Spurgeon's Service at Surrey Gardens

     London was all astir with talk of the young preacher Charles Haddon Spurgeon. He lacked the flowery, elaborate sentences of most preachers, but his simple directness spoke to the hearts of his audience. His passion for truth was as strong as the older Puritans he loved and studied, yet there was nothing stale and musty about his preaching. Almost as soon as the nineteen year old began his ministry at New Park Street Chapel on London's south side, the Chapel became too small for the congregation. Though the Chapel could seat twelve hundred, seats, aisles, and even window-sills were overflowing whenever Spurgeon preached.

     A year after he arrived at New Park Street, the chapel was expanded, but the larger fifteen-hundred capacity building was not sufficient for the thousands thronging to hear Charles Haddon Spurgeon. For a time the congregation rented Exeter Hall, which seated forty-five hundred people, but it soon proved too small as well.

     As the crowds expanded, Spurgeon leased the Surrey Music Hall in the Royal Surrey Gardens for services. This was London's "largest, most commodious and most beautiful building, erected for public amusements, carnivals of wild beasts and wilder men." Many criticized Spurgeon for leasing a building designed for worldly amusements, but the hall held ten to twelve thousand people and that number packed the building for the first service on this day, October 19, 1856. It seemed at least as many people were outside the building as were inside.

     The service had only gone a few minutes when there was the frightening cry of "Fire! the galleries are giving away, the place is falling!" In the ensuing panic to flee the building, many people were trampled. Seven died and others were seriously injured.

     Spurgeon was tremendously depressed over the event, and his grief was so deep some feared his reason had left him. He spent hours "in tears by day, and dreams of terror by night." Within two weeks, however, Spurgeon had recovered sufficiently to preach again. The crowds were even bigger than before.

     In the spring of 1861, the Metropolitan Tabernacle was completed; this was to be Spurgeon's pulpit for the next thirty-one years. Throughout those years an average of five thousand people attended each morning and evening Sunday service. Spurgeon's was the megachurch of nineteenth century London.

     Though he constantly preached to a sea of faces, Spurgeon trembled at the multitudes who came to hear him. He was aware of the awesome responsibility of giving them the truth and not just tickling their ears. In his last sermon at Surrey Hall before moving into the Metropolitan Tabernacle he urged his listeners, "In God's name, I beseech you, flee to Christ for refuge! Shall there be any of you, whom I shall see on my death bed, who shall charge me with being unfaithful? Shall these eyes be haunted with visions of men whom I have amused, but into whose heart I have never sought to convey the truth?...God avert that worst of ills --unfaithfulness from my head! I pray you, in Christ's stead, be ye reconciled to God!"

What are the letters of Ignatius?

     The word epistle is simply another word for letter, based on the Greek root word that means “to send.” The Letters of Ignatius, or the Epistles of Ignatius, are a set of letters written by early church father Ignatius of Antioch.

     Ignatius of Antioch (also known as Theophorus, Greek for “God-bearer”) was born around AD 35 and died sometime in the second century. Some sources have his death as early as AD 107, and others as late as 135. Ignatius was the second or perhaps the third bishop of Antioch in Syria. He is primarily known for seven letters that he wrote in the Greek language as he journeyed as a prisoner to Rome, where he expected to be executed. Very little is known about him other than the information contained in the letters. However, he must have been well-known to Christians at the time, because he was welcomed and ministered to by Christians all along the way.

     

     The churches that Ignatius addressed in his seven letters were located in Ephesus, Magnesia, Tralles, Rome, Philadelphia, and Smyrna. The final letter was written to Polycarp, the bishop of Smyrna who later gathered all the letters of Ignatius and disseminated them as a group.

