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Commenting and CommentariesCharles Spurgeon
by Charles H. Spurgeon
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The e-text for this catalogue is taken from the Ages Spurgeon Collection on CD-ROM. The text was scanned from the original Passmore & Alabaster work and published on the Ages CD-ROM without corrections. Although many of the scanning errors have been corrected for edition, the text has not yet been carefully proofread and formatted. More corrections will be made as time permits. Meanwhile, we believe most users will find this material quite useful despite the minor flaws.

From Spurgeon's preface: "The reader will please observe that the books most heartily recommended are printed in the largest type with the remarks in italics. Good, but more ordinary, works are in medium type, and the least desirable are in the smallest letter. Thus we hope the eye will be caught at once by volumes best worthy of attention."

Catalogue of Commentaries & Expositions

I. & II. SAMUEL

[Expositions upon these books being few, the student should consult ,Porks on Scripture characters, and also comments on the Old Testament as a whole.]

  1. KEIL (C. F., D.D.) and DELITZSCH (F., D.D.) The Books of Samuel. Translated from the German by the Rev. James Martin, B.A. 8vo. 10/6. Edinb., T. & T. Clark. 1872. Like most of Clark's series, Keil's works are valuable helps towards,obtaining the meaning of the text 3 but for spiritual reflections and fruitful hints we must look elsewhere.
  2. LINDSAY (HENRY, M.A.) Lectures on the Historical Books [I and 2 Samuel only]. 2 vols. 12mo. Lond., 1828. 2]6. Practical sermons on a few of the more prominent events.
  3. WILLET (ANDREW). An Harmonie upon the First Booke of Samuel, and an Harmonie upon the Seconde Booke of Samuel. Folio. 1614. 10/6 to 12/-[There is also a 4to. edition upon I Samuel. 1607.] The work continues the Hexapla to which we have referred in Nos. 142 and 177. It is unusually brief for the age of its compo-stition, and full of variety. Under every verse, and often clause of a verse, the learned author proposes a question, and proceeds to answer it. These are such as the following:—"What a daughter of Belial is?" "Whether any may be said to sin with the will of God?" "What doors of the house of Jehovah Samuel opened!" "What is to be thought of £1i's state before God f"
  4. GUILD (WILLIAM, D.D. 1586—1657). The Throne of David. An Exposition of the 2nd Samuel, wherein is set clown the Pattern of a Pious and Prudent Prince. Oxf., 1659. 11/-The MSS. of this rare book was sent to Dr. John Owen by the widow of the author, with a letter of her own, informing him that her dying husband desired it to be so forwarded. Dr. Owen says, that he found the treatise "written with perspicuity and clearness, handling a subject of great and delightful variety, with a choice mixture of spiritual, moral, and political observations, tempered by a good and sound judgment unto common capacities." We do not presume to criticize where Owen commends, but we should not have originated such a commendation.

