Drawing the silken thread of comfort and salvation

“When God means to save a man, He usually begins by making him sorrow on account of his evil ways. It is the sharp steel needle of the Law of God that goes through the convicted heart and draws the silken thread of comfort and salvation after it!”

-C.H. Spurgeon

Happy 175th Birthday!

(June 19, 1834 – January 31, 1892)

Happy 175th birthday to Charles Haddon Spurgeon! I’m a day late but what’s a day over 175 years?

The Heart of the Gospel!

Some excerpts from The Heart of the Gospel preached by C.H. Spurgeon on the morning of July 18th 1886.

“For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.”—2 Corinthians v 20,21.

He was "made sin." It is a wonderful expression: the more you weigh it the more you will marvel at its singular strength. Only the Holy Ghost might originate such language. It was wise for the divine Teacher to use very strong expressions, for else the thought might not have entered human minds. Even now, despite the emphasis, clearness, and distinctness of the language used here and elsewhere in Scripture there are found men daring enough to deny that substitution is taught in Scripture. With such subtle wits it is useless to argue. It is clear that language has no meaning for them. To read the 53rd chapter of Isaiah, and to accept it as relating to the Messiah, and then to deny his substitutionary sacrifice is simply wickedness. It would be vain to reason with such beings; they are so blind that if they were transported to the sun they could not see. In the church and out of the church there is a deadly animosity to this truth. Modern thought labours to get away from what is obviously the meaning of the Holy Spirit, that sin was lifted from the guilty and laid upon the innocent. It is written, "The Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all." This is as plain language as can be used; but if any plainer was required, here it is,—"He hath made him to be sin for us."

The Lord God laid upon Jesus, who voluntarily undertook it, all the weight of human sin. Instead of its resting on the sinner, who did commit it, it was made to rest upon Christ, who did not commit to it; while the righteousness which Jesus wrought out was placed to the account of the guilty, are treated as righteous. Those who by nature are guilty, are regarded as righteous, while he who by nature knew no sin whatever, was treated as guilty. I think I must have read in scores of books that such a transference is impossible; but the statement has had no effect upon my mind. I do not care whether it is impossible or not with learned unbelievers: it is evidently possible with God, for he has done it. But they say it is contrary to reason. I do not care for that, either: it may be contrary to the reason of those unbelievers, but it is not contrary to mine; and if I am to be guided by reason, I prefer to follow my own. The atonement is a miracle, and miracles are rather to be accepted by faith than measured by calculation. A fact is the best of arguments. It is a fact that the Lord hath laid on Jesus the iniquity of us all. God's revelation proves the fact, and our faith defies human questioning! God saith it, and I believe it; and believing it, I find life and comfort in it. Shall I not preach it? Assuredly I will.

"E'er since by faith I saw the stream
His flowing wounds supply,
Redeeming love has been my theme,
And shall be till I die."

Christ was not guilty, and could not be made guilty; but he was treated as if he were guilty, because he willed to stand in the place of the guilty. Yea, he was not only treated as a sinner, but he was treated as if he had been sin itself in the abstract. This is an amazing utterance. The sinless one was made to sin.

"He made him to be sin." Look into the words. Perceive their meaning if you can. The angels desire to look into it. Gaze into this terrible crystal. Let your eyes search deep into this opal, within whose jewelled depth there are flames of fire. The Lord made the perfectly innocent one to be sin for us: that means more humiliation, darkness, agony, and death than you can conceive. It brought a kind of distraction and well-nigh a destruction to the tender and gentle spirit of our Lord. I do not say that our substitute endured a hell, that were unwarrantable. I will not say that he endured either the exact punishment for sin, or an equivalent for it; but I do say that what he endured rendered to the justice of God a vindication of his law more clear and more effectual than would have been rendered to it by the damnation of the sinners for whom he died. The cross is under many aspects a more full revelation of the wrath of God against human sin than even Tophet, and the smoke of torment which goeth up for ever and ever. Who would know God's hate of sin must see the Only Begotten bleeding in body and bleeding in soul even unto death: he must, in fact, spell out each word of my text, and read its innermost meaning. There, my brethen, I am ashamed of the poverty of my explanation, and I will therefore only repeat the full and sublime language of the apostle—"He hath made him to be sin for us." It is more than "He hath put him to grief"; it is more than "God hath forsaken him"; it is more than "The chastisement of our peace was upon him"; it is the most suggestive of all descriptions—"He hath made him sin for us." Oh depth of terror, and yet height of love!

As Christ was made sin, and yet never sinned, so are we made righteousness, though we cannot claim to have been righteous in and of ourselves. Sinners though we be, and forced to confess it with grief, yet the Lord doth cover us so completely with the righteousness of Christ, that only his righteousness is seen, and we are made the righteousness of God in him. This is true of all the saints, even of as many as believe on his name. Oh, the splendor of this doctrine! Canst thou see it, my friend? Sinner though thou be, and in thyself defiled, deformed, and debased, yet if thou wilt accept the great Substitute which God provide for in the person of his dear Son, thy sins are gone from thee, and righteousness has come to thee. Thy sins were laid on Jesus, the scapegoat: they are thine no longer, he has put them away. I may say that his righteousness is imputed unto thee; but I go further, and say with the text, "Thou art made the righteousness of God in him." No doctrine can be more sweet than this to those who feel the weight of sin and the burden of its curse.

John Ploughman's Talk

New at Pol'-e-store
Charles Spurgeon

For those who may be unfamiliar with John Ploughman's Talk (from which the preceding article on debt was taken) it is simply a 2 volume collection of writings from C.H. Spurgeon under the name of John Ploughman; a witty old farmer who loves proverbial sayings. Spurgeon tells us a little bit about these writings in the preface to John Ploughman’s Talk: Plain Advice for Plain People:

“IN John Ploughman's Talk, 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.”

While these books are entertaining, fun to read and full of good advice and easily remembered proverbs, a great many people I’ve talked with don’t even seem to know that they exist.

