THERE WAS SOMETHING extremely fascinating about this small sheet of fading notepaper. Here were the actual, original hand-written sermon notes that the great Victorian preacher, C. H. Spurgeon, had used in the pulpit of his illustrious Tabernacle in London. Spurgeon, who preached there to over five thousand, mornings and evenings — without the aid of a P.A. (audio) system! Spurgeon had actually penned the outline of his sermon on this sheet of half-quarto notepaper, that even had his address mimeographed at the top: "Westwood, Beulah Hill, Upper Norwood, 189...".

The sermon was in three parts. The first two parts had eight subdivisions each, and the third had seven! A twenty-three-decker sermon! — and any one section would have been amply sufficient for modern-day sermon-receiving ears!

The notes were given to me by my friend, Dr. Eric W. Hayden, who knew I had a keen interest in C. H. Spurgeon, and I felt strangely urged to do something about them. Suppose I were to memorize the sermon? I had often heard Scripture recited by amateur and professional actors, and also by preachers. But I had never heard a sermon recited in the same way, either by actors or preachers. Suppose a preacher preached a Spurgeon sermon by recitation? I would not imitate the sound of his voice or his actions — I had no idea what they would have been like.

The more I thought about it the more I was challenged, and then put-off by the impossible task. Twelve pages of close type! Surely that was too much? And yet I felt a compunction to have a go — and I committed it all at the very beginning, and all the way through, in prayer.

I had the twelve pages of the sermon photo-copied from the 1890 volume of the Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit, #2173, Little Faith and Great Faith. I kept this photo-copy on me at all times, and at all sorts of odd moments I brought it out and memorized a sentence or two. When I completed the first page, which was really only half-a-page of letterpress, and turned over to the second page, I just wondered if I would ever get to the end of it. Perhaps I had bitten off more than I could chew!

I simply could not spend long, consecutive days on the donkey-work of memorizing. I was a working pastor in a busy inner-London Church, which was the first Church C.H.S. had founded, even before the Tabernacle, and I could only deal with it in my "spare" time. When I sat in a car waiting to see a patient in hospital, I took out the sermon. I had a copy beside my bed, and tried to add an extra line or sentence or two before dropping off. When I waited in the dentist's waiting room, I took out the sermon. And so the task continued.

I then made a discovery that gave me an added impetus. I found that the sermon was delivered by Spurgeon on Sunday morning, November 2nd, 1890, — and that November 2nd, 1980, was Sunday! With this in mind, I tried desperately to finish memorizing the sermon in order to be able to present it in my Church on Sunday morning, November 2nd, 1980 — which I did. The sermon lasted fifty-five minutes, and I also used the same three hymns that Spurgeon originally used ninety years before, and this made the service last an hour and a quarter.

Thinking that I might possibly be able to present the sermon in other churches as well, with my tongue-in-my-cheek I stated that a retiring offering would be taken up towards our church heating fund — which was installed. When the British Broadcasting Corporation got hold of this they announced an interview with "a vicar who was selling a sermon to keep his church warm!" Vicar, indeed! — and selling, indeed! However, the snippet in the broadcast brought in a very interesting mail, including a letter addressed to "The Rev. Spurgeon, Wandsworth" — which safely came to me!

The more I have recited the sermon, more and more I find new and undiscovered gems in it. Truly, Spurgeon must have been a man of God, and "he being death, yet speaketh." The sermon naturally contains one of two localized contemporary references, such as "A threepenny piece is silver, as surely as the crown piece." But the basic teaching on faith is quite undated.

Spurgeon says that little faith is often found where it ought not to be, such as in Peter, and it if often dependent on its surroundings. Little faith could be commended, not because it was little, but because it was faith. The weakest faith is of the same essence as the strongest faith. Peter had little faith, but it was real faith.

However, great faith was much more commendable, and the Canaanitish woman gave an excellent portrayal of it. She was a woman, but she had a faith which put the men to shame. When the Lord said it "was not meet to take the children's bread, and to cast it to dogs," the woman said, No, but dogs have a position in society. "Little dogs are carried by their little masters indoors at dinner time, that they may get a crust or a crumb; and Lord, I will be a dog, and get my crumb. It is only a crumb for Thee to give it, but everything to me to get it." And so she was as happy as if the Lord had given her a promise instead of a rebuff!

Spurgeon closed the sermon with a powerful appeal: "Mother, if thou hadst more faith, thy child would soon be brought to Jesus. Father, if thou hadst more faith, thy boy would not be such a plague to thee, as he now is. O Preacher, if thou hadst more faith, thou wouldst have more converts. Sunday-school teacher, it thou hadst more faith, more children would be brought to the Saviour out of thy class. Lord, increase our faith!"

In his final sentences, Spurgeon declared: "If all the sins that men had committed since the world was made, and time began, were laid upon one poor sinner's head, that sinner would be justified in believing that Christ could take than sin away!"

I have had many requests for printed copies of the sermon, but I don't think it has been published separately... yet! (Pilgrim Publications issued my recited sermon in a white plastic case, along with three other Spurgeon sermons I have narrated) — [available from Pilgrim, see note below].

The discipline of memorizing and reciting the sermon has kept me on my toes, apart from all my normal pastoral duties. But above all, the blessings of imbibing the sermon, so richly grounded in Scripture, has been for me a tremendous uplift — and I hope the hearers have shared it as well.

I am not sure how many present-day sermons would be as equally lasting. There are not too many preachers nowadays with clear-cut twenty-three-decker sermons! But perhaps it we were all to memorize more, not only sermons word-for-word, but especially Scripture, we would be stronger Christians in the faith.

The Psalmist said:  "Thy Word have I hid in my heart..." and "I will not forget Thy Word" (Psalm 119:11, 16). And when our Lord dealt with the devil in the wilderness at the beginning of His ministry, He fought him with Scripture. "My word shall not return unto Me void," said the Lord (Isaiah 55:11).

Many of us have to confess that we find memorizing very hard — I still do! — but perhaps the discipline of memory work would make us stronger Christians.

E-Mail:  Pilgrimpub@aol.com

When I was a young graduate going to my first pastorate, my dear father gave me his only set of C. H. Spurgeon's Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit, the original Passmore and Alabaster edition. Dad's advice was succinct and simple: "Make him your model!"

Though that was 30 years ago, I continue to benefit from that sound advice, and I give the same to my students!

First, Spurgeon was a preacher who COMMUNICATED. His approach was unconventional for his day, when men wrote their sermons in full and then read them from the pulpit. He scribbled his outlines on small sheets or back of an envelope, and then simply came alive in the pulpit, with the truth contained in his outlines. He not only surpassed the preaching skills of his generation, I dare to believe that he has done so for every generation since Paul!

Second, he was SCRIPTURAL. I don't mean that he was merely sound in his teaching, that is evident; I mean that his knowledge of the scriptures is evident in the selected texts of his 63 volumes. Look at the range of scripture he covered. In fact, examine each sentence, and you will find it laden with the phraseology of the Bible. His language was steeped in the terminology of scripture.

Third, he was a THEOLOGIAN. His writings could easily be the text books for any Bible college. His sermon against baptismal regeneration is peerless. His defense of the truth in the Downgrade Controversy not only evidenced a sound knowledge, but further displayed undaunted courage, and gave witness to an unbending conviction. He is a worthy model for theological students today.

Finally, he was PRACTICAL. He addressed the problems and pressures of common people. He was concerned about applied religion and brought God into the streets of Victorian London. He saw its depravation, and then acted to clean it up. His orphanage, alms houses, preacher's school, colportage association and church, with its 66 societies ministering to the needy, testified to his avid concern for applied truth.

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