I hope the reader
perceives that our comments on Mr. Murray are not of a personal
nature. Our comments are categorically polemical,
specifically intended as responses to certain criticisms,
objections, and allegations published in Mr. Murray's long and ongoing literary
crusade designed to discredit and denigrate what he regards as unscriptural
evangelism. This appears to have been an obsessive, dominant theme in his
writings for many years, and it continually crops up in many, if not most, of
his writings.
We have been inclined to take note of these things due to
the fact that Mr. Murray is frequently referred to and quoted as a source of
authority. We find that representations are therefore not only accepted
without question by certain of his disciples, but they are perpetuated in other
formats as being legitimate.
Consequently, not infrequently, inquiries
have come to us, alluding to these representations, asking us if they are indeed
correct, thereby putting the gratuitous burden upon us to either verify or
refute Mr. Murray. It is not as if we have arbitrarily selected him for
criticism, but it has been placed before us to render either a "yea" or "nay" as
to what he says, particularly about C. H. Spurgeon.
Another case in
point, in addition to those we have already recently exposed, is the use by Mr.
Murray of a quotation from C. H. Spurgeon on page 34 of Murray's booklet,
The Invitation System. The same quotation has been repeated by his
anti-public invitation followers, for example by Jim Ehrhard in an
Internet article at
<http://www.gracesermons.com/hisbygrace/invitation.html> and by Fred
Zaspel at
<http://www.biblicalstudies.com/bstudy/ecclesiology/altar.htm> Both of
these writers reveal that they have been strongly influenced by
Pedobaptist Murray.
While Mr. Murray does not specifically allege
that Spurgeon was commenting precisely upon the same subjects covered in Mr.
Murray's booklet in which he seeks to discredit the use of an inquiry room,
after-meetings, a public invitation, and what he calls "the evangelist's
appeal," yet it seems that the implication is that Spurgeon's remarks apply to
these things. This is an obvious mistake and a
misappropriation.
Spurgeon's remarks are in fact lifted from a book
review he wrote on The Life and Ministry of John the Baptist by Alexander
Macleod Symington in which the author evidently was critical of some elements of
revivalism in that age.
Spurgeon said, "Those who cannot obtain the
great volume of Dr. Reynolds, or read the semi-prophetic writings of Edward
Irving, will do very well if they feed upon the wholesome words of Dr.
Symington. He has here set forth the marrow of the Forerunner's witness, and
nothing that is needful for spiritual nutriment is left out. We are specially
pleased to see our author laying great stress upon the value of deep, humbling,
self-abasing views of sin. He admires John's thoroughness in the matter of
repentance, and so do we. Sometimes we are inclined to think that a very
great portion of modern revivalism has been more a curse than a blessing,
because it has led thousands to a kind of peace before they have known their
misery; restoring the prodigal to the Father's house, and never making him say,
'Father I have sinned.' How can he be healed who is not sick? or he be satisfied
with the bread of life who is not hungry? The old-fashioned sense of sin is
despised, and consequently a religion is run up before the foundations are dug
out. Everything in this age is shallow. Deep-sea fishing is almost an extinct
business so far as men's souls are concerned. The consequence is that men leap
into religion, and then leap out again. Unhumbled they came to the church,
unhumbled they remained in it, and unhumbled they go from it. We trust that
Dr. Symington's faithful words on this point will be weighed by Christian men.
We elevate this volume to our own shelves for future use, and we wish for the
work a wide circulation and great acceptance" (The Sword and the Trowel,
Year 1882, page 545).
Mr. Murray used the part of the review which we
have put in boldface, beginning with the word "Sometimes" and ending with the
words "they go from it."
It becomes very clear that these words by
Spurgeon were not designed to support the anti-evangelism concepts espoused by
Mr. Murray when we consider the following:
1. As for the use
of the modern form of the public invitation, according to Mr.
Murray himself, this was not even practiced in that period of time, so Spurgeon
obviously could not have had that in view. Spurgeon never uttered a word in
opposition to the public invitation.
2. As for the use of the
inquiry room, Spurgeon himself used the inquiry room, as
demonstrated, for instance, at the great meeting of six to seven thousand at the
Tabernacle which was reported in the 1865 issue The Sword and the Trowel,
page 128.
After the singing of "Just As I Am," Spurgeon gave an
address specifically to the unsaved, and when the service concluded, another
hymn was sung, prayer was offered, and the "INQUIRERS were then
encouraged to retire to the lecture hall, where ministers and elders
would be glad to converse with them; and MANY RESPONDED TO THE
INVITATION. This was one of the most sober, the most impressive, and,
we should judge, the most effective meetings we have ever witnessed. . .
."
Also, the Evangelists who composed the Metropolitan Tabernacle's
Society of Evangelists used the inquiry room.