Christian Heritage publishers have now combined both volumes (John Ploughman’s Talk and John Ploughman's Pictures) into one volume for just $9.99

The Complete John Ploughman: Combined edition of John Ploughman’s Talk and John Ploughman's Pictures By C.H. Spurgeon / Christian Heritage

Debt Part 4 from C. H. Spurgeon

Debt
C. H. Spurgeon writing as John Ploughman
From John Ploughmans Talk

My motto is, pay as you go, and keep from small scores Short reckonings are soon cleared. Pay what you owe and what you're worth you'll know. Let the clock tick but no "tick" for me. Better go to bed without your sup per than get up in debt. Sins and debts are always more than we think them to be. Little by little a man gets over head and ears. It is the petty expenses that empty the purse. Money rolls away easily. Tom Thriftless buys what he does not want because it is a great bargain, and so is soon brought to sell what he does want, and find it a very little bargain. He cannot say "No" to his friend who wants him to be security; he gives grand dinners, makes many holidays, keeps a fat table, lets his wife dress fine, and by-and-by he is quite surprised to find that quarter-days come round so very fast, and that creditors bark so loud. He has sowed his money in the fields of thoughtlessness, and now he wonders that he has to reap the harvest of poverty. Still he hopes for something to turn up to help him out of difficulty, and so muddles himself into more troubles, forgetting that hope and expectation are a fool's income. Being hard up, he goes to market with empty pockets, and buys at whatever prices tradesmen like to charge him, and so he pays more than double and gets deeper and deeper into the mire. This leads him to scheming, and trying little tricks and mean dodges, for it is hard for an empty sack to stand upright. This is sure not to answer. Schemes are like spiders' webs, which never catch anything better than flies, and are soon swept away. As well attempt to mend your shoes with brown paper, or stop a broken window with a sheet of ice, as try to patch up a falling business with maneuvering and scheming. When the schemer is found out, he is like a dog in church, which everybody is after, and like a barrel of powder, which nobody wants for a neighbor.

They say poverty is a sixth sense, and it had need be, for many debtors seem to have lost the other five, or were born without common sense. They appear to fancy that you not only make debts, but pay them by borrowing. A man pays Peter with what he has borrowed of Paul, and thinks he is getting out of his difficulties. He is only putting one foot into the mud to pull his other foot out. It is hard to shave an egg, or pull hairs out of a bald pate, but they are both easier than paying debts out of an empty pocket. Samson was a strong man, but he could not pay debts without money. He is a fool who thinks he can do it by scheming. Jews and Gentiles, when they lend money, generally pluck the geese as long as they have any feathers. A man must cut down his outgoings and save his incomings if he wants to clear himself; you cannot spend your penny and pay debts with it too. Stint the kitchen if the purse is bare. Do not believe in any way of wiping out debts except by paying hard cash. Promises make debts, and debts make promises, but promises never pay debts. Promising is one thing, and performing is quite another. A good man's word should be as binding as an oath. He should never promise to pay unless he has a clear prospect of doing so in due time. Those who stave off payment by false promises, deserve no mercy. It is all very well to say "I'm very sorry," but—

A hundred years of regret
Pay not a farthing of debt.

Now I'm afraid all this sound advice might as well have been given to my master's cocks and hens as to those who have got into the way of spending what is not their own. Advice to such people goes in at one ear and out at the other; well, those who will not listen will have to feel, and those who refuse cheap advice will have to buy dear repentance. To young people beginning life, a word may be worth a world

Debt Part 3 from C. H. Spurgeon

Debt
C. H. Spurgeon writing as John Ploughman
From John Ploughmans Talk

"Debtors can hardly help being liars, for they promise to pay when they know they cannot. When they have made up a lot of false excuses they promise again, and so they lie as fast as a horse can trot.

You have debts, and make debts still, If you've not lied, lie you will.

Now, if owing leads to lying, who shall say that it is not a most evil thing? Of course, there are exceptions, and I do not want to bear hard upon an honest man who is brought down by sickness or heavy losses; but take the rule as a rule, and you will find debt to be a great dismal swamp, a huge mud-hole, a dirty ditch. Happy is the man who gets out of it after once tumbling in, but happiest of all is he who has been by God's goodness kept out of the mire. If you once ask the Devil to dinner it will be hard to get him out of the house again; better to have nothing to do with him. Where a hen has laid one egg she is very likely to lay another; when a man is once in debt, he is likely to get into it again; better keep clear of it from the first. He who gets in over shoes is very liable to be over boots.

If you want to sleep soundly, buy a bed of a man who is in debt; surely it must be a very soft one, or he never could have rested so easy on it. I suppose people get hardened to it, as Smith's donkey did when its master broke so many sticks across its back. It seems to me that a real honest man would sooner get as lean as a greyhound than feast on borrowed money. He would choke up his throat with March dust before he would let the landlord make chalks against him. What pins and needles tradesmen's bills must stick in a fellow's soul! A pig on credit always grunts. Without debt, without care; out of debt, out of danger; but owing and borrowing are bramble bushes full of thorns. If ever I borrow a spade of my next door neighbor I never feel safe with it for fear I should break it. I never can dig in peace as I do with my own; but if I had a spade at the shop and knew I could not pay for it, I think I should dig my own grave out of shame. Scripture says, "Owe no man anything," which does not mean pay your debts, but never have any to pay. My opinion is, that those who break this law ought to be turned out of the Christian church. Our laws are shamefully full of encouragement to credit: no body need be a thief now; he has only to open a shoj and make a failure of it, and it will pay him much better. The proverb is: "He who never fails will never grow rich." Why, I know tradesmen who have failed five o six times, and yet think they are on the road to Heaven What would they do if they got there? They are a dea more likely to go where they shall never come out til they have paid the uttermost farthing. But people say "How liberal they are!" Yes, with other people's money I hate to see a man steal a goose and then give religioi the giblets. Piety by all means, but pay your way as par of it. Honesty first, and then generosity. But how oftei religion is a cloak for deceiving! There's Mrs. Scamp a fine as a peacock, all the girls out at boarding-school learning French and the piano, the boys swelling abou in gloves, and G. B. Scamp, Esq., driving a fast-trotting mare, and taking the chair at public meetings, while hi; poor creditors cannot get more than enough to live front hand to mouth. It is shameful and beyond endurance to see how genteel swindling is winked at by many. If I hac my way, I'd give them the county crop, and the prisor garb for six months; gentlemen or not, I'd let them see that big rogues could dance on the treadmill to the same tune as little ones. I'd make the land too hot to hole such scamping gentry if I were a member of Parliament or a prime minister. As I've no such power, I can at leasi let off the steam of my wrath in that way."

