In March 1887, Spurgeon published an article called “The Down Grade” in his monthly magazine The Sword and the Trowel. The article, published anonymously, charged that some pastors were “denying the proper deity of the Son of God, renouncing faith in his atoning death….”
The next month, Spurgeon weighed in. “We are glad that the article upon ‘The Down Grade’ has excited notice … Our warfare is with men who are giving up the atoning sacrifice, denying the inspiration of Holy Scripture, and casting slurs upon justification by faith.”
Spurgeon hoped that his articles would bring change within the Union. Much of his correspondence took place in private. Baptist Union leaders hoped that the controversy would fizzle out. Just a few months later, in October 1887, Spurgeon withdrew from the Union. Many of Spurgeon’s former friends and students turned against him. Later, the Union censured him. Spurgeon’s wife wrote that this conflict and the ensuing heartache killed Spurgeon less than four years later.
“By false doctrine many are made to wander from the fold,” Spurgeon preached in October 1887. “Hopeful ones are made to stray from the path of life, and sinners are left in their natural distance from God. The truth which would convince men of sin is not preached, while other truths which would lead seekers into peace are beclouded, and souls are left in needless sorrow.”
“It is terrible to me that this dreadful blight should come upon our churches; for the hesitating are driven to destruction, the weak are staggered, and even the strong are perplexed. The false teachers of these days would, if it were possible, deceive the very elect. This makes our hearts very sorrowful.”
After his death, Spurgeon’s library was put up for auction. One minister wrote to his friend warning him not to be “tricked in buying it.” It consisted “largely of old Puritan commentaries, etc., which today are almost worthless. Spurgeon evidently was no scholar, and I fear he did not buy books that are worth much today.” “Spurgeon was still respected in his later years for all that he did, but it’s evident that younger pastors around him were moving on to theologies that kept with the times,” observes Geoffrey Chang.
When I was younger, I wondered if Spurgeon had erred in taking this stand. Could he have handled himself differently, still taking a stand for the truth but winning people over? The older I get, though, the more I admire how Spurgeon conducted himself. He identified the key issues; he asked the Union to clarify its stand; he refused to make personal attacks; he expressed his goodwill.
The older I get, the more I appreciate two things about Spurgeon. He didn’t change his theology to keep up with the times, and he was willing to take a principled stand for his convictions even at great personal cost.
Nobody likes controversy; Spurgeon certainly didn’t. But Spurgeon possessed something I increasingly admire: courage of conviction. I don’t pray for controversy, but I do pray for godly leaders who know how to sound the alarm, and who don’t shift their theology to keep up with the times. We need godly leaders who know how to stand alone.