Paul-His Cloak and His Books
Charles H. Spurgeon
The cloak that I left at Troas with Carpus, when thou comest, bring with thee, and the books, but especially the parchments (2 Timothy 4:13).
Foolish persons have made remarks upon the trifles of Scripture. They have marveled why so little a matter as a cloak should be mentioned in an inspired book. But they ought to know that this is one of the many indications that the book is by the same author as the book of nature. Are there not things that our shortsightedness would call trifles in the volume of creation around us? What is the peculiar value of the daisy upon the lawn or the buttercup in the meadow? Compared with the rolling sea or the eternal hills, how inconsiderable they seem! Why has the hummingbird a plumage so wondrously bejeweled, and why is so much marvelous skill expended upon the wing of a butterfly? why such curious machinery in the foot of a fly or such a matchless optical arrangement in the eye of a spider? Because to most men these are trifles, are they to be left out of nature's plans? no, because greatness of divine skill is as apparent in the minute as in the magnificent. Even so in Holy Writ, the little things that are embalmed in the amber of inspiration are far from inappropriate or unwise.
Besides, in providence are there not trifles? It is not every day that a nation is rent by revolution or a throne shaken by rebellion. Far more often a bird's nest is destroyed by a child or an anthill overturned by a spade. It is not at every hour that a torrent inundates a province, but how frequently do the dewdrops moisten the green leaves? We do not often read of hurricanes, tornadoes, and earthquakes, but the annals of providence could reveal the history of many a grain of dust borne along in the summer's gale, many a sere leaf rent from the poplar, and many a rush waving by the river's brim. Hence learn to see, in the littles of the Bible, the God of providence and nature.
Observe two ...
Charles H. Spurgeon
The cloak that I left at Troas with Carpus, when thou comest, bring with thee, and the books, but especially the parchments (2 Timothy 4:13).
Foolish persons have made remarks upon the trifles of Scripture. They have marveled why so little a matter as a cloak should be mentioned in an inspired book. But they ought to know that this is one of the many indications that the book is by the same author as the book of nature. Are there not things that our shortsightedness would call trifles in the volume of creation around us? What is the peculiar value of the daisy upon the lawn or the buttercup in the meadow? Compared with the rolling sea or the eternal hills, how inconsiderable they seem! Why has the hummingbird a plumage so wondrously bejeweled, and why is so much marvelous skill expended upon the wing of a butterfly? why such curious machinery in the foot of a fly or such a matchless optical arrangement in the eye of a spider? Because to most men these are trifles, are they to be left out of nature's plans? no, because greatness of divine skill is as apparent in the minute as in the magnificent. Even so in Holy Writ, the little things that are embalmed in the amber of inspiration are far from inappropriate or unwise.
Besides, in providence are there not trifles? It is not every day that a nation is rent by revolution or a throne shaken by rebellion. Far more often a bird's nest is destroyed by a child or an anthill overturned by a spade. It is not at every hour that a torrent inundates a province, but how frequently do the dewdrops moisten the green leaves? We do not often read of hurricanes, tornadoes, and earthquakes, but the annals of providence could reveal the history of many a grain of dust borne along in the summer's gale, many a sere leaf rent from the poplar, and many a rush waving by the river's brim. Hence learn to see, in the littles of the Bible, the God of providence and nature.
Observe two ...
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