... funny how well loved Spurgeon is ...

[Evmur]

Or Bunyan come to that, the 2 most read preachers and writers since the reformation. And yet both were dyed in the wool Calvinists. Now I have never read Calvin, I decided early on not to, but Spurgeon has been ballast to my vessel for over 40 years. I have read many volumes of his sermons and all his other works.

Yet Calvin is lamblasted ... that is strange. I have serious objections to one or two of his doctrines but they are to me as it were dead flies in the apothecary, other aspects of his theology are truly as ointment poured forth. And Calvinism does seems to have produced a great many sweet christian disciples.

 

[Evmur]

Or Bunyan come to that, the 2 most read preachers and writers since the reformation. And yet both were dyed in the wool Calvinists. Now I have never read Calvin, I decided early on not to, but Spurgeon has been ballast to my vessel for over 40 years. I have read many volumes of his sermons and all his other works.

Yet Calvin is lamblasted ... that is strange. I have serious objections to one or two of his doctrines but they are to me as it were dead flies in the apothecary, other aspects of his theology are truly as ointment poured forth. And Calvinism does seems to have produced a great many sweet christian disciples.

C. H. Spurgeon the belovéd preacher

 

[ResidentAlien]

Here a few of my favorite quotes from Spurgeon:

"The day will come when those who think they can repair a house which has no foundations will see the wisdom in quitting it altogether. All along we have said that to come out from association with questionable doctrines is the only possible solution of a difficulty which, however it may be denied, is not to be trifled with by those who are conscious of its terrible reality."—The Sword and the Trowel, July 1889.

"Complicity with error will take from the best of men the power to enter any successful protest against it. If any body of believers had errorists among them, but were resolute to deal with them in the name of the Lord, all might come right; but confederacies founded upon the principle that all may enter, whatever views they hold, are based upon disloyalty to the truth of God."—The Sword and the Trowel, October 1888.

"My course has been of another kind. As soon as I saw, or thought I saw, that error had become firmly established, I did not deliberate, but quitted the body at once. Since then my one counsel has been, 'Come ye out from among them.' If I have rejoiced in the loyalty to Christ's truth which has been shown in other courses of action, yet I have felt that no protest could be equal to that of distinct separation from known evil."—The Sword and the Trowel, December 1888.

"Constantly we hear of proposals for union, and truly these are welcome where mere technical matters divide true Christians; but what is the use of pretending to create union where there can be none? There is another matter which needs to be thought of as well as union, and that is TRUTH. To part with truth to show charity is to betray our Lord with a kiss. Between those who believe in the eternal verities and those who constantly cast doubt on them there can be no union. One cried of old, 'Is it peace?' And the answer was a sharp and true one. We render it thus—'What hast thou to do with peace while departures from the truth of God are so many?' The first question is, 'Are we one in Christ?' And are we obedient to the truth revealed in the Scriptures? If so, union will necessarily follow: but if not, it is vain to clamour for a confederacy which would only be an agreement to aid and abet each other's errors."—The Sword and the Trowel, February 1887.

"For Christians to be linked in association with ministries who do not preach the gospel of Christ is to incur moral guilt. A Union which can continue irrespective of whether its member churches belong to a common faith is not fulfilling any scriptural function. The preservation of a denominational association when it is powerless to discipline heretics cannot be justified on the grounds of the preservation of 'Christian unity'. . .It is error which breaks the unity of churches, and to remain in a denominational alignment which condones error is to support schism."—The Forgotten Spurgeon, pp. 164-165.

 

[CS1]

Or Bunyan come to that, the 2 most read preachers and writers since the reformation. And yet both were dyed in the wool Calvinists. Now I have never read Calvin, I decided early on not to, but Spurgeon has been ballast to my vessel for over 40 years. I have read many volumes of his sermons and all his other works.

Yet Calvin is lamblasted ... that is strange. I have serious objections to one or two of his doctrines but they are to me as it were dead flies in the apothecary, other aspects of his theology are truly as ointment poured forth. And Calvinism does seems to have produced a great many sweet christian disciples.

John Calvin spoke and taught more on holiness than what those of todays " Calvinist " hold to.

