Spurgeon on Darwinism

LIBERTY UNIVERSITY BAPTIST THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY

Research Paper Part 4:

Spurgeon's Response to Darwinism as Developed Through his

Views on the Authority of Scripture

Submitted to Jeffrey Connell,

in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the completion of

SEMI 500 – B02 (Summer 2015) LUO

Introduction to Seminary Studies

by

Paul R. Southern

June 21, 2015

ii

Contents

Introduction .............................................................................................................................. 1

1. Influences Upon Spurgeon .............................................................................................. 2

2. Spurgeon’s Views on the Authority of Scripture .......................................................... 4

3. Spurgeon’s Application of the Authority of Scripture to Darwinism ......................... 6

Conclusion ................................................................................................................................ 9

Bibliography ........................................................................................................................... 11

1

Introduction

Charles Haddon Spurgeon (1834-1892) was a famous Victorian-era pro-Calvinist

Baptist preacher, generally regarded as a Prince of Preachers, whose voluminous works are

treasured today. Much has been written about Spurgeon’s theological foundations and even

more can be inferred from the legacy of his writings; one foundation that stands out is

Spurgeon’s belief in the authority of scripture. This authority, akin to sola scriptura, affirms

the historicity and sets the boundaries of scripture’s authority.1 An essay in the “Master’s

Seminary Journal” describes scriptural authority well:

“The concept of authority is thoroughly woven into the fabric of Scripture. It is

unmistakably obvious from Gen 1:1 (“In the beginning God created …”) to Rev

22:20 (“Yes, I am coming quickly.”) and everywhere between. …. This truth fleshes

out in syllogistic fashion thusly: 1. Scripture is the Word of God. 2. The words of God

are authoritative. Conclusion: Scripture is authoritative.2

In Spurgeon’s days, the concept of evolution, while not new, was brought into public

discourse by Charles Darwin (1809-1882) upon the publishing of his book Origin of the

Species in 1859 which proposed a method for evolution: the theory of natural selection.3,4

Darwin’s 1872 Descent of Man, went further, stating man is descended from “some lowly

organized form” and “barbarians".5,6

1 The term sola scriptura is Latin for by scripture alone. Luther brought sola scriptura into lingua franca

in the Reformation period.

2 Richard L. Mayhue, “The Authority of Scripture,” The Masters Seminary Journal 15 no. 2 (Fall 2004):

227-236, accessed June 18 2015, http://www.tms.edu/m/tmsj15j.pdf. Mayhue is the Senior Vice President and

Dean, Professor of Theology and Pastoral Ministries at The Master’s Seminary in Sun Valley, California.

3 Numerous scientists, mostly naturalists, had raised ideas of evolution since the early 17th century.

4 The full title of the book is On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection, or the Preservation

of Favoured Races in the Struggle for Life.

5 The full title of the book is The Descent of Man, and Selection in Relation to Sex.

6 Charles Darwin, The Descent of Man, Vol 2 (New York: Appleby, 1872), 386.

2

Darwin’s propositions contrast directly with the authority of scripture; scripture says

that God created flora and fauna “after their kind” (Gen 1, KJV7) and “God created man in

his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them” (Gen

1:27). One can imagine the response of the church. This paper will show that Spurgeon's

response to Darwinism was shaped by his view of the authority of scripture.

1. Influences Upon Spurgeon

Spurgeon was born into a family of Congregationalists: his father John and his paternal

grandfather James were both pastors. Young Spurgeon lived with his grandfather from

infancy to age six, and it was there he had access to a collection of Puritan books and

witnessed his grandfather in action attend to his pastorate. When he returned to his parents’

home, he was now the eldest of four children, so one can assume he took on responsibilities

of caring for his siblings.

