The Downgrade Controversy

Spurgeon's 'Sword and Trowel' editorials and notes on the penetration of the Baptist Union by liberalism, which led to his secession. Vital reading for today's church leaders.

Publisher's note:

Charles Spurgeon is known as the Prince of Preachers. His preaching was used by the Lord to bring thousands to faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.

His courageous stand for the Truth is less well known or understood. He could see that flagrant attacks on the inspiration, authority and sufficiency of the Word of God were making inroads into the main evangelical denominations. Their silence and unwillingness to address these challenges – and even to accept to positions of influence those who no longer held to the fundamental doctrines of the faith – deeply shocked Spurgeon and led to his withdrawal from the Baptist Union as a matter of conscience.

He could see that fellowship at all costs, based simply on a person’s stance on the mode of baptism, eroded confidence in the Word of God, and ultimately would lead to much more extensive compromise, effectively allowing error to come in unchallenged.

Many who ought to have stood with Spurgeon abandoned him and added their names to the Censure of Spurgeon issued by the Baptist Union. Spurgeon maintained his stance resolutely, but this undoubtedly contributed to his early death.

This volume gathers together the major articles and briefer Notes from The Sword and the Trowel, together with an excerpt from his Autobiography and a sermon entitled, A Sermon for the Time Present, based on Zephaniah 3:16-18.