Archive

In the previous article, I considered how Spurgeon became a credobaptist at an Anglican school of all places, and from the Church of England catechism. A few years later, Spurgeon was baptized in the River Lark by Mr. Cantlow, and we considered his own retelling of that day which was May 3, 1850 from his Autobiography.[1] In this piece, I will consider that account again, drawing out aspects of his baptismal theology.[2]

Convinced, but catholic in spirit

When Spurgeon was baptized as a believer at the age of fifteen, he was acting out of his personal convictions. As he read the Bible, he could not find the paedobaptism he observed his entire life and received as an infant. He writes, “I knew that my father and my grandfather took little children in their arms, put a few drops of water on their faces, and said they were baptized; but I could not see anything in my Bible about babes being baptized.”[3] Such a view placed him squarely in the Baptist tradition. Yet, to be a Baptist was not his highest aim. “If I thought it wrong to be a Baptist,” wrote Spurgeon, “I should give it up, and become what I believed to be right. . . . If we could find infant baptism in the Word of God, we should adopt it.”[4] Thus, above all, Spurgeon desired to be biblical.

While Spurgeon was persuaded of the Baptist teaching, he maintained a catholic spirit towards other believers. On one occasion, Spurgeon’s grandfather wanted to assure that his grandson would “not be one of the tight-laced, strict-communion sort.”[5] The reference here is to those who practice closed communion which barred paedobaptists from the Lord’s Table. Spurgeon assured his grandfather that on this issue, they were in agreement and that each man should follow his own conscience. Open communion was practiced at The New Park Street Chapel and The Metropolitan Tabernacle under Spurgeon’s leadership and paedobaptists who belonged to evangelical churches were welcomed to the Table. Membership, however, remained closed, being available only for those baptized as believers.[6]

The nature of baptism

What was Spurgeon’s understanding of the nature of baptism? In a letter to his mother, Spurgeon wrote, “Conscience has convinced me that it is a duty to be buried with Christ in baptism, although I am sure it constitutes no part of salvation.”[7] In his testimony, he says, “I had no superstitious idea that baptism would save me, for I was saved” even prior to being baptized.[8] Thus, baptism was an act of obedience for Spurgeon. He answers his own question, “Why was I thus baptized?” by saying, “because I believed it to be an ordinance of Christ, very specially joined by Him with faith in His name.”[9] So, even though he did not believe baptism as essential for salvation, he would reject the notion that baptism is non-essential.[10]

Though baptism did not save, it symbolized or was emblematic of salvation. Spurgeon says, “I regarded baptism as the token to the believer of cleansing, the emblem of his burial with his Lord, and the outward avowal of his new birth.”[11] That word avowal conveys the idea of baptism as a public profession or declaration to the world that a person belongs to Christ. At the time, there was a practice developed by Doddridge where a believer could prayerfully sign and seal a document as a sign of dedication.[12] While not entirely condemning the practice, Spurgeon said, “I conceive that burial with Christ in baptism is a far more Scriptural and expressive sign of dedication.”[13] Peter J. Morden calls this aspect of Spurgeon’s baptismal theology, “a solemn pledge of absolute commitment,” and a “complete consecration to Christ.”[14] Thus, baptism was the ordained means whereby a person dedicated himself to Christ.

There were two further realities that baptism signified according to Spurgeon. First was the union of a believer to Christ’s dying and rising which is best displayed by dipping, or immersion. When the believer goes under the water and comes back up, his death to the world and his being raised to newness of life are visibly signified. Second is separation from the world. Morden says of baptized believers that “they had crossed the Rubicon and there was no turning back.”[15] A believer cannot go back to the world in the same way because he has crossed a point of no return. He must sever all ties with the world, for he has died to the world.

The final aspect that I will consider is the integral connection of baptism and the local church.[16] Spurgeon says, “Baptism is the mark of distinction between the Church and the world.”[17] Spurgeon makes clear that such profession ought to happen through believers’ baptism: “I never dreamed of entering the Church except by Christ’s own way, and I wish that all other believers were led to make a serious point of commencing their visible connection with the Church by the ordinance which symbolizes death to the world, burial with Christ, and resurrection to newness of life.”[18] Baptism is the entry point into the church.

