Midwestern Magazine - Issue 47

The Heritage of the Prince of Preachers

IF IT BE POSSIBLE, LET US TRY TO SET SOME WORK GOING THAT WILL GLORIFY HIM WHEN WE ARE DEAD AND GONE. LET US SCATTER SOME SEED THAT MAY SPRING UP WHEN WE ARE SLEEPING BENEATH THE HILLOCK IN THE CEMETERY.

Jason K. Allen

Ed Romine

Jason G. Duesing

Geoff Chang

EDITOR’S NOTE

ADMINISTRATION

Jason K. Allen

PRESIDENT

Jason G. Duesing PROVOST

James J. Kragenbring

SENIOR VICE PRESIDENT FOR INSTITUTIONAL ADMINISTRATION

Charles W. Smith, Jr.

SENIOR VICE PRESIDENT FOR INSTITUTIONAL RELATIONS

EDITORIAL

Lucas Hahn

CHIEF EDITOR

Brett Fredenberg

ASSOCIATE EDITOR

Abby Schroeder

ASSOCIATE EDITOR

T. Patrick Hudson

ASSOCIATE EDITOR

Kody Gibson VICE PRESIDENT OF COMMUNICATIONS

ART

Hyacin Todd

Logan Wade LAYOUT & DESIGN

Zach Walker

Daniel Dickerson PHOTOGRAPHERS

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Welcome to this year’s edition of the Midwestern Magazine, where we delve into the rich tapestry of ministry and explore the enduring impact of one of the most influential figures in Christian history–Charles Haddon Spurgeon, the Prince of Preachers.

“C. H. Spurgeon: The Heritage of the Prince of Preachers” is a special edition that follows our recent announcement of acquiring the Heritage Collection from Spurgeon’s College UK. This unique collection serves as the foundation for our exploration into the profound influence of Spurgeon on contemporary Christianity.

In this issue, we have gathered a collection of insightful feature articles penned by esteemed contributors. Dr. Jason Allen, President of Midwestern Seminary, provides a profound perspective on Spurgeon’s legacy and its relevance for today’s church. Dr. Jason Duesing, Provost and Associate Professor of Historical Theology, offers a scholarly exploration of Spurgeon’s theological contributions.

Dr. Ed Romine, a seasoned writer and theologian, brings a unique angle to our understanding of Spurgeon’s influence on pastoral ministry. Dr. Thomas Kidd, distinguished historian and Research Professor of Church History, delves into the historical context that shaped Spurgeon’s ministry and beliefs. Finally, Dr. Geoff Chang, whose expertise lies in practical theology, shares valuable insights on applying Spurgeon’s principles to contemporary church life.

We hope that this exploration of “The Heritage of the Prince of Preachers” encourages reflection, sparks meaningful conversations, and ultimately deepens your appreciation for the enduring influence of Charles Spurgeon on the Church. Thank you for joining us on this journey into the heart of Spurgeon’s legacy.

For the Church and For His Kingdom,

Lucas Hahn Chief Editor, Midwestern Magazine Managing Editor, For the Church Director of Marketing & Content Strategy

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by JASON K. ALLEN

As Christians, we are called to share our faith, but we are also called to keep it. Like the Apostle Paul, every believer should aspire to the epitaph, “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the course, I have kept the faith .”

Perhaps no one in Baptist history better kept the faith than the illustrious Charles Spurgeon—especially as seen through the prism of the Downgrade Controversy.

The year was 1887, and Spurgeon was in the winter of life. For more than three decades, he had enjoyed singular status as the world’s most well-known preacher, but just over the horizon storm clouds gathered.

The Downgrade Controversy began slowly at first, with three anonymous letters appearing in the March, April, and June 1887 editions of The Sword & Trowel. The three letters (later revealed to be authored by Spurgeon’s friend, Robert Shindler) warned of doctrinal slippage on a downhill slope, thus a downgrade.

While the anonymous letters drew interest, the controversy did not explode until a few months later when Spurgeon directly entered the fray. In the August 1887 issue of The Sword & Trowel, Spurgeon threw down the gauntlet in his six-page editorial entitled, “Another Word on the Downgrade.”

At that time, Spurgeon was less than five years from his death. He was near the height of his popularity in the Baptist Union and beyond, but near the depth of his personal anguish. Physical ailments like failing kidneys and chronic gout wracked his body; depression plagued his soul. Simply put, he did not need, nor was he much poised for, the conflict he was about to enter.

Nevertheless, Spurgeon entered his Westwood study, took pen in hand, and proceeded to join the battle himself by drafting for publication the six-page article known as, “Another Word Concerning the Downgrade.”

It is fascinating to review Spurgeon’s words, penned in his hand, with his markings, alterations, and emphases. It radiates the spirit of Paul and the urgency of keeping the faith. The first paragraph of “Another Word Concerning the Downgrade” has especially taken on immortality:

“No lover of the gospel can conceal from himself the fact that the days are evil. We are willing to make a large discount from our apprehensions on the score of natural timidity, the caution of age, and the weakness produced by pain; but yet our solemn conviction is that things are much worse in many churches than they seem to be and are rapidly trending downward.

Read those newspapers which represent the Broad School of Dissent, and ask yourself, how much farther could they go? What doctrine remains to be abandoned? What other truth to be the object of contempt? A new religion has been initiated, which is no more Christianity than chalk is cheese; and this religion, being destitute of moral honesty, palms itself off as the old faith with slight improvements, and on this plea usurps pulpits which were erected for gospel preaching.

The Atonement is scouted, the inspiration of Scripture is derided, the Holy Spirit is degraded into an influence, the punishment of sin is turned into fiction, and the resurrection into a myth, and yet these enemies of our faith expect us to call them brethren and maintain a confederacy with them!”

Spurgeon goes on:

“The case is mournful. Certain ministers are making infidels. Avowed atheists are not a tenth as dangerous as those preachers who scatter doubt and stab at faith… Germany was made unbelieving by her preachers, and England is following in her tracks.”

Most prophetically, Spurgeon argued true believers cannot be ministry affiliates with those who have compromised the faith. His words portended the schism to come. Spurgeon was a

minority voice, but he was the loudest and most revered voice of all, calling for doctrinal fidelity over programmatic partnership.

In his follow-up article, “The Case Proved,” published in October of 1887, Spurgeon speaks with equal force, arguing for the unfortunate necessity of schism and the importance of putting first-order doctrine over programmatic cooperation.

Spurgeon writes:

“There is no use in mincing matters: there are thousands of us in all denominations who believe that many ministers have seriously departed from the truths of the gospel, and that a sad decline of spiritual life is manifest in many churches. Many a time have others said the same things which we have now said, and small notice has been taken of their protests.

have proved “mighty through God to the pulling down of strongholds” are taken from us, what are we to do? How can those evangelize who have no evangel? What fruit but evil can come of “the new theology”? Let us know where we are. In the meantime, those of us who raise these questions are not among the idlers, nor are we a whit behind the very chief of those who seek to win souls.

“Deeply do we agree with the call of the more devout among the letter-writers for a more determined effort to spread the gospel. Wherever more can be done, let it be done at once, in depenence upon the Spirit of God.”

What action is to be taken we leave to those who can see more plainly than we do what Israel ought to do. One thing is clear to us: we cannot be expected to meet in any Union which comprehends those whose teaching is upon fundamental points exactly the reverse of that which we hold dear. Those who can do so will, no doubt, have weighty reasons with which to justify their action, and we will not sit in judgment upon those reasons: they may judge that a minority should not drive them out.

Deeply do we agree with the call of the more devout among the letter-writers for a more determined effort to spread the gospel. Wherever more can be done, let it be done at once, in dependence upon the Spirit of God. But it is idle to go down to the battle with enemies in the camp. With what weapons are we to go forth? If those which we

To us it appears that there are many things upon which compromise is possible, but there are others in which it would be an act of treason to pretend to fellowship. With deep regret we abstain from assembling with those whom we dearly love and heartily respect, since it would involve us in a confederacy with those with whom we can have no communion in the Lord.

“Doctrinal decay always brings spirtiual death.”

Garibaldi complained that, by the cession of Nice to France, he had been made a foreigner in his native land; and our heart is burdened with a like sorrow; but those who banish us may yet be of another mind and enable us to return.”

Spurgeon’s “Another Word Concerning the Downgrade” landed like a bombshell. It sent shockwaves throughout the Baptist Union and British Evangelicalism. It reverberated throughout the Protestant world.

For decades the secular press had attacked Spurgeon, but now he would be savaged by his own Baptist Union. Prior to the Downgrade Controversy, if the Baptist Union had a papacy, Spurgeon would’ve been the unquestioned pope. But now, his erstwhile brethren brutalized him. They charged him with pugilism and being schismatic.

Cruelly, Spurgeon’s critics even questioned his sanity with a whisper campaign that his physical maladies had made him mad. Graduates of Spurgeon’s College turned on him, and the leaders of the Baptist Union pilloried him.

Later that month after Spurgeon’s final Sword & Trowel article, “The Case Proved,” was published, Spurgeon wrote the General Secretary of the Baptist Union, Samuel Harris Booth, on October 28, 1887, to announce his withdrawal from the Baptist Union.

Three months later, in January 1888, the Baptist Union Council voted to accept his withdrawal, and then, the Council of nearly 100 members voted to censure Spurgeon, with only a meager five men supporting the Prince of Preachers.

Later that spring, the Baptist Union adopted a compromise doctrinal statement, which was altogether too weak and neither clear nor comprehensive enough. Though outside the Union, Spurgeon opposed the statement for its obvious deficiencies. Nonetheless, the compromise doctrinal statement passed overwhelmingly by a vote of

2000–7 and can appropriately be interpreted as a second vote against Spurgeon. Most tragically, Spurgeon’s brother, James, seconded the motion to pass the compromise doctrinal statement.

In this season of ministry, Spurgeon, the “Lion in Winter,” was prophetic, if not popular. He said, “I am quite willing to be eaten of dogs for the next fifty years, but the more distant future shall vindicate me.”

Indeed, Spurgeon has been vindicated. The British Baptist Union is a shadow of its former self. Moreover, Spurgeon’s Downgrade foreshadowed the Fundamentalist/Modernist Controversy of the 1920s and the great SBC Controversy at the end of the 20th century. Doctrinal decay always brings spiritual death.

The controversy cost Spurgeon dearly. It cost him his friendships. It cost him his reputation. Many of his students renounced his decision. Yet, for Spurgeon, to remain within the Union would be tantamount to theological treason.

Less than five years later, Spurgeon would die. Against his previously stated wishes, his supporters erected a massive burial tomb in the Norwood Cemetery. Ensconced on the front of it, beneath the marble replica of his likeness, is a marble Bible, open to II Timothy 4:7—“I have fought the good fight, I have finished the course, I have kept the faith.”

Indeed, Spurgeon kept the faith, and his accomplishment must be our aspiration—to keep the faith even when confronted with our own Downgrade Controversies.

JASON

K. ALLEN | President, Professor of Preaching & Pastoral Ministry

by ED ROMINE

There is no soul-winning by untruthful preaching. We must preach the truth as it is in Jesus. Workers for God must tell out the gospel and keep to the gospel. You must continually dwell upon the real truth as it is in God’s word, for nothing but this will win souls.

