[fortheDeclaration]

And the reason Spurgeon was a succesful soul-winner was because he also made individual appeals, just like Billy Sunday.

Every succesful Calvinistic soul winner preaches like an 'Arminian' one.

A consistent Calvinist would have to preach this message, 'God has already decided who is going to be saved and who isn't, so sit patiently and wait to find out if you are the one who got chosen'

[George W. Bush]

Every succesful Calvinistic soul winner preaches like an 'Arminian' one.

And every repentant Arminian prays like a Calvinist. So much for the usual accusations. They're quite tiresome after a certain number of repetitions.

You may be aware that Spurgeon's predecessor at the Metropolitan Tabernacle was John Gill, the writer of the one great Baptist commentary. Although Gill was a thorough Calvinist, Gill's commentary, in much the same way as Calvin's, was not particularly Calvinistic but instead a learned commentary filled with information on Hebraisms, variants of scripture phrasing from various ancient versions and historical insights on ancient life among Jews in the Roman Empire. I use it very often for the insights in ancient life.

Gill also bragged that in his decades as pastor, he had never once given an altar call. But he was also quite successful, though not to the extent Spurgeon was.

Spurgeon is sweeter and easier to love but there is no denying he was a thorough Calvinist and stated it forthrightly on many occasions. While ill and elderly, he fought against the creeping liberalizing Arminian influence among Baptists and English churches in general. Spurgeon lived and died a thorough Calvinist.