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Voices and influences

Charles Spurgeon

Preached in London for thirty-eight years and spent twenty-one years writing The Treasury of David, which is why this site reads him on the Psalms first.

His schooling is not in this site's record.

Summary

This site quotes Charles Spurgeon 2,849 times across 60 books, and lists 7 works. The place to start is The Treasury of David.

  • Lived 1834 to 1892, British.
  • Quoted here most in Psalms: 1,910 of 2,849.
  • The Treasury of David: Psalm by psalm: his own exposition, notes gathered from older commentators, and short hints for a preacher.
  • Spurgeon preached the five points of Calvinism as the structure of the gospel.
Charles Spurgeon. Painted by Alexander Melville. The file is marked public domain. This site's record does not give the artist's death year, which is what settles the painting's own rights. The file record

Charles Spurgeon

Lived
1834 to 1892
Nation
British
Tradition
Reformed Baptist

5 of 2,849 quotations

Own words

Quoted in full, because Charles Spurgeon died in 1892 and these works are out of copyright. Each citation below names its edition and its year. A citation naming a modernised text means that edition makes its own editorial changes, and that edition's terms are not in this site's record.

“THIS is, no doubt, a literal and accurate account of God's first day's work in the creation of the world, but the first creation is not the subject of this morning's discourse—we would rather direct your minds to the second creation of God.”

The Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit, Sermon No. 660: “Light—Natural And Spiritual” (lightly modernized text, CCEL edition), 1865

The rest of the quotation

Every man who is saved by Divine Grace is a new creation. The great work which Jesus Christ is accomplishing in the world, by the Holy Spirit through the Word, is the making all things new. We believe the old creation to have been typical of the new and we shall so use it.

Genesis 1:1–5 In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. Now the earth was formless and void, and darkness was over the surface of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the surface of the waters. And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. And God saw that the light was good, and He separated the light from the darkness. God called the light “day,” and the darkness He called “night.” And there was evening, and there was morning—the first day. BSB

“They are corrupt. They rot above ground; their heart and life are depraved. And speak wickedly concerning oppression. The reek of the sepulchre rises through their mouths; the nature of the soul is revealed in the speech.”

The Treasury of David, Vol. 3, 1872

The rest of the quotation

They choose oppression as their subject, and they not only defend it, but advocate it, glory in it, and would fain make it the general rule among all nations. "Who are the poor? What are they made for? What, indeed, but to toil and slave that men of education and good family may enjoy themselves?

Psalms 73:8 They mock and speak with malice; with arrogance they threaten oppression. BSB

“Blessed— see how this Book of Psalms opens with a benediction, even as did the famous Sermon of our Lord upon the Mount! The word translated ‘blessed’ is a very expressive one.”

The Treasury of David, Vol. 1, 1869

The rest of the quotation

The original word is plural, and it is a controverted matter whether it is an adjective or a substantive. Hence we may learn the multiplicity of the blessings which shall rest upon the man whom God hath justified, and the perfection and greatness of the blessedness he shall enjoy. We might read it, "Oh, the blessednesses!"

Psalms 1:1–2 Blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked, or set foot on the path of sinners, or sit in the seat of mockers. But his delight is in the Law of the LORD, and on His law he meditates day and night. BSB

“And he shall be like a tree planted—not a wild tree, but ‘a tree planted, ‘ chosen, considered as property, cultivated and secured from the last terrible uprooting, for ‘every plant which my heavenly Father hath not planted, shall be rooted up:’ Matthew 15:13.”

The Treasury of David, Vol. 1, 1869

The rest of the quotation

"By the rivers of water;" so that even if one river should fail, he hath another. The rivers of pardon and the rivers of grace, the rivers of the promise and the rivers of communion with Christ, are never-failing sources of supply.

