| Spurgeon's quotes on
Calvinism: "Calvinism IS the Gospel, and nothing else." (C. H. Spurgeon, Autobiography, Vol. I: The Early Years) "The longer I live, the clearer does it appear that John Calvin’s system is the nearest to perfection." (The Forgotten Spurgeon, by Iain Murray) "Among all those who have been born of women, there has not risen a greater than John Calvin." (C. H. Spurgeon, Autobiography, Vol. II: The Full Harvest) |
A Sermon On The Doctrine Of Grace*
The old truth that Calvin preached, that Augustine preached, that Paul preached, is the truth that I must preach to-day, or else be false to my conscience and my God. I cannot shape the truth; I know of no such thing as paring off the rough edges of a doctrine. John Knox's gospel is my gospel. That which thundered through Scotland must thunder through England again.
It
is a great thing to begin the Christian life by believing good solid
doctrine.
Some people have received twenty different "gospels" in as many
years; how many more they will accept before they get to their
journey's end,
it would be difficult to predict. I thank God that He early taught me
the
gospel, and I have been so perfectly satisfied with it, that I do not
want to
know any other. Constant change of creed is sure loss. If a tree has to
be
taken up two or three times a year, you will not need to build a very
large
loft in which to store the apples. When people are always shifting
their
doctrinal principles, they are not likely to bring forth much fruit to
the
glory of God. It is good for young believers to begin with a firm hold
upon
those great fundamental doctrines which the Lord has taught in His
Word. Why,
if I believed what some preach about the temporary, trumpery salvation
which
only lasts for a time, I would scarcely be at all grateful for it; but
when I
know that those whom God saves He saves with an everlasting salvation,
when I
know that He gives to them an everlasting righteousness, when I know
that He
settles them on an everlasting foundation of everlasting love, and that
He will
bring them to His everlasting kingdom, oh, then I do wonder, and I am
astonished
that such a blessing as this should ever have been given to me!
I
suppose there are some persons whose minds naturally incline towards
the
doctrine of free-will. I can only say that mine inclines as naturally
towards
the doctrines of sovereign grace. Sometimes, when I see some of the
worst
characters in the street, I feel as if my heart must burst forth in
tears of
gratitude that God has never let me act as they have done! I have
thought, if
God had left me alone, and had not touched me by His grace, what a
great sinner
I should have been! I should have run to the utmost lengths of sin,
dived into
the very depths of evil, nor should I have stopped at any vice or
folly, if God
had not restrained me. I feel that I should have been a very king of
sinners,
if God had let me alone. I cannot understand the reason why I am saved,
except
upon the ground that God would have it so. I cannot, if I look ever so
earnestly, discover any kind of reason in myself why I should be a
partaker of
Divine grace. If I am not at this moment without Christ, it is only
because
Christ Jesus would have His will with me, and that will was that I
should be
with Him where He is, and should share His glory. I can put the crown
nowhere
but upon the head of Him whose mighty grace has saved me from going
down into
the pit. Looking back on my past life, I can see that the dawning of it
all was
of God; of God effectively. I took no torch with which to light the
sun, but
the sun enlightened me. I did not commence my spiritual life-no, I
rather
kicked, and struggled against the things of the Spirit: when He drew
me, for a
time I did not run after Him: there was a natural hatred in my soul of
everything holy and good. Wooings were lost upon me-warnings were cast
to the
wind- thunders were despised; and as for the whispers of His love, they
were
rejected as being less than nothing and vanity. But, sure I am, I can
say now,
speaking on behalf of myself, "He only is my salvation." It was He
who turned my heart, and brought me down on my knees before Him. I can
in very
deed, say with Doddridge and Toplady-
Well
can I remember the manner in which I learned the doctrines of grace in
a single
instant. Born, as all of us are by nature, an Arminian, I still
believed the
old things I had heard continually from the pulpit, and did not see the
grace
of God. When I was coming to Christ, I thought I was doing it all
myself, and
though I sought the Lord earnestly, I had no idea the Lord was seeking
me. I do
not think the young convert is at first aware of this. I can recall the
very
day and hour when first I received those truths in my own soul-when
they were,
as John Bunyan says, burnt into my heart as with a hot iron, and I can
recollect
how I felt that I had grown on a sudden from a babe into a man-that I
had made
progress in Scriptural knowledge, through having found, once for all,
the clue
to the truth of God. One week-night, when I was sitting in the house of
God, I
was not thinking much about the preacher's sermon, for I did not
believe it.
