it any, thing that defileth, neither whatsoever worketh abomination, or maketh a lie: but they which arc written in the Lamb’s book of life.” — Revelation 21:27.
I. THE STRICTNESS OF THE LAW…… “any thing that defileth.”
Satan cannot. Sin cannot. What a matter of rejoicing to Christians!
How can man enter?
Not by ceremonies. Not by the law. Not by sincere obedience in part.
The heart must be purified.
All past sin forgiven. How? By free-grace.
All present sin crucified. How? By the Holy Spirit.
All future sin avoided. How? By the Spirit’s help.
II. THE IMPOSSIBILITY OF ENTRANCE…… “in no wise.”
God has said so. He will not allow it; nor will the angels; nor the redeemed. A wicked man would not be happy in Heaven.
No prayers, cries, groans, strife, can get a dead, unholy sinner into Heaven. If a man is not in, he is out for ever, no coming in, no change.
Call to enter in by faith in Jesus Christ.
OUTLINE III. — ABRAHAM JUSTIFIED BY FAITH.
“And he believed in the LORD; and He counted il to him for righteousness.” — Genesis xv. 6.
I. THE FACT… “he believed in the Lord.”
Leaving his country. Life in Canaan. Sodom.
Isaac’s birth. Promises to him. Isaac’s sacrifice.
Two sorts of faith
Historical, or dead
Living faith, producing
II. THE RESULT… “He counted it to him for righteousness.”
I. Sins forgiven, — 2. Righteousness imputed, — by faith.
By it, he gained God’s favor and love, Heaven, and eternal life.
These bring —
Peace. How easy lies the head that does no ill!
Love. When we are pure, we love God.
Joy. The justified person has true joy.
Comfort. All things work together for good. Security. None can condemn, nor destroy.
III. AS ABRAHAM WAS SAVED, SO MUST WE BE.
Not by works, or Abraham would have been.
Not by ceremonies. Abram believed before circumcision.
Reasons why sinners and Christians should believe God; exhortations to faith.
OUTLINE CXXXIII. — BY FAITH JERICHO FELL.
“By faith the walls of Jericho fell down, after they were compassed about seven days.” — Hebrews xi. 30.
Faith is the one grand essential in salvation. It must be inwrought, or else there will be no spiritual life at first. It is necessary ewer after in numberless ways. We cannot have knowledge of gospel doctrines without faith, nor can we lay hold on the promises without it. The graces are all dependent on faith. He loves most who believes most. He will have most zeal who has; most faith. Humility is produced by faith, and hope breathes through faith. In doing good to others, and particularly in combat with evil, let us have faith.
I. FAITH IS THE GRACE TO WHICH VICTORY IS GIVEN
The other graces are not decked with laurel, lest man should steal their crowns; but faith is too tall, man cannot reach its Faith has less to do with man, and more to do with God than any of the other graces; for faith is looking away from self, and trusting the Eternal.
Faith gains the victory because she engages the arm of the Almighty on her behalf. She has power with Him, and therefore she prevails.
That man is most able to bear with humility the joy of victory who endured the conflict by faith; he will give all the glory to God.
other graces do wonders, but faith does impossibilities. She is the only grace that can act in certain places, and under certain She is intended for this very purpose.
II. FAITH WINS HER VICTORIES IN GOD’S APPOINTED WAY
She uses no means of her own contrivance; she waits upon God for
She neglects not His appointments; she is not
When she uses the means, she does not despise She ungirds the sword, — she follows the ark, — she hears the rams’ horns.
She is laughed at for seeming folly; but in her turn she
She does her Maker’s will, and she expects the blessing, but all in an orderly way. That is no faith at all which believes and does nothing. We may not expect to be saved by faith, unless that faith pushes us on to run in God’s way. Whether we seek salvation, the good of our friends, the stopping of evil, or the destruction of our corruptions, let us seek it in the Divinely-appointed way.
III. FAITH WINS HER VICTORIES IN GOD’S TIME
She goes round Jericho thirteen times; she expects the wall will come down at last, so round and round she goes.
She expects that, on the Lord’s appointed day, her sins will all be overthrown, and she thinks her work well repaid when she knows this will happen. Therefore is she persevering in the conflict.
Now let us apply these thoughts —
I. To the pulling down of Jericho in our own hearts.
We want to slay all the old sinful inhabitants, but the lofty wall stands firm. Let us have faith. Let us follow the ark. Let us hear the sound of the trumpets, even though they are only rams’ horns. Let us go round the wall all the seven days, — that is, all the week, — all the days of our life. Let us inwardly groan, but not grumble with our lips; and soon, when the ordained day arrives, the walls will tremble, we shall shout, and our enemies will be gone.
