An all-round ministry - Spurgeon - VIII - Chapter 5 commenced

Required reading
An all-round ministry by CH Spurgeon (Available from Amazon or free here) - Commence Chapter 5 (A new departure) by reading up to the paragraph beginning, 'Perhaps I have spoken at too great length upon the former part of my subject; I now propose to dwell upon the necessity of renewing grace.'

My summary
Spurgeon now gives us a chapter on the importance of returning to our first love after experiencing a 'running down'.

This week he suggests some causes of the minister's running down:
(i) the evaporation of youthful vigour;
(ii) cessation of early success;
(iii) natural wear and tear of an active life;
(iv) duty becoming routine work;
(v) want of association with others of warm heart and kindred spirit;
(vi) mental decline;
(vii) spiritual dry rot.

Then Spurgeon outlines some signs that a minister is running down:
(i) by amusing himself with hobbies instead of preaching the gospel;
(ii) giving himself solely to expound prophecy;
(iii) having no principles left;
(iv) falling into actual doctrinal error.

What grabbed me
A really good point was made about some minister's tendency to enjoy preaching on prophecy a bit too much: 'I have known certain brethren give themselves solely to expound prophecy. Now, a man full of the life of God may expound prophecy as much as he likes; but there are some who, having lost their love of the gospel, try to win back what little popularity they once had by taking up with guesses at the future. They may be quite, sure that, if they cannot profit men by bringing them to the manger and the cross, they will make a complete failure of it if they handle the seals and the vials. Did you ever notice, in Calvin's Commentaries, that there is no exposition of the Book of Revelation? Why not? He said, "I have not expounded that Book because I do not understand it." When I hear a man say, "I have found much in Matthew which does not belong to the Church, I have outgrown much of the Romans and Galatians, and I cannot enjoy the Psalms, for they do not rise to the perfection of my experience; I want something more elevated and spiritual, more abstruse and wonderful;" I conclude that this brother is spinning his last hank, and spending his last pennyworth of sense...Speculation is an index of the spiritual poverty of the man who surrenders himself to it. His flour has all been used, so he tries plaster of Paris; he has no more gold or silver, so he coins the baser metals. He cannot prophesy after the measure of faith, so he exercises his immeasurable imagination. His own experience does not serve him with topics for his ministry, and therefore he takes airy flights into regions of which he knows nothing.'

If your fascination with eschatology exceeds your fascination with the gospel, you're in trouble.

Next week's reading
Conclude Chapter 5 (A new departure).

Now it's your turn
Please post your own notes and thoughts in the comments section below.