C H SPURGEON AND THE PILGRIM'S PROGRESS
by Dr Barry E HornerFROM SWORD & TROWEL 2002 No
1
THE most notable preacher of Victorian England was surely C H Spurgeon.
From a youth of nineteen to the seasoned leader of British nonconformity, with 6,000
regularly packed into his Sunday services, this prince of the evangelical pulpit gave constant
acknowledgement of his indebtedness to Bunyan as to no other spiritual mentor.
This is no idle statement, since his son Thomas said, ‘I am pretty sure that
his answer to the query, "Who is your favourite author?" was, "John Bunyan". He has
spoken of him over and over again as "my great favourite", and has left on record that he
had read The Pilgrim’s Progress at least one hundred times.’
The pre-eminent quality of The Pilgrim’s Progress in the mind
of Spurgeon was its seamless weaving in of the Word of God. So he says - ‘It is a volume
of which I never seem to tire; and the secret of its freshness is that it is so largely compiled
from the Scriptures.’
The Formative Years
1. As a young lad in his grandfather’s library
When living as a boy for several years with his grandfather, a
Congregationalist pastor at Stambourne, Essex, Spurgeon loved to spend time in a dimly lit
room in which there was a large collection of books that greatly attracted him. Among many
volumes representing classic English Protestantism, an illustrated version of The
Pilgrim’s Progress especially captured his attention. He
recalls, following his conversion -
‘John Bunyan could not have written as he did if he had not been dragged
about by the devil for many years. I love that picture of dear old Christian. I know, when I
first read The Pilgrim’s Progress, and saw in it the woodcut of Christian
carrying the burden on his back, I felt so interested in the poor fellow that I thought I should
jump with joy when, after he had carried his heavy load so long, he at last got rid of it; and
that was how I felt when the burden of guilt, which I had borne so long, was for ever rolled
away from my shoulders and my heart.’
A friend also related that at the age of fifteen, Spurgeon was heard to recite
long passages from Grace Abounding.
2. As a young pastor nearing marriage
In 1854, when Spurgeon first preached at New Park Street Chapel in
London, a young lady named Susannah Thompson was in attendance who inside two years
would become his wife. Eighteen months before their marriage, Spurgeon gave Susannah
an illustrated copy of The Pilgrim’s Progress, with the following inscription:
‘Miss Thompson, with desires for her progress in the blessed pilgrimage.’
Mrs Spurgeon later wrote: ‘I do not think that my beloved had at that time
any other thought concerning me than to help a struggling soul Heavenward; but I was
greatly impressed by his concern for me, and the book became very precious as well as
helpful.’
Common Characteristics
Both Bunyan and Spurgeon were probably of French extraction. John Brown
writes concerning the Bedford preacher that, ‘in 1219 the form of the name was Buignon,
really an old French word . . . It is probable that the Bunyans sprang from those Northmen
who came to us through Normandy.’
Spurgeon was a descendant of the Protestant Huguenots who fled from
persecution in France.
Both Bunyan and Spurgeon held baptistic convictions, also believing in
nonconformity. Both lacked formal university and theological education, though it is
apparent that extraordinary natural ability, which God was able to harness, enabled them to
pursue independent study with intense earnestness.
1. As pastors
Bunyan and Spurgeon both possessed exceptional fluency and power of
expression. While Spurgeon drew immense crowds in London, even as many as 24,000 at
the Crystal Palace, Bunyan could draw 1,200 people on a working midwinter day at 7.00
am, when there had been only 24 hours notice of a meeting.
Both preachers were also gifted writers whose publications were circulated
worldwide. If Bunyan holds the record for producing the most widely published piece of
literature after the English Bible, Spurgeon holds the record for the most widely circulated
collection of sermons in the history of the Christian Church.
Both were beloved and able pastors whose pulpit and literary skills were not
pursued at the expense of pastoral shepherding. Both were accessible, Bunyan never
forgetting the pastoral example of John Gifford, and Spurgeon immersed in personal
ministry, including the orphans at the Stockwell Orphanage, and the students at the Pastors’
College.
It should not be forgotten that both Bunyan and Spurgeon were blessed with
godly wives who provided unfailing support.
