12 PROOFS THAT CHARLES HADDON SPURGEON WAS
A FIRM BELIEVER IN PARTICULAR REDEMPTION
BACKGROUND TO THIS AND SIMILAR PAGES
Dave Hunt in his iniquitous book "What love is this?" (Exactly Dave) had the audacity to claim that CH Spurgeon was "unequivocal"
in his rejection of the Calvinistic doctrine of Particular redemption.
This was pure propaganda and is easily refuted. However, it gave birth
to the idea that I should put together a page, drawn entirely from
Spurgeon's sermons and other printed works, which unequvocally proves that Spurgeon did believe that
Jesus died only with the intention of saving his elect. This, in turn.
led me to show 12 proofs that Spurgeon believed each and all of the 5
points of Calvinism. Any critic out there who tries to tell you
anything else is either a fool or a knave. Any emphasise mine.
1) SPURGEON AFFIRMED HIS BELIEF IN THE FIVE POINTS OF CALVINISM IN GENERAL:
And
I have my own private opinion that there is no such a thing as
preaching Christ and him crucified, unless you preach what now-a-days
is called Calvinism. I have my own ideas, and those I always state
boldly. It is a nickname to call it Calvinism; Calvinism is the gospel,
and nothing else. I do not believe we can preach the gospel, if we do
not preach justification by faith, without works; nor unless we preach
the sovereignty of God in his dispensation of grace; nor unless we
exalt the electing, unchangeable, eternal, immutable, conquering, love
of Jehovah; nor do I think we can preach the gospel, unless we base it
upon the peculiar redemption which Christ made for his elect and chosen
people; nor can I comprehend a gospel which lets saints fall away after
they are called, and suffers the children of God to be burned in the
fires of damnation after having believed. Such a gospel I abhor. The
gospel of the Bible is not such a gospel as that. We preach Christ and
him crucified in a different fashion, and to all gainsayers we reply,
"We have not so learned Christ." (Sermon number 98 New Park Street
Pulpit 1:100)
As
for our faith as a church you have heard that already. We believe in
what are called the five great points commonly known as Calvinistic;
but we do not regard those five points as being barbed shafts which we
are to push into the bowels of Christendom. We look upon them as being
five great lamps which help to irradiate the cross, or rather five
bright emanations springing from the glorious covenant of our Triune
God, and illustrating the great doctrine of Jesus crucified. Against
all comers, especially against all lovers of Arminianism, we defend and
maintain pure gospel truth. (Ceremony at laying of the stone of the New
Tabernacle: Sermon numbers: 268-270) Found in New Park St Pulpit 5:603
I cannot stop to tell you of all the sheaves in the doctrine field. Some say there are only five; I
believe the five great doctrines of Calvinism are, in some degree, a
summary of the rest; they are distinctive points wherein we differ from
those who "have erred from the faith, and pierced themselves through
with many sorrows." But
there are many more doctrines beside these five; and all are alike
precious, and all are alike valuable to the true believer’s soul,
for he can feed upon them to his heart’s content. (Sermon number
2585 Metropolitan Tabernacle 44:529)
Since then, you have learned other doctrines, possibly the five points of Calvinism,
or the fifty points of any other system; but you never learned them
from merely reading them in the Scriptures, you never really knew them
till the pen of God began to move up and down upon your inward nature,
and your heart received the impression the Lord intended to convey to
it. (Sermon number 2280 Metropolitan Tabernacle 38:679)
We have certainly not thrown away the Five Points, but we may have gained other five… (Sword & Trowel Feb 1874 p.36)
2) SPURGEON URGED OTHERS TO HOLD TO THE FIVE POINTS OF CALVINISM:
Brethren,
hold the five points of the Calvinistic doctrine, but mind you do not
hold them as babbling questions. What you have received of God do not
learn in order to fight with it, and to make contention and strife, and
to divide the church of God, and rail against the people of the Most
high, as some do. (Sermon number 3394 - Metropolitan Pulpit 60:121)
3) SPURGEON AFFIRMED HIS BELIEF IN THE DOCTRINE OF PARTICULAR REDEMPTION PARTICULARLY:
I
may be called Antinomian or Calvinist for preaching a limited
atonement; but I had rather believe a limited atonement that is
efficacious for all men for whom it was intended, than an universal
atonement that is not efficacious for anybody, except the will of man
be joined with it. (Sermon number 173 - Metropolitan Pulpit 4:121)
"We
are often told that we limit the atonement of Christ, because we say
that Christ has not made a satisfaction for all men, or all men would
be saved…We say Christ so died that he infallibly secured the
salvation of a multitude that no man can number, who through
Christ’s death not only may be saved, but are saved, must be
saved, and cannot by any possibility run the hazard of being anything
but saved. You are welcome to your atonement; you may keep it. We will
never renounce ours for the sake of it. Now, beloved, when you hear any
one laughing or jeering at a limited atonement, you may tell him this.