Debt Part 2 from C. H. Spurgeon

Debt Part 2

Debt
C. H. Spurgeon writing as John Ploughman
From John Ploughmans Talk

Ever since that early sickening I have hated debt, and if I say some fierce things about it, you must not wonder. To keep debt, dirt, and the Devil out of my cottage has been my greatest wish ever since I set up housekeeping. Although the last of the three has sometimes got in by the door or the window, for the old serpent will wriggle through the smallest crack, yet, thanks to a good wife, hard work, honesty, and scrubbing brushes, the two others have not crossed the threshold. Debt is so degrading, that if I owed a man a penny I would walk twenty miles, in winter, to pay him, sooner than feel that I was under an obligation. I should be as comfortable with peas in my shoes, or a hedgehog in my bed, or a snake up my back, as with bills hanging over my head at the grocer's, and the baker's, and the tailor's. Poverty is hard, but debt is horrible. A man might as well have a smoky house and a scolding wife, which are said to be the two worst evils of our life. We may be poor, and yet respectable, which John Ploughman and wife hope they are and will be; but a man in debt cannot even respect himself. He is sure to be talked about by the neighbors, and that talk will not be much to his credit. Some persons appear to like ov/ing money; but I would as soon be a cat up a chimney with the fire going, or a fox with the hounds at my heels, or a hedgehog on a pitchfork, or a mouse under an owl's claw. An honest man thinks a purse full of other people's money to be worse than an empty one; he cannot bear to eat other people's cheese, wear other people's shirts, and walk about in other people's shoes. Neither will he be easy while his wife is decked out in the milliner's bonnets. The jackdaw in the peacock's feathers was soon plucked, and borrowers will surely come to poverty—a poverty of the bitterest sort, because there is shame in it.

Living beyond their incomes is the ruin of many of my neighbors; they can hardly afford to keep a rabbit, and must needs drive a pony. I am afraid extravagance is the common disease of the times, and many professing Christians have caught it, to their shame and sorrow. Girls must have silks and satins, and then there's a bill at the dressmaker's as long as a winter's night, and quite as dismal. Show, and style, and smartness run away with a man's means, keep the family poor, and the father's nose down on the grindstone. Frogs try to look as big as bulls, and burst themselves. Men burn the candle at both ends, and then say they are very unfortunate—why don't they put the saddle on the right horse, and say they are extravagant? Economy is half the battle in life; it is not so hard to earn money as to spend it well. Hundreds would never have known want if they had not first known waste. If nil poor men's wives knew how to cook, how far a little might go! Our minister says the French and the Germans beat us in nice cheap cookery. I wish they would send missionaries over to convert gossiping women into good managers. This is a French fashion which would be a deal more useful than those fine pictures in Mrs. Frippery's window, with ladies rigged out in a new style every month. Dear me! some people are much too fine nowadays to eat what their fathers were thankful to see on the table. They please their palates with costly feeding, come to the poorhouse, and expect everybody to pity them. They turned up their noses at bread and butter, and came to eat raw turnips stolen out of the fields. They who live like fighting cocks at other men's costs will get their combs cut, or perhaps get roasted for it one of these days. If you have a great store of peas, you may put the more in the soup; but everybody should fare according to his earnings. He is both a fool and a rascal who has a quarter coming in, and on the strength of it spends five dollars which does not belong to him. "Cut your coat according to your cloth" is sound advice. Cutting other people's cloth by running into debt is like thieving. If I meant to be a rogue I would deal in marine stores, or be a pettifogging lawyer, or open a loan office, or go out picking pockets, but I would scorn the art of getting into debt without a prospect of being able to pay.

A Timely Word on Debt from C. H. Spurgeon

Debt Part 1

Debt
C. H. Spurgeon
From John Ploughmans Talk

WHEN I WAS A VERY SMALL BOY, and went to a woman's school, it so happened that I wanted a slate pencil, and had no money to buy it. I was afraid of being scolded for losing my pencils so often, for I was real careless, and so did not dare to ask at home; what then was John to do? There was a little shop where nuts, and tops, and cakes, and balls were sold by old Mrs. Dearson. Sometimes I had seen boys and girls trusted by the old lady. I argued with myself that Christmas was coming, and that somebody or other would be sure to give me a penny then. I would, therefore, go into debt for a slate pencil, and be sure to pay at Christmas. I did not feel easy about it, but still I screwed my courage up and went into the shop. As I had never owed anything before, and my credit was good, the pencil was handed over by the kind dame, and I was in debt. It did not please me much, and I felt as if I had done wrong, but I little knew how soon I should smart for it. How my father heard of this little stroke of business I never knew, but some little bird or other whistled it to him, and he was very soon down upon me in earnest. God bless him for it; he was a sensible man, and none of your children spoilers. He did not intend to bring up his children to speculate, and play at what big men call financing, and therefore he knocked my getting into debt on the head at once. He gave me a very powerful lecture upon getting into debt, and how like it was to stealing; upon the way in which people were ruined by it; how a boy who would owe a little, might one day owe much, and get into prison, and bring his family into disgrace. It was a lecture, indeed. Then I was marched off to the shop like a deserter marched into barracks, crying bitterly as I went, and feeling dreadfully ashamed, because I thought everybody knew I was in debt. The money was paid amid many solemn warnings, and the poor debtor was set free, like a bird let out of a cage. How sweet it felt to be out of debt! How did my little heart vow and declare that nothing should ever tempt me into debt again! It was a fine lesson, and I have never forgotten it. If all boys were inoculated with the same doctrine when they were young, it would be as good as a fortune to them, and save them loads of trouble in after life. God bless my father, say I, and send such fathers to save us from being eaten up with villainy.

