The Soul Winner

by Charles Haddon Spurgeon, GP Editors (Editor)

English evangelist C.H. Spurgeon, one of the most popular preachers of the late 19th century, was so renowned for converting nonbelievers to Christianity that he earned the nickname "the soul-winner." Here, in his classic work on the process and power of preaching, Spurgeon shares his anecdotes and advice on bringing hearts to God. He discusses what it means to win a soul, what it takes to make a soul-winning preacher, how to earn the respect of the skeptical, the kinds of sermons that are likely to win souls, overcoming obstacles to soul-winning and much more.
"The greatest strength of the sermon lies in what has gone before the sermon. You must get ready for the whole service through private fellowship with God and real holiness of character."
—Charles Haddon Spurgeon (The Soul Winner (Updated, Annotated): How to Lead Sinners to the Saviour)

Genres: Christian, Evangelism, Theology, Nonfiction, Christianity, Christian Living, Christian Non Fiction

266 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 1895

About the author

Charles Haddon Spurgeon (1834-1892) was England's best-known preacher for most of the second half of the nineteenth century. In 1854, just four years after his conversion, Spurgeon, then only 20, became pastor of London's famed New Park Street Church (formerly pastored by the famous Baptist theologian, John Gill). The congregation quickly outgrew their building, moved to Exeter Hall, then to Surrey Music Hall. In these venues, Spurgeon frequently preached to audiences numbering more than 10,000—all in the days before electronic amplification. In 1861, the congregation moved permanently to the newly constructed Metropolitan Tabernacle.

Reviews

[Nicholas Maulucci · Rating 4 out of 5]

wow!!! what a great book! oh, for old-time biblical, baptist doctrine! convicting, practical, doctrinal, and interesting. spurgeon nails this one. Thank you, Jeremy, for recommending this book to me. I recommend this book strongly to every preacher, and also recommend it to all servants of God. a top ten book out of my last hundred read.

[Autumn · Rating 5 out of 5]

So so good! My favorite Spurgeon book yet. An absolute must-read for any man who desires to preach better and any Christian who desires to see the lost come to salvation. The Soul Winner beautifully captures Spurgeon's humorous side and his struggles. I feel like I know him better and can't wait to one day meet him as we worship the Lord Jesus together in eternity.

[-.‘ Chloe Rose ’.- · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Soul Winner was such an amazing find. I enjoyed reading it, and it will help me when i evangelize. Spurgeon added so many similes and metaphors and stories that it was hard to NOT be interested. I loved this book and would give a 10/10 would recommend!!!

[Nick · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the most pleasurable, exciting, and convicting things I have done lately is to begin reading "The Soul Winner" by C. H. Spurgeon. The book is a collection of lectures and talks Spurgeon gave on the subject of evangelism, mostly from his vantage point as a pastor. Spurgeon writes with utmost conviction, and his writing is laced with witty humor and honest insights into the nature of God and humans. In fact, I am somewhat saddened that no one gave me a copy of this book earlier. To give just one example of his humor, when Spurgeon is writing about the need for soul winners to be good, holy examples in the community he comments: "If any man's life at home is unworthy, he should go several miles away before he stands up to preach, and then, when he stands up, he should say nothing." - Page 137

I will offer some personal reflections of what I have read in the first half of the book. First, I love the great balance with which Spurgeon addresses the nature of evangelism; he never neglects to give credit to God's Holy Spirit in quickening the hearts of humans and making their regeneration effectual, but at the same time, he goes to great lengths to stress every way possible that men can become better at the art of soul winning. For example, he writes an entire chapter on sermons most likely to convert people. In this chapter he encourages preachers to use correct English so as not to distract their hearers from the gospel message. He says: "You may, perhaps, think I am speaking of trifling matters that are hardly worthy of consideration; but I am not, for these things may cause most serious results; and as it is easy to speak and write correct English, do try and know all you can of it." - Page 77

Other than Spurgeon's great balance of the sovereignty of God and man's responsibility, there are four distinct ideas that have stuck out to me so far which I will summarize below with quotes from the book.