General atonement is like a great wide bridge with only half an arch;
it does not go across the stream: it only professes to go half way, it
does not secure the salvation of anybody. Now, I had rather put my foot
upon a bridge as narrow as Hungerford, which went all the way across,
than on a bridge that was as wide as the world, if it did not go all
the way across the stream."(Sermon number 181 entitled Particular
Redemption New Park Street Pulpit 4:228)
V.
I have hurried over that, to come to the last point, which is the
sweetest of all. Jesus Christ, we are told in our text, came into the
world "to give his life a ransom for many." The greatness of
Christ’s redemption may be measured by the EXTENT OF THE DESIGN
OF IT. He gave his life "a ransom for many." I must now return to that
controverted point again. We are often told (I mean those of us who are
commonly nicknamed by the title of Calvinists — and we are not
very much ashamed of that; we think that Calvin, after all, knew more
about the gospel than almost any man who has ever lived, uninspired)
— We are often told that we limit the atonement of Christ,
because we say that Christ has not made a satisfaction for all men, or
all men would be saved. ."(Sermon number 181 entitled Particular
Redemption New Park Street Pulpit 4:229)
SPURGEON'S SERMON ENTITLED PARTICULAR REDEMPTION (Sermon 181 on Matthew 20:28 (4:218)
SPURGEON'S SERMON ENTITLED: THE MISSION OF THE SON OF MAN (Sermon 204 on Luke 19:10 (4:547)
There
are others of us who hold what is called the doctrine of particular
redemption. We conceive that the blood of Christ was of an infinite
value, but that the intention of the death of Christ never was the
salvation of all men; for if Christ had designed the salvation of all
men, we hold that all men would have been saved. We believe that the
intention of Christ’s death is just equal to its effects, and
therefore I start this morning by announcing what I regard to be a
self-evident truth, that whatever was the intention of Jesus Christ in
coming into the world, that intention most certainly shall be
fulfilled. (Sermon number 204 New Park Gate Pulpit 4:549)
4) SPURGEON REJECTED THE IDEA OF AN UNIVERSAL ATONEMENT:
"I
am no general redemptionist, I believe Jesus Christ died for as many as
will be saved; I do not believe he died in vain for any man alive."
(Sermon number 148 New Park Street Pulpit 3:545)
Many
divines say that Christ did something when he died that enabled God to
be just, and yet the Justifier of the ungodly. What that something is
they do not tell us. They believe in an atonement made for everybody;
but then, their atonement is just this. They believe that Judas was
atoned for just as much as Peter; they believe that the damned in hell
were as much an object of Jesus Christ’s satisfaction as the
saved in heaven; and though they do not say it in proper words, yet
they must mean it, for it is a fair inference, that in the case of
multitudes, Christ died in vain, for he died for them all, they say;
and yet so ineffectual was his dying for them, that though he died for
them they are damned afterwards. Now, such an atonement I despise
— I reject it.(Sermon number 113 New Park Street Pulpit 1:121)
You
are welcome to your atonement; you may keep it. We will never renounce
ours for the sake of it. (Sermon number 181 entitled Particular
Redemption New Park Street Pulpit 4:228)
Once
again, if it were Christ’s intention to save all men, how
deplorably has he been disappointed! for we have his own evidence that
there is a lake that burneth with fire and brimstone, and into that pit
must be cast some of the very persons, who according to that theory,
were bought with his blood. That seems to me a thousand times more
frightful than any of those horrors, which are said to be associated
with the Calvinistic and Christian doctrine of particular redemption.
