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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

John 1:11The Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit, Sermon No. 1055: “Ingratitude of Man” (lightly modernized text, CCEL edition) (1872)

He came to His own, and His own did not receive Him.

“I WOULD very frankly confess at the outset that I am not about to preach from the words of this text and that I have selected it solely because it contains an epitome of man's behavior towards the Savior.”

John 1:16The Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit, Sermon No. 415: “The Fullness Of Christ—Received!” (lightly modernized text, CCEL edition) (1861)

From His fullness we have all received grace upon grace.

“There is a fullness of divine Providence in His plea, for "He is able to save to the uttermost them that come unto God by Him; seeing He ever lives to make intercession for them."”

John 1:16The Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit, Sermon No. 858: “The Fullness of Jesus the Treasury of Saints” (lightly modernized text, CCEL edition) (1869)

From His fullness we have all received grace upon grace.

“THESE are not words spoken by John the Baptist, as a cursory reader might imagine, but they were written by John the Evangelist. The verse preceding is a paragraph cast into the midst of the Gospel, causing a temporary break.”

John 1:39The Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit, Sermon No. 633: “Two Loving Invitations” (lightly modernized text, CCEL edition) (1865)

“Come and see,” He replied. So they went and saw where He was staying, and spent that day with Him. It was about the tenth hour.

“THE one text is in the beginning and the other at the end of John's Gospel. There is a mystery here. Here is typified a growth which it were well for us to understand.”

John 1:50–51The Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit, Sermon No. 1478: “Greater Things Yet Who Shall See Them?” (lightly modernized text, CCEL edition) (1879)

Jesus said to him, “Do you believe just because I told you I saw you under the fig tree? You will see greater things than these.”

“WE cannot help making a few remarks upon the narrative before we proceed to the distinct subject of discourse. Certain catch words are exceedingly worthy of notice since they are abundantly full of instruction.”

John 2:9–10The New Park Street Pulpit, Sermon No. 225: “Satan's Banquet” (lightly modernized text, CCEL edition) (1858)

and the master of the banquet tasted the water that had been turned into wine.

“THE governor of the feast said more than he intended to say, or rather, there is more truth in what he said than he himself imagined.”

John 2:11The Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit, Sermon No. 2155: “The Beginning of Miracles Which Jesus Did” (lightly modernized text, CCEL edition) (1890)

Jesus performed this, the first of His signs, at Cana in Galilee. He thus revealed His glory, and His disciples believed in Him.

“AT this time I shall not consider the relation of this miracle to total abstinence. The wine which Jesus made was good wine and it was made of water—we are not likely to meet with anything of the kind in this country where the wine…”

John 3:5The Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit, Sermon No. 3053: “Jesus Christ's Idiom” (lightly modernized text, CCEL edition) (1907)

Jesus answered, “Truly, truly, I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless he is born of water and the Spirit.

“THIS expression, "Verily, verily," seems to me to have been the peculiar idiom of our Lord Jesus Christ. He has absolutely forbidden His people ever to take an oath.”

John 3:33The Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit, Sermon No. 2158: “Christ's Testimony Received” (lightly modernized text, CCEL edition) (1890)

Whoever accepts His testimony has certified that God is truthful.

“IN opening this discourse I would call your attention to the different statistics given by John's disciples and by John himself. In the 26th verse, the disciples say, "All men come to Him"—that is their judgment of how the ministry of Jesus was succeeding.”

John 4:10The Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit, Sermon No. 782: “Saving Knowledge” (lightly modernized text, CCEL edition) (1867)

Jesus answered, “If you knew the gift of God and who is asking you for a drink, you would have asked Him, and He would have given you living water.”

“THE matter will turn, this morning, upon those few words, "If you knew the gift of God." The woman of Samaria, who was met by our Lord at the well, was an object of electing love but she was not yet regenerated.”

John 4:14The Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit, Sermon No. 864: “Life's Ever-Springing Well” (lightly modernized text, CCEL edition) (1869)

But whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give him will become in him a fount of water springing up to eternal life.”

“YOU have been busy all the week with external things. You have had to deal with the questions, "What shall we eat and what shall we drink and with what shall we be clothed?"”

John 4:23–24The Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit, Sermon No. 695: “The Axe at the Root—A Testimony Against Puseyite Idolatry” (lightly modernized text, CCEL edition) (1866)

But a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and in truth, for the Father is seeking such as these…

“THE WOMAN’S CONSCIENCE had been aroused by Christ’s declaration of her sin. He was touching upon matters of the most vital importance, and her depraved heart naturally shrunk from the lancet, From the truth which was becoming inconveniently personal she flew to that natural resort…”

John 4:27–30The Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit, Sermon No. 1678: “The Samaritan Woman and Her Mission” (lightly modernized text, CCEL edition) (1882)

Just then His disciples returned and were surprised that He was speaking with a woman. But no one asked Him, “What do You want from her?”