Spurgeon preached these words in a sermon entitled, “Tearful Sowing and Joyful Reaping,” on Sunday morning, April 25, 1869. He believed that “all souls of men are lost by nature” because “wherever Christ is not trusted, and the Spirit has not created a new heart, and the soul has not come to the great Father, there is a lost soul.” And for Spurgeon, “The winning of souls is the greater matter.”

Spurgeon loved soul-winning, and he was urgent about the task. He once confessed, “I would sooner bring one sinner to Jesus Christ than unpick all the mysteries of the divine word, for salvation is the thing we are to live for. I would to God that I understood all mysteries, yet chief of all would I proclaim the mystery of soul-saving by faith in the blood of the Lamb.”

Spurgeon’s love of soul-winning also carried a sense of urgency for lost sinners, for he knew that “this special service of soul-winning is reserved for us who are still living on this earth.”

Spurgeon rejoiced in exalting his Savior in his evangelism, saying, “Oh, it is a wonderful thing this, that there should be attractions about the Lord Jesus Christ which can draw to him those whom nothing else that is good can possibly stir!” He rejoiced that “the Lord Jesus saves people of all sorts.” And on the last day all of redeemed humanity will exalt Jesus for His soul-saving power:

“It is most true that Jesus saves his people from their sins—earth knows it, hell howls at it, and heaven chants it; time has seen it, and eternity shall reveal it. There is none like to Jesus in saving power. All glory be to him! When he shall come from heaven with a shout, and all his hosts shall be with him, when the day of the supper of the Lamb shall come, and the bride hath made herself ready, and she that is the queen all glorious within, wearing her raiment of wrought gold, shall sit down at the table of God with her glorious husband then shall it be seen that he has saved his church, his people, from their sins.”

Spurgeon exalted in the reality that Jesus saves sinners as they are in their sinfulness. He “does not wait until [sinners] are clean before he bestows his love and pity upon them. . . He finds them in all their defilement, rebellion, and iniquity, and he deals with them just as they are. Jesus saves sinners. God’s love comes to those who in no degree merit it. His grace stoops to the ruin of the fall and lifts us up from it.” For Spurgeon, only Jesus gets all the glory in man’s salvation: “Salvation in every department, salvation from its hopeful dawning to its glorious noontide in perfection, is all of Christ Jesus. He is Savior, and he alone. . . He is the unique Savior, there is no other possible salvation now or in the world to come.”

behalf.” In his death on the cross and resurrection, Jesus won salvation for sinners.

Spurgeon explains:

“Salvation is still more linked with a risen Christ, because we see him by his resurrection destroying death, breaking down the prison of the sepulcher, bearing away like another Samson the gates of the grave. He is a Savior for us since he has vanquished the last enemy that shall be destroyed, that we having been saved from sin by his death should be saved from death through his resurrection.”

“It is most true that Jesus saves his people from their sins-earth knows it, hell howls at it, and heaven chants it; time has seen it, and eternity shall reveal it. There is none like Jesus in saving power. All glory be to him!”

Spurgeon exalted in the resurrection of His precious Savior: “The fullness of salvation comes to us because he has risen from the dead, and is now making intercession for the transgressors. O brethren, the resurrection of Jesus is bright as the sun with glory! Faith in it thrills our hearts. Well might each line of our hymn end with a Hallelujah.” He saw the resurrection of Jesus Christ as “the key-stone of the arch of our holy faith.” Without the resurrection of Jesus, there can be no Christianity. The resurrection, for Spurgeon, most clearly displayed God’s glory. Spurgeon testified, “If you ask where God’s glory most is seen, I will not point to creation, nor to providence, but to the raising of Jesus from the dead.” At the Messiah’s resurrection, “the glory of God was laid bare.”

Jesus saves because of His complete work on the cross and His resurrection from the dead. In an 1862 sermon entitled, “Faith and Repentance Inseparable,” Spurgeon reminds his congregation: “Jesus saves you, not by what you feel, but by that finished work, that blood and righteousness which God accepted on your

Spurgeon taught that believers in Jesus will benefit from His resurrection power, for, “Partakers of his death, we are also partakers of his resurrection.”

Spurgeon said, “[Believers] rise because they are one with Christ in his resurrection. His resurrection is the proof and the guarantee that [believers] also shall

rise in the day of his appearing.” Because He lives, believers in Jesus Christ shall live.

The risen Lord Jesus Christ is the Alpha and Omega of the Christian good news. Let believers seek to make much of Him. Let us all agree with Spurgeon on the centrality of Jesus in the gospel:

“When he was born, the angels proclaimed good tidings of great joy to the sons of men; and after his death, his human messengers went forth to all nations with messages of love. His death is the birth of our hope; his resurrection is the rising of our buried joy; his session at the right hand of God is the prophecy of our eternal bliss. Christ is the author of the gospel, the subject of the gospel, and the end of the gospel. His hand is seen in every letter of that wonderful epistle of divine love called the New Testament, or New Covenant. He, himself, is glad tidings to us in every point, and the gospel is from him in every sense. That is not gospel which does not relate to Jesus. If there is no blood-mark upon it, the roll of tidings may be rejected as a forgery. As Christ is the subject, so is he the object of the gospel: his glory is promoted by the gospel. It is the gospel of his glory among the sons of men in all ages, and it will be so throughout eternity. The gospel and the sinners saved by it will glorify the Son of God for ever.”

ED ROMINE | Pastor of Education & Evangelism, First Baptist Church Provo, Utah

* The Spurgeon quotations above are from Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit: Containing Sermons Preached and Revised by the Rev. C. H. Spurgeon, Minister of the Chapel (Pasadena, TX: Pilgrim Publications, 1970-2006).

by JASON G. DUESING

In 1816, poet John Keats wrote a sonnet to describe the delight and awe he experienced when reading the works of Homer in English for the first time. While Keats knew Latin, he did not know Greek and, thus, had no access to Homer until a friend introduced him one night to a translation by the Elizabethan author, George Chapman.

Keats and his friend spent the evening reading Homer aloud and by morning, Keats had penned, “On First Looking into Chapman's Homer" to capture the wonder he felt with what he had read.

Keats wrote, in part:

Oft of one wide expanse had I been told That deep-brow'd Homer ruled as his demesne; Yet did I never breathe its pure serene

Till I heard Chapman speak out loud and bold: Then felt I like some watcher of the skies When a new planet swims into his ken...

Rare is the work that causes the reader to feel like an astronomer who’s discovered a new planet, but that was Keats' experience reading Homer.

DISCOVERING A SOLAR SYSTEM

As one who spends time in libraries and archives for reading and research, I, too, have had this experience from time to time. Of course, it goes without saying that reading the divine, living, and active Word of God (Heb 4:12) allows the believer in Christ, filled by the Holy Spirit, to experience this awe and illumination on a supernatural level. Yet, rarely have I experienced what Keats describes when reading a human author. When I have, though, it is life changing.

One place where I have had such a Keats-like experience is when pouring over the works of Charles Haddon Spurgeon as contained in the Heritage Collection, which until 2023 was located at the college Spurgeon founded in London. Working through cabinet after cabinet of Spurgeon’s correspondence

and sermons, many of which remain unpublished and unstudied, one feels like he’s discovered not just a new planet, but an entire solar system.

While that experience has proved edifying, it is the prospect of what students can do with this solar system for the glory of God and the building up of Christ’s Church that delights. For, there might not be a better life and ministry to study while preparing for ministry than Charles Spurgeon.

THE HERITAGE COLLECTION

Now located at Midwestern Seminary, the Heritage Collection consists of thousands of books, manuscripts, letters, artifacts, newspaper cuttings, and more, related to the ministry of Spurgeon and the Pastors’ College that he founded.

Other than the Heritage Collection and the Spurgeon Library at Midwestern Seminary, there are three smaller, but still significant Spurgeonrelated collections stored in the United Kingdom at the Angus Library at Oxford’s Regent’s Park College, The Metropolitan Tabernacle archives, and Spurgeon’s Children’s Charity.

Therefore, the transfer of the Heritage Collection to Midwestern brings the majority of Spurgeon materials into one location and has the culminating effect of uniting Spurgeon’s personal library with his papers and manuscripts for the first time since the library was sold to Missouri Baptists in 1905.

Following Spurgeon’s death in 1892, the Heritage Collection formed through the London college’s connection with Spurgeon and his family. J.A. Spurgeon, his brother, presided over the college from 1892-1896, and then Thomas Spurgeon, his son, presided from 1896-1917. In addition to serving as the repository for all of Charles Spurgeon’s papers and manuscripts, with the passing of Thomas, many of the papers and chronicles of the Spurgeon family were added to the Collection, enhancing the repository with numerous unique items now both by and about Spurgeon. As a brief introduction, here are some of those treasures found in the Heritage Collection:

1. The “Lost Sermons” Notebooks–These are the 10 original notebooks containing the nearly 400 sermons that Spurgeon preached in Waterbeach and the surrounding areas as a teenager. While these sermons have been published in seven volumes as The Lost Sermons of C.H. Spurgeon , they have not yet been analyzed, at large, by Spurgeon scholars.

2. “Anti-Christ and her Brood; Or Popery Unmasked”–This is the original essay that Spurgeon wrote about the Roman Catholic Church as a 15-year-old for an essay contest prior to his conversion, and it has never been published or researched.

3. Letters–There are over 500 original, handwritten letters. The majority are from Spurgeon, but there are also many letters to Spurgeon, and to and from his wife, Susannah, and others connected to Spurgeon. These letters cover all kinds of subjects, including pastoral ministry, church planting, personal life, and more.

4. Pulpit Notes–There are around 700 original, handwritten notes for sermons and lectures that Spurgeon brought with him into the pulpit or lecture hall.

5. Transcripts & Galley Proofs–The transcripts are recordings of Spurgeon’s sermons and lectures written down by stenographers and edited by Spurgeon for publication. The galley proofs are printed versions of the transcripts, containing a second round of edits by Spurgeon. There are over 10,000 pages of transcripts of Spurgeon’s sermons and approximately 900 pages of galley proofs. Along with the pulpit notes, these manuscripts can provide new insights into Spurgeon’s preaching, homiletics, and his editorial approach.

6. Newspaper Cuttings–There are approximately 100 binders and large scrapbooks filled with chronologically arranged newspaper and magazine cuttings, related to Spurgeon. Each binder or scrapbook contains dozens, or even hundreds, of cuttings. These binders and scrapbooks represent a monumental amount of largely untapped research into Spurgeon’s life and ministry.

7. Artifacts–There are many interesting artifacts in the collection, including Spurgeon’s shirt collar, handkerchiefs, canes, and Bibles, including a sermon pamphlet, “Accidents, Not Punishments,” that was carried throughout Africa by David Livingstone and contains his written commendation, “Very good. – D. L.”

8. Pastors’ College Minute Books–There are three sets of minute books that will provide new insights into Spurgeon’s ministry with the Pastors’ College. As part of their theological training, students regularly held discussions with their professors on theological and contemporary topics. Some topics they discussed, as recorded in the minutes, include capital punishment, the nature of faith, church and state, and evolution.

