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Was C.H. Spurgeon a Calvinist?
- Thread starter Dale-c
- Start date
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http://www.spurgeon.org/calvinis.htm[/FONT]
Tom Butler
New Member
Is this a trick question?
Many folks think that a man with a passion for the lost , evangelistic to the core -- could not really have been a true Calvinist . Well , Spurgeon , Whitefield , M-L-J , and a host of others evidence the real truth of the matter .
Since this thread is about CHS , I might as well quote him a bit .
Plenteous Redemption ( 12/23/1860 )
Now , I mean solemnly again to say what I have said -- that I do believe that none others were redeemed than those who are or shall be redeemed from the guilt , the punishment , and the power of sin ,because I say again , it is abhorrent to my views of Scripture , to conceive that the damned were ever washed in the Saviour's blood , or that His blood was ever shed with an intention of saving them .
Salvation Altogether By Grace ( 7/29/1866 )
The next thing the apostle says is this : " Who hath saved us , and calleed us with an holy calling , not according to our works but according to His own purpose ." Mark that word -- "according to His own purpose ." Oh how some people wriggle over that word , as if they were worms on a fisherman's hook ! But there it stands , and cannot be got rid of . God saves His people "according to His purpose ," nay , " according to His own purpose ." ... I will not for a moment keep back the truth . If any man be saved , it is not because he purposed to be saved , but because God purposed to have him .
... It is a strange thing that men should be so angry against the purpose of God . We ourselves have a purpose ; we permit our fellow creatures to have some will of their own , and especially in giving away their own goods ; but my God is to be bound and fettered by men , and not permitted to do as He wills with His own . But be this known unto ye , O men that reply against God , that He giveth no account of His matters , but asks of you , "Can I not do as I will with mine own ? " He ruleth in Heaven , and in the armies of this lower world , and none can stay His hand or say unto Him , " What doest thou ? "
Since this thread is about CHS , I might as well quote him a bit .
Plenteous Redemption ( 12/23/1860 )
Now , I mean solemnly again to say what I have said -- that I do believe that none others were redeemed than those who are or shall be redeemed from the guilt , the punishment , and the power of sin ,because I say again , it is abhorrent to my views of Scripture , to conceive that the damned were ever washed in the Saviour's blood , or that His blood was ever shed with an intention of saving them .
Salvation Altogether By Grace ( 7/29/1866 )
The next thing the apostle says is this : " Who hath saved us , and calleed us with an holy calling , not according to our works but according to His own purpose ." Mark that word -- "according to His own purpose ." Oh how some people wriggle over that word , as if they were worms on a fisherman's hook ! But there it stands , and cannot be got rid of . God saves His people "according to His purpose ," nay , " according to His own purpose ." ... I will not for a moment keep back the truth . If any man be saved , it is not because he purposed to be saved , but because God purposed to have him .
... It is a strange thing that men should be so angry against the purpose of God . We ourselves have a purpose ; we permit our fellow creatures to have some will of their own , and especially in giving away their own goods ; but my God is to be bound and fettered by men , and not permitted to do as He wills with His own . But be this known unto ye , O men that reply against God , that He giveth no account of His matters , but asks of you , "Can I not do as I will with mine own ? " He ruleth in Heaven , and in the armies of this lower world , and none can stay His hand or say unto Him , " What doest thou ? "
Election ( 9/2/1855 )
Why should you oppose yourself to God's doctrine ? Remember what became of the children who found fault with God's prophet and exclaimed , " Go up , thou bald-head ; go up , thou bald-head ." Say nothing against God's doctrine , lest haply some evil beast should come out of the forest and devour you also . There are other woes besides the open judgment of Heaven -- take heed that these fall not on your head . Lay aside your prejudices ; listen calmly , listen dispassionately : hear what Scripture says : and when you receive the truth , if God should be pleased to reveal and manifest it to your souls , do not be ashamed to confess it . To confess you are wrong yesterday , is only to acknowledge that you are a little wiser today ; and instead of being a reflection on yourself , it is an honor to your judgment , and shows that you are improving in the knowledge of the truth . Do not be ashamed to learn , and to cast aside your old doctrines and views , but take up that which you may more plainly see to be the Word of God .
