The Pulpit Prayers of Charles Spurgeon

The day on which a volume of C. H. Spurgeon's Pulpit Prayers appears is a day to be desired. Many will now rejoice to see that day.
Decidedly this selection of the great preacher's prayers supplies a want. Many of us have long hoped for such a volume; and now we welcome it with warm gratitude.

Lovers of C. H. Spurgeon will delight in this treasury of devotion. They will not open the book without keen anticipation, and assuredly they will not close it with disappointment.

It was memorable to hear this incomparable divine when he preached.. It was often even more memorable to hear him pray. Dr. John Cairns, the golden-mouthed preacher and scholar, much as he rejoiced in C. H. Spurgeon's sermons, rejoiced yet more in his prayers. Many can bear a similar witness. Who talked with God as Spurgeon did? His congregational prayers—and I heard many—are always echoing in my grateful heart. They are sweet and luminous, in the memory, as angel-presences. Never did I hear him pray without adoringly saying, "Lord, it is good for us to be here." How naturally prayer fell from the lips of that great apostle! We felt that he was only doing before the multitude what he was habituated to do in private. Prayer was the instinct of his soul, and the atmosphere of his life. It was his "vital breath" and "native air." How naturally he inhaled and exhaled it! The greatness of his prayers more and more impresses and delights me. He touched every note. He sped as on eagle's wings, into the Heaven of God.

The things that were given him to utter in prayer were often more profound and beautiful than the sayings that left his lips in preaching. This has often been a feature of the greatest ministries. A noble intellect shines with the glory that excelleth when it is turned towards God. A man of God is frequently at his intellectual best in prayer. Assuredly it was not seldom so with the beloved Pastor. I once heard him speak thus with God: "O Lord, if some of us began to doubt Thee we should begin to doubt our senses, for Thou hast done such wonderful things for us. Thou hast done more for us than Thou didst for Thomas. Thou didst allow Thomas to thrust his finger into Thy wounds; but Thou hast often thrust Thy finger into our wounds, and healed them." Did he not speak by the Spirit when he uttered the pathetic and lovely word?

His wonderful knowledge of Scripture made his prayers so fresh and edifying. No man can pray with high effect unless he is steeped in Scripture. Mr. Spurgeon lived and moved and had his being in the Word of God. He knew its remoter reaches, its nooks and crannies. Its spirit had entered into his spirit; and when he prayed, the Spirit of God brought all manner of precious oracles to his mind.