“Some of the smallest and least powerful animals become perfectly terrible when they are taking care of their offspring. And do you think that the everlasting God will bear to see his children maligned, slandered, and abused, for their following of him?”
–C.H. Spurgeon (1834-1892)
RE: “And do you think that the everlasting God will bear to see his children maligned, slandered, and abused, for their following of him?”
Yikes. Maybe this is not the full context of the quote.
But the short answer to this question is . . . yes, He will. That is one of the terrible and frightening things about God. He doesn’t do as we wish nor are we protected from suffering.
I agree with Sarah. The quote as given is in harmony with an Islamic understanding of God, but is in complete opposition to a theology of the Cross (not to mention a very specific Beatitude).
This quote is from a sermon titled “A Great Gospel for Great Sinners”. Spurgeon reflects on what Paul means by identifying himself as a “chief sinner”. The highlighted quote is followed by:
[blockquote]I have no doubt that there may be some of that kind here; and, if there are, I can only pray that the story of Saul of Tarsus may be repeated in them by boundless grace. May they even yet come to preach the gospel which now they despise. It is no new thing for the priest to be converted to Christ.[/blockquote]
How desperately we need priests to be converted to Christ today!
The full text can be found at [url=http://www.spurgeon.org/sermons/1837.htm]the Spurgeon web site[/url]