C.H. Spurgeon Quotes

My brother said to me, the other day, what Charles Wesley said to John Wesley, “Brother, our people die well!” I answered, “Assuredly they do!” I have never been to the sick-bed of any one of our people without feeling strengthened in faith. AM361 The late venerable and godly Dr. Archibald Alexander, of Princeton, United States, had been a preacher of Christ for sixty years, and a professor of divinity for forty. He died on the 22nd October, 1851. On his death-bed, he was heard to say to a friend, “All my theology is reduced to this narrow compass—Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners.” FA29 I am never so happy amidst all the shouts of youthful merriment as on the day when I hear the dying testimony of one who is resting on the everlasting gospel of the grace of God. The ultimate issue, as seen upon a dying-bed, is a true test, as it is an inevitable one. GF17 The distance between glorified spirits in heaven and militant saints on earth seems great; but it is not so. We are not far from home—a moment will bring us there. ME222 Christians often want to die when they have any trouble. Ask them why, and they tell you, “Because we would be with the Lord.” We fear it is not so much because they are longing to be with the Lord, as because they desire to get rid of their troubles; else they would feel the same wish to die at other times when not under the pressure of trial. ME246 The dark flood must soon roll between thee and all thou hast; then wed thine heart to Him who will never leave thee; trust thyself with Him who will go with thee through the black and surging current of death’s stream, and who will land thee safely on the celestial shore, and make thee sit with Him in heavenly places for ever. ME264 Never, never did we know a Christian who repented of his Christianity. We have seen Christians so sick, that we wondered that they lived—so poor, that we wondered at their misery; we have seen them so full of doubts, that we pitied their unbelief; but we never heard them say, even then, “I regret that I gave myself to Christ.” No; with the dying clasp, when heart and flesh were failing, we have seen them hug this treasure to their breast, and press it to their heart, still feeling that this was their life, their joy, their all. 196.255 When Baxter lay a dying, and his friends came to see him, almost the last word he said was in answer to the question, “Dear Mr. Baxter, how are you?” “Almost well,” said he, and so it is. 1036.101 I remember a man’s tombstone on which was inscribed “Here lies one who died a child three years old at the age of eighty.” You are only as old as the number of years you have lived unto God. 1092.41 We wept when we were born though all around us smiled; so shall we smile when we die while all around us weep. 1175.304 Yea, the Father himself is here, for he is never away from the death-beds of his children. “Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints.” 1212.34 I have heard dying children speak like doctors of divinity about the things of God. I have heard dying women, who were quite uneducated, speak of the world unseen in a style of inspiration which has struck me with awe. 1213.40 A dying believer, who was attended by an apothecary who was also a child of God, was observed to be whispering to himself while dying, and his good attendant, wishing to know what were his last words, placed his ear against the dying man’s lips, and heard him repeating to himself again and again the words, “For ever with the Lord, For ever with the Lord.” 1374.520 For my own part, I had rather that the Lord Jesus should keep the keys of death than that he should lend them to me. It would be too dreadful a privilege to be empowered to rob heaven of the perfected merely to give pleasure to imperfect ones below. 1799.498 When I read in our Lord’s testament the words, “Father, I will that they be with me,” I ask, “Who is to hold them back?” They must in due time be with him, for the will of the ever-blessed Saviour must be carried out: there can be no standing against a force of that kind. 1892.174 Will you quarrel with God because some of your dearest ones are promoted to the skies? The thought of their amazing bliss greatly moderates our natural grief. 1892.177 Death is no punishment to the believer: it is the gate of endless joy. 1905.332 Nothing upon earth ever gives me so much establishment in the faith as to visit members of this church when they are about to die. 2084.262 I am not aware that I have gained anything at the wedding, but I have gained much at the dying bed, as I have seen the joy and peace and rapture of girls and youths, and men and women, passing away joyfully to be “for ever with the Lord.” 2243.83 Oh! let us not live in this world as if we thought of staying here for ever; but let us try to be like a pious Scotch minister, who was very ill, and, being asked by a friend whether he thought himself dying, answered, “Really, friend, I care not whether I am or not; for if I die, I shall be with God; and if I live, he will be with me.” 2659.43 It is a calamity for the Church of Christ when her best men, whether ministers or deacons, are called home; yet, dear friends, it often is the case that God takes his servants home just when they are most useful. When would you have him take them home? When they are least useful? 2948.391 The Christian who contemplates death with joy is a living sermon. 3125.2 But how often you and I have prayed to be rid of troubles! Well, we shall be rid of them then. How often we have prayed to be rid of sin! We shall be rid of it then. We have prayed to be delivered from temptation; and we shall be, then. We have asked to be like Jesus; and we shall be, then. We have prayed for a clearer vision of him, and we shall have it then. 3125.7 Our dear ones were lent to us, and what a blessing they have been to us! The lamps of our house, have they not been the joy of our day? The Master says, “I want them back again;” and do we clutch at them, and say, “No, Master, thou shalt not have them”? Oh, it must not be so. Our dear ones were never half as much ours as they were Christ’s. We did not make them, but he did; we never bought them with our blood, but he did; we never sweat a bloody sweat for them, nor had our hands and feet pierced for them, but he did. They were lent to us, but they belonged to him. Your prayer was, “Father, let them be with me where I am,” but Christ’s prayer was, “Father, I will that they also, whom thou hast given me, be with me where I am.” Your prayer pulled one way, and Christ’s pulled another. Be not envious that Christ won the suit. 3129.52 My observation warrants me in remarking that the most of Christians, when they die, are either in a deep calm or else triumphant in an ecstasy of delight. 3286.42 I do not think our heavenly Father often puts his children to bed in the dark; but if he does, they will wake up in the light of the morning. This man of God said to the minister who visited him, “O sir, although I have trusted Christ for years, and have served his cause, I have lost him now. What will become of a man who dies feeling that God has deserted him?” The wise pastor answered him, “What did become of the man who, just before his death, cried, ‘My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?’ Is he not on the highest throne of glory even now?” The sick man’s mind was lightened in a moment. He began to say, as the Lord Jesus did after the dark sentence, “Father, into thy hands I commit my spirit”; and he died in peace. 3370.427