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The Banner of Truth Trust (1978)
Description
This book seeks to throw light on the reasons which have given rise to the superficial image of Spurgeon as a genial Victorian pulpiteer, a kind of grandfather of modern evangelicalism. Even before his death in 1892 newspapers and church leaders disputed over the features of his life which entitled him to fame. Not his 'narrow creed' but his 'genuine loving character' was most worthy of remembrance said one periodical, echoing the general view. When Joseph Parker contrasted the hard Calvinism preached at Spurgeon's Tabernacle with the praiseworthy Christianity exemplified in his orphanage, The Baptist protested that the man about whom Parker wrote 'is not the Spurgeon of history'. But the distortion continued and Spurgeon forecast how the position he held might fare in years to come: 'I am quite willing to be eaten by dogs for the next fifty years but the more distant future shall vindicate me'. This book traces the main lines of Spurgeon's spiritual thought in connection with the three great controversies in his ministry-the first was his stand against the diluted gospel fashionable in the London to which the young preacher came in the 1850's; the second, the famous 'Baptismal Regeneration' debate of 1864; lastly, the lacerating Down-Grade controversy of 1887-1891 when Spurgeon sought to awaken Christians to the danger of the Church 'being buried beneath the boiling mud-showers of modern heresy'. Book jacket.… (more)
ISBN
0851511562 / 9780851511566
User reviews
LibraryThing member stephendr
Unexpectedly good. I have read a number of Murray's books now, but I somehow thought this one would somehow lose my interest. On the contary, I couldn't put it down. This is not just the story of Spurgeon or Spurgeon's theology. This is a book rich that reveals Spurgeon as a man of God whose
I was challenged and moved by this book in a way that few other books have managed. I heartily recommend it to all, and especially those who feel that the doctrines of Calvinism are dry and unspiritual. Read this book!
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ministry was endued with power. Whatever else his gifts, Spurgeon was a man anointed and filled with Holy Spirit; and it is this that comes through so wonderfully in Murray's book... that Spurgeon was indeed Calvinistic, and that Spurgeon was a firm and staunch defender of the truth, but that Spurgeon was especially a man like David with a heart after God. I was challenged and moved by this book in a way that few other books have managed. I heartily recommend it to all, and especially those who feel that the doctrines of Calvinism are dry and unspiritual. Read this book!
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LibraryThing member trbixby
“Charles Spurgeon forgotten?!! Why, everybody quotes him!” True. But some of the most well known names, belong to some of the most forgotten people. Iain Murray contends this is true of Spurgeon: though a household name, he is a forgotten man. Murray’s makes it his ambition to spare Spurgeon
After portraying Spurgeon in his role as preacher¾his emphasis on prayer, his dependence on the Holy Spirit, his willingness to accept the slander of other men in the ministry¾Murray surveys three controversies that marked Spurgeon’s career.
The first controversy: Arminianism vs. Calvinism.
Spurgeon was unashamedly a Calvinist. But how did that shape his evangelism? Murray explains that Spurgeon never separated the need to believe from the need for regeneration, which was solely the work of God. Thus, while the sinner’s responsibility was impressed upon him, the sinner’s utter inability was equally magnified. Such preaching portrayed salvation to the sinner, not as “something I must do,” but as “something God must do to me.” The sinner is left unquestionably guilty, yet with no hope but to cry out for mercy to God.
Murray eloquently shows how Arminianism instructs the sinner that he must begin the work of conversion by becoming willing, and then God will finish the work. A sinner who has made a “firm and willing decision for Christ” is immediately exhorted, ipso facto, to believe that God has saved him. Murray opines, “A teaching which promises that God’s will must follow our will may have the effect of causing men to trust in a delusion¾an experience which is not salvation at all. ... But Arminianism, instead of cautioning men against this danger, inevitably encourages it, for it throws men, not upon God, but upon their own acts. ... On this basis a man may make a profession without ever having his confidence in his own ability shattered; he has been told absolutely nothing of his need of a change of nature which is not within his own power, and consequently, if he does not experience such a radical change, he is not dismayed” (104-05). This “lowered standard of conversion” results in a “lowered conception of the real nature of true Christian experience” (p. 106-07). This chapter is a much-needed antidote to the all-too-popular ideas that surround “evangelism” and “decisions” in our day.
