Spurgeon’s Practical Wisdom

Plain Advice for Plain People

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Weight 1.22 lbs
Dimensions 8.8 × 5.75 × 1 in
ISBN 9781848710511
Topic

Life Issues, Spiritual Growth

Page Count

328

Scripture

Whole Bible

Banner Pub Date

Oct 1, 2009

Original Pub Date

1869, 1880

Format

Book

Binding

Cloth-bound

Book Description

It has sometimes been said that Christians are ‘too heavenly minded to be of any earthly use’. While that may apply to some, it could never be said of Charles Haddon Spurgeon. Spurgeon combined heavenly mindedness with zeal to improve the lot of ordinary people. At the height of his ministry there were dozens of enterprises associated with his Metropolitan Tabernacle that served the spiritual and practical needs of men and women, boys and girls.

Although Spurgeon is best remembered as a gospel preacher, he was also a gifted writer. Under the not-so-well-disguised pseudonym of ‘John Ploughman’, a wise old country farm worker, Spurgeon penned a number of humorous articles on topical subjects for his monthly magazine, The Sword and the Trowel. ‘I have somewhat indulged the mirthful vein, but ever with so serious a purpose that I ask no forgiveness’, he wrote. In these articles he ‘aimed blows at the vices of the many’ and tried to inculcate ‘those moral virtues without which men are degraded.’ His efforts met with great success. When later published, John Ploughman’s Talk and John Ploughman’s Pictures were an instant hit with sales of these two volumes exceeding 600,000 in the author’s own lifetime. In homes throughout the length and breadth of Great Britain Spurgeon’s practical wisdom on subjects such as alcohol, debt, anger, temptation, cruelty, and the family home, were heeded and cherished. In the preface to John Ploughman’s Pictures, he was able to write: ‘John Ploughman’s Talk has not only obtained an immense circulation, but it has exercised an influence for good. Although its tone is rather moral than religious, it has led many to take the first steps by which men climb to better things.’

This fine edition of Spurgeon’s Practical Wisdom, which includes all of the illustrations from the original two volumes, will surely enrich many a Christian home and be treasured by a new generation of readers.

Table of Contents Expand ↓

John Ploughman’s Talk
Preface vii
To the Idle 1
On Religious Grumblers 11
On the Preacher’s Appearance 17
On Good Nature and Firmness 21
On Patience 29
On Gossips 33
On Seizing Opportunities 37
On Keeping One’s Eyes Open 41
Thoughts about Thought 45
Faults 49
Things Not Worth Trying 53
Debt 57
Home 67
Men Who Are Down 75
Hope 81
Spending 87
A Good Word for Wives 93
Men with Two Faces 103
Hints As To Thriving 109
Tall Talk 117
Things I Would Not Choose 125
Try 129
Monuments 135
Very Ignorant People 141
If the Cap Fits Wear It 151
Burn a Candle at Both Ends . . . 155
Hunchback Sees Not His Own Hump . . . 159
It Is Hard for an Empty Sack To Stand Upright 163
He Who Would Please All Will Lose His Donkey 169
All Are Not Hunters That Blow the Horn 173
A Hand-saw Is a Good Thing, but Not To Shave with 177
Don’t Cut Off Your Nose to Spite Your Face 181
He Has a Hole under His Nose . . . 185
Every Man Should Sweep before His Own Door 193
Scant Feeding of Man or Horse . . . 197
Never Stop the Plough to Catch a Mouse 203
A Looking-glass Is of No Use to a Blind Man 207
He has Got the Fiddle, but Not the Stick 213
Great Cry and Little Wool . . . 215
You May Bend the Sapling, but not the Tree 219
A Man May Love His House . . . 223
Great Drinkers Think Themselves Great Men 229
Two Dogs Fight for a Bone . . . 235
He Lives under the Sign of the Cat’s Foot 237
He Would Put His Finger in the Pie . . . 243
You Can’t Catch the Wind in a Net 247
Beware of the Dog 251
Like Cat like Kit 259
A Horse which Carries a Halter is Soon Caught 263
An Old Fox Is Shy of a Trap 267
A Black Hen Lays a White Egg 271
He Looks One Way and Pulls the Other 273
Stick to It and Do It 275
Don’t Put the Cart before the Horse 283
A Leaking Tap is a Great Waster 287
Fools Set Stools for Wise Men to Stumble Over 293
A Man in a Passion Rides a Horse . . . 295
Where the Plough Shall Fail To Go . . . 299
All Is Lost that Is Poured into a Cracked Dish 303
Grasp All and Lose All 307
Scatter and Increase 309
Every Bird Likes Its Own Nest 313

2 testimonials for Spurgeon’s Practical Wisdom

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  1. Thomas Cunningham

    This is some of the finest writing of the Victorian era. I love to read his pithy and outrageously funny sayings, all with a good point. Why, one night as I came across a particularly hilarious illustration, I was so convulsed with laughter, that I fell out of my bed!

    I must have this book. So much floating around on the internet is scanned poorly and uncorrected, I can’t wait to see how Banner of Truth has done with it.

  2. Tyler Brown

    Everyone should read this book. Most of us (guilty) on BoT want to be great theologians, fervent apologist’s and profound ministers of truth. However, most of us (guilty) come short of these grand claims. I am intentionally using this language because this book reminds me that the Gospel is for everyday people like me and you. Most honest people work hard, try hard, and hope for little. It’s our job to give the hope they don’t know is there and it doesn’t take a 5 page volume on soteriology to tell them. Read this book and take a breath and tell them who Jesus is and what He did.

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