people joining. Well, it's a little weird. I mean, it feels kind of like a 1984 commercial for Apple Macintosh where there's this big screen guy talking and everybody sitting in the audience. Of course, most of y'all are too young to have seen that, but this just feels a little weird. But I'm going to persevere because I've been studying hard on this particular person in our history, and I'm really excited about talking about Charles Spurgeon. But before we start, let's go ahead and pray. Father God, thank you for this time. Thank you for giving us good examples in history that we can follow. Help us not to, and help me not to present them as heroes after the flesh, but heroes because they finished well and followed you and did what was required of them in their time. Help us not to compare ourselves because you've not given us the same opportunities or the same challenges or even the same gifts. that help us to look for those characteristics, those character qualities that help them and will help us to finish our race well. We pray all this in Jesus' name. Amen. Okay. So, like I said, not hero worship. And if any of these men were gonna qualify as a hero after the flesh, sort of, this would be it for me. This would be him, Charles Spurgeon. When I look at his life, what he did, what he endured, what he taught, the stand that he took on so many issues. I mean, there's very few people that I think stand taller than he does. But I'm gonna start off in kind of like I normally do, do a little bit of background and roundabout lead up. So pastors and church leaders, and I've said it before, have the same personal struggles that we do, same temptations, same things that they have to face personally. But in addition, they can face persecution in a way that we typically don't, because they're publicly defending and protecting biblical doctrines that are under attack. Sometimes they're under attack from within the church, as we saw with Edwards, and sometimes they're under attack from outside the church, as we saw with Calvin. Additionally, they have the burden of being charged by the Lord to deliver the good news to his flock without adding or subtracting anything. because most of us can't follow all the high-level arguments that go on between the intellectual elites that seem to be damaging the gospel. And we don't understand all that. So we rely on our pastors to do that for us. And pastors have to do that in addition to caring for their flock in other ways. But what if a pastor, had the pressure of tending a flock of more than 8,000 souls, and had a national and international audience in the tens of thousands, and what if he had to stand alone to face attacks from the leadership of the national established church? alliances across denominations that just can't abide Calvinism, decaying leadership within his own denomination, historical precedent in his own pulpit, teaching that denies the infallibility of scripture, teaching that dilutes the pure gospel with worldly wisdom, new approaches to historically observed ordinances, teaching that bypasses the scripture altogether, teaching that denies eternal punishment, new philosophical approaches to analyzing scripture, new scientific theories that appear to deny the God of the Bible, new philosophies that place man at the center of the universe, and oh, by the way, newspapers that see an opportunity for increasing circulation. And what if that pastor had never been to seminary for theological training and started preaching when he was 16 years old? Why would we even want to listen to this person? Why do we care what this pastor who lived almost 200 years ago has to say? With all the changes that have happened in the world in that period of time, is it even possible for him to have something meaningful to say to our world today? And how would we hear it? It was so long ago, tape recordings hadn't been invented. And that in itself shows how disconnected that period of time is from our age. Why should we spend this coming hour learning about someone who never saw an airplane, never had an iPad, and couldn't possibly imagine the issues that we, in our enlightened and progressive 21st century culture, have to deal with today. Well, consider what the Bible says in Ecclesiastes 1, 9 through 11. What has been is what will be. And what has been done is what will be done. And there is nothing new under the sun. Is there a thing of which it is said, see, this is new? It has already been in the ages before us. There is no remembrance of former things, nor will there be any remembrance of later things yet to be among those who come after. So determine now, each of you, do you believe these words? And if so, then I think you'll find there is a lot we can learn from the subject of our study tonight, even though we can't hear his marvelous voice. So remember, like I said last week, this is an introduction. There's so much I had to leave out, but we're gonna go through some books again, just so you have a sense of where to go for more information. C.H. Spurgeon's autobiography in four volumes. I have the reprint here condensed in all four volumes into two. It was originally printed in 1897. I've got the 92 reprint. That's very good. It shows his personal point of view from his diaries and his letters, and it was accumulated and put together by his wife and his private secretary. Then there's the life and work of Charles Haddon Spurgeon in six volumes by G. Holden Pike. In 1894, this was reprinted in 91. It's a thorough account. It's printed by the Banner of Truth. I don't recommend it as highly as I used to after rereading some portions of it. Then there is Charles Spurgeon, his faith and his works