Why Some Leave Christ -Part 1

Some leave Christ and go away terrified by persecution.

Nowadays it is supposed that there is no such thing. But that is a mistake; for though martyrs are not burned at Smithfield, and the Lollards Tower is now a place for show (a memorial of times long ago), the harass, the cruelty, and the oppression are far enough from being obsolete. Godless husbands play the part of petty tyrants, and will not permit their wives the enjoyment of religion, but make their lives bitter with a galling bondage. Employers full often wreak malice on servants whose piety towards God is their sole cause of offense. Worse still, there are working men who consider themselves intelligent, who cannot allow their fellow-workman liberty to go to a place of worship without sneers, and jeers, and cruel mockings. In many cases the mirth of the workshop is never louder than when it is turned against a believer in Christ. They count it rare fun to hunt a man who cares for the salvation of his soul. They call themselves "Englishmen," but certainly they are no credit to their country. Look at the base-born, ill bred cowards.

Yonder is an atheist; he is raving about his rights because the magistrate will not believe him on his oath; he claims liberty of conscience to be a heathen himself, but denies his comrade's right to be a Christian. Look at
that little party of British workmen; they belong to the Sabbath desecration society. They are petitioning Parliament to open museums and theatres on Sundays, and at the same time they are hounding to death a poor fellow who prefers going to chapel. They air their own self-respect by the oaths they utter, while they betray their self-abasement by the scorn they vent on those who presume to sing a hymn. They hail the drunkard as a chum, and scorn the sober man as a fiend. I wonder that there is not more honorablefeeling, more good faith, and true fellowship among our skilled workmen than to allow of one man being made the butt of a whole community. God give you grace to bear such persecutions as these! If they cut us to the quick, may we learn to bear them with equanimity, and even to rejoice that we are counted worthy to suffer for the Savior's sake!

Some of us have had to run the gauntlet for many years. What we have said has been constantly misrepresented; what we have endeavored to do has been misjudged, and our motives have been misunderstood. Yet here we tare, as happy as anybody out of heaven. We have not been injured by any or all the calumnies that have been heaped upon us. Our foes would have crushed us but, blessed be God, he cheered us often when we were cast down. The Lord give you, in like manner, strength of mind and courage of heart to bear the trial manfully! Then you will care no more for the laughter and the sneers of men than you do for the noise of those migratory birds high overhead, which you hear on an autumn evening as they are making their weary journey to a distant clime.

Take heart, man. Fear God, and face your accusers. True courage grows strong on opposition. Never think of deserting the army of Christ. Least of all should you play the coward because the insolence of some ill-mannered bully. Let not your faith be vanquished by such scoffing. Alas! that so many a craven spirit has gone away for the sake of carnal ease, and deserted Christ, when his dear name had become the drunkard's jest and the derision of fools."

From Absconding and Apostasy
by C.H. Spurgeon

If sinners will be damned...

"If sinners will be damned, at least let them leap to hell over our bodies. And if they will perish, let them perish with our arms around their knees, imploring them to stay. If hell must be filled, at least let it be filled in the teeth of our exertions, and let not one go there unwarned and unprayed for." - C.H. Spurgeon.

Success to Sectarianism

"....I glory in that which at the present day is so much spoken against—sectarianism, for "sectarianism" is the cant phrase which our enemies use for all firm religious belief. I find it applied to all sorts of Christians; no matter what views he may hold, if a man be but earnest, he is a sectarian at once. Success to sectarianism, let it live and flourish. When that is done with, farewell to the power of godliness. When we cease, each of us, to maintain our own views of truth, and to maintain those views firmly and strenuously, then truth shall fly out of hand, and error alone shall reign: this, indeed, is the object of our foes: under the cover of attacking sects, they attack true religion, and would drive it, if they could, from off the face of the earth."

C. H. SPURGEON from "Gods Will and Mans Will"

Awake, Ye Inheritors of Glory

"If we complained less, and praised more, we should be happier, and God would be more glorified. Let us daily praise God for common mercies—common as we frequently call them, and yet so priceless, that when deprived of them we are ready to perish. Let us bless God for the eyes with which we behold the sun, for the health and strength to walk abroad, for the bread we eat, for the raiment we wear. Let us praise him that we are not cast out among the hopeless, or confined amongst the guilty; let us thank him for liberty, for friends, for family associations and comforts; let us praise him, in fact, for everything which we receive from his bounteous hand, for we deserve little, and yet are most plenteously endowed. But, beloved, the sweetest and the loudest note in our songs of praise should be of redeeming love. God's redeeming acts towards his chosen are for ever the favourite themes of their praise. If we know what redemption means, let us not withhold our sonnets of thanksgiving. We have been redeemed from the power of our corruptions, uplifted from the depth of sin in which we were naturally plunged. We have been led to the cross of Christ— our shackles of guilt have been broken off; we are no longer slaves, but children of the living God, and can antedate the period when we shall be presented before the throne without spot or wrinkle or any such thing. Even now by faith we wave the palm-branch and wrap ourselves about with the fair linen which is to be our everlasting array, and shall we not unceasingly give thanks to the Lord our Redeemer? Child of God, canst thou be silent? Awake, awake, ye inheritors of glory, and lead your captivity captive, as ye cry with David, "Bless the Lord, O my soul: and all that is within me, bless his holy name." Let the new month begin with new songs."

-Charles Spurgeon

The Forgotten Spurgeon

Five Must Read Biographies: #1-The Forgotten Spurgeon



While I really like just about anything written by Ian Murray, this has got to be one of his best. I love the way he digs into the doctrines and the thinking of the people under discussion in his books and relates it to Scripture . In this book he looks at the life of Spurgeon thru the glasses of three of the important controversies of his life time. 1) Arminianism vs. Calvinism. 2) Baptismal Regeneration, and 3) the Down-Grade controversy.