The thought struck me, How did you come to be a Christian? I sought the
Lord.
But how did you come to seek the Lord? The truth flashed across my mind
in a
moment- I should not have sought Him unless there had been some
previous
influence in my mind to make me seek Him. I prayed, thought I, but then
I asked
myself, How came I to pray? I was induced to pray by reading the
Scriptures.
How came I to read the Scriptures? I did read them, but what led me to
do so?
Then, in a moment, I saw that God was at the bottom of it all, and that
He was
the Author of my faith, and so the whole doctrine of grace opened up to
me, and
from that doctrine I have not departed to this day, and I desire to
make this
my constant confession, "I ascribe my change wholly to God."
I
once attended a service where the text happened to be, "He shall choose
our inheritance for us;" and the good man who occupied the pulpit was
more
than a little of an Arminian. Therefore, when he commenced, he said,
"This
passage refers entirely to our temporal inheritance, it has nothing
whatever to
do with our everlasting destiny, for," said he, "we do not want
Christ to choose for us in the matter of Heaven or hell. It is so plain
and
easy, that every man who has a grain of common sense will choose
Heaven, and
any person would know better than to choose hell. We have no need of
any
superior intelligence, or any greater Being, to choose Heaven or hell
for us.
It is left to our own free- will, and we have enough wisdom given us,
sufficiently correct means to judge for ourselves," and therefore, as
he
very logically inferred, there was no necessity for Jesus Christ, or
anyone, to
make a choice for us. We could choose the inheritance for ourselves
without any
assistance. "Ah!" I thought, "but, my good brother, it may be
very true that we could, but I think we should want something more than
common
sense before we should choose aright."
First,
let me ask, must we not all of us admit an over-ruling Providence, and
the
appointment of Jehovah's hand, as to the means whereby we came into
this world?
Those men who think that, afterwards, we are left to our own free-will
to
choose this one or the other to direct our steps, must admit that our
entrance
into the world was not of our own will, but that God had then to choose
for us.
What circumstances were those in our power which led us to elect
certain
persons to be our parents? Had we anything to do with it? Did not God
Himself
appoint our parents, native place, and friends? Could He not have
caused me to
be born with the skin of the Hottentot, brought forth by a filthy
mother who
would nurse me in her "kraal," and teach me to bow down to Pagan
gods, quite as easily as to have given me a pious mother, who would
each morning
and night bend her knee in prayer on my behalf? Or, might He not, if He
had
pleased have given me some profligate to have been my parent, from
whose lips I
might have early heard fearful, filthy, and obscene language? Might He
not have
placed me where I should have had a drunken father, who would have
immured me
in a very dungeon of ignorance, and brought me up in the chains of
crime? Was
it not God's Providence that I had so happy a lot, that both my parents
were
His children, and endeavoured to train me up in the fear of the Lord?
John
Newton used to tell a whimsical story, and laugh at it, too, of a good
woman
who said, in order to prove the doctrine of election, "Ah! sir, the
Lord
must have loved me before I was born, or else He would not have seen
anything
in me to love afterwards." I am sure it is true in my case; I believe
the
doctrine of election, because I am quite certain that, if God had not
chosen
me, I should never have chosen Him; and I am sure He chose me before I
was
born, or else He never would have chosen me afterwards; and He must
have
elected me for reasons unknown to me, for I never could find any reason
in
myself why He should have looked upon me with special love. So I am
forced to
accept that great Biblical doctrine. I recollect an Arminian brother
telling me
that he had read the Scriptures through a score or more times, and
could never
find the doctrine of election in them. He added that he was sure he
would have
done so if it had been there, for he read the Word on his knees. I said
to him,
"I think you read the Bible in a very uncomfortable posture, and if you
had read it in your easy chair, you would have been more likely to
understand
it. Pray, by all means, and the more, the better, but it is a piece of
superstition to think there is anything in the posture in which a man
puts
himself for reading: and as to reading through the Bible twenty times
without
having found anything about the doctrine of election, the wonder is
that you
found anything at all: you must have galloped through it at such a rate
that
you were not likely to have any intelligible idea of the meaning of the
Scriptures."
