PREFACE
Charles Spurgeon · John Ploughman's Pictures; or, More of His Plain Talk for Plain People
J
"TOHN PLOUGHMAN'S TALK" has
not only obtained an immense circu-
lation, but it has exercised an influence
for good. Although its tone is rather moral
than religious, it has led many to take the
first steps by which men climb to better
things, and this fact has moved me to at-
tempt a second book of the same character.
I have continued to use the simplest form
of our mother tongue, so that if any read-
ers must need have refined language they
had better leave these pages before they are
quite disgusted. To smite evil — and espe-
cially the monster evil of drink — has been
my earnest endeavor, and assuredly there
is need. It may be that the vice of drunk-
enness is not more common than it used to
be ; but it is sufficiently rampant to cause
sorrow in every Christian bosom, and to
lead all lovers of their race to lift up their
voices against it. I hope that the plain
speech of John Ploughman will help in
that direction.
It is quite out of the question for the
compiler of such proverbial talk as this to
acknowledge the sources from which the
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4 PREFACE.
quaint sayings have been derived, for they
are too numerous. I have gathered ex-
pressions and verses here, there, and every-
where ; and perhaps the most simple way is
to deny all claim to originality, and confess
myself a gatherer of other men's stuffs. It
is not quite so, but that is near enough. I
have, however, borrowed many rhymes
from " Thomas Tusser's Points of Good
Husbandry," a book which is out of date,
and forgotten, and never likely to be re-
printed.
I have somewhat indulged the mirthful
vein, but ever with so serious a purpose
that I ask no forgiveness. Those who see
a virtue in dulness have full permission to
condemn, for a sufficient number will
approve.
May the kindness shown to the former
volume be extended to this also.
C. H. SPURGEON.
CONTENTS.
FAGB.
If the cap fits, wear it 7
Burn a candle at both ends, and it will soon be
gone 12
Hunchback sees not his own hump, but he sees his
neighbor's 19
It is hard for an empty sack to stand upright ... 23
He who would please all will lose his donkey . . 32
All are not hunters that blow the horn 38
A handsaw is a good thing, but not to shave with . 43
Don't cut off your nose to spite your face .... 50
He has a hole under his nose, and his money runs
into it 54
Every man should sweep before his own door . . 63
Scant feeding of man or horse is small profit and
sure loss 67
Never stop the plough to catch a mouse • • • . 75
A looking-glass is of no use to a blind man ... 79
He has got the fiddle, but not the stick .... 86
Great cry and little wool, as the man said who
clipped the sow 89
You may bend the sapling, but not the tree ... 94
A man may love his house, though he ride not on
the ridge 99
Great drinkers think themselves great men . . . 107
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6 CONTENTS.
PAGE.
Two dogs fight for a bone, and a third runs away
with it 115
He lives under the sign of the cat's foot . . . .118
He would put his finger in the pie, so he burnt his
nail off 125
You can't catch the wind in a net 130
Beware of the dog 136
Like cat like kit 147
A horse which carries a halter is soon caught . . . 153
An old fox is shy of a trap 157
A black hen lays a white egg 161
He looks one way and pulls the other 164
Stick to it and do it 167
Don't put the cart before the horse 178
A leaking tap is a great waster 184
Fools set stools for wise men to stumble over . . 192
A man in a passion rides a horse that runs away
with him 195
Where the plough does not go, the weeds will grow 199
All IS lost that is poured into a cracked dish . . . 203
Grasp all and lose all 207
Scatter and increase 209
Every bird likes its own nest 213
JOHN PLOUGHMAN'S PICTURES.
IF THE CAP FITS, WEAR IT.
Friendly Readers,
Last time I made a book I trod on
some people's corns and bunions, and they
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8 JOHN PLOUGHMAN'S PICTURES.
wrote me angry letters, asking, " Did you
mean me ? " This time, to save them the
expense of a halfpenny card, I will begin my
book by saying —
Whether I please or whether I tease,
I'll give you my honest mind ;
If the cap should fit, pray wear it a bit,
If not, you can leave it behind.
No offence is meant; but if anything in
these pages should come home to a man,
let him not send it next door, but get a
coop for his own chickens. What is the
use of reading or hearing for other people ?
We do not eat arid drink for them : why
should we lend them our ears and not our
mouths ? Please then, good friend, if you
find a hoe on these premises, weed your
own garden with it.