by H.L. Wayland in 1898. Interestingly, the author of this is a Baptist minister who was the son of the author of the works of Adoniram Judson. So they've continued in the family doing good biographies of famous Baptists. Then the favorite book that I'm gonna recommend, and it's a short one, it's a little, paperback is The Forgotten Spurgeon by Ian Murray. This is very, very, very good. It was written in 1966. It's about the struggles that he had with his denomination over theological issues. It's not a survey of his whole life, but it is very, very, very good. Spurgeon versus Hyper-Calvinism, again by Ian Murray, another doctrinal assessment of his works. Then you've got The Treasury of David. This is seven volumes that Spurgeon wrote over a 20-year period. And let me tell you, each psalm, he goes through all the psalms, each psalm he has a verse-by-verse exposition, and then he has exposition from 10 to 20 other scholars for each verse. It's amazing how much work he put into this. It's very, very helpful. Then there's Spurgeon's sermons. There's over 3,500 sermons of his. I have them on a software package. but they're available online as well. And then there's Spurgeon.org, which is an online resource for a lot of information about Charles Spurgeon. Now, for some background on the times. Throughout the 1800s, the world's most sophisticated society, at least in their eyes, London, England, was in many ways still trying to put into practice the changes that had been brought about by William Wilberforce. Remember, we talked about his reformation of manners and how he was trying to affect the society of England. Well, so here it is, the 1800s. The things he put in place are beginning to take hold, but I mean, think about it, it's the world. It's an acidic environment. things don't last long, they decay. So there's that going on, but there's also the industrial revolution going on. And with that, there's blessings and curses being brought about because of that. There's scientific advances revolutionizing the world and new philosophies, like we said, explaining the way the need for God. In fact, the term scientist was first used in 1833. Now, here are some examples of inventions in the 1800s. This will give you a sense of what was going on. Louis Pasteur gave the first vaccine against rabies. The periodic table for the elements was developed. Radioactivity and x-rays were discovered. Now, this is amazing. The first transatlantic telegraph cable was laid all the way across the Atlantic in like 1866. The first electric motor was built. Electrical designs for illumination and power were proliferating. The transcontinental railroad in the US was completed. The telephone was invented. The phonograph was invented. Photography was invented. Radio waves were discovered and radio broadcasts commenced. And finally, Charles Darwin writes his Origin of Species. So there's a lot going on outside of the church that affects all the culture. So by the middle of the century, the impact of the churches on the life of those in London was dwindling, while, strangely enough, the theater was growing. Queen Victoria highly approved of the theater, and under her reign, the number of theaters grew from two theaters in London in 1800 to 61 in 1899, several of which were converted nonconformist chapels that had failed. So that says a little bit about what was going on in the religious life in England. The mostly middle-class audiences had grown accustomed to gay society and entertainment that had become available to them as a result of their rising standard of living, which was part of the blessing of the Industrial Revolution. The Church of England was becoming less spiritually influential as it sought to become more politically influential. and nonconformist denominations like Baptists, Methodists, Congregationalists, were still relegated to the sidelines. So it was into this society that Charles Haddon Spurgeon was born in 1834, the same year that William Carey died. Spurgeon's father, John, and his grandfather, James, pastored congregational churches. and an ancestor even further back named, get this, Job Spurgeon, was sentenced to 13 weeks in jail for nonconformity, probably around the same time as Bunyan. Charles's mother was a godly woman that prayed earnestly and continually for his conversion. And when he was young, he would copy his father and his grandfather by, quote, preaching from bales of straw to his aunt and his brother in their barn. And he was very pointed about rebuking sin in others. And he appears to have been pretty moralistic and almost arrogant until the Lord opened his eyes to the plight of his own soul. When he was 15, he came under conviction and says of that time, quote, Six months did I pray, prayed agonizingly with all my heart and never had an answer. I felt that I was willing to do anything and be anything if God would only forgive me. The justice of God, like a plowshare, tore through my spirit. I was condemned, undone, destroyed, lost, helpless, hopeless. I thought hell was before me. I prayed. but found no answer of peace. It was a long time like this with me. Then one Sunday, he was unable to go hear his father preach due to bad weather, and his mother said he should go to the primitive Methodist chapel nearby. But so few people were there that the poor pastor decided not to preach, but seeing young Charles sitting there, Eventually, he got up and preached on the verse, look unto me and be saved all ye ends of the earth, from Isaiah. Spurgeon says, like Calvin, in an instant, the clouds and the darkness were rolled away. He told his parents about his happy conversion and told them, oh, by the way, that due to all the