Charles spurgeon on roman catholicism: “a vast mountain of rubbish covering the truth

Spurgeon had it right!

 

How much of this 'Rome' survived in Protestantism?!

Mainly water-baptism and Sunday sacredness.

Spurgeon himself never saw that, unfortunately.

 

Taken from :C.H.Spurgeon Autobiography:Volume2. The Full Harvest.

Chapter 2:In Calvin's Pulpit

In Brussels,I heard a good sermon in a Romish church. The place was crowded with people,many of them standing,though they might have had a seat for a halfpenny or a farthing;and I stood,too;and the good priest --for I believe he is a good man --preached the Lord Jesus with all his might. He spoke of the love of Christ,so that I,a very poor hand at the French language,could understand him,and my heart kept beating within me as he told of the beauties of Christ and the preciousness of his blood,and of His power to save the chief of sinners. He did not say, 'justification by faith,' but he did say, 'efficacy of the blood,' which comes to very much the same thing. He did not tell us we were saved by grace, and not by our works; but he did say that all the works of men were less than nothing when brought into competition with the blood of Christ, and that the blood of Jesus alone could save. True,there were objectionable sentences,as naturally there must be in a discourse delivered under such circumstances; but I could have gone to the preacher, and have said to him, 'Brother,you have spoken the truth;' and if I had been handling his text, I must have treated it in the same way that he did,if I could have done it as well. I was pleased to find my own opinion verified, in his case, that there are, even in the apostate church,some who cleave unto the Lord -- some sparks of heavenly fire that flicker amidst the rubbish of old superstition,some lights that are not blown out,even by the strong wind of Popery, but still cast a feeble gleam across the waters sufficient to guide the soul to the rock Christ Jesus. I saw, in that church,a box for contributions for the Pope; he will never grow rich with what I put into it. I have seen money-boxes on the Continent for different saints --Santo Clara,St. Francis,St.Dominic; another box for the Virgin,and another for the poor; but I never could make out how the money got to the Virgin,and to Dominic,and to the rest of them;but I have a notion that, if you were to discover how the money gets to the poor,you would find how it reaches the saints. (pages 21,22)

 

Spurgeon believed in baptism in water and the sacredness of the first day of the week because that is what he believed the bible teaches.

He would have differed with Roman Catholicism on both these matters, though.

Roman Catholicism holds that baptism makes one into a Christian, and admits one into the church. To quote the "Catholic Encyclpeadia":

Holy Baptism holds the first place among the sacraments, because it is the door of the spiritual life; for by it we are made members of Christ and incorporated with the Church.
​

Spurgeon's beliefs on baptism were quite different. He states in his "A Puritan Catechism":

75. Q. What is Baptism?

A. Baptism is an ordinance of the New Testament, instituted by Jesus Christ (Matt. 28:19), to be to the person baptised a sign of his fellowship with him, in his death, and burial, and resurrection (Rom. 6:3; Col. 2:12), of his being ingrafted into him (Gal. 3:27), of remission of sins (Mk. 1:4; Acts 22:16), and of his giving up himself to God through Jesus Christ, to live and walk in newness of life (Rom. 6:4-5).


76. Q. To whom is Baptism to be administered?

A. Baptism is to be administered to all those who actually profess repentance towards God (Acts 2:38; Matt. 3:6; Mk. 16:16; Acts 8:12, 36-37; Acts 10:47-48), and faith in our Lord Jesus Christ, and to none other.


77. Q. Are the infants of such as are professing to be baptised?

A. The infants of such as are professing believers are not to be baptised, because there is neither command nor example in the Holy Scriptures for their baptism (Exod. 23:13; Prov. 30:6).


78. Q. How is baptism rightly administered?
A. Baptism is rightly administered by immersion, or dipping the whole body of the person in water (Matt. 3:16; Jn. 3:23), in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, according to Christ's institution, and the practice of the apostles (Matt. 28:19-20), and not by sprinkling or pouring of water, or dipping some part of the body, after the tradition of men (Jn. 4:1-2; Acts 8:38-39).
​

Certainly, both Spurgeon and Roman Catholics use water, but it is wrong, in my view to say that Spurgeon only used water in baptism because the Roman Catholics do.