(Sermon 204 New Park Street Pulpit 4:553)
I
never have subscribed — I think I never shall — to the
doctrine of universal redemption. I believe in the limitless efficacy
of the blood of Christ. I would not say, with some of the early
Fathers, that a single drop of Christ’s blood would have been
sufficient for the redemption of the world. That seems to me to be an
expression too strained, though doubtless their meaning was correct. I
believe that there is efficacy enough in the blood of Christ if it be
applied to the conscience to save any man and every man. But when I
come to the matter of redemption it seems to me that whatever
Christ’s design was in dying, that design cannot be frustrated,
nor by any means disappointed. When I look at the person of our Lord
Jesus Christ, I cannot imagine that such an One, offering such a
sacrifice, can ever be disappointed of the design of his soul. Hence I
think that all whom he came on purpose to save he will save, all who
were graven on the strong affections of his heart as the purchase of
his blood he assuredly shall have. All that his heavenly Father gave
him shall come to him. All that he chose from before the foundation of
the world, he will raise up at the last day. All who were included
among the members of his mystic body, when he was nailed to the tree,
shall be one with him in his glorious resurrection, and "not a hoof
shall be left behind." I know there are some who believe in a
disappointed Christ, who affect to lament concerning Christ a design
not accomplished, a frustrated cross, agonies spent in vain, blood that
was poured out on the ground as water that cannot be gathered up. I
believe in no such thing. God createth nothing in vain, nor will I
believe that Jesus Christ died on the cross in vain in any sense or in
any degree whatever. Not a hoof of all his purchased flock shall be
left behind.(6:328-329)
But
if you live and die unbelievers, know this, that all your sins lie on
your own shoulders. Christ did never make any atonement for you; you
were never bought with blood; you never had an interest in his
sacrifice. You live and die in yourselves, lost; in yourselves, ruined;
in yourselves utterly destroyed.(7:48)
"I
have sometimes thought when I have heard addresses from some revival
brethren who had kept on saying time after time, 'Believe, believe,
believe,' that I should like to have known for myself what it was we
were to believe in order to our own salvation. There is, I fear, a
great deal of vagueness and crudeness about this matter. I have often
heard it asserted that if you believe that Jesus Christ died for you,
you will be saved. My dear hearer, do not be deluded by such an idea.
You may believe that Christ died for you, and may believe what is not
true; you may believe that which will bring you no sort of good
whatsoever. That is not saving faith. The man who has saving faith
afterwards attains to the conviction that Christ died for him, but it
is not the essence of saving faith…" [Spurgeon develops this
thought more fully…but the point being made here is that not
every man can believe that Christ died for him in particular.]