“Behold our Lord and Master with divinely skillful art seeking after a single soul! We must have large Congregations or we are disinclined for soul-winning.”

John 4:31–38The Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit, Sermon No. 1901: “Mysterious Meat” (lightly modernized text, CCEL edition) (1886)

Meanwhile the disciples urged Him, “Rabbi, eat something.” But He told them, “I have food to eat that you know nothing about.”

“THE disciples had gone away into the city to buy meat and for this they cannot be censured. It was necessary that food should be provided and it naturally fell to their lot to perform that duty.”

John 4:34The New Park Street Pulpit, Sermon No. 302: “Jesus About His Father's Business” (lightly modernized text, CCEL edition) (1860)

Jesus explained, “My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me and to finish His work.

“IT IS PECULIARLY PLEASING to the Christian to observe the interest which God the Father takes in the work of salvation.”

John 4:35The Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit, Sermon No. 706: “Fields White For Harvest” (lightly modernized text, CCEL edition) (1866)

Do you not say, ‘There are still four months until the harvest’? I tell you, lift up your eyes and look at the fields, for they are ripe for harvest.

“MANY unbelieving Christians have a very large stock of reasons for not expecting to see many conversions. They suppose that any present manifestation of the Divine power in connection with the Truth of God is not to be expected.”

John 5:9The Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit, Sermon No. 2568: “Sabbath-work” (lightly modernized text, CCEL edition) (1898)

Immediately the man was made well, and he picked up his mat and began to walk. Now this happened on the Sabbath day,

“OUR Divine Master healed men every day of the week. From the first day even to the close of the seventh day, He went about doing good and healing all manner of diseases. The healing virtue did not flow from Him occasionally, but perpetually.”

John 5:24The Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit, Sermon No. 1642: “"Verily, Verily"” (lightly modernized text, CCEL edition) (1882)

Truly, truly, I tell you, whoever hears My word and believes Him who sent Me has eternal life and will not come under judgment.

“THE words "Verily, verily," as they were solemnly used by our Divine Lord, indicate an utterance of special importance. If Jesus says, "Verily, verily," there is something coming to which we should attend with all our hearts!”

John 5:28The Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit, Sermon No. 896: “The Coming Resurrection” (lightly modernized text, CCEL edition) (1869)

Do not be amazed at this, for the hour is coming when all who are in their graves will hear His voice

“THE doctrine of the Resurrection of the dead is peculiarly a Christian belief. With natural reason, assisted by some little light lingering in tradition, or borrowed from the Jews, a few philosophers spelled out the immortality of the soul.”

John 5:40The New Park Street Pulpit, Sermon No. 52: “Free Will—A Slave” (lightly modernized text, CCEL edition) (1855)

yet you refuse to come to Me to have life.

“This is one of the great guns of the Arminians, mounted upon the top of their walls, and often discharged with terrible noise against the poor Christians called Calvinists.”

John 6:6The Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit, Sermon No. 1605: “Jesus Knew What He Would Do” (lightly modernized text, CCEL edition) (1881)

But He was asking this to test him, for He knew what He was about to do.

“OBSERVE, dear Friends, how careful the Holy Spirit is that we should not make a mistake about our Lord Jesus Christ.”

John 6:11The Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit, Sermon No. 2216: “The Lad's Loaves in the Lord's Hands” (lightly modernized text, CCEL edition) (1891)

Then Jesus took the loaves and the fish, gave thanks, and distributed to those who were seated as much as they wanted.

“Look, there are the people! Five thousand of them, as hungry as hunters, and they all need to have food given to them, for they cannot, any of them, travel to buy it! And here is the provision!”

John 6:17The Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit, Sermon No. 2945: “Night-and Jesus Not There!” (lightly modernized text, CCEL edition) (1905)

got into a boat, and started across the sea to Capernaum. It was already dark, and Jesus had not yet gone out to them.

“CHRIST'S disciples, when they joined Him, had some very happy times with Him—and they had just had a very grand day in feeding the multitude. I wish I had been there to help in the feeding of 5,000 men.”

John 6:24The Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit, Sermon No. 947: “Seeking For Jesus” (lightly modernized text, CCEL edition) (1870)

So when the crowd saw that neither Jesus nor His disciples were there, they got into the boats and went to Capernaum to look for Him.

“THE persons who are here described as seeking for Jesus were looking after Him from a very mean and selfish motive—not because of the gracious words which He spoke, nor to render Him thanks for benefits received at His hands— but merely because they had…”

John 6:29The Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit, Sermon No. 1521: “A Plain Answer to an Important Enquiry” (lightly modernized text, CCEL edition) (1880)

Jesus replied, “The work of God is this: to believe in the One He has sent.”

“NOTICE the connection or you will miss the meaning of the words, for, at first sight it looks as if our Savior taught us that it is the work of God for us to believe on Him.”

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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