Men of God: CH Spurgeon.

CHARLES H. SPURGEON  (1834-1892)

Spurgeon was a one-of-a-kind preacher.  There was never a preacher like him before or since. His story is truly unique in the history of preaching.  He started preaching at sixteen and had preached over 1000 times by the time he was 21 years old.   Almost immediately, he was a master with word pictures and illustrations.  His delivery was like music or poetry and his written word remains as powerful today as it was during his life.  Unbelieveably, Spurgeon had no formal education, but he was very well-read in Puritan theology, natural history, and Latin and Victorian literature. His lack of a college degree proved to be no hindrance to his remarkable preaching career. Spurgeon began publishing shortly after he started preaching. In January 1855,  the "Penny Pulpit" began, publishing one sermon every week; the series continued until 1917, a quarter-century after Spurgeon's death. Every year these sermons were reissued in book form, first as The New Park Street Pulpit (6 volumes, 1855-1860) and later as The Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit (57 volumes, 1861-1917). Spurgeon published scores of religious books in addition to his sermons...During his ministry, he edited a periodical, The Sword and the Trowel, in which he dealt with both theology and politics. Three hundred million copies of his printed works have been in circulation, mostly his sermons.  His book on preaching, Lectures to My Students, has had over 500,000 copies printed.  His  two-volume commentary on Psalms, theTreasury of David, is sitting on the shelves of over 150,000 libraries. His sermons are still being printed today and sell as well or better than any contemporary preacher.  Though not an expositor in the style of Maclaren, he was thoroughly Biblical in his messages.  His thought process was deep, but his preaching was understandable to even the most simple minds.  It has been said that his hearers listened as one who was hearing a will read or hearing his sentence given by a judge.  Many of his sermons are available atwww.spurgeon.org  and other good sites.  Here at NewsForChristians.com, we try to feature sermons by Spurgeon that are not available at the other sites. News for Christians.