     The Letters of Ignatius are filled with warnings against false teaching and pleas for unity. The style of the letters is similar to that of Paul, and of course much of the teaching is the same as Ignatius is applying apostolic/Pauline teaching to the situation in each church. His letters also demonstrate that a church hierarchy was already developing beyond what is found in the New Testament, with the position of bishop coming to prominence. In the letter to the church at Smyrna (where Polycarp was bishop), he wrote, “Follow, all of you, the bishop, as Jesus Christ followed the Father. Wherever the bishop appears, there let the people be, even as wheresoever Christ Jesus is, there is the catholic [universal] church. It is not lawful apart from the bishop either to baptize or to hold a love-feast.” Ignatius is the first to use the term catholic to refer to the universal church and the first writer outside of the New Testament to refer to the virgin birth (“Ignatius of Antioch: Earliest Post-New Testament Martyr,” www.christianitytoday.com/history/people/martyrs/ignatius-of-antioch.html, accessed 6/28/02). His letters also prove that, early on, the church believed in the deity of Christ and His resurrection. These doctrines were not the result of legends that were gradually incorporated into Christian teaching but were taught from the earliest days of Christianity.

     In addition to the seven letters mentioned above are several spurious epistles attributed to Ignatius. Three exist only in Latin: the Letter of Ignatius to St. John, the Epistle of Ignatius to the Virgin Mary, and the Letter from the Virgin to Ignatius. Six additional forgeries are found in some Greek versions. These include letters to Mary of Cassobola, to the Tarsians, to the Philippians, to the Antiochenes, and to Hero. Each of the seven genuine letters has a shorter version and a longer version, but only the shorter versions are considered to be authentic.

Christ is the central sun of the whole book

And he said to them, “O foolish ones, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken! Was it not necessary that the Christ should suffer these things and enter into his glory?” And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he interpreted to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself. —Luke 24:25-27 

J.C. Ryle explains:

How shall we explain these words? In what way did our Lord show “things concerning himself,” in every part of the Old Testament field? The answer to these questions is short and simple. Christ was the substance of every Old Testament sacrifice, ordained in the law of Moses. Christ was the true Deliverer and King, of whom all the judges and deliverers in Jewish history were types. Christ was the coming Prophet greater than Moses, whose glorious advent filled the pages of prophets. Christ was the true seed of the woman who was to bruise the serpent’s head–the true seed in whom all nations were to be blessed–the true Shiloh to whom the people were to be gathered, the true scape-goat–the true bronze serpent–the true Lamb to which every daily offering pointed–the true High Priest of whom every descendant of Aaron was a figure. These things, or something like them, we need not doubt, were some of the things which our Lord expounded in the way to Emmaus.

Let it be a settled principle in our minds, in reading the Bible, that Christ is the central sun of the whole book. So long as we keep Him in view, we shall never greatly err in our search for spiritual knowledge. Once losing sight of Christ, we shall find the whole Bible dark and full of difficulty. The key of Bible knowledge is Jesus Christ.

Listen for the Signal

And let it be, when thou hearest the sound of a going in the tops of the mulberry trees, that then thou shalt bestir thyself: for then shall the Lord go out before thee, to smite the host of the Philistines. (2 Samuel 5:24)

     There are signs of the Lord's moving which should move us. The Spirit of God blows where He listeth, and we hear the sound thereof. Then is the time for us to be more than ever astir. We must seize the golden opportunity and make the most we can of it. It is ours to fight the Philistines at all times; but when the Lord Himself goes out before us, then we should be specially valiant in the war.

     The breeze stirred the tops of the trees, and David and his men took this for the signal for an onslaught, and at their advance the Lord Himself smote the Philistines. Oh, that this day the Lord may give us an opening to speak for Him with many of our friends! Let us be on the watch to avail ourselves of the hopeful opening when it comes. Who knows but this may be a day of good tidings; a season of soul-winning. Let us keep our ear open to hear the rustle of the wind and our minds ready to obey the signal. Is not this promise, "Then shall the Lord go out before thee," a sufficient encouragement to play the man? Since the Lord goes before us, we dare not hold back.

Lord, open Thou mine eyes

"But their eyes were holden that they should not know Him." — Luke 24:16.

