Spurgeon - John's first doxology
When I was about to commence the Orphanage at Stockwell, a gentleman who was very experienced in an excellent orphanage, said to me, “Begin by never expecting to receive the slightest gratitude from the parents of the children, and you will not be disappointed, for,” he said, “I have been connected with a certain orphanage,” which he mentioned, “for a great many years, and except in the rarest case I have never seen any tokens of gratitude in any of the mothers whose children have been received.” Now, my experience is very different. I have had a great many grips of the hand which meant warm thanks, and I have often seen tears fall from the mothers’ eyes, and many a grateful letter have I received because of help given to the orphan children. How do I explain the difference? Not that our Orphanage has done more than the other, but the other Orphanage is conducted by a Committee with no well-known head, and therefore it is somewhat of an abstraction. The poor women do not know who is to be thanked, and consequently thank nobody. In our own case the poor people say to themselves, “Here is Mr. Spurgeon, and he took our children into the Orphanage.” They recognize in me the outward and visible representative of the many generous hearts that help me. They know me, for they can see me, and they say, “God bless you,” because they have someone to say it to. There is nothing particular about me, certainly, and there are others who deserve far more gratitude than that which comes to me, but it does come to me, because the poor people know the name and the man, and have not to look at a mere abstraction. Pardon the illustration, but it suits my purpose well. If you have a Christ whom you cannot realize, you will not love Him with that fervent affection which is so much to be desired. If you cannot reach the Lord in your mind, you will not embrace Him in your heart, but if you have realized the blessed Master, if He has become a true existence to you, one who has really loved you and washed you from your sins, and made you a king and a priest, then your love must flow out towards Him. You cannot resist the impulse to love one who has so truly loved you, and is so well known to you.
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