Application for today

How can Spurgeon’s baptismal theology help pastors today? First, Spurgeon’s resolve to be baptized out of his biblical convictions while maintaining a spirit of honor towards his parents is instructive.[19] Spurgeon was driven by sound conviction based primarily on a reading of the New Testament, and not so much from familial, historical, traditional, or even doctrinal sources. At the same time, he maintained respectful relations with his family and sought to obtain their approval prior to his baptism.

Second, we should not miss the significance of the occasion of baptism for Spurgeon. In his journal entry for that day, he wrote, “In the afternoon, I was privileged to follow my Lord, and to be buried with Him in baptism. Blest pool! Sweet emblem of my death to all the world! May I, henceforward, live alone for Jesus!”[20] Baptism should result in joyful reflection in our union with and devotion to Christ.

Third, the combined practice of closed membership and open communion, in the way that Spurgeon understood it, seems a wise approach.[21] It upholds a Baptist ecclesiology, while maintain a catholic spirit towards our paedobaptist brothers and sisters.

Fourth, Spurgeon’s understanding of baptism—non-salvific, emblematic in nature, an act of obedience, a pledge of consecration, and a public profession—undergirds, clarifies, and sharpens our own baptismal theology and practice.

[1] This account can be found in C. H. Spurgeon, C.H. Spurgeon Autobiography, vol. 1,  The Early Years, 1834–1859, vol. 1 (London: Banner of Truth, 1962), 145–52.

[2] “In Spurgeon’s accounts of his baptism as a believer the main features of his baptismal theology appear.” Tim Grass and Ian Randall, “C. H. Spurgeon on the Sacraments,” in Baptist Sacramentalism, ed. Anthony R. Cross and Philip E. Thompson, Studies in Baptist History and Thought 5 (Milton Keynes, UK: Paternoster, 2003), 57. This insight was first pointed out to me by Michael Haykin who advised me to “begin with his accounts in his autobiography of his baptism. In that you have the essence of his baptismal theology.”

[3] Spurgeon, C. H. Spurgeon Autobiography, 1:145.

[4] Spurgeon, C. H. Spurgeon Autobiography, 1:152.

[5] Spurgeon, C. H. Spurgeon Autobiography, 1:119.

[6] Grass and Randall, “C.H. Spurgeon on the Sacraments,” 61.

[7] Spurgeon, C. H. Spurgeon Autobiography, 1:113.

[8] Spurgeon, C. H. Spurgeon Autobiography, 1:151.

[9] Spurgeon, C. H. Spurgeon Autobiography, 1:151.

[10] Grass and Randall, “C. H. Spurgeon on the Sacraments,” 59.

[11] Spurgeon, C. H. Spurgeon Autobiography, 1:151. Two helpful articles on Spurgeon’s baptismal theology are by Peter J. Morden. In the first article, Morden argues that Spurgeon’s baptismal theology was non-sacramental. Peter J. Morden, “C. H. Spurgeon and Baptism: The Question of Baptismal Sacramentalism,” The Baptist Quarterly 43, no. 4 (October 2009): 196–220. In the second article, he presents Spurgeon’s baptismal theology more positively and then proceeds to critique his non-sacramental view. Morden, “C. H. Spurgeon and Baptism: The Importance of Baptism,” The Baptist Quarterly 43, no. 7 (July 2010): 388–409.

[12] Morden, “C. H. Spurgeon and Baptism: The Importance of Baptism,” 395.

[13] Spurgeon, C. H. Spurgeon Autobiography, 1:148.

[14] Morden, “C. H. Spurgeon and Baptism: The Importance of Baptism,” 394.

[15] Morden, “C. H. Spurgeon and Baptism: The Importance of Baptism,” 394.

[16] Morden, “C. H. Spurgeon and Baptism: The Importance of Baptism,” 396.

[17] Spurgeon, C. H. Spurgeon Autobiography, 1:147.

[18] Spurgeon, C. H. Spurgeon Autobiography, 1:150.

[19] Our church receives two interns from a German missions organization each year. Since many of them were baptized in the state church, some of them will end up wrestling with the issue of baptism during their time at our Baptist church. Perhaps reading Spurgeon’s correspondence with his parents, along with his recounting of his own baptism, would be a helpful starting point. Those who are convinced of the soundness of credobaptism should have a sense of urgency to pursue baptism in obedience to Christ.

