Voices and influences
Charles Spurgeon
Spurgeon's theology is Particular-Baptist Calvinism unashamedly preached as gospel.
Works on this site: 1855 to 1887.
6 of 2,848 quotations
In their own words
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. 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.
Charles Spurgeon· The Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit, Sermon No. 660: “Light—Natural And Spiritual” (lightly modernized text, CCEL edition), 1865Reformed Baptist
Genesis 1:1–5 In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.
WE know very little about Jabez, except that he was more honorable than his brethren, and that he was called Jabez because his mother bare him with sorrow. It will sometimes happen that where there is the most sorrow in the antecedents, there will be the most pleasure in the sequel. As the furious storm gives place to the clear sunshine, so the night of weeping precedes the morning of joy. Sorrow the harbinger; gladness the prince it ushers in. Cowper says:— “The path of sorrow, and that path alone, Leads to the place where sorrow is unknown.”
Charles Spurgeon· The Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit, Sermon No. 994: “The Prayer of Jabez” (lightly modernized text, CCEL edition), 1871Reformed Baptist
1 Chronicles 4:10 And Jabez called out to the God of Israel, “If only You would bless me and enlarge my territory!
ALL labor is honorable. No man ever needs to be ashamed of an honest calling. Whether a potter or a gardener, or whatever else his occupation may be, the workman need never blush at the craft or toil by which he earns his honest wage. "In the sweat of your face shall you eat bread," belongs to us all. The sluggard may well be ashamed of his sloth, but not the diligent man of his industry. It is quite certain that the Word of God does not disparage the most humble calling.
Charles Spurgeon· The Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit, Sermon No. 1400: “With the King for His Work!” (lightly modernized text, CCEL edition), 1877Reformed Baptist
1 Chronicles 4:23 These were the potters who lived at Netaim and Gederah. They lived there in the service of the king.
THE Temple was not to be built according to the designs of David, or Solomon, or any other man. It was to be built according to a pattern which God, Himself, had formed. In the things of God we are not left to follow our own judgments and devices—we are to look to the Law and to the Testimony for our instructions. To God's Word we must always come for our orders. What God has commanded is binding upon us in His Church. What He has not commanded, we may safely leave undone.
Charles Spurgeon· The Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit, Sermon No. 2280: “God's Handwriting Upon David” (lightly modernized text, CCEL edition), 1892Reformed Baptist
1 Chronicles 28:19 “All this,” said David, “all the details of this plan, the LORD has made clear to me in writing by His hand upon me.”
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. Such was the case with the church at Corinth.
Charles Spurgeon· The Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit, Sermon No. 2875: “Confirming the Witness of Christ” (lightly modernized text, CCEL edition), 1904Reformed Baptist
1 Corinthians 1:6 because our testimony about Christ was confirmed in you.
PAUL is here arguing for the safety, the perseverance and the ultimate perfection of the saints to whom he is writing. He thanks God for what He has done for them and is assured that He will do yet more—that He will certainly confirm them unto the end—that they may be blameless in the day of Jesus Christ. The Apostle bases his argument upon this Truth of God—"God is faithful, by whom you were called into the fellowship of His Son Jesus Christ our Lord."
Charles Spurgeon· The Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit, Sermon No. 2580: “Partnership With Christ” (lightly modernized text, CCEL edition), 1898Reformed Baptist
1 Corinthians 1:9 God, who has called you into fellowship with His Son Jesus Christ our Lord, is faithful.
About this voice
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
What this site reads them for
| The work | Year | Quoted here |
|---|---|---|
| The Treasury of DavidThe standard PD evangelical Psalms commentary; explicitly named in OPERATING_RULES §3 as a MannaFest ingestion-tier-1 source. 21 years of weekly Psalm-by-Psalm work. | 1869 | 1,810 quotations |
| The New Park Street / Metropolitan Tabernacle PulpitThe largest single-author sermon corpus in Christian history. The primary source for any Spurgeon position on any topic. | 1855 | Not quoted here yet |
| Lectures to My StudentsSpurgeon's instruction to his Pastors' College — the standard 19th-c. handbook on evangelical preaching, prayer, and pastoral life. | 1875 | Not quoted here yet |
| A Defense of CalvinismSpurgeon's own articulation of his Calvinism — "I have my own opinion that there is no such thing as preaching Christ and Him crucified, unless we preach what nowadays is called Calvinism." | 1860 | Not quoted here yet |
| All of GraceSpurgeon's most-distributed evangelistic work; a presentation of the gospel of grace for the unconverted reader. | 1886 | Not quoted here yet |
| Morning and EveningThe standard Spurgeon daily devotional, in continuous print since publication. | 1865 | Not quoted here yet |
| The Down Grade Controversy correspondence and articlesSpurgeon's defense of biblical authority, penal substitution, and eternal judgment against the Baptist Union's emerging modernism. | 1887 | Not quoted here yet |
Where to find them
- The Spurgeon Archive (CCEL)
- Spurgeon Center
- The Treasury of David
- The Treasury of David
- The New Park Street / Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit
- The New Park Street / Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit
- Lectures to My Students
- Lectures to My Students
- A Defense of Calvinism
- A Defense of Calvinism
- All of Grace
- All of Grace
- Morning and Evening
- Morning and Evening
- The Down Grade Controversy correspondence and articles
- The Down Grade Controversy correspondence and articles
2,848 quotations across 60 books
Where this voice is quoted
“No, my lord,” Hannah replied. “I am a woman oppressed in spirit.
