Spurgeon v. Hyper-Calvinism
By Iain Murray
Banner of Truth. 164 pages. £2.95
ISBN 0 85151 692 0
Charles H. Spurgeon - The Treasure Store
Compiled by Robert Backhouse
Marshall Pickering. 215 pages. £6.99
ISBN 0 551 02992 7
These two books linked by the name of C.H. Spurgeon take us from the general to the particular. Robert Backhouse offers us an interesting selection of items from different aspects of Spurgeon's ministry, while Iain Murray homes in on Spurgeon's significant part in the conflict between Calvinism and Hyper-Calvinism.
Mr. Backhouse is an Anglican minister, reminding one of a ditty recited to a Baptist congregation by another such churchman:
There was a young Baptist called 'Spurgey'
Who didn't like our liturgy
His sermons were fine
I made some of them mine
And so did the rest of the clergy!
The Treasure Store is a compilation of sermon extracts, letters and other interesting material, and the claim of the publishers that it 'will delight devotees of Spurgeon and introduce a new audience to his inimitable work' will surely prove to be justified. The reader will learn of Spurgeon's conversion and feel something of his warmth, passion and total commitment to Jesus Christ. Her are samples of his preaching, teaching, pastoral ministry and writings, including 18 conversion stories, 12 pieces from Chequebook of the Bank of Faith and some 20 pastoral letters on a variety of themes. All of this exhibits Spurgeon's complete captivity to the authority of God in the Scriptures.
This is not an attempt to argue a case, but Spurgeon's love of the doctrines of grace and his overwhelming concern for the salvation of men and women come through with equal clarity. This dip into Spurgeonic waters will encourage others to take a deeper plunge into the vast quantity of work both by Spurgeon himself and about him.
Iain Murray's work Spurgeon vs. Hyper-Calvinism is an argument against Hyper-Calvinism giving us an account of Spurgeon's handling of the case. This may seem to some people to be an abstruse theological quibble with little or no practical value, but a reading of this book will be a corrective to such an attitude.
The issue is whether men and women are responsible for their response to the preaching of the gospel. All are agreed that no-one is able to repent and believe without the enabling of the Holy Spirit. But the question is whether this fact makes it inappropriate or even heretical to apply the invitations and commands of the gospel to unregenerate people. Since they are spiritually dead, why address them as though they were alive? Clearly one's answer to such questions will profoundly affect the manner of our gospel preaching, and nothing is more practical than that! Some time ago, after a service in which he had preached the gospel, a colleague overheard a horrified lady say to another: 'I thought I heard him say, Come!'.
Iain Murray takes us though the historical swings from the extreme of Arminianism (that all people have the ability, unaided by the Spirit to repent and believe) to the other extreme of Hyper-Calvinism (that because none have the ability they do not therefore have any responsibility in the matter of their response to the gospel). Spurgeon took a middle path between these two extremes, not as a matter of policy, but because he saw this to be the biblical position,.
This is classic Calvinism in which human inability and human responsibility are held in tension without attempting to reconcile them by human reasoning. Total respect is given to God's sovereignty and equal weight to man's duty to repent and believe. The effect is freedom, even compulsion, to apply the gospel commands and invitations to all irrespective of their spiritual state believing that the Lord will use such preaching to give the enabling required. Iain Murray lets us hear Spurgeon's advocacy of this position in a powerful and convincing manner.
But do we need to bother with such things today? Iain Murray points out that Hyper-Calvinism only arises when Calvinism with its emphasis on God's sovereignty takes the field. Over the past few years many people, newly rejoicing in the doctrines of grace, and rejecting man-centred methods of evangelism, have agonised about how they can preach the gospel. In many places a welcomed return to expository preaching has not been matched by fervent reasoning and wrestling with the minds, hearts and consciences of unbelievers. The need for heeding Spurgeon's warnings will never leave us for long. This book will lead to gospel preaching unfettered by theological qualifications and reservations - 'Come to Christ - now - just as you are!'
