Digital Logos Edition
The Sword and the Trowel, the monthly magazine edited by Spurgeon, began publication in 1865. It contains articles, tracts, poetry, and book reviews, along with regular statistics and detailed reports and reflections on his sermons. Most importantly, The Sword and the Trowel provides a rich source of biographical material on Charles Spurgeon and the context of his ministry. It is an illuminating inside look at the week-to-week happenings at the Metropolitan Tabernacle. The Logos Bible Software edition of The Sword and Trowel was originally published in London by Passmore and Alabaster in 1882.
Charles Haddon Spurgeon was born in Kelvedon, Essex, England on June 19, 1834. He converted to Christianity in 1850 at a small Methodist chapel, to which he detoured during a snowstorm. While there, he heard a sermon on Isaiah 45:22 and was saved—“Look unto me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth, for I am God, and there is none else.” He began his own ministry of preaching and teaching immediately, and preached more than 500 sermons by the age of twenty.
In 1854, at nineteen years of age, Spurgeon began preaching at the New Park Street Chapel in London. He was appointed to a six month trial position, which he requested be cut to three months should the congregation dislike his preaching. He gained instant fame, however, and the church grew from 232 members to more than five thousand at the end of his pastorate. Many of his sermons were published each week and regularly sold more than 25,000 copies in twenty languages. Throughout his ministry, Spurgeon estimated that he preached to more than 10,000,000 people. Dwight L. Moody was deeply influenced by Spurgeon’s preaching, and founded the Moody Bible Institute after seeing Spurgeon’s work at the Pastor’s College in London.
Spurgeon read six books per week during his adult life, and read Pilgrim’s Progress more than 100 times. In addition to his studying and preaching, Spurgeon also founded the Pastor’s College (now Spurgeon’s College), various orphanages and schools, mission chapels, and numerous other social institutions.
Charles Spurgeon suffered from poor health throughout his life. He died on January 31, 1892, and was buried in London.
“In redemption there is but one price, found in one hand, paid by one Redeemer, that price the precious blood, found in the veins of the Saviour, and paid down by him upon the accursed tree. In every other act of grace the design of the King is to honour the Lord Jesus. You cannot taste the sweetness of any doctrine till you have remembered Christ’s connection with it.” (Page 3)
“Christ has a hunger after souls. He yearns for the souls of men; labour, therefore, to bring souls to him.” (Page 7)
“It is a most weighty observation that, according to God’s law, silence concerning sin is consent to it.” (Page 11)
“Preserved in Christ Jesus.’ The Holy Spirit is the author of your sanctification, but what has been the instrument by which he has purified you? He has cleansed you by the water which flowed with the blood from the wounds of the expiring Saviour. Our eternal life is sure; because he lives, we shall live also. We shall behold the face of God with transport and delight, because he has gone up to prepare a place for us, that where he is, we may be also. The Father has studiously linked every gospel privilege and every boon of the new covenant with the person of Jesus Christ, that in blessing you he might at the same time honour his own dear Son?” (Pages 3–4)
“An ox or an ass in a pit, will struggle to get out; but men are such silly creatures that they will not move hand or foot to escape, but rather delight in their own ruin; we must, therefore, as Jude puts it, ‘pull them out.’” (Page 11)