September 28, 2021

In 1884, as The Sword & the Trowel finished 20 years of publication and Spurgeon turned 50, the ministry at the Metropolitan Tabernacle was in full swing. The Pastors' College was a regular feature of the magazine, as graduates reported back on the progress of their work. Reports from Stockwell Orphanage encouraged the readers as …

September 21, 2021

Spurgeon was known for his scathing letters and sermons against the injustices of his day. He preached against the social ills of industrial England. He denounced the horrors of slavery in America. He went after evangelicals in the Church of England for tolerating baptismal regeneration in the prayer book. And towards the end of his …

September 14, 2021

Speaking to his students on the call to ministry, Spurgeon defined ministry as a work “which requires the dedication of a man’s entire life to spiritual work.” Such full dedication to the work meant “separation from every secular calling… and entitles the man to cast himself for temporal supplies upon the church of God, since …

September 7, 2021

The sermon is over. The lights dim. As the music begins to play, the pastor issues an invitation, “The tables are now open. No matter who you are or where you’ve come from, if you’ve responded to Jesus, then you can come. As the band plays our last song, feel free to make your way …

August 31, 2021

This past spring we published the first ten years of The Sword and Trowel. Today, we are releasing five more years, 1875-1879. These were busy and fruitful years at the Metropolitan Tabernacle. A prominent theme during these years was Spurgeon's suffering. The "invalid Pastor" dealt with extended bouts of illness that kept him out of …

July 5, 2021

Iain Murray once observed that Spurgeon wrote and preached so much that people can basically cherry-pick quotes from his works to support virtually any position, even those he would’ve adamantly opposed. Such has been the case with the topic of plagiarizing sermons recently. Every few years, this controversy resurfaces. Some are quick to condemn it, …

April 23, 2021

The rumor once spread that Spurgeon had said, “a deacon is worse than a devil, for if you resist the devil he will flee from you, but if you resist a deacon he will fly at you.” It was common in those days for pastors to complain about their deacons. Spurgeon once observed that “many …

April 1, 2021

Ebenezer Smith was a youth himself when 17-year-old Charles Spurgeon became the pastor of Waterbeach chapel. Because the congregation could not afford to pay Spurgeon much, he continued working as a tutor during the week in Cambridge. But he would visit his people in the evenings and on the weekends, and he made it a …

March 24, 2021

Last month, we published the first five years of The Sword and the Trowel on Spurgeon.org. Today, we are releasing the second five years, from 1870-1874. During these years, Spurgeon's ministry continues to expand as his students graduate from the Pastors' College, churches are planted, missionaries are sent out, the orphanage and book distribution ministries …

March 17, 2021

“How do I know if I’ve been called to pastoral ministry?” This was a question that Spurgeon frequently encountered. As the president of the Pastors’ College, Spurgeon interviewed a lot of young men aspiring to pastoral ministry, and he had to turn many of them away. Some criticized Spurgeon for having such a strict view …