In
Spurgeon's Address on May 3,1881 at the Seventeenth Annual Conference of
the Pastors' College Association, the President referred to his Evangelists and
their use of the inquiry room:
>>
You must also have
faith in God in the form of expectancy. Our brethren Smith and Fullerton
[of Spurgeon's own Society of Evangelists] would not have a blessing
on their work if they did not expect the blessing to come; but expecting the
blessing, they provide an inquiry-room, and persons to look after the
converts. Shall we commence farming and provide no barn? In many a village
the Lord has saved souls under the preaching of the gospel, but the minister has
never said, “I shall be in the vestry on such and such an evening to see
inquirers,” or, “I shall stop after the sermon to talk with the anxious.” He
has never given the people a chance of telling what the Lord has done for them,
and if he should hear that a dozen people have been convinced of sin, he
would be surprised, and fear that they were hypocrites. We have not so learned
Christ. We look to take fish in our nets, and to reap harvests in our
fields. Is it so with you, my brethren? Let it be more so. “Open thy mouth
wide,” saith the Lord, “and I will fill it.” So pray and so preach that if there
are no conversions you will be astonished, amazed, and broken-hearted. Look for
the salvation of your hearers as much as the angel who will sound the last trump
will look for the waking of the dead. Believe your own doctrine! Believe your
own Savior! Believe in the Holy Ghost who dwells in you! For thus shall you see
your hearts’ desire, and God shall be glorified.
>> [The Sword and
the Trowel, 1881, pages 378, 379].
In the Preface to the 1882 The
Sword and the Trowel, Spurgeon referred to the Evangelists whom he sponsored
-- who made use of the inquiry room in their work. He
said:
>>
The Evangelists are doing splendid service: the
Lord has been with them in every place to which they have gone. Able and
venerable ministers who have attended their meetings bear joyful testimony to
the power which attends their addresses; and hundreds of professed converts
remain in their wake, witnessing to the power of the gospel which was
preached by them. It is on my heart to add to their number one, if not two more.
The evangelist in India, Mr. Harry Brown, is doing well; and of the two brethren
in Spain the same is true.
>>
In the November issue of 1882, in
a report on the work of the same Evangelists at Bath, Spurgeon's editorial
column says, "Large congregations gather night after night at every service, and
many come forward to enquire more full after 'this way'" (page
599).
Shortly thereafter, in the December issue of 1882, Spurgeon's
editorial column carried even further remarks about the work of Spurgeon's
Evangelists at Bath (page 641):
>>
EVANGELISTS. — Later
reports of Messrs. Smith and Fullerton’s services
at Bath are even more
encouraging than those we published last mouth.
Mr. Baillie, the Pastor of
Manvers-street Baptist Church, writes:
“We are indeed grateful for the
visit of these two brethren. Mr. Smith inspires our enthusiasm with his
rousing music, and his buoyant confidence. It is, indeed, a means of
grace to see him, and to hear his remarks on Christianity in home-life. I had an
opportunity of hearing him at the meeting for women last Wednesday afternoon,
and I am sure his words were very refreshing to the hundreds of mothers who were
gathered to listen.
“The simple force and the striking pointedness of
Mr. Fullerton’s gospel addresses make some of them quite models for
regular ministers. I have heard him each evening, and I could pray so earnestly,
‘Lord, let that shaft strike!’ and many were praying in like manner. With
such clear, simple, yet faithful preaching, backed up by earnest prayer, I was
not surprised when I saw so many anxious souls at our
after-meetings.”
>>
Furthermore, later on in the 1884 issue
of The Sword and the Trowel on page 297, in a report on the work of
Spurgeon's own Society of Evangelists and their meetings, it is said that
"there has been no such thing as an attempt to get up an excitement or to
force persons into the enquiry rooms."
Obviously, then, Spurgeon was not
critical of the inquiry room as conducted by Mr. Smith and Mr. Fullerton, whom
he sponsored.
In an earlier issue in 1884, page 93, a report says,
"We have had very much of the Lord's presence, many Christians have been
quickened, and many souls saved. We have heard of nearly a hundred
who have been in the enquiry-rooms, and we are every day hearing of
others who did not wait to be spoken with."
3. Spurgeon
certainly could not have had D. L. MOODY and his evangelism
in view, for CHS was an ardent supporter and defender of Moody, his
message, and his evangelism. Neither would Spurgeon have had his own
Evangelists of the Tabernacle's Society of Evangelists in view, for
he was their primary sponsor and promoter.
In the very same 1882
volume of The Sword and the Trowel, from which Mr. Murray lifted the
quote from Spurgeon about "modern revivalism," we find the following
about Mr. Moody:
>>
Mr. Moody’s Sabbath at the Tabernacle
must be recorded, for we are greatly obliged to him for undertaking the
service in the midst of his pressing engagements. The enormous crowds that
gathered created a great and serious danger which would have driven most men to
despair, but our deacon, Mr. Murrell, faced the difficulty and pushed through
it. Extraordinary precautions had to be taken to preserve life and limb. If you
have twelve thousand people all eager to get into a building which cannot
hold more than six thousand, what can you do? Our seat-holders in the evening
most commendably lent their tickets to others, and thus gave a second set of
people the opportunity of hearing the great evangelist; but this, of
course, did not lessen the heavy pressure of the eager multitude. We see
clear evidence that if Messrs. Moody and Sankey again visit London no building
will be sufficiently capacious to hold the crowds who will gather to hear
them. Their hold upon the multitude has by no means diminished. May the
Lord send a great blessing upon their efforts, and may London, on this occasion,
have a double portion of the resulting benefit.
