Quotes from The Anguish and Agonies of Charles Spurgeon by Darrel W. Amundsen

What torments did Spurgeon suffer? How did he reconcile his painful experiences with his view of a gracious God?
At the risk of oversimplifying, we can categorize Spurgeon’s sufferings as spiritual, emotional, and physical.
Spiritual Agonies – Throughout his ministry, he referred to the horrors he had felt for five years while under conviction of sin, intellectually aware of the gospel, yet blind to its personal application.
Slander and Scorn – During his early years in London, Spurgeon received intense slander and scorn.
He said, “If to be made the laughing stock of fools and the song of the drunkard once more will make me more serviceable to my Master, and more useful to his cause, I will prefer it to all this multitude, or to all the applause that man could give.”
The Weight of Preaching – Spurgeon attracted vast audiences from the beginning of his ministry. He remarked in 1883, “I have preached the gospel now these thirty years and more, and…often, in coming down to this pulpit, have I felt my knees knock together, not that I am afraid of any one of my hearers, but I am thinking of that account which I must render to God, whether I speak his Word faithfully or not.”
Emotional Trial by “Fire” – On the evening of October 19, 1856, Spurgeon was to commence weekly services at the royal Surrey Gardens Music Hall…capable of holding twelve thousand. During Spurgeon’s prayer [before an overflowing crowd] several malicious miscreants shouted, “Fire! The galleries are giving way!” In the ensuing panic, seven people died and twenty-eight were hospitalized with serious injuries. Yet until Spurgeon’s death, the spectre of the calamity so brooded over him that a close friend and biographer surmised: “I cannot but think, from what I saw, that his comparatively early death might be in some measure due to the furnace of mental suffering he endured on and after that fearful night.”
Depression – If Spurgeon was acquainted with depression before, following the Surrey Hall disaster, it became a more frequent and perverse companion.
Having been absent for three Sundays [due to incapacitating illness], when he returned he preached on 1 Peter 1:6: “Wherein ye greatly rejoice though now for a season, if need be, ye are in heaviness through manifold temptations.” In the sermon, entitled “The Christian’s Heaviness and Rejoicing,” Spurgeon said that during his illness, when “my spirits were sunken so low that I could weep by the hour like a child, and yet I knew not what I wept for…a kind friend was telling me of some poor old soul living near, who was suffering very great pain, and yet she was full of joy and rejoicing. I was so distressed by the hearing of that story, and felt so ashamed of myself…” While he was struggling with the contrast between his depression and joy evinced [evidenced] by this woman who was afflicted with cancer, “This text flashed upon my mind, with its real meaning…that sometimes the Christian should not endure his sufferings with a gallant and joyous heart” but “that sometimes his spirits should sink within him, and that he should become as a little child smitten beneath the hand of God.”
Spurgeon was indeed frequently “in heaviness.” Spurgeon’s depression was the direct result of his various illnesses, perhaps simply psychologically, and in the case of his gout, probably physiologically as well. Despite this, Spurgeon thought of his own depression as his “worst feature” and once commented that “despondency is not a virtue; I believe it is a vice. I am heartily ashamed of myself for falling into it, but I am sure there is no remedy for it like a holy faith in God.”
Spurgeon comforted himself with the realization that such depression equipped him to minister more effectively: “I would go into the deeps a hundred times to cheer a downcast spirit. It is good for me to have been afflicted, that I might know how to speak a word in season to one that is weary.”