1) We must offer people what has first gripped our own hearts.
"In order that you may impress the Word upon those to whom you preach, remember that it must be impressed upon yourself first. You must feel it yourself and speak as a man who feels it; not as if you feel it, but because you feel it, otherwise you will not make it felt by others." - Page 73

2) We must share the whole council of God. The gospel is not meant to make people feel good, but to convict and save.
"Let us plainly proclaim to them that the unbelieving sinner is 'condemned already', and that he is certain to perish everlastingly if he does not trust in Christ. ... I am afraid that we sometimes preach smooth things, too soothing and agreeable, and that we do not set before men their real danger as we should. If we shun in this respect to declare the whole council of God, part at least of the responsibility of their ruin will lie at our door." - Page 89

3) Soul winning must always be bathed in prayer.
"The great secret lies, in a large measure, in powerful supplication. ... There must be prayer, much prayer, constant prayer, vehement prayer, the kind of prayer which will not take a denial, like Luther's prayer, which he called the bombarding of heaven; that is to say, the planting a cannon at heaven's gates to blow them open, for after this fashion fervent men prevail in prayer; they will not come from the mercy-seat until they can cry with Luther, 'Vici,' 'I have conquered, I have gained the blessing for which I strove.' ... May we offer such violent, God-constraining, heaven compelling prayers, and the Lord will not permit us to seek His face in vain." - Pages 119-120
While today prayer meetings are usually avoided by all except the ministers conducting them, Spurgeon felt differently, saying "If I were you, I would make that prayer-meeting a special feature of my ministry; let it be such a prayer-meeting that there is not the like of it within seven thousand miles. ... Keep up the prayer-meeting, whatever else flags; it is the great business evening of the week, the best service between the Sabbaths; be sure to make it so." - Page 101.

4) The results of attempts at soul winning are dependent on our faith.
"I like to go to the pulpit with the feeling, 'This is God's word that I am going to deliver in His name; it cannot return to Him void; I have asked His blessing upon it, and He is bound to give it, and His purposes will be answered'" - Page 40
Also, "look for souls to be saved, and look for a great number of them, too. Do not be satisfied when a single soul is converted. Remember that the rule of the kingdom is, 'according to your faith be it unto you."' - Page 68

[Eric Durso · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nothing like a healthy dose of Spurgeon to fire you up to preach the gospel!

[Sarah Norton · Rating 2 out of 5]

It almost feels heretical to say that I really don't like Spurgeon but that's where I landed after reading this book. It was a fine book with good ideas and Biblical truths but I don't like his style of writing. I found it very difficult to follow his train of thought and understand the point of what he was trying to say. As with many authors of his time period Spurgeon's writing style is very flowery, he uses lots of examples and stories when writing. In general, I don't like authors, modern or classic, who take three pages to explain one idea, when one page would have been sufficient.

I love reading quotes from Spurgeon, he does have a wonderful way of putting things. He lives up to his title at "prince of preachers". He has a beautiful heart for wanting to see sinners saved, he loves God with all his might and holds the Bible up as it should be. I don't know if I would read another book by him, but I do have some sermons he preached that I want to read and his morning and evening devotions are very helpful and encouraging. I will say that after the first 4 or 5 chapters I did start to like the book a little better. I felt like he was a little clearer and focused in his points and I found I was able to track with him a bit more.

[Clark Goble · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is a collection of sermons and talks given by Charles Spurgeon on the subject of evangelism. I not only found it informative, but also convicting. It caused me to examine my own heart for evangelism.

Spurgeon, who is known as the 'Prince of Preachers' as a way with words that is eloquent, to the point, and truthful all at the same time. I especially appreciated his reminder that our lives must be in accordance with our message. This book impacted me in a big way.

I highly recommend this to all Christians who are interested in how to share their faith and why.

[Brandon Giella · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is doubtless the best book one can read on evangelism. Spurgeon has authority and imagery that is rarely read, especially in modern literature. To be told so clearly and so eloquently what the Christian life looks like breathed new life in my soul.

[Stephen Smith · Rating 4 out of 5]

Solid book. This is a great volume to get people fired up to preach the gospel. Spurgeon also adds a lot of color with his witticisms and anecdotes. It was good to read an array of his messages on evangelism, because by virtue of repetition you can see what is most important to him. Prayer, personal holiness, simple declarations of the truth, etc. are all advocated for repeatedly.

My main criticism is that I think Spurgeon presses the point too far that faithfulness will inevitably lead to souls being won to Christ. His message is a good corrective to what may be a lack of faith in our prayer and evangelistic pursuits, but I think it goes beyond that at points. We should always be fine tuning our methods to make them more Scriptural and understandable to the hearer, but a lack of soul winning does not always mean that you are not being faithful or that your method is wrong. I can appreciate his call for us to be more faithfully expectant of God to answer our prayers and fulfill his promises through us, but I would like to humbly press back on behalf of those who have been laboring in the Lord's vineyard without as much to show for it as others. Sometimes we go where others won't listen because that is what the Lord will have us do. We are an aroma of life for some and death for others.

In sum, a good book with a lot to fire your heart in service to our Lord, who promises to make us fishers of men.