    SAMUEL, SAUL, DAVID
  5. KITTO. Daily Bible Illustrations, "Samuel, Saul, and David." (See No. 41.) Should always be consulted.
  6. PLUMPTRE (HELEN). The History of Samuel. 18mo. I/6. Lond., Nisbet and Co. 1842. A children's book, and childlike men will be thankful for the many very useful hints which it throws out. We have got more out of it than we have found in huge and learned tomes.
  7. STEEL (ROBERT). Samuel the Prophet. 8vo. 4/6. Lond., Nelson & Sons. 1861. S. 2/-The author has done his work well, and has shown an evident .desire to excite others to a greater knowledge of the subject than he could impart. Hence he gives a list of the writers upon Samuel, and such accounts of them as were within his reach. Young readers will find this book a great help to them.
  8. MILLER (J. A.) Saul, The First King of Israel. Fcap. 8vo. 1/6. Lond., Snow & Co. 1866. Eminently thoughtful, useful, practical sermons. We do not see how Saul's life-failure could be more profitably set forth.
  9. BLAIKIE (WILLIAM G., A.M.) David, King of Israel:: the Divine Plan and Lessons of his Life. 8vo. 5/-Lond., Nisbet & Co. 1861. Dr. Blaikie is a good writer. This Life of David has supplied a great lack.
  10. CHANDLER (SAMUEL, D.D., F.R.S.,and F.A.S. 1693—1766). A Critical History of the Life of David. 2 vols., 8va. Lond., 1766. S. 5/-I vol., 8va. J.H. & J. Parker. 1853. S. 5/-]'his is a masterpiece as a critical history, and the best of Chandler's productions. Many of the Psalms are explained with commendable learning, but the spiritual element is absent.
  11. DELANY (PATRICK, D.D., Dean of Down 1686—1768). An Historical Account of the Life and Reign of David. [Anon.] 2 vols., 8va. Lond., 1745. 4/' Delany was a friend of Swift, no great recommendation for a commentator. He defends David in a way which David would have sternly repudiated. Chandler is far preferable to Delany, but both are devoid of the evangelical spirit.
  12. KINGSLEY (CHARLES, M.A.) David. Four Sermons. Fcap. 8va. 2/6. Lond., Macmillan & Co. In his usual free and easy manner Kingsley speaks of David's strength and his weakness, his anger and his deserts. The character of this writer is supposed to be well understood, but we question if many have formed a true estimate of him. For commenting purposes these sermons are of small value; they are plain, practical discourses.
  13. KRUMMACHER (F. W., D.D.) David, the King of Israel. Cr. 8va., 7/6. Edinb., T. & T. Clark. Anything by Krummacher is worthy of patient reading.
  14. LAWSON (GEORGE, D.D. 1749—1820.) Discourses on the History of David. 12mo. Berwick, 1833. S. 3/6. ].[ere the life of David is piously turned to practical use. Delany and Chandler are but bones, and Lawson the marrow.
  15. MARBECK (JOHN). The whole History of King David. 4to. 1579. This is in English metre, and was written by the famous organist of the Royal Chapel in Windsor, in the reign of Henry VIII. He narrowly escaped martyrdom. His work entitled "Booke of Common Praier noted," is the groundwork of the plain-song used in our Cathedrals from the Reformation to the present day. Marbeck's History of David is very rare. We cannot therefore set a price.
  16. [ROGERS (Mrs.)] The Shepherd King. By the Authoress of "The Folded Lamb." 12mo. 3/6. Zond., Nisbet. 1856. S.1/6. This authoress writes well for the young, and her book will be useful to those who teach them.
  17. SMITH (GEORGe., LL.D. and F.A.S.) The Life and Reign of David. Cr. 8va., 7/6. Lond., Longmans. 1867. S. 3/6. David's life is here concisely written, with such of the Psalms interwoven as can be referred to special periods. It cannot be read without ministering instruction.
  18. TAYLOR (WILLIAM M., D.D. Of the Broadway Tabernacle, New York). David: his Life, and its Lessons. Cr. 8vo. 8/6. Lond.,Sampson Low, Marston & Co. 1875. ,4 grand work which should be in every library.
  19. THOMPSON (HENRY, M.A.) Davidica. Twelve Sermons on the Life and Character of David. 8vo. Lond., 1827. I/6. Discourses of the kind which are usually published by subscription; rather pretentious, but with nothing in them. The process of subscribing to print sermons is one suggested by kindness, but seldom directed by reason.
  20. VINCE (CHARLES, Baptist Minister, of Birmingham. Died 1875). Lights and Shadows in the Life of King David. Cr. 8vo. 5/-Lond., Elliot Stock. 1871. Sermons of the highest order upon a few incidents in David's life. They are models of chaste, subdued, but powerful preaching.