 

[Evmur]

Here a few of my favorite quotes from Spurgeon:

"The day will come when those who think they can repair a house which has no foundations will see the wisdom in quitting it altogether. All along we have said that to come out from association with questionable doctrines is the only possible solution of a difficulty which, however it may be denied, is not to be trifled with by those who are conscious of its terrible reality."—The Sword and the Trowel, July 1889.

"Complicity with error will take from the best of men the power to enter any successful protest against it. If any body of believers had errorists among them, but were resolute to deal with them in the name of the Lord, all might come right; but confederacies founded upon the principle that all may enter, whatever views they hold, are based upon disloyalty to the truth of God."—The Sword and the Trowel, October 1888.

"My course has been of another kind. As soon as I saw, or thought I saw, that error had become firmly established, I did not deliberate, but quitted the body at once. Since then my one counsel has been, 'Come ye out from among them.' If I have rejoiced in the loyalty to Christ's truth which has been shown in other courses of action, yet I have felt that no protest could be equal to that of distinct separation from known evil."—The Sword and the Trowel, December 1888.

"Constantly we hear of proposals for union, and truly these are welcome where mere technical matters divide true Christians; but what is the use of pretending to create union where there can be none? There is another matter which needs to be thought of as well as union, and that is TRUTH. To part with truth to show charity is to betray our Lord with a kiss. Between those who believe in the eternal verities and those who constantly cast doubt on them there can be no union. One cried of old, 'Is it peace?' And the answer was a sharp and true one. We render it thus—'What hast thou to do with peace while departures from the truth of God are so many?' The first question is, 'Are we one in Christ?' And are we obedient to the truth revealed in the Scriptures? If so, union will necessarily follow: but if not, it is vain to clamour for a confederacy which would only be an agreement to aid and abet each other's errors."—The Sword and the Trowel, February 1887.

"For Christians to be linked in association with ministries who do not preach the gospel of Christ is to incur moral guilt. A Union which can continue irrespective of whether its member churches belong to a common faith is not fulfilling any scriptural function. The preservation of a denominational association when it is powerless to discipline heretics cannot be justified on the grounds of the preservation of 'Christian unity'. . .It is error which breaks the unity of churches, and to remain in a denominational alignment which condones error is to support schism."—The Forgotten Spurgeon, pp. 164-165.

Ah the Downgrade controversy, it took his life. But Spurgeon was not taking his stand upon Calvinism but against those who were denying atonement by the cross, the resurrection and other fundamentals. He was fighting a rearguard action against the new enlightenment which was sweeping the world.

Was he right to withdraw from the Baptist Union? I think if he had stayed God would have, was already, vindicating his message and his ministry. I say that not knowing of course what he was getting from the Lord, and he was a man led by the Spirit.. I [I hope] would have stuck by whatever he decided to do but I would advise him not to break but to stay and preach the truth.

 

[Lucy-Pevensie]

I'm not familiar with his work.
Was he a Baptist then? Is this where the Baptist denomination began?

 

[Evmur]

I'm not familiar with his work.
Was he a Baptist then? Is this where the Baptist denomination began?

Lucy I'm shocked, such ignorance

The Bappos have been with us since the 16th century, you know about the great awakening that took place with the Methos in the 18th century through John Wesley. By the 19th century things had calmed down a little, the church had become very cold and formal and among the Puritans or the Free Grace [Calvinists] crowd nothing was stirring.

Young 15 year old Spurgeon was caught in a snowstorm on his way to chapel and must needs turn aside to a tiny Methodist chapel, the regular preacher was prevented by the same snowstorm so one of the elders, an uneducated man stood forth to preach, now Spurgeon was a college boy, brought up among the Puritans but yet unsaved and a very unhappy youth, he was apalled at the preachers poor diction and vocabulary he could hardly string two sentence together. He took as his message Isaiah "Look unto Me ye ends of the earth and be ye saved"

Suddenly he espied young Spurgeon sitting morosely in his pew and lifted up his hands and cried "young man you look very sad LOOK YE that's all you have to do, Look unto Christ hanging on the cross for YOU if you will only LOOK He will make you very glad this morning"

And Spurgeon did look and was wonderfully saved.