Labors of Ministry – An orphanage to look after, four thousand members, marriages, burials, weekly sermons, The Sword and the Trowel to be edited, and a weekly average of five hundred letters to be answered.” In 1872 he asserted that “the ministry is a matter which wears the brain and strains the heart, and drains out the life of a man if he attends to it as he should.”
For his dear sake, I look with pity upon people who say, ‘Do not preach so often; you will kill yourself.’ A minister of God is bound to spurn the suggestions of ignoble ease, it is his calling to labor, and if he destroys his constitution, I, for one, only thank God that he permits us the high privilege of so making ourselves living sacrifices.”
Gout – The disease that most severely afflicted Spurgeon was gout, a condition that sometimes produces exquisite pain. What can be clearly identified as gout had seized Spurgeon …when he was 35 years old. He wrote, “…It is a great mercy to get one hour’s sleep at night…What a mercy have I felt to have only one knee tortured at a time. What a blessing to be able to put the foot on the ground again, if only for a minute!” Spurgeon was seldom free from pain from 1871 on.
The Down-Grade Controversy - Early in the controversy he commented that he had “suffered the loss of friendship and reputation, and the infliction of pecuniary withdrawments and bitter reproach…But the pain it has cost me none can measure.”
Where Is God During Suffering? - Spurgeon maintained that since God is sovereign, there are no such things as accidents. This, however, is not fatalism: “Fate is blind; providence has eyes.”
Unwavering belief in God’s sovereignty was essential for Spurgeon’s well-being: “It would be a very sharp and trying experience to me to think that I have an affliction which God never sent me, that the bitter cup was never measured out by him, not sent to me by his arrangement of their weight and quantity.”
He explained in 1873: “As long as I trace my pain to accidents, my bereavement to mistake, my loss to another’s wrong, my discomfort to an enemy, and so on, I am of the earth, earthy, and shall break my teeth with gravel stones; but when I rise to my God and see his hand at work, I grow calm, I have not a word of repining.”
Here and elsewhere Spurgeon noted the potential benefits of pain. In a sermon published in 1881 he maintained, “In itself pain will sanctify no man: it may even tend to wrap him up within himself, and make him morose, peevish, selfish; but when God blesses it, then it will have a most salutary effect—a suppling, softening influence.”
Here we see a marvelous paradox in Spurgeon’s experiential theology. He candidly admits that he dreaded suffering and would do whatever he legitimately could do to avoid it. Yet when not suffering acutely, he longed for it. “The way to stronger faith usually lies along the rough pathway of sorrow,” he said. “…I am afraid that all the grace that I have got out of my comfortable and easy times and happy hours might almost lie on a penny. But the good that I have received from my sorrows, and pains, and griefs, is altogether incalculable…Affliction is the best bit of furniture in my house. It is the best book in a minister’s library.”
On June 7, 1891, in extreme physical pain from his illnesses, Spurgeon preached what, unknown to him, proved to be his last sermon. His concluding words in the pulpit were, as usual, about his Lord: “He is the most magnanimous of captains. There never was his like among the choicest princes. He is always to be found in the thickest part of the battle. When the wind blows cold he always takes the bleak side of the hill. The heaviest end of the cross lies ever on his shoulders. If he bids us carry a burden, he carries it also. If there is anything that is gracious, generous, kind, and tender, yea lavish and superabundant in love, you always find it in him. These forty years and more have I served him, blessed be his name! And I have had nothing but love from him. I would be glad to continue yet another forty years in the same dear service here below if so it pleased him. His service is life, peace, joy. Oh, that you would enter on it at once! God help you to enlist under the banner of Jesus even this day! Amen.”