(58:732-733)
"Then
next, the question of particular redemption. Some insist upon it that
men are redeemed not because Christ died, but because they are willing
to give efficacy to the blood of Christ. He died for everybody
according to their theory. Why, then, are not all men saved? Because
all men will not believe? That is to say that believing is necessary in
order to make the blood of Christ efficacious for redemption. Now we
hold that to be a great lie. We believe the very contrary, namely, that
the blood of Christ has in itself the power to redeem, and that it does
redeem, and that faith does not give efficacy to the blood, but is only
the proof that the blood has redeemed that man. Hence we hold that
Christ did not redeem every man, but only redeemed those men who will
ultimately attain unto eternal life. We do not believe that he redeemed
the damned; we do not believe that he poured out his life blood for
souls already in hell. We never can imagine that Christ suffered in the
room and stead of all men, and that then afterwards these same men have
to suffer for themselves, that in fact Christ pays their debts, and
then God makes them pay their debts over again. We think that the
doctrine that men by their wills give efficacy to the blood of Christ
is derogatory to the Lord Jesus, and we rather hold to this that he
laid down his life for his sheep, and that his laying down his life for
the sheep involved and secured the salvation of every one of them. We
believe this because we hold that “of him, and through him, and
to him are all things.” (10:383)
5) SPURGEON IDENTIFIED HIMSELF WHOLEHEARTEDLY WITH CALVIN AND THE CALVINIST'S WHO BELIEVED IN PARTICULAR REDEMPTION:
I
will here quote the testimony of that pre-eminently profound divine,
Dr. John Owen: — "… Can it possibly be conceived that
there should be a redemption of men, and those men not redeemed? that a
price should be paid, and the purchase not consummated? Yet all this
must be made true, and innumerable other absurdities, if universal
redemption be asserted..." (Sermon number 173 - Metropolitan Pulpit
4:121)
Again,
I must say, I am not defending certain brethren who have exaggerated
Calvinism. I speak of Calvinism proper, not that which has run to seed,
and outgrown its beauty and verdure. I speak of it as I find it in
Calvin’s Institutes, and especially in his Expositions. I have
read them carefully. I take not my views of Calvinism from common
repute but from his books. Nor do I, in thus speaking, even vindicate
Calvinism as if I cared for the name, but I mean that glorious system
which teaches that salvation is of grace from first to last.(Sermon
number 385 Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit 7:554)
Did
you say that such-and- such a thing is believed by you because you
found it in Calvin’s Institutes? I am a Calvinist, and a lover of
that grand man’s memory and doctrine; but I believe nothing
merely because Calvin taught it, but because I have found his teaching
in the Word of God. (Sermon number 2584 Metropolitan Tabernacle 44:517)
Do
you know that John Calvin wrote his famous "Institutes" — a most
wonderful production for thought if not for accuracy — before he
was twenty-seven years of age? (Unusual Occasions p95)
The
old truth that Calvin preached, that Augustine preached, that Paul
preached, is the truth that I must preach to-day, or else be false to
my conscience and my God. I cannot shape the truth; I know of no such
thing as paring off the rough edges of a doctrine. John Knox’s
gospel is my gospel. That which thundered through Scotland must thunder
through England again. — C. H. S. (Defence of Calvinism)
I
stood last Wednesday in a sort of dream as I gazed upon my much-beloved
grandfather’s place of sepulcher. I was encouraged by seeing the
record of his fifty-four years of service in the midst of one church
and people, and I rejoiced that, could he rise from the dead, he would
find his grandson preaching that selfsame old-fashioned and
much-despised Calvinistic doctrine of the grace of God which was his
joy in life and his comfort in death. (Sermon number 1972 Metropolitan
Pulpit 33:500)
Though
we have not been called to maintain those truths as you have been, by
trials peculiar to your church polity, we have had to maintain the same
distinctly Calvinistic truth by struggles which have rooted and
grounded us in it. We are glad when we see our brethren more numerous
than ourselves across the Border giving forth a louder sound —
not, I hope, a clearer sound — than we do on the grand doctrines
of salvation by sovereign grace. May you prosper in your upholding of
the old banner for many, many years to come; and may God be with you
and bless you. (Speeches at Home and Abroad p95)
The Atonement in its Relations to the Covenant, the Priesthood, and the Intercession of our Lord. By HUGH MARTIN, D.D. Edinburgh: Lyon and Gemmell. SOMETHING
like theology. We wish our young divines would feed upon such meat as
this, and we should hear no more of the modern sham redemption. Dr.