Why should you oppose yourself to God's doctrine ? Remember what became of the children who found fault with God's prophet and exclaimed , " Go up , thou bald-head ; go up , thou bald-head ." Say nothing against God's doctrine , lest haply some evil beast should come out of the forest and devour you also . There are other woes besides the open judgment of Heaven -- take heed that these fall not on your head . Lay aside your prejudices ; listen calmly , listen dispassionately : hear what Scripture says : and when you receive the truth , if God should be pleased to reveal and manifest it to your souls , do not be ashamed to confess it . To confess you are wrong yesterday , is only to acknowledge that you are a little wiser today ; and instead of being a reflection on yourself , it is an honor to your judgment , and shows that you are improving in the knowledge of the truth . Do not be ashamed to learn , and to cast aside your old doctrines and views , but take up that which you may more plainly see to be the Word of God .
Continuing With "Election" By CHS
In like manner , to say that God elected men because He foresaw they would have faith , which is salvation in the germ , would be too absurd for us to listen to for a moment . Faith is the gift of God . Every virtue comes from Him . Therefore it can not have caused Him to elect men , because it is His gift . Election , we are sure , is absolute , and altogether apart from the virtues which the saints have afterward ... Our only hope , our only plea , still hangs on grace , as exhibted in the person of Jesus Christ . and I am sure we must utterly reject and disregard all thought that our graces which are gifts of our Lord , which are His righthand planting , could have ever caused His love .
In like manner , to say that God elected men because He foresaw they would have faith , which is salvation in the germ , would be too absurd for us to listen to for a moment . Faith is the gift of God . Every virtue comes from Him . Therefore it can not have caused Him to elect men , because it is His gift . Election , we are sure , is absolute , and altogether apart from the virtues which the saints have afterward ... Our only hope , our only plea , still hangs on grace , as exhibted in the person of Jesus Christ . and I am sure we must utterly reject and disregard all thought that our graces which are gifts of our Lord , which are His righthand planting , could have ever caused His love .
Tom Butler
New Member
Wecome Back, Pipedude
Pipedude, I noticed that just returned to the board this week after a month away. Welcome back, you were missed.
Pipedude, I noticed that just returned to the board this week after a month away. Welcome back, you were missed.
Rather than start a new thread , I'll continue here for some more Spurgeon quotes related to his Calvinism .
From "Misrepresentations Of Calvinism Cleared Away " (3/25/61) :I speak of Calvinism proper ... 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 .
"Particular Redemption " ( 2/28/58) : ( ... 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 ) .
From "Misrepresentations Of Calvinism Cleared Away " (3/25/61) :I speak of Calvinism proper ... 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 .
"Particular Redemption " ( 2/28/58) : ( ... 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 ) .
From "Misrepresentations Of Calvinism Cleared Away " (3/25/61 ).
... these old doctrines either make a man so angry that he goes home and cannot sleep for very hatred , or else they bring him down into lowliness of thought , feeling the immensity of the things which he has heard . Either way it excites and stirs him up not temporarily , but in a most lasting manner . These doctrines haunt him , he kicks against the pricks , and full often the word forces a way into his soul . And I think this is no small thing for any doctrine to do , in an age given to slumber , and with human hearts so indifferent to the truth of God . I know that many men have gained more good by being made angry under a sermon than by being pleased by it , for being angry they have turned the truth over and over again and at last , the truth has burned its way right into their hearts .
... these old doctrines either make a man so angry that he goes home and cannot sleep for very hatred , or else they bring him down into lowliness of thought , feeling the immensity of the things which he has heard . Either way it excites and stirs him up not temporarily , but in a most lasting manner . These doctrines haunt him , he kicks against the pricks , and full often the word forces a way into his soul . And I think this is no small thing for any doctrine to do , in an age given to slumber , and with human hearts so indifferent to the truth of God . I know that many men have gained more good by being made angry under a sermon than by being pleased by it , for being angry they have turned the truth over and over again and at last , the truth has burned its way right into their hearts .