Spurgeon would have had similar disagreements in the practice of keeping the first day of the week sacred.

 

Amen brother Amen......Never spoke a truer word. Wonder how many of the brethren still dont see it!

 

Never spoke a more false word! Saturdayism dishonors the Glory of God, repudiates the grace of God and despises the Person and works of Jesus Christ and perverts the Word of God. Seventh dayism brings the soul back under the bondage of the Old Covenant as it is the sign of the Old Covenant:

“But as for you, speak to the sons of Israel, saying, 'You shall surely observe My Sabbaths; for this is a sign between Me and you throughout your generations.” Ex. 31:13; Ezek. 20:12, 19-21.


and thus belongs to the Law covenant which God has abolished (Col. 2:14-16).

Gal 3:10. “But now that you have come to know God, or rather to be known by God, how is it that you turn back again to the weak and worthless elemental things, to which you desire to be enslaved all over again? You observe days [Sabbath and Feast Days] and months and seasons and years. I fear for you, that perhaps I have labored over you in vain.” Gal. 4:9-11. “Therefore no one is to act as your judge in regard to food or drink or in respect to a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath day—Col. 2:16.

The change of Sabbath from the seventh to the first under the New Covenant is depicted in the sabbath days in Leviticus 23 and 25 (1st, 8th, 15th, 22nd and 50th days, 50th year).

The new first day of the week Sabbath is predicted in Psalm 118:20-24 with Acts 4:10-11; 13:10 and commanded in 1 Cor. 16:1-2 and established in Acts 20:7 and designated as the "kuriakos" day in Rev. 1:10 which every person in the Roman Empire knew that term when applied to "day" was Sunday.

Spurgeon had it right again!

 

Spurgeon didn't change his mind about popery at all as this quotation proves. He simply recognized that "amidst the rubbish of old superstition, some lights that are not blown out, even by the strong wind of Popery..."

I have admitted to the very same thing. I have stated on this forum at least three times very clearly that God has his people in most all denominations and in spite of those denominations. God's word is not bound by false denominations and false doctrine by false teachers.

 

Have you noticed how Spurgeon referred to all his sermons preached on Sunday morning and Sunday Evening?

"Delivered on Sabbath Evening, January 15th, 1860"

 

This one has never been said better....!!

"......I never could make out how the money got to the Virgin,and to Dominic,and to the rest of them;but I have a notion that, if you were to discover how the money gets to the poor,you would find how it reaches the saints."

What a jewel! And it not only applies to the RCC!


So, here's a third relic from Roman Catholicism in Protestantism

 

GE:

And all Christianity have the fullest right to do it, for as long as they honestly believe that Christ rose from the dead on the First Day of the week.

 

For God forgave the misled and deceived.

But woe unto them that misled and deceived the sheep of the Lord our Good Shepherd.

Hell waits for those of our modern era since the tsunami of corrupt 'translations'.

 

GE:

I appreciate a post like yours very much. Thank you for it. it is because of such an approach and handling of the doctrine of baptism that I have all my life until very recently said that I am prepared to keep still, and accept the status quo in God's Church as far as water-baptism is concerned.

I did keep quiet, and lived and wrestled with this question, in my heart. In fact, the first book I wrote (hand), but never published, was In Defense of Baptism (Afrikaans on mostly 'sprinkling' vs. 'immersion'. I think it still lies somewhere between some strewn around manuscripts.) I never confronted the Church with the changes in my opinion. I still think it's not worth bothering. To me it's a pity how Karl Barth's quality of workmanship suffered in the last of his publications, the 'addendum', on Baptism. I could not even finish reading the book. What a disappointment was it. But it made me realise, we are ALL but men. Things have changed a lot though, since the increase in knowledge phenomenon.... STILL I'm NOT going to be absorbed by the baptism issue. Luckily we don't experience 'baptisms', 'daily', any more (--- to me a STRONG, doctrinal point on baptism!)