This book is particularly valuable , I believe, to those who are wrestling with Calvinism and Arminianism as he not only looks at the historical debate as it relates to to Scripture but also looks at the fruit of these beliefs in the following years; "Ye shall know them by their fruits...." Matthew 7:16. Spurgeon was masterful at getting to the point of a matter and shedding some light on the Scriptural doctrine at hand and the many quotes contained in this book from numerous sermons are an invaluable resource.

This was one of the first Biographies I read as a young Christian and it made a tremendous impact on me. Theres something spiritually invigorating in learning about the growth and struggles of those who have gone before us in the Lord and have fought the good fight, finished the coarse and kept the faith (2 Tim. 4:6-8).



Contents

1. The Preacher in Park Street 21
2. The Lost Controversy 45
3. Arminianism Against Scripture 69
4. Arminianism and Evangelism 99
5. Church Issues Revived 117
6. The Down-Grade 139
7. The Down-Grade and its Lessons 153
8. Free Grace and the Down-Grade in Perspective 167
9. 'Though the Heavens Fall...' 193
10. 10 The Aftermath at the Metropolitan Tabernacle 209
11. Appendix: An Open Letter 239
12. Index 251

Illustrations appear between pages 122 and 123



From the back of the book:

"This book seeks to throw light on the reasons which have given rise to the superficial image of Spurgeon as a genial Victorian pulpiteer, a kind of grandfather of modern evangelicalism. Even before his death in 1892 newspapers and church leaders disputed over the features of his life which entitled him to fame. Not his 'narrow creed' but his 'genuine loving character' was most worthy of remembrance said one periodical, echoing the general view. When Joseph Parker contrasted the hard Calvinism preached at Spurgeon's Tabernacle with the praiseworthy Christianity exemplified in his orphanage, The Baptist protested that the man about whom Parker wrote 'is not the Spurgeon of history'. But the distortion continued and Spurgeon forecast how the position he held might fare in the 20th century: 'I am quite willing to be eaten by dogs for the next fifty years but the more distant future shall vindicate me. This book traces the main lines of Spurgeon's spiritual thought in connection with the three great controversies in his ministry — the first was his stand against the diluted Gospel fashionable in the London to which the young preacher came in the 1850's; the second, the famous 'Baptismal Regeneration' debate of 1864; lastly, the lacerating Down-Grade controversy of 1887 - 1891 when Spurgeon sought to awaken Christians to the danger of the Church 'being buried beneath the boiling mud-showers of modern heresy'."

A few good quotes from the book:

I particularly love this account of the revival that took place under his ministry as it got underway at New Park Street:

“Spurgeon came to London conscious that God had been hiding His face from His people. His knowledge of the Bible and of Church history convinced him that, com­pared with what the Church had a warrant to expect, the Spirit of God was in great measure withdrawn, and if God continued to withhold His face, he declared to his people, nothing could be done to extend His Kingdom. It is not your knowledge, nor your talent, nor your zeal, he would say, that can perform God's work. 'Yet, brethren, this can be done -we will cry to the Lord until He reveals His face again,' 'All we want is the Spirit of God. Dear Christian friends, go home and pray for it; give yourselves no rest till God reveals Himself; do not tarry where you are, do not be content to go on in your everlasting jog-trot as you have done; do not be content with the mere round of formalities. Awake, O Zion; awake, awake, awake!'

Before many months had passed it was manifest that the congregation at New Park Street was awakening, and as travail in prayer became the characteristic of the church one common burden spread from pastor to people. 'The Lord send a blessing. He must send it, our hearts will break if He does not.' What a change took place in the prayer meetings! Now instead of the old, dull prayers, 'Every man seemed like a crusader besieging the New Jerusalem, each one appeared determined to storm the Celestial City by the might of inter­cession; and soon the blessing came upon us in such abund­ance that we had not room to receive it.”

p.34

“All the way to heaven, we shall only get there by the skin of our teeth. We shall not go to heaven sailing along with sails swelling to the breeze, like sea birds with their fair white wings, but we shall proceed full often with sails rent to ribbons, with masts creaking, and the ship's pumps at work night and day. We shall reach the city at the shutting gate, but not an hour before”

p. 24

On the Atonement:

"In other words, the Cross has a Godward reference; it was a propitiatory work through which the Father is pacified and it is on this ground, namely, Christ's obedience and blood, that all the blessings of salvation flow freely and surely to sinners. This is what is so clearly taught in Romans 3:25, 26. Writing on these verses, Robert Haldane says: 'God is shown not only to be merciful to forgive, but He is faithful and just to forgive the sinner his sins. Justice has received full payment, and guarantees his deliverance. Even the chief of sinners are shown in the propitiatory sacrifice of their Surety, to be perfectly worthy of Divine love, because they are not only perfectly innocent, but have the righteousness of God. 'He hath made him to be sin for us who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.'9 Spurgeon gloried in this truth: 'He has punished Christ, why should he punish twice for one offence? Christ has died for all his people's sins, and if thou art in the covenant, thou art one of Christ's people. Damned thou canst not be. Suffer for thy sins thou canst not. Until God can be unjust, and demand two payments for one debt, he cannot destroy the soul for whom Jesus died."

p. 75

On Arminianism:

"...Arminianism does not fully disclose the Biblical testimony concerning the condition of sinners and it does not do justice to die terrible extent of their needs. The Scripture represents us, by nature, as not only in need of salvation from the guilt of sin, but in need of an omnipotent power to quicken us from being 'dead in trespasses and in sins'. We are not only under condemnation through our offences, but we are under the dominion of a fallen nature which is at enmity against God. It is not only that we have committed sins for which we need mercy, but we have a sinful nature which needs to be made anew. Arminianism preaches the new-birth but it preaches it as a consequence of or an accompaniment to the human decision; it represents man as being born again by repenting and believing, as though these spiritual acts are within the ability of die unconverted. This teaching is only possible because of an under-estimation of die total ruin and impotence of the sinner. The Scripture says dial the natural man cannot receive spiritual things and it is because of this diat die Divine quickening must precede die human response."

p. 83

The Forgotten Spurgeon at CBD

The Forgotten Spurgeon at Amazon:

How to Become Full of Joy

A good Spurgeon sermon re-preached by cloudaudio.