If
it would be marvelous to see one river leap up from the earth
full-grown, what
would it be to gaze upon a vast spring from which all the rivers of the
earth
should at once come bubbling up, a million of them born at a birth?
What a
vision would it be! Who can conceive it. And yet the love of God is
that
fountain, from which all the rivers of mercy, which have ever gladdened
our
race-all the rivers of grace in time, and of glory hereafter-take their
rise.
My soul, stand thou at that sacred fountain-head, and adore and
magnify, for
ever and ever, God, even our Father, who hath loved us! In the very
beginning,
when this great universe lay in the mind of God, like unborn forests in
the
acorn cup; long ere the echoes awoke the solitudes; before the
mountains were
brought forth; and long ere the light flashed through the sky, God
loved His
chosen creatures. Before there was any created being-when the ether was
not
fanned by an angel's wing, when space itself had not an existence, when
there
was nothing save God alone-even then, in that loneliness of Deity, and
in that
deep quiet and profundity, His bowels moved with love for His chosen.
Their names
were written on His heart, and then were they dear to His soul. Jesus
loved His
people before the foundation of the world-even from eternity! and when
He
called me by His grace, He said to me, "I have loved thee with an
everlasting love: therefore with lovingkindness have I drawn thee."
Then,
in the fulness of time, He purchased me with His blood; He let His
heart run
out in one deep gaping wound for me long ere I loved Him. Yea, when He
first
came to me, did I not spurn Him? When He knocked at the door, and asked
for
entrance, did I not drive Him away, and do despite to Ms grace? Ah, I
can
remember that I full often did so until, at last, by the power of His
effectual
grace, He said, "I must, I will come in;" and then He turned my
heart, and made me love Him. But even till now I should have resisted
Him, had
it not been for His grace. Well, then since He purchased me when I was
dead in
sins, does it not follow, as a consequence necessary and logical, that
He must
have loved me first? Did my Saviour die for me because I believed on
Him? No; I
was not then in existence; I had then no being. Could the Saviour,
therefore,
have died because I had faith, when I myself was not yet born? Could
that have
been possible? Could that have been the origin of the Saviour's love
towards
me? Oh! no; my Saviour died for me long before I believed. "But,"
says someone, "He foresaw that you would have faith; and, therefore, He
loved you." What did He foresee about my faith? Did He foresee that I
should get that faith myself, and that I should believe on Him of
myself) No;
Christ could not foresee that, because no Christian man will ever say
that
faith came of itself without the gift and without the working of the
Holy
Spirit. I have met with a great many believers, and talked with them
about this
matter; but I never knew one who could put his hand on his heart, and
say,
"I believed in Jesus without the assistance of the Holy Spirit."
I
am bound to the doctrine of the depravity of the human heart, because I
find
myself depraved in heart, and have daily proofs that in my flesh there
dwelleth
no good thing. If God enters into covenant with unfallen man, man is so
insignificant a creature that it must be an act of gracious
condescension on
the Lord's part; but if God enters into covenant with sinful man, he is
then so
offensive a creature that it must be, on God's part, an act of pure,
free,
rich, sovereign grace. When the Lord entered into covenant with me, I
am sure
that it was all of grace, nothing else but grace. When I remember what
a den of
unclean beasts and birds my heart was, and how strong was my unrenewed
will,
how obstinate and rebellious against the sovereignty of the Divine
rule, I
always feel inclined to take the very lowest room in my Father's house,
and
when I enter Heaven, it will be to go among the less than the least of
all
saints, and with the chief of sinners.
