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
- 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 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 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 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 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 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
- 1834Born at Kelvedon in Essex, and raised in part by his grandfather James Spurgeon, an Independent minister.
- 1850Converted at fifteen in a snow-bound Primitive Methodist chapel, under the text of Isaiah 45:22.
- 1851Preached his first sermon, at sixteen.
- 1851Took his first pastorate, at seventeen.
- 1853Called to New Park Street Chapel in London at nineteen.
- 1855His weekly sermons began to be printed as the New Park Street Pulpit.
- 1856Founded the Pastors' College.
- 1861The congregation moved into the Metropolitan Tabernacle and the printed sermons took its name.
- 1866Founded the Colportage Association.
- 1867Founded the Stockwell Orphanage.
- 1869 to 1885Wrote The Treasury of David, his commentary on the Psalms.
- 1887Resigned from the Baptist Union in October over its drift on inspiration, the atonement and eternal judgment.
- 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.
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels, now crowned with glory and honor because He suffered death, so that by the grace of God…
“THE Apostle, in this verse, does not claim to have seen the Lord in the flesh, although he boasts in another passage that he has done so, and asserts it as one of the proofs of his Apostleship.”
In bringing many sons to glory, it was fitting for God, for whom and through whom all things exist, to make the author of their salvation perfect through suffering.
“OBSERVE, dear Friends, how glorious God is. The description given here by the Apostle contains but few words, and those nearly all little ones, but how full of meaning they are! "Him, for whom are all things, and by whom are all things."”
and free those who all their lives were held in slavery by their fear of death.
“IT is a very natural thing that man should fear to die, for man was not originally created to die.”
Because He Himself suffered when He was tempted, He is able to help those who are being tempted.
“WE are told by the Apostle in the fifth chapter that one special requisite in a High Priest was that he have compassion upon men.”
Therefore, as the Holy Spirit says: “Today, if you hear His voice,
“Therefore (as the Holy Spirit says) "today if you will hear His voice, harden not your hearts." Hebrews 3:7. THE Holy Spirit says, "Today." There is a great talk about yesterday.”
See to it, brothers, that none of you has a wicked heart of unbelief that turns away from the living God.
“THIS message is not addressed to strangers far away, but to "brethren." Paul wrote it to the Hebrews, who were his brethren according to the flesh. It was kind of him to call them by that name.”
But exhort one another daily, as long as it is called today, so that none of you may be hardened by sin’s deceitfulness.
“THE children of Israel, in their coming out of Egypt and in their forty years' sojourn in the wilderness, represented the visible Church of the living God—not the secret and elect body of the redeemed—but the professing company of the outward Church.”
But exhort one another daily, as long as it is called today, so that none of you may be hardened by sin’s deceitfulness.
“SIN is the greatest evil in the universe. It is the parent of all other ills. All manner of evils draw their bitterness from this fountain of wormwood and gall.”
We have come to share in Christ if we hold firmly to the end the assurance we had at first.
“'For we are made partakers of Christ, if we hold the beginning of our confidence steadfast unto the end.''Hebrews 3:14. HOW IS IT POSSIBLE for the preacher to say too much about faith, or to extol this grace too highly!”
Now we who have believed enter that rest. As for the others, it is just as God has said: “So I swore on oath in My anger, ‘They shall never…
“[Other Sermons by Mr. Spurgeon upon the same text are Sermons #866, Volume 15—REST and #2090, Volume 35— A DELICIOUS EXPERIENCE.] THE text does not say that we who have believed shall enter into rest.”
For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who was tempted in every way that we are, yet…
“BELOVED, we have a High Priest. All that Israel had under the Law we still retain, only we have the substance of which they had only the shadow. "We have an Altar, of which they have no right to eat which serve the tabernacle."”
Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.
“THESE words are found embedded in that gracious verse, “Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need”; they are a gem in a golden setting.”
Thus by two unchangeable things in which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have fled to take hold of the hope set before us may be strongly…
“WHEN we read such a choice verse as this we are apt, at once, to conclude that it "belongs to them that are of full age, even to those who by reason of use have had their senses exercised to discern both good and evil."”
where Jesus our forerunner has entered on our behalf. He has become a high priest forever in the order of Melchizedek.
“THE Jewish high priest went within the veil once a year and represented the people there, but he was never their forerunner, for no one followed him into the Most Holy Place.”
Otherwise, Christ would have had to suffer repeatedly since the foundation of the world.
“WHEN the old dispensation was becoming worn out, and like a vesture ready to be laid aside. When the end of the typical twilight had come, then Jesus Christ came forth from the Father and brought the dawning with Him.”
Just as man is appointed to die once, and after that to face judgment, so also Christ was offered once to bear the sins of many; and He will appear…
“We must begin by noticing the parallel which the Apostle here draws. The words "as" and "so" suggest a comparison between two Truths of God, the correspondence of which he designed to set forth.”
Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the Most Holy Place by the blood of Jesus, by the new and living way opened for us through the curtain of…
“Jesus, when he had cried again with a loud voice, yielded up the ghost. And, behold, the veil of the temple was rent in twain from the top to the bottom’Matthew 27:50-51.”
Let us hold resolutely to the hope we profess, for He who promised is faithful.
“THE Apostle is drawing certain inferences from the Covenant of Grace upon which he has been enlarging. He shows that God has made a Covenant with His people by which they are effectually preserved.”
So do not throw away your confidence; it holds a great reward.
“THE early Christians had to suffer for their faith. They were exposed to great ridicule and enmity. They were, indeed, the byword, the laughingstock and the derision of all mankind.”
But My righteous one will live by faith; and if he shrinks back, I will take no pleasure in him.”
“SEE here the germ of the Christian's life! See, too, how it blooms, blossoms and bears! But observe it is not said the just shall live for his faith, or because of the merit of his believing in God.”
And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who approaches Him must believe that He exists and that He rewards those who earnestly seek Him.
“There are some men who have a kind of faith, and these are, perhaps, in a more dangerous condition than those who have none at all because they are apt to deceive themselves and fancy that they are in a state of Grace, whereas they…”
And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who approaches Him must believe that He exists and that He rewards those who earnestly seek Him.
“THE Apostle had put Enoch down among the heroes of faith and, to prove that Enoch was a man of faith, he says, "Before his translation he had this testimony, that he pleased God."”
By faith Noah, when warned about things not yet seen, in godly fear built an ark to save his family.
“THE APOSTLE COULD NOT AVOID mentioning Noah; for in him faith shone forth eminently. He has placed him in due order of time after Abel and Enoch; but he had also another reason for the arrangement.”
By faith Abraham, when called to go to a place he would later receive as his inheritance, obeyed and went, without knowing where he was going.
“ONE IS STRUCK with the practical character of this verse. Abraham was called, and he obeyed. There is no hint of hesitation, parleying, or delay; when he was called to go out, he went out.”
All these people died in faith, without having received the things they were promised. However, they saw them and welcomed them from afar.
“Believers are a class by themselves, even when they die. It is idle to think that we can mark out a spot in the cemetery where none but saints shall sleep, but yet there is a truth at the bottom of that folly.”
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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