It is oft-stated that Spurgeon’s early years were weighted with the guilt of sin. Spurgeon

later described his early years as having far more “wretchedness” and “heartache” than he

had now and the “supposed gaieties of early youth, all the imagined ease and joy of boyhood,

were but vanity and vexation of spirit to him.”8 Spurgeon’s salvation moment came about at

age fifteen when a preacher invoked Isaiah 45:22: “Look unto me, and be ye saved, all the

ends of the earth: for I am God, and there is none else”. Addressing Spurgeon directly, the

preacher said “‘Young man, you look miserable … and you always will be miserable … if

you don't obey my text. But if you obey now, this moment, you will be saved’”.9 Spurgeon

accepted the call to simply look upon Jesus and Isaiah 45:22 became his life verse.

7 Scripture references are KJV, the version used by Spurgeon, unless otherwise noted.

8 Charles H. Spurgeon, The Essential Works of Charles Spurgeon: Selected Books, Sermons and Other

Writings, ed. Daniel Partner (Uhrichsville, USA: Barbour Publishing, 2009), 29.

9 Ibid., 28.

3

Spurgeon provides insight into what he called his most difficult moment, which first

appeared shortly after salvation: his perception of the temptation of sin, as a “burden, labor or

trouble” 10 was recast as Satan “loathe to leave a soul hotfoot, pursuing it hotfoot”11, like

Pharaoh’s army pursuing the fleeing Jews. In response to this terror of sin Spurgeon found

peace and victory in Romans 8:33 “Who shall lay any thing to the charge of God's elect? It is

God that justifieth”. Spurgeon’s grandfather, an influence into his adolescent years, helped

Spurgeon deal with this terror by calling it “nonsense … the devil’s brats [in] which he

delights” and instructing his grandson to “give them neither house-room nor heart-room.”12

Spurgeon was well read. Bunyan’s allegory Pilgrim’s Progress (published 1678) was

an influence, having read it more than 100 times, first at his grandfather’s.13 Spurgeon, in

1903, published Pictures from Pilgrim’s Progress sharing his views on this famous work.

Bunyan’s metaphors spoke to Spurgeon: on relief from sin, for example, Spurgeon recounts

how he, like the protagonist Christian carrying the burden of wood, “thought he would jump

with joy when … the burden of guilt, which he had borne so long, was forever rolled away

from his shoulders and his heart”.14 Of Pilgrim’s Progress, Spurgeon called it “the book I

value most next to the Bible” and said the “secret of its freshness is that it is so largely

compiled from the Scriptures”.15 Spurgeon’s reading on evolution would have likely included

10 Ibid., 42.

11 Ibid., 43.

12 Ibid., 43.

13 Eric W. Hayden, "Did You Know? A Collection of True and Unusual Facts about Charles Haddon

Spurgeon," Christian History 10, no. l, issue 29 (1991), accessed June 6, 2015,

http://www.christianitytoday.com/ch/1991/issue29/2902.html

14 Spurgeon, Essential Works, 25.

15 Charles H. Spurgeon, Pictures from Pilgrim’s Progress: A Commentary on Portions of John Bunyan’s

Immortal Allegory (Chicago: Fleming H. Revell, 1903), accessed June 7, 2015, http://grace-ebooks.com

4

William Paley’s (1743-1805) widely published work Natural Theology16 where the divine

watchmaker analogy was articulated in regards to creation: "the marks of design are too

strong to be got over. Design must have had a designer; that designer must have been a

person; that person is God."17

In summary, Spurgeon’s key influences were most importantly his raising-up by his

preacher parents and grandfather and the literature, mostly Puritan, of the day.

2. Spurgeon’s Views on the Authority of Scripture

Spurgeon’s views on the authority of scripture were expressed in sermon and in book,

in preaching and in pastoral care. His views on the authority of scripture lasted his lifetime

and certainly during the days of Darwin’s books.