Election ( 9/2/55)
[ His sermon dealt with 2 Thess. 2:13,14 ]
Me thinks , my friends , that this overwhelming mass of Scripture [ for he went over plenty 0f passages -Rip ] must stagger those who dare to laugh at this doctrine . What shall we say of those who have so often despised it , and denied its divinity , who have railed at its justice and dared to defy God and call him an almighty tryant , when they have heard of His having elected so many to eternal life ? Canst thou O rejector ! cast it out of the Bible ? Canst thou take the penknife of Jehudi and cut it out of the Word of God ? Wouldst thou be like the woman at the feet of Solomon , and have the child rent in halves , that thou mightest have thy half ? Is it not here in Scripture ? And it is not thy duty to bow before it , and meekly acknowledge what thou understandeth not ? -- to receive it as the truth even though thou couldst not understand its meaning ?
[ His sermon dealt with 2 Thess. 2:13,14 ]
Me thinks , my friends , that this overwhelming mass of Scripture [ for he went over plenty 0f passages -Rip ] must stagger those who dare to laugh at this doctrine . What shall we say of those who have so often despised it , and denied its divinity , who have railed at its justice and dared to defy God and call him an almighty tryant , when they have heard of His having elected so many to eternal life ? Canst thou O rejector ! cast it out of the Bible ? Canst thou take the penknife of Jehudi and cut it out of the Word of God ? Wouldst thou be like the woman at the feet of Solomon , and have the child rent in halves , that thou mightest have thy half ? Is it not here in Scripture ? And it is not thy duty to bow before it , and meekly acknowledge what thou understandeth not ? -- to receive it as the truth even though thou couldst not understand its meaning ?
Salvation Altogether By Grace (7/29/66)
[ His text was 2 Tim.1:9 ]
Friends will remember that it is not our object to preach the doctrine which is most popular or most palatable , nor do we desire to set forth the views of any one person in the assembly ; our aim is to give what we judge to be the meaning of the text . We shall probably deliver doctrine which many of you will not like , and if you should not like it we shall not at all be surprised , or even if you be vexed and angry we shall not be at all alarmed , because we never understood that we were commissioned to preach what would please our hearers , nor were expected by sensible , not to say gracious men , to shape our views to suit the notions of our audience . We count ourselves amenable to God and to the text ; and if we give the meaning of the text , we believe we shall give the mind of God , and we shall be likely to have His favour , which will be sufficient for us , countradict us who may . However , let every candid mind be willing to receive the truth , if it be clearly in the inspired Word .
[ His text was 2 Tim.1:9 ]
Friends will remember that it is not our object to preach the doctrine which is most popular or most palatable , nor do we desire to set forth the views of any one person in the assembly ; our aim is to give what we judge to be the meaning of the text . We shall probably deliver doctrine which many of you will not like , and if you should not like it we shall not at all be surprised , or even if you be vexed and angry we shall not be at all alarmed , because we never understood that we were commissioned to preach what would please our hearers , nor were expected by sensible , not to say gracious men , to shape our views to suit the notions of our audience . We count ourselves amenable to God and to the text ; and if we give the meaning of the text , we believe we shall give the mind of God , and we shall be likely to have His favour , which will be sufficient for us , countradict us who may . However , let every candid mind be willing to receive the truth , if it be clearly in the inspired Word .
Divine Sovereignty ( 5/4/56 ) Matt.20:15
... but when God ascends His throne , His creatures then gnash their teeth ; and when we proclaim an enthroned God , and His right to do as He wills with His own , to dispose of His creatures as He thinks well , without consulting them in the matter , then it is that we are hissed and execrated , and then it is that men turn a deaf ear to us , for God on His throne is not the God they love .