Psalms 1:3 He is like a tree planted by streams of water, yielding its fruit in season, whose leaf does not wither, and who prospers in all he does. BSB

“They shall stand there to be judged, but not to be acquitted. Fear shall lay hold upon them there; they shall not stand their ground; they shall flee away; they shall not stand in their own defense; for they shall blush and be covered with…”

The Treasury of David, Vol. 1, 1869

The rest of the quotation

eternal contempt. Well may the saints long for heaven, for no evil men shall dwell there, "nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous." All our congregations upon earth are mixed. Every Church hath one devil in it. The tares grow in the same furrows as the wheat.

Psalms 1:5 Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the assembly of the righteous. BSB

Influence, on the record

  • This site quotes Charles Spurgeon 2,849 times across 60 books.

    This site’s own count of what it does with the voice

  • His weekly sermons were printed from 1855 and run to sixty-three volumes. The last volumes were printed after his death.

    The New Park Street Pulpit and The Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit, 1855 to 1917.

  • The Treasury of David took twenty-one years and runs to seven volumes.

    The Treasury of David, 1869 to 1885.

  • John Piper wrote his study of Spurgeon's life as one of three biographies in The Hidden Smile of God.

    John Piper, The Hidden Smile of God, 2001.

The life, in order

  1. 1834Born at Kelvedon in Essex, and raised in part by his grandfather James Spurgeon, an Independent minister.
  2. 1850Converted at fifteen in a snow-bound Primitive Methodist chapel, under the text of Isaiah 45:22.
  3. 1851Preached his first sermon, at sixteen.
  4. 1851Took his first pastorate, at seventeen.
  5. 1853Called to New Park Street Chapel in London at nineteen.
  6. 1855His weekly sermons began to be printed as the New Park Street Pulpit.
  7. 1856Founded the Pastors' College.
  8. 1861The congregation moved into the Metropolitan Tabernacle and the printed sermons took its name.
  9. 1866Founded the Colportage Association.
  10. 1867Founded the Stockwell Orphanage.
  11. 1869 to 1885Wrote The Treasury of David, his commentary on the Psalms.
  12. 1887Resigned from the Baptist Union in October over its drift on inspiration, the atonement and eternal judgment.
  13. 1892Died on 31 January.
The life told as one accountfrom this site's record

Charles Haddon Spurgeon (June 19, 1834 – January 31, 1892) was an English Particular (Reformed) Baptist preacher whose 38-year pastorate ran at New Park Street Chapel, expanded as the Metropolitan Tabernacle (London, 1861). Born in Kelvedon, Essex, raised by his Independent grandfather Rev. James Spurgeon, he was converted at age 15 in a snow-bound Primitive Methodist chapel under the text "Look unto Me, and be ye saved" (Isaiah 45:22). He preached his first sermon at 16, took his first pastorate at 17, and was called to London at 19. His weekly sermons, published from 1855 as the New Park Street Pulpit and after 1861 as the Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit, ran to 63 volumes. He founded the Pastors' College (1856), the Stockwell Orphanage (1867), and the Colportage Association (1866). His final years were marked by the Down-Grade Controversy (1887–1892), in which he resigned from the Baptist Union over its drift on biblical authority and the gospel.

7 works

How to read this voice

Spurgeon is quoted here for the Psalms first and for the gospel second. He preached to a room and then corrected the printer's copy, so the sentences are built to be heard, and a paragraph often turns one idea over three or four ways. Read him for the sentence that lands. For a technical note on the Hebrew he defers to the older commentators he prints beside his own work.

  1. Start here

    The Treasury of David

    Psalms commentary, 1869–1885

    Psalm by psalm: his own exposition, notes gathered from older commentators, and short hints for a preacher. This site quotes it more than any other work of his.

    1,810 quotations on this site

    Search archive.orgSearch the Christian Classics Ethereal Library

  2. The New Park Street / Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit

    sermon series, 1855–1917; final volumes posthumous

    The weekly sermons as they were printed. Search it by text when you want him on one verse.