studying of scripture that he had been doing, he was convinced that baptism was by immersion of believers only. So his father and his grandfather being congregational pastors, believing in religious liberty didn't put any obstacles in his path. And on the 3rd of May, 1850, he was baptized and later said, quote, If any ask why I was thus baptized, I answer because I believed it to be an ordinance of Christ, very specially joined by him with faith in his name. He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved. I had no superstitious idea that baptism would save me, for I was saved. I did not trust in it, but because I trusted in Jesus as my Savior, I felt bound to obey him as my Lord and follow the example which he set us in the Jordan in his own baptism. I did not fulfill the outward ordinance in order to join a party and become a Baptist, but to be a Christian after the apostolic fashion for they, when they believed, were baptized." Sounds a lot like Nancy and Adoniram Judson being convinced on their journey across the Atlantic to become Baptists. So in the joy of his conversion and his baptism, he became part of the Lay Preachers Association and was asked to preach his first sermon a year later at the age of 16. Now, This was kind of a surprise to him. He didn't know he was going to preach until he was halfway to the village. And he was told, no, you're the preacher. You're not going to hear somebody else. You're going to be the preacher. Well, he prayed and asked the Lord to be with him and help him. He preached and was well received. And immediately afterwards, his services were requested at many of the villages in the surrounding area. so much so that at 18 he became pastor of a small church and water beach in Essex. Within a year, the church had grown from 40 to over 100 people. His father Charles Spurgeon's father recommended that he attend seminary for theological study, but due to a providential mix-up, he was unable to meet with the president of the seminary at the appointed time. As he was leaving, he says he seemed to hear a voice say, seek ye great things for yourself, seek them not. He was convinced by this that he should minister in whatever location the Lord provided, and told his father, quote, unless you expressly command me, I shall not enter the college. I shall remain at the Water Beach Church. Well, as you can imagine, soon his name became known in London, and the new Park Street Church, it wasn't new, it was the new Park Street Church, asked him to preach there. Now, this was a church that had a strong history, And while it was built to hold 1,200 people, it rarely saw 100 during that time. He preached his first sermon there, and the deacons had labored to invite as many as possible so that he, Charles Virgin, wouldn't see how few they were. The audience consisted of about 80 people, one of whom was Ms. Susanna Thompson, who would later become his wife. The first sermon was so well received that in the evening of that same day, several hundred were present. He was then invited to preach for three months to discern whether the church would call him permanently. They did, and on Friday, April 28th, 1854, he accepted the call and never left that congregation until he left this world. He stayed with one congregation for over 30 years. Now, there's so much about Spurgeon that is helpful to contemplate. He had extreme maturity even in his youth. He lacked pride in his attainments. I mean, God was gifting him and blessing him, but he did not become prideful even in his youth. He was certain in the guidance of the Lord. He was certain in the truthfulness of the Bible. He was willing to be spent in the Lord, excuse me, in the Lord's service. And he was able to articulate the gospel to everyone regardless of their class. And he had an amazing voice. Now we can't address all of these, but I'm gonna combine those last two, his ability to articulate the gospel and the use of his voice, and let a witness of one of the worship services tell us what he saw, heard, and felt. Quote, fancy a congregation consisting of 10,000 souls streaming into the hall mounting the galleries, humming, buzzing, and swarming, a mighty hive of bees, eager to secure at first the best places and at last any place at all. After waiting more than a half an hour, for if you wish to have a seat at all, you must be there at least that space of time in advance, Mr. Spurgeon ascended his tribune to the hum and rush and trampling of men succeeded a low, concentrated thrill and murmur of devotion, which seemed to run at once like an electric current through the breast of everyone present. And by this magnetic chain, the preacher held us fast bound for about two hours. It is not my purpose to give a summary of his discourse. It is enough to say of his voice that its power and volume are sufficient to reach everyone in that vast assembly. Of his language that it is neither high-flung nor homely. Of his style that is at times familiar, at times declamatory, but always happy and often eloquent of his doctrine. That neither Calvinist nor Baptist appears in the forefront of the battle which is waged by Mr. Spurgeon, with relentless animosity and with gospel weapons against irreligion, cant, hypocrisy, pride, and those secret bosom sins which so easily beset a man in his daily life. And to sum up all in a word, it is enough to say of the man himself that he impresses you with a perfect conviction of his sincerity. Now that was a quote from an American who visited there. There's other quotes from other pastors, from professors, from missionaries, all along the same line, that this man had the ability to speak directly in here without screaming. And