He never went back to among the Methodists but joined the Baptists and was soon holding bible meetings among the rural cottagers and word about the boy preacher got around. His church sent him to be interviewed by the principal of a large bible college but was shown into the wrong room so the interview never took place but as he walked down the country lanes home, dejected and disappointed , suddenly a loud voice boomed from the sky "seekest thou great things for thyself? seek them not"

Pretty soon, still only 17 he was called to pastor a church in London with just a few bods in, within weeks it was packed to the rafters and Spurgeon took London by storm. For the next 40 years Spurgeon preached sermons that won souls and savoured mightily of power and good doctrine. Each word was written down, every sermon printed as penny pulpits and MILLIONS of them dispersed throughout the empire and America. These sermons are gathered into volumes ... folks still get saved through them today.

When he went over to Ireland on a preaching toured the Catholics turned out in droves even against the fulminations of their parish priests. Yet Spurgeon was a Calvinist preacher and never tailored his sermons to suit his audience.

Of course he was hated and envied by many, but the people loved him.

When I was newly saved and engaged in an evangelical work among drunks and drug addicts an officer of the Salvation Army pressed a volume of Spurgeon's "All round ministry" into my hands and made me promise to read at least 20 minutes before putting it down.
More than 40 years later I have still not put Spurgeon down.

 

[Lucy-Pevensie]

^ Thank you for the overview. Not one of my areas of study.
Reading every theologan's work & commentary through the modern age of The Church doesn't appeal to me personally.
I have no idea what Methodists or most of the dozens of other denominations do or believe, let alone their histories.
Not that I would never read one of Mr Spurgeon's books, they just haven't been on my radar.


The reason I asked about Baptists is because I have noticed there are a few on this sight who are angry all the time. It makes me wonder what's wrong with them sometimes. Though I don't reckon all Baptists are the same. I was looking into attending a Baptist church for a while because of the location but know very little about them.

 

[Lucy-Pevensie]

^ Spelling! I mean Theologian Not Theologan.
I wish the edit feature didn't time out so quickly.

 

[Deuteronomy]

Here’s a short, well-done documentary on Spurgeon, free right now via the Tubi TV app. It starts with him as a young man, just before he came to saving faith in Christ. Enjoy

https://tubitv.com/video/517834

 

[phil36]

Here’s a short, well-done documentary on Spurgeon, free right now via the Tubi TV app. It starts with him as a young man, just before he came to saving faith in Christ. Enjoy

https://tubitv.com/video/517834

Say's I can't get it in Europe (region)

Whats the name of it it Deuteronomy and I'll check youtube, cheers

 

[Icedaisey]

... the Free Grace [Calvinists] crowd nothing was stirring.
.

"Free Grace" is not part of Calvinism.

 

[Deuteronomy]

Say's I can't get it in Europe (region)

Whats the name of it it Deuteronomy and I'll check youtube, cheers

Hi Phil, well, bummer

The movie is called, Charles Spurgeon: The People's Preacher. It was released in 2010 and it's 70 minutes long, just FYI, and it's a movie blended together with a narrated documentary (on location in England).

It used to stream on Amazon Prime in HD or SD (free for Amazon Prime members), but now you can rent or buy it from them, but in SD only (at least here in the States anyway).

It's also available in DVD and Blu Ray, just FYI.

Hopefully you'll be able to find in on YouTube

God bless you!

~Deut

 

[phil36]

Hi Phil, well, bummer

The movie is called, Charles Spurgeon: The People's Preacher. It was released in 2010 and it's 70 minutes long, just FYI, and it's a movie blended together with a narrated documentary (on location in England).

It used to stream on Amazon Prime in HD or SD (free for Amazon Prime members), but now you can rent or buy it from them, but in SD only (at least here in the States anyway).

It's also available in DVD and Blu Ray, just FYI.

Hopefully you'll be able to find in on YouTube

God bless you!

