Review of Charles Spurgeon's The Soul Winner

Title: The Soul Winner
Author: Charles H. Spurgeon
Publisher: Christian Focus Publications, Geanies House, Scotland
Copyright: 1998
Pages: 255
ISBN: 1-871-676-95-9
Genre: Christian non-fiction/sermons

Victorian-era Britain. Think Charles Dickens, Charles Darwin. But do you think of Charles Spurgeon? Although he wasn't the pastor of one of today's mega-churches, he routinely preached to crowds of thousands. He preached his first sermon at an age when many teens today are getting a driver's license. He took his first pastorate at an age when most kids today are thinking about who they'll invite to their high school graduation parties or how they will pay for college. Then, shortly before his twentieth birthday, Spurgeon accepted a new position, and his popularity exploded. The crowds of thousands began to show up. And they continued to show up. Clearly, Spurgeon must either have had some interesting things to say, or he must have had a striking way of saying them. Even just from reading some of his sermons, I can see it was probably both.

Previously, my experience of Spurgeon has been slim, limited to a few random readings. The Soul Winner is the first collection of Spurgeon's sermons which I have read. The book was recommended to me by one of our pastors. When I saw the title, I cringed, but I accepted the book anyway. "Soul winning" is a term I have always despised. I always thought the phrase made it sound like we humans are doing the work, when truthfully God is the one working to draw people to Himself. To me, "soul winning" meant one thing: we do the work, and we get the glory. Spurgeon has a much different idea.

He explains soul winning in several terms, but he claims that the closest of his metaphors is that of a person wooing a lover: "There are secret and mysterious ways by which those who love win the object of their affection . . . . [B]ut this I know, that we have, most of us in our turn, cast around another heart a chain which that other would not care to break, and which has linked us twain in a blessed captivity which has cheered our life" (187).

In this series of sermons, Spurgeon gives his opinion on a number of subjects related to soul winning. However, these sermons are not like the series that a pastor might preach in his church each week to the same congregation. The sermons in this book were directed toward different audiences. A note in the front of the book explains that the first sex lectures were delivered to a group of seminary students, the next four to Sunday school teachers and preachers, and the remaining ones to the general Christian population. As a result of the different audiences, different lectures take slightly different approaches. One of the sermons delivered to the students, for instance, deals with "Sermons Likely to Win Souls," while another sermon entitled "How to Raise the Dead," delivered to the Sunday school teachers, tackles the topic of teaching children about the gospel. However, much of Spurgeon's advice throughout the entire book is still applicable to the Christian who does not teach or preach.

As for human effort and human glory, Spurgeon makes it clear that he, at least, does not believe that human effort is worth much in itself. He repeats this idea several times in various sermons. In one, he claims, "If we do not pray to God for a blessing, if the foundation of the pulpit be not laid in private prayer, our open ministry will not be a success." He goes on to say that "every real teacher's power must come from on high" (118). He reiterates this sentiment throughout the book. He constantly upholds prayer as a vital part of evangelizing.

The one troubling thing about his viewpoint is that it seems there is so much emphasis on the point of conversion and relatively little on all of life that follows. Spurgeon does comment that the life of a person who has professed to be converted is proof of whether the conversion was genuine. But Spurgeon does not comment on how to help people with spiritual growth following conversion. Obviously, this is not the point of his book, but it seems to me that the two go hand in hand, and an emphasis on belief without growth is a bit empty. This concern aside, he has some good advice and observations, and he upholds total reliance on God.

I found the language to be pretty clear, the concepts easy to follow. Because each sermon has its main points emphasized in italics, it is easy to follow Spurgeon's flow of thought. The italics also make it easy to go back and look up information after reading it the first time. The book has no index; therefore, the sermon titles and the italicized points are the best way to navigate the book. Although it certainly wouldn't hurt, you do not need a thorough knowledge of British history to understand Spurgeon. Some of his references, such as to the "gin palace" might sound slightly foreign to a modern American reader, but none of these references should significantly impede understanding. Normally, I don't think of sermons as terribly exciting reading, but Spurgeon's are filled with an earnestness that will continue to appeal to his readers today as they once appealed to his hearers.

Work cited: http://www.wholesomewords.org/biography/biospurgeon.html