Monday, May 17, 2010

Spurgeon on Physique

To my shame, I'm only now reading Spurgeon's Lectures to My Students. This portion may not hit at the heart of his message, but I wanted to pass it on as an example of Spurgeon's witty if not a bit dogmatic perspective:
I would not . . . judge men by their features, but their general physique is no small criterion. That narrow chest does not indicate a man formed for public speech. You may think it odd, but still I feel very well assured, that when a man has a contracted chest, with no distance between his shoulders, the all-wise Creator did not intend him habitually to preach. If he had meant him to speak he would have given him in some measure breadth of chest, sufficient to yield a reasonable amount of lung force. When the Lord means a creature to run, he gives it nimble legs, and if he means another creature to preach, he will give it suitable lungs. A brother who has to pause in the middle of a sentence and work his air-pump, should ask himself whether there is not some other occupation for which he is better adapted.

8 comments:

  1. what a legalist...

    that's a calvinist for you.

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  2. And then modern sound equipment came along, leveling the biological playing field.

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  3. Does he not mention the phrenological requirements to be a theologian?

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  4. yeah, Shayne beat me to it, but Spurgeon was speaking of a day when one had to rely simply on the physical frame and the acoustics of one's building. I don't have my books with me, but he preached once in a huge building and was able to make himself heard by a crowd of many thousands without amplification. Most of us could never do that.

    Maranatha!
    Don Johnson
    Jer 33.3

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  5. I wonder what CHS would've said about bloggers if they were around back then.

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  6. Good thing Schaeffer, Piper, Packer, Custer, (who else is puny -- was Edwards a big guy?) didn't listen to Spurgeon here.

    Spurgeon's awesome when he's awesome (how's that for a tautology), and he's aweful when he's not.

    Keith

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  7. David Robinson5/22/2010 12:25 AM

    Ben, when I read this some years ago, I found this particularly funny. Perhaps, I now have justification for my gym membership.

    d.

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  8. Clearly David, you have nothing to fear from Spurgeon. Go preach!

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