THEOLOGICAL LIBRARY AUTHORIZATION. "Messrs. Funk & Wagnall have entered into an arrangement with me to reprint THE TREASURY OF DAVID in the United States. I have every confidence in them that they will issue it correctly and worthily. It has been the great literary work of my life, and I trust it will be as kindly received in America as in England. I wish for Messrs. Funk success in a venture which must involve a great risk, and much outlay." Dec. 8, 1881. C. H. SPURGEON. PREFACE. THE labour of compiling the notes of this volume may be judged of from the fact that upon my writing to one of the most scholarly men of this age for a little assistance in my researches upon that well-known psalm, the 103rd, I received a note commencing, "I have hunted through my books, and have been surprised to find that, with the exception of what is universally known, there is so little about Psalm 103. This most generoushearted brother had the warmest zeal and love to stimulate his investigations, yet this was the result, and had I repeated the experiment upon other biblical students, and changed the psalm, I should in very few instances have received any other reply. Hence, gentle reader, your patience has been exercised in waiting for Vol. IV. of the Treasury, and my toil has been correspondingly increased. Here, however, is the volume, as portly as its fellows, and I hope not inferior to any of them; at least, I can honestly say, if it be so, it is not the fault of my endeavours, for I have bated no jot of energy, spared no cost, and withheld no time, though this last has been a very precious commodity with me, and has frequently been snatched from rest which fatigue. demanded, and which prudence might have wisely yielded. The book is finished, however, and with it two-thirds of my allotted task, for which may God be praised. I am the more surprised at the general paucity of sermons and comments upon this portion of the book of Psalms, because it contains some of the more notable compositions, such as Psalms 84, 90, 91, 92, and 103. These and some of the others are so rich that, had several volumes existed illustrating any one of them, it would not have been a matter of wonder. When I have found one sermon upon a passage, it has generally been easy to collect a score upon the same; preachers evidently run so much in ruts that they leave a large portion of the Scriptures without exposition. This suggests many thoughts, which, as they will naturally occur to every thoughtful reader, I need not enlarge upon in a mere preface, but this much may be said, we trust, without giving offence-if the habit of expounding the passages of Scripture which are read in public worship should ever become more common, the preparation for doing this in an interesting and instructive manner would greatly tend to enlarge the range of texts discussed from the pulpit, and would. almost inevitably lead to the people's receiving from their teachers more of God's word and less of man's, and this would be no small benefit. There is no need to repeat acknowledgments of indebtedness which we have made in former volumes, let them stand in all their fulness here as there. I think it right, however, to repeat the intimation that I am not to be understood as endorsing all the passages quoted from other authors. The names are given, and each writer bears his own responsibility. Only one word of self-defence shall further delay the courteous reader. A critic has so greatly mistaken my meaning as to find in the title to the Sermon Notes a specimen of human vanity. I am amazed at his discovery. I do not pretend to be entirely free from that vice, but no trace of it is discoverable there by my keenest and most conscientious inspection; on the contrary, I called those outlines "Hints to the Village Preacher," because I did not think those of them which are my own to be good enough to offer to my brethren in the regular ministry, but hoped that they might aid those good men, engaged all the week in business, who are generally, but I think incorrectly, called laypreachers, and are not supposed to have the facilities of time and books which fall to the lot of the regular ministry. I thought this somewhat modest on my part, and did not see how