    I. & II. KINGS
  21. GENESTE (MAXIMILIAN, M.A.) The Parallel Histories of Judah and Israel. 2 vols., Roy. 8vo. f1 11s. 6d. Lond., S. Bagster & Sons. 1843. S. 6/-to 8/-The explanatory notes are mostly from other authors. The work has a very noble appearance, and may be useful as showing the run of Biblical history; but Barth's Bible Manual (No. 3) would answer every purpose.
  22. JUKES (ANDREW). The Mystery of the Kingdom, traced through the Books of Kings. Part I. x/6. Lond., Longmans. z858. This author is more mystical than we could wish, but never writes 'without being instructive.
  23. KEIL (K. F.)and BERTHEAU (E.) Commentary on the Books of Kings. By K. F. Keil. Translated by James Murphy, LL.D. Supplemented by a Commentary on the Books of Chronicles. By Ernst Bertheau, Professor in Goettin-gen. Translated by James Martin, B.A. 2 vols. 10/6 each. Edinb., T. & T. Clark. 1857. S. 10/- Distinguished by careful investigation of the meaning of the text. This is a most important help to the expositor. The student will not, however, find much in the way of reflections and doctrines.
  24. KEIL and DELITZSCH. The Books of the Kings. By C. F. Keil. Translated by James Martin, B.A. 1 vol. 10/6. Edinb., T. & T. Clark. 1865. This appears to be another form of the work mentioned above. At least there can be no necessity for purchasing both. This is the better.
  25. KITTO. Daily Bible Illustrations, "Solomon and the Kings." (See No. 41.) Full of deeply interesting matter.
  26. LANGE'S COMMENTARIES. Edited by Dr. Schaff. Kings. By Dr. Bahr. 1 vol., Imp. 8vo. 2 1/-, or to subscribers 15/-Edinb., T. & T. Clark. 1872. It must have cost great effort to make the homiletical part o£ this volume as good as it is. It is a treasury to the preacher, and is all the more precious because we have next to nothing upon the books of the Kings. (See No. 42).

    SOLOMON'S TEMPLE
  27. BUNYAN (JOHN). Solomon's Temple Spiritualized. Lond., 1688. [In Bunyan's Works, Offor's edition, III., 460.] A marvellous display of allegorizing genius: full of Gospel truth. Bunyan hammers away at each type, but no one may call it tinkering.
  28. EDERSHEIM (A., D.D.) The Temple: its Ministry and Services. Imp. 16mo. 5/-Relig. Tract. Soc. 1874. This will supply the student with all that he needs upon the subject in hand.
  29. LEE (SAMUEL, M.A. 1625—1691.) Orbis miraculum; or, the Temple of Solomon pourtrayed by Scripture light. [Anon. ] Folio. 1659. 12/-tO 14/-Of course, as will be inferred from its date, this work is of the antique order, but it is profoundly learned, and goes into architectural and ritualistic details, explaining them spiritually with much sweetness and suggestiveness.

