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
“Lord, if it is You,” Peter replied, “command me to come to You on the water.”
“A FEW reflections will be sure to cross the mind of any thoughtful reader of this narrative. I. THE MIXED CHARACTER OF THE BELIEVER'S EXPERIENCE is here very palpably suggested to us. Peter was undoubtedly a bold believer in Jesus Christ.”
But when he saw the strength of the wind, he was afraid, and beginning to sink, cried out, “Lord, save me!”
“I am going to talk about the characteristics of this prayer in the hope that there may be many who have never yet prayed aright, who may make this their own prayer, tonight, so that from many a person here present this cry may silently…”
Immediately Jesus reached out His hand and took hold of Peter. “You of little faith,” He said, “why did you doubt?”
“OUR Lord did not begin His dealings with Peter in this emergency by asking him that question. He first stretched out His hand and saved him from his peril and then He said to him, "O you of little faith, why did you doubt?"”
Immediately Jesus reached out His hand and took hold of Peter. “You of little faith,” He said, “why did you doubt?”
“OUR Savior did not ask Peter that question for His own information. He could have told Peter much more about his unbelieving heart than Peter knew! The Savior was well acquainted with those springs from which the unbelief of Peter arose.”
Immediately Jesus reached out His hand and took hold of Peter. “You of little faith,” He said, “why did you doubt?”
“BETWEEN the very lowest degree of faith and a state of unbelief there is a great gulf. An immeasurable abyss yawns between the man who has even the smallest faith in Christ and the man who has none.”
Immediately Jesus reached out His hand and took hold of Peter. “You of little faith,” He said, “why did you doubt?”
“THERE is only one word in the original for the phrase, "O you of little faith." The Lord Jesus virtually addresses Peter by the name of "Little-Faith" in one word.”
Leaving that place, Jesus withdrew to the district of Tyre and Sidon.
“WE learn from this chapter, dear Friends, that our Master was tired of battling with hypocrites and formalists and, therefore, withdrew Himself from them.”
But Jesus replied, “It is not right to take the children’s bread and toss it to the dogs.”
“I TAKE the two records of Matthew and Mark that we may have the whole matter before us. May the Holy Spirit bless our meditations. The brightest jewels are often found in the darkest places.”
“Yes, Lord,” she said, “even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their master’s table.”
“DID YOU notice, in the reading of this narrative of the Syro-Phoenician woman, the two facts mentioned in the 21st and 22nd verses? "Then Jesus went from there and departed into the coasts of Tyre and Sidon.”
“O woman,” Jesus answered, “your faith is great! Let it be done for you as you desire.” And her daughter was healed from that very hour.
“I mean to dwell Especially upon those words at the end of the verse, "Be it unto you even as you will," but before we consider them, I should like to remind you again, as I did in the reading, that our Lord admired this…”
When Jesus came to the region of Caesarea Philippi, He questioned His disciples: “Who do people say the Son of Man is?”
“THIS is one of the earliest places in the New Testament in which we find any mention of the Church. Jesus says, in verse eighteen, "I will build My Church."”
Truly I tell you, some who are standing here will not taste death before they see the Son of Man coming in His kingdom.”
“I must confess that I have frequently read this verse with but a vague sense of its profound impressiveness and I have passed it over rapidly because I did not understand it clearly.”
There He was transfigured before them. His face shone like the sun, and His clothes became as white as the light.
“WHILE our Lord Jesus Christ was upon this earth, He was as much Divine as before He left His Father's court in Heaven. He never ceased to be God, nor was the Godhead for a single moment separated from His Humanity.”
While Peter was still speaking, a bright cloud enveloped them, and a voice from the cloud said, “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.
“WHEN our Lord Jesus Christ was transfigured, there came a Voice from the bright, overshadowing cloud, which said, "This is My Beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. Hear you Him."”
And when they looked up, they saw no one except Jesus.
“The last words will suffice us for a text, “Jesus only.” When Peter saw our Lord with Moses and Elias, he exclaimed, “Master, it is good to be here,” as if he implied that it was better to be with Jesus, and Moses, and Elias…”
“O unbelieving and perverse generation!” Jesus replied. “How long must I remain with you? How long must I put up with you? Bring the boy here to Me.”
“OUR real text will be the entire narrative, but as it seems necessary to select some one sentence, we have chosen that before us as the true hinge of the story.”
Afterward the disciples came to Jesus privately and asked, “Why couldn’t we drive it out?”
“I put these two texts together for this reason. Those of you who are acquainted with the Revised Version know that the 21st verse in the 17th chapter of Matthew is left out.”
For where two or three gather together in My name, there am I with them.”
“WE have, in the verses preceding, the text a mention of the first Church Meeting of which I remember to have found mention in the New Testament.”
About the third hour he went out and saw others standing in the marketplace doing nothing.
“No parable teaches all sides of the Truth of God. It is wrong to attempt to make a parable run on all fours—it is intended to convey some one lesson—and if it teaches that, we must not attempt to draw everything else out of it.”
About the eleventh hour he went out and found still others standing around. ‘Why have you been standing here all day long doing nothing?’ he asked.
“WE have come to the end of another year. Better is the end of a year than the beginning thereof. A year is begun with fear and trembling—it closes with joy and thankfulness.”
As Jesus was going up to Jerusalem, He took the twelve disciples aside and said,
“You have this same story in Matthew, Mark and Luke, a little differently told, as would naturally be the case when the information came from three different observers.”
But what do you think? There was a man who had two sons. He went to the first one and said, ‘Son, go and work today in the vineyard.’
“THE father had a right to the services of both his sons, for they were, according to the strict rendering of the word, children, or young men under age. They depended upon him for everything, so they were bound to obey his commands.”
O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, who kills the prophets and stones those sent to her, how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under…
“THIS is not and could not be the language of a mere man. It would be utterly absurd for any man to say that he would have gathered the inhabitants of a city together, "even as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings."”
The servant who had received the two talents also came and said, ‘Master, you entrusted me with two talents. See, I have gained two more.’
“EVERY good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights.” All that men have they must trace to the Great Fountain, the giver of all good. Hast thou talents?”
And throw that worthless servant into the outer darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’
“THERE is a narrow path between indifference and morbid sensibility. Some men seem to feel no holy anxiety—they place their Master's talent in the earth, leave it there and take their pleasure and their ease without a moment's compunction.”