Truth is ancient; it's grey hairs may make it venerable;
it comes from Him who is the ancient of days. --Thomas Watson

 

13 November, 2006   comments: (0) Today's Synergism   Did Spurgeon Create Converts With Altar Calls? "Nowadays, the rule seems to be, send off a paragraph to the newspapers saying that there were, So many in the enquiry-room; so many converted on such-and-such a night. Blow the trumpets! Beat the drums! Let everybody know! But that was not Jesus Christ's way of working". Those remarks by Charles Spurgeon are interesting in our own generation in which convert-counts are commonplace. Notice also that he mentioned something called an enquiry-room. Recently a friend of mine was engaged in a conversation with one of the many pastors today who fancy themselves as fans of Spurgeon while at the same time rejecting his theology. On this particular day, the pastor was attempting to defend the modern practice of Altar Calls, by saying, "Spurgeon used them but he called them enquiry-rooms". So in this post, we'll take a look at that claim, and hopefully learn something about altar calls and conversion-conjuring as well. With some help from my Spurgeon's lifeworks on CD ROM I went to work researching this pastor's claim. Once again, the claim is that Spurgeon was in favor of enquiry-rooms, and hence Spurgeon would approve of today's altar calls. I do admit that these two things are similar. Really we can trace-back all of these "come forward and take a step of faith" type innovations to Charles Finney, who was pioneering this type of approach on the other side of the Atlantic, just prior to Spurgeon's pastorate. No doubt Finney would admire some of the convert-creating innovations of our day, including "decision cards", and even Granger's "come forward and sign a Da Vinci painting" (which over 800 people did). So as one of the most evangelistic pastors of his century, what was Charles Spurgeon's opinion? Here's what my search results came back with for the enquiry-room keywords. I'll let you be the judge of the results (below), but just as an aside, let me mention that I found nothing to indicate that Spurgeon actually used enquiry-rooms or had them in his church. In the sermon text below I've highlighted some of his remarks that struck me as interesting. Oh, that you would trust in the Lord Jesus! Repose in him, and in his finished work, and all is well. Did I hear you say, "I will pray about it"? Better trust at once. Pray as much as you like after you have trusted, but what is the good of unbelieving prayers? "I will talk with a godly man after the service." I charge you first trust in Jesus. Go home alone, trusting in Jesus. "I should like to go into the enquiry-room." I dare say you would, but we are not willing to pander to popular superstition. We fear that in those rooms men are warmed into a fictitious confidence. Very few of the supposed converts of enquiry-rooms turn out well. Go to your God at once, even where you now are. Cast yourself on Christ, now, at once; ere you stir an inch! In God's name I charge you, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, for "he that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned." Vol. 30: Spurgeon's Sermons: Volume 30 There is too much tendency to console ourselves by conversations with godly men: let us get away from them, and speak to their Master. Talks in the enquiry-room, and chats with Christian neighbors, are all very well; but one touch of Jesus will be infinitely better. I do not blame you for seeking religious advice: this may be a half-way house to call at, but do not make it the terminus. Press on till, by personal faith, you have laid hold on Jesus. Do not tell anybody what you are about to do; wait till it is done. Another day you will be happy to tell the minister and God's people of what the Lord has done for you; but for the present, quietly believe in the Lamb of God which taketh away the sin of the world. Vol. 34: Spurgeon's Sermons: Volume 34 You expected to receive the blessing of forgiveness while you were listening to the preaching of the gospel; or having heard that many people have been converted under such-and-such a preacher, you have gone to hear him, earnestly praying all the while that the Lord would save you through that man's preaching; yet he has not done so. It may be that he has ordained to bless you through some other means; well, be not cast down on that account, but be thankful if he blesses you anyhow. Possibly, you went with the great crowd that gathered to hear some notable evangelist; and, after the public service, you went into the enquiry-room, as you heard that many had been led to Christ in that way, and you thought it would be so with you, but it was not. Well, be not surprised or sad if that is the case; it was not your place to dictate the way in which the Lord should reveal himself to you. It, may be that you heard of a certain book being very useful to enquirers and seekers, and you said, "I will read that book, and ask the Lord to bless it to me." You did so, yet you were none the better, and you blamed yourself for not getting any good out of the book which had been blessed to others. Yet you must remember that God has his own ways and times of revealing himself to his people. It is quite possible that you thought too much of that enquiry-room, or that preacher, or that good book, and that you did not think enough of Jesus himself; and, probably, if you had looked to him rather than to the instrumentality, you would long ere this have had your eyes opened, and have seen everything clearly. You laid down certain conditions for Christ, but he would not comply with those conditions, but acted according to the good pleasure of his own will. It is the same when we try to lay down conditions with regard to the conversion of our friends. Vol. 50: Spurgeon's Sermons: Volume 50 I know what some of you are doing: you are trying to get to heaven by a roundabout road. The late Emperor of Russia, when the railway was to be made between Moscow and St. Petersburg, employed a great number of engineers in making plans. He looked over many of their maps, and at last, like the practical man that he was, he said, "Here, bring me a ruler." They brought him a ruler: he took a pencil, and drawing a straight line he said, "That is the way to engineer it: we want no other plan than one straight line." There are a great many ways of engineering souls to heaven; but the only one that is worth