    1,039 quotations on this site

    Search archive.orgSearch the Christian Classics Ethereal Library

  3. Lectures to My Students

    1875, 1877, 1894 vols

    What he taught the men at his own college about preaching, prayer and pastoral work.

    Not quoted on this site yet

    Search archive.orgSearch the Christian Classics Ethereal Library

  4. A Defense of Calvinism

    essay, 1860s; widely reprinted

    His own account of the doctrine he preached, in his own words.

    Not quoted on this site yet

    Search archive.orgSearch the Christian Classics Ethereal Library

  5. All of Grace

    first edition, 1886

    A short book written for a reader who is not yet a Christian.

    Not quoted on this site yet

    Search archive.orgSearch the Christian Classics Ethereal Library

  6. Morning and Evening

    daily devotional, 1865; revised 1869

    A page for each morning and each evening of the year.

    1 quotation on this site

    Search archive.orgSearch the Christian Classics Ethereal Library

  7. The Down Grade Controversy correspondence and articles

    Sword and Trowel, 1887–1892

    What he wrote in his own magazine during the dispute that ended his years in the Baptist Union.

    Not quoted on this site yet

    Search archive.orgSearch the Christian Classics Ethereal Library

Their whole shelf sits at The Spurgeon Archive (CCEL) and Spurgeon Center.

2,849 quotations across 60 books

Where this voice is quoted

1 Corinthians 1:6The Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit, Sermon No. 2875: “Confirming the Witness of Christ” (lightly modernized text, CCEL edition) (1904)

because our testimony about Christ was confirmed in you.

“IT is not always the most gifted church which is in the most healthy state. A church may have many rich, influential, or learned members—many that have the gift of utterance and understand all sciences—yet that church may be in an unhealthy condition.”

1 Corinthians 1:9The Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit, Sermon No. 2580: “Partnership With Christ” (lightly modernized text, CCEL edition) (1898)

God, who has called you into fellowship with His Son Jesus Christ our Lord, is faithful.

“PAUL is here arguing for the safety, the perseverance and the ultimate perfection of the saints to whom he is writing.”

1 Corinthians 1:18The Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit, Sermon No. 1611: “The Word of the Cross” (lightly modernized text, CCEL edition) (1881)

For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.

“NOTE well that in the 17th verse Paul had renounced the "wisdom of words." He says that he was sent to "preach the Gospel, not with wisdom of words, lest the Cross of Christ should be made of no effect."”

1 Corinthians 1:24The New Park Street Pulpit, Sermon No. 132: “Christ—The Power and Wisdom of God” (lightly modernized text, CCEL edition) (1857)

but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God.

“UNBELIEF toward the gospel of Christ is the most unreasonable thing in all the world, because the reason which the unbeliever gives for his unbelief is fairly met by the character and constitution of the gospel of Christ.”

1 Corinthians 2:2The Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit, Sermon No. 2673: “Christ Crucified” (lightly modernized text, CCEL edition) (1900)

For I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified.

“CORINTH was situated in the midst of a people who admired eloquence and wisdom. This Epistle was written in the age of orators and philosophers.”

1 Corinthians 4:7The New Park Street Pulpit, Sermon No. 262: “Distinguishing Grace” (lightly modernized text, CCEL edition) (1859)

For who makes you so superior? What do you have that you did not receive? And if you did receive it, why do you boast as though you did not?

“OR, AS IT IS in the Greek: “For who distinguisheth thee?” “Who giveth thee distinguishing and discriminating mercy?” “Who maketh thee to differ from another?” Pride is the inherent sin of man, and yet it is of all sins the most foolish.”

1 Corinthians 5:6–8The Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit, Sermon No. 965: “Purging Out the Leaven” (lightly modernized text, CCEL edition) (1870)

Your boasting is not good. Do you not know that a little leaven works through the whole batch of dough?