Spurgeon preached of the authority of scripture both figuratively and literally in an

expositional sermon in 1860. The sermon, titled The Importance of Small Things in Religion,

uses the Ark of the Covenant as a metaphor for the Word of God: when it was carried by the

Israelites as a sacred object, “whether … up-hill or down-hill, [on] rugged road or smooth …

[it was] in state”.18 However, when the ark was being carried on a cart, an oxen slipped and

guide Uzzah, reaching for it, was struck dead. (1 Chron 13:9-10, 2 Sam 6:6-7) Spurgeon then

describes how scripture is to be likewise regarded as authoritative and not to be altered:

Whenever we alter one word of Scripture, we shall get ourselves into trouble. We may

not see it at first, but we surely shall find it out by-and-bye. … Ah, my friend, alter one

word, and you have fallen into a snare, you have entered a labyrinth, and God help you

to find your way out again, for you will never be able to get through it alone. Stand to

God's Word and you stand safely. Alter one dot of the i, one cross of the t, and you are

nowhere at all; you are in an enemy's country, and you cannot defend yourself. [italics

16 The full title of the book is Natural Theology or Evidences of the Existence and Attributes of the Deity.

17 William Paley. Natural Theology: or, Evidences of the Existence and Attributes of the Deity, Collected

from the Appearances of Nature (London: E. Goodale, 1819), 237, accessed June 18, 2015,

http://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=nyp.33433068182132

18 Charles H. Spurgeon, “Importance of Small Things in Religion.” The New Park Street Pulpit Sermons

vol. 6. (London: Passmore & Alabaster, 1860): 167-168.

5

mine] When we have got Scripture to back us up we defy the world; but when we have

nothing but our own whims or the work of some great preacher, or the decree of a

council, or the tradition the Fathers, we are los; we are trying to weave a rope of sand,

we are building a house of cards, that must totter to the ground. The Bible, the whole

Bible, and nothing but the Bible is the religion of Christ's Church.19

It is noteworthy in the preceding that Spurgeon calls to attention the two elements that most

contradict the authority of scripture: decrees and traditions. By describing what is and what is

not the Word of God, Spurgeon makes more explicit and clear his view on the authority of

scripture,

Spurgeon’s views of the authority of scripture appear to have lasted much of his

lifetime. Almost thirty years later and this time in book form, Spurgeon issued a direct

warning that echoes the ox-cart metaphor: “tampering with the Word of God … [is most]

ruinous to the soul … and it tends to make the heart harder than the nether millstone.”

Spurgeon then exhorts his readers to “guard the priceless treasure of the Bible and determine

never to resign a single line of it.”20

An important aspect of Spurgeon’s view of the authority of scripture, seen in his

pastoral care, was his view that there is much to learn by reading non-biblical works. A

poignant quote of Spurgeon is “he who will not use the thoughts of other men’s brains proves

that he has no brains of his own!”21 One must look into the sermon, Paul – His Cloak and His

Books, where this was stated, to glean more details. First of all, Spurgeon refers to Apostle

Paul’s instruction from prison to Timothy to “bring … the books” (2 Tim 4:13). Spurgeon

examines the full verse expositionally and on this particular phrase he expounds that Paul “is

inspired … he has been preaching for at least 30 years … he had seen the Lord, he had been

19 Ibid.

20 Charles H. Spurgeon, Around the Wicket Gate (London: Passmore and Alabaster, 1889), accessed June

13, 2015, http://www.spurgeon.org/misc/wg.htm

21 Charles H. Spurgeon, “Paul – His Cloak and His Books,” Spurgeon Gems, accessed June 12, 2015,

http://www.spurgeongems.org/vols7-9/chs542.pdf. This sermon, #542, was preached November 29, 1863, at the

Metropolitan Tabernacle, Newington.

6

caught up into the Third Heaven … he had written the major part of the New Testament, and

yet he needs books!” Spurgeon then calls the reader to “renounce as much as you will all

light literature, but study as much as possible sound theological works, especially the Puritan

writers, and expositions of the Bible.”22 Later in this sermon, Spurgeon tells the reader that

Paul is not ashamed to tell Timothy he needs books; Spurgeon then encourages reading by

labelling Paul a “picture of industry”23 for making wise use of his time in prison, by reading.