[20] Spurgeon, C. H. Spurgeon Autobiography, 1:131.

[21] Spurgeon’s reticence to participate in the Lord’s Table prior to his (believer’s) baptism should be a check to those who take Spurgeon to be supportive of an open communion in which the only requirement for partaking is belief in Christ and the gospel. In other words, Spurgeon seems to be saying, one may partake in communion at this church if they are a genuine believer, have been baptized (whether by pedobaptism or credobaptism), and belong to a local church. To those who would call themselves Christians but are not yet baptized, the words of Spurgeon should be instructive, “I was invited to the communion table, although I had not been baptized [i.e., as a believer]. I refused [to take communion], because it did not appear to me to be according to the New Testament order.” Spurgeon, C. H. Spurgeon Autobiography, 1:145.

Yuta Seki serves as the Associate Pastor of Youth at Maple Avenue Baptist Church in Georgetown, Ontario. He earned a Master of Divinity at The Master’s Seminary and is pursuing a Doctor of Educational Ministry at the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. He is happily married to Alyssa, and they have three boys.

Spurgeon’s “Conversion” to Credobaptism[1]

Charles Haddon Spurgeon was sent to an Anglican school, St. Augustine’s College of Maidstone, Kent, at the age of fourteen.[2] He excelled in the school and rose to the top of his class, his intellectual acumen being evident even in those early years. Ironically, it was there at an Anglican school, during an instruction given by one of the clergymen on the Church of England Catechism, that the young Spurgeon came to a conviction concerning believer’s baptism. Spurgeon, reflecting on this event forty years later, wrote, “When I afterwards became a Christian, I also became a Baptist; and here I am, and it is due to the Church of England Catechism that I am a Baptist.”[3]

At the school, Spurgeon was given a homework assignment to locate any passages that denied that faith and repentance must come before baptism. This was the teaching in the Anglican Prayer Book. Spurgeon’s teacher was seeking to demonstrate that the Anglican Church’s teaching on this matter was superior to that of the Congregationalists. This was motivated by the fact that Spurgeon had been baptized by his grandfather who was a dissenter. Congregationalists did not require godparents to act as sponsors, but Anglicans did.[4] Thus, Spurgeon’s teacher was contending that the Anglican practice was more in line with scriptural teaching, as the godparents made promises of faith and repentance on behalf of the infant.

The plan backfired, however, and Spurgeon came to the conclusion that both the Church of England and the Congregationalists were wrong regarding baptism. Spurgeon could not find any biblical passages that denied that faith and repentance must come before baptism. This was in contrast to what his father and grandfather believed. But he was also not convinced by the argument of his teacher that a godparent legitimatized the Anglican practice. Instead, Spurgeon, who had not yet been converted, resolved, “If ever Divine grace should work a change in me, I would be baptized” as a believer by immersion.[5] Thus, Spurgeon departed from the conviction of his forebearers, and he was never won to the Anglican position.

Spurgeon’s Baptism

Spurgeon would follow through on that commitment on May 3, 1850, incidentally on his mother’s birthday. In the spring of that year, Spurgeon was away at school in Newmarket and exchanged letters with his parents. He was converted to Christ on January 6, 1850 and began thinking about baptism.[6] In his Autobiography, there are six letters written prior to his baptism and five of them mention some aspect of baptism. The thrust of those letters is twofold: to convey his personal convictions concerning credobaptism and to ask his parent’s blessing for acting on those beliefs.

From that same period we also have Spurgeon’s diary entries from April to June.[7] In the diary, the references to baptism are far less, proportionately speaking—in the twenty-seven entries up until he was baptized, he mentioned thinking seriously about baptism, receiving a letter from Mr. Cantlow, a comment his father had made, an anticipation of baptism, and an exuberant entry on the actual day of his baptism. All this clarifies Spurgeon’s thoughts at this juncture of his life. While he felt the tensions of familial relations (and departing from his religious upbringing) expressed in the letters, the diary entries do not reveal an inner wrestling concerning baptism. To put it slightly differently, Spurgeon seemed to have made up his mind regarding baptism and he was now navigating how to live out his convictions while still honoring his mother and father (Eph 6:2).

