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
As soon as Jesus and His companions had left the synagogue, they went with James and John to the home of Simon and Andrew.
“WE SEE BEFORE US small beginnings and grand endings. One man is called by the voice of Jesus, and then another; the house wherein they dwell is consecrated by the Lord's presence, and by-and-by the whole city is stirred from end to end with the…”
But the man went out and openly began to proclaim and spread the news.
“THE fact as it stands is well worthy of our notice and offers considerable encouragement to us. The multitudes came to hear our Lord and to see His miracles. He could not be hidden—wherever He appeared a congregation soon assembled.”
Jesus looked around at them with anger and sorrow at their hardness of heart. Then He said to the man, “Stretch out your hand.”
“MY TEXT WILL REALLY CONSIST of these words: "He looked round about on them with anger, being grieved for the hardness of their hearts." It is the divine Lord, the pitiful Jesus, the meek and lowly in heart, who is here described as being angry.”
Jerusalem, Idumea, the region beyond the Jordan, and the vicinity of Tyre and Sidon. The large crowd came to Him when they heard what great things He was doing.
“THE opposition of the great ones of the earth did not, after all, hinder the cause of Christ. The Pharisees, who were the leaders of religious thought, combined with the Herodians, who were the court party, to destroy Jesus, but at the very moment when…”
“What is your name?” Jesus asked. “My name is Legion,” he replied, “for we are many.”
“I THINK the text suggests to us something about Satan, something about self and also something about sin and the Savior I. Without any preface, let us at once seek to find in the text SOMETHING ABOUT SATAN.”
And a woman was there who had suffered from bleeding for twelve years.
“BRIEFLY consider this poor woman's case. She was afflicted with a disease of exceedingly long standing which not only wasted her strength and threatened to bring her speedily to the grave, but rendered her, according to the Jewish ceremonial Law, unclean, and therefore unable to…”
Then the woman, knowing what had happened to her, came and fell down before Him trembling in fear, and she told Him the whole truth.
“JESUS was pressing through the throng to the house of Jairus to raise the ruler's dead daughter. But He is so profuse in goodness that He works another miracle while upon the road.”
Immediately Jesus made His disciples get into the boat and go on ahead of Him to Bethsaida, while He dismissed the crowd.
“WE have here a word of comfort given to a shipload of Believers who were where their Lord had sent them.”
for they had not understood about the loaves, but their hearts had been hardened.
“Let us, with deep attention, consider the miracle of the loaves lest we fall into the same evil as that which happened to the disciples in the text.”
He continued: “What comes out of a man, that is what defiles him. For from within the hearts of men come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, greed, wickedness…
“How weary the Savior must have been of the idle prattle of the scribes and Pharisees! They are forever talking about washing hands before meals and washing pots and cups—and He is all the while occupied with the great griefs and sins of men and…”
When I broke the five loaves for the five thousand, how many basketfuls of broken pieces did you collect?” “Twelve,” they answered.
“THE disciples had come on board the vessel and had forgotten to bring bread with them—good men's memories sometimes fail them.”
When they arrived at Bethsaida, some people brought a blind man and begged Jesus to touch him.
“OUR Savior very frequently healed the sick by a touch, for He intended to impress upon us the truth that the infirmities of fallen humanity can only be removed by contact with His own blessed humanity.”
What does it profit a man to gain the whole world, yet forfeit his soul?
“Many men have been made bankrupts through inattention to their books. No man ever loses anything by counting the cost, knowing his own expenditure, and keeping his debtor and creditor pretty closely up; but many men have been ruined by attempts which have been suggested…”
Suddenly, when they looked around, they saw no one with them except Jesus.
“THIS was the last sight the disciples had upon the mountain and it seems to me to have been the best. They saw "Jesus only." Jesus was often with His people.”
“If You can?” echoed Jesus. “All things are possible to him who believes!”
“I BELIEVE THAT OUR OWN Authorized Version conveys to the mind of the reader the sense intended by the Evangelist; it is, however, exceedingly probable that in exact words the Revised Version is nearer to the original.”
“If You can?” echoed Jesus. “All things are possible to him who believes!”
“I MUST take your minds back to the scene in the midst of which Christ uttered these memorable words. Christ had been upon the mountaintop, transfigured in the presence of His three disciples. During His absence the disciples remaining had been put to a nonplus.”
Immediately the boy’s father cried out, “I do believe; help my unbelief!”
“THIS is the case of a man who knew well enough what he wanted and who was full of anxiety to obtain it. Indeed, he was so anxious to obtain it that he prayed most earnestly and most importunately for it.”
Now people were bringing the little children to Jesus for Him to place His hands on them, and the disciples rebuked those who brought them.
“MY attention has been specially directed to this passage by the fact that it has been quoted against me by most of the authors of those sermons and letters which are, by a stretch of imagination, called “replies” to my sermon upon “Baptismal Regeneration.””
Now people were bringing the little children to Jesus for Him to place His hands on them, and the disciples rebuked those who brought them.
“IT must be a very great sin, indeed, to hinder anybody from coming to Christ. He is the only way of salvation from the wrath of God.”
Jesus looked at him, loved him, and said to him, “There is one thing you lack: Go, sell everything you own and give to the poor, and you will have…
“YOUR mind's eye can see that procession yonder. Notice it carefully. At the head of it there walks One whom we rightly call Master and Lord. You may know Him by the prints of the nails in His hands and feet.”
Next, they came to Jericho. And as Jesus and His disciples were leaving Jericho with a large crowd, a blind beggar named Bartimaeus, the son of Timaeus, was sitting beside…
“[Another Sermon by Mr. Spurgeon upon the same text is #266, Volume 5—THE BLIND BEGGAR.] The blind man described in this narrative is a picture of what I earnestly desire that every hearer and reader of my sermons may become.”
“What do you want Me to do for you?” Jesus asked. “Rabboni,” said the blind man, “let me see again.”
“No doubt our Lord's disciples imagined that He was going up to Jerusalem to take unto Himself the Kingdom. They hoped that they would be partakers of that earthly grandeur which they had fondly pictured would glitter around the Person of the Son of David.”
Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours.
“THIS VERSE has something to do with the faith of miracles; but I think it hath far more reference to the miracle of faith. We shall say at any rate, this morning, consider it in that light.”
Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’
“OUR SAVIOUR said, “This is the first and great commandment.” It is “the first” commandment—the first for antiquity, for this is older than even the ten commandments of the written law.”
When Jesus saw that the man had answered wisely, He said, “You are not far from the kingdom of God.” And no one dared to question Him any further.
“‘And when Jesus saw’ [’saw him,’ so it should be] ‘that he answered discreetly, he said unto him, Thou art not far from the kingdom of God.’Mark 12:34. THIS MAN BEGAN with Christ as a foe, and he ended as a friend.”
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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