how he did that in such a large space is amazing. At one time, he preached at London's Crystal Palace to a crowd estimated at over 23,000 people without amplification, and all could hear him. So I don't understand how that is. The Lord gave him unction, the Lord gave him the gift of a voice that could travel, but the Lord was definitely blessing him. Now we could continue with testimonies, like I said, about the impact of hearing him preach, But that was not the only way God used Charles Spurgeon. From the very early days of his ministry, it was decided that his sermons should be published weekly. At that point, only a few hundred were sold, but the number quickly rose until it was steady at 25,000 copies per week in over 20 languages every single week of his sermons. But here's additional examples of how God used his written sermons. I mean, some of them sound far-fetched, but they've come down to us as history, as verifiable occurrences. So one woman was converted by reading a sermon of his that was wrapped around a stick of butter that she had bought. A woman in Scotland was determined as far as possible to have nothing to do with religion. She threw her Bible and all the religious literature she could find in her house upon the fire. One pamphlet fell out of the flames and the woman hastily threw it back, but it fell out a second time. And again, the woman committed it to the flames. Half the pamphlet was consumed when the remainder slipped into the hearth again, And the woman picking it up exclaimed, surely the devil is in this track for it won't burn. Out of curiosity, she glanced at the paper, found it was one of Mr. Spurgeon's sermons, read it, and was converted by this means. A minister in Tennessee wrote, quote, nine years ago, I was a wild young man. but I was converted through reading one of Mr. Spurgeon's sermons, and I am now the pastor of a large and influential church. The Lord's name be magnified." Then a slanderer in California was converted through reading the sermons of the preacher whom he formerly maligned. Quote, "'I consider it but justice to yourself,' he wrote, And my duty is one who is striving to follow the example set by our Lord and Master, to seek your pardon for the manner in which I have spoken and thought of you in former years. Too much prejudice to hear and see for myself, although the opportunity lay daily within my reach, I accepted and repeated all I heard to your reproach. not remembering the injunction of the Holy Scriptures to prove all things. And you have had a noble revenge, for it was your words, as read by me in your published sermons, that have shown me to myself as I really was, and have been the means, through the grace of God, of awakening a desire within me to seek to lead a pure and holy life, and not only this, but they have likewise awakened a great desire in me to be the means, God willing, of bringing others to see the danger of their sinful state and to lead them also to the Savior. Like I said before, we could continue to multiply testimonials to the effects of hearing his preaching and reading his sermons, but as I mentioned in the beginning, he was called to do more than preach and publish. He was called to stand firm publicly and privately during the decay of the church during his day. Now, the newspapers early on wanted to make fun of the new preacher, and after publishing several cartoons and caricatures of him, they said to him, quote, We want you to understand that we have no personal feelings and that we publish these things merely to make the paper sell," end quote. But as his congregation began to grow and his fame spread, they became more antagonistic because his message of God's grace. And finally, in later years, they were vehemently against him and published article after article to slander and mar his character. In addition to the burdens he felt from preaching and shepherding his flock and defending the faith, he suffered severe depression and physical pain in the form of gout. This is a quote from him. It is a great mercy to be able to change sides when lying in bed. Did you ever lie a week on one side Did you ever try to turn and find yourself quite helpless? Did others lift you and by their kindness reveal to you the miserable fact that they must lift you back again at once to the old position for bad as it was, it was preferable to any other. It is a great mercy to get one hour's sleep at night. What a mercy I have felt to have only one knee tortured at a time. What a blessing to be able to put the foot on the ground again, if only for a minute. So that continued from the time he was 35 years old until he died. Now, I'm going to, instead of doing what I've done in the past, which is go all the way through his life, and then do the situation I want us to focus on, I'm going to do the situation in the discussion of his lifetime. And this is it. It's called the downgrade controversy. I don't know if you've heard of it. So in his last years, his physical suffering was intense. and the spiritual battles were intense as well. This downgrade controversy was caused by the desire of those within the so-called Baptist denomination that had different views of various doctrinal issues to have the terms of the Baptist union broadened so that more churches could be included. Or said another way, so that many churches would not be excluded. In our terminology, it would be similar to an association being asked to accept a less than biblical view of God's impassibility so that more churches will feel comfortable being a part of the association. It has to do with what the confession of faith is. So Spurgeon was a strong leader of the Baptists at this time. that