The
late lamented Mr. Denham has put, at the foot of his portrait, a most
admirable
text, "Salvation is of the Lord." That is just an epitome of
Calvinism; it is the sum and substance of it. If anyone should ask me
what I
mean by a Calvinist, I should reply, "He is one who says, Salvation is
of
the Lord." I cannot find in Scripture any other doctrine than this. It
is
the essence of the Bible. "He only is my rock and my salvation." Tell
me anything contrary to this truth, and it will be a heresy; tell me a
heresy,
and I shall find its essence here, that it has departed from this
great, this
fundamental, this rock-truth, "God is my rock and my salvation." What
is the heresy of Rome, but the addition of something to the perfect
merits of
Jesus Christ-the bringing in of the works of the flesh, to assist in
our
justification? And what is the heresy of Arminianism but the addition
of
something to the work of the Redeemer? Every heresy, if brought to the
touchstone, will discover itself here. I have my own Private opinion
that there
is no such thing as preaching Christ and Him crucified, unless we
preach what
nowadays is called Calvinism. It is a nickname to call it Calvinism;
Calvinism
is the gospel, and nothing else. I do not believe we can preach the
gospel, if
we do not preach justification by faith, without works; nor unless we
preach
the sovereignty of God in His dispensation of grace; nor unless we
exalt the
electing, unchangeable, eternal, immutable, conquering love of Jehovah;
nor do
I think we can preach the gospel, unless we base it upon the special
and
particular redemption of His elect and chosen people which Christ
wrought out
upon the cross; nor can I comprehend a gospel which lets saints fall
away after
they are called, and suffers the children of God to be burned in the
fires of
damnation after having once believed in Jesus. Such a gospel I abhor.
I
do not know how some people, whobelieve that a Christian can fall from
grace,
manage to be happy. It must be a very commendable thing in them to be
able to
get through a day without despair. f I did not believe the doctrine of
the
final perseverance of the saints, I think I should be of all men the
most
miserable, because I should lack any ground of comfort. I could not
say,
whatever state of heart I came into, that I should be like a well-
spring of
water, whose stream fails not; I should rather have to take the
comparison of
an intermittent spring, that might stop on a sudden, or a reservoir,
which I
had no reason to expect would always be full. I believe that the
happiest of
Christians and the truest of Christians are those who never dare to
doubt God,
but who take His Word simply as it stands, and believe it, and ask no
questions, just feeling assured that if God has said it, it will be so.
I bear
my willing testimony that I have no reason, nor even the shadow of a
reason, to
doubt my Lord, and I challenge Heaven, and earth, and hell, to bring
any proof
that God is untrue. From the depths of hell I call the fiends, and from
this
earth I call the tried and afflicted believers, and to Heaven I appeal,
and
challenge the long experience of the blood-washed host, and there is
not to be
found in the three realms a single person who can bear witness to one
fact
which can disprove the faithfulness of God, or weaken Ms claim to be
trusted by
His servants. There are many things that may or may not happen, but
this I know
shall happen-
I know there are some who think it necessary to their system of theology to limit the merit of the blood of Jesus: if my theological system needed such a limitation, I would cast it to the winds. I cannot, I dare not allow the thought to find a lodging in my mind, it seems so near akin to blasphemy. In Christ's finished work I see an ocean of merit; my plummet finds no bottom, my eye discovers no shore. There must be sufficient efficacy in the blood of Christ, if God had so willed it, to have saved not only all in this world, but all in ten thousand worlds, had they transgressed their Maker's law. Once admit infinity into the matter, and limit is out of the question. Having a Divine Person for an offering, it is not consistent to conceive of limited value; bound and measure are terms inapplicable to the Divine sacrifice. The intent of the Divine purpose fixes the application of the infinite offering, but does not change it into a finite work. Think of the numbers upon whom God has bestowed His grace already. Think of the countless hosts in Heaven: if thou wert introduced there to-day, thou wouldst find it as easy to tell the stars, or the sands of the sea, as to count the multitudes that are before the throne even now. They have come from the East, and from the West, from the North, and from the South, and they are sitting down with Abraham, and with Isaac, and with Jacob in the Kingdom of God; and beside those in Heaven, think of the saved ones on earth. Blessed be God, His elect on earth are to be counted by millions, I believe, and the days are coming, brighter days than these, when there shall be multitudes upon multitudes brought to know the Saviour, and to rejoice in Him. The Father's love is not for a few only, but for an exceeding great company. "A great multitude, which no man could number," will be found in Heaven. A man can reckon up to very high figures; set to work your Newtons, your mightiest calculators, and they can count great numbers, but God and God alone can tell the multitude of His redeemed. I believe there will be more in Heaven than in hell. If anyone asks me why I think so, I answer, because Christ, in everything, is to "have the pre- eminence," and Icannot conceive how He could have the pre- eminence if there are to be more in the dominions of Satan than in Paradise. Moreover, I have never read that there is to be in hell a great multitude, which no man could number. I rejoice to know that the souls of all infants, as soon as they die, speed their way to Paradise. Think what a multitude there is of them! Then there are already in Heaven unnumbered myriads of the spirits of just men made perfect-the redeemed of all nations, and kindreds, and people, and tongues up till now; and there are better times coming, when the religion of Christ shall be universal; when-
when
whole kingdoms shall bow down before Him, and nations shall be born in
a day,
and in the thousand years of the great millennial state there will be
enough
saved to make up all the deficiencies of the thousands of years that
have gone
before. Christ shall be Master everywhere, and His praise shall be
sounded in
every land. Christ shall have the pre-eminence at last; His train shall
be far
larger than that which shall attend the chariot of the grim monarch of
hell.
