Charles Haddon Spurgeon

spurgeonWhen C.H. Spurgeon was in his heyday, an Anglican minister penned these words:

There was once a preacher named Spurgie
Who hated the English liturgy.
But his sermons are fine,
I use them as mine,
And so do the rest of the clergy

Much like the Anglicans, fundamentalists also have no issue with using Spurgeon’s sermons — as long as they have been sanitized of Calvinism. Indeed, the fact that he was a Calvinist appears almost nowhere in fundamentalist’s speaking or writing about him.

Like so many fundy heroes, Spurgeon probably wouldn’t be invited to speak at any fundamentalist churches today. It’s impossible even to picture a bearded, cigar-smoking, Calvinist preacher speaking in a fundamentalist church. The mind boggles.

But his sermons are fine. And so are his commentaries. And we can always just snip out the Calvinist bits…

11 thoughts on “Charles Haddon Spurgeon”

  1. That’s cuz he wasN’T a calvinist, duh. He just parroted the common error of the day, much like his universal church leanings. Spurgeon was one of the last calvinistic (in practice) preachers of his time!

  2. Dude, your Calvinist RADAR needs fixed…

    The author of this blog is NOT a Calvinist.

    Charles Spurgeon WAS Calvinist.

    Speaking of parroting common errors…

  3. I don’t think you’re making it any better. Your version would read something like…

    Fundies love Spurgeon even though he had so little understanding that he allowed others to lead him around by the nose and ‘parroted’ thing that he didn’t believe from his pulpit.

    He also witnessed unlike all those other Calvinists like Johnathan Edwards, John Bunyan, Francis Schaeffer and that guy from Florida who wrote Evangelism Explosion.

    Probably not exactly what you were going for, eh? 🙂

  4. The writer of this blog is more calvinistic in his writings than Spurgeon ever was. The “missions” entry he/she just made is exhibit one.

  5. But…I agree. I might not be his/her first religious POV. I think the characteristic in the number one spot is “scorner”.

  6. Dude…JTR…Have you ever read any Spurgeon…other than from the pages of Sword of the Lord(which conveniently edited his Calvinism out)? Spurgeon was most definitely a Calvinist! And he was a powerful preacher and witness BECAUSE he was a Calvinist. Wake up and smell the Tulips!

    You also could use a sense of humor. I don’t know if the author intends the site to merely be a parody or if he has slightly more sinister motives, but you can’t help but laugh at most of the posts. And I am a fundy myself. I would say he has nailed a good bit of our movement, though perhaps more past than present.

  7. Spurgeon not Calvinistic?? Read the first 5 sermons preached at Metropolitan Tabernacle.

  8. Spurgeon was absolutely Calvinist, but he did speak against “these Calvinists”, that is, hyper-calvinists who had no evangelistic outreach.

  9. Spurgeon certainly was a Calvinist, and is proudly claimed as a brother by the modern-day Puritans of the Banner of Truth Trust and other such Reformed organizations.

  10. My favorite Spurgeon quote: “Nonsense is not improved by being bellowed.” Seems perfect for this blog!!

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