For me, a sermon like this shows Spurgeon at something of his plain best. Its simplicity, its directness, its earnestness, all commend it. Rooted in the text, spoken with expectant faith, personally persuasive, it seems to capture something of the very moment of delivery in its straightforward intensity. You can almost feel the preacher looking into your eyes as he addresses you. His concern for the glory of God intertwines with and carries along his desire for the good of his hearers. It lacks some of the poetry of other sermons, it offers less scope for his imaginative faculties, it contains less verbal flair than some of his offerings, but for plain speaking and plain pleading of gospel truth, I appreciate it. If we are preachers, we may not have a poetic bent; we may not be able to wing our way heavenward in our minds; we may struggle to reach Spurgeon’s heights of oratory; we can still preach Spurgeon’s Christ, still hold out the gospel he proclaimed. If we are