This brings us to the baptism event itself.[8] Michael Reeves recounts the events of the day succinctly: “Unable to find a Baptist church any nearer where he was then living, in Newmarket, Spurgeon arranged to be baptized by immersion in the river Lark, eight miles away.”[9] Spurgeon took a day off of work and spent a few hours in “prayer and dedication to God” before embarking on an joyful and prayerful eight-mile walk to Isleham, which took two to three hours.[10] Together with Mr. Cantlow, who was the minister that conducted the baptism, Spurgeon walked to the Isleham Ferry on the River Lark. Spurgeon commends the Isleham believers for they “had not degenerated to indoor immersion in a bath by the art of man, but used the ampler baptistery of the flowing river.”[11] This river served as the baptistry for no less than five churches across seven or eight miles. Mr. Cantlow, Spurgeon and two women, found the customary spot where there is sure footing and a gentle flow of water. There was a service prior but Spurgeon relates no details concerning it, claiming that “all remembrance of it has gone from me.”[12] He does recall, however, the weather conditions of the day, saying that there was a chilling wind and that it was a not so warm day.

It was a glorious day for Spurgeon. He remembers there being observers on both shores, on the ferry-boat, and in other boats. He says that all the cosmos could have been looking on, for he was unashamed of following the Lord Jesus in baptism and “to own myself a follower of the Lamb.” He continues, “My timidity was washed away; it floated down the river into the sea, and must have been devoured by the fishes, for I have never felt anything of the kind since. Baptism also loosed my tongue, and from that day it has never been quiet.”[13] Indeed, Spurgeon would have great boldness throughout his life, and became a mighty herald of the gospel from that time forth.

Spurgeon never really got over his baptism. Towards the end of the account that we have been considering, he writes, “That open stream, the crowded banks, and the solemn plunge, have never faded from my mind, but have often operated as a spur to duty, and a seal of consecration.”[14] His baptism, thus, anchored him and spurred him on over the course of his life and ministry.

[1] C. H. Spurgeon, C. H. Spurgeon Autobiography, vol. 1, The Early Years, 1834–1859 (1962; repr., London: Banner of Truth, 2018), 33–36.

[2] Peter J. Morden dates this event to “sometime in the academic year 1848–49.” Morden, “C. H. Spurgeon and Baptism: The Question of Baptismal Sacramentalism,” The Baptist Quarterly 43, no. 4 (October 2009): 198.

[3] Spurgeon, C. H. Spurgeon Autobiography, 1:38.

[4] Morden, “C. H. Spurgeon and Baptism: The Question of Baptismal Sacramentalism,” 199.

[5] Spurgeon, C. H. Spurgeon Autobiography, 1:35.

[6] For Spurgeon’s account of his conversion, see Spurgeon, C. H. Spurgeon Autobiography, 1:78–96.

[7] Spurgeon, C. H. Spurgeon Autobiography, 1:123–43.

[8] For details concerning his baptism, see C.H. Spurgeon Autobiography, 1:145–52.

[9] Michael Reeves, Spurgeon on the Christian Life: Alive in Christ, Theologians on the Christian Life (Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2018), 87.

[10] In his account of the baptism, Spurgeon says that he enjoyed “the two or three hours of quiet foot-travel,” then mentions being greeted by a smiling Mr. Cantlow. Yet, in his diary entry for that day (May 3), Spurgeon wrote, “Started with Mr. Cantlow at eleven, reached Isleham at one o’clock.” Spurgeon, C. H. Spurgeon Autobiography, 1:131. It is unclear to me whether Mr. Cantlow accompanied Spurgeon from his walk from Newmarket to Isleham, or not. That is besides the point, though.

[11] Spurgeon, C.H. Spurgeon Autobiography, 1:148.

[12] Spurgeon, C. H. Spurgeon Autobiography, 1:149.

[13] Spurgeon, C. H. Spurgeon Autobiography, 1:149.

[14] Spurgeon, C. H. Spurgeon Autobiography, 1:150.

Yuta Seki serves as the Associate Pastor of Youth at Maple Avenue Baptist Church in Georgetown, Ontario. He earned a Master of Divinity at The Master’s Seminary and is pursuing a Doctor of Educational Ministry at the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. He is happily married to Alyssa, and they have three boys.