9. Original Manuscripts and Other Significant Items–There several items of historical and research value including Spurgeon’s personal Bibles and pulpit Bible, his last letter from Mentone, his “Short Story” written at age 11, original manuscripts of: The Cheque Book of Faith, The Treasury of David, Lectures to My Students, first edition volumes of his works, and the original pulpit from Colchester Chapel where Spurgeon was converted (1850).

FOR THE CHURCH

Thanks to generous supporters of Midwestern Seminary, now when students and scholars enter The Spurgeon Library and access the Heritage Collection, the opportunity will present itself for them to have their own Keats-like experience as astronomers discovering new planets.

But these discoveries will not end at mere edification, for reading Spurgeon redirects the eye and heart beyond oneself.

Susannah Spurgeon said that her husband’s sermons that are a part of the Heritage Collection “are valuable, not only because of their intrinsic merits, but also as the first products of the mind and heart which afterwards yielded so many discourses to the Church and the world, for the glory of God and the good of men” (Autobiography, 1:213).

Indeed, like Keats, on first looking into Spurgeon's Collection, I have found joy and awe in the work of Spurgeon, the man, but also in the work of Spurgeon's God to whom Spurgeon's sermons point on every page.

With the Heritage Collection now housed at Midwestern Seminary, many students can experience this solar system through a first look for themselves, for Christ, and for the Church.

JASON

G. DUESING | Provost, Senior Vice President of Academic Administration; Professor of Historical Theology

I have found joy and awe in the work of Spurgeon, the man, but also in the work of Spurgeon’s God to whom Spurgeon's sermons point on every page.

METROPOLITAN Pastor The

by GEOFF CHANG

A fellow minister once told C.H. Spurgeon, “I wish you would go out everywhere more frequently.”

As the most famous preacher of his day, Spurgeon was regularly declining invitations to preach, serve on committees, give lectures, write articles, chair meetings, and much more. These invitations came not only from England, but throughout America, Europe, and the rest of the British empire. Clearly, this friend saw the incredible opportunity that Spurgeon had to exercise a godly influence more broadly, even beyond the influence he already had. But speaking to his students, he explained his reason for declining these invitations, “I might have rambled all the world over, and done great good, if my calling were to do so; but if I am a pastor I must see that my pastoral work is done first. Brother, when you have God’s work to do, and you know the part God has given you, stick to it.”[1]

Spurgeon was called, first and foremost, to be a pastor. All his ministries, from his preaching to his pastoral training, publishing, benevolent endeavors, church planting, and more, were rooted in his work as the pastor of a local church. But beyond all those external efforts, his main responsibility was to shepherd the congregation that had called him. Truly, Spurgeon did not occupy merely a preaching station or an evangelistic ministry. No, he was a pastor with the responsibility to feed and care for a particular flock, the Metropolitan Tabernacle. But this was no easy task. In his day, the Tabernacle was the largest church in all evangelicalism. The church had over 5,000 members by the time of his death. How did Spurgeon embody his role as the

Though Spurgeon had a thousand things to do, he understood that the battle for the church's faithfulness was lost or won in the pulpit. And so he gave himself to that work.

pastor of such a large congregation? Three ways: Feeding, Guarding, Leading.

FEEDING THE FLOCK

Spurgeon understood that his primary responsibility as the pastor was to feed the flock through the preaching of the Word. This was the most fundamental work of pastoral ministry. He said to his students,

Brethren, you and I must, as preachers, be always earnest in reference to our pulpit work. Here we must labor to attain the very highest degree of excellence. Often have I said to my brethren that the pulpit is the Thermopylae of Christendom: there the fight will be lost or won. To us ministers the maintenance of our power in the pulpit should be our great concern, we must occupy that spiritual watch-tower with our hearts and minds awake and in full vigor. It will not avail us to be laborious pastors if we are not earnest preachers.[2]

The reason preaching is so important is because God promises to work through His Word. It is through the Word that God’s Spirit awakens, transforms, and equips His people. Therefore, amid all his other “laborious” tasks, the pastor must see to it that the preaching of the Word is never compromised. Though Spurgeon had a thousand things to do, he understood that the battle for the church’s faithfulness was lost or won in the pulpit. And so he gave himself to that work.

People regularly asked Spurgeon for the secret to his success. Once, in a gathering of Scottish ministers, someone asked him how he got his large congregation. Spurgeon responded, “I never got it at all. I did not think it my business to do so, but only to preach the gospel. Why my congregation got my congregation.”[3]

Spurgeon’s job was not to drum up interest or try to attract large crowds. His job was to preach the gospel faithfully, and trust God to work through His Word. And God certainly worked powerfully through Spurgeon’s ministry as the small congregation of a few dozen soon grew into hundreds and thousands!

GUARDING THE MEMBERSHIP

Spurgeon saw a remarkable revival during his ministry. Hundreds were responding to his preaching. Many were genuine conversions. Some were not. Amid all the people coming forward, Spurgeon knew that he had a pastoral responsibility to guard the membership of the church. As a Baptist, he believed that the church should only be made up of those who had been born again and could give a credible profession of faith. In other words, the flock should only have sheep, not goats. Speaking of this responsibility, Spurgeon once reminded his elders amid these revival years,

I must say, once more, that if God should send us a great revival of religion, it will be our duty not to relax the bonds of discipline. Some churches, when they increase very largely, are apt to take people into their number by wholesale, without due and proper examination. We ought to be just as strict in the heat of revival as in the cooler times of a gradual increase… Take care, ye that are officers in the church, when ye see the people stirred up, that ye exercise still a holy caution, lest the church become lowered in its standard of piety by the admission of persons not truly saved.[4]

As a result, Spurgeon implemented a rigorous six-step membership process that involved an interview with an elder, an interview with a pastor, member visits, church meetings, and a congregational vote. But this pastoral care did not end once a person joined the church.

Rather, Spurgeon divided the church into geographic districts and assigned elders to different districts to facilitate regular pastoral visitation. He also worked with his elders to track member attendance at the Lord’s Supper through communion tickets. The elders would be notified of those who had not attended for three consecutive months, and an elder would be assigned to reach out to the member and see how they were doing. In other words, these weren’t just names on a roll. This was a meaningful membership, made up of soldiers ready to engage in the fight.

LEADING

THE WAY

In feeding and guarding the flock, Spurgeon’s vision was not for the church to be a manicured garden where the people simply enjoyed good preaching and dressed up on Sundays. Rather, he envisioned his church as an army, fighting alongside him for the spread of the gospel. In all his labors, Spurgeon was leading the way for his people, modeling how a Christian is to spend himself for Christ. His aim was that his people would join him in that work.

In his final address to his students at the Pastors’ College Conference, Spurgeon reminded them that, in addition to the weapon of God’s Word and the power of the Spirit, the church is the army of God. Christ promises that the gospel advances through the local church. Amid all the theological downgrade of his day, the work depended not on seminaries, pastors, or theologians, but on congregations of believers holding on to the truth and making it known.

What can individual men do in a great crusade? We are associated with all the people of the Lord. We need for comrades the members of our churches; these must go out and win souls for Christ. We need the co-operation of the entire

brotherhood and sisterhood. What is to be accomplished unless the saved ones go forth, all of them, for the salvation of others?[5]

CONCLUSION

The legacy of Spurgeon’s ministry is not the solitary labors of one gifted and tireless man. Rather, it is his devotion to pastor and mobilize the largest church of his day, turning that congregation into an army for gospel ministry in countless ways. Spurgeon’s friend thought that Spurgeon could increase his fruitfulness by accepting more outside invitations. But Spurgeon gave himself to the work that he knew would be most lasting: remaining faithful to his calling and pastoring the church of God.

GEOFF CHANG | Curator, Spurgeon Library; Assistant Professor of Historical Theology

[1] G. Holden Pike, The Life and Work of Charles Haddon Spurgeon, Vol. 5 (London: Cassell and Company Ltd., 1892), 148.

[2] C. H. Spurgeon, Lectures to My Students: Being Addresses Delivered to the Students of the Pastors’ College, Metropolitan Tabernacle, Vol. 2 (London: Passmore & Alabaster, 1885), 146.

[3] C. H. Spurgeon, Speeches at Home and Abroad (London: Passmore & Alabaster, 1878), 65.

[4] C. H. Spurgeon, The New Park Street Pulpit: Containing Sermons Preached and Revised by the Rev. C. H. Spurgeon, Minister of the Chapel. Vol. 4. (Pasadena, TX: Pilgrim Publications, 1975-1991), 167.

[5] C. H. Spurgeon, The Greatest Fight in the World (London: Passmore & Alabaster, 1892), 39-40.

by THOMAS S. KIDD

Ever since the evangelist George Whitefield took the English-speaking world by storm in the 1730s, British and American publishers had been on the lookout for the next great evangelical celebrity. By the 1850s, a new candidate had emerged as the “Modern Whitefield,” as one widely-printed sermon collection put it. He was the Baptist preacher Charles Spurgeon, who took on much of Whitefield’s mantle in England. But in his lifetime Spurgeon never took on Whitefield’s outsized role in America. Why?[1]

One obvious reason is that Spurgeon never visited America. More crucially, his cresting fame and popularity in the United States was short-circuited by the burgeoning crisis over slavery,

secession, and the Civil War. Spurgeon’s reputation in the U.S. was particularly damaged by a letter published in early 1860, in which he praised the abolitionist martyr John Brown.

The key events in the American firestorm over Spurgeon and slavery began with John Brown’s ill-fated raid on Harpers Ferry, Virginia, in October 1859. American politics had been convulsed for years over slavery and abolition, and Brown’s attack on the federal arsenal at Harpers Ferry took the controversy to a new level. Brown was hanged on December 2, proclaiming before his execution that “the crimes of this guilty land will never be purged away, but with Blood.”

Spurgeon became connected to the controversy over Brown through a sermon given by Henry Ward Beecher at the Plymouth Church, Brooklyn, on October 30, 1859.

On the eve of the Civil War, Henry Ward Beecher was one of the most well-known and controversial American ministers, not least because of his vocal opposition to slavery. His October 30 oration, devoted to Brown, was ambivalent about the Harpers Ferry attack itself. In sum, Beecher said that Brown’s “soul was noble; his work miserable.”

foreign authors, including Charles Spurgeon.

Spurgeon fatefully responded to Beecher’s allegation, in a letter originally printed in a Boston newspaper. Spurgeon said he wanted to make his views on slaveholding clear: “I do, from my inmost soul, detest slavery anywhere and everywhere, and although I commune at the Lord’s table with men of all creeds, yet with a slaveholder I have no fellowship of any sort or kind.”

“John Brown is immortal in the memories of the good in England, and in my heart he lives.”

Spurgeon’s letter offered as vociferous a Christian indictment of slaveholders as one could imagine. Then he moved on to the “rumor” that he had “left out the anti-slavery from my American edition of sermons.” He denied this was true, although he again noted that he had rarely made mention of slavery in his printed sermons. He intended to focus more on the subject, however. “I shall not spare your nation in [the] future…the crying sin of a man-stealing people shall not go unrebuked.”

