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The Saint and his SaviourStimulating studiesTHE SAINT AND HIS SAVIOUR The Saint and his Saviour was the first book published by Charles H. Spurgeon in 1857, here presented after light editing by Tony Cappocia, together with a brief (pages 7-26) but helpful overview of Spurgeon's life by Michael Haykin. Spurgeon offers 12 studies which trace the activities of the Holy Spirit in the life of a person being brought from unbelief into full commitment to Christ, from Jesus as the despised Friend, Faithful wounds, Jesus desired, Jesus pardoning, Joy at conversion, and including studies on Jesus in the hour of trouble, Jesus hiding himself, to the final Communion preserved. Although providing stimulating studies in Christian experience, Spurgeon does not forget the non-Christian. Each study ends with 'To the unconverted reader' where such readers are challenged to face the fact that they have no understanding of the spiritual experiences of which Spurgeon wrote. There are some notes at the close of each study which help to identify the many different sources from which Spurgeon quoted. He would be a foolhardy reviewer indeed who found fault with Spurgeon's biblical teaching; once you get behind the torrent of florid Victorian figurative language which so often poured from his pen, then the practical instruction he gives is of lasting and relevant value. And therein lies what this reviewer sees as a problem - is this style of language what today's readers are familiar with? Will today's 'average church members who read' be prepared to struggle with this verbal effervescence? And, please, please, let no minister attempt to copy today Spurgeon's ancient style. As a historical study of what a preacher's oratory was like 145 years ago, when modern means of communication and entertainment did not exist, the style has some interest. Indeed, if you read out loud some of the 'purple' passages you can almost feel the growing excitement their original hearers must have felt as metaphor after metaphor built up to a crescendo! Two things I learnt: the enormous breadth of reading and learning Spurgeon had acquired, both secular and sacred, by his 23rd year when this book was written; and the burning intensity of the spiritual experiences of the believer in his day, which he describes so vividly. Today we are pigmies, compared with those giants. So there is much that is useful here, and well produced. But I have a niggling doubt as to whether the original text being 'lightly edited' is edited enough for today's readers. And I am a little sad about that - the text as we have it here would puzzle, and probably defeat, my friends overseas, including translators. To that extent it is a pity that Spurgeon's practical biblical wisdom cannot break free from its setting here and fly to the ends of the earth. John Appleby,
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