Tuesday, June 8, 2010

Copy of Spurgeon's Letter


A Copy of C. H. Spurgeon's Letter
Regarding the
"Down Grade" Controversy

A few weeks ago, I was furnished with a copy of a C. H. Spurgeon hand-written letter, sent to me by our longtime friend, Pastor Gary W. Long of Sovereign Grace Baptist Church and Particular Baptist Press, Springfield, Missouri.

The letter, dated February 17, 1888, serves to further substantiate what Spurgeon himself wrote in some issues of The Sword & the Trowel magazines -- namely, that "Calvinism" was not an issue in the Down Grade Controversy. This is what we have have always represented as a matter of authentic history on this particular matter.

I did not have this letter when we reprinted the book, THE DOWN GRADE CONTROVERSY, a few months ago; otherwise, I would have included the letter in that book. But after I received the letter, we had copies made which we now insert into the book.

If you want a copy of the letter, send a postage-paid self-addressed envelope to --

Bob L. Ross, Box 66, Pasadena, Texas 77501.

I have a lot of interest in and respect for authentic history, but not much interest in someone's "interpretation" of history, especially their "eisegesis" of history (reading their own ideas into history). Nothing chafes me more than someone who -- for whatever reason -- distorts authentic history.

Some of our Calvinistic brethren, such as Iain Murray and Erroll Hulse, who have written about Spurgeon and the Down Grade Controversy, have unfortunately strayed from authentic history and have attempted to inject Calvinism into the DGC, and I sometimes see comments by some who are evidently influenced by Murray and/or Hulse. I suppose that Murray and Hulse, ever zealous to promote their version of Calvinism, think it adds weight to associate Spurgeon and Calvinism to the Down Grade Controversy. But Spurgeon staunchly denied this accusation when it was made in his lifetime by his detractors, as we learn from his magazine and also from this letter. According to Spurgeon, the issues involved were of greater significance than one's theoretical understanding relating to Arminian-Calvinist squabbles over differing views. He said:
"Certain antagonists have tried to represent the Down-Grade controversy as a revival of the old feud between Calvinists and Arminians. It is nothing of the kind. Many evangelical Arminians are as earnestly on our side as men can be."

If you want a free copy of Spurgeon's letter, send a stamped SAE and I will mail it to you.

If you want the DOWN GRADE CONTROVERSY book itself, it sells for $8.99 plus $3 to mail -- $11.99 -- but we will settle for $10.

******************************************
Permission granted to copy and use this article.

By request, names are added to my Email List, or removed.
Publishers of C. H. Spurgeon's Sermons & Other Works
Send your snail-mail address for a printed Price List.
Pilgrim Publications, Box 66, Pasadena, TX 77501.
Phone: (713) 477-4261. Fax: (713) 477-7561

VIDEOS ON INTERNET:

"Charles Haddon Spurgeon Country"

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Other Internet Resources:
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"C. H. SPURGEON WORLD WIDE WEB NETWORK"
68:11
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