I’ve read quite a few things that Charles Spurgeon wrote, like the Morning and Evening devotionals, some of his sermons, some of the Treasury of David etc. but not a lot about him other than little snippets here and there.

Mark Driscoll wrote four blog posts about Charles Spurgeon. This gives a good overview of Spurgeon’s life and person (in addition to learning about how Mark Driscoll wants to be like Spurgeon). See the fourth post here and you can follow the links to start with the first post.

Not that anyone would care, but here are my favorite parts. Many of his characteristics go against the grain of the stereotypical Calvinistic Baptist, even for his time, which is refreshing.

Dead guys often make the best mentors.

–Mark Driscoll

The rest are about Spurgeon:

In his day, it was widely agreed that Spurgeon had the finest collection of Puritan literature in the entire world. Also included in his personal library were volumes of literature, theology, religion, travel, biography, science, hymnody, history, and humor. Following Spurgeon’s death, his library was distributed among family members. Today, the 6,750 volumes that remained have been preserved in his memory.

Occasionally when Spurgeon prayed over the sick they were healed and many believed he had the gift of healing.

Spurgeon viewed pleasure as a gift from God and did not gravitate toward Gnosticism or asceticism in the practice of the spiritual disciplines. Rather, he enjoyed his freedom in Christ to its fullest. Though scandalous to many, he drank beer, wine, and brandy. Further, after a visiting pastor proclaimed the evils of smoking to Spurgeon’s church, he simply replied, ‘I shall go home and smoke the best cigar I have got to the glory of God.’

Among my favorite Spurgeon quips is his statement that he loved church committees and believed the ideal committee consisted of three people, two of whom stayed home.

The hyper-Calvinists in his day disdained Spurgeon for his passion for lost people to meet Jesus and his continual offering of the gospel of grace to the masses, which led to the baptism of 14,692 converts during his ministry. Despite much mean-spirited opposition, Spurgeon never shied away from calling all people to repentance and used unconventional means, such as meeting in a public theater (not a church) and preaching from a stage (not a raised pulpit), in an effort to be more culturally relevant with his ministry style.

What has come to be known as the Downgrade Controversy ultimately led to Spurgeon being kicked out of his own Baptist denomination for his unwillingness to stop teaching such things as eternal torment in a literal hell, the literal truthfulness of Scripture, a literal creation by God, and the perfection and divine inspiration of Scripture.

What is your favorite Spurgeon biography?