Martin teaches a real substitution, and an efficient atonement, and has
no sympathy with Robertson, and those of his school We thank God for
Scotland, and trust that she will ever nurse for us a host of sturdy
Calvinists, for whom the boastful schemes of the "modern thought" men
will have no charms. We are that told many Free Church ministers are
going over to the Broad School, but we do not believe it, and will not
till we have far more evidence than at present. (Sword & Trowel
August 1877 5:198)
6) SPURGEON WAS THE PASTOR OF A CALVINISTIC CHURCH FOR 38 YEARS:
This was the church of Benjamin Keach and John Gill…both Calvinists. Spurgeon could claim concerning his church:
Now I am astonished to find those
persons that thus come before me so well instructed in the doctrines of
grace and so sound in all the truths of the covenant, insomuch that I
may think it my boast and glory, in the name of Jesus, that I know not
that we have any members, whom we have received into the church, who do
not give their full assent and consent unto all the doctrines of the
Christian religion, commonly called Calvinistic doctrines. Those which
men are wont to laugh at as being high doctrinal points, are those
which they most readily receive, believe, and rejoice in. (Sermon
number 178 New Park Street Pulpit 4:182)
God
forbid that we should have our Sunday-schools the hot-beds of
Arminianism, while our churches are gardens of Calvinism. (Sermon
number 1115 Metropolitan Tabernacle 19:398)
Spurgeon rightly denounced those who being Arminian would pastor a Calvinistic church (and vice versa)
By
what tortuous processes of reasoning could it be made to appear
consistent with uprightness for an Arminian to accept emoluments upon
the condition of teaching Calvinistic doctrines, or how could a
Calvinist be justified should he enter into covenant to teach the
opposite tenets? Would it be any decrease of the inconsistency of
either official if he should, after gaining his position and securing
its salary, become a stickler for ministerial liberty and insist upon
delivering himself of his own real opinions which he dared not have
avowed at his instalment, and which, ex officio, he ought to denounce?
A church, having a written creed, virtually asks the candidate for her
pulpit, "Do you hold fast our form of sound words, and, will you
endeavour to maintain it?" On the response to that enquiry, other
things being settled, the appointment depends. The candidate's "yea,"
is accepted in confidence as being sincere, and he is inducted; but if
it be a lie, or if at any time it cease to be altogether true, it is
only by a sophistry unworthy of an ingenuous mind, that a man can
justify' himself in retaining his place; he is bound in honour to
relinquish it forthwith.(Sword and Trowel February 1870 2:397)
7)
AT THE OPENING OF A NEW CHURCH BUILDING, SPURGEON INVITED MEN TO PREACH
ON THE FIVE POINTS OF CALVINISM…INCLUDING PARTICULAR REDEMPTION:
EXPOSITION OF THE DOCTRINES OF GRACE
NO. 385
THURSDAY, APRIL 11TH, 1861,
THE REV. C. H. SPURGEON TOOK THE CHAIR
AT 3 O’CLOCK.
The proceedings were commenced by singing the 21st Hymn —
The Rev. C. H. SPURGEON in opening the proceedings said, we have met
together
beneath this roof already to set forth most of those truths in which
consists the peculiarity of this Church…The controversy which
has been carried on between the Calvinist and the Arminian is
exceedingly important, but it does not so involve the vital point of
personal godliness as to make eternal life depend upon our holding
either system at theology….
PARTICULAR REDEMPTION
NO. 388
BY THE REV. J. A. SPURGEON,
OF SOUTHAMPTON.
In the presence of his brother, James said:
But,
you ask me, is there any limit to the atonement at all? I say I think
there is, and the limit seems to be, not in the value, but in the
purpose. The limit seems to be this theory — for whom did he die?
in whose place and stead did he stand? If he stood in the place and
stead of the whole world, then he made atonement for the sins of the
whole world, and the whole world will be saved. If he stood in the
place and stead of his Church, then he made atonement for his Church,
and the whole Church will be saved. We believe that Christ took the
place and stead of every believer, that the believers sin was put on
him, and thus the ex-sinner can go forth free.
8) SPURGEON PROFESSED FAITH IN THE 1689 BAPTIST CONFESSION OF FAITH WHICH TEACH PARTICULAR REDEMPTION:
Both
the Westminster Confession of Faith and the 1689 Baptist Confession
teach the doctrine of Particular Redemption. Spurgeon himself reprinted
the 1689 Baptist Confession in 1855. A copy of the Baptist Confession
was placed under the stone during the stone laying of the Metropolitan
Tabernacle.
