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CHARLES HADDON SPURGEON's APPROPRIATIONS of BERNARD of CLAIRVAUX a Paper Presented to Dr. Michael Haykin Th CHARLES HADDON SPURGEON‘S APPROPRIATIONS OF BERNARD OF CLAIRVAUX __________________ A Paper Presented to Dr. Michael Haykin The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary __________________ In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for 88915 __________________ by Jason Edwin Dees 1139 Usher Street Covington, GA 30014 March 26, 2011 CHARLES HADDON SPURGEON‘S APPROPRIATIONSOF BERNARD OF CLAIRVAUX Introduction One of the great marks of the preaching and writing ministry of Charles Haddon Spurgeon was his vast knowledge of other preachers and writers. Throughout his sermons, articles, and books he often cites great men and women that came before him. He surely took to heart the words of John of Salisbury, ―We are like dwarves sitting upon the shoulders of giants. We see more, and things that are more distant than they did, not because our sight is superior or because we are taller than they, but because they raise us up, and by their great stature adds to ours.‖1 Spurgeon was surely in his time a ―shoulder stander‖ but he was no dwarf; and today, as he stood so tall on the shoulders of others, many are taking their post atop his broad shoulders. Lewis Drummond said of him, ―Spurgeon vividly recognized that Christians who truly want to walk with God must look back to the past and all that God has done in the lives of those who have preceded them. Therefore he immersed himself in their writings.‖2 From the Patristic 1 John, and Daniel D. McGarry. The Metalogicon of John of Salisbury: a twelfth- century defense of the verbal and logical arts of the trivium. Berkeley: University of California Press. 1955. (3.4). (John of Salisbury quoting Bernard of Chartres in his work The Metalogicon) 2 Lewis A. Drummond. Spurgeon: prince of preachers. Grand Rapids, MI: Kregel Publications, 1992. 572. 1 writers, Spurgeon refers to Justin Martyr, Tertullian, Origen, Gregory of Nazianzus, Basil of Caesarea, Jerome, and most obviously Augustine.3 Spurgeon‘s love for the Puritans is most widely noted. He constantly read and spoke fondly of them, saying (Dickson on the Psalms) ―drops fatness,‖ (Sibbes) ―scatters pearls and diamonds with both hands,‖ and (Ferguson of Ayrshire) is ―a grand, gracious, savoury divine.‖ He once said, ―I have been charged with being a mere echo of the Puritans, but I would rather be an echo of the truth than the voice of falsehood. Rest assured that there is nothing new in theology except that which is false.‖4 It was also said of Spurgeon that to hear him was like hearing a second John Bunyan; but Spurgeon‘s catholicity of shoulder-standing extended to George Fox, Richard Baxter, John Owen, George Whitefield, John Gill, and his own predecessor Benjamin Keach.5 What is less known is Spurgeon‘s admiration for the great poet of the Medieval Church, Bernard of Clairvaux. Spurgeon‘s spirituality was strictly biblical, so while in many ways he differed from St. Bernard, he did have great admiration for the medieval mystic. Of all the medieval authors, Bernard had the most impact and prominence in the ministry of Spurgeon.6 Throughout the great canon of Spurgeon‘s sermons and other works, he cites the great Saint of 3 Lewis A. Drummond. Spurgeon: prince of preachers. Grand Rapids, MI: Kregel Publications, 1992. 572. 4 James Gordon. Evangelical Spirituality. SPCK, 1991. 169. 5 Fox was a Quaker, Baker and Owen were of course Puritan authors but are often couched outside of the fold of Bunyan. It is noted in Puritan work Owen‘s great respect for the preaching ability of Bunyan, the ―tinker.‖ Benjamin Keach had pastored the Southwark church in London that would later become The New Park Street Church and then the Metropolitan Tabernacle under Spurgeon‘s leadership. Lewis A. Drummond. Spurgeon: prince of preachers. Grand Rapids, MI: Kregel Publications, 1992. 573. 6 Lewis A. Drummond. Spurgeon: prince of preachers. Grand Rapids, MI: Kregel Publications, 1992. 569, 573. 2 Clairvaux more than sixty times, not to mention using Bernard‘s hymns in the Metropolitan Hymnal. Throughout these citations, much can be learned about the spirituality of Bernard and the effect it had on Charles Spurgeon, his congregation, and his readers for years to come. The thread of passion that ran from twelfth century Clairvaux through nineteenth century London carries to twenty-first century churches all around the globe. The following is a survey of the Spirituality of Bernard of Clairvaux through the appropriations of Charles Haddon Spurgeon. After an overview of the life events of St. Bernard this essay will consider the importance of Bernard and five key markers of his spirituality using only the words written and spoken through the ministry of Charles Spurgeon. More than eight hundred years after the medieval giant‘s death, his words would ring loud through the mouth and pen of one of ―dwarves‖ on his shoulders, a dwarf that would grow into a giant. Life of Bernard Thomas Merton once wrote, ―St. Bernard is too important to be overlooked. He belongs on the bookshelves of every educated man, along with St. Augustine, and St. Gregory, St. Anselm and St. Thomas Aquinas.