Where do you start when reviewing C. H. Spurgeon? And is it permissible to rate the ‘Prince of Preachers’ at anything but five stars? Perhaps the key factor in assessing this collection is to decide on the intended readership. Everything Spurgeon-related has a ready market, but this volume is not a typical compilation of…
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In the two previous Guest Columns, I extended C. H. Spurgeon’s famous caged-lion allegory by suggesting that freeing the lion (the Bible) to defend itself involves three steps. We must: (1) find the key to the cage door (adopt a biblical doctrine of Scripture); (2) lubricate the door hinges (employ biblical apologetics and argumentation,…
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C. H. Spurgeon famously likened the Bible to a caged lion. To defend it, he said, all we need to do is let it out. But this requires us to open the cage door, and that is no trivial task. Last month (extending Spurgeon’s allegory) I suggested that to open the door involves three…
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It comes as a surprise to some that Charles Spurgeon had a lifelong battle with depression. His reputation as a famed and powerful preacher, his cheery wit, and his sheer manliness might lead us to imagine there could never be a chink in his Victorian Englishman’s armour. It shouldn’t be a surprise, of course:…
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The 8th chapter of Romans and the 9th are the very pillars of that gospel which men now call ‘Calvinism’. No man, after having read these chapters attentively and having understood them, can deny that the doctrines of sovereign, distinguishing grace are the sum and substance of the teaching of the Bible. I do…
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Mingling among the vast throng of worshippers converging on the Surrey Gardens Music Hall to hear the youthful Spurgeon was a middle-aged woman, petite and neatly dressed in black. Lines of suffering marked her face but the high cheekbones and resolute mouth added a look of courage and determination. Lavinia Bartlett was a regular…
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The book that changed the following three men is Iain Murray's The forgotten Spurgeon (Banner of Truth) I first read this book over twenty years ago on the bus as I travelled to work at a solicitor's office in Stockton-on-Tees. Its first benefit was to create within me a love for church history. It…
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