“The Word of God is quick and powerful and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.” (Heb. 4:12). What a devastating effect the Word of God has on the enemies of the King, and what a balm to weary pilgrims when applied with the Holy Spirit’s power! Who unaided can fathom the depths of God’s Word? It is by the preaching of that Word that sinners are effectually drawn to Christ as the Westminster Confession states: “The Spirit of God maketh the reading, but especially the preaching of the Word an effectual means of enlightening, convincing and humbling sinners; of driving them out of themselves and drawing them unto Christ.” In the preaching of the Word Christ is our great exemplar, and what example of preaching can compare to that left on record in the Sermon on the Mount. Christ Himself is the foundation, the corner-stone, the rock upon which all who proclaim the unsearchable riches of Christ must be firmly established.
The Gospel has been proclaimed from generation to generation by a succession of faithful ambassadors of Christ, who like Paul could say to those to whom they ministered the Gospel, “I will very gladly spend and be spent for you.” One of those shining lights was Charles Haddon Spurgeon. In him we have an outstanding example of one whose written sermons, as well as his preached discourses, made a great impact upon men, and were the means of leading many sinners to Christ. It is estimated that about one hundred and fifty million copies of his sermons have been published, to which has also to be added the immense number of his sermons issued abroad in various languages. In all, more than three hundred million of his sermons have gone out on their evangelistic mission.
His own comments on the subject of preaching are a wonderful revelation. “Preaching Jesus Christ is sweet work, joyful work, heavenly work. Whitefield used to call his pulpit his throne, and those who know the bliss of forgetting everything besides the glorious, all-absorbing topic of Christ crucified will bear witness that the term was aptly used. It is a bath in the waters of paradise to preach with the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven. Scarcely is it possible for a man this side the grave, to be nearer heaven than is a preacher when his Master’s presence bears him right away from every care and thought, save the one business in hand, and that the greatest that ever occupied a creature’s mind and heart. No tongue can tell the amount of happiness which I have enjoyed in delivering these twenty years of sermons, and so forgive me if I have wearied you with this grateful record for I could not refrain from inviting others to aid me in praising my gracious Master. ‘Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me bless his holy name’.”
As an indication of the blessing that followed the distribution of Spurgeon’s sermons throughout the world the following is illustrative. “At the close of one of our services, a poor woman, accompanied by two of her neighbours, came to my vestry in deep distress. Her husband had fled the country; and, in her sorrow she had gone to the house of God and something I said in my sermon made her think I was personally familiar with her case. Of course I had really known nothing about her; I had made use of a general illustration which just fitted her particular case. She told me her story, and a very sad one it was. I said, ‘There is nothing that we can do but kneel down and cry to the Lord for the immediate conversion of your husband.’ We knelt down, and I prayed that the Lord would touch the heart of the deserter, convert his soul, and bring him back to his home. When we rose from our knees I said to the poor woman, ‘Do not fret about the matter, I feel sure your husband will come home; and that he will yet become connected with our church.’ She went away and I forgot all about her. Some months afterwards she reappeared, with her neighbours, and a man she introduced to me as her husband. He had indeed come back, and he had returned a converted man. On making enquiry, and comparing notes, we found that, the very day on which we had prayed for his conversion, he, being at that time on board a ship far away on the sea, stumbled most unexpectedly upon a stray copy of one of my sermons. He read it; the truth went to his heart; he repented and sought the Lord; and as soon as possible he came back to his wife and to his daily calling.”
Spurgeon’s sermons found their way to Australia. One gentleman spent a considerable sum of money week by week having Spurgeon’s sermons printed as advertisements in several Australian newspapers, by which means they were read far away in the bush. Of the hundreds of letters received from people to whom these sermons have been of immense benefit the following is an example:
“Having seen an advertisement lately at the head of one of the sermons published weekly in ‘The Australasian’ asking for an expression of opinion as to their usefulness, I venture respectfully to offer the following brief statement in reply.