Excerpted from Free Grace Broadcaster, Issue 140, April 1992.

Should a Church Have Elders? By Mark Dever

There are many pragmatic reasons why a church might have elders. A plurality of elders can help to carry the burden of pastoral ministry; they can bring a rich variety of experience to bear on the issues and problems every pastor faces; they can hold the pastor accountable in a context of shared ministry; they can save the pastor from a multitude of errors in judgment before it ever becomes apparent in a congregational meeting. The list could go on.
But the best reason a church should have elders is because the New Testament says that it should. Throughout his epistles, and especially the pastoral epistles, Paul makes it plain that every New Testament church should have elders, that is men who "direct the affairs of the church" (1 Timothy 5:17-18 ). He commissioned Titus to make sure that all the churches in Crete had elders (Titus 1:5 ). And he took the time to outline for both Timothy and Titus what sort of men should be called to that office (1 Timothy 3:1-7 ; Titus 1:6-9 ), as well as the procedure that should be followed should a man need to be removed from the office (1 Timothy 5:19-20 ). So central were elders in Paul's thinking that, though eager to reach Jerusalem by Pentecost, he took the time to call the Ephesian elders together and give them one last exhortation (Acts 20:16-38 ), the heart of which was that they be faithful as "shepherds of the church of God".
Of course, elders were not just Paul's idea. Peter too assumed their presence in the churches to which he wrote, and gave them a message identical to Paul's: Be shepherds of God's flock. (1 Peter 5:1-4 ). So did the author of Hebrews (Hebrews 13:17 ).
So the Bible clearly teaches that New Testament churches are to be led by elders. At the end of the day, this question is just another way of asking whether or not we are going to allow the Scriptures to be the sole authority in the life of the church. For though there are lots of pragmatic reasons to have elders, from the perspective of a pastor, there are more pragmatic reasons not to have them. Elders can slow a senior pastor down, they can disagree with him, they can even tell him on occasion that he's wrong. Pragmatically speaking, who would want that?
But Peter and Paul remind us that the churches we pastor are not our own. We are pastors of God's church, God's flock. And so it is God's Word that must have the final say. Jesus created the church, he died for the church. He is its only King and law-giver. If we are committed to shepherding Christ's church, and not our own, then we must be willing to do it his way. According to the Bible, his way includes elders.
Further reading:
Edmund Clowney, _The Church_ (IVP, 1995) ch. 14; T.E. Peck, _Notes on Ecclesiology_ (repr. GPTS Press, 1994), ch. 16. The problem with both of these recommendations is that they are written by Presbyterians, who claim far more for the authority of elders than Scripture warrants. Nevertheless, they both lay out clearly the argument from Scripture for the presence of elders in the local church.

Quotes from The Expository Genius of John Calvin by Steven J. Lawson

Preface – “…sad to say, we live in a generation that has compromised this sacred calling to preach. Exposition is being replaced with entertainment, preaching with performance, doctrine with drama, and theology with theatrics.” (p. XI)

“The greatest season of church history---those eras of widespread reformation and great awakening---have been those epochs in which God-fearing men took the inspired Word and unashamedly preached it in the power of the Holy Spirit.” (p. XII)

“By overwhelming consent, he [John Calvin] remains the greatest biblical commentator of all time.” (p. 4)

“…when John was 14, he entered the University of Paris to study theology in formal preparation to become a priest. Calvin’s time at the university resulted in a master of arts degree at age 17.” (p. 6)

“Frail in stature, Calvin suffered many ailments.” (p. 15)

Calvin permitted only the Word of God, the Psalms to be sung in his church. (p. 23)

“Calvin’s deeply embedded convictions about the supreme authority of the Bible demanded an elevated view of the pulpit.” (p. 24)

“This commitment to the undisputed authority of the Bible compelled him to preach verse by verse through entire books of the Bible.” (p. 24)

“It is the expositor’s task, he believed, to bring the supreme authority of the divine Word to bear directly on his listeners.” (p. 26)

Calvin wrote, “God will have His church trained up by the pure preaching of His own Word, not by the contrivances of men [which are wood, hay and stubble].” (p. 30)

“As a faithful shepherd, he fed his congregation a steady diet of sequential expository messages.” (p. 32)
“This verse-by-verse style---lectio continua, the ‘continuous expositions’---guaranteed that Calvin would preach the full counsel of God. Difficult and controversial subjects were unavoidable. Hard sayings could not be skipped. Difficult doctrines could not be overlooked. The full counsel of God could be heard.” (p. 32)

“Whether the biblical book was long and extensive…or brief and short…Calvin was determined to preach every verse.” (p. 34)

“In Calvin’s words, preaching is ‘the living voice’ of God ‘in His church.’”(p. 35)


”In all of life, one supreme passion consumed John Calvin: the glory of God.” (p. 39)

