ABSTRACT
The 1860's were for Spurgeon years of controversy and commitment. The decade began with the opening of the Metropolitan Tabernacle and ended with Spurgeon's emergence as a prominent spokesman for a newly aroused political Dissent. In June 1864, he touched off a heated controversy with the publication of a sermon on "Baptismal Regeneration". Spurgeon's sermon on Baptismal Regeneration catered to all of the fears and prejudices of popular Protestantism. Even some of those most sympathetic to Spurgeon's position in the controversy were offended by the language of his sermon. One immediate consequence of Spurgeon's quarrel with the Evangelicals was his decision to withdraw from the Evangelical Alliance, an association of Churchmen and Nonconformists holding common evangelical views. In long-range terms, the significance of the Baptismal Regeneration Controversy became apparent twenty years later during the Downgrade Controversy which ended Spurgeon's association with the Baptist Union.
