Spurgeon's Parallel Lines

I have learned through the years that oft-repeated quotes can take on a life of their own. Retellings in different contexts can flatten the features of a quote, or sometimes even subtly change its meaning. When the famous quote from Spurgeon about parallel lines came up in conversation recently, I wondered about it. Then, I planned to use it in a sermon. To the best of my memory, I had never heard the passage actually quoted. Everybody usually just refers to the quote. To the best of my memory, I had never seen it in print. I had just heard it referenced time and time again. So I looked it up. Here is the quote with a bit of its original context from Spurgeon's A Defense of Calvinism:

That God predestines, and yet that man is responsible, are two facts that few can see clearly. They are believed to be inconsistent and contradictory to each other. If, then, I find taught in one part of the Bible that everything is fore-ordained, that is true; and if I find, in another Scripture, that man is responsible for all his actions, that is true; and it is only my folly that leads me to imagine that these two truths can ever contradict each other. I do not believe they can ever be welded into one upon any earthly anvil, but they certainly shall be one in eternity. They are two lines that are so nearly parallel, that the human mind which pursues them farthest will never discover that they converge, but they do converge, and they will meet somewhere in eternity, close to the throne of God, whence all truth doth spring.

Since the references to this quote often are used to find common ground between Baptists with different ideas about God's sovereignty and human free will, I was happy to see that the quote can properly be used to serve this purpose. Among conservative evangelicals, what unites us is far more important than our minor disagreements. We never will understand everything. Let us thank God that he has revealed himself to us, that he is sovereign, and that he is merciful and gracious.