“…this commitment to God’s glory heavily influenced Calvin’ biblical exegesis. When he studied, it was to behold the majesty of God.” (p. 40)

“The pastor, he wrote, “ought to be prepared by long study for giving to the people, as out of a storehouse, a variety of instruction concerning the Word of God.” (p. 41)

Calvin’s personal motto was, “My heart I give to thee, O Lord, promptly and sincerely.”
(p. 44)

“Two things are united,” he confessed, “teaching and prayer; God would have him whom He has set as a teacher in His church to be assiduous in prayer.” (p. 44)

Calvin “… preached no less than ten times a fortnight to the same congregation.” (p. 46)

“Calvin was not a silver tongued orator, but a Bible-teaching expositor.” (p. 55).

“When Calvin stepped into the pulpit, he did not bring a manuscript of his sermon with him.” (p. 57)

“Calvin believed spontaneous preaching helped yield a ‘lively’ delivery, one marked by energy and passion.” (p. 58)

“In Bible exposition, substance is to be desired above style, and doctrine before delivery.” (p. 65)

“Calvin is the founder of the modern grammatico-historical exegesis.” (p. 69)

“…Calvin insisted on sensus literalis, the literal sense of the biblical text. He rejected the medieval quadriga, the ancient interpretation scheme that allowed for literal, moral, allegorical, and analogical meaning of a text.” “The true meaning of Scripture is the natural and obvious meaning.” (p. 71)

“When Calvin protested against allegorizing, he was protesting not against finding a spiritual meaning in a passage, but against finding one that was not there.” (p 72)

Calvin declared, “I have felt nothing more important than a literal interpretation of the biblical text. (p. 72)

“Calvin’s purpose in preaching was to render transparent the text of Scripture itself.” (p. 73)


“Calvin used cross-references sparingly. It appears that he desired not to wander unnecessarily from the primary passage that lay open before him.” (p. 73)

In Calvin’s preaching, two kind of cross-referencing are evident. In the first, Calvin cited a passage without attempting to quote it verbatim. (p. 73) “On other occasions, Calvin directly quoted verses or passages, either by reading them, reciting them from memory or paraphrasing them.” (p. 74)

“Throughout his ministry, Calvin kept his preaching singularly focused on explaining the God-intended meaning of the biblical text.” (p. 79)

“While there is only one correct meaning to a passage, there are multiple ways of conveying that meaning in a sermon. This difference accounts for the art of preaching.” (p. 84)

“The Reformer [Calvin] wrote his first book in Latin and preached in his native French from either a Hebrew or Greek Bible.” (p. 85)

“Calvin also spoke in simple sentences that were easily accessible to his listeners.” “As he preached, Calvin’s towering intellect nearly always lay ‘concealed, behind [his] deceptively simple explanations of his author’s meaning.’” (p. 87)

“Calvin will never speak the original Greek word and will rarely refer to ‘the Greek.’” (p.88)

“Another means Calvin employed to explain a biblical text was to restate a verse in alternative words. He would adopt a different sentenced structure and use synonyms.” (p. 88)

“Calvin’s signature formula to introduce a restatement was ‘It is as if he were saying…’” or “in other words…” (p. 93)

“He showed little concern to supplement his exposition with quotations from other authors. For Calvin, nothing must overshadow the Word.” (p. 96).

“Philip Schaff…notes, “[Calvin] lacked the genial element of humor and pleasantry; he was a Christian stoic: stern, severe, unbending, yet with fires of passion and affection glowing beneath the marble surface;.” (p. 99)

“He was by nature and taste a retiring scholar, but Providence made him an organizer and ruler of churches.” (p. 99)

“Calvin rightly believed that he did not need to make the Bible relevant---it was relevant.” (p. 104)


Calvin wrote, “We have not come to the preaching merely to hear what we do not know, but to be incited to do our duty.” (p. 104)

“He preached primarily to edify and encourage the congregation God had entrusted to him. In short, he preached for changed lives.” (p. 104 -105)