    ELIJAH, ELISHA, &c.
  30. ANDERSON (JAMES, S. M., M.A.) Discourses on Elijah, &c. 8vo. Lond., 1835-2/-Ordinary sermons by a "Chaplain in Ordinary to the Queen." Rhetorical and grandiose, but not expository.
  31. BAYNE (PETER). The Days of Jezebel. An Historical Drama. 12mo. 6/-Lond., Strachan & Co. 1872. A fine poetic drama, worthy of quotation by preachers; but hardly in the line of works contemplated by this Catalogue.
  32. EDERSHEIM (ALFRED, D.D.) Elisha the Prophet, a Type of Christ. Cr. 8vo. 3/6. Lond., W. Hunt & Co. 1873. This author is always interesting, shewing close acquaintance with Jewish customs, and knowing how to utilize his information.
  33. HOWAT (H. T.) Elijah, the Desert Prophet. Cr. 8vo. 5/-Edinb., Johnstone & Hunter. 1868. Very picturesque and poetical. A work to be read for enjoyment.
  34. KRUMMACHER (F. W., D.D.) Elijah the Tishbite. Translated from the German. [Numerous editions; one has lately been issued by the Religious Tract Society. Cr. 8vo. 3/-] S. 1/6. Too well known and approved to need any commendation from us.
  35. MACDUFF (J. R., D.D.) The Prophet of Fire. Post 8vo. 6/6. Lond., James Nisbet& Co. 1863. Dr. Macduff writes popularly, yet he is by no means weak or shallow, He is to the young minister all the more useful, because he has worked out the problem of making sound thought intelligible to the multitude.
  36. M[ACINTOSH] (C. H.) Reflections on the Life and Times of Elijah. By C. H. M. 1/-Lond., G. Morrish. Strongly Plymouthistic. A small affair.
  37. BLUNT (HENRY, M.A.) Lectures upon the History of Elisha. 12mo. 5/6. Lond., Hatchards. 1839. S. 2/'-We like Blunt better upon Elisha than upon any other portion of Scripture. He says that, had he known of Krummacher's having written upon the subject, he should not have attempted it himself. A wise observation. What shall he do that cometh after a King, or after a Krummacher?
  38. DOTHIE (W. P., M.A.) The History of the Prophet Elisha. Cr. 8vo. 2/6. Lond., Hodder & Stoughton. 1872. Sketchy. Not very deep, but interesting.
  39. GLYN (GEORGE L., Bart.) Life of Elisha, in eleven plain dis-courses. 8vo. Lond., Wertheim & Macintosh. 1857. S. x/-Evangelical and simple. Ministers do not need it.
  40. KRUMMACHER (F. W., D.D.) Elisha. Translated from the German. Lond., Nisbet & Co. 1838. S. I/6. Of this we may say as we did of the same author's E1ijah,—it needs no commending from us.
  41. BULLOCK (CHARLES). The Syrian Leper. Fcap. 8vo. 2/6. Lond., Wertheim & Macintosh. 1862. S. 1/3. Telling in style, and earnestly evangelical. These chapters are good specimens of popular expounding.
  42. MACDUFF (J. R., D.D.) The Healing Waters; or, The Story of Naaman. An Old Testament Chapter on Provi-dence and Grace. Cr. 8vo. 3/6. Lond., Nisbet. 1873. In Dr. Macduff's best manner: the story of 2Vaaman is admirably handled, and made to teach the gospel with much freshness.
  43. ROGERS (DANIEL, B.D. Puritan. 1573—1652). Naaman the Syrian, his disease and cure; discovering lively to the reader the spiritual leprosie of sinne and selfe-love; together with the remedies, viz., selfe-denial and faith. Folio. Lond., 1642. 7/-to 10/-, 4 huge volume of 898folio pages, almost large enough to have loaded one of Naaman's mules. /t is a work which exhausts the subject and turns it to earnest evangelical uses.
  44. WOODWARD (HENRY, A.M.) The Shunamite. 8vo. 10/6. Lond. and Cam&, Macmillan & Co. 1863. S. 3/-We scarcely remember a more flagrant case of high-sounding verbiage. Here is the author's way of describing a hen which has hatched ducklings. —"That much tried bird, whose hard allotment it has been to hatch and rear a brood of aliens, and who seems as if melancholy had marked her for her own, when her charge, with unanimous consent, hurry to some tempting pool of water, and violate her feelings and shock her instincts, by casting themselves upon that hostile element."

    I. & II. CHRONICLES
  45. BERTHEAU (E.) See Keil and Bertheau, No. 296.
  46. KEIL (K. F.) The Book of the Chronicles. Translated from the German. By Andrew Harper, B.D. 8vo. 10/6. Edinb., T. & T. Clark. 1872. Without indicating either the spiritual lesson or the moral of the history, Keil simply explains the facts, and in so doing aids the reader to realize them. We confess we should like something more.