• How to Become Full of Joy
  C. H. Spurgeon

We want again...

"We want again Luthers, Calvins, Bunyans, Whitefields, men fit to mark eras, whose names breathe terror in our foemen's ears. We have dire need of such. Whence will they come to us? They are the gifts of Jesus Christ to the Church, and will come in due time. He has power to give us back again a golden age of preachers, a time as fertile of great divines and mighty ministers as was the Puritan age, and when the good old truth is once more preached by men whose lips are touched as with a live coal from off the altar, this shall be the instrument in the hand of the Spirit for bringing about a great and thorough revival of religion in the land.

"I do not look for any other means of converting men beyond the simple preaching of the gospel and the opening of men's ears to hear it. The moment the Church of God shall despise the pulpit, God will despise her. It has been through the ministry that the Lord has always been pleased to revive and bless His Churches."

C.H. Spurgeon

Jesus Christ Himself

A friend of mine recently suggested this sermon Charles Spurgeon entitled Jesus Christ Himself delivered on December 9th 1877 at The Metropolitan Tabernacle. I love the way that it starts:

"Jesus Christ himself" is to occupy all our thoughts this morning. What an ocean opens up before me! Here is sea-room for the largest barque! In which direction shall I turn your thoughts? I am embarrassed with riches. I know not where to begin: and when I once begin where shall I end? Assuredly we need not go abroad for joys this morning, for we have a feast at home. The words are few, but the meaning vast -"Jesus Christ himself."

He goes on from there to show how Christ is the sum and substance of everything that is good and He Himself is to be our greatest treasure and love. He then begins to wrap-up the sermon in these words:

“Lastly, HE IS THE LORD OF OUR SOUL. How sweet it will be to be with him. We find today that his beloved company makes everything move pleasantly, whether we run in the way of his command or traverse the valley of the shadow of death. Saints have lain in dungeons, and yet they have walked at liberty when he has been there; they have been stretched on the rack, and even called it a bed of roses when he has stood by. One lay on a gridiron, with the hot fires beneath him; but amidst the flames he challenged his tormentors to do their worst, and laughed them to scorn, for his Lord was there. Martyrs have been seen to clap their hands when every finger burned like a lighted candle, and they have been heard to cry, "Christ is all," "Christ is all." When the Fourth, like unto the Son of God, walks in the furnace, all the fire can do is but to snap their bonds and set the sufferers free. Oh, brethren, I am sure your only happiness that has been worth the having has been found in knowing that he loved you and was near you. If you have ever rejoiced in the abundance of your corn and wine and oil, it has been a sorry joy; it has soon palled upon your taste, it ne'er touched the great deeps of your spirit; and anon it has gone and left you sore wearied in heart. If you have rejoiced in your children and your kinsfolk, and your bodily health, how readily has God sent blight upon them all? But when you have rejoiced in Jesus you have heard a voice bidding you proceed to further delights. That voice has cried, "Drink, O friends, yea, drink abundantly, O beloved;" for to be inebriated with such joy as this is to come to the best condition of mind, and to fix the soul where it should be. We are never right till we come out of ourselves and into Jesus;”


An audio version of this sermon narrated by Pastor Tod Magstadt can be found at Sermon Audio by clicking here

I have also put a written version of the sermon on the Green Pastures page of Polemos that can be accessed by clicking here:

Jesus Christ Himself
Charles H. Spurgeon (1834-1892)

This is legality!

Some Quotes
Arminianism

“Arminianism, by making the love and salvation of God to turn upon the fulfillment of conditions on the part of the sinner instead of entirely upon grace, encourages an error which can­not be too strongly opposed: 'Do you not see at once that this is legality,' says Spurgeon, ' that this is hanging our salvation upon our work that this is making our eternal life to depend on something we do? Nay, the doctrine of justification itself, as preached by an Arminian, is nothing but the doctrine of salvation by works, after all; for he always thinks faith is a work of the creature, and a condition of his acceptance. It is as false to say that man is saved by faith as a work, as that he is saved by the deeds of the Law. We are saved by faith as the gift of God, and as the first token of his eternal favour to us; but it is not faith as our work that saves, otherwise we are saved by works and not by grace at all.”

From The Forgotten Spurgeon
By Iain H. Murray / Banner Of Truth

Why should he punish twice for one offence?

Some Quotes
Atonement, The

"In other words, the Cross has a Godward reference; it was a propitiatory work through which the Father is pacified and it is on this ground, namely, Christ's obedience and blood, that all the blessings of salvation flow freely and surely to sinners. This is what is so clearly taught in Romans 3:25, 26. Writing on these verses, Robert Haldane says: 'God is shown not only to be merciful to forgive, but He is faithful and just to forgive the sinner his sins. Justice has received full payment, and guarantees his deliverance. Even the chief of sinners are shown in the propitiatory sacrifice of their Surety, to be perfectly worthy of Divine love, because they are not only perfectly innocent, but have the righteousness of God. 'He hath made him to be sin for us who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.' Spurgeon gloried in this truth: 'He has punished Christ, why should he punish twice for one offence? Christ has died for all his people's sins, and if thou art in the covenant, thou art one of Christ's people. Damned thou canst not be. Suffer for thy sins thou canst not. Until God can be unjust, and demand two payments for one debt, he cannot destroy the soul for whom Jesus died."

Taken from The Forgotten Spurgeon
By Iain H. Murray / Banner Of Truth

Besieging the New Jerusalem

As mentioned earlier, I’ve been reading The Forgotten Spurgeon once again. Personally I think every Christian should read it once or twice, but anyhow, I love this account of the revival that took place under his ministry as it got underway at New Park Street.