“Calvin was never needlessly harsh or domineering with his own congregation.” (p. 105)

“Calvin often utilized first person plural pronouns-- ‘us’ and ‘we’--as he exhorted his congregation.” (p. 106)

“…Calvin was a master of the art of pastoral exhortation with inclusive language.” (p. 106)

“Without a doubt, loving admonishment and reproof were a part of Calvin’s preaching.”
“All true exposition of Scripture must include such correction.” (p. 112)

”For Calvin, preaching also required an apologetic defense of the faith.” “In Calvin’s view, the full weight of Scripture must be brought to bear against theological error, whether inside the organized church or outside it.” ( p. 112)

“At the heart of this practice was a holy compulsion to guard the glory of God, defend Christ’s matchless character, and protect the purity of the gospel.” (p. 112)

“Calvin took every opportunity to uphold sound doctrine and to refute any and all contradictions to it. He was a staunch guardian of the truth.” (p. 115)

“Calvin’s expositions were approximately one hour in length, some six thousand words each.” (p. 120)

“In the conclusion of each sermon, Calvin first gave a short summation of the truth he had exposited. He then passionately called for his hearers’ unqualified submission to the Lord.” (p. 120)

“Finally, he concluded with public prayer, committing his flock into the sovereign hands of the Lord.” (p. 120)

“These concluding prayers were vertical in their thrust, pointing his listeners upward to God.” (p. 126)

“This was the passion of Calvin’s preaching. Start to finish, it was soli Deo Gloria—for the honor and majesty of God alone.” (p. 129)

Premarital Counseling - Seize the Day!

This is just a note to encourage you to take advantage of the opportunity to give premarital counseling to couples for whom you perform wedding ceremonies. Premarital counseling is your chance to educate a couple for marriage before it is forever too late. It may be the only time you will have to teach them the basics of the Faith as well.
Things that I have found to be helpful in counseling a couple for marriage: First, I have them write out their personal testimony – how they came to Christ. This may give you the opportunity to lead one or both to Christ as Savior. Remember, we are not to join a believer to an unbeliever in marriage (2 Cor. 6:14).
Next, I have them sign a commitment to stay the course to the end of the counseling period. My performing the wedding ceremony depends on this (A commitment is important for any kind of counseling you might do.) In fact, one clear danger signal is what Alistair Begg calls the “Hurry-up offense.” He suggests that a couple allow seven months of lead time to adequately complete the premarital process.
Then, I ask them if they are sure, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that marriage to one another is God’s will for them. If they answer in the affirmative, I challenge them to make a commit to purity until the wedding night if they have not already done so. If they are living together, they must separate until the wedding night. The months leading up to the wedding are often the most difficult to maintain moral purity.
I usually have a six-to-eight-week premarital counseling course that I require of each couple I marry. I have included a sample schedule of our sessions.
You might want to go over key passages of Scripture and perhaps sermons you have preached on various areas of importance for marriage. Examples: Gen. 2; Eph. 5; I Pet. 3; I Cor. 7 and 11:3. I have typed up my messages on these passages and then put blanks in them for the couple to fill in as I go through it with them. Subjects like “The Origin and Purpose of Marriage” (Gen. 2:18 – 25), “The Responsibility of the Christian Wife” (Ephesians 5:22 – 24; I Pet. 3:1 – 6), “The Responsibility of the Christian Husband” (Eph. 5:25 – 33; I Pet. 3:7), “Sexual Harmony in Marriage” (I Cor. 7:1 – 11), “Children & Parenting” (Eph. 6:1 – 4; Proverbs), “Financial Wisdom” (Proverbs), and “Divorce and Remarriage” (Mat. 5:32; 19:3 - 6; Mk.10:11,12; Rom. 7:3; I Cor. 7:10, 11, 39) are usually covered. Other topics might include: Birth Control, Abortion, Communication, and Moms working outside the home.
I also have them read books (specific chapters) on Christian marriage, listen to C.D.’s, and do some exercises in workbooks. My wife is almost always present to give a wife’s perspective on the topic covered.
What a wonderful opportunity premarital counseling affords us for teaching! Seize the day!