2. To the pulling down of Jericho in the world.
Sin has strong and lofty towers. The Tower of Babel or Babylonish Rome, idolatry, etc., — let us yet believe that these will tumble to the earth. Let us continue our rounds as minister, Sunday-school teachers, and Christian workers. Keep the poor rams’ horns going; do your duty, and one day Jesus shall reign universally.
3. To the pulling down of Jericho in this village.
Dagon stands fast here; but the ark of God is come. The trumpeters of God have long blown the trumpet; the rams’ horns are still sounding a loud rough blast. Many are following the ark, but the time for the complete victory has not quite come. Keep on, brethren, and give a great shout, all at once, — by faith, — and down will come the mighty walls.
The Lord help us to believe His Word, and then fulfill to us His promises!
Amen, through JESUS.
(The following poem was written by Mr. Spurgeon at the time that he prepared and preached the foregoing discourse: —)
THE FALL OF JERICHO.
The day is come, the seventh morn
Is usher’d in with blast of horn;
Tremble, ye tow’rs of giant height,
This is the day of Israel’s might.
Six days ye mock’d the silent band,
This hour their shout shall shake your land.
Old Jordan’s floods shall hear the sound,
Yon circling hills with fear shall bound.
Thou palm — tree’d city, at thy gates
Death in grim form this moment waits;
See, hurrying on the howling blast,
That dreaded hour, thy last, thy last.
Lo, at the leader’s well-known sign,
The tribes their mighty voices join,
With thund’ring noise the heavens are rent,
Down falls the crumbling battlement;
Straight to the prey each soldier goes,
The sword devours his helpless foes.
Now, impious! on your idols call;
Prostrate at Baal’s altar fall.
In vain your rampart and your pride,
Which once Jehovah’s power defied.
Now Israel, spare not, strike the blade
In heart of man, and breast of maid;
Spare not the old, nor young, nor gay,
Spare not, for Justice bids you slay.
Who shall describe that dreadful cry?
These ears shall hear it till they die.
Pale terror shrieks her hideous note,
War bellows from his brazen throat,
Death tears his prey with many a groan,
Nor earth itself restrains a moan.
Ho! vultures, to the banquet haste,
Here ye may feast, and glut your taste;
Ho! monsters of the gloomy wood,
Here cool your tongues in seas of blood.
But, no; the flames demand the whole,
In blazing sheets they upward roll;
They fire the heavens, and cast their light
Where Gibeon pales with sad affright;
A lurid glare o’er earth is cast,
The nations stand, with dread aghast.
The shepherd on the distant plain
Thinks of old Sodom’s fiery rain;
He flies a sheltering hill to find,
Nor casts one lingering look behind.
The magician scans his mystic lore,
Foretells the curse on Egypt’s shore;
The Arab checks his frighted horse,
Bends his wild knee, and turns his ‘course.
E’en seas remote behold the glare,
And hardy sailors raise their prayer.
Now, in dim smoke, the flames expire
That lit the city’s fun’ral fire,
The glowing embers cease to burn:
Haste, patriot, fill the golden urn!
In crystal tears her dust embalm,
In distant lands, in strife or calm,
Still press the relic to thy heart,
And in the rapture lose the smart!
It must not be; her sons are dead,
They with their Mother burned or bled;
not one survives: the vip’rish race
Have perish’d with their lodging-place.
No more lascivious maidens dance,
No youths with lustful step advance,
No drunkard’s bowl, no rite unclean,
No idol mysteries are seen.
A warrior stands in martial state,
And thus proclaims her changeless fate:
“Accursed city, blot her name
From mind of man, from lip of fame.
Curs’d be the man, and curs’d his race,
Who dares his house on thee to place;
He founds it on his firstborn’s tomb,
And crowns it with the brother’s doom. ”
Thus God rewards the haughty foe,
Great in their sin and overthrow.
He ever reigns immortal King;
With Israel’s song the mountains ring.
Yet ‘mid the justice dread, severe,
Where pity sheds no silv’ry tear,
A gleam of golden mercy strays,
And lights the scene with pleasing rays.
One house escapes, by faith secure,
The scarlet thread a token sure,
Rahab, whose seed in future time
Should bear the virgin’s Son sublime.
Thus, when the Thund’rer grasps His arms,
And fills our earth with just alarms,
His hand still shields the chosen race,
And ‘midst His wrath remembers grace.
* * * *
(At the end of the hundredth Outline, Mr. Spurgeon wrote: — )
For this 100, I bless the Lord, for the good is His. May they be the seed of many a plant of the Lord!
(Inscription inside front cover of Volume II: — )
FINIS.