The second controversy: compromise vs. integrity
What began as a sermon on “Baptismal Regeneration” soon grew into a debate over the legitimacy of a minister to be both a self-professed evangelical and a good Anglican clergyman. Spurgeon attacked the Anglican liturgy “which ignores the distinction between the regenerate and the unregenerate” (p. 133) and a church that paid and promoted men with “the mark of the beast in their foreheads.” “We wonder they are not ashamed of being connected with men who openly defy the law and preach the worst form of Popery,” Spurgeon said in his review of a book by J.C. Ryle. Speaking of Ryle, Spurgeon says, “He pleads hard for a comprehension which shall include believers in doctrines which are diametrically opposed to each other. Such is the sad influence of a false position... We wish Mr. Ryle could review his own position in the light of the Scriptures rather than in the darkness of ecclesiasticism; then would he come out from among them, and no more touch the unclean thing” (137).
The third controversy: ecumenism vs. separatism.
Spurgeon suffered more from personal, scathing attacks during the so-called “Down-Grade” controversy than any other. No one could deny that Spurgeon was at heart a Biblical separatist. The problem was that most people didn’t like it. “It is our solemn conviction,” said Spurgeon, “that where there can be no real spiritual communion there should be no pretence of fellowship” (p. 144). Spurgeon’s conviction was that “nothing has ever more largely promoted the union of the true than the break with the false” (p. 159).
Murray states, “The tragedy of the Down-Grade was that there were many who could not see that scripture spoke definitely on the existing situation” (p. 158). The same is true today. If you’re someone left with a bad taste for separatism in your mouth, read about Spurgeon in the Down-Grade. You’ll love him, feel for him, and want to be like him.
Those who have a sentimental, maudlin perception of Spurgeon--and want to keep it--should not read this book. This is not the “popular Spurgeon.” This is the “Forgotten Spurgeon.” Murray says it best, “Spurgeon’s legacy is neither his oratory nor his personality--these things have gone the way of all flesh--but his testimony to the whole counsel of God and his utterance of the great Reformation principle that the Lord alone must be before our eyes and His honour the ultimate motive in all our actions” (p. 17).
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from being the poster boy of such incongruous theologies and philosophies as Arminianism and Calvinism, compromise and integrity, ecumenism and separatism. He does a masterful job. After portraying Spurgeon in his role as preacher¾his emphasis on prayer, his dependence on the Holy Spirit, his willingness to accept the slander of other men in the ministry¾Murray surveys three controversies that marked Spurgeon’s career.
The first controversy: Arminianism vs. Calvinism.
Spurgeon was unashamedly a Calvinist. But how did that shape his evangelism? Murray explains that Spurgeon never separated the need to believe from the need for regeneration, which was solely the work of God. Thus, while the sinner’s responsibility was impressed upon him, the sinner’s utter inability was equally magnified. Such preaching portrayed salvation to the sinner, not as “something I must do,” but as “something God must do to me.” The sinner is left unquestionably guilty, yet with no hope but to cry out for mercy to God.
Murray eloquently shows how Arminianism instructs the sinner that he must begin the work of conversion by becoming willing, and then God will finish the work. A sinner who has made a “firm and willing decision for Christ” is immediately exhorted, ipso facto, to believe that God has saved him. Murray opines, “A teaching which promises that God’s will must follow our will may have the effect of causing men to trust in a delusion¾an experience which is not salvation at all. ... But Arminianism, instead of cautioning men against this danger, inevitably encourages it, for it throws men, not upon God, but upon their own acts. ... On this basis a man may make a profession without ever having his confidence in his own ability shattered; he has been told absolutely nothing of his need of a change of nature which is not within his own power, and consequently, if he does not experience such a radical change, he is not dismayed” (104-05). This “lowered standard of conversion” results in a “lowered conception of the real nature of true Christian experience” (p. 106-07). This chapter is a much-needed antidote to the all-too-popular ideas that surround “evangelism” and “decisions” in our day.