And we say to all of you who gnash your teeth at this doctrine , whether you know it or not , you have a vast deal of enmity towards God in your hearts ; for until you can be brought to know this doctrine , there is something which you have not yet discovered , which makes you opposed to the idea of God absolute , God unbounded , God unfettered , God unchanging , and God having a free will , which you are so fond of proving that the creature possesses . I am persuaded that the Sovereignty of God must be held by us if we would be in a healthy state of mind . " Salvation is of the Lord alone ." Then give glory to His holy name , to whom all glory belongs .
... but when God ascends His throne , His creatures then gnash their teeth ; and when we proclaim an enthroned God , and His right to do as He wills with His own , to dispose of His creatures as He thinks well , without consulting them in the matter , then it is that we are hissed and execrated , and then it is that men turn a deaf ear to us , for God on His throne is not the God they love .
And we say to all of you who gnash your teeth at this doctrine , whether you know it or not , you have a vast deal of enmity towards God in your hearts ; for until you can be brought to know this doctrine , there is something which you have not yet discovered , which makes you opposed to the idea of God absolute , God unbounded , God unfettered , God unchanging , and God having a free will , which you are so fond of proving that the creature possesses . I am persuaded that the Sovereignty of God must be held by us if we would be in a healthy state of mind . " Salvation is of the Lord alone ." Then give glory to His holy name , to whom all glory belongs .
Free Grace (1/9/59) Text Ez.36:32
But God , who doeth as He wills with His own , and giveth mo account of His matters , but who deals with His creatures as the potter deals with his clay , took not upon Him the nature of angels , but took upon Him the seed of Abraham , and chose men to be the vessels of His mercy . This fact we know , but where is its reason ? certainly not in man . " Not for your sakes do I this . O house of Israel , be ashamed and be confounded for your own ways ."
Here , very few men object . We notice that if we talk about the election of men and the non-election of fallen angels , there is not a cavil for a moment . Every man approves of Calvinism till he feels that he is the loser by it ; but when it begins to touch his own bone and his own flesh then he kicks against it . Come , then , we must go further . The only reason why one man is saved , and not another , lies not in any sense , in the man saved , but in God's bosom . The reason why this day the gospel is preached to you and not the heathen far away , is not because , as a race , we are superior to the heathen ; it is not because we deserve more at God's hands ; His choice of Britain , in the election of outward privilege , is not caused by the excellency of the British nation , but entirely because of His own mercy and His own love . There is not reason in us why we should have the gospel preached to us more than any other nation . Today , some of us have received the gospel , and have been changed by it , and have become the heirs of light and immortality , whereas others are left still to be the heirs of wrath . But there is no reason in us why we should have been taken and others left .
But God , who doeth as He wills with His own , and giveth mo account of His matters , but who deals with His creatures as the potter deals with his clay , took not upon Him the nature of angels , but took upon Him the seed of Abraham , and chose men to be the vessels of His mercy . This fact we know , but where is its reason ? certainly not in man . " Not for your sakes do I this . O house of Israel , be ashamed and be confounded for your own ways ."
Here , very few men object . We notice that if we talk about the election of men and the non-election of fallen angels , there is not a cavil for a moment . Every man approves of Calvinism till he feels that he is the loser by it ; but when it begins to touch his own bone and his own flesh then he kicks against it . Come , then , we must go further . The only reason why one man is saved , and not another , lies not in any sense , in the man saved , but in God's bosom . The reason why this day the gospel is preached to you and not the heathen far away , is not because , as a race , we are superior to the heathen ; it is not because we deserve more at God's hands ; His choice of Britain , in the election of outward privilege , is not caused by the excellency of the British nation , but entirely because of His own mercy and His own love . There is not reason in us why we should have the gospel preached to us more than any other nation . Today , some of us have received the gospel , and have been changed by it , and have become the heirs of light and immortality , whereas others are left still to be the heirs of wrath . But there is no reason in us why we should have been taken and others left .