Spurgeon on the Unity of the Spirit

I've been reading a collection of writings by Charles Spurgeon called Grace and Power. This is actually a single-volume incorporating six shorter works. I'm not saying anything new and novel when I declare that Spurgeon is one of the most inspiring Christian writers that has ever laid pen to paper (or fingers to keyboard). I've been using this book as a kind of devotional, reading a few pages each morning, letting Spurgeon guide and inform my meditation.

Like Chesterton or Lewis, Spurgeon is imminently quotable. Yesterday I was reading his thoughts on "the unity of the Spirit." This is a longish passage, difficult to excerpt (because it's all so good), but I wanted to give you a taste of Spurgeon on this subject, especially because it is a matter that we Christian bloggers desperately need to attend to (see this post by Dan Edelen for more on this subject). Anyway, Spurgeon is speaking of the great men of the reformation, and he remarks on their tendency at times to war with one another. He writes:

In those days the courtesies of Christians to one another were generally of the iron glove kind, rather than the naked hand. They were all called to war for the sake of the truth, and they were so intent on their task that they were even suspicious of their fellow soldiers. It may be the same way with us: the very watchfulness of truth, which is so valuable, may make us suspicious where there is no need of suspicion. And our courage may take us where we should not go, like a fiery horse that carries a young warrior beyond where he intended to go, where he may be taken prisoner. We must watch--the best of us must watch--lest we fight the Lord's battles with Satan's weapons and thereby, even from love for God and His truth, violate the unity of the Spirit.

Amen to that!