the Week of Proper 28 / Ordinary 33
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Bible Dictionaries
Sermons: Bad Not to Be Listened to
Spurgeon's Illustration Collection
or
Some sermons are not to be listened to at all, just as some meats are not to be eaten. Against the siren's song the only safety was deaf ears. Only a gross simpleton would leap into a pit full of rattlesnakes to see if they would do him any harm; a wise man is content to leave the experiment untried. Despite the usual fashion of this age, which runs greedily after cleverness even when associated with the most poisonous sentiments, we affirm that it is a participation in other men's sins to assist in furnishing an auditory for deceivers. Mere talent ought not to attract us; carrion, well dressed and served upon Palissy ware, is still unfit for men. Who thrusts his arm into the fire because its flame is brilliant? Who knowingly drinks from a poisoned cup because the beaded bubbles on the brim reflect the colours of the rainbow? As we would not be fascinated by the azure hues of a serpent, so neither should we be thrown off our guard by the talents of an unsound theologian. To hear or read sufficiently to judge, is allowable to the man who, by reason of use, has had his senses exercised to discern, and whose business it is to warn others; but where error is manifest upon the surface, to expose our minds to its pernicious influence is as great a madness as to test the strength of the fever by lying in its lair. Godly, scriptural teaching is surely not so rare that we need go down to Egypt for help; there are streams enough in Israel without our drinking of the polluted water of Sihor.
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Spurgeon, Charles. Entry for 'Sermons: Bad Not to Be Listened to'. Spurgeon's Illustration Collection. https://www.studylight.org/dictionaries/eng/fff/s/sermons-bad-not-to-be-listened-to.html. 1870.