Not like we thoroughly and constantly are confronted with the Sabbath 'issue', EVERY DAY AND TIME we pick up a Bible and read the manipulated New Testament; and EVERY Sabbath that goes by in the life of the Body of Christ's Own, and the Lord's Day is dedicated to sungod the day after instead... not by them who do not know, but by THEM WHO CERTAINLY DO KNOW.

...instead, by the Church of Christ, the Reformation Churches, about which I am passionately convinced and shall stay convinced even though I find myself SHUT OUT by this very Church of the Living God because of its SUNDAY-WORSHIP!

 

GE:

Dr Walter is the worst emulation of Spurgeon one could find; of course, Dr Walter does not think so.

Spurgeon never in his life would, and I am sure never in his life did MANHANDLE THE SCRIPTURES LIKE THIS: quoting Dr Walter:
"Gal 3:10. “But now that you have come to know God, or rather to be known by God, how is it that you turn back again to the weak and worthless elemental things, to which you desire to be enslaved all over again? You observe days [Sabbath and Feast Days] and months and seasons and years. I fear for you, that perhaps I have labored over you in vain.” Gal. 4:9-11. “Therefore no one is to act as your judge in regard to food or drink or in respect to a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath day—Col. 2:16." --- NOT EVEN BY PUTTING THEM SIDE BY SIDE like Dr Walter.

But thanks, Dr Walter, it gives CLEAR indication of your scholarship. You are wont to rely on NOT "thoroughly true and reliable parallel passages" (Young) as I pointed out to you before.

 

The Bible likens the "Sun" to Jesus Christ:

Mal. 4:2 But unto you that fear my name shall the Sun of righteousness arise with healing in his wings; and ye shall go forth, and grow up as calves of the stall.

Therefore the "Sun" day is appropriate choice for the "Lord's Day" but where in the world can one find the day of the Saturn god used used in connection with the Sabbath or the Lord's Day??????????

 

Ah! When the truth hits home it hurts! Paul is talking about the same thing in both texts - Jewish legalism and particular in regard to the ceremonial laws of which the Sabbatical cycle, the sign of the Old Covenant was inseparably involved.

In Galatians the pivotal point of Jewish legalism was the ceremonial law of circumcision but not without exclusion to "days" "months" and "seasons and years" while in Colossians it is again circumcision as the pivotal point (Col. 2:11-13) but not without the exclusion to "food or drink...festival...new moon..Sabbath day."

My scholarship does not suffer at all by placing these texts side by side but your scholarship suffers greatly by denying the similarities between both these passages.

I have never questioned your personal salvation because I think you are a saved man. I wish God could open your eyes to see that you are opposing the very grace of God that you love by clinging to the the sign of the Old covenant (seventh dayism) instead of embracing the sign of the new covenant which gives FIRST to the glory of Christ instead of LAST! Also, if He would open your eyes to see you have miserably misinterpreted baptism. If these two flies were removed from your spiritual ointment you would be on your road to a more consistent gospel of grace.

 

Speaking of the New Earth - God said "From Sabbath to Sabbath" shall all mankind come before Me to worship. Is 66.

Speaking of the Sabbath Christ said "the Sabbath was made for mankind" Mark 2:27.

But of course - those who view the Word of God itself as "doctrines of demons" will not accept these texts.

Interesting what D.L. Moody said in this case -

 

Then of course - there is C.H Spurgeon

 

A.W Pink on the subject of Sabbath

 

Then of course there are the reformers on the subject of Sabbath

The Augsburg Confession by Philip Melanchthon (1530)​

In 1530, Charles V, Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire, called together the princes and cities of his german territories in a Diet at Augsburg. He sought unity among them to fend off the attacks of Turkish armies in Eastern Austria. He called upon the Lutheran nobility to explain their religious convictions, with the hope that the controversy swirling around the challange of the Reformation might be resolved. To this end, Philip Melanchthon, a close friend of Martin Luther and a Professor of New Testament at Wittenberg University, was called upon to draft a common confession for the Lutheran Lords and Free Territories. The resulting document, the Augsburg Confession was presented to the emperor on June 25, 1530. (This is from Article XXVIII: Of Ecclesiastical Power or The Power of Bishops