2. As Calvinists One respect in which these two souls were most closely knit was their passion for
the Gospel of the sovereign grace of God. In plain terms, Bunyan and Spurgeon were both
thoroughgoing Calvinists. Says Spurgeon -
‘Well can I remember the manner in which I learned the doctrines of grace in
a single instant . . . 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.’
Both Bunyan and Spurgeon were fervent in their proclamation of free grace,
adopting an immediacy that pressed the Gospel upon hesitating and burdened sinners with
great urgency. For neither was there to be any delay on account of preparationism, nor did
they employ qualified and stilted offers of redemption. Bunyan declares in Come and
Welcome to Jesus Christ, ‘Coming sinner, see here the willingness of Christ to save;
see here how free He is to communicate life, and all good things, to such as thou art. He
complains, if thou comest not; He is displeased if thou callest not upon Him.’
Likewise Spurgeon writes in Around the Wicket Gate, after the
manner of his mentor: ‘It comes to this, my friend, as it did with John Bunyan; a voice now
speaks to you, and says, "Wilt thou keep thy sin and go to hell? Or leave thy sin and go to
Heaven?" The point should be decided before you quit the spot. In the name of God, I ask
you. Which shall it be - Christ and salvation, or the favourite sin and damnation?’
The Pulpit Ministry The preaching of C H Spurgeon at New Park Street Chapel and the
Metropolitan Tabernacle spanned over 38 years, from 1854-1892. A close study of this
ministry reveals the pervasive influence of John Bunyan. Consider the following passages
derived from The New Park Street Pulpit and The Metropolitan
Tabernacle Pulpit.
1. Frequent references
Within the 3,561 published sermons that comprise Spurgeon’s pulpit
ministry, the name of John Bunyan occurs 779 times and far exceeds the mentioning of
numerous other revered saints such as Luther, Calvin, Owen, Baxter, Charnock, Henry,
Whitefield, Gill, and Newton. Making certain allowances, this means that Spurgeon made
reference to Bunyan, on average, every sixth sermon he preached for thirty-eight years.
Other publications such as Lectures To My Students, An
All-Round Ministry, Morning and Evening, Spurgeon’s
Autobiography, The Treasury of David, and the monthly magazine
The Sword and the Trowel, all contain frequent references to Bunyan and his
ministry.
2. Detailed exposition
There is a profound understanding of The Pilgrim’s Progress
(in both parts), Grace Abounding to the Chief of Sinners, and The
Holy War. All of these works are frequently referenced, and often the mention of one
incident or character will stimulate the recollection of another.
The range of characters that Spurgeon refers to is truly kaleidoscopic. Often
a page of exposition and application will focus on a multiplicity of personalities derived
from a particular allegorical scene, while Bunyan aphorisms abound. In particular there are
six sermons that are devoted to specific allegorical situations. They are:
Sermon 64, 1856, ‘The Enchanted Ground,’ the text being, 1
Thessalonians 5.6. Believers are exhorted to beware of slumbering even as Christian
and Hopeful by one of the Shepherds at the Delectable Mountains. Supporting references
include the Hill Difficulty, and the savage lions, Apollyon, Giant Despair, and Beulah land.
Sermon 205, 1858, ‘A Lecture For Little-faith,’ the text being, 2
Thessalonians 1.3. Little-faith is compared with Ready-to-halt, Mr Fearing, Mr
Despondency, Miss Much-afraid, Mr Feeble-mind, Great-heart, and Valiant-for-truth.
Spurgeon also constructs his own Great-faith, Strong-faith, and Mr Great-trouble.
Sermons 297-8, 1860, ‘Mr Evil-questioning Tried and Executed,’ the text
being, 2 Kings 5.12. Based upon The Holy War, Mr Evil-
questioning is a Diabolonian with the deceitful alias of Honest-enquiring. He is married to
No-hope, having children named Legal-life, Unbelief, Wrong-thoughts-of-Christ, Clip-
promise, Carnal-sense, Live-by-feeling, and Self-love. Having despised the work of the
Holy Spirit, he is judged guilty and hanged in Bad-street.
