Twelve Christmas Sermons

by Charles Haddon Spurgeon

Paperback.....name written in front cover page & stamp of a church in front & back page, book in excellent condition, very minor edge wear, binding is tight.....will ship within 24 hours, cp60, have the set of the 6 books written Charles H Spurgeon

Paperback

First published April 1, 1995

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

[Brandon · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a great collection of Christmas-time sermons preached by Charles Spurgeon at the Metropolitan Tabernacle.

They are as follows:
"The First Carol" Luke 2:14
"A Christmas Question" Isaiah 9:6
"No Room For Christ in the Inn" Luke 2:7
"Holy Work for Christmas" Luke 2:17-20
"God Incarnate, The End of Fear" Luke 2:10
"The Sages, The Star, and the Saviour" Matthew 2:2
"Joy Born at Bethlehem" Luke 2:10-12
"God with Us" Matthew 1:23
"The Great Birthday" Luke 2:10
"Out of Egypt" Matthew 2:14-15, Hosea 11:1
"He Shall Be Great" Luke 1:32
"The Great Birthday and Our Coming of Age" Galatians 4:3-6

These are all good reflections for Christmas. I thought "God Incarnate, The End of Fear" was especially good. A couple of these sermons do veer towards Spurgeon's tendency to allegorize ("No Room for Christ in the Inn" and "Out of Egypt", specifically), but with these the allegory is such that the teachings are still orthodox ('right teaching, wrong text' kind of thing).

Well-worth reading, if you can find this book, as it is rather rare.

[Steven H · Rating 5 out of 5]

A COLLECTION OF SERMONS (WHICH ARE OPPOSED TO THE CELEBRATION OF CHRISTMAS)

In ‘The First Christmas Carol,’ he said, “I wish everybody that keeps Christmas this year, would keep it as the angels kept it. There are many persons who, when they talk about keeping Christmas, mean by that the cutting of the bands of their religion for one day in the year, as if Christ were the Lord of misrule, as if the birth of Christ should be celebrated like the orgies of Bacchus. There are some very religious people, that on Christmas would never forget to go to church in the morning; they believe Christmas to be nearly as holy as Sunday, for they reverence the tradition of the elders. Yet their way of spending the rest of the day is very remarkable; for if they see their way straight up stairs to their bed at night, it must be by accident. They would not consider they had kept Christmas in a proper manner, if they did not verge on gluttony and drunkenness. There are many who think Christmas cannot possibly be kept, except there be a great shout of merriment and mirth in the house, and added to that the boisterousness of sin… although we … will not keep the day in any religious sense whatever… we must try to set an example to others how to behave on that day; and especially since the angels gave glory to God; let us do the same.” (Pg. 9)

In ‘No Room for Christ in the Inn,’ he observes, “in thus being laid in a manger, he did, as it were, give an INVITATION to the most humble to come to him. We might tremble to approach a throne, but we cannot fear to approach a manger.” (Pg. 21)

In ‘Holy Work for Christmas,’ he suggests, “Here, dear brethren, is one way for you to keep a right holy, and in some sense a right merry, Christmas. Imitate these humble men, of whom it is said, ‘When they had seen it they made known abroad the saying which was told them concerning the child.” (Pg. 35)

In ‘Joy Born at Bethlehem,’ he asserts, “We have no superstition for times and seasons. Certainly we do not believe in the present ecclesiastical arrangement called ‘Christmas’; first, because we do not believe in the MASS at all, but abhor it, whether it be said or sung in Latin or in English; and secondly, because we find no Scriptural warrant whatever for observing any day as the birthday of the Saviour; and consequently, its observance is a superstition, because not of divine authority. Superstition has fixed most positively the day of our Saviour’s birth, although there is no possibility of discovering when it occurred.” (Pg. 67)

In ‘The Great Birthday,’ he states, “There is no reason upon earth beyond that of ecclesiastical custom why the 25th of December should be regarded as the birthday of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ any more than any other day from the first of January to the last day of the year; and yet some persons regard Christmas with far deeper reference than the Lord’s day… There are Protestants who have absorbed a great deal beside the Bible into their religion, and … they have accepted the authority of what they call ‘the Church,’ and by that door all sorts of superstitions have entered. There is no authority whatever in the word of God for the keeping of Christmas at all, and no reason for keeping it just now except that the most superstitious of Christendom has made a rule that December 25th shall be observed as the birthday of the Lord… We owe no allegiance to the ecclesiastical powers which have made a decree on this matter… At the same time the day is no worse than another, and if you chose to observe it, and observe it to the Lord, I doubt not that he will accept your devotion; while if you do not observe it… for fear of encouraging superstition… I doubt not but what you shall be accepted in the non-observance as you could have been in the observance of it. Still, as the thoughts of a great many people will run at this time towards the birth of Christ, and … this cannot be wrong.” (Pg. 91)

Now, although Spurgeon was rather ‘anti-Christmas’ in all of these sermons above, it should be noted that on December 23, 1891 (the year before he died), Spurgeon preached ‘The Birth of Christ,’ in which he concludes, “Now, a happy Christmas to you all, and it will be a happy Christmas if you have God with you. I shall say nothing today against festivities on this great birthday of Christ. I hold that perhaps it is not right to have the birthday celebrated, but we will never be amongst those who think it as much a duty to celebrate it the wrong way as others the right. But we will tomorrow think of Christ’s birthday, we shall be obliged to do it, I am sure, however sturdily we may hold to our rough Puritanism... Feast, Christians, feast, you have a right to feast. Go to the house of feasting tomorrow, celebrate your Savior’s birth, do not be ashamed to be glad, you have a right to be happy. Solomon says, ‘Go thy way, eat thy bread with joy, and drink thy wine with a merry heart; for God now accepteth thy works. Let thy garments be always white; and let thy head lack no ointment.’ Religion never was designed to make our pleasures less. Recollect that your Master ate butter and honey. Go your way, rejoice tomorrow, but in your feasting, think of the Man in Bethlehem, let Him have a place in your hearts, give Him the glory, think of the virgin who conceived Him, but think most of all of the Man born, the Child given. I finish by again saying— ‘A HAPPY CHRISTMAS TO YOU ALL!’”

[David Voetberg · Rating 5 out of 5]

Incarnation gold.

[Andy]

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