But Beecher alleged that too many northern Christians and churches were afraid to confront the topic of slavery. He further claimed that northern book publishers were averse to printing critiques of human bondage. Specifically, he declared that some had cut out antislavery passages from the works of popular

He followed up this letter with another in which he said that he was not aware of any “allusions” in his sermons that were cut. Again, he denounced slavery as “a crime of crimes, a soul-destroying sin, and an iniquity which cries aloud for vengeance.” He did not plan on publishing anything more extensive on the subject of slave-owning thawn these “red-hot letters,” however.

Spurgeon’s first letter on slavery would have already been widely noticed and controversial, but it was the final lines of it that proved truly incendiary. He concluded it by stating that “John

“There is no God in heaven if the iniquity of slavery goes unpunished. There is no God existing in heaven above if the cry of the negro does not bring down a red hail of blood upon the nation that still holds the black man in slavery.”

Brown is immortal in the memories of the good in England, and in my heart he lives.” Most American antislavery leaders, including Beecher, had not offered such unambiguous praise for Brown. Newspapers widely reported that white southerners burned Spurgeon’s sermons in reaction to the “Brown is immortal” letter.

Spurgeon’s “Brown is immortal” letter was widely circulated in America by February 1860. Demonstrating that the comment about Brown—and not just slavery—was the center of the controversy, some newspapers simply quoted that sentence in a short article titled, “Spurgeon a John Brown Man.” Efflorescent denunciations of Spurgeon were reported frequently in the American press during spring 1860. One newspaper in Jacksonville, Florida, called Spurgeon “a beef-eating, puffed-up, vain, over-righteous, pharisaical, English, blab-mouth, ranting preacher of doctrine not found in the Bible.”

Another report said that, in addition to “kindling bonfires of his sermons,” Spurgeon had been receiving letters that said things like “You varmint! you vile English abolitionist! How we wish we had you over here! We grow plenty of hemp, and would soon find a rope to hang you!”

The Montgomery Mail published a nationally reprinted story of a “gentleman of this city” who invited all to bring copies of Spurgeon’s sermons to the town’s jailyard, to be burned in a bonfire. When the sermons had been burned, the newspaper writer noted his hope that “the works of the greasy

cockney vociferator may receive the same treatment throughout the South.” The piece further suggested that, if Spurgeon was ever to visit the South in person, “We trust that a stout cord may speedily find its way round his eloquent throat.”

One of Spurgeon’s American publishers had, as Beecher suggested, earlier tried to tone down and quietly delete Spurgeon’s earlier comments indicting slavery. In Spurgeon’s sermon “Presumptuous Sins” (1857), he had raged against America’s pretensions to “freedom” as compared to Britain. Spurgeon mocked the American slave masters’ idea of freedom. The British admittedly did not have “the freedom of beating our slaves to death, or of shooting them if they choose to disobey...we have not the freedom of hunting men, or the freedom of sucking another man’s blood out of him to make us rich,” he declared.

This was only a brief allusion in a longer sermon, perhaps making it easier for the publisher to justify deleting the short passage. They silently did so in the American edition of the sermon. But there was no hiding his letter praising John Brown.

So why would Spurgeon pen the “Brown is immortal” letter, given the volatile situation in America in 1860? The most straightforward explanation is that he possessed a longstanding moral revulsion against slave-owning. In a June 1859 sermon, for example, he made one of his most ferocious statements against slavery, proclaiming that “there is no God in heaven if the iniquity of slavery [goes] unpunished. There is

no God existing in heaven above if the cry of the negro [does] not bring down a red hail of blood upon the nation that still holds the black man in slavery.” He did not explicitly name the United States, but the inference was hard to miss.

Spurgeon’s encounter with a runaway slave in 1859 undoubtedly fueled his contempt for slavery. This South Carolina runaway was named John Andrew Jackson. His relationship with Jackson may have helped to radicalize Spurgeon and make him more willing to provoke Christian slaveholders in America. Jackson had traveled to Canada in the wake of the Fugitive Slave Act (1850). In 1857 he went to Britain, using references from antislavery figures such as Harriet Beecher Stowe and Frederick Douglass, in hopes of raising funds to liberate family members who remained in slavery.

Jackson spoke about his ordeal as an enslaved man in an address at Spurgeon’s New Park Street Chapel on December 8, 1859. Spurgeon commended Jackson’s speech and alluded to John Brown’s raid, saying that if Brown was in fact executed he would be a Christian martyr. Spurgeon also reportedly responded to Jackson’s address by proclaiming that “slavery is the foulest blot that ever stained a national escutcheon, and may have to be washed out with blood.”

In any event, by December 1859 it appears that hearing about Brown’s raid on Harpers Ferry, in addition to his encounter with Jackson, propelled Spurgeon to write the “Brown is immortal” letter. There was nothing that he could have said to cause more furor across the United States, and particularly in the South, than to unreservedly praise Brown. Thus, it was not simply Spurgeon’s antislavery sentiments that elicited the outburst of fury toward him. It was that arguably the most discussed and most widely published Anglo-American evangelical leader of the day had commended John Brown. Actual burnings of Spurgeon’s sermons seem to have been relatively few, but coverage of the bonfires made them known from New England to the Deep South, the Midwest, and even out to California.

During the crucial months between Brown’s raid and Abraham Lincoln’s nomination for president in mid-1860, Spurgeon’s alleged antislavery fanaticism, and the burning of his sermons, provided the American press with a major focus of hostility. The episode stoked more popular animosity in the year that would conclude with Lincoln’s election and South Carolina’s exit from the Union. Spurgeon’s antislavery and pro-John Brown stance made him a persona non grata in much of America, but especially in the South.

THOMAS S. KIDD | Research Professor of Church History

[1] A longer version of this essay appeared in October 2023 in the journal American Nineteenth-Century History

Introducing

THE HERITAGE COLLECTION

Midwestern Seminary has announced its recent acquisition of the Heritage Collection from Spurgeon’s College UK. The collection consists of thousands of books, manuscripts, letters, artifacts, newspaper cuttings, and more from Charles Spurgeon.

Beginning in 1856, the Pastor’s College has a rich history closely intertwined with the legacy of Spurgeon. The collection’s origin can be traced back to Spurgeon’s presidency of the college, which concluded with his passing in 1892.

J.A. Spurgeon, his brother, presided over the College from 1892-1896, and then Thomas Spurgeon, his son, took over from 1896-1917.

Over the years, many documents, papers, and personal items from the Spurgeon family were deposited with the college, now named Spurgeon’s College UK, turning it into a de facto repository for all things related to the Spurgeons.

Additional items have been added to the collection as generous individuals have donated Spurgeon-related memorabilia passed down through the generations.

The Heritage Collection boasts numerous artifacts, including Spurgeon’s personal belongings like his shirt collar, handkerchiefs, canes, reading glasses, pocket watch, and numerous Bibles with inscriptions and notations.

PASTORS’ COLLEGE DISCUSSION MINUTE BOOKS

The Discussion Minute Books contain records of the formal discussions that the students of the Pastors’ College would have, led by their tutor, on the pressing theological and ethical issues of the day. These notes reveal that Spurgeon was training his students to be not only preachers and pastors but also theologians.

More than 10,000 pages of transcripts of Spurgeon’s sermons and approximately 900 pages of galley proofs are included in the collection.

There are around 100 binders and large scrapbooks filled with chronologically arranged newspaper and magazine cuttings related to Spurgeon.

COLCHESTER PULPIT

This pulpit came from a Primitive Methodist Church in Colchester, England, where Charles Spurgeon was converted on January 6, 1850. The sermon was from Isaiah 45:22, and though the preacher behind the pulpit is unknown, the gospel took hold of Spurgeon’s heart. Recalling his conversion, Spurgeon said, “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.”

The collection includes 10 original notebooks that contain nearly 400 sermons that Spurgeon preached in Waterbeach and surrounding areas as a teenager.

THE TREASURY OF DAVID

The Treasury of David is a 7-volume commentary of the Psalms by Charles Spurgeon. This classic work was first published in shorter installments over a twentyyear span in The Sword and the Trowel. In the preface to the first volume, Spurgeon wrote, “The delightful study of the Psalms has yielded me boundless profit and evergrowing pleasure.” The Heritage Collection contains Spurgeon’s original manuscripts and proofs (pictured here) of the Treasury of David.

The final weeks of Spurgeon’s life were spent in Mentone, France. Throughout his ministry, Spurgeon wrote many letters to his congregation during his travels, never forgetting his own church. While nobody expected these letters to hold his last words to his church, they are a fitting conclusion to his pastoral ministry. In them, we see Spurgeon’s confidence in God’s sovereign grace, even apart from his own ministry. We see Spurgeon’s call for his people to persevere in the truth of the gospel and we see his evident love for them. In other words, what characterized Spurgeon’s ministry from the very first day continued to his last breath. “If there are any very sad, down-cast, & self-condemned ones among you, I desire my special love to them. The Lord himself looks from heaven to spy out such special characters.”

SPURGEON’S LAST LETTER TO HIS CHURCH

MONDAY

-Wake early, revise stenographer’s transcription of yesterday’s sermon

-Write/dictate letters and personal correspondence

HOW SPURGEON SCHEDULED HIS WEEK

In 57 years, Charles Spurgeon accomplished three lifetimes of work. Every week he preached four to 10 times, read six meaty books, revised sermons for publication, lectured, and edited a monthly magazine. In his spare time, he wrote about 150 books.

“I wish it could be said of us that we wasted neither an hour of our time, nor an hour of other people’s time.”

Spurgeon shepherded the largest Protestant megachurch in the world (he knew all 6,000 members by name), directed a theological college, ran an orphanage, and oversaw sixty-six Christian charities. Spurgeon was also a father and husband. He never sacrificed his family on the altar of ministry.