These Confessions both teach in the chapter entitled: Of Christ the Mediator
V.
The Lord Jesus, by His perfect obedience, and sacrifice of Himself,
which He, through the eternal Spirit, once offered up unto God, hath
fully satisfied the justice of His Father; and purchased, not only
reconciliation, but an everlasting inheritance in the kingdom of
heaven, for all those whom the Father hath given unto Him.
VIII.
To all those for whom Christ hath purchased redemption, He doth
certainly and effectually apply and communicate the same, making
intercession for them, and revealing unto them, in and by the Word, the
mysteries of salvation, effectually persuading them by His Spirit to
believe and obey, and governing their hearts by His Word and Spirit,
overcoming all their enemies by His almighty power and wisdom, in such
manner, and ways, as are most consonant to His wonderful and
unsearchable dispensation.
In his preface, Spurgeon refers to the doctrines of the Baptist Confession as "excellent"
and whilst he did not want the Confession to become a fetter, yet he
did express the hope that it would be of assistance of them in
controversy, a confirmation in their faith and a means of edification.
He writes further: "Be
not ashamed of your faith: remember it is the ancient gospel of the
martyrs, confessors, reformers and saints. Above all it is the truth of
God, against which the gates of hell cannot prevail."
9) OTHER PREACHERS CAME TO HIS CHURCH AND SPOKE OF HIS UNQUALIFIED CALVINISM:
At
the stone laying ceremony of the Tabernacle, Mr Spurgeon introduced Rev
J. Bloomfield who was evidently a very strong Calvinistic preacher, -
another "high Calvinist" as Spurgeon described himself - from the words
spoken below.
The
Rev. C. H. SPURGEON: If our friends are not tired I should like another
brother to speak, and I have a few words to say before I call upon my
brother Bloomfield. I have been treated somewhat severely by that class
of brethren who are exceedingly strong in their Calvinism. Many suspect
me of being a great heretic. Now, a great heretic I certainly am, if it
be heresy to judge of the Scriptures as God the Holy Ghost gives me
ability, and not to bend myself to the dictates of man. I am, I ever
must be, from my deep and terrible experience of the depravity of the
human heart, a high Calvinist, in the best sense of that term. I am not
bitter towards others; but I do love to preach the fullness of the
decree of God. I do love, however, so to preach it that I may combine
it with practical exhortation and fullness of precept. There are many
brethren who believe the same. The stone has to be rolled away from the
spulchre of Calvinism yet. The Calvinism of some men is the Calvinism
of John Calvin, nor the Calvinism of the Puritans, much less the
Christianity of God. My dear brother Bloomfield is one of those who
hold the truth very strongly. I hope he may hold it never less sternly.
He has an affectionate loving heart, and he is not prepared to condemn
one who, in some points, differs from the brethren. I do differ from
some in certain matters, those are but small matters compared with the
grand fundamentals of that holy faith delivered to us by Christ,
translated by Paul, handed down by Augustine, clarified by Calvin,
translated by Paul, handed down by Augustine, clarified by Calvin,
vindicated yet again by Whitfield, and held by us as the very truth of
God, as it is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
In
his address, Mr Bloomfield acknowledged Mr Spurgeon's preaching of the
perfection of the atonement…a description which Calvinists
cannot apply to those who believe that Christ died for men who are now
in hell, suffering for those very sins Christ is meant to have suffered
for.
