Charles Haddon Spurgeon was called “the prince of preachers.” Since he began his ministry at London’s New Park Street Chapel in 1855, his sermons have made their mark on thousands of lives. For those who were not privileged to be numbered among his congregation at New Park Street or later at the Metropolitan Tabernacle, it is indeed fortunate that the sermons of this master of the pulpit were recorded on the printed page.
Spurgeon’s sermons are filled with the necessary ingredients of good preaching and have set a standard rarely reached in today’s pulpits. They demonstrate that a sermon can combine thorough biblical exegesis and deep theological instruction with uplifting spiritual insight and practical application to life.
Access to Spurgeon’s sermons has become increasingly difficult in recent years. A few years ago the Banner of Truth Trust in London republished in six volumes the sermons preached at the New Park Street Chapel. Now Pilgrim Publications of Pasadena, Texas, is beginning an unabridged reprint of the fifty-six volumes of the “Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit” to be photographically reproduced from the originals. The first volume is now available, and there is to be continuous printing until completion in the early 1970s.
Although the reproduction process leaves something to be desired in the quality of format and printing, it is gratifying that this incomparable series of sermons is being made available once again. Hopefully they will not only serve as a source of blessing to those who read them but also point those behind the pulpit to the kind of preaching so desperately needed in our day.
