How'd Spurgeon Do It???

[blhowes]

I'm reading through the Spring 2004 issue of the Free Grace Broadcaster on Justification and the first section was by Charles Spurgeon. At the end of each section is a little paragraph about the person. I thought it was amazing what they wrote about him.

[b:a43a5e910e]Charles H. Spurgeon[/b:a43a5e910e] (1834-1892): Influential Baptist minister in England. the collected sermons of Spurgeon during his ministry fill 63 volumes. The sermons' 20-25 million words are equivalent to the 27 volumes of the ninth edition of the Encyclopedia Britannica. The series stands as the largest set of books by a single author in the history of Christianity. Born at Kelvedon, Essex.

That is mind boggling! He lived only 58 years, was saved when he was 15, and started preaching when we was 16. That means his ministry lasted maybe about 43 years.

In addition, in his lifetime, Spurgeon established an orphanage that grew to house 500 children, published a magazine (The Sword and Trowel), and founded the Pastors' College that trained nearly 900 men for the Christian ministry. And, to top it off, he still had time to relax and enjoy a good cigar on occasion.

How did he possibly find the time to write all this material, let alone find the time to study the scriptures to understand the material so well? He didn't personally write down all his sermons, did he? Did he have a team of secretaries that followed him around or something?

Psa 90:12 So teach us to number our days, that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom.

 

[SolaScriptura]

I've heard tell that Spurgeon was one of those truly rare folks that has a photographic memory. I'm sure this helped him in his sermon work since he could pull from all the material he'd ever been exposed to.
Maybe it is just a rumor... but photographic memory is a real phenomenon.

 

[alwaysreforming]

Spurgeon is absolutely mind-boggling! I don't know how on earth he did all that he did.
I did read that he had a photographic memory, so that part is true. He had a secretary who worked very long hours to transcribe his stuff for him, in addition to what he personally wrote.
When I read of a person like that, it makes me feel VERY insignificant because I won't accomplish during my lifetime even a small fraction of what he did.
Spurgeon was probably my favorite person from all of history, for all that he was and all that he did.

 

[blhowes]

Well that makes a little more sense. He had photographic memory and a diligent secretary. Still amazing though.

I wonder if there's somebody walking around now who can proudly say "My grandmother was the secretary who transcribed the works of Spurgeon"?

[b:ffec991bf0]alwaysreforming wrote:[/b:ffec991bf0]
Spurgeon was probably my favorite person from all of history, for all that he was and all that he did.

I really enjoy reading his sermons. I also thought "The Forgotten Spurgeon" and "Lectures to my Students" were interesting books to read.

There was another small book I read about Spurgeon a long time ago that I really liked, I think it was by Jay Adams. I can't remember the name of the book offhand, but it took a look at his preaching style and gave examples of how he so masterfully used word pictures in his sermons. When he preached about Jesus sweating drops of blood as he prayed in the garden, he really makes it into a vivid picture.

Bob

[Edited on 3-26-2004 by blhowes]

 

[Puritan Sailor]

He probably had a few stenographers writing down his sermons as he preached too since he didn't always write down his sermons in full.

 

[pastorway]

He studied the Word daily and read an average of 6 other books a week. He did not decide what to preach on until the night before he was to preach and while he wrote pages and pages of notes while studying, he only took at most 1 page of notes into the pulpit with him when he was preaching.

He preached an average of 40 minutes each sermon and had several people in the congregation transcribing what he said. These were then compared and edited for publication in the paper and then later in books.

He was [i:5db2ed0b85]organized[/i:5db2ed0b85] and [i:5db2ed0b85]motivated[/i:5db2ed0b85].

And Brilliant!

Phillip

 

[sundoulos]

Spurgeon did have faithful people who wrote his messages down. They were personally edited by Spurgeon himself.

One advantage Spurgeon had over us is that Puritan Board was not around then.

[Edited on 3-28-2004 by sundoulos]

 

[blhowes]

Trivia question:

Historically, baptists have been had their share of persecution, primarily (I guess) because of their stand primarily against infant baptism. I was just curious if Spurgeon's preaching had earned him the respect of his paedo brothers and sisters of his time?

 

[robot]

[quote:b0c36c9e96][i:b0c36c9e96]Originally posted by blhowes[/i:b0c36c9e96]
Trivia question:

Historically, baptists have been had their share of persecution, primarily (I guess) because of their stand primarily against infant baptism. I was just curious if Spurgeon's preaching had earned him the respect of his paedo brothers and sisters of his time? [/quote:b0c36c9e96]

I'm not sure how Presbyterians thought about him, but he had to deal with the huge Downgrade Controversy over baptismal regeneration (I think).

 

[Don A]

[b:2367587380]Downgrade Controversy[/b:2367587380]

[quote:2367587380]
[At the end of the Puritan age] by some means or other, first the ministers, then the Churches, got on "the down grade," and in some cases, the descent was rapid, and in all, very disastrous. In proportion as the ministers seceded from the old Puritan godliness of life, and the old Calvinistic form of doctrine, they commonly became less earnest and less simple in their preaching, more speculative and less spiritual in the matter of their discourses, and dwelt more on the moral teachings of the New Testament, than on the great central truths of revelation. Natural theology frequently took the place which the great truths of the gospel ought to have held, and the sermons became more and more Christless. Corresponding results in the character and life, first of the preachers and then of the people, were only too plainly apparent.

