A Summary of Experience and A Body of Divinity (sermon 1806)

There is a splash of sentiment in this selection, because this is another sermon of Spurgeon's which I remember reading in preparation for preaching. I recall being struck with the preacher's delight in the Scriptures, with his happy depth of insight, with the experiential substance of the address, with its theological depth and doctrinal precision, and with the practical vigour of the whole. The title of the sermon gives us its two divisions, and—as he often does—Spurgeon walks through the text, drawing out its particular elements, hitting the key notes with brevity and pungency. Instruction, challenge, and encouragement are all readily blended, with the prominent presence of God in Christ the thread which bind things together, the whole evidently preached with a ready dependence on the Holy Spirit. Re-reading this sermon, I found myself wishing that I could come to it with the same freshness as I did the first time I surveyed it, but I trust that I now have a deeper and warmer appreciation for the truths which it contains, and hope that increasing love for the triune God will make that always and increasingly the case.