TODAY — nearly a century after Spurgeon's death — there is more material in print by Charles Haddon Spurgeon than by any other author, living or dead. What was it about the Victorian London orator that enabled him to captivate the minds and hearts of multitudes — then and now?

SPEAKING TO THE MASSES

Charles Spurgeon came to London as a mere lad, and no preacher received more criticism than the 19-year-old "boy preacher," as he was called. Becoming pastor of the historic New Park Street Baptist Church, he found the press virtually at war with him. The Ipswich Express said his sermons were "Redolent of bad taste, vulgar, and theatrical."

Spurgeon replied, "I am perhaps vulgar, but it is not intentional, save that I must and will make the people listen. My firm conviction is that we have had quite enough polite preachers, and many require a change. God has owned me among the most degraded and off-casts. Let others serve their class; these are mine, and to them I must keep."

Spurgeon saw the value of preaching to the common people in their own language and in a way that captivated their interest. He well understood the sophistication of the Established Church and its irrelevance to his own social setting. One editorial cartoon depicted an Anglican rector driving an old stagecoach with two slow horses — named "Church" and "State." Racing ahead, however, is a young preacher with flowing hair, speeding on a locomotive engine. The title of the second cleric's locomotive? "The Spurgeon," of course, likening his preaching to the new steam engines; exciting and risky, but infinitely superior to the old mode of transportation.

Even British evangelicalism tended to be an upper-middle-class institution. With his "vulgar" style, however, Spurgeon spoke to the people of the street. Actually, Spurgeon's church became known as a "church of shopkeepers," but the criticism still mounted. Spurgeon finally said in exasperation, "Scarcely a Baptist minister of standing will own me." But multitudes came to hear him preach.

It would not be fair to say that Spurgeon was the only evangelical preacher who took this approach and was criticized for it. Yet Spurgeon was the most successful in preaching to the common culture. When Spurgeon was 20 years old, he wrote to his future wife, Susannah Thompson, about an open-air-sermon to a multitude: "Yesterday I climbed to the summit of a minister's glory... the Lord was with me, and the profoundest silence was observed; but oh, the closeness — never did mortal man receive a more enthusiastic ovation! I wonder that I am alive! ...Thousands of heads and hands were lifted, and cheer after cheer was given. Surely amid these adulations I can hear the low rumbling of the advancing storm of reproach. But even this I can bear for the Master's sake."

FOCUSING ON CHRIST

Spurgeon once described his approach to preaching by saying, "I take my text and make a bee-line to the cross." He burned with a desire to preach the Good News and see people won to faith in Jesus Christ. Spurgeon declared that "Saving faith is an immediate relation to Christ, accepting, receiving, resting upon Him alone, for justification, sanctification, and eternal life by virtue of the covenant of grace." He fervently urged people to enter into this faith relationship.

Spurgeon was once asked how he could reconcile his stance between Calvinistic theology and his fervent preaching of the gospel. He replied, "I do not try to reconcile friends."

Spurgeon stood on the precarious razor's edge between High Calvinism and Arminianism and preached the Word of God as he understood it. Thus, The World Newspaper reported that "Mr. Spurgeon is nominally a Calvinist." He was rejected by many of the high Calvinistic churches." The pastor of the Surrey Chapel, for example, spent time every Sunday criticizing Spurgeon's previous sermon because it was not Calvinistic enough. At the same time, Spurgeon was certainly not admitted to Arminian circles because he was far too Calvinistic for them.

Why this paradox? Spurgeon preached what he found in the Word of God and was not everly concerned to systematize everything. A reading of just a scattering of his sermons makes it obvious that when Spurgeon took a text, he took it seriously. And he used it to point people to Christ — not to establish or reestablish a formal doctrinal system.

DEVELOPING DRAMATIC GIFTS

Spurgeon was endowed with a beautiful speaking voice — it had melody, depth, and a resonance that could be heard by many thousands of people. Yet he never seemed to be straining.

He also had a dramatic flair and style that was captivating. The manager of London's Drury Lane Theater said, "I would give a large amount of money if I could get Spurgeon on the stage." Not that Spurgeon was superficially theatrical; it was his real self that gave him such a dramatic style in his preaching.

Spurgeon also had an eloquence that gives the impression he labored hours over his smiles, metaphors, and dramatic illustrations. Yet he prepared his Sunday morning sermon Saturday night, and his Sunday night sermon on Sunday afternoon. He would walk into the pulpit with a simple, small outline, sometimes written on the back of an envelope, and from that, extemporaneously pour forth eloquence almost equal to Shakespeare's.

At the same time, it is only fair to say that Spurgeon studied diligently and read avidly. He amassed a personal library of over twelve thousand volumes, and he had a virtually photographic memory to call up his hours of study when he needed them in the pulpit.

BRINGING INNOVATIONS

The question is raised, Was Spurgeon an innovator in his preaching?

Spurgeon broke with tradition and convention; he would not preach stilted sermons. As pointed out he spoke in common language to common people — in a dramatic, eloquent, even humorous way. He painted word pictures.

If there was "newness" about Spurgeon's method, it was that he strove to be a communicator. Spurgeon never forgot that if a preacher fails to communicate — regardless of ability, sincerity, theology or natural gifts — a preacher has failed. So he addressed people where they were and spoke simply to their deepest needs. That is innovation at it's best and would make a preacher effective in any age.

DRAWING ON A DEEP SPIRITUALITY

Foremost of all, Spurgeon was a man of God. The depth and breadth of his spirituality was profound. He quoted medieval mystics as well as John Law, John Wesley, and other spiritual giants of European Christianity. He was devoted to prayer.

When people would walk through the Metropolitan Tabernacle (as New Park Street Church became known), Spurgeon would take them to a basement prayer room where people were always on their knees interceding for the church. Then the pastor would declare, "Here is the powerhouse of this church."