[Daniel Lieber · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is a great encouragement to share the gospel with “earnestness” or passion. While Spurgeon’s lectures collected in this book are full of theological truth, the real driving force and purpose of this work is practical. Spurgeon encourages us to take this work of soul winning very seriously from equipping oneself with knowledge, to mortifying personal sin, to possessing an unshakeable confidence that the Lord will produce fruit, to participating intimately in the lives of your audience and speaking with a humble, clear simplicity with the sole intent of directing people’s faith to the righteousness of Christ. Of course these things are so often intertwined and consequently the chapters may sound repetitive at times. Spurgeon’s use of language is always extremely creative but always tethered to truth and oftentimes amusing. I think his heart is a tremendous example for the rest of us and perhaps this might be a helpful read for those who feel themselves at times indifferent about the work of evangelism.

[James · Rating 5 out of 5]

When I first got this book I was told it was superseded by Spurgeon's "Lectures to my Students". As a more rounded studying of what a minister should be, perhaps that is the case, but the single-minded focus of this book is on winning souls for Christ.

It is excellent! Challenges to duty. Real encouragements too.

It seems to be written down from addresses where he spoke, so I also appreciated the man's own gifts and abilities and the spectacular use of illustration.
One I really liked was where he spoke of putting himself in the "gospel gun" and firing himself at the congregation, as whatever else he may say sometimes it's when he's at an end of himself and has to plead from his own experiences that some are blessed by it.

[Zachary Cowie · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book goes from okay, to pretty good, to amazing. Still meditating on a few things in this book a months later.

[Maree Brown · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thank you Philip. What a privilege to be able to join in on the work that will last forever. Glad i'm not a preacher because it is a heavy burden but at the same time feel very encouraged to take part in church by serving and contributing as I'm able and I do see I am able. Comforting to know that even my tears have a place.


"The preacher's work is to throw sinners down in utter helplessness, that they may be compelled to look up to Him who alone can help them."

"I am weary of this public bragging, this counting of unhatched chickens, this exhibition of doubtful spoils. Lay aside such numberings of the
people, such idle pretence of certifying in half a minute that which will need the testing of a lifetime."

"How earnest we ought to be when we remember that in our work we have to deal with souls that are immortal, with sin that is eternal in its effects, with pardon that is infinite, and with terrors and joys that are to last for ever and ever! A man who is not in earnest when he has such a theme as this, can he possess a heart at all?"

"Another obstacle is put in our way by men's self. righteousness. They have not committed any of these sins I have mentioned, they have kept all the commandments from their youth up; what lack they
yet? There is no room for Christ in a full heart; and when a man is clothed from head to foot with his own righteousness, he has no need of the righteousness of Christ; at least, he is not conscious of his need, and if the gospel does not convince him of it, Moses must come with the law, and show him what his true state is."

"Just as He came in deepest sympathy into the nearest contact with our wretched humanity, and condescended to stoop to our sorrowful condition, so must we come near to the souls with whom we have to deal, yearn over them with His yearning, and weep over them with His tears, if we would see them raised from the state of sin.
Only by imitating the spirit and manner of the Lord Jesus shall we become wise to win souls."

"Dear friends, as soon as I saw my poor despairing patient the first time, I blessed God that my fearful experience had prepared me to sympathize with him and guide him; but last night, when I saw him perfectly restored, my heart overflowed with gratitude to God for my former sorrowful feelings.
I would go into the deeps a hundred times to cheer a downcast spirit: it is good for me to have been afflicted that I might know how to speak a word in season to one that is weary."

[Ryan Gossett · Rating 5 out of 5]

"I ask every Christian worker to see to it that he never turns aside from shooting at this target. His aim should be at the center of this target, too, namely that he may win souls for Christ and see them born to God and washed in the fountain filled with blood. Let the workers' hearts ache and yearn and their voices cry until their throats are hoarse. Yet let them judge that they have accomplished nothing whatever until, at least in some cases, men are really saved. As the fisherman longs to take the fish in his net, as the hunter desires to bear home his spoil, as the mother yearns to clasp her lost child to her bosom, so do we faint for the salvation of souls. We must have them, or we are ready to die. Save them, O Lord, save them for Christ's sake!"

[Brandon Hill · Rating 5 out of 5]

Spurgeon was about making Christ known, and in that effort winning souls to Christ. His sermons and lectures in this book show that one of his primary concerns in ministry was that of the unsaved soul. This book challenges how lackluster of an effort I (and probably many other Christians) make at evangelism. It is helpful not only for that challenge to win souls to Christ, but also in general aspects of our life which affect how we evangelize. Very good on the wider theology of evangelism such as personal conviction / the Holy Spirit, God's role in salvation as well as prayer, holiness and meaningful follow up in evangelism / diecipleship. Reccomend if you struggle at sharing the gospel or don't find yourself saddened by the lost in the world.