I was speaking with Will Shepherd the
other day about our master's old donkey,
and I said, " He is so old and stubborn, he
really is not worth his keep." " No," said
Will, " and worse still, he is so vicious,
that I feel sure he'll do somebody a mis-
chief one of these days." You know they
say that walls have ears ; we were talking
rather loud, but we did not know that
IF THE CAP FITS, WEAR IT. 9
there were ears to haystacks. We stared,
I tell you, when we saw Joe Scroggs come
from behind the stack, looking as red as a
turkey-cock, and raving like mad. He
burst out swearing at Will and me, like a
cat spitting at a dog. His monkey was up
and no mistake. He'd let us know that he
was as good a man as either of us, or the
two put together, for the matter of that.
Talking about him in that way ; he'd do —
I don't know what. I told old Joe we had
never thought of him, nor said a word about
him, and he might just as well save his
breath to cool his porridge, for nobody
meant him any harm. This only made him
call me a Har, and roar the louder. My
friend, Will, was walking away, holding his
sides, but when he saw that Scroggs was
still in a fume, he laughed outright, and
turned round on him and said, " Why, Joe,
we were talking about master's old donkey,
and not about you ; but, upon my word, I
shall never see that donkey again without
thinking of Joe Scroggs." Joe puffed and
blowed, but perhaps he tliought it an awk-
ward job, for he backed out of it, and Will
and I went off to our work in rather a merry
lo JOHN PLOUGHMAN'S PICTURES.
cue, for old Joe had blundered on the truth
about himself for once in his life.
The aforesaid Will Shepherd has some-
times come down rather heavy upon me in
his remarks, but it has done me good. It
is partly through his home thrusts that I
have come to write this new book, for he
thought I was idle ; perhaps I am, and per-
haps I am not. Will forgets that I have
other fish to fry and tails to butter ; and he
does not recollect that a ploughman's mind
wants to lie fallow a little, and can't give a
crop every year. It is hard to make rope
when your hemp is all used up, or pancakes
without batter, or rook pie without the birds ;
and so I found it hard to write more when I
had said just about all I knew. Giving
much to the poor doth increase a man's
store, but it is not the same with writing ;
at least, I am such a poor scribe that I
don't find it come because I pull. If your
thoughts only flow by drops, you can't pour
them out in bucketfuls.
However, Will has ferreted me out, and
I am obliged to him so far. I told him the
other day, what the winkle said to the pin :
" Thank you for drawing me out, but you
IF THE CAP FITS, WEAR IT. ii
are rather sharp about it." Still, Master
Will is not far from the mark : after three
hundred thousand people had bought my
book it certainly was time to write another :
so, though I am not a hatter, I will again
turn cap-maker, and those who have heads
may try on my wares ; those who have none
won't touch them.
So, friends,
I am,
Yours, rough and ready,
John Ploughman.
BURN A CANDLE AT BOTH ENDS,
AND IT WILL SOON BE GONE.
WELL may he scratch his head who
burns his candle at both ends ; but,
do what he may, his light will soon be gone,
and he will be all in the dark. Young Jack
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NE VER B URN A CANDLE AT BO THENDS. 1 3
Careless squandered his property, and now
he is without a shoe to his foot. His was
a case of " easy come, easy go : soon gotten,
soon spent." He that earns an estate will
keep it better than he that inherits it. As
the Scotchman says, '* He that gets gear
before he gets wit is but a short time master
of it," and so it was with Jack. His money
burnt holes in his pocket. He could not
get rid of it fast enough himself, and so he
got a pretty set to help him, which they did
by helping themselves. His fortune went
like a pound of meat in a kennel of hounds.
He was everybody's friend, and now he is
everybody's fool.
He came in to old Alderman Greedy's
money, for he was his nephew ; but, as the
old saying is, the fork followed the rake,
the spender was heir to the hoarder. God
has been very merciful to some of us in
never letting money come rolling in upon
us, for most men are carried off their legs if
they meet with a great wave of fortune.
Many of us would have been bigger sinners
if we had been trusted with larger purses.