In summary, Spurgeon viewed scripture as authoritative and not to be altered. He held

this view much of his life it appears. While rejecting decrees and traditions, Spurgeon

accepted and encouraged the reading of (good) books that helped the reader understand

scripture.

3. Spurgeon’s Application of the Authority of Scripture to Darwinism

There are numerous references to Spurgeon’s response to Darwinism from its onset to

his later years. Spurgeon did not debate the evolutionists directly, unlike the famous

Wilberforce-Huxley debater of 186024 but rather simply disdained evolution as being

contrary to scripture. The following examples, presented in chronological order, offer a flavor

of Spurgeon’s responses.

Spurgeon displayed a populist response to Darwinism in a lecture in 1861 at the

Metropolitan Tabernacle. In response to a recent pro-Darwinist publication, he unveiled a

stuffed gorilla on stage saying "if we should admit this gentleman to be our cousin … there is

Mr. Darwin, who at once is prepared to prove that our great-grandfather's father—keep on for

22 Ibid.

23 Ibid.

24 The public and much-reported debate at Oxford on June 30, 1860, between Bishop (Church of

England) Samuel Wilberforce and pro-Darwinist Thomas Huxley, was a seminal exchange of views in the

region-science dialog.

7

about a millennium or two—was a guinea-pig, and that we were ourselves originally

descended from oysters, or seaweeds, or starfishes!" Expressing his view on the authority of

scripture Spurgeon then added “Seriously, let us see to what depths men will descend in order

to cast a slur upon the Book of God”25 In this lecture he showed his pastoral side too, both

denouncing slavery and encouraging missionaries to Africa.26

Spurgeon’s wife, Susannah, who compiled his autobiography, adds her recollection of a

“memorable gathering … [where] a student asked Mr. Spurgeon, ‘Are we justified in

receiving Mr. Darwin's or any other theory of evolution?’" Spurgeon replied saying “It never

has struck me, and it does not strike now, that the theory of evolution can, by any process of

argument, be reconciled with the inspired record of the Creation,” thereafter reminding those

gathered that the “Lord made each creature ‘after his kind.'” He carries on refuting scientists

who after many years of searching for the “missing link … have never discovered one who

has … ascended in the scale of creation so far as to take his place as the equal of our brothers

and sisters of the great family of mankind.” Refuting Darwin directly, Spurgeon then adds

“Mr. Darwin has never been able to find the germs of an Archbishop of Canterbury in the

body of a tom cat or a goat.” Spurgeon offers, which is rare in his dialogs, his own scientific-

like opinion on creation: “there are abundant evidences that one creature inclines towards

another in certain respects … [but] nowhere to be discovered an actual chain of growth from

one creature to another.” Lastly, and true to his views on the authority of scripture, Spurgeon

25 Charles H. Spurgeon, The Autobiography of Charles H. Spurgeon: Compiled from his Diary, Letters,

and Records, vol III (Chicago: Fleming H Revell, 1900), 52, accessed May 19, 2015.

http://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=nyp.33433082412101. 26 The pro-Darwinist referred to was Paul B. Du Chaillu regarding his publication Explorations and

Adventures in Equatorial Africa. Slavery was fully abolished in the British Empire in 1843. Africa had been in

the news the last decade partly due to notable explorer, David Livingstone, who was on his second missionary-

exploration trip at this time.

8

then adds that God “has told us all that we need to know in order that we may become like

Himself, but He never meant us to know all that He knows."

Spurgeon disdained Darwinism in more formal settings also. In his book John

Ploughman's Pictures, published in 1881, Spurgeon wrote that “the worst sort of clever men

are those who know better than the Bible and are so learned that they believe the world had

no Maker, and that men are only monkeys with their tails rubbed off.” 27 And in a sermon at

the Metropolitan Tabernacle in 1886, Spurgeon called Darwinism a “philosophy … [that]

labors to shut God out of His own creation,” and the modernists’ purpose of endorsing

Darwinism is not that they care about the evolution but rather to “escape from the thought of

God!” 28 One notes, especially in the sermon that Spurgeon focuses on mankind’s need for a

relationship with God.

