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Introduction
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Preface: Charles H. Spurgeon, in his preface to "John Ploughman's Talks", said: "I have written for plowmen and common people. Hence refined taste and dainty words have been discarded for strong proverbial expressions and homely phrases. I have aimed my blows at the vices of the many, and tried to inculcate those moral virtues without which men are degraded. Much that needs to be said to the toiling masses would not well suit the pulpit and the Sabbath; these lowly pages may teach thrift and industry all the days of the week, in the cottage and the workshop; and if some learn these lessons I shall not repent the adoption of a rustic style.
Ploughman is a name I may justly claim. Every minister has put his hand to the plow; and it is his business to break up the fallow ground. That I have written in a semi-humorous vein needs no apology, since thereby sound moral teaching has gained a hearing from at least 300,000 persons. There is no particular virtue in being seriously unreadable.
C. H. SpurgeonEDITOR'S NOTE --- We are publishing here on our site Spurgeon's humorous "John Ploughman" stories in their entirety. While they are intended to be humorous, and are in some areas "dated," they still contain a treasure of practical and spiritual real life truth, and even this long after writing, they yet contain much serious teaching which is badly needed by God's people and even the unsaved today! ENJOY!
(Spurgeon's writings, including these "John Ploughman's" stories, are published from time to time by many publishers, but perhaps the publisher who prints the widest variety, all or nearly all of Spurgeon's works, is Pilgrim Publications, in Pasadena, Texas. It is run by Bob Ross, a personable Christian gentleman. Though I disagree with him on some of his Theology, as I have for years, Georgia and I have had several pleasant visits with him at his headquarters in Pasadena.) If you want anything of Spurgeon's in hardcopy for your Library, as you should if you're a preacher or student, then Bob Ross is the man to see. ---James Dearmore, Editor/Webmaster
![[C. H. Spurgeon Picture]](../graphics/SPURGEON.JPG)