Sermon 777, 1867, ‘Helps,’ the text being, 1 Corinthians 12.28. The
spiritual gift that Paul defines is associated with Christian’s rescuer at the Slough of
Despond.
‘Thus, "helps" are stationed all round the borders of the Slough of Despond,
and it is their business to keep watch and listen for the cries of any poor travellers who may
be staggering in the mire.’
Sermon 3,449, 1870, ‘Buying the Truth,’ the text being, Proverbs
23.23. The resistance of Christian and Faithful to worldly overtures at Vanity Fair
prompts their cry to ‘buy the truth’. Spurgeon interprets this as preference for biblical truth.
3. Distinctive reverence
Spurgeon has profound esteem for the author of The Pilgrim’s
Progress that knows no human parallel. For instance, Bunyan is named the ‘half-
inspired’ master in the realm of allegory, whose brilliant simplicity is acknowledged as
follows:
‘Why did John Bunyan become the apostle of Bedfordshire, and
Huntingdonshire, and round about? It was because John Bunyan, while he had a surpassing
genius, would not condescend to cull his language from the garden of flowers, but he went
into the hayfield and the meadow, and plucked up his language by the roots, and spoke out
in words that the people used in their cottages.’
The foundation of such singular devotion on Spurgeon’s part is later
explained: ‘Next to the Bible, the book that I value most is John
Bunyan’s . . . it is a book of which I never seem to tire, but then the secret of
that is, that Pilgrim’s Progress is the Bible in another shape. It is the same
heavenly water taken out of this same well of the Gospel.’
4. Experiential identification Spurgeon so identified with Bunyan’s spiritual struggles that he would not
suffer literary critics who thought that Bunyan was too self-absorbed. In a published sermon
he says -
‘Southey, [the British poet laureate] in his Life of Bunyan, seems at a
difficulty to understand how Bunyan could have used such depreciating language
concerning his own character. For it is true, according to all we know of his
biography, that he was not, except in the case of profane swearing, at all so bad as
most of the villagers. Indeed, there were some virtues in the man which were worthy
of all commendation.
‘Southey attributes it to a morbid state of mind, but we rather ascribe it
to a return of spiritual health. Had the excellent poet seen himself in the same
heavenly light as that in which Bunyan saw himself, he would have discovered that
Bunyan did not exaggerate, but was simply stating as far as he could a truth which
utterly surpassed his powers of utterance.’
Another instance of heartfelt loyalty concerns the flight from Doubting
Castle by Christian and Faithful where . . .
‘according to Master Bunyan, the key turned in the great lock which
locked the iron gate. To use John Bunyan’s own words, he says, "That lock went
damnable hard." In all the new editions of Pilgrim’s Progress, it is put, "That lock
went desperate hard." That is the more refined way of putting it, but John Bunyan
meant just what he said, and implied that there was a sense of the wrath of God upon
the soul of man on account of sin, so that he felt as if he were near even to perdition
itself. And yet, at such a time, the key did turn in the lock, and the iron gate was
opened.’
The Lecture Series Following Spurgeon’s death in 1892, discovery was made of manuscripts of
addresses on The Pilgrim’s Progress, including both parts, that he
probably gave at the Monday evening prayer meetings, with the special purpose of edifying
those that had just begun the pilgrimage. Many of these were subsequently published in
The Sword and the Trowel. They all show a spiritual enthusiasm that was
catalysed by the allegorical master.
Concerning Christian’s jubilant response at his being delivered from his burden
at the cross, Spurgeon declared:
‘Well might poor Pilgrim, having lost his load, give three great leaps for
joy and go on singing. Believer, do you recollect the day when your fetters fell off? Do
you remember the place where Jesus met you and said, "I have loved thee with an
everlasting love; I have blotted out as a cloud thy transgressions, and as a thick cloud
thy sins; they shall not be mentioned against thee any more for ever"?
‘Oh! What a sweet season is that when Jesus takes away the pain of sin.
When the Lord first pardoned my sin, I was so joyous that I could scarce refrain
from dancing. I thought on my road home from the house where I had been set at
liberty, that I must tell the stones in the street the story of my deliverance.’
|