it could be misunderstood. Our village ministers are among the most thoughtful and useful of our brotherhood, and I never dreamed. of casting a slur upon them; as, however, I have been misunderstood, I will now, without altering the title, take higher ground, and say that I trust the hints may be useful to any preachers in city or country; for the other day I met one of the most eminent metropolitan divines, and he most kindly thanked me for having suggested to him by a hint in the Treasury a sermon which he hoped had been most acceptable to his congregation, and he remarked that there was no need to be so very bashful about the aforesaid "hints." I have followed his advice, and may now, perhaps, be misunderstood again. It is a small matter to be unjustly censured, but still I would not even seem to despise brethren in more obscure spheres, for it is the last thing in my heart. For the generous reviews which the former volumes have received on all hands I am deeply grateful. I commit this fourth volume to the press, praying that it may, according to the Lord's will, tend to the upbuilding of his church and his own glory. INDEX OF AUTHORS QUOTED OR REFERRED TO. Abenezra, 31, 393 Adams, Thomas (1614), 19, 20, 45, 80, 92, Agellius, 41 Bengel, John Albert (1687-1752), 210, 333, Bernard (1091-1157), 91, 171, 241, 242, 246, Ainsworth, Henry (-1622), 20, 76, 106, 176, Bingham, Joseph (1668-1723), 271 193, 275 Albertus Magnus, 41 Alexander, Joseph Addison (1850), 11, 42, 69, Alting, James (1618-1679), 24, 193 Andrewes, Lancelot (1555–1626), 95 Arndt, Frederic (1861), 270 Arnot, William (1858), 301 Bacon, Francis (1560-1626), 209, 408, 432 Baker, Sir Richard (1568-1645), 69, 70, 72, 73, Binney, Thomas (1798-1874), 215 Binnie, William (1870), 43, 188, 193, 287, 382, Bogan, Zachary (1625 -1659), 275 Bolton, Robert (1572-1631), 139–141 Bonar, Horatius (1861), 170, 260, 449 Bossuet, Jaques Bénigne (1627—1704), 76 Boston, Thomas (1676–1732), 38, 174 Bowen, George (1873), 400, 402, 436, 467, 473 Boys, John (1571-1625), 43, 95, 171, 172, 173, ་ Bradley, Charles (1840), 248, 312, 314 74, 75, 76, 79, 82, 428, 429, 433, 437, 443, 446, Bridge, Stephen (1852), 395, 396 458, 462, 465, 466, 467, 470, 476 Baldus, 43 Barker, Edmund (1661), 221 Barlow, John (1618), 367 Barnes, Albert (1798-1870), F6, 59, 109, 141, Barrows, E. P. (1873?), 414 Barth, T. C. (1865), 218 Beattie, James (1735--1803), 469 Beddome, Benjamin (1717-1795), 33 Bede (672-735), 217 Bellarmine, Robert (1542–1621), 90, 106, 107, Belsunce, M. de (1720), 246 Bridge, William (1600-1670), 246, 248-50, Brooks, Thomas (1608-1680), 70, 75, 77, 170, Brown, John (1862), 332 Bruno, Bishop (? 1033), 118 Bruyère, Jean de la (1639-1696), 274 Bucer, Martin (1491-1551), 142, 349 Bunyan, John (1628-1688), 77, 219 Burder, Samuel (1839), 141, 205, 243, 275, 327, Burgess, Anthony (1656), 305 viii Bythner, Victorinus (1670), 211, 214 Caryl, Joseph (1602-1673), 5, 35, 36, 37, 44, 468 Case, Thomas (1598-1680), 33 "Cassell's Biblical Educator" (1874), 430 Corderius, Balthazar (1592-1650), 391 Cowley, Abraham (1618-1667), 189 "Critical and Practical Exposition of the Cassiodorus, Magnus Aurelius (470-560), 31, Daillé, Jean (1594-1670), 185, 186 106, 345 Catullus, 145 Cawood, John (1830), 229 Cecil, Richard (1748—1810), 38 Chadbourne, P. A. (1867), 303 Chalmers, Thomas (1780-1847), 37, 345, 359, Champneys, W. Weldon (1842), 461 Dale, Thomas (1847), 222 Darby, J. N. (1870), 25, 179 Davies, Samuel (1724–1761), 359 Davis, Charles A. (1874), 260, 261, 282, 291, Davison, Francis, 110 Chandler, Samuel (1693-1766), 125, 412, 413, Dawson, William (1773–1841), 255, 257, 258 416 Charlotte Elizabeth [Pseudonym] (1835), 25 Cheever, George B. (1852), 273 ), 11 De Burgh, William (1860), 287, 382 Delitzsch, Franz (1869), 4, 74, 270, 366, 401, Dickson, David (1583-1662), 7, 8, 9, 21, 23, "Christ the Consoler " [Anon.] (1872), 143-4, "Dictionary of Illustrations, The" (1872), 61 Chrysostom (347-407), 248, 271 Clarke, Adam (1760-1832), 8, 32, 56, 90, 93, Clarkson, David (1621–1686), 7, 120, 365, 400, 472 Diodati, John (1576–1649), 289 Donne, John (1573–1631), 71, 190, 225 Duncan, Mary B. M. (1825-1865), 238, 239, Dunster, John (1613), 12 Durban, William (1874), 395, 403, 475, 476 |