Some
persons love the doctrine of universal atonement because they say, "It
is
so beautiful. It is a lovely idea that Christ should have died for all
men; it
commends itself," they say, "to the instincts of humanity; there is
something in it full of joy and beauty." I admit there is, but beauty
may
be often associated with falsehood. There is much which I might admire
in the
theory of universal redemption, but I will just show what the
supposition
necessarily involves. If Christ on His cross intended to save every
man, then
He intended to save those who were lost before He died. If the doctrine
be
true, that He died for all men, then He died for some who were in hell
before
He came into this world, for doubtless there were even then myriads
there who
had been cast away because of their sins. Once again, if it was
Christ's
intention to save all men, how deplorably has He been disappointed, for
we have
His own testimony that there is a lake which burneth with fire and
brimstone,
and into that pit of woe have been cast some of the very persons who,
according
to the theory of universal redemption, were bought with His blood. That
seems
to me a conception a thousand times more repulsive than any of those
consequences which are said to be associated with the Calvinistic and
Christian
doctrine of special and particular redemption. To think that my Saviour
died
for men who were or are in hell, seems a supposition too horrible for
me to
entertain. To imagine for a moment that He was the Substitute for all
the sons
of men, and that God, having first punished the Substitute, afterwards
punished
the sinners themselves, seems to conflict with all my ideas of Divine
justice.
That Christ should offer an atonement and satisfaction for the sins of
all men,
and that afterwards some of those very men should be punished for the
sins for
which Christ had already atoned, appears to me to be the most monstrous
iniquity that could ever have been imputed to Saturn, to Janus, to the
goddess
of the Thugs, or to the most diabolical heathen deities. God forbid
that we
should ever think thus of Jehovah, the just and wise and good! There is
no soul
living who holds more firmly to the doctrines of grace than I do, and
if any
man asks me whether I am ashamed to be called a Calvinist, I answer- I
wish to
be called nothing but a Christian; but if you ask me, do I hold the
doctrinal
views which were held by John Calvin, I reply, I do in the main hold
them, and
rejoice to avow it. But far be it from me even to imagine that Zion
contains
none but Calvinistic Christians within her walls, or that there are
none saved
who do not hold our views. Most atrocious things have been spoken about
the
character and spiritual condition of John Wesley, the modern prince of
Arminians. I can only say concerning him that, while I detest many of
the
doctrines which he preached, yet for the man himself I have a reverence
second to
no Wesleyan; and if there were wanted two apostles to be added to the
number of
the twelve, I do not believe that there could be found two men more fit
to be
so added than George Whitefield and John Wesley. The character of John
Wesley
stands beyond all imputation for self-sacrifice, zeal, holiness, and
communion
with God; he lived far above the ordinary level of common Christians,
and was
one "of whom the world was not worthy." I believe there are
multitudes of men who cannot see these truths, or, at least, cannot see
them in
the way in which we put them, who nevertheless have received Christ as
their
Saviour, and are as dear to the heart of the God of grace as the
soundest
Calvinist in or out of Heaven.
