I Cannot Sell My Conscience

A selection from a letter by C. H. Spurgeon to the co-pastor and deacons of his church, the Metropolitan Tabernacle, London, England. He had withdrawn membership in the Baptist Union because liberalism was tolerated and had been censured for it. He was in Mentone, France for some rest and recuperation when he wrote this letter on November 27, 1887.

The more you know of this controversy [The Downgrade Controversy], the more will your judgements go with me as well as your hearts. It is not possible for me to communicate to any one all that has passed under my knowledge; but I have had abundant reason for every step I have taken, as the day of days will reveal. All over the various churches there is the same evil, in all denominations in measure; and from all sorts of believers comes the same thankful expression of delight that the schemes of errorists have been defeated by pouring light upon them. I cannot at this present tell you what spite has been used against me, or you would wonder indeed; but the love of God first, and your love next, are my comfort and stay. We may, perhaps, be made to feel some of the brunt of the battle in our various funds; but the Lord liveth. Our great Dr. Gill said, ‘Sir, I can be poor, but I cannot sell my conscience,’ and he has left his mantle as well as his chair in our vestry.

The Suffering Letters of C. H. Spurgeon, annotations by Hannah Wyncoll, The Wakeman Trust, 2007, p. 64.