“To this the best answer is found in the godly, honest, and sober lives of the men who are most zealous for the Gospel of the Grace of God.”

1 Corinthians 6:9–11The Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit, Sermon No. 2661: “A Marvelous Change” (lightly modernized text, CCEL edition) (1900)

Do you not know that the wicked will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who submit…

“THE Gospel is as holy as the Law. The Gospel is full of mercy to sinners, but it shows no mercy to sin. The Gospel speaks most tenderly to the ungodly, but it speaks most sternly to ungodliness.”

1 Corinthians 6:20The Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit, Sermon No. 1554: “Redemption By Price” (lightly modernized text, CCEL edition) (1880)

you were bought at a price. Therefore glorify God with your body.

“ATTACKS have often been made upon the central doctrine of the Gospel, namely, the doctrine of Redemption or Atonement, for it is well-known to be the crux of the Gospel. These onslaughts have, in many instances, been very craftily made.”

1 Corinthians 7:23The Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit, Sermon No. 1163: “Redemption and Its Claims” (lightly modernized text, CCEL edition) (1874)

You were bought at a price; do not become slaves of men.

“THE same words are found in each place, though a different inference is drawn from them. "You are bought with a price."”

1 Corinthians 7:29The Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit, Sermon No. 2861: “'The Time Is Short'” (lightly modernized text, CCEL edition) (1903)

What I am saying, brothers, is that the time is short. From now on those who have wives should live as if they had none;

“THE text does not say that time is short. That would have been a true statement, but compared with eternity, time, at the very longest, is but as a pin's point. But note what the text does say—" The time is short."”

1 Corinthians 9:7The Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit, Sermon No. 3511: “The Battle of Life” (lightly modernized text, CCEL edition) (1916)

Who serves as a soldier at his own expense? Who plants a vineyard and does not eat of its fruit?

“THIS question occurs in the course of an argument. The Apostle was proving that the minister who gives all his time to the preaching of the Word is entitled to a maintenance from those people amongst whom he labours.”

1 Corinthians 9:22The Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit, Sermon No. 1170: “"By All Means, Save Some"” (lightly modernized text, CCEL edition) (1874)

To the weak I became weak, to win the weak. I have become all things to all people so that by all possible means I might save some.

“THE Apostle speaks very broadly and talks about saving men. Some of our extremely orthodox Brothers would say at once, "You save men? How can man do that? The expression is inaccurate in the extreme. Is not salvation of the Lord from first to last?”

1 Corinthians 9:24The New Park Street Pulpit, Sermon No. 198: “The Heavenly Race” (lightly modernized text, CCEL edition) (1858)

Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one receives the prize? Run in such a way as to take the prize.

“WE ARE CONTINUALLY insisting upon it from day to day, that salvation is not of works, but of grace. We lay this down as one of the very first doctrines of the gospel. “Not of works, lest any man should boast.””

1 Corinthians 10:13The Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit, Sermon No. 2603: “Comfort for the Tempted” (lightly modernized text, CCEL edition) (1899)

No temptation has seized you except what is common to man. And God is faithful; He will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear.

“THE children of God are all subject to temptation—some of them are tempted more than others, but I an persuaded that there is not one, except those who are too young to be conscious of evil, who will enter Heaven without having endured some temptation.”

1 Corinthians 11:23–26The Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit, Sermon No. 2638: “The Right Observance of the Lord's Supper” (lightly modernized text, CCEL edition) (1899)

For I received from the Lord what I also passed on to you: The Lord Jesus, on the night He was betrayed, took bread, and when He had given thanks…

“WE have no respect whatever for the ordinances of men in religion. Anything that is only invented by churches, or councils, is nothing whatever to us. We know of two ordinances instituted by the Lord Jesus Christ—the Baptism of Believers and the Lord's Supper.”

1 Corinthians 11:24The New Park Street Pulpit, Sermon No. 2: “The Remembrance of Christ” (lightly modernized text, CCEL edition) (1855)

and when He had given thanks, He broke it and said, “This is My body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of Me.”