“I have been, for some five years or more, one of those unfortunates who are commonly called ‘swagmen.’ Travelling about, a few months since, looking for employment, I came to a public-house by the roadside; into which I went for a drink, and an hour’s rest, as I was very tired. A newspaper was lying on the counter, containing Mr Spurgeon’s sermon on the text, ‘Turn O backsliding children, saith the Lord, for I am married unto you.’ I read it through with increasing interest as I went along; and it exactly met my case. It aroused me to a sense of my utterly lost condition as a sinner of the deepest dye, and, at the same time so encouraged me to seek for mercy and peace at the foot of the cross that I could not resist doing so; and I humbly hope and believe I did not seek in vain. I left that public-house resolved never to enter one again unless absolutely compelled by circumstances to do so. Since then I have enjoyed a peace to which I had been long a stranger. I now make God’s Word my daily study, and attend Divine service whenever I can.
“To my personal knowledge, these sermons are extensively read in the country districts; and for my own part I look to the arrival of the weekly paper — which my employer always lends me — as the messenger of joy and comfort to myself; and I pray that it may prove to be the same to hundreds of others also. I would just, in conclusion, ask you to offer this expression of my humble and heartfelt thanks to the friend who pays for the advertisement of Mr Spurgeon’s sermons.”
In America too, his sermons had an unprecedented circulation. No less than 500,000 volumes have been sold in that country, and when one adds the almost innumerable republications of single sermons in the transient periodicals of the day, it is safe to say no other preacher has had so extensive a hearing in America as Charles Haddon Spurgeon. These sermons scattered throughout that continent were greatly blessed. One peculiar illustration will show how the power of the Holy Spirit can be applied effectively:
When aboard a steamer going up the Pacific coast to Oregon a passenger had in his possession a volume of Spurgeon’s sermons. On the Lord’s Day he asked each person on board the steamer to read a sermon aloud. All declined until he came to one man who agreed to act as reader. Quite a company gathered round him, which gradually increased as he went on with the discourse until, after some time, he saw that not only the passengers, but all the crew who could possibly be at liberty were among his audience, and that all were very attentive.
The informal service was soon over, but not so the effect of the sermon, for, some months after, being in San Francisco, the reader of this discourse was abruptly saluted in the street, one day, by a stranger — a sailor — who seemed overjoyed at meeting him. “How do you do?” said he. “Don’t you know me? Why, I heard you preach!” “I am not a preacher my friend, so you must have made a mistake.” “Oh no! I have not; I heard you preach. Don’t you remember the steamer that was going to Oregon?” “Oh, yes!” replied the gentleman; “I recollect, and I read one of Mr Spurgeon’s sermons.” “Well,” said the sailor, “I never forgot that sermon, it made me feel that I was a sinner, and I have found Christ, and I am so glad to see you again.”
The legacy of this honoured servant of the Lord is still, after more than eighty years, in wide circulation. Truly it can be said of him, “Though dead, yet speaketh.” It is fitting to conclude this article by showing how Spurgeon himself received a special message through one of his own discourses. He describes it thus:
“I once learnt something in a way one does not often get a lesson. I felt at that time very weary and very sad and very heavy at heart; and I began to doubt in my own mind whether I really enjoyed the things which I preached to others. It seemed to be a dreadful thing for me to be only a waiter and not a guest at the gospel feast. I went to a certain country town and on the Sabbath day entered a Methodist Chapel. The man who conducted the service was an engineer; he read the Scriptures and prayed and preached. The tears flowed freely from my eyes; I was moved to the deepest emotion by every sentence of the sermon, and I felt all my difficulty removed, for the gospel, I saw, was very dear to me, and had a wonderful effect upon my heart. I went to the preacher and said, ‘I thank you very much for that sermon.’ He asked me who I was, and when I told him he looked as red as possible, and he said, ‘Why, it was one of your sermons that I preached this morning.’ ‘Yes’, I said, ‘I know it was; but that was the very message that I wanted to hear, because I then saw that I did enjoy the very Word I myself preached.’ It was happily so arranged in the good providence of God. Had it been his own sermon it would not have answered the purpose nearly so well as when it turned out to be one of mine.”
W. T.