>>
In
Spurgeon's editorial column in his magazine of June 1884, page 294, he said of
Moody:
>>
It has been the Editor’s great joy to take part on two
occasions in Mr. Moody’s work in Croydon. On Friday, May 16, all the
students went over to Croydon, and formed part of an enormous multitude who
gathered to hear a sermon from their President. We are more and more
impressed with a sense of the remarkable power which rests upon the beloved
Moody. His words are plain and fresh from his heart, and a special
influence from on high goes therewith both to saint and sinner. It is a
happy thing for London that such a shower of blessing is falling upon
it.
>>
At Mr. Spurgeon's Jubilee Meetings in 1884, Mr.
Moody was one of the featured speakers. The Sword and the Trowel of
July 1884, page 373 says:
>>
After another hymn, the
Pastor assured Mr. D. L. Moody of the intense affection felt for him by the
whole assembly, and the beloved Evangelist, whom the Lord has so greatly
honored, told of his indebtedness to the printed sermons and other works of
the Pastor. Mr. Moody’s reception was a burst of vehement love, and intense
admiration.
>>
Here is how Spurgeon introduced the message by
Mr. Moody at the Jubilee:
>>
I want you now to hear me a moment
while I say that the brother who is now about to speak, Mr. Moody, is one
whom we all love. He is not only one whom we all love, but he is evidently
one whom God loves. We feel devoutly grateful to Almighty God for
raising him up, and for sending him to England to preach the gospel to such
great numbers with such plainness and power. We shall continue to pray for
him when he has gone home. Among the things we shall pray for will be that he
may come back again. I might quote the language of an old Scotch song with
regard to Prince Charlie, —
“Bonnie Moody’s gang
awa.
Will ye no come back again?
Better loved ye canna’
be,
Will ye no come back again?”
Now let us give
him as good a cheer as ever we can when he stands up to speak.
>>
[Mr. Spurgeon's Jubilee, page 8]
In the very same editorial
in the June 1884 magazine, Mr. Spurgeon specifically comments on the
Evangelists of his own Society of
Evangelists:
>>
EVANGELISTS. — One of our helpers,
who has attended almost all Messrs. Smith and Fullerton’s services at the
Tabernacle, has sent us an interesting summary of the meetings; but as
Tabernacle friends have been upon the spot we will only say in print that we
rejoice in the evident blessing which has rested upon the labors of these two
admirable servants of God. The attendance upon the services has not been all
that the brethren looked for, but the cases of blessing are many. In all places
to which they have gone these brethren have won the confidence and love of those
with whom they have labored, and none have spoken against them but those who
know nothing of them.
It is with regret that we have seen in a
Baptist newspaper certain criticisms upon our Evangelists. We cannot
conceive that any useful purpose can be served by such strictures except that
they will be overruled to drawing greater attention to these useful
workers. We expect men of the world to find fault with well-intended
endeavors to draw the masses to hear the gospel, but we hardly looked for it
from brethren in Christ. When an assault comes from them, it is peculiarly
trying, for one is apt to say, “It was not an enemy; then I could have borne
it.” Yet, as the motive and intent of the criticisms were, no doubt, excellent,
the best way is to learn all we can from them, and think no more of them. It
will be long before all good men will be agreed upon modes of operation;
almost as long, we fear, before all earnest men will cease from hard
speeches; we must, therefore, get on as well as we can with our brethren, and
love them none the less for being a little acid now and then. The extraordinary
liberties which some are taking with all the proprieties may well drive our
older friends into their growleries: we feel half inclined to go into our own
when the wind is in the east, and when we have just read something specially
outrageous.
>>
In the light of these materials, it is evident
that Spurgeon's remark was not directed toward those evangelistic practices
and evangelists against which Mr. Murray often writes. The quotation is
absolutely disingenuous as rendering any support to the anti-evangelism espoused
by Mr. Murray and his disciples who borrow the quote from him.
It is
again to be remembered that while Mr. Murray misappropriates Spurgeon in many
matters, he seems oblivious to some other very appropriate remarks of Spurgeon
which Murray would be wise to heed. Spurgeon denounced (1) the idea
of the regeneration of children in their infancy and (2) the baptism
of infants, whereas Mr. Murray promotes these as being valid belief and
practices of "Christianity."
To our knowledge, the only
"evangelism" and "invitations" promoted by Mr. Murray are those
related to the baptism of children who are supposedly "regenerated" in infancy
as a benefit of their relationship to the supposed "covenant" propagated by
Pedobaptists.
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