Manton again, this time with Spurgeon

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Wayne

Tempus faciendi, Domine.
Further meager attempts at amends:

Following up on the three citations regarding Manton that appear on the pages of the Banner of Truth magazine, one of these led to Illustrations and Meditations; or, Flowers from a Puritan's Garden, Distilled and Dispensed, by C.H. Spurgeon.

"...a small book published by Spurgeon in 1883. The book consists of a collection of Thomas Manton's illustrations and similes, to which Spurgeon added some brief meditations. Spurgeon had long felt that there was an unusual value in Manton's illustrations, for he used them sparingly and when they were introduced it was not as ornaments but as a vivid means of making a truth clearly understood. In consequence Manton's illustrations are very natural and forcible. After many years' familiarity with the works of this great Puritan Spurgeon spoke thus in the preface to the above book:--

I have come to know Manton so well that I could choose him out from among a thousand divines if he were again to put on his portly form, and display among modern men that countenance wherein was a 'great mixture of majesty and meekness.' His works occupy twenty-two volumes in the modern reprint : a mighty mountain of sound theology. They mostly consist of sermons; but what sermons! They are not so sparkling as those of Henry Smith, nor so profound as those of Owen, nor so rhetorical as those of Howe, nor so pithy as those of Watson, nor so fascinating as those of Brooks; and yet they are second to none of these. For solid, sensible instruction forcibly delivered they cannot be surpassed. Manton is not brilliant, but he is always clear; he is not oratorical, but he is powerful; he is not striking, but he is deep. There is not a poor discourse in the whole collection : he is evenly good, constantly excellent. Ministers who do not know Manton need not wonder if they are themselves unknown.
 
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