"Any
man that preaches the atonement in its perfection is a brother that I
am glad to shake hands with and bid God speed. Whether or not he
preaches the high and distinguishing doctrine of divine grace in the
phraseology that I employ; whether or not he chooses to preach those
doctrines in the plain language in which I am bound to preach them,
because I can preach them in no other, I say I bid him God speed, and
trust the blessing of God will go with him wherever he goes to preach
the everlasting gospel of the blessed God. Christ said, when on earth,
"If any man serve me, him will my Father honour." I ask any man to look
at the vast numbers that have testified before delighted audiences to
the way in which the ministry of Mr. Spurgeon has been blessed to them;
and I ask if God has not honoured him…"
At
the opening of the Metropolitan Tabernacle, the following comments by
Calvinistic ministers were made in the presence of Spurgeon:
The
REV. F. TUCKER, of Camden Road Chapel, "He looked upon his brother
Spurgeon as one who upheld the sovereignty of God, and who, on the
other hand, declared the responsibility of man. He preached, that never
could the sinner repent without the aid of the Holy Ghost, and yet he
called upon every sinner to repent and believe the gospel. Especially
did his brother make prominent the grand doctrine of the atoning
sacrifice of Christ, and the kindred doctrine of justification by faith
in the righteousness of the Lord and Saviour."
The
REV. GEORGE ROGERS: "Their friend Mr. Spurgeon preached all the
doctrines of grace. Election, particular redemption came from his lips
in trumpet tones. He saw the love of Christ to His Church, and of the
Church to Christ, overflowing in sweet nectar in the song of Solomon.
Some said those doctrines were destructive of all good works —
that people who listened to such doctrines did nothing. His answer to
these objectors was, let them look at that building. Election would
never have built it, except by seeking to make their calling and
election sure. Particular redemption would never have built it without
the particular love which it was calculated to inspire. The doctrine of
perseverance would never have built it without the act of perseverance."
10) CALVINISM'S ENEMIES SPOKE OF SPURGEON'S WHOLE HEARTED CALVINISM:
Mr.
Dale, in his admirable article published on Christmas-day in the Daily
Telegraph, gives it as his opinion that Calvinism would be almost
obsolete among Baptists were it not still maintained by the powerful
influence of Mr. Spurgeon. The statement is most flattering to our
vanity…Calvinism such as was taught by Owen, Charnock, Bunyan,
Newton, Whitfield, Romaine, and men of that class, is no more obsolete
than is the law of gravitation, neither are its friends at all inclined
to bewail its influence as dying out…If such Calvinism as this,
and it is the Calvinism of Calvin, and the only one which we maintain,
is really growing obsolete, we must henceforth doubt our ears and
disbelieve the statements of the best of our brethren. If the sermons
now preached in Baptist pulpits could all be printed, they would be
found to contain vastly more of what we call Calvinism than they did
twenty years ago. The party names and terms are less used, for which we
are devoutly thankful, but the essence and spirit of that side of
truth, which has for brevity's sake been called Calvinistic, are more
powerful among us now than they ever were at any previous part of the
century. We have in this matter a right to judge, because the question
relates to that Calvinism which is "maintained by the powerful
influence of Mr. Spurgeon," and therefore no man is more likely to know
than Mr. Spurgeon himself... We have certainly not thrown away the Five
Points, but we may have gained other five, and far be it from us to
deny it; but this does not in the slightest degree affect the statement
of our Birmingham friend, for it still remains a fact that the
"Calvinism," or whatever it is, which is maintained by us, does not
make us enemies among the General Baptists, but is read by thousands of
them regularly, and ensures for us a warm place in their hearts, as
many letters, donations, and kindly actions abundantly prove. Whatever
it may be which we maintain, and we do not demur to Mr. Dale's
description of it as Calvinism, for it contains a great deal of
Calvinism, we are sure that far more of it is read and endorsed among
General Baptists than at any other period in history. (Sword &
Trowel Feb 1874 p33ff)
The
Evangelical Revival and other Sermons: with an Address on the Work of
the Christian ministry in a period of theological decay and transition.
By R. W. DALE. Hodder and Stoughton.
We
cannot bring our mind to review this volume of discourses. It manifests
the author’s great ability and honesty, but to our mind it is
unsatisfactory, and to our heart it is saddening. Mr. Dale says," Mr.