I
do not think I differ from any of my Hyper-Calvinistic brethren in what
I do
believe, but I differ from them in what they do not believe. I do not
hold any
less than they do, but I hold a little more, and, I think, a little
more of the
truth revealed in the Scriptures. Not only are there a few cardinal
doctrines,
by which we can steer our ship North, South, East, or West, but as we
study the
Word, we shall begin to learn something about the North-west and
North-east,
and all else that lies between the four cardinal points. The system of
truth
revealed in the Scriptures is not simply one straight line, but two;
and no man
will ever get a right view of the gospel until he knows how to look at
the two
lines at once. For instance, I read in one Book of the Bible, "The
Spirit
and the bride say, Come. And let him that heareth say, Come. And let
him that
is athirst come. And whosoever will, let him take the water of life
freely." Yet I am taught, in another part of the same inspired Word,
that
"it is not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God
that
sheweth mercy." I see, in one place, God in providence presiding over
all,
and yet I see, and I cannot help seeing, that man acts as he pleases,
and that
God has left his actions, in a great measure, to his own free-will.
Now, if I
were to declare that man was so free to act that there was no control
of God
over his actions, I should be driven very near to atheism; and if, on
the other
hand, I should declare that God so over-rules all things that man is
not free
enough to be responsible, I should be driven at once into Antinomianism
or
fatalism. That God predestines, and yet that man is responsible, are
two facts
that few can see clearly. They are believed to be inconsistent and
contradictory to each other. If, then, I find taught in one part of the
Bible
that everything is foreordained, that is true; and if I find, in
another
Scripture, that man is responsible for all his actions, that is true;
and it is
only my folly that leads me to imagine that these two truths can ever
contradict each other. I do not believe they can ever be welded into
one upon
any earthly anvil, but they certainly shall be one in eternity. They
are two
lines that are so nearly parallel, that the human mind which pursues
them
farthest will never discover that they converge, but they do converge,
and they
will meet somewhere in eternity, close to the throne of God, whence all
truth
doth spring.
It
is often said that the doctrines we believe have a tendency to lead us
to sin.
I have heard it asserted most positively, that those high doctrines
which we
love, and which we find in the Scriptures, are licentious ones. I do
not know
who will have the hardihood** to make that assertion,
when they consider
that the
holiest of men have been believers in them. I ask the man who dares to
say that
Calvinism is a licentious religion, what he thinks of the character of
Augustine, or Calvin, or Whitefield, who in successive ages were the
great
exponents of the system of grace; or what will he say of the Puritans,
whose
works are full of them? Had a man been an Arminian in those days, he
would have
been accounted the vilest heretic breathing, but now we are looked upon
as the
heretics, and they as the orthodox. We have gone back to the old
school; we can
trace our descent from the apostles. It is that vein of free-grace,
running
through the sermonizing of Baptists, which has saved us as a
denomination. Were
it not for that, we should not stand where we are today. We can run a
golden
line up to Jesus Christ Himself, through a holy succession of mighty
fathers,
who all held these glorious truths; and we can ask concerning them,
"Where
will you find holier and better men in the world?" No doctrine is so
calculated to preserve a man from sin as the doctrine of the grace of
God.
Those who have called it "a licentious doctrine" did not know
anything at all about it. Poor ignorant things, they little knew that
their own
vile stuff was the most licentious doctrine under Heaven. If they knew
the
grace of God in truth, they would soon see that there was no
preservative from
lying like a knowledge that we are elect of God from the foundation of
the
world. There is nothing like a belief in my eternal perseverance, and
the
immutability of my Father's affection, which can keep me near to Him
from a
motive of simple gratitude. Nothing makes a man so virtuous as belief
of the
truth. A lying doctrine will soon beget a lying practice. A man cannot
have an
erroneous belief without by-and-by having an erroneous life. I believe
the one
thing naturally begets the other. Of all men, those have the most
disinterested
piety, the sublimest reverence, the most ardent devotion, who believe
that they
are saved by grace, without works, through faith, and that not of
themselves,
it is the gift of God. Christians should take heed, and see that it
always is
so, lest by any means Christ should be crucified afresh, and put to an
open
shame.
Amen
** "hardihood": the trait of being willing to
undertake things that involve risk or danger.