So how did the Prince of Preachers schedule his week? Here’s what Spurgeon’s daily organizer looked like (taken from his Autobiography):

-After lunch, complete revision of the first draft of sermon, then send to printer

-5:30 pm – 7:00 pm, lead the prayer service at the Tabernacle

-Conduct interviews for membership at the Tabernacle

-Preach an optional late-night service

TUESDAY

-Wake early, revise second draft of sermon

-11:00 am, complete revision of second draft, then send sermon to the printer

-Write/dictate letters and personal correspondence

-Lunch, research/write books, magazine articles, and other literary work

-Afternoon, pastoral care/counseling at the Tabernacle

-Evening, preside over Tabernacle societies and charities

FRIDAY

-Wake early, write/dictate letters and personal correspondence

-Begin thinking about selecting a Scripture text for the evening sermon

-Afternoon, write/edit books and other literary projects

-Complete the final revision of the sermon, then send to printer for publication/distribution

-After dinner, begin sermon preparation for the evening service

-6:00 pm – 7:00 pm, preach the evening service in the Lecture Hall of the Tabernacle

THURSDAY

-Wake early, prepare lecture on preaching for the students of the Pastors’ College

-3:00 pm – 5:00pm, lecture for two hours at the College on Temple Street

-Interview/mentor students afterwards

-7:00 pm, attend business meeting at the Tabernacle

WEDNESDAY

-Celebrate a much-needed midweek Sabbath

-Spend time with Susannah, Charles, and Thomas

-Contemplate in garden or read in study

-Relax

SATURDAY

-Breakfast, then work with secretary on revising/ editing books for publication

-Resolve with secretary any outstanding projects for the week

-Afternoon, entertain guests in garden if weather is favorable

-6:00 pm, dismiss guests after dinner

-10:00pm-12:00am, prepare tomorrow’s sermon: select scripture text

-Ask wife to read the Scripture text aloud

-Mentally divide sermon into natural breaking points as she reads

-Scribble divisions onto a half sheet of paper in purple ink

SUNDAY

-Wake early, ride carriage to the Tabernacle (15-20 minute journey)

-Arrive 30 minutes before the service

-Worship service begins

-Call to worship/announcements

-Congregational singing from Our Own -Hymn-Book (voices only, no organ)

-Read Scripture text while offering extemporaneous expositions on its context

-Begin preaching sermon (43-45 minutes, no longer)

-Drink chili-vinegar if throat becomes irritated

-Conclude service (no altar call, but “enquiry rooms” available)

-Afternoon, greet visitors in the Pastor’s Vestry

-Late afternoon, travel home to “Westwood” on Beulah Hill in Norwood

-Begin sermon prep for the evening evangelistic service

-Preach sermon at the Tabernacle

-Travel home and retire for the week

David Livingstone, the missionary to Africa, once asked Spurgeon, “How can you accomplish so much in one day?”

“You forget, Mr. Livingstone,” Spurgeon replied, “there are two of us working.”

Spurgeon’s ministry sparked a wildfire throughout the world because it was forged, to be sure, in the fire. “I think it would have been less painful to have been burned alive at the stake than to have passed through those horrors and depressions of spirit” (MTP 53:137-38).

Yet even in the heat of public criticism, character assassination, physical setbacks, and emotional challenges, Spurgeon experienced the warm kindness of God.

Spurgeon never suffered from having never suffered. He saw hardships as God’s hammer, shaping sinners into holiness and channeled his suffering into his sermons. Small wonder the hard working class was magnetized to him. “You must go through the fire,” he said, “if you would have sympathy with others who tread the glowing coals” (MTP 32:590).

Here are 10 quotes forged on the anvil of Spurgeon’s own affliction:

1

“The cloud that is black with horror is big with mercy. Fear not the storm, it brings healing in its wings, and when Jesus is with you in the vessel the tempest only hastens the ship to its desired haven.”

2

Perhaps there may be no way of teaching us so thoroughly the baseness of our heart as

by leaving us to its devices; perhaps we shall never know our folly, unless suffered to play the fool, but oh prevent it, Lord! prevent it by thy grace!

3

“Men will never become great in divinity until they become great in suffering. . . . . There are none so tender as those who have been skinned themselves. Those who have been in the chamber of affliction know how to comfort those who are there. Do not believe that any man will become a physician unless he walks the hospitals; and I am sure that no one will become a divine, or become a comforter, unless he lies in the hospital as well as walks through it, and has to suffer himself.”

4

“Perhaps at this very moment, down in some cabin, or amidst the noise and tumult, and the raging of the ocean, when many are alarmed, there are Christians with calm faces, patiently waiting their Father’s will, whether it shall be to reach the port of heaven, or to be spared to come again to land, into the midst of life’s trials and struggles once more. They feel that they are well-cared for, they know that the storm has a bit in its mouth, and that God holds it in, and nothing can hurt them; nothing can happen to them but what God permits.”

“I would venture to say that the greatest blessing that God can give to any of us is health, with the exception of sickness. Sickness has frequently been of more use to the saints of God than health has. If some men, that I know of, could only be favoured with a month of rheumatism, it would, by God’s grace, mellow them marvelously.”

5

“We should never have cried thus if he had not first taught us the way. . . . There are times when we cannot cry at all, and then he cries in us. There are seasons when doubts and fears abound, and so suffocate us with their fumes that we cannot even raise a cry, and then the indwelling Spirit represents us, and speaks for us, and makes intercession for us, crying in our name.”

8

Our infirmities become the black velvet on which the diamond of God’s love glitters all the more brightly.

Thank God I can suffer, thank God I can be made the object of shame and contempt; for, in this way, God shall be glorified.

“Mark then, Christian, Jesus does not suffer so as to exclude your suffering. He bears a cross, not that you may escape it, but that you may endure it. Christ exempts you from sin, but not from sorrow. Remember that, and expect to suffer.”

6 9

O dear friend, when thy grief presses thee to the very dust, worship there! If that spot has come to be thy Gethsemane, then present there thy ‘strong crying and tears’ unto thy God.

“Israel gained by education. The Lord was not going to lead a mob of slaves into Canaan, to go and behave like slaves there. They had to be tutored. The wilderness was the Oxford and Cambridge for God’s students. There they went to the University, and he taught and trained them, and they took their degree before they entered into the promised land. There is no University for a Christian like that of sorrow and trial.” 10

Meet

JENNY-LYN DE KLERK

Jenny-Lyn de Klerk (Ph.D, Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary) works as an editor at Crossway and has multiple degrees in church history and historical theology, specializing in Puritan spirituality. She has also written articles for Themelios, the Midwestern Journal of Theology, and the Gospel Coalition. She is the author of 5 Puritan Women: Portraits of Faith and Love.

MBTS What led you to study at Midwestern Seminary, and how did your doctoral program challenge and equip you for life and ministry?

JENNY-LYN DE KLERK I originally chose Midwestern Seminary because it offered the three things I was looking for in a doctoral program—a hybrid style program (mix of in-person and remote), a stream in historical theology, and an institutional appreciation for my research interest, the Puritans. I was so happy

when my husband found the program because we thought it would be impossible to get all of these in one school! But my time at Midwestern gave me even more than I was expecting. It pushed me to my intellectual limits, opened a gateway to a ton of new friendships, blessed me with a great connection with my professors who were extremely supportive and helped me progress in my career in significant ways, and instilled in me a desire to always use my skills in church history for the Church today. Going to Midwestern truly changed my life for the better!

MBTS Tell us more about your work with Crossway and how your time at Midwestern Seminary influenced your ministry.

JENNY-LYN I work as a book editor at Crossway, which is one of the many blessings that my Midwestern Seminary degree led me to. Putting in the hours to research, write, discuss, and lecture during my doctoral program helped me not only become an expert in church history but also an expert in myself. I realized that while I loved certain aspects of teaching, like seeing students learn new things and hearing their insights, I really hated being the center of attention as the lecturer. I thrived more in behind-the-scenes work like grading papers and editing, helping others refine their ideas, and writing. When I got hired at Crossway I was thrilled because I could now work full-time doing just that! It is truly wonderful waking up each work day and getting to see what comes my way in whatever book I’m working on. I love doing the same tasks in different books because I have a nice routine but am constantly encountering new ideas and solving new problems. I especially love working on reprints and critical editions of historical sources as well as popular-level books that seek to make church history useful for Christians today. The best part of my job is helping authors produce quality material and knowing that all of our hard work together in the editing process is contributing to the goal of people getting to read good books. Books are one of the best things in my life and I’m so glad that I can help others encounter the fun and excitement to be found in the written word! It’s also nice to work for a company that is both upstanding and successful.

MBTS This edition of the Midwestern Magazine is highlighting the importance of Charles Spurgeon in Christian history. What place does historical theology have in the life of the church and the academy?

JENNY-LYN I think I’d rather say that once you start reading figures from church history like Spurgeon, it’s easy to appreciate them—you don’t really have to try—because you are immediately blessed by seeing how God has worked in the life of another person just like He’s working in your life. Of course, you also learn lots about God, the Bible, and theology if you’re reading a good thinker because they have put in the work to deeply consider such topics and are probably known centuries after their death because they had some level of genius in analyzing and communicating that information to others. Learning about church history is absolutely essential to the life of the church today because it is her own history, the story of her own life! And it’s important in the academy because we should leave no stone unturned when trying to understand the world either as it was or as it is now.

MBTS Spurgeon once said, “By all means read the Puritans, they are worth more than all the modern stuff put together.” With your work in Puritanism, what do you think stands out from the Puritans that can best serve Christians and ministry leaders today?

JENNY-LYN My favorite thing about the Puritans is that they bring together their expertise in both Scripture and human nature, so when you read them you are not only getting great theology at a high level that challenges you in your thinking but also great advice for regular life stuff like your relationship with God, your relationships with other people, and your vocation. I don’t think someone would ever regret reading a book by the Puritans! They are excellent commentators on Scripture and good voices to have in your head when making life decisions, trying to grapple with difficult situations, and seeking to enjoy God and His creation to your fullest capacity.

Bethel Church

LOCATION: NORTHWEST INDIANA

Although Bethel’s ministry has constantly evolved over the decades, the purpose remains the same—to glorify God and enjoy Him forever by developing followers of Jesus Christ who strive to make their lives “All About Him.” Originally launching in the 1930s, Bethel called its current Senior Pastor Steve DeWitt to begin serving in 1997. Under his leadership, Bethel has grown to exist in multiple locations, multiple languages, and dozens of staff members.

MBTS How were you first introduced to Charles Spurgeon?

STEVE DEWITT The first significant introduction I had to Spurgeon was from the senior pastor where I first served as a youth pastor. He loved Spurgeon, quoted Spurgeon, and would even suck on an unlit cigar in his office, mimicking Spurgeon’s affinity for the broad leaf. His Spurgeon enthusiasm was contagious. During that season of my life, I began reading from the same doctrinal tradition as Spurgeon. While not all Reformed roads lead to Spurgeon, he is a scenic overlook often referenced, quoted, and admired. I

was hooked when I read his Lectures to My Students and Arnold Dallimore’s biography of him.

MBTS What is it about Charles Spurgeon that makes him a helpful pastoral figure?

STEVE Over the years, I have observed a wide variety of ecclesiological streams that admire him. The evangelistically oriented admire his heart for the Great Commission. The doctrinally oriented admire his expansive understanding and careful attention to the text of Scripture. The church growth movement holds him high as the prototype megachurch

pastor. The missional stream reveres his community outreach, church planting, and para-church innovations. The Charles Spurgeon fan club makes for some strange bedfellows. He isn’t easily categorized. There are so many facets to his ministry, most of which, if not all, he excelled in.

Upon closer examination, though, we see much more than meets the eye—a chronic and spiritually depressive soul, a semi-invalid wife (they had a successful marriage despite her frailties), a host of health challenges, and more. This is why Spurgeon is a great hero for pastors. None of us can relate to his giftedness, but we can relate to his hurts.

Pastoral ministry hasn’t changed much in 125 years. Spurgeon was well-acquainted with the dark night of the pastor’s soul. Yet, God worked through his sermons, words, wisdom, and faithfulness to an extent that astonishes to this day.

By God’s grace, he accomplished it all without a computer, Kindle, or social media platform. We need stark reminders like Spurgeon that everything that truly matters to God in ministry is utterly dependent, not on our modern tools, but on God’s means of grace: the Word, the Spirit, the gospel, prayer, love and care for people, etc. God worked through Spurgeon mightily and can work the same through us.