Poor Jack had plenty of pence, but little
sense. Money is easier made than made
14 JOHN PLOUGHMAN'S PICTURES.
the use of. What is hard to gather is easy to
scatter. The old gentleman had lined his
nest well, but Jack made the feathers fly
like flakes of snow in winter-time. He got
rid of his money by shovelfuls and then by
cartloads. After spending the interest, he
began swallowing the capital, and so killed
the goose that laid the golden eggs. He
squandered his silver and gold, in ways
which must never be told. It would not go
fast enough, and so he bought race-horses to
run away with it. He got into the hands
of blacklegs, and fell into company of
which we shall say but little; only when
such madams smile, men's purses weep :
these are a well without a bottom, and the
more a fool throws in, the more he may.
The greatest beauty often causes the great-
est ruin. Play, women, and wine are enough
to make a prince a pauper.
Always taking out and never putting
back soon empties the biggest sack, and so
Jack found it ; but he took no notice till his
last shilling bade him good-bye, and then
he said he had been robbed ; like silly Tom
who put his finger in the fire and said it was
his bad luck.
NE VERBURNA CAXDLE AT BO TH ENDS. 15
His money once flashed like dew in the sun ;
When bills became due, of cash he had none.
" Drink and let drink" was his motto;
every day was a holiday and every holiday
was a feast. The best of wines and the
dearest of dainties suited his tooth, for he
meant to lead a pig's life, which they say is
short and sweet. Truly, he went the whole
hog. The old saying is, " a glutton young,
a beggar old," and he seemed set upon prov-
ing it true. A fat kitchen makes a lean
will ; but he can make his will on his
finger-nail, and leave room for a dozen cod-
icils. In fact, he will never want a will at all,
for he will leave nothing behind him but old
scores. Of all his estate there is not enough
left to bury him with. What he threw away
in his prosperity would have kept a coat on
his back and a dumpling in his pot to his
life's end ; but he never looked beyond his
nose, and could not see to the end of that.
He laughed at prudence, and now prudence
frowns at him. Punishment is lame, but it
comes at last. He pays the cost of his folly
in body and in soul, in purse and in person,
and yet he is still a fool, and would dance to
1 6 JOHy PLOUGHMAN'S PICTURES.
the same tune again if he had another chance.
His Hght purse brings him a heavy heart,
but he couldn't have his cake and eat it too.
As he that is drunk at night is dry in the
morning, so he that lavished money when he
had it feels the want of it all the more when it
is gone. His old friends have quite dropped
him ; they have squeezed the orange, and
now they throw away the peel. As well
look for milk from a pigeon as help from a
fellow who loved }'ou for your beer. Pot
friends will let you go to pot, and kick you
when you are down.
Jack has worse wants than the want of
money, for his character is gone, and he is
like a rotten nut, not worth the cracking :
the neighbors say he is a ne'er-do-well, not
worth calling out of a cabbage garden. No-
body will employ him, for he would not
earn his salt, and so he goes from pillar to
post, and has not a place to lay his head in.
A good name is better than a girdle of gold,
and when that is gone, what has a man left ?
What has he left ? Nothing upon earth !
Yet the prodigal son has still a Father in
heaven. Let him arise and go to him,
ragged as he is. He may smell of the
NE VER B URN A CANDLE AT BOTH ENDS. 1 7
swine-trough, and yet he may run straight
home, and he shall not find the door locked.
The great Father will joyfully meet him, and
kiss him, and cleanse him, and clothe him,
and eive him to be^in a new and better life.
When a sinner is at his worst he is not too
bad for the Saviour, if he will but turn from
his wickedness and cry unto God for mercy.
It's a long lane that has no turning, but the
best of all turns is to turn unto the Lord
with all your heart. This the great Father
will help the penitent prodigal to do. If the
candle has been burned all away, the Sun in
the heavens is still alight. Look, poor
profligate : look to Jesus, and live. His sal-
vation is without money and without price.
Though you may not have a penny to bless
yourself with, the Lord Jesus will bless you
freely. The depths of your misery are not
so deep as the depth of God's mercy. If
you are faithful and just in confessing the
sins you would have forgiven, God will be
faithful and just in forgiving the sins which
you confess.
But, pray, do not go on another day as
you are, for this very day may be your last.
If you will not heed a plain word from John
1 8 JOHN PLOUGHMAN'S PICTURES,
Ploughinan, which he means for your good,
yet recollect this old-fashioned rhyme,
which was copied from a grave-stone :
" The loss of gold is great,
The los5 of health is more,
But the loss of Christ is such a loss
As no man can restore."