HE disciples ought to have known Jesus, they had heard His voice so often, and gazed upon that marred face so frequently, that it is wonderful they did not discover Him. Yet is it not so with you also? You have not seen Jesus lately. You have been to His table, and you have not met Him there. You are in a dark trouble this evening, and though He plainly says, "It is I, be not afraid," yet you cannot discern Him. Alas! our eyes are holden. We know His voice; we have looked into His face; we have leaned our head upon His bosom, and yet, though Christ is very near us, we are saying "O that I knew where I might find Him!" We should know Jesus, for we have the Scriptures to reflect His image, and yet how possible it is for us to open that precious book and have no glimpse of the Wellbeloved! Dear child of God, are you in that state? Jesus feedeth among the lilies of the word, and you walk among those lilies, and yet you behold Him not. He is accustomed to walk through the glades of Scripture, and to commune with His people, as the Father did with Adam in the cool of the day, and yet you are in the garden of Scripture, but cannot see Him, though He is always there. And why do we not see Him? It must be ascribed in our case, as in the disciples', to unbelief. They evidently did not expect to see Jesus, and therefore they did not know Him. To a great extent in spiritual things we get what we expect of the Lord. Faith alone can bring us to see Jesus. Make it your prayer, "Lord, open Thou mine eyes, that I may see my Saviour present with me." It is a blessed thing to want to see Him; but oh! it is better far to gaze upon Him. To those who seek Him He is kind; but to those who find Him, beyond expression is He dear!

"His heavenly kingdom."—2 Timothy 4:18.

ONDER city of the great King is a place of active service. Ransomed spirits serve Him day and night in His temple. They never cease to fulfil the good pleasure of their King. They always "rest," so far as ease and freedom from care is concerned; and never "rest," in the sense of indolence or inactivity. Jerusalem the golden is the place of communion with all the people of God. We shall sit with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, in eternal fellowship. We shall hold high converse with the noble host of the elect, all reigning with Him who by His love and His potent arm has brought them safely home. We shall not sing solos, but in chorus shall we praise our King. Heaven is a place of victory realized. Whenever, Christian, thou hast achieved a victory over thy lusts—whenever after hard struggling, thou hast laid a temptation dead at thy feet—thou hast in that hour a foretaste of the joy that awaits thee when the Lord shall shortly tread Satan under thy feet, and thou shalt find thyself more than conqueror through Him who hath loved thee. Paradise is a place of security. When you enjoy the full assurance of faith, you have the pledge of that glorious security which shall be yours when you are a perfect citizen of the heavenly Jerusalem. O my sweet home, Jerusalem, thou happy harbour of my soul! Thanks, even now, to Him whose love hath taught me to long for Thee; but louder thanks in eternity, when I shall possess thee.

"My soul has tasted of the grapes,
And now it longs to go
Where my dear Lord His vineyard keeps
And all the clusters grow.
"Upon the true and living vine,
My famish'd soul would feast,
And banquet on the fruit divine,
An everlasting guest."

 

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Do not be conformed to this world

Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect. — Ro 12:2

     If a Christian can by possibility be saved while he conforms to this world, at any rate it must be so as by fire. Such a bare salvation is almost as much to be dreaded as desired. Reader, would you wish to leave this world in the darkness of a desponding death bed, and enter heaven as a shipwrecked mariner climbs the rocks of his native country? then be worldly; be mixed up with Mammonites, and refuse to go without the camp bearing Christ's reproach. But would you have a heaven below as well as a heaven above? Would you comprehend with all saints what are the heights and depths, and know the love of Christ which passeth knowledge? Would you receive an abundant entrance into the joy of your Lord? Then come ye out from among them, and be ye separate, and touch not the unclean thing. Would you attain the full assurance of faith? you cannot gain it while you commune with sinners. Would you flame with vehement love? Your love will be damped by the drenchings of godless society. You cannot become a great Christian-you may be a babe in grace, but you never can be a perfect man in Christ Jesus while you yield yourself to the worldly maxims and modes of business of men of the world. It is ill for an heir of heaven to be a great friend with the heirs of hell. It has a bad look when a courtier is too intimate with his king's enemies. Even small inconsistencies are dangerous. Little thorns make great blisters, little moths destroy fine garments, and little frivolities and little rogueries will rob religion of a thousand joys. O professor, too little separated from sinners, you know not what you lose by your conformity to the world. It cuts the tendons of your strength, and makes you creep where you ought to run. Then, for your own comfort's sake, and for the sake of your growth in grace, if you be a Christian, be a Christian, and be a marked and distinct one.