MBTS What tips would you provide pastors who want to see Spurgeon’s legacy live on in them and their congregation?

STEVE You are the chairperson of your church’s admiration society. Pastors hold decisive influence over who their church admires. I would encourage pastors to have a few dead Christian heroes with whom they are highly familiar, their biography, teachings, and legacy. Tell these stories of ancient faithful Christians to your church family. Other than the biblical figures, no one is more commonly in my

sermons nor more frequently helping me through complex pastoral challenges than Charles Spurgeon. Since I have appreciated him before my people, Spurgeon’s opinion carries weight. Once your people admire him too, you have a friend and advocate with you in the pulpit.

Let old things come alive. It is well-known that Spurgeon is the most published author in Christian history. What is less celebrated but no less accurate is that Spurgeon is arguably the most quoted. He is so eminently and easily quotable. He said things in short, clever turns of phrases that stick in the brain. I have many of them memorized, and they come to me while I preach or counsel.

I remember doing a radio interview where the host threw me a curveball question about churches and the gospel. At that moment, this Spurgeon quote came to me, “I looked at Christ, and a dove of peace flew into my heart. I looked at the dove, and it flew away.” I stopped. It was the perfect response. Was this my wisdom? No. That day, Spurgeon spoke to the modern city of Chicago a century later through his unique gift as a wordsmith. For these reasons and more, I would encourage you to find your top 10 Spurgeon quotes and commit them to memory—they will come to you at opportune moments.

Additionally, engaging with his artifacts can help bring his ministry to life. Spurgeon’s original sermon manuscripts are still available for sale, his first church in Waterbeach still stands, and the Metropolitan Tabernacle in London can still be toured. Moreover, Midwestern Seminary’s Spurgeon Center is a goosebump experience for Spurgeon lovers too! Stand in his pulpit, hold his books in your hands, and a close-up experience of Spurgeon may open your soul to the God and gospel he preached like no other.

Meet JAMES CHOI

James Choi serves as the Lead Pastor at New Covenant Baptist Church in Rockville, Maryland. After moving to America at age 7 from Seoul, South Korea, James went on to pursue a call to ministry and serve as a pastoral intern and elder at Capitol Hill Baptist Church in Washington, D.C. He is currently pursuing his Ph.D in Christian Ministry at Midwestern Seminary. James is married to his wife, Jeri, and together they have three young children.

MBTS What led you to Midwestern Seminary as a student and how has the doctoral program at MBTS challenged and equipped you for life and ministry?

JAMES CHOI What ultimately drew me to Midwestern Seminary was the practical and conducive format of the Ph.D program for pastoral ministry. Midwestern’s focus on the local church was an added benefit, as I was getting ready to plant New Covenant Baptist Church in Rockville, Maryland.

Furthermore, Midwestern proved to be a wonderful opportunity to study Charles Spurgeon. My good friend and Spurgeon scholar, Geoff Chang, had just finished his studies on Spurgeon’s ecclesiology and had begun work as the Curator of the Spurgeon Library. During one of my lunches with my former pastor, Mark Dever, we reached out to Dr. Chang about the possibility of delving further into Spurgeon’s views on regenerate church membership. At the time, he ensured that there was certainly more

Spurgeon scholarship to be mined in this area of study. I was thrilled, and now here I am one class away from beginning my dissertation phase.

MBTS How has studying Spurgeon shaped your philosophy of ministry?

JAMES For me, what makes Spurgeon so fascinating and inspiring is that he brings the pastoral philosophies of all my different spiritual heritages together in one man and demonstrates that such ministry is possible. Here is what I mean:

Korean-American church and their emphasis on prayer. I grew up in the Korean-American church where prayer was an integral part of my spiritual formation. Korean Christians are well-known for early morning prayer meetings. Having left the Korean-American immigrant church several years ago, I wrestled with how I would cultivate a culture that emphasizes the necessity and urgency of private and corporate prayer in the life of the local church. In Spurgeon, I found an answer and an example to model my ministry after.

It is written, “When visitors would come to Spurgeon’s church, he would take them to the basement prayer room where people were always on their knees interceding. Then Spurgeon would declare, ‘Here is the powerhouse of this church.’ “Spurgeon considered the prayer meeting “the most important meeting of the week.” I greatly desire to model my pastoral ministry after Spurgeon’s commitment and practice of prayer.

Southern Baptists and their emphasis on Word-centered preaching. Coming from a setting where the Bible was not faithfully preached every week, my first exposure to faithful expository preaching was at a Baptist church during my undergraduate years. From there and upon attending Southwestern Seminary, I quickly came to realize that Southern Baptists set the standard for faithful expository preaching.

Although many debate whether Spurgeon was a true expositor or not, there is no doubt Spurgeon was a Christ-centered preacher. Spurgeon exhorted, “Preach you Christ, and Christ, and Christ, and Christ, and nothing else but Christ!” Spurgeon brings together all my aspirations as a preacher: a prayer-fueled, Christ-centered expositor with Spirit-filled unction!

Reformed Baptists and their emphasis on biblical ecclesiology . Cultural Christianity, legalism, and program-driven approaches to ministry were common in the immigrant churches I was a part of growing up. After being introduced to the biblical principles of ecclesiology through Capitol Hill Baptist Church and 9Marks, I came to realize that failing to biblically understand “what the church is” was an epidemic beyond the immigrant church.

Recently, Dr. Geoff Chang’s landmark research brought light to a largely unaddressed aspect of Spurgeon’s ministry; that Spurgeon was an “ecclesiologian.” As a soul-winner, Spurgeon not only cared about the conversion of souls, but the holistic care of souls through the ministry of the local church. Meaningful church membership and church discipline were not the inventions of the neo-Calvinist movement. They are biblical, historical, and practical.

MBTS In your research of Spurgeon, how have you seen his life and ministry model the mission of being for the Church?

JAMES Spurgeon’s primary mission was for the Church—universal and local. Spurgeon believed the Church was grander than just the Metropolitan Tabernacle; hence, his numerous efforts for the Pastor’s College, ministry to the poor, church planting, and other ministries beyond his own church. Nevertheless, Spurgeon once said of his own local church, “Yet, if I went anywhere for choice company, I should certainly resort to the members of my church. These are the company I keep. These are the choicest friends I know.” In this sense, Spurgeon has taught me how to love the church, universal and local.

MBTS Can you tell us more about Spurgeon College and the desire to equip students for the Kingdom?

SAM BIERIG Spurgeon College is a growing Christian college in the Midwest historically known for missions, discipleship, athletics, and a Christ-centered, soul care-oriented culture. We value excellence in all of life and inhabit an environment where students can

SAM BIERIG

Vice President of Undergraduate Studies, Dean of Spurgeon College, Assistant Professor of Biblical Studies at Spurgeon College

Samuel Bierig (Ph.D, Midwestern Seminary) serves as Vice President of Undergraduate Studies, Dean of Spurgeon College, and Assistant Professor of Biblical Studies at Spurgeon College. Dr. Bierig teaches Hermeneutics and Biblical Theology and gives oversight to the many and varied programs, teams, and curriculum that comprises Spurgeon College. Sam has served as an elder at Liberty Baptist Church where he and Mallory are church members and was a Student Pastor for six years in Arkansas. He has written a devotional on Jonah , a book for pastors titled No Neutral Words: The Pastor’s Investment and Stewardship of His Most Precious and Powerful Tool , and a book for student pastors titled Fulfill Your *Student Ministry: A Manifesto and Field Guide . He is a regular contributor at ftc.co .He and Mallory have four children: Abby, Levi, Owen, and Piper.

thrive both in and after college as they seek to glorify God anywhere they find themselves in His Kingdom. We are trying to prepare people for the Kingdom. What's unique about us is our values; we're trying to prepare a whole person for a whole calling.

MBTS What influence does Charles Spurgeon have on the undergraduate education at Spurgeon College?

SAM Like Charles Spurgeon, Spurgeon College’s bread and butter is the Bible. Spurgeon was a Bible man, and the Bible is the core of everything we do here as a college. Charles Spurgeon was also a man who loved the gospel and taking the gospel to the nations. Our Fusion program is an embodiment of that missions spirit we see in the great 19th century preacher, and we pray many of our students would advocate for and spend their lives reaching the nations.

Finally, our mission for the Kingdom is seen in the life of Charles Spurgeon through the many mercy ministries he helped initiate and launch. Spurgeon was first and foremost a Kingdom man. He's known for his preaching, but he also had a heart for what God was doing in the world, and that's what we're trying to do. At Spurgeon College, every student is a Kingdom citizen. From our athletics teams to pastoral cohorts, we try to imbibe this value in every new initiative and program. The aim of Spurgeon College is to run on concurrent paths as Charles Spurgeon himself. The commonalities between the man and the college are intentional, and we pray that our college continues to look more and more like all the great qualities Charles Spurgeon had.

MBTS You’ve helped train many preachers at Spurgeon College to faithfully serve the Church. What are some key preaching principles from Charles Spurgeon that are especially relevant for our cultural moment today?

SAM The first principle I must mention is his Christ-centered preaching. Spurgeon refused to not preach Christ. His Christ-centered preaching is not a mere over-spiritualization of the text—it’s rooted in his belief that all of Scripture is Christ-shaped, compelling the preacher to preach Christ from every text. Spurgeon’s sermons were theologically driven. He believed the whole Bible belonged to the Lord and that He had a message to give us, which is ultimately Christ. Because of this, Spurgeon didn’t have a problem with what we might call allegory. He was governed by the canon and the doctrinal dictates handed down to us from the tradition. So, first and foremost, Spurgeon teaches us of the need to preach Christ from every jot and tittle of the Scriptures.

Secondly, Spurgeon was a doctrinal preacher. He never stopped talking about the gospel and the doctrines that made the gospel possible, such as the doctrine of God, the Son assuming flesh, how people change, how people are saved, and the like. He heralded the great things of the text, which is what preaching should be, rather than focusing on the obscure or tertiary issues. He always stayed on the right points.

A third mark of Spurgeon’s preaching is its consistency with a life lived worthy of the gospel. He is remarkably evergreen, landing on the right side of so many important issues, revealing a remarkable depth of knowledge and intimacy with the Lord. In an age where major flaws in ministry leaders seems common, Spurgeon’s life and ministry seems to stand the test of time. His life backed up his preaching. Sometimes, a worthy life can make up for lousy preaching. But in Spurgeon’s case, a life and preaching that are consistent with each other, robust and full, results in an abundance of fruit from and for the Lord. These three things together make for a Prince of Preachers.

MBTS Why is studying the life of Charles Spurgeon important for the Kingdom and for the Church?

SAM Spurgeon is a titan of church history. Looking through the ranks of historical theology, I believe he’ll be named in the same breath as Augustine, Anselm, and Calvin for centuries to come. But he’s distinct. He’s primarily known for his preaching and local church ministry. Some of the distinction may be due to his context in post-Reformation England, but I think we should study him as one of the truly great minds, theologians, and preachers of all of church history. For the same reasons one should study historical theology in general is why one should study Charles Spurgeon. In Spurgeon, you’ll find a life wracked with difficulties, consternation, and impasses that he continued to push through for the glory of Christ. He refused to be held back despite his melancholy and state of his soul. He fights through so much to preach the gospel and meet with people at such a high level. Spurgeon is a model of strength and weakness.