Devoted to the Scriptures, to disciplined prayer, and to godly living, Spurgeon exemplified Christian commitment when he stood in the pulpit. This itself gave power to his preaching.

THE ONE THING HE LACKED

Perhaps it is correct to say that as a preacher, Spurgeon had everything — except good health. He suffered constantly from various ailments and fell into serious depression at times. He had rheumatic gout that eventually took his life at the age of 57.

Yet Spurgeon overcame physical limitations and relentless criticism to be established as the greatest Victorian preacher. He went to New Park Street Baptist Church as a teenager and on his first Sunday preached to eighty people. Yet during his thirty-seven blessed years of ministry in London, the congregation grew to become the largest evangelical church in the world.

When one considers Spurgeon's great heart, biblical exposition of the gospel, cultural relevance, dramatic flair, and eloquence, it's little wonder he took the country by storm.

He preached a relevant gospel in such a way that common people heard him gladly. This is the essence of great preaching, and it was the genius of Charles Haddon Spurgeon.

— Written by Lewis A. Drummond Published by CHRISTIAN HISTORY Issue #29 (c) 1991
The Spurgeon Issue available from Pilgrim Publications — $5.00
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In the sovereign purposes of God, it was not only ordained that the Word of God should be written, and that as such it should be "quick, and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the diving asunder of soul and spirit" [Hebrews 4:12], but that the Word should be preached. One of the greatest preachers of the first century, the Apostle Paul, exhorted Timothy, "Preach the word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine" [2 Timothy 4:2]. In the providence of God men have been gifted to preach the Word with power. Such a man was Charles Haddon Spurgeon.

The secret of Spurgeon's power was, first, the Holy Spirit, and even in the printed page the vibrant, convicting power of the Holy Spirit can be felt. Second, the secret of his power was that he was biblical in his preaching. He cared not for theories and philosophies of men. For him the written Word of God was sufficient authority. Third, his preaching centered in Jesus Christ, and every sermon was intended to exalt Him. Fourth, every sermon was a spiritual conflict, a challenge to Satan, an exposure of sin and a portrait of each human situation as it would be seen the eyes of God.

Hearers of Spurgeon tended to forget that it was Spurgeon who was preaching, that his words were eloquent, that he was speaking with passion and conviction. It was as if God Himself were addressing Himself to the particular spiritual need of the hearer. It is a testimony to the unchanging character of the Word of God that Spurgeon's sermons are just as relevant today as when delivered.

— Walvoord's comments above are from the Jacket Cover for MTP Vol 13, Year 1867

We heartily re-echo the advice of the celebrated German theologian quoted here. During the past forty years and more, this editor has read scores and even hundreds of volumes of theological works and sermons, both ancient and modern, in two languages, of all shades of opinion, liberal as well as conservative, both Roman Catholic and Protestant. From none of them, or even from all of them put together, has he learned as much doctrine or of the art of preaching or received as great spiritual insight, as he has gained from the sermons of Spurgeon, who has well been named the prince of preachers.

This great popular preacher who preached to thousands each week and had many more thousands reading his printed sermons, was unashamedly doctrinal. His messages are replete with the deepest truths of the revealed Word of God: the being of God, election, atonement, the deity of Christ, the trinity, the inspiration and authority of the Word of God, the teaching of Scripture concerning the life to come.

He was one of the greatest popularizers of the Christian pulpit in all ages, yet he never watered down his doctrine in an attempt to make it more palatable to the unthinking masses. He spoke almost as simply as His Master, yet the profoundest truths of Holy Writ are clearly and strongly expounded. There is more theology to be found in Spurgeon than in the greater part of the academical, dry-as-dust theological works that cumber the shelves of specialized libraries but are sealed mysteries to the majority of church-going people. Preachers who would learn tricks of the tools' true play would do well to spend less time with books on the theory and even the mechanics of preaching and give more time listening to the incomparable voice of Charles Haddon Spurgeon as it reverberates through the fifty-six volumes that the Pilgrim Publications is now reproducing.

— Comments above are from the Jacket Cover for MTP Vol 25, Year 1879

Pilgrim Publications had made the greatest contribution of the twentieth century to Christian literature in reprinting Charles Spurgeon's METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE PULPIT.

Charles Haddon Spurgeon has no peer! He was the greatest preacher since the Apostles. He preached the Sovereignty of God in the salvation of sinners, yet pressed upon men their responsibility to seek the Lord. He preached Repentance and Faith as the gifts of God, yet commanded all men to repent and believe the Gospel. He preached the Sacrifice and Obedience of Christ effectual in enabling God to be both "Just and Justifier," yet he tenderly invited sinners to lay hold on the mercy of God in Christ.

Spurgeon did not preach about the gospel — he preached the gospel! He preached Christ! Every sermon contains ruin by the fall, redemption by the blood, and regeneration by the Holy Spirit. His printed sermons are not cold essays, but are as full of life and the Spirit of God as they were when he originally preached them in the Tabernacle. No commentary or book on theology can furnish one with doctrine, Bible interpretation, and practical Godliness quite like Spurgeon's sermons!

I deeply appreciate Spurgeon's sermons, but I also admire his spirit. He had a universal spirit which embraced all believers. His compassion and concern reached beyond his doctrines and his denomination. Orphans, poor people, fellow-preachers, sinners, multitudes from every walk of life will forever praise God for raising up this great prophet.

When my son announced that he felt called to the Gospel ministry, my first gift to him was a set of Spurgeon's sermons. I would recommend that every preacher in the world buy Spurgeon's Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit, even if it meant selling his other books.

— Mahan's comments above are from the Jacket Cover for MTP Vol 29, Year 1883

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