there were multiple doctorates, pastors, PhDs, and others that went against his leadership in order for the Union to become more acceptable to society. Spurgeon withdrew from the Union in 1988 because of their unwillingness to stand firm and was highly criticized for doing so in many personal and public He commented that he had, quote, suffered the loss of friendships and reputation and the infliction of pecuniary withdrawals and bitter reproach, but the pain it has cost me none can measure. Briefly, here are the issues that Spurgeon saw permeating all of the free churches, but which he felt, quote, compelled to address in the Baptist Union. Number one, an unwillingness to precisely define any doctrinal issue, leaving room for multiple interpretations of any position, and the willingness to reduce the essentials of what constitutes Orthodox Christianity to an absolute minimum in order to embrace any church that professes a, quote, evangelical faith. This changing of the meaning of the word evangelical has continued into our day, and it's almost synonymous with doctrinal laxity. The word gets used to try to cover over so many different approaches to the scriptures that it really is meaningless now. Spurgeon greatly opposed this sloppy and careless approach by the churches of God. He said, quote, every union, unless it is a mere fiction, must be based on certain principles. How can we unite except upon some great common truths? And the doctrine of baptism by immersion is not sufficient for a groundwork or a foundation. Surely to be Baptist is not the only thing. So that was the first issue that he saw. And the stand that he took was this is not acceptable. Number two was the attitude that the scriptures were no longer the rule of faith and practice for many pastors in the union, in the opinion of many pastors in the union. Higher criticism, which was that approach to scripture that had started in the 1800s, was devaluing and taking all the authority away from scripture. And it had destroyed their faith in the scriptures, and they had replaced the scriptures with a combination of worldly wisdom and mysticism. Most did not see this, and Spurgeon was in a very lonely position when he said, quote, a chasm is opening between the men who believe their Bibles and the men who are prepared for an advance upon scripture. The house is being robbed, its very walls are being dragged down. Inspiration and speculation cannot long abide in peace. Compromise, there can be none. We cannot hold the inspiration of the word and yet reject it. We cannot believe in the atonement and yet deny it. We cannot hold the doctrine of the fall and yet talk of the evolution of spiritual life from human nature. We cannot recognize the punishment of the impenitent and yet indulge in the larger hope. One way or the other, we must go. Decision is the virtue of the hour. Separation from such as connive at fundamental error or withhold the bread of life from perishing souls is not schism, but only what truth and conscience and God require of those who would be found faithful." Now, the quote earlier about the person that attended the sermon and said his style was happy, I believe that Spurgeon was probably still a congenial figure at these conventions up until this time. At this point, I think what happened was he saw the hopelessness of standing firm and changing the direction of this association. It took a toll on him, and you'll hear some more quotes that I think you'll see. This is not happy. It is truth. It is declamatory. It is pointed. who hear it, but I don't think at this point he was happy. The third thing that he saw that he wanted to address was the readiness of certain pastors to justify their lack of firm action on the grounds of the greater good to be obtained by a more accommodating policy toward each other and the world, which is the strength in numbers, Doesn't matter if we're wrong, if we're all together, at least we'll be stronger. To this, Spurgeon said, quote, failure at a crucial moment may mar an entire life. A man who has enjoyed special light is made bold to follow in the way of the Lord and is anointed to guide others therein. He rises into a place of love and esteem among the godly, and this promotes his advancement among men. What then? The temptation comes to be careful of the position he has gained and to do nothing to endanger it. The man, so lately a man of God, compromises with worldlings and to quiet his own conscience invents a theory by which such compromises are justified and even commended. He receives the praises of the judicious. He has, in truth, gone over to the enemy. The whole force of his former life now tells upon the wrong side. To avoid such an end, it becomes us ever to stand fast. So he had laid his position out very strongly. Nothing was changed. The quote declaration, the evangelical declaration was watered down and he felt it was his duty to resign from the association. When it came time to vote on the adoption of the declaration, he wasn't there. But everybody sensed that it was a repudiation of Spurgeon because it was going against everything he had tried to change. When the vote came on the quote evangelical declaration, the vote was 2,000 for it and seven against it. and few understood what they were voting for. I'm going to read a short passage from The Forgotten Spurgeon about an eyewitness at that vote. We conclude this brief narrative of the downgrade controversy with the words of an eyewitness who was present at the assembly meetings on that memorable April in 1888. Henry Oakley wrote the following words in 1934, and from that vantage point in history, he saw the overwhelming vote of the Union for what