Spurgeon also spoke about Darwinism in a personal response to a student’s letter in

1887. The student’s letter is not included but Spurgeon’s response is, wherein he maintains

his disdain for the subject but focuses the student on the impact it would have on the

authority of scripture:

I have read a good deal on the subject, and have never yet seen a fact, or the tail of a

fact, which indicated the rise of one species of animal from another. The theory has

been laid down, and facts fished up to support it. I believe it to be a monstrous error in

philosophy, which will be a theme for ridicule before another twenty years. In theology,

its influence would be deadly; and this is all I care about. On the scientific matter, you

do well to use your own judgment.29

27 Charles H. Spurgeon, John Ploughman's Pictures; or, More of his Plain Talk for Plain People

(Springfield, USA: Farm and Fireside, 1881), 47, accessed June 13, 2015,

http://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=umn.31951002103905t

28 Charles H. Spurgeon, “The Very Bold Prophecy,” APIBS Online Christian Resource Library, accessed

June 12, 2015, http://www.apibs.info/C-H-Spurgeon-Sermons/1919-The-Very-Bold-Prophecy.pdf. This sermon,

#1919, was preached September 12, 1886, at the Metropolitan Tabernacle, Newington.

29 Charles H. Spurgeon, The Autobiography of Charles H. Spurgeon: Compiled from his Diary, Letters,

and Records, vol IV (Chicago: Fleming H Revell, 1900), 133, accessed May 19, 2015,

http://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=uc1.31175021994549

9

Spurgeon is often remembered for his Down Grade letters which led to his leaving the

Baptist Union in 1888 and in which he expressed grave concern for modernism, calling the

church to “purge out the things which weaken and pollute.”30 In his second Down Grade

letter Spurgeon suggests that the “tadpole of Darwinism was hatched … where Mr. Darwin,

[and] his father … received their religious training:” a chapel where “for very many years

full-blown Socinianism31 [was] taught.”32 And in his third Down Grade letter Spurgeon

specifically cited the “theory of evolution” as one of those “evils that doth eat as a canker”33

the belief in God. The Down Grade is beyond the scope of this report but clearly Spurgeon

considered the theory of evolution an element weakening the church.

In summary, Spurgeon’s responses in book and sermon were based on the authority of

the creation story in Genesis, and his tone was stern, warning his readers and listeners away

from populist science and back to scripture.

Conclusion

Spurgeon, influenced by his preacher parents and grandfather and the literature, mostly

Puritan, of the day adopted a view that the authority of scripture was very real, that scripture

was not to be altered and that the creation story was wholly authoritative for the simple

reason scripture says so. Spurgeon encouraged his pastorate and pupils to read other (good)

works, not for authority, but for the purpose of better understanding scripture. Spurgeon

clearly rejected decrees and traditions as non-authoritative.

30 Charles H. Spurgeon, “Restoration of Truth and Revival,” Sword the Trowel (December 1887),

accessed June 12, 2-15, http://www.spurgeon.org/s_and_t/dg07.htm

31 Socinianism was a gnostic, unorthodox form of Christianity practiced in that era.

32 Charles H. Spurgeon, “The Down Grade, Second Article,” Sword and Trowel (April, 1887), accessed

June 12, 2015, http://www.spurgeon.org/s_and_t/dg05.htm 33 Spurgeon, “Restoration of Truth”

10

Spurgeon’s response to Darwinism, the notion that man wasn’t created according to

Genesis 1:27 but instead evolved from monkeys, billy goats, or seaweed, etc, was utterly

disdained. Aside from an odd opinion on science, he wouldn’t argue the subject unlike some

contemporaries. Instead Spurgeon, in stern tone, warned his readers and listeners away from

this populist science and back to scripture. In a thesis paper, Neumann described Spurgeon’s

use of “metaphors of sin and destruction … [that] pictured evolution as a ‘doorway to

destruction’ that must be sealed off in order to maintain safety … suggesting a prohibition on

the contemplation of evolution, and … encouraging the idea of an irresolvable difference

between Darwinian evolution and the Christian faith.”34

Even while evoking such dire metaphors, Spurgeon in his letters, lectures and informal

gatherings, was more animated, evoking mildly comedic imagery, venturing further into his

own dismissing views on science and all the while citing the authority of scripture as

absolute. Again, he continued to urge his readers and listeners back to scripture. Ultimately,

Spurgeon viewed evolution as part of the modernist weakening of scripture for which he was

willing to leave the Baptist Union.

