Lectures to my students - Spurgeon - XV - Chapter 3 (The need of decision for the truth)

Required reading
Lectures to my students by Charles Spurgeon (Available from Amazon or free here) - Read Chapter 3 (The need of decision for the truth).   

My summary
This week Spurgeon encourages us to stand for the truth.

Firstly Spurgeon tells us what truths we should stand on:
(i) the existence of God;
(ii) the inspiration of the Bible;
(iii) the trinity;
(iv) the atonement;
(v) the Spirit of God;
(vi) the new birth;
(vii) the evil of sin;
(viii) salvation being all of grace;
(ix) justification by faith.

Secondly Spurgeon teaches us to show our decision for truth in our:
(i) tone;
(ii) daily actions;
(iii) zeal.

Thirdly Spurgeon encourages us to strengthen our decision by the recollection of important truths.

Fourthly Spurgeon discusses reasons why we should at this particular age be decided and bold.  The age is:
(i) doubting;
(ii) careless and frivolous;
(iii) impressible.

What grabbed me
I appreciated Spurgeon's encouragement not to be quarrelsome in our stand for truth: 'Some individuals appear to be naturally cut on the cross; they are manufactured to be rasps, and rasp they will. Sooner than not quarrel with you they would raise a question upon the color of invisibility, or the weight of a nonexistent substance. They are up in arms with you, not because of the importance of the question under discussion, but because of the far greater importance of their being always the Pope of the party. Don’t go about the world with your fist doubled up for fighting, carrying a theological revolver in the leg of your trousers. There is no sense in being a sort of doctrinal game-cock, to be carried about to show your spirit, or a terrier of orthodoxy, ready to tackle heterodox rats by the score. Practice the suaviter in modo as well as the fortiter in re. Be prepared to fight, and always have your sword buckled on your thigh, but wear a scabbard; there can be no sense in waving your weapon about before everybody’s eyes to provoke conflict, after the manner of our beloved friends of the Emerald Isle, who are said to take their coats off at Donnybrook Fair, and drag them along the ground, crying out, while they flourish their shillelahs, “Will any gentleman be so good as to tread on the tail of my coat?” These are theologians of such warm, generous blood, that they are never at peace till they are fully engaged in war. '

We should never be eager to fight simply for the sake of fighting.

Next week's reading
Read Chapter 4 (Open-air preaching).

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