~Deut

Thanks Deuteronomy, I've found it on youtube

 

[Evmur]

^ Thank you for the overview. Not one of my areas of study.
Reading every theologan's work & commentary through the modern age of The Church doesn't appeal to me personally.
I have no idea what Methodists or most of the dozens of other denominations do or believe, let alone their histories.
Not that I would never read one of Mr Spurgeon's books, they just haven't been on my radar.


The reason I asked about Baptists is because I have noticed there are a few on this sight who are angry all the time. It makes me wonder what's wrong with them sometimes. Though I don't reckon all Baptists are the same. I was looking into attending a Baptist church for a while because of the location but know very little about them.

There is every which kind of Baptist churches nowadays, you seem

^ Spelling! I mean Theologian Not Theologan.
I wish the edit feature didn't time out so quickly.

dang that 5 minute rule

 

[Evmur]

^ Thank you for the overview. Not one of my areas of study.
Reading every theologan's work & commentary through the modern age of The Church doesn't appeal to me personally.
I have no idea what Methodists or most of the dozens of other denominations do or believe, let alone their histories.
Not that I would never read one of Mr Spurgeon's books, they just haven't been on my radar.


The reason I asked about Baptists is because I have noticed there are a few on this sight who are angry all the time. It makes me wonder what's wrong with them sometimes. Though I don't reckon all Baptists are the same. I was looking into attending a Baptist church for a while because of the location but know very little about them.

Hi Lucy, there's every which kind of Baptists nowadays, I think the only thing that holds them together is the doctrine of full immersion, you don't seem to do too badly for doctrines anyway.

They were the first of the dissenters, breaking away from the C of E. American Bappolinos are different esp the Southern variety who are strict fundamentalists.

Methodists are a mess.

I thought you was Charismatic. I am Pentecostal. The reason why Spurgeon is important to me is because he has the theology and doctrines that Pentecostals and Charismatics need so badly. Revelation has moved on since Spurgeon's day but God never changes, if the Charismatics ever got a firm grip on the old theology and applied those doctrine to what God is doing today it would cut out all the nonsense and bad practises that have brought shame on the movement.

These days I love Pastor Joseph Prince.

God bless you.

 

[ResidentAlien]

The reason why Spurgeon is important to me is because he has the theology and doctrines that Pentecostals and Charismatics need so badly.

All the doctrines anyone needs are in the Bible. The reason we have so many conflicting denominations already is because people prefer the commandments of men to the commandments of God.

"For when one says, 'I follow Paul,' and another, 'I follow Apollos,' are you not being merely human?"—1 Corinthians 3:4

"For this people’s heart has grown dull, and with their ears they can barely hear, and their eyes they have closed, lest they should see with their eyes and hear with their ears and understand with their heart and turn, and I would heal them."—Matthew 13:15

 

[presidente]

Or Bunyan come to that, the 2 most read preachers and writers since the reformation. And yet both were dyed in the wool Calvinists. Now I have never read Calvin, I decided early on not to, but Spurgeon has been ballast to my vessel for over 40 years. I have read many volumes of his sermons and all his other works.

Yet Calvin is lamblasted ... that is strange. I have serious objections to one or two of his doctrines but they are to me as it were dead flies in the apothecary, other aspects of his theology are truly as ointment poured forth. And Calvinism does seems to have produced a great many sweet christian disciples.

As far as I know, Spurgeon didn't have anything to do with someone's execution and didn't call an Anabaptist leader a donkey. He was not the influential leader in the theocracy that legislated what type of plates people could use and that refused to allow someone to name their baby 'Claude' because it was not a Biblical name and insisted on 'Abraham' for that baby's name. Calvin was not in control of the whole government there in Geneva, of course, but he was quite influential. And from what I have read, it could get quite totalitarian there.

 

[Blik]

John 13:35
by this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”

It does not say that we will be known by our theology but by our love. In the churches that were closest in time to the teaching of Christ, there was much acceptance of differences in interpretation as long as they agreed on Christ. We have become long on theology and short on love. There is acceptance in love.

Paul would ask us if we were of Luther or Calvin or Sturgeon or Christ.

 

[ResidentAlien]

Paul would ask us if we were of Luther or Calvin or Sturgeon or Christ.

How do you figure?