‖7 It was also said of Bernard that he preached so effectively that mothers would lock up their sons in their homes, prohibiting them from hearing Bernard preach lest they follow him to the monastery.8 He lived in the twelfth century, the highpoint of the Middle Ages from the viewpoint of spirituality. It was the age when the West 7 Henri Daniel-Rops. Bernard of Clairvaux. New York: Hawthorn Books. 1964, 7. 8 Lewis A. Drummond. Spurgeon: prince of preachers. Grand Rapids, MI: Kregel Publications, 1992. 311. 3 achieved an integral and balanced humanism.9 By God‘s providence, it was the right time for Bernard. At no other period since the death of Charlemagne in the ninth century, would he have found a world so ready for his saintly life or so open to the thrill and power of his personality.10 His biographers say that his arrival to the order of Cîteaux in 1112 was the defining moment in the history of 12th century monasticism. While this may be a bit of an exageration there can be little doubt of the profound impact of St Bernard.11 Bernard was born near Dijon in Burgundy in 1091, and he died at his abbey of Clairvaux in 1153.12 Bernard‘s family belonged to the minor nobility of Burgundy; his father being a knight, and his brothers destined to become the same. Bernard however, was sent by his parents to a small school kept by the Canons Regular at St. Vorles, near Dijon.13 When Bernard was still young, his father Tescelin was killed in the first Crusade. ―His mother, Aletta, was of the same devout type as Anchusa, the mother of Chrysostom, Nonna, the wife of Gregory 9 Bernard, and G. R. Evans. Bernard of Clairvaux: Selected Works. New York: Paulist Press, 1987.13. 10 John Humpstone. Man and Message, Eminent Preachers Who Exemplify Chief Principles of Ministerial Efficiency: The Samuel A. Crozer Lectures for 1926. Philadelphia: Judson Press, 1927. 76. 11 F. Donald Logan. A History of the Church in the Middle Ages. London and New York: Routledge, 2002. 139. 12 John Humpstone. Man and Message, Eminent Preachers Who Exemplify Chief Principles of Ministerial Efficiency: The Samuel A. Crozer Lectures for 1926. Philadelphia: Judson Press, 1927. 77. 13 Bernard, and G. R. Evans. Bernard of Clairvaux: Selected Works. New York: Paulist Press, 1987. 15. 4 Nazianzen, and Monica, the mother of Augustine; women who adorned with a life rich in faith and prayers and good works the gospel they so ardently believed.‖14 One of the most significant events of Bernard‘s life occurred even before his birth. His biography accounts that ―while Aletta was still carrying Bernard in her womb, she had a dream which foretold of things to come. She dreamed that she had within her a barking dog, which had a white coat and a tawny back.‖ The dream led Aletta to a holy man who interpreted her dream saying: ―There is no need to be afraid, because this dream foretells nothing but good. You are to be the mother of a wonderful dog who is destined to be the guardian of the Lord‘s house. You have heard him barking, because soon now he will rush out against the enemies of the faith. He is to be a marvelous preacher, and as a dog will lick its master‘s wounds clean of all that may poison them, so the words that his tongue speaks will heal and cure many of the evils that disease men‘s souls.‖15 Another influence on Bernard‘s life was the instruction he received from his teachers at St. Vorles. Their charge, ―to be poor with the poor Christ‖ became Bernard‘s maxim in life.16 Beyond his school and the influence of his family, Bernard was just a boy when the strict order of Cîteaux was founded in 1098; otherwise, Bernard would have likely known about and had 14 John Humpstone. Man and Message, Eminent Preachers Who Exemplify Chief Principles of Ministerial Efficiency: The Samuel A. Crozer Lectures for 1926. Philadelphia: Judson Press, 1927. 77. 15 Vp, b. I, c. I, 2; P.L., CLXXXV, 227–228. Transl. Webb and Walker, 14, 15. From Adriaan Hendrik Bredero, Bernard of Clairvaux : Between Cult and History, 1st English ed. Grand Rapids, Mich.: W.B. Eerdmans, 1996. 29. 16 Henri Daniel-Rops. Bernard of Clairvaux. New York: Hawthorn Books. 1964. 31. 5 contact with the monastery and order of life therein.
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