100% TUITION SCHOLARSHIP

FOR 100 STUDENTS

For The Church Cohorts is a one-year training program designed to equip likeminded seminary students through enhanced discipleship, focused study, and intentional community in one of seven areas of focus: Shepherds Fellowship, Biblical Counseling, Fusion Masters, Women in Scholarship, Spurgeon Fellows, Biblical Studies, and Theological Studies. Beginning in the Fall of 2024, 100 full tuition scholarships will be awarded to 100 students admitted into the program.

Recent News

The latest news and events from Midwestern Seminary and Spurgeon College

FOR THE CHURCH NATIONAL

SEPTEMBER 11-12, 2023 Midwestern Seminary hosted the ninth annual For the Church National Conference in Kansas City on September 11-12, welcoming more than 1,100 pastors and ministry leaders to campus.

MBTS AT TGC

SEPTEMBER 29, 2023 During the TGC 2023 National Conference, Midwestern Seminary hosted two breakout sessions, gave out custom FTC patch sweatshirts, and celebrated a keynote sermon by H.B. Charles, Jr.

BEST CHRISTIAN WORKPLACE

OCTOBER 3, 2023 Midwestern Seminary recently received certification as a “Best Christian Workplace” amongst Christian organizations in the United States. This recognition is one of the first certifications amongst Southern Baptist entities.

OCTOBER 19, 2023 Midwestern Seminary’s new partnership with the Send Network is in the continued effort to equip pastors and ministry leaders for the Church through church planting. Each aspect of the partnership reflects the desire to equip the next generation of church planters and ministry leaders.

TRUSTEE MEETINGS

OCTOBER 17, 2023 Midwestern Seminary’s Fall Trustee Meeting, which was held on October 16-17, focused on gratitude for continued enrollment growth, the dedication of the newly updated Spurgeon College Residence Hall, the announcement of endowed chairs, and several key matters of institutional update.

SEND NETWORK PARTNERSHIP

"Personally, I am thrilled by this development and look with anticipation for the rich studies that will flow from what is now the premier center to study Spurgeon and the British Baptist world of his day.”

Michael Haykin

Professor of Church History at Southern Seminary

Midwestern Seminary Acquires the Charles Spurgeon Heritage Collection

OCTOBER 31, 2023

The recent acquisition of the Heritage Collection by the Spurgeon Library marks a historic moment in the preservation of Spurgeon’s legacy. The fruit of such a collection will become evident in the coming years and decades as Spurgeon scholarship continues to advance with the help of the Spurgeon Library.

"This will position the Spurgeon Center for years to come to be the major headquarters for the study of the voluminous works of this pulpit giant.”

Steven Lawson

Founder and

President

of

OnePassion Ministries and Author of The Gospel Focus of Charles Spurgeon

"May the Lord indeed use this as a catalyst for the study of Spurgeon in our time, and to raise up a new generation of preachers who share Spurgeon’s convictions and passion.”

Ligon Duncan

Chancellor and CEO of Reformed Theological Seminary

"This acquisition is the best news in Spurgeon scholarship since Midwestern Seminary opened the Spurgeon Library in 2015."

Tom Nettles

Senior Professor of Historical Theology at Southern Seminary and Author of Living by Revealed Truth: The Life and Pastoral Theology of Charles Haddon Spurgeon

Thank You, Bill & Connie Jenkins

"Midwestern Seminary’s acquisition of the Heritage Room Collection from Spurgeon’s College UK will provide a virtually endless resource for researchers in Spurgeon."

Ray Rhodes, Jr.

President of Nourished in the Word Ministries and Author of Yours, Till Heaven: The Untold Love Story of Charles and Susie Spurgeon

Reflecting on the acquisition, Allen shared, “Under God, the Spurgeon Library as we know it would not exist without one couple, Bill and Connie Jenkins. Ten years ago, they singlehandedly funded the beautiful Spurgeon Library which presently houses so much of Spurgeon’s personal library and collection. Now, a decade later, they’ve led the effort to make this new acquisition possible. Rare is the couple who have such resources and generosity, coupled with an awareness of church history and an appreciation for sound doctrine, all moving them to so generously support this acquisition. All who love Spurgeon’s ministry owe a debt of gratitude to this dear couple. That’s certainly a gratitude I feel, and no doubt many, many others will too feel it."

FALL FESTIVAL

NOVEMBER 2, 2023 Hundreds of students, staff, faculty, and community members gathered on Midwestern Seminary and Spurgeon College’s campus for an evening of fellowship, food, and fun at the Moonwalk-themed Fall Festival.

PASTOR APPRECIATION MONTH

NOVEMBER 2023 “Pastoring the Lord’s church is an incredible privilege,” said President Jason Allen. “And yet, it can also be one of the most difficult things a man can do this side of heaven. That is why I am so thankful we always seek to raise awareness of Pastor Appreciation Month and also bless one such worthy pastor with a giveaway.”

MBTS AT ETS

NOVEMBER 14-16, 2023 A Midwestern Seminary record 52 meeting sessions featured seminary representatives as they presented scholarly papers, moderated sessions, and participated in panel discussions on the theme “theological anthropology” at the 75th annual ETS meeting.

NEW VOLLEYBALL COACH

DECEMBER 7, 2023 Spurgeon College is pleased to announce the appointment of Lauren Willow as the new head coach for the women’s volleyball team. With a rich background in both both athletics and academics, Coach Willow brings a unique blend of experience, skill, and passion to the Spurgeon College community. COMMENCEMENT

DECEMBER 8, 2023 "Today is a day of joy as we celebrate these graduates and what they represent for the Church,” said President Jason Allen. “From start to finish, our desire today is to honor Jesus Christ, celebrate the accomplishment of each graduate, and send them out equipped to serve the Church and the Kingdom.”

MISSIONAL LEADERSHIP FOR THE CHURCH INSTITUTE

JANUARY 17, 2024 In a recently released For the Church Institute course, Dr. Charles Smith encourages leaders to embrace “Missional Leadership” for God’s glory, their joy, and the good of the world.

TGC GIVEAWAY

GRADUATION

FTC WORKSHOP

KNIGHTS NIGHT

BINGO NIGHT

VOLLEYBALL GAME

FALL FESTIVAL

CROSS CON JAR GIVEAWAY

FALL PREVIEW DAY

Who is Charles Haddon Spurgeon?

by PHILLIP ORT

Who is Charles Haddon Spurgeon?

Known as the “Prince of Preachers,” this Victorian, Calvinistic, Baptist minister testified as a powerful gospel witness in his time, but his influence endures today. So much so that Carl F. H. Henry, the dean of twentieth-century evangelical theologians, once called Spurgeon “one of evangelical Christianity’s immortals.”

But what makes Spurgeon immortal? Whether you are new to Spurgeon, or a familiar friend, here are a few things you should know about Charles Haddon Spurgeon.

Born on June 19th, 1834, in Kelvedon, Essex, to John and Eliza Spurgeon, he was the firstborn of seventeen children, although unfortunately only eight survived adolescence. A boy who loved books, he quickly became fascinated with John Bunyan’s Pilgrim’s Progress . However, Charles did not lose his own burden

at the foot of the cross until January 6th, 1850. That morning a roaring blizzard forced Charles into the first church he could find, the Primitive Methodist Chapel on Artillery Street in Colchester, England. There Charles heard a sermon delivered by a man who was in his words, “really stupid” and who could “not even pronounce the words rightly.” Yet, by God’s grace Charles “looked to Christ” and was saved. Soon thereafter he moved to Cambridge, joined St. Andrews Street Baptist Church, and began his ministry as an itinerant preacher. In October of 1851 Charles was called to preach in his first church, Waterbeach Chapel, and soon thereafter accepted the pastorate of New Park Street Chapel in Southwark, London in April of 1854. In 1861 the Metropolitan Tabernacle opened and his ministry exploded resulting in the founding of 66 parachurch ministries. His remarkable ministry in London

would last 38 years before his death on January 31st, 1892 in Menton, France.

Charles lived during the Victorian Age where “progress” was the prized virtue of the day. Born in the country, when the nineteen-yearold moved to London in 1854, he was entering the largest and most powerful city in the world. However, in London he found himself on the south side of the river, in Southwark borough. According to Helen Douglas-Irvine’s work, History of London, Southwark enjoyed “the infamous distinction of a preeminently evil reputation” and a “meanness which proceeds from extreme poverty and decay.” To complicate matters when Charles arrived at New Park Street Chapel, the dwindling congregation could not pay him a regular salary, rather he was paid by the fluctuating and meagre seat rent. When the congregation – and the giving

revived after three months of his ministry, he declared, “I will pay for the cleaning and lighting myself.” And from that day he covered all the incidental expenses of New Park Street Chapel and the Metropolitan Tabernacle to his death. But Charles Spurgeon did more than cover the “incidentals.” By the age of 27 the young pastor had donated approximately $1,325,378 of the required $3,690,282 toward the construction of the Metropolitan Tabernacle. He earned this money from speaking fees and from the sale of his wildly popular sermons and books. He didn’t even take a salary from his new megachurch.

Charles Spurgeon was a truly unique instrument of the Lord Jesus Christ. One of the most remarkable aspects of his life and legacy is that he holistically exemplified Christian virtue in his ministry. With respect to evangelistic zeal, Charles’ passion for evangelism is seen in every Christ-centered facet of his life, ministry, and sermons. During his lifetime he preached the gospel to over a million people and personally baptized 15,000 new believers converted under his ministry. Furthermore, his sermons were translated into nearly forty languages, including Arabic, Armenian, Bengali, Bulgarian, Castilian, Chinese, Congolese, Czech, Dutch, Estonian, French, Gaelic, German, Hindi, Russian, Serbian, Syriac, Tamil, Telugu, Urdu, and Welsh.

Called a “nine-days wonder” by The Sheffield and Rotherham

Independent, this “boy preacher of the fens” took the world by storm when he arrived in London in 1854. The young preacher was a force to be reckoned with and provoked polarized reactions. The Ipswich Express said that his sermons were “redolent of bad taste” and “vulgar and theatrical.” On the other hand, Elymas L. Magoon – his first biographer – said that when Charles arrived in London, “A burning and shining light has suddenly burst upon the moral world.” His voice was “full, sweet, and musical,” and the massive crowds that Spurgeon drew by open air preaching led Magoon to title his biography of Spurgeon The Modern Whitfield

Finally, Charles Spurgeon exemplified the Christian virtue which David Bebbington has termed “activism,” the passionate belief that the gospel must be expressed in action. In addition to the Pastors’ College, he also founded a ministry to prostitutes, a ministry to policemen, two orphanages, and seventeen almshouses for widows. Research conducted at The Spurgeon Library has shown that a conservative estimate of his net worth ran about $50 million, and yet when he died only about $250,000 was left in his bank account. What does one do with $49,750,000? For Charles Spurgeon the answer was simple; invest it in God’s Kingdom. Orphans had to be fed, the houses of widows subsidized, and the Home Rescue Society for women suffering from domestic abuse had to be funded somehow.