it was. an implied censure on the position Spurgeon had taken up, but it needs to be understood that many were far from seeing it in that light at the time. Here is his quote. I was present at the city temple when the motion was moved, seconded, and carried. Possibly the city temple was as full as it could be. I was there very early, but found only a standing seat in the aisle of the back gallery. I listened to the speeches. The only one of which I have any distinct remembrance was that of Mr. Charles Williams. He quoted Tennyson in favor of a liberal theology and justification of doubt. The moment came for voting. Only those in the area were qualified to vote as members of the assembly. When the motion of censure was put forth, a forest of hands went up. Against, called the chairman, Dr. Clifford, I did not see any hands, but history records that there were seven. Without any announcement of numbers, the vast assembly broke into tumultuous cheering and cheering and more cheering. From some of the older men, their pent-up hostility found vent. From many of the younger men, wild resistance of any obscurantist trammels, as they said, broke loose. It was a strange scene. I viewed it almost with tears. I stood near what used to be a Spurgeon's man whom I knew very well. Mr. Spurgeon had welcomed him from a very lowly position. This man went wild with delight at the censure of his great and generous master. I say it was a strange scene that that vast assembly should be so outrageously delighted at the condemnation of the greatest, noblest, and grandest leader of their faith. Now, it isn't possible to communicate all the stress and personal pressure that Spurgeon was under during these final years, but to a friend in May of 1891, he said, quote, goodbye, you will never see me again, this fight is killing me. He died on January 31st in 1892 of the flu and kidney disease. Amazingly, his father outlived him. And when he was told of his son's death, remembering his wife's prayers, he said, quote, what a happy meeting there has been between Charles and his mother. The testimonials were many, as can be imagined. There were 60,000 people lining the street as he was carried to his resting place. an indication that there were faithful people still in the city. And the very papers which had most roundly abused and misrepresented him in former years now excelled their contemporaries in sounding out his praise. But the condemnation flowed as well. One free church professor said after Spurgeon's death, he felt the freedom to talk about one of the sermons he heard. Quote, the theology of his sermon was revolting. The concluding appeal to the terrors of hell were forced and unimpressing, and the whole sermon was a failure. How much of this coarse, unscriptural exegesis men of the Spurgeon type perpetrate in the course of a long ministry, and how much mischief it does, alienating many from church and religion. But from a different spirit, Charles' grandfather once said, after his grandson came to eminence, quote, my grandson can preach the gospel better than I can, but he can't preach a better gospel. That was Spurgeon's belief as well. Now, Spurgeon's legacy. By 1892, which is the year he died, Spurgeon had published more words than could be found in the Encyclopedia Britannica. His church launched 66 parachurch ministries, including two orphanages, a ministry to policemen, a book fund, a nursing home, and a clothing drive. His sermons were translated into 40 languages, including Gaelic, Japanese, and Dutch, and his writings were found in the hands of Christians in China, soldiers in India, preachers in Tennessee, and sailors in San Francisco. In Colorado, coal miners surfaced during their breaks to read Spurgeon's latest sermon. A prisoner from Brazil was last seen reading Spurgeon's sermon minutes before his execution. An escaped convict from Australia was converted after reading the bloodstained sermon he looted from the body of his murdered victim. By 1863, Spurgeon's sermons had already sold more than 8 million copies. At the time of his death in 1892, after he'd been pastoring for 38 years, 50 million copies had been sold. By the end of the 19th century, more than 100 million copies had been sold, a figure unmatched by any preacher before or since. Today, this number has reached well over 300 million copies. A century after his death, there were more works in print by Spurgeon than any other English-speaking author. Spurgeon is history's most widely read preacher. Now, a final quote, and I hope I can get through it, from a sermon he preached during the downgrade controversy. Pray for me, brothers. Quote, we who have had the gospel passed to us by martyr hands dare not trifle with it, nor sit by and hear it denied by traitors who pretend to love it, but inwardly abhor every line of it. There are ages yet to come. If the Lord does not speedily appear, there will come another generation and another, and all these generations will be tainted and injured if we are not faithful to God and to his truth today. We have come to a turning point in the road. If we turn to the right, perhaps our children and our children's children will go that way. But if we turn to the left, generations yet unborn will curse our names for having been unfaithful to God and to his word. For my part, I am willing to be eaten of dogs for the next 50 years, but the more distant future will vindicate me. If I must be the last of the Puritans, I will not be ashamed of it. My Lord will revive his very truth as sure as he is God. Amen. That's all I wanted to tell you. I'm gonna ask, what character traits do you see in Charles Spurgeon that you would like to add to your life?