34 Juliet Joy Neuman, “The Role of Metaphor in the Darwin Debates: Natural Theology, Natural

Selection, and Christian Production of Counter-Metaphor,” (Thesis, Texas A&M University, 2012).

11

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Appleton and Company, 1872. Accessed May 31, 2015.

http://hdl.handle.net/2027/hvd.hc19bh (http://babel.hathitrust.org).

Hayden, Eric W. "Did You Know? A Collection of True and Unusual Facts about Charles

Haddon Spurgeon." Christian History 10, no. l, issue 29 (1991). Accessed June 6, 2015.

http://www.christianitytoday.com/ch/1991/issue29/2902.html.

Mayhue, Richard L. “The Authority of Scripture.” The Masters Seminary Journal 15 no. 2

(Fall 2004). Accessed June 18 2015. http://www.tms.edu/m/tmsj15j.pdf.

Neuman, Juliet Joy. “The Role of Metaphor in the Darwin Debates: Natural Theology,

Natural Selection, and Christian Production of Counter-Metaphor.” Thesis, Texas

A&M University, 2012.

Paley, William. Natural Theology: or, Evidences of the Existence and Attributes of the Deity,

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18, 2015. http://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=nyp.33433068182132.

Spurgeon, Charles H. Around the Wicket Gate. London: Passmore and Alabaster, 1889.

Accessed June 13, 2015. http://www.spurgeon.org/misc/wg.htm.

———. The Autobiography of Charles H. Spurgeon: Compiled from his Diary, Letters, and

Records, Volume III. Chicago: Fleming H Revell, 1900. Accessed May 19, 2015.

http://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=nyp.33433082412101.

———. The Autobiography of Charles H. Spurgeon: Compiled from his Diary, Letters, and

Records, Volume IV. Chicago: Fleming H Revell, 1900. Accessed May 19, 2015.

http://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=uc1.31175021994549.

———. “The Down Grade, Second Article.” Sword and Trowel April (1887). Accessed May

19, 2015. http://www.spurgeon.org/s_and_t/dg02.htm.

———. The Essential Works of Charles Spurgeon: Selected Books, Sermons and Other

Writings. Edited by Daniel Partner. Uhrichsville, USA: Barbour Publishing, 2009.

———. “Importance of Small Things in Religion.” The New Park Street Pulpit Sermons, Vol.

6. London: Passmore & Alabaster, 1860. 167-168.

———.. John Ploughman's Pictures; or, More of his Plain Talk for Plain People. Springfield,

USA: Farm and Fireside, 1881. 47. Accessed June 13, 2015.

http://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=umn.31951002103905t.

———. “Paul – His Cloak and His Books.” Spurgeon Gems. Accessed June 12, 2015.

http://www.spurgeongems.org/vols7-9/chs542.pdf.

12

———. Pictures from Pilgrim’s Progress: A Commentary on Portions of John Bunyan’s

Immortal Allegory. Chicago: Fleming H. Revell, 1903. Accessed June 7, 2015.

http://grace-ebooks.com.

———. “Restoration of Truth and Revival.” Sword and Trowel December (1887). Accessed

May 19, 2015. http://www.spurgeon.org/s_and_t/dg07.htm.

———. “The Very Bold Prophecy,” APIBS Online Christian Resource Library. Accessed June

12, 2015. http://www.apibs.info/C-H-Spurgeon-Sermons/1919-The-Very-Bold-

Prophecy.pdf.