I was excited to start this book. I'd never read anything by the famous Charles Haddon Spurgeon besides little snippets here and there quoted by other believers who find him a delight. What I did know about the man's teaching was wonderful, hence my eagerness to dive into his work.

But when I started it, it felt... inane, somehow. Not so much the truths that Spurgeon was expounding, but the way he put them. This astonished me; I was expecting the strong and memorable phrases of a timeless saint, not the vaguely generic, forgettable style that confronted me. I had a notebook to jot down the page numbers of the especially powerful and lucid passages. But where were they? After 23 pages I was really starting to wonder, so I turned to the front of the book just to check. Surely no one would mess with the words of such an articulate, well-known author?

Actually, someone would. Look at this ominous Publisher's Note:

This new edition from Whitaker House is a revision of the complete original text. The resulting version has been edited for content and also updated for the modern reader. Words, expressions, and sentence structure have been revised for clarity and readability.

Firstly, how dare Whitaker House (publishing for the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association, by the way) edit Spurgeon's book not just for style, but also for content? If you don't like his theology and you're going to make changes that radical, write your own book and don't try to capitalize on Spurgeon's name. He's famous for a reason; let's not destroy that reason.

Secondly, modern readers must be pretty dumb. Spurgeon didn't speak Old English; good heavens, the man is perfectly comprehensible. Unless, of course, you are of that intellectually bankrupt group that publishers like to refer to as modern readers. Clarity and readability indeed! *sputters*

So I have yet to read a book that is actually by Spurgeon. I'd like to be as clear as possible: this rating is for Whitaker House's insipid editing job and is not in the least a reflection of my thoughts on Spurgeon's work. I hope to find an unbutchered copy of this title some day, but I won't be reading this — this thing in the meanwhile. Ugh. ( )