Spurgeon stands alone among the modern leaders of Evangelical
Nonconformists in his fidelity to the older Calvinistic creed." If it
be so, we are sorry to hear it, and we pray God that it may not long be
true. There is an indefiniteness and uncertainty about these sermons
which distresses us. They are not after our heart, and we are the more
disappointed because Mr. Dale is a typical person among Independents,
and a fine man in all respects. (Sword & Trowel 6:245)
11) THE ATTACKS FROM THE HYPER CALVINISTS MAJORED ON THE SUBJECT OF FREE OFFER OF THE GOSPEL…NOT PARTICULAR REDEMPTION:
And
just let me say here, that it is the custom of a certain body of
Ultra-Calvinists, to call those of us who teach that it is the duty of
man to repent and believe, "Mongrel Calvinists." If you hear any of
them say so, give them my most respectful compliments, and ask them
whether they ever read Calvin’s works in their lives. Not that I
care what Calvin said or did not say, but ask them whether they ever
read his works; and if they say "No," as they must say, for there are
forty-eight large volumes you can tell them, that the man whom they
call "a Mongrel Calvinist," though he has not read them all, has read a
very good share of them and knows their spirit; and he knows that he
preaches substantially what Calvin preached — that every doctrine
he preaches may be found in Calvin’s Commentaries on some part of
Scripture or other. We are TRUE Calvinists, however. (Sermon number 591
New Park Street Pulpit: 4:598)
12) SPURGEON PRESIDED OVER A BIBLE COLLEGE THAT WAS AVOWEDLY CALVINIST:
We
have become daily more and more impressed with the conviction that
theology should be the principal subject for instruction in a
Theological College, and that a diversified course, of all. other
studies, prepares the young minister to .enter upon his office in the
full vigour of his mental powers, and with a capacity for continuing
his research into all subjects that may at any time contribute to his
own principal design 6. Calvinistic theology is dogmatically taught. We
mean not dogmatic in the offensive sense of that term; but as the
undoubted teaching of the Word of God. "Without controversy great is
the mystery of godliness." We hold to the Calvinism of the Bible.
Extreme views on either side are repudiated by us. The cross is the
centre of our system. "To this I hold, and by this I am upheld." is our
motto. This is our stand-point from which we judge all things. We have
no sympathy with any modern concealment or perversion of great gospel
truths. We prefer the Puritan to modern divinity. (Sword & Trowel
March 1886 1:240)
3.
By whom are the young men taught, and what is the scope and character
of the teaching? The young men are taught by tutors, under the
direction and with the stated teaching of Mr. Spurgeon himself, and of
Mr. James Spurgeon, who holds the position of Vice-President of the
College. The studies embrace… Systematic Theology, which is
always Calvinistic, and Homiletics. (Sword & Trowel July 1869 2:305)
The
question may be asked whether our College, based as it is on avowedly
definite and peculiar principles, has in any measure ceased to be a
necessity? We think not. We most gladly admit that in many quarters the
same gospel is being preached, and the same Bible is reverenced. We
hail gladly any evidence of approaching unity of feeling and effort in
the one harvest, field; but we are more than ever persuaded that we
need to bear our witness to the old Calvinistic doctrines of grace, and
to uphold our distinctive view of the ordinance of believer’s
baptism. (Sword & Trowel 7:156)
As
it would be quite unwarrantable for us to interfere with the
arrangements of other bodies of Christians, who have their own methods
of training their ministers, and as it is obvious that we could not
find spheres for men in denominations with which we have no
ecclesiastical connection, we confine our College to Baptists; and, in
order not to be harassed with endless controversies, we invite those
only who hold those views of divine truth which are popularly known as
Calvinistic, — not that we care for names and phrases; but, as we
wish to be understood, we use a term which conveys our meaning as
nearly as any descriptive word can do. Believing the grand doctrines of
grace to be the natural accompaniments of the fundamental evangelical
truth of redemption by the blood of Jesus, we hold and teach them, not
only in our ministry to the masses, but in the more select instruction
of the class room. (Lectures 2:6 also 4:7)
Cork Free Presbyterian Church, 10 Briarscourt
(Annex) Shanakiel, Cork, Ireland