“Spurgeon came to London conscious that God had been hiding His face from His people. His knowledge of the Bible and of Church history convinced him that, com­pared with what the Church had a warrant to expect, the Spirit of God was in great measure withdrawn, and if God continued to withhold His face, he declared to his people, nothing could be done to extend His Kingdom. It is not your knowledge, nor your talent, nor your zeal, he would say, that can perform God's work. 'Yet, brethren, this can be done -we will cry to the Lord until He reveals His face again,' 'All we want is the Spirit of God. Dear Christian friends, go home and pray for it; give yourselves no rest till God reveals Himself; do not tarry where you are, do not be content to go on in your everlasting jog-trot as you have done; do not be content with the mere round of formalities. Awake, O Zion; awake, awake, awake!'

Before many months had passed it was manifest that the congregation at New Park Street was awakening, and as travail in prayer became the characteristic of the church one common burden spread from pastor to people. 'The Lord send a blessing. He must send it, our hearts will break if He does not.' What a change took place in the prayer meetings! Now instead of the old, dull prayers, 'Every man seemed like a crusader besieging the New Jerusalem, each one appeared determined to storm the Celestial City by the might of inter­cession; and soon the blessing came upon us in such abund­ance that we had not room to receive it.”

Taken from The Forgotten Spurgeon
By Iain H. Murray / Banner Of Truth

with sails rent to ribbons

“All the way to heaven, we shall only get there by the skin of our teeth. We shall not go to heaven sailing along with sails swelling to the breeze, like sea birds with their fair white wings, but we shall proceed full often with sails rent to ribbons, with masts creaking, and the ship's pumps at work night and day. We shall reach the city at the shutting gate, but not an hour before”

Taken from The Forgotten Spurgeon
By Iain H. Murray / Banner Of Truth

A Whole lot of Nothing

I’ve had the opportunity in recent weeks to talk to several pastors about what it is that their churches believe and I noticed a strangely reoccurring theme; they don’t really believe anything at all, or so they try to tell me.

I most recently asked one pastor to tell me a little bit about what his church believed and I was met with a silent pause. The pastor finally broke the silence by asking me what I wanted to know;

How about Arminianism and Calvinism, I asked, would you consider your church an Arminian church or a Calvinistic church?

Well, he said, we don’t really like to put our selves in any particular doctrinal camp. I might lean more towards Calvinism, I believe in “security” and those things (another one point Calvinist?). But we don’t want to classify ourselves in any particular system, we just teach the Bible.

How about the charismatic gifts, I asked.

Well, he said, we don’t encourage them but we don’t discourage them either.

What about your view of the church and eschatology? Would you consider yourselves Dispensational or more Reformed?

We would probably lean toward Dispensationalism, but like I said, we don’t want to put our feet in any particular doctrinal camps…….

And so our conversation went. After all our talking I had almost no idea about what this pastor really believed, only that he was just another pastor who thought that clear doctrinal beliefs and distinctives are wrong.

I have recently been re-reading The Forgotten Spurgeon (one of the best biographies I have ever read!) and have found it interesting to see Spurgeon wrestling with the same attitudes over a hundred years ago. I found these words in particular to be very refreshing; you just don’t hear stuff like this anymore:

"I glory in that which at the present day is so much spoken against - sectarianism, I find it applied to all sorts of Chris­tians; no matter what views he may hold, if a man be but in earnest, he is a sectarian at once. Success to sectarianism; let it live and flourish. When that is done with, farewell to the power of godliness. When we cease, each of us, to maintain our own views of truth, and to maintain those views firmly and strenuously, then truth shall fly out of the land, and error alone shall reign"

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The New Park Street Pulpit, 3 Volumes
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Spurgeon's Conversion Part 4

"It is not everyone who can remember the very day and hour of his deliverance; but, as Richard Knill said, "At such a time of the day, clang went every harp in heaven, for Richard Knill was born again," It was e'en so with me.¹ The clock of mercy struck in heaven the hour and moment of my emancipation, for the time had come. Between half-past ten o'clock, when I entered that chapel, and half-past twelve o'clock, when I was back again at home, what a change had taken place in me! I had passed from darkness into marvellous light, from death to life. Simply by looking to Jesus, I had been delivered from despair, and I was brought into such a joyous state of mind that, when they saw me at home, they said to me, "Something wonderful has happened to you," and I was eager to tell them all about it. Oh! there was joy in the household that day, when all heard that the eldest son had found the Saviour, and knew himself to be forgiven—bliss com­pared with which all earth's joys are less than nothing, and vanity. Yes, I had looked to Jesus as I was, and found in Him my Saviour. Thus had the eternal purpose of Jehovah decreed it; and as, the moment before, there was none more wretched than I was, so, within that second, there was none more joyous. It took no longer time than does the lightning-flash; it was done, and never has it been undone. I looked, and lived, and leaped in joyful liberty as I beheld my sin punished upon the great Substitute, and put away for ever. I looked unto Him, as He bled upon that tree; His eyes darted a glance of love unutterable into my spirit, and in a moment, I was saved. Looking unto Him, the bruises that my soul had suffered were healed, the gaping wounds were cured, the broken bones rejoiced, the rags that had covered me were all removed, my spirit was white as the spotless snows of the far-off North; I had melody within my spirit, for I was saved, washed, cleansed, forgiven, through Him that did hang upon the tree. My Master, I cannot understand how Thou couldst stoop Thine awful head to such a death as the death of the cross—how Thou couldst take from Thy brow the coronet of stars which from old eternity had shone resplendent there; but how Thou shouldst permit the thorn-crown to gird Thy temples, astonishes me far more. That Thou shouldst cast away the mantle of Thy glory, the azure of Thine everlasting empire, I cannot comprehend; but how Thou shouldst have become veiled in the ignominious purple for a while, and then be mocked by impious men, who bowed to Thee as a pretended king; and how Thou shouldst be stripped naked to Thy shame, without a single covering, and die a felon's death—this is still more incomprehensible. But the marvel is that Thou shouldst have suffered all this for me I Truly, Thy love to me is wonderful, passing the love of women! Was ever grief like Thine ? Was ever love like Thine, that could open the flood-gates of such grief? Was ever love so mighty as to become the fount from which such an ocean of grief could come rolling down?