    EZRA NEHEMIAH, and ESTHER
  47. KEIL (K. F.) Commentary on Ezra, Nehemiah, and Esther. Translated by Sophia Taylor. 8vo. 10/6. Edinb., T. &. T. Clark. 17. T.L. 1873. Just the kind of book in which Keil's method of commenting appears to the best advantage. He gives much needful information, and thus supplements more didactic works. We cannot read Keil with pleasure, for we want spiritual meat, but yet it is most desirable for us to know what the text really means.
  48. PILKINGTON (JAMES, B.D. Bishop of Durham. 1520—1575). A Godlie Exposition upon certeine chapters of Nehemiah. 1585. Reprinted in the Parker Society's edition of Pilkington's Works. 8vo. Cam&, x 842. Very old fashioned and singular, somewhat in the style of Latimer and perhaps a little coarser. Pilkington's downright onslaughts upon the vices and follies of his times are fine instances of personal, faithful preaching; they are, however, so minutely descriptive of the manners which then prevailed that they are the less useful now. The style is cramped, and even grotesque in places, yet Pilkington is a grand old author. He has only written upon five chapters.
  49. RANDALL (J. MONTAGUE, A.K.C.) Nehemiah, the Tirshatha: his Life and Lessons. Post 8vo. 3/6. Lond., Nisbet. 1874. The substance of thirteen Sunday evening addresses to a village congregation, "dictated by the author, who is nearly blind, on the following Monday." These familiar and almost chatty discourses are full of gospel teaching, and while they give a fair idea of Nehemiah and his times, they are also enlivened by anecdote, and made exceedingly interesting. Students will not learn much from these sermons, but they may see how rustic preaching should be done.
  50. SCENES FROM THE LIFE OF NEHEMIAH; or, Chapters for Christian Workers. [Anon.] Fcap. 8vo. 1. Lond., 66, Paternoster Row, E.C. The heads of these chapters would serve exceedingly well for the keynotes of a series of sermons.
  51. STOWELL (HUGH, M.A.) A Model for Men of Business; or, Lectures on the Character of Nehemiah. 8vo. Lond., Hatchards. 1855. S. 3/-The author does not attempt a full exposition, but aims at furnishing a plain, practical handbook for men of business and others whose time is limited. He gives fourteen good, sensible lectures on the Book.
  52. WOODWARD (HENRY, M.A.) Thoughts on the Character and History of Nehemiah. 12mo. Lond., 1849. Words, and only words.

    ESTHER
  53. COOPER (THOMAS). The Churches Deliverance; containing Meditations and short Notes upon the Booke of Hester. 4to. Lond., 1609. 5/' to 7/' We have not been able to meet with this work.
  54. DAVIDSON (ALEXANDER D.,D.D.) Lectures on Esther. Cr. 8vo 5/6. Edinb., T. & T. Clark. 1859. Helpful lectures. The Book of Esther is here used for instruction in doctrine and practice. The work is not so much for the study as for the family.
  55. HUGHES (JOHN). Esther and her People. Ten Sermons. 18mo. 1842. S. 1/3. Good evangelical discourses, but nothing very special.
  56. LAWSON (GEORGE, D.D.) Discourses on Esther. 12mo. Edinb., 1804. S. 3/6. Intended for the general reader. The discourses are as spiritual and unaffected as their excellent author. Dr. John Brown, in commending all the Lawson books, says that "he has rendered subjects, apparently barren, full of instruction."
  57. McCRIE (THOMAS). Lectures on Esther. 12mo. 1838. S. 1/6. Dr. Davidson says of Dr. McCrie: "There is an ancient fable.of a king who was gifted with the power of turning everything he touched into gold; and this eminent divine and historian possessed remarkably the gift of rendering every subject he handled so precious, as at least to discourage any one from attempting to follow in his,.track. £n his Lectures upon the book of Esther, he has certainly left little for any to say w/w may come after hint."
  58. MORGAN (R. C.) The Book of Esther typical of the Kingdom. Sm. 8vo. 1855. S. I/6. An allegorical interpretation, which commences with these words: "The true scene of this beautiful book opens in heaven." Is heaven under the dominion of Ahasuerus? Who then is Vashti?

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