“The special cause of Hannah's sorrow arose from the institution of polygamy, which, although it was tolerated under the old Law, is always exhibited to us in practical action as a most fruitful source of sorrow and sin.”
Then the LORD called to Samuel, and he answered, “Here I am.”
“SAMUEL was a model child. He was the son of a prayerful mother. Hannah is one of the most notable pietists mentioned in the Scriptures.”
“Go and lie down,” he said to Samuel, “and if He calls you, say, ‘Speak, LORD, for Your servant is listening.’” So Samuel went and lay down in his place.
“IN the days of Eli the Word of the Lord was precious and there was no open vision. It was well, when the Word did come, that one chosen individual had the hearing ear to receive it and the obedient heart to perform it.”
Then the LORD came and stood there, calling as before, “Samuel! Samuel!” And Samuel answered, “Speak, for Your servant is listening.”
“The child Samuel was favored above all the family in which he dwelt. The Lord did not speak by night to Eli, or to any of Eli's sons.”
“What was the message He gave you?” Eli asked. “Do not hide it from me.
“THE Lord would not speak directly to Eli, although he was the High Priest. In ordinary circumstances it would have been so, but Eli had grieved the Lord, and thus had lost his honorable standing.”
When the troops returned to the camp, the elders of Israel asked, “Why has the LORD brought defeat on us before the Philistines today?
“THESE MEN made a great mistake: what they wanted was the Lord in their midst; whereas they imagined that the symbol of God’s presence, the ark of the covenant, would be amply sufficient to bestow upon them the assistance which they required in the day…”
carried it into the temple of Dagon, and set it beside his statue.
“The Ark of the Lord was captured by the Philistines though it was guarded by all the men of arms that Israel could muster for the battle.”
As they were going down to the edge of the city, Samuel said to Saul, “Tell the servant to go on ahead of us, but you stay for a while…
“THIS was Samuel's third interview with this goodly young man. He had spoken with him and entertained him in his parlor, giving him the place of honor.”
So again they inquired of the LORD, “Has the man come here yet?” And the LORD replied, “Behold, he has hidden himself among the baggage.”
“SAUL seems to have known that he was the elect person, having already been secretly anointed by Samuel and, therefore, while the voting was going on and while the lots were being cast, he hid himself.”
As for me, far be it from me that I should sin against the LORD by ceasing to pray for you.
“It is a very great privilege to be permitted to pray for our fellow men. Prayer in each man's case must necessarily begin with personal petition, for until the man is, himself, accepted with God, he cannot act as an intercessor for others.”
This is what the LORD of Hosts says: ‘I witnessed what the Amalekites did to the Israelites when they ambushed them on their way up from Egypt.
“SAUL had been commanded to utterly slay all the Amalekites and their cattle. Instead of doing so he preserved the king and suffered his people to take the best of the oxen and of the sheep.”
Your servant has killed lions and bears; this uncircumcised Philistine will be like one of them, for he has defied the armies of the living God.”
“DAVID had lived with God. Throughout many a solitary day he had kept his father's flock among the lone hills of Judah and had worshipped the Unseen but Ever-Present Lord.”
Your servant has killed lions and bears; this uncircumcised Philistine will be like one of them, for he has defied the armies of the living God.”
“WE have all thought a great deal of the courage of David in meeting giant Goliath, but probably we have not given him credit for his conduct in a previous contest.”
But David again vowed, “Your father knows very well that I have found favor in your eyes, and he has said, ‘Jonathan must not know of this, or he will…
“THIS was David's description of his own condition. King Saul was seeking to destroy him. The bitter malice of that king would not be satisfied with anything short of the blood of his rival. Jonathan did not know this.”
So David left Gath and took refuge in the cave of Adullam. When his brothers and the rest of his father’s household heard about it, they went down to him…
“DAVID in the caverns of Adullam is a type of our Lord Jesus Christ despised and rejected among the sons of men. Christ is the Lord's Anointed, but men perceive not the anointing.”
When David came to the two hundred men who had been too exhausted to follow him from the Brook of Besor, they came out to meet him and the troops…
“THOSE who associate themselves with a leader must share his fortunes. Six hundred men had left their abodes in Judea. Unable to endure the tyranny of Saul, they had linked themselves with David and made him to be a captain over them.”