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2. Charles H. Spurgeon (1834-1892)
An evangelical Calvinist and Baptist, Spurgeon was an English pastor who was renowned
for his exceptional preaching. A firm traditionalist, Spurgeons vivid imagery and emotionally
moving pictures are clear in selected quotations from his sermons. "The angel, binding you hand
and foot, holds you one single moment over the mouth of the chasm. He bids you look down­
down­down. There is no bottom, and you hear coming up from the abyss, sullen moans, and
hollow groans, and screams of tortured ghosts."
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You cannot compare the pains of this life with the agonies to be endured hereafter. Could
all the misery that ever startled the keepers of our hospitals be conceived, it could not
convey the least idea of the pains of the spirits that are doomed to dwell in eternal fire and
everlasting burning. The woe, however, will act its terrible part on the soul. The memory
aghast­hope and fear, thoughts and imaginations, conscience and judgment, all will be
racked, every one be stretched on a bed of fire, every nerve strained to its utmost, every
vein made a road for the hot feet of pain to travel on.
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In another passage Spurgeon painted an imaginative portrait of Hell in terms not unlike those of
Dante and earlier Tours of Hell:
There is a real fire in Hell, as truly as you have a real body­a fire exactly like that on this
earth, except this: that it will not consume though it will torture you. You have seen
asbestos lying amid red hot coals, but not consumed. So your body will be prepared by
God in such a way that it will burn forever without being consumed. With your nerves
laid raw by searing flame, yet never desensitized for all its raging fury, and the acrid
smoke of the sulphurous fumes searing your lungs and choking your breath, you will cry
out for the mercy of death, but it will never, never, no never, give you surcease.
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Spurgeons purpose was not merely to dramatize the horrors of Hell, but to make people
sufficiently aware of the alternative to the gospel that they would be motivated to turn to Jesus
Christ and be saved from endless doom. His ministry had a strong evangelistic element that he
evidently succeeded in imparting to his flock. For during his 38 years of ministry in London,
membership in his church more than tripled from 6,000 to almost 21,000.
(9) Albert B. Simpson (1845-1919)
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Born on Prince Edward Island near Nova Scotia, Canada (northeast of Maine), Simpson
decided early to prepare for pastoral ministry. He served Presbyterian churches as pastor in
Hamilton (Prince Edward Island), Louisville (Kentucky), and New York City. Leaving the
presbytery, Simpson ministered independently of any denomination. His involvement in street
evangelism and other ministries to the unchurched eventually led to the establishment of an
independent church called the Gospel Tabernacle (in New York City).
Although never going overseas himself, Simpson was renowned for his contribution to
world missions. He did this as his growing movement expanded into a non-denominational
missionary society called the Christian and Missionary Alliance. Its purpose was to recruit, train,