[Samantha · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was an amazing book! I didn't get through it quite as fast as I thought I might, because it was so meaty and I had to constantly stop and look up what some words meant. But, I would absolutely read this again and I highly recommend it for anyone wanting a good, Godly, inspiring read that lines up with the word of God. I don't believe I read anything I disagreed with, however, there were moments where I had to re-read things because how we speak presently is not how men spoke when Charles Spurgeon was walking the earth. I dare anyone to read this book and not come away having learned something, been moved by his teachings, or flat out convicted in some manner. Easy 5 stars!

[Alex Clark · Rating 5 out of 5]

“It is good to be a fool when Christ is made unto you wisdom. It is a blessed thing to be weak if Christ becomes more fully your strength. Go to work, you who would be fishers of men, and yet feel your insufficiency. You that have no strength, attempt this divine work. Your Master’s strength will be seen when your own has all gone. A fisherman is a dependent person, he must look up for success every time he puts the net down; but still he is a trustful person, and therefore he casts in the net joyfully.”

[Ryan Rench · Rating 5 out of 5]

So helpful. So good. I've come to really enjoy Spurgeon. He's practical, earnest, and often humorous. I always need to hear from these Christians who love souls. His heart pours through every sentence, and you can tell it's not just a passing fad but a sincere love for souls.
I thought for sure I had reviewed this book already, and maybe I'm not finding it on my Goodreads shelves... but it's a book worth reading.

[Derek VanRoekel · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a timely read for me that helped me to reflect on the first semester and the fruits of our connection group. I am led to think more about how I care for sinners and my commitment to prayer for the lost. More than anything, I am assured of the absolute mandate given by Jesus to seek out the lost. It’s a great read and it’s not overly complicated or dense.

[Kevin Nelson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent book!

I recommend this book to anyone who has a heavy heart for lost souls and want to see them saved. C.H. Spurgeon has an entrusting way with words.
This is a must read for anyone who proclaims the gospel.

[Brady · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love Charles Spurgeon and am often convicted by his writings. I can say that I was convicted by various portions of this book, but overall, the book’s style was not my favorite. It seemed to lack an overall cohesiveness - due to the fact that each chapter is a separate sermon or lecture that he gave to differing audiences. I felt that the early chapters were directed more to pastors, but then the later chapters were more for a general audience. Overall, probably a 3.5 star book, but the idea of winning souls is a 5 star importance.

[Luke · Rating 4 out of 5]

Such a good read! I’ve read it twice, and this time I found it even better! It discusses evangelism from a preacher's perspective, shedding light on the responsibility of pastor/teachers to fulfill this role in the pulpit and community. I think all pastors should read it.

[Rick Davis · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fantastic. Spurgeon is at his most pastoral here. He's also quite witty.

[Cindy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great book and I got it free from Amazon. I love reading his insight to the Lord and about the Bible. You can't go wrong with Spurgeon.

[The.Saved.Reader · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 stars rounded up

This book was written for preachers and teachers in the church, but I gleaned a good deal of information from this book, regarding evangelism. I love that Spurgeon gives many an example of how-not-to evangelize or things to avoid as a preacher or teacher.

This is my first Spurgeon and I listened to the audio version. I will soon be reading a book by this Prince of Preachers and am interested to see if I prefer reading or listening.

[Sarah Elliott · Rating 4 out of 5]

Had some helpful tips and was encouraging, but most aimed and talking to preachers, rather than the lay person. Still found it useful though.

[Benjamin · Rating 4 out of 5]

In this classic book, Spurgeon presents a Calvinism with legs! Recommended.

[Leah · Rating 5 out of 5]

I encourage every Christian to read this book. I cannot speak more highly about it. Convicting, encouraging, and equipping. “Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.”

[James Mustard · Rating 5 out of 5]

I hi key loved this book. There is such a clear explanation about when and where the Gospel should be used(everywhere), and how Christians should live their lives trying to win souls

[Pat O'Keeffe · Rating 5 out of 5]

Read this book on the recommendation that it is the best book on evangelism this person had ever read. Needless to say I had high expectations! They were surpassed. I felt myself deeply challenged, but also stirred to proclaim the life-giving message of the gospel, to trust in the power of the Spirit to change lives, and to believe that God really will use my ministry for the salvation of others. I suspect I will return to this book many times when I need a strong encouragement or rebuke to give myself to the one business to which I have been called, the winning of souls.