“IT SEEMS, then, that Christians may forget Christ. The text implies the possibility of forgetfulness concerning him whom gratitude and affection should constrain them to remember.”

1 Corinthians 11:26The Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit, Sermon No. 2942: “The Objective of the Lord's Supper” (lightly modernized text, CCEL edition) (1905)

For as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until He comes.

“IT seems to me that the Lord's Supper should be received by us often. When the Apostle says, in our text, "As often as you eat this bread, and drink this cup," and our Lord said, in instituting the ordinance, "This do you, as often…”

1 Corinthians 11:26The Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit, Sermon No. 2307: “The Greatest Exhibition of the Age” (lightly modernized text, CCEL edition) (1893)

For as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until He comes.

“FIRST, let me say that the Lord's Supper is nothing to us unless we partake of it as spiritual persons in a spiritual way. We must understand what we are doing in coming to the Communion Table. The mere mechanical celebration will be vanity.”

1 Corinthians 11:26The Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit, Sermon No. 2872: “The Lord's Supper” (lightly modernized text, CCEL edition) (1904)

For as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until He comes.

“This solemn ordinance has been instituted and perpetuated to commemorate the death of our Lord Jesus Christ, but there is no ordinance to commemorate His life.”

1 Corinthians 11:28The Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit, Sermon No. 2647: “Preparation Necessary for the Communion” (lightly modernized text, CCEL edition) (1899)

Each one must examine himself before he eats of the bread and drinks of the cup.

“WE do not hold it right to admit all persons indiscriminately to the Lord's Supper—we believe the Lord's Table is the place of communion—and we would have none there with whom we cannot have true Christian fellowship.”

1 Corinthians 11:28The Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit, Sermon No. 2699: “Examination Before Communion” (lightly modernized text, CCEL edition) (1900)

Each one must examine himself before he eats of the bread and drinks of the cup.

“IT can never be too clearly understood that spiritual ordinances are only for spiritual persons. Baptism and the Lord's Supper belong to Believers and to none but Believers.”

1 Corinthians 15:10The Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit, Sermon No. 2833: “Lessons on Divine Grace” (lightly modernized text, CCEL edition) (1903)

But by the grace of God I am what I am, and His grace to me was not in vain.

“THIS confession, suitable on the lips of Paul, is equally appropriate in the mouth of each one of us who have known and proved the Grace of God.”

1 Corinthians 15:12–19The Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit, Sermon No. 2287: “"If There Is No Resurrection"” (lightly modernized text, CCEL edition) (1892)

But if it is preached that Christ has been raised from the dead, how can some of you say that there is no resurrection of the dead?

“OUR religion is not based upon opinions, but upon facts. We hear persons sometimes saying, "Those are your views, and these are ours." Whatever your "views" may be, is a small matter—what are the facts of the case?”

1 Corinthians 15:19The Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit, Sermon No. 562: “'Alas For Us, If Thou Wert All, and Nought Beyond, O Earth'” (lightly modernized text, CCEL edition) (1864)

If our hope in Christ is for this life alone, we are to be pitied more than all men.

“YOU WILL UNDERSTAND that the apostle is arguing with professedly Christian people, who were dubious about the resurrection of the dead.”

Where this site parts from this voice

Spurgeon preached the five points of Calvinism as the structure of the gospel. He set out his reasons himself in A Defense of Calvinism in the 1860s. This site's tradition is Wesleyan and Pentecostal, and it does not teach unconditional election as he taught it. He preached in 1864 that Christ returns before the millennium and that Israel will be restored, and this site's tradition holds both of those with him. It parts from him on the timing of the rapture. This site's record names no sermon of his that teaches the removal of the church before the tribulation.

Charles Spurgeon, A Defense of Calvinism (1860s), and his sermon of 1864 on Israel's restoration.

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