Quotes from Jottings and Hints for Lay Preachers by F. B. Meyer

Ch. 9 – Expository Preaching

“There are two methods of preaching which are far as the poles asunder, the topical and the expository. In the former [topical preaching] the preacher selects as his theme some subject in theology or philosophy, or some topic suggested by the current life and table talk of the day, makes his address, and then looks into his Bible or concordance for an appropriate motto-text, more or less suitable, but there is perhaps the smallest possible connection between the discourse and the text. In the latter [expository preaching] the preacher prayerfully selects some extended tract of Scripture on which he proposes to concentrate himself for a considerable term of services; carefully breaks it up into paragraphs, each of which will probably yield him at least one sermon; studies the whole to get the general tenor, and then concentrates himself on each separate part, with the result that his soul is dyed with the message that burdened the prophet or evangelist who spoke, centuries ago, in the power of the Holy Spirit. The former method needs a much cleverer man; the latter will enable a man of very moderate abilities to fulfill a long and useful pastorate which will make his people Bible students, acquainted with the whole range of Scripture truth, and less liable than most to be swept away by every wind of doctrine and sleight of cunning craftiness.” P. 62

Three advantages of expository preaching:

“First. Your people will be kept in constant contact with the Word of the living God.

Second. They will be interested to come again and again to pursue the line of teaching…as people will buy the magazine in which the serial story ends with the words, To be continued in our next.

Third. You will be led to consider passages of the Word of God which your own temperament or habit of thought might lead you to avoid, and which might seem so pertinent to the case of people in your audience that you might be accused of being too personal.” P. 65

Giving sources of your study:

“Let me give one caution. Though you shall carefully study every authority in your reach, and especially the original Hebrew or Greek, it is not wise to needlessly obstrude the names of your authorities. Give your people the results, and do not worry them with the process. It is enough for the bees to give us honey; you know in a moment if the amalgam is right. It is not necessary for our tiny purveryors to tell us how far they flew….” P. 66

[We might add that it is always good to give credit for direct quotes from other authors.]
Ch. 10 - A Great Sermon

“Few things are more helpful to a young preacher than to take up the masterpieces of pulpit eloquence…to analyse them, and try and discover their salient characteristics.” P. 67

“I would specially urge young preachers to fill their sermons with the Word of God, which is the sword of the Spirit.” P. 69

“You may be sure that, since all Scripture is profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for instruction, the more there is of it in your sermons the better.” P. 69

“And you may be sure that he will be the successful preacher, whether to children or adults, who can enchain their interest, and lead from the familiar to the less familiar, and from the seen to the unseen.” P. 70

Ch. 14 – The Use of Illustrations

“Other things being equal, the preacher who uses illustrations will be surest of an audience and of the intelligent appreciation of his hearers; for the effort to employ them indicates a desire on his part to accommodate himself to the capacity of the people, and to translate divine truth into human experience and life.” P. 89

“No man ever spake as our Lord did, because none has been so prolific as He in the use of illustrations.” P. 89

“And a careful study of His method would greatly enrich and enhance our power of presenting truth to the minds of men.” P. 89

“The object in using illustrations is to bring the unseen and eternal within the range of ordinary minds, and to express the things of the spiritual world in the language of the senses and the soul.” P. 93

“Illustrations should follow, and not precede, the thoughtful presentation of truth. If we always hasten to present a striking illustration to our hearers, we shall do them the permanent injury of weakening their powers of reasoning and apprehension. Our people should be trained to think, to base their beliefs on scriptural authority, to apprehend statements of truth in their unadorned beauty and simplicity. But when this has been done, it is highly beneficial to employ illustrations to confirm and clinch the impression, to elucidate it for those to whom it may not be quite clear, and to call in the aid of the imagination to assist the memory in her office.” P. 95