The Shouts of War

The sacramental host of God's elect is warring still on earth, Jesus Christ being the Captain of their salvation.  He has said, "Lo! I am with you alway, even to the end of the world." 

Hark to the shouts of war!  Now let the people of God stand fast in their ranks, and let no man's heart fail him.  It is true that just now in England the battle is turned against us, and unless the Lord Jesus shall lift his sword, we know not what may become of the church of God in this land; but let us be of good courage and play the man.

Charles H. Spurgeon (1866)

This warning and exhortation is as relevant today as when Spurgeon wrote it 150 years ago.  In fact the war of which Spurgeon speaks has not lessened; it has intensified.  Let us pray for our Lord of the hosts to lift his sword again, and again, and again.

Spurgeon's Conversion

Look!

How the Snowpocalypse of 1850 Led to Spurgeon’s Conversion 164 Years Ago Today

Justin Taylor
January 06, 2014

164 years ago today—January 6, 1850—15-year-old Charles Spurgeon was trudging up Hythe Hill in Colchester, on his way to church. When the blizzard prevented him from going further, he turned the corner and made his way into a small Primitive Methodist Church on Artillery Street.

He recounted the story hundreds of time, each time a bit differently. But here is one of his most vivid recollections:

I sometimes think I might have been in darkness and despair now, had it not been for the goodness of God in sending a snowstorm one Sunday morning, when I was going to a place of worship.

When I could go no further, I turned down a court and came to a little Primitive Methodist Chapel.

In that chapel there might be a dozen or fifteen people.

The minister did not come that morning: snowed up, I suppose.

A poor man, a shoemaker, a tailor, or something of that sort, went up into the pulpit to preach.