considering is this:-Draw a straight line to Christ at once. Did I hear one awakened soul say, "I should like to talk to Mr. Cuff"? By all means talk to him, but do not stop at that, nor stop for that. Go to Christ first. "Oh, but I should like to talk with a good woman- a dear Christian lady." I recommend you to go to Jesus Christ at once, and see the lady afterwards. It is all very well to have an enquiry-room, and I have not a word to say against it, but the best enquiry-room in the world is your own bedroom. Go and enquire of Christ straight away. We may make our Christian workers and leaders into little priests if we do not mind what we are at. There must be nobody between a soul and Christ. Blind souls will never get their eyes opened by all the kind hands of all the good people in Shoreditch, or in all London. Christ's hands can give sight, and only his; and you may get to Christ to-night. "Which way?" say you. By no movement of your body, but by a motion of your mind. Turn your thoughts towards him, your desires towards him, your trust towards him. Look to him and live. May the Holy Ghost lead you to trust him now, and he will save you. Vol. 26: Spurgeon's Sermons: Volume 26 Learn another lesson, you that want to get peace with God at once, and I hope that some of you do. Cast your sin, trial, and sorrow upon God. The text says, "In thee the fatherless findeth mercy;" so the business of the fatherless ones is to come to God, and just look to him for mercy; and that is your business. Do not, I charge you, look to anybody else but the living God to help you. It is a snare, and a horrible one, for people to trust to priests; and I will say, in addition to that, to trust to ministers, to trust to any man whatever. I have known persons when they have heard an address and have been impressed, to say, "Oh, I shall find Christ in the enquiry-room!" That enquiry-room may be a snare to you if you talk thus. You want to speak to the man who preached to you, do you? Do not speak to him; go to Jesus direct. "But I wish to see that good man who spoke to me the other day." Very well, so you may by-and-by, but mind you do not put that good man or that good woman in the place of Christ. The text says, "In thee the fatherless findeth mercy," and it is in Christ, and in him alone, that mercy is to be found. Go directly and distinctly to Jesus, and, by the help of his Spirit, you can do that while sitting in the pew. God is everywhere. Let your spirit be conscious that God is present, and now let your heart speak to him. To him confess your sin do not pour that rubbish into the ear of mortal man. To God lay bare your heart, and to him alone it is not a fit sight for any human being. Tell the Lord Jesus all your wants and woes, and he will help you, for in the Son of God is the help of the sons of men. Oh, that I knew how to speak these things, but they will surely go home to those who are in spiritual need! You that are not in need, you that are good, you that are self-righteous, will see nothing in the text for you. No, and there was not meant to be, for the Lord has a people that he will draw unto himself, and these people are known by this-that they are weary of themselves. Vol. 28: Spurgeon's Sermons: Volume 28 I have heard of a minister who was said to cry in the wrong place in his sermons, and it was found afterwards that he had written in the margin of his manuscript, "Weep here." His audience could not see the reason for his artificial moisture. It must have had a ludicrous effect. In religion everything artificial is ridiculous, or worse; but grace in the heart is the best "master of the ceremonies." He who prays aright with his heart will not much err with foot, and hand, and head. If thou wouldst know how to approach God, confess thyself a sinner, and so take thy true place before the God of truth: throw thyself on divine mercy, and thus place God in his true position as thy Judge and Lord. Observe that this man, even under the weight of conscious sin, was led aright; for he went straight away to God. A sense of sin without faith drives us from God, but a sense of sin with faith draws us immediately to God. He came to God alone; he felt that it would be of no avail to confess his fault to a mortal, or to look for absolution from man. He did not resort to the priest of the temple, but to the God of the temple. He did not ask to speak to the good and learned man, the Pharisee, who stood on the same floor with him. His enquiry-room was the secret of his own soul, and he enquired of the Lord. He ran straight away to God, who alone was able to help; and when he opened his mouth, it was "God be merciful to me a sinner." That is what you have to do, my dear hearer, if you would be saved: you must go distinctly and immediately to God in Christ Jesus. Forget all things else, and say, with the returning prodigal, "I will arise and go to my father." None but God can help us out of our low estate. No mercy but the mercy of God can serve our turn, and none can give us that mercy but the God of mercy. Let every broken-down sinner come to his God, against whom he has offended. Vol. 33: Spurgeon's Sermons: Volume 33 This marvelous light makes a wonderful change in a man's character; that is to say, if it really comes to him; because, you know, there are some who go into the enquiry-room, and kneel down, and cry a good deal, and all the good that can possibly do is to take away some of the superfluous fluid from the brain, for there is no heart in their repentance; it is mere excitement, and nothing else. But it is a very different thing to have the light of God,-to have the Holy Ghost really shed abroad in the heart. Do not any of you be satisfied with saying, "I am converted. Happy day!" Mind that you are converted; be sure that it is heart-work, soul-work, and that the Spirit of God has wrought it,-not the preacher,-not an excited evangelist,-not a book you read;-but that God himself has come to you, and made you a new creature in Christ Jesus; for, unless this is the case, I shall not be able to speak of the change as I have spoken, and which, to my intense joy, I have seen in hundreds, and in thousands, who have passed from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan into the kingdom of Christ. Vol. 48: Spurgeon's Sermons: Volume 48 Posted by: Jim B.   Link: http://www.oldtruth.com/blog.cfm/id.2.pid.477   Be the first to post a comment about this article        Home  |   About  |  Videos   |  Calvinism