The Sword and the Trowel
[/quote:2367587380]

full article / page at:

The Downgrade Controversy

 

[JonathonHunt]

Spurgeon - very close to my heart as you would expect.

www.metropolitantabernacle.org says:

***********

The next long and notable pastorate was that of C H Spurgeon, who first preached to our congregation (then housed in New Park Street Chapel) in 1853. His arrival soon led to such crowds thronging the chapel that services had to be moved to a vast hired hall in the Strand, and then to the Royal Surrey Gardens Music Hall, where up to 10,000 people assembled.

The present site was acquired for the Tabernacle partly because of its prominent situation and partly because it was thought to be the site of the burning of the Southwark Martyrs. For this reason our foundation-stone bears the words: 'The blood of the martyrs is the seed of the church.' During Spurgeon's ministry tens of thousands were converted to God under the preaching of the Word. Today we are privileged to worship in surroundings hallowed by such a history.

C. H. Spurgeon pastored the church for 38 years, founding a pastors' college, an orphanage, a Christian literature society and The Sword and the Trowel magazine. Over 200 new churches were started in the Home Counties alone, and pastored by his students. His printed sermons (still published) fill 62 volumes. In 1887, toward the end of his ministry, Spurgeon led the church out of the Baptist Union because of the widening influence of theological liberalism in the Union. Today we continue as an independent Baptist church, obeying the biblical command to have no common ground with unbiblical teaching.

The original Tabernacle of Spurgeon's time was burned down in 1898 (excepting the front portico and basement), and rebuilt along similar lines. It was later burned down for the second time when hit by an incendiary bomb in the longest air raid of World War II (in May 1941). Once again the portico and basement survived, and in 1957 the Tabernacle was rebuilt on the original perimeter walls, but to a different design.

A NEW ERA
The war led to the Tabernacle fellowship being greatly diminished as few members of the old congregation were able to return to heavily blitzed central London. By 1970, our ranks had fallen to the point where we occupied only a few pews, but then the Lord again refreshed us and blessed our testimony giving rise to the full church and galleries of today. We give all the glory to Him for the large numbers of people who have come into the Tabernacle over the past thirty years, for the numerous professions of faith, and for the various ministries which have been established.

***************

I have had the privilege to see Spurgeon's preaching table many times (in the Pastor's vestry) along with several other things like a chair belonging to Dr Gill. What is most amazing to see is an original Spurgeon Sermon note...one hangs on the wall in the Pastor's vestry today.

As Pastor Way suggested, he took no more than a page of notes into the pulpit. It is more amazing than even that suggests. The note I saw was a small piece of paper (less than half US-letter size), and it had three main headings, each with three sub headings. Nothing more than that. Not much more than 15-20 words in total.

On top of his published sermon, he also did a short exposition of a passage of scripture in the service. His notes for his exposition? He wrote down the scripture reference. That's it.

The downgrade controversy was about liberalism in the Baptist Union. Most ignored him because they thought the liberals were such a small part of the union they could never overwhelm it. Ha.

 

[sundoulos]

I had the happy privilege of handling a similar page of notes. It was as you say -- sparse. I haven't washed my hands since.

 

[Preach]

One person asked Spurgeon how he did so much work. He replied: "You forget, there are two of us".

 

[JonathonHunt]

Forgot to add - he also answered huge numbers of letters weekly, personally in his own hand. Phenomenal.

They also transcribed his prayers from the Sunday Services. Can't say I agree with that but there you are. Some of these have recently been published by Banner of Truth.

 

[brymaes]

I imagine that so many of the things that vie for our time -- television, work, etc. -- were not an issue for Spurgeon. No TV, computer, or video games to distract. Imagine the freedom of that "simple" life! How many of those things do we surround ourselves with? How can we simplify our lives to make the best of our time?

What are some of the things that Spurgeon did that we can emulate, to enhance our ministry, study, and family time?

:book:

 

[mjbee]

He read fast, wrote fast, slept fast, spoke slowly enough to be understood, and never got distracted. I wonder who took care of him? Physically, I mean.
Melissa

 

[blhowes]

[b:14aa62c283]Bryan wrote:[/b:14aa62c283]
How many of those things do we surround ourselves with? How can we simplify our lives to make the best of our time?

You raise some good, practical questions. I think, as with so many other things, prayer is the starting point. So often, I think that we get so involved with our own lives that sometimes we're blind to those things that take time away from the more productive things that we could be doing. I think that if we ask God to show us things that we do that are a waste of time, he'll answer and show us those areas.

I think that often a lot of progress can be made by making small changes to our behavior. For example, what if we decided to cut back on TV by just one hour and devoted that time to prayer, Bible study, witnessing, or whatever. Timewise, that's not a big change, but God can do a lot in just that short hour.

[b:14aa62c283]sundoulos wrote:[/b:14aa62c283]
I had the happy privilege of handling a similar page of notes. It was as you say -- sparse. I haven't washed my hands since.

His notes may have been sparse, but it'd be interesting to "get into his mind" and see what he actually brought with him. As some have said, he may have had photographic memory, so he probably had all the notes that he wrote the night before photographed in his mind, along with the necessary scriptures. All he'd have to do is think about it and read it word for word. (I sure wish I had that ability when I took calculus, chemistry, etc., in college).

Bob


[Edited on 3-31-2004 by blhowes]