"Paul, His Cloak, and His Books", by Charles Hadden Spurgeon

II Timothy 4:13

‘The cloak that I left at Troas with Carpus, when thou comest, bring with thee, and the books, but especially the parchments’

“He is inspired, and yet he wants books! He has seen the Lord, and yet he wants books! He has had wider experiences than most men, and yet he wants books! He had been caught up in the third heaven, and had heard things unlawful for a man to utter, yet he wants books! He has written a major part of the New Testament, and yet he wants books!

“The apostle says to Timothy and so he says to every Christian, ‘Give thyself to reading’. The man who never reads will never be read; he who never quotes will never be quoted. He who will not use the thoughts of other men’s brains proves he has no brains of his own”.