Anyone of these qualities; evangelistic zeal, theological integrity, or evangelical activism would have been sufficient to earn Charles recognition as an exemplary Christian man. Yet, God was pleased to work all these things through his chronically depressed, arthritic, and gout smitten servant Charles Haddon Spurgeon. It was not Spurgeon who made Spurgeon great, it was God who made Spurgeon great, or rather, God who magnified his greatness through Spurgeon’s weakness. In Spurgeon’s words it was “all of grace.” Faithfulness to the Lord Jesus Christ above all other things was the chief goal.

If you visit The Spurgeon Library, you will see two frosted glass seals on the main doors. On the left, the seal for Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, but on the right, the seal for The Spurgeon Library, a silhouette of Spurgeon’s face. The frosted glass was chosen with one specific purpose in mind, to remind us not to look to Spurgeon, but rather through him. To look through him and to see Jesus Christ. To see Jesus Christ as worthy of all glory, honor, excellence in service, and missionary zeal. Thus, the goal of The Spurgeon Library is to steward the life, legacy, and resources of Charles Haddon Spurgeon so that others see and savor Christ. Indeed, to be for the Church, for the Kingdom, and for Jesus Christ.

12 Spurgeon Quotes on Preaching

by DREW TILLMAN

When Charles Spurgeon surveyed the preaching of his own day, he lamented that, “There is very much rubbish about, brethren.” Now, after a century-and-a-half his observation appears equally penetrating and applicable. Spurgeon advised pastors to, “Preach you Christ, and Christ, and Christ, and Christ, and nothing else but Christ.” When opposition arose his response was simple, “Let the dogs bark, it is their nature to. Go on preaching Christ crucified.” But as a preacher, what made Spurgeon unique? While his immense knowledge of the Bible, personality, and quick wit all contributed to his popularity, it was his calling from God and love of Christ and his people which formed the “Prince of Preachers” remembered today.

In Spurgeon's view, for a sermon to be “true preaching” it must include “adoration of God by the manifestation of his gracious attributes.” Preaching was the proclamation of God's gospel, “which pre-eminently glorifies him.” Spurgeon also believed that to hear true preaching was “an acceptable form of worship to the most high,” and was perhaps “one of the most spiritual in which the human mind can be engaged.” In his view, the job of the preacher was simple and direct because, “We are mirrors reflecting the transactions of Calvary, telescopes manifesting the distant glories of an exalted Redeemer.” As a result, he declared, “The nearer we keep to the cross, the nearer I think, we keep to our true vocation.”

Furthermore, Spurgeon believed the best preachers were men who knew “the ins and outs of a sinner's heart,” men who could “talk from

experience instead of from theory.” Preachers were meant to imitate Christ whose preaching was “meant for the worst of men.” Preaching was to be clear, cut to the heart, and not be encumbered by human speculation. Spurgeon believed that, “A true servant of Christ must never try to let the people see how well he can preach.” Rather, preachers must preach Christ so simply that the hearers “cannot misunderstand him even if they try to do so.” Indeed the sermon had to be clear and Christ-centered because “it must not be tolerated that Christ should be unknown through our silence, and sinners unwarned through our negligence.” After all, it would be a tragedy for, “the sheep [to look] up to the shepherd, and not [be] fed.”

Spurgeon loved to preach the gospel. Indeed, he always believed “The world need still be told of its Saviour, and of the way to reach him” and so he never tired of telling the Old, old story. In honor of Spurgeon's legacy as the “Prince of Preachers” here are twelve quotes from Charles Spurgeon on preaching:

1. “Let the sun stop shining, and we will preach in darkness. Let the waves stop their ebb and flow, and still our voice shall preach the gospel.”

2. “My Master always went where he was most wanted-among the chief of sinners and you know his preaching. It was a preaching that was meant for the worst of men.”

3. “Keep the word of God, and the word of God will keep you.”

4. “No reason exists why the preaching of the gospel should be a miserable operation either to the speaker or to the hearer.”

5. “It must not be tolerated that Christ should be unknown through our silence, and sinners unwarned through our negligence.”

6. “True Gospel preaching does not decry holy living; nay, it sets up the highest possible standard and declares the way to reach it.”

7. “When a man has been in the fire, and has the smell of it still upon him, he is the one to warn others not to meddle with fire.”

8. “I love to preach a gospel of which I feel the sweetness in my own soul.”

9. “If you cannot catechise your own heart, and drill a truth into your own soul, you do not know how to teach other people.”

10. “I am determined, as far as ever I can, to preach the gospel plainly and simply, so that everybody may understand it.”

11. “If we are to see the church of God really restored to her pristine glory, we must have back this plain, simple, gospel-preaching.”

12. “Never was man blamed in heaven for preaching Christ too much.”

The Pearl of the Psalms: Spurgeon on Psalm 23

by ETHAN COLLINS

The noteworthiness of Psalm 23 was not lost on Spurgeon. In fact, he thought quite highly of it, as is evident by this especially generous compliment: “Of this delightful song it may be affirmed that its piety and its poetry are equal, its sweetness and its spirituality are unsurpassed.” Spurgeon once referred to Psalm 23 as the “Pearl of the Psalms” in his monthly magazine, The Sword and the Trowel. This magazine often included an exposition of a psalm, and in the 1866 publication Spurgeon featured Psalm 23. Below are some of his most touching and eloquent comments on each verse.

1The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.

The sweetest word of the whole is that monosyllable, “My.” He does not say, “The Lord is the shepherd of the world at large, and leadeth forth the multitude as his flock,” but “The Lord is my shepherd;” if he be a Shepherd to no one else, he is a Shepherd to me; he cares for me, watches over me, and preserves me.” The words are in the present tense. Whatever be the believer’s position, he is even now under the pastoral care of Jehovah.[1]

It is not only “I do not want,” but “I shall not want.” Come what may, if famine should devastate the land, or calamity destroy the city, “I shall not want.” Old age with its

feebleness shall not bring me any lack, and even death with its gloom shall not find me destitute. I have all things and abound; not because I have a good store of money in the bank, not because I have skill and wit with which to win my bread, but because “The Lord is my shepherd.” The wicked always want, but the righteous never; a sinner’s heart is far from satisfaction, but a gracious spirit dwells in a palace of content.[2]

2 He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: he leadeth me beside the still waters.

What are these “green pastures” but the Scriptures of truth—always fresh, always rich, and never exhausted? There is no fear of biting the bare ground where the grass is long enough for the flock to lie down in it. Sweet and full are the doctrines of the gospel; fit food for souls, as tender grass is natural nutriment for sheep.

What are these “still waters” but the influences and graces of his blessed Spirit? His Spirit attends us in various operations, like waters—in the plural—to cleanse, to refresh, to fertilize, to cherish. They are “still waters”, for the Holy Ghost loves peace, and sounds no trumpet of ostentation in his operations…. Not to raging waves of strife, but to peaceful streams of holy love does the Spirit of God conduct the

chosen sheep. He is a dove, not an eagle; the dew, not the hurricane.[3]

3 He restoreth my soul: he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name’s sake.

Are any of us low in grace? Do we feel that our spirituality is at its lowest ebb? He who turns the ebb into the flood can soon restore our soul. Pray to him, then, for the blessing—“Restore thou me, thou Shepherd of my soul!”

Some Christians overlook the blessing of sanctification, and yet to a thoroughly renewed heart this is one of the sweetest gifts of the covenant. If we could be saved from wrath, and yet remain unregenerate, impenitent sinners, we should not be saved as we desire, for we mainly and chiefly pant to be saved from sin and led in the way of holiness.[4]

4 Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.

This unspeakably delightful verse has been sung on many a dying bed, and has helped to make the dark valley bright times out of mind. Every word in it has a wealth of meaning.

Yea, though I walk, as if the believer did not quicken his pace when he came to die, but still calmly walked

with God. To walk indicates the steady advance of a soul which knows its road, knows its end, resolves to follow the path, feels quite safe, and is therefore perfectly calm and composed… Observe that it is not walking in the valley, but through the valley. We go through the dark tunnel of death and emerge into the light of immortality. We do not die, we do but sleep to wake in glory. Death is not the house but the porch, not the goal but the passage to it… Many a saint has reaped more joy and knowledge when he came to die than he ever knew while he lived. And, then, it is not “the valley of death, “but the valley of the shadow of death, for death in its substance has been removed, and only the shadow of it remains… Nobody is afraid of a shadow, for a shadow cannot stop a man’s pathway even for a moment. The shadow of a dog cannot bite; the shadow of a sword cannot kill; the shadow of death cannot destroy us. Let us not, therefore, be afraid. I will fear no evil. He does not say there shall not be any evil; he had got beyond even that high assurance, and knew that Jesus had put all evil away; but “I will fear no evil; …not even the Evil One himself; I will not dread the last enemy, I will look upon him as a conquered foe, an enemy to be destroyed, For thou art with me. This is the joy of the Christian! … The little child out at sea in the storm is not frightened like all the other passengers on board the vessel, it sleeps in its

mother’s bosom; it is enough for it that its mother is with it; and it should be enough for the believer to know that Christ is with him… Thy rod and thy staff, by which you govern and rule your flock, the ensigns of your sovereignty and of your gracious care—they comfort me. I will believe that thou reignest still. The rod of Jesse shall still be over me as the sovereign succor of my soul.[5]

5 Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies: thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over.

The good man has his enemies. He would not be like his Lord if he had not. If we were without enemies, we might fear that we were not the friends of God, for the friendship of the world is enmity to God…Thou preparest a table… Nothing is hurried, there is no confusion, no disturbance, the enemy is at the door, and yet God prepares a table, and the Christian sits down and eats as if everything were in perfect peace. Oh! the peace which Jehovah gives to his people, even in the midst of the most trying circumstances!

May we live in the daily enjoyment of this blessing, receiving a fresh anointing for every day’s duties. Every Christian is a priest, but he cannot execute the priestly office without unction, and hence we must go day by day to God the Holy Ghost, that we may have our heads anointed with oil.

He had not only enough, a cup

full, but more than enough, a cup which overflowed. A poor man may say this as well as those in higher circumstances, “What, all this, and Jesus Christ too?”[6]

6 Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.

This is a fact as indisputable as it is encouraging, and therefore a heavenly verily, or “surely” is set as a seal upon it. This sentence may be read,"only goodness and mercy," for there shall be unmingled mercy in our history. These twin guardian angels will always be with me at my back and my beck… Goodness and mercy follow him always—all the days of his life—the black days as well as the bright days, the days of fasting as well as the days of feasting, the dreary days of winter as well as the bright days of summer. Goodness supplies our needs, and mercy blots out our sins. And I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever. “A servant abideth not in the house for ever, but the son abideth ever.” While I am here I will be a child at home with my God; the whole world shall be his house to me; and when I ascend into the upper chamber, I shall not change my company, nor even change the house; I shall only go to dwell in the upper story of the house of the Lord forever. May God grant us grace to dwell in the serene atmosphere of this most blessed Psalm!

ALL THE GLORIES OF MIDDAY ARE ECLIPSED BY THE MARVELS OF SUNSET.