There was never anything so true to me as those bleeding hands, and that thorn-crowned head. Home, friends, health, wealth, com­forts—all lost their lustre that day when He appeared, just as stars are hidden by the light of the sun. He was the only Lord and Giver of life's best bliss, the one well of living water springing up unto ever­lasting life. As I saw Jesus on His cross before me, and as I mused upon His sufferings and death, methought I saw Him cast a look of love upon me; and then I looked at Him, and cried—

"Jesu, lover of my soul,
Let me to Thy bosom fly."

From
Charles Haddon Spurgeon Autobiography: The Early Years 1834-1860 Volume 1 By Charles Spurgeon / Banner Of Truth

Spurgeon's Conversion Part 3

"I do from my soul confess that I never was satisfied till I came to Christ; when I was yet a child, I had far more wretchedness than ever I have now; I will even add, more weariness, more care, more heart­ache than I know at this day. I may be singular in this confession, but I make it, and know it to be the truth. Since that dear hour when my soul cast itself on Jesus, I have found solid joy and peace; but before that, all those supposed gaieties of early youth, all the imagined ease and joy of boyhood, were but vanity and vexation of spirit to me. That happy day, when I found the Saviour, and learned to cling to His dear feet, was a day never to be forgotten by me. An obscure child, unknown, unheard of, I listened to the Word of God; and that precious text led me to the cross of Christ. I can testify that the joy of that day was utterly indescribable. I could have leaped, I could have danced; there was no expression, however fanatical, which would have been out of keeping with the joy of my spirit at that hour. Many days of Christian experience have passed since then, but there has never been one which has had the full exhilaration, the sparkling delight which that first day had. I thought I could have sprung from the seat on which I sat, and have called out with the wildest of those Methodist brethren who were present, "I am forgiven! I am forgiven! A monument of grace! A sinner saved by blood!" My spirit saw its chains broken to pieces, I felt that I was an emancipated soul, an heir of heaven, a forgiven one, accepted in Christ Jesus, plucked out of the miry clay and out of the horrible pit, with my feet set upon a rock, Kid my goings established. I thought I could dance all the way home. I could understand what John Bunyan meant, when he declared he wanted to tell the crows on the ploughed land all about his conversion. He was too full to hold, he felt he must tell some­body."

From
Charles Haddon Spurgeon Autobiography: The Early Years 1834-1860 Volume 1 By Charles Spurgeon / Banner Of Truth

Spurgeon's Conversion Part 2

"I sometimes think I might have been in darkness and despair until now had it not been for the goodness of God in sending a snowstorm, one Sunday morning, while I was going to a certain place of worship. When I could go no further, I turned down a side street, and came to a little Primitive Methodist Chapel. In that chapel there may have been a dozen or fifteen people. I had heard of the Primitive Methodists, how they sang so loudly that they made people's heads ache; but that did not matter to me. I wanted to know how I might be saved, and if they could tell me that, I did not care how much they made my head ache. The minister did not come that morning; he was snowed up, I suppose. At last, a very thin-looking man,¹ a shoemaker, or tailor, or something of that sort, went up into the pulpit to preach. Now, it is well that preachers should be instructed, but this man was really stupid. He was obliged to stick to his text, for the simple reason that he had little else to say. The text was—

"look unto me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth."

He did not even pronounce the words rightly, but that did not matter. There was, I thought, a glimpse of hope for me in that text. The preacher began thus: "My dear friends, this is a very simple text indeed. It says, 'Look.' Now lookin' don't take a deal of pain. It ain't liftin' your foot or your finger; it is just, 'Look.' Well, a man needn't go to College to learn to look. You may be the biggest fool, and yet you can look. A man needn't be worth a thousand a year to be able to look. Anyone can look; even a child can look. But then the text says, 'Look unto Me.' Ay!" said he, in broad Essex, "many on ye are lookin' to yourselves, but it's no use lookin' there. You'll never find any comfort in yourselves. Some look to God the Father. No, look to Him by-and-by. Jesus Christ says, 'Look unto Me.' Some on ye say, 'We must wait for the Spirit's workinV You have no business with that just now. Look to Christ. The text says, 'Look unto Me.' "

Then the good man followed up his text in this way: "Look unto Me; I am sweatin' great drops of blood. Look unto Me; I am hangin' on the cross. Look unto Me; I am dead and buried. Look unto Me; I rise again. Look unto Me; I ascend to Heaven. Look unto Me; I am sittin' at the Father's right hand. O poor sinner, look unto Me! look unto Me!"

When he had gone to about that length, and managed to spin out ten minutes or so, he was at the end of his tether. Then he looked at me under the gallery, and I daresay, with so few present, he knew me to be a stranger. Just fixing his eyes on me, as if he knew all my heart, he said, "Young man, you look very miserable." Well, I did, but I had not been accustomed to have remarks made from the pulpit on my personal appearance before. However, it was a good blow, struck right home. He continued, "and you always will be miserable—miserable in life, and miserable in death—if you don't obey my text; but if you obey now, this moment, you will be saved." Then, lifting up his hands, he shouted, as only a Primitive Methodist could do, "Young man, look to Jesus Christ. Look! Look! Look! You have nothin' to do but to look and live." I saw at once the way of salvation. I know not what else he said—I did not take much notice of it—I was so possessed with that one thought. Like as when the brazen serpent was lifted up, the people only looked and were healed, so it was with me. I had been waiting to do fifty things, but when I heard that word, "Look!" what a charming word it seemed to me! Oh! I looked until I could almost have looked my eyes away. There and then the cloud was gone, the darkness had rolled away, and that moment I saw the sun; and I could have risen that instant, and sung with the most enthusiastic of them, of the precious blood of Christ, and the simple faith which looks alone to Him. Oh, that somebody had told me this before, "Trust Christ, and you shall be saved." Yet it was, no doubt, all wisely ordered, and now I can say—

"E'er since by faith I saw the stream
Thy flowing wounds supply,

Redeeming love has been my theme,

And shall be till I die."

From
Charles Haddon Spurgeon Autobiography: The Early Years 1834-1860 Volume 1 By Charles Spurgeon / Banner Of Truth