The second controversy: compromise vs. integrity
What began as a sermon on “Baptismal Regeneration” soon grew into a debate over the legitimacy of a minister to be both a self-professed evangelical and a good Anglican clergyman. Spurgeon attacked the Anglican liturgy “which ignores the distinction between the regenerate and the unregenerate” (p. 133) and a church that paid and promoted men with “the mark of the beast in their foreheads.” “We wonder they are not ashamed of being connected with men who openly defy the law and preach the worst form of Popery,” Spurgeon said in his review of a book by J.C. Ryle. Speaking of Ryle, Spurgeon says, “He pleads hard for a comprehension which shall include believers in doctrines which are diametrically opposed to each other. Such is the sad influence of a false position... We wish Mr. Ryle could review his own position in the light of the Scriptures rather than in the darkness of ecclesiasticism; then would he come out from among them, and no more touch the unclean thing” (137).
The third controversy: ecumenism vs. separatism.
Spurgeon suffered more from personal, scathing attacks during the so-called “Down-Grade” controversy than any other. No one could deny that Spurgeon was at heart a Biblical separatist. The problem was that most people didn’t like it. “It is our solemn conviction,” said Spurgeon, “that where there can be no real spiritual communion there should be no pretence of fellowship” (p. 144). Spurgeon’s conviction was that “nothing has ever more largely promoted the union of the true than the break with the false” (p. 159).
Murray states, “The tragedy of the Down-Grade was that there were many who could not see that scripture spoke definitely on the existing situation” (p. 158). The same is true today. If you’re someone left with a bad taste for separatism in your mouth, read about Spurgeon in the Down-Grade. You’ll love him, feel for him, and want to be like him.
Those who have a sentimental, maudlin perception of Spurgeon--and want to keep it--should not read this book. This is not the “popular Spurgeon.” This is the “Forgotten Spurgeon.” Murray says it best, “Spurgeon’s legacy is neither his oratory nor his personality--these things have gone the way of all flesh--but his testimony to the whole counsel of God and his utterance of the great Reformation principle that the Lord alone must be before our eyes and His honour the ultimate motive in all our actions” (p. 17).
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LibraryThing member dianesmedra
This was a good introduction to the man and three issues that characterized his ministry.
LibraryThing member Adewoye
A look at Spurgeon's theology and ministry against the background of some key controversies of his time. It is not a full biography, as the author clearly remarked, yet it provides a very illuminating account of one of the greatest preachers in the history of the church.
I highly recommend it!
I highly recommend it!
LibraryThing member ted_newell
A game changing book for me. Murray's chapter on Spurgeon's two-sided kind of Calvinism made sense of God's foreknowledge but also human responsibility. Not hyper-Calvinism which lays all emphasis on God's action nor Arminianism whch stresses the ethical requirement of human response but, like the
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rails of a railway track, two truths whch are not reconciled in Scripture and yet are insisted upon throughout. A mystery to tempt humans to resolve on one side or the other. Click! Click! so stimulating. I felt like I d been inducted into a huge secret. Not sure if there I read the story of the door which says invitingly, Whosoever will may come, but which, upon entering and looking back, the other side reads, Known from the foundation of the world. In any event, whether in Murray or elsewhere, the door story encapsulates the Bible's teaching in a way that shows both "sides." If you will. Show Less
LibraryThing member jimmoz
This addresses three controversies across Spurgeon's ministry: Calvinism v Arminianism, baptismal regeneration, and the Down-Grade (liberalism) issue at the end of his career. It is an interesting read, but not compelling.