How the sermons are ranked
The scholar’s rankings
Kerry James Allen read all 3,563 of Spurgeon’s sermons and gave every one up to four stars. Here’s how his rankings work, and how to use them.
Nearly thirty years with Spurgeon
Kerry James Allen is a Baptist pastor from Chicagoland, Illinois, now retired and living in Tennessee. He began reading Spurgeon in the late 1990s, as a pastor looking for quotes and stories for his own sermons. One hardback volume of Spurgeon’s sermons led to the next, and then to the whole 63-volume set.
Then he read every sermon in it: about a sermon and a half a day, every day of the year, for almost seven years, highlighter in hand. As he read, he noted each sermon’s topic, its Bible text and how good it was. Those notes are the stars, topics and titles you’ll find across Spurgeon HQ.
They’re also a book, Navigating Spurgeon (Three R Press), a guide to all 3,563 sermons by number, by topic and by Scripture. His highlighting became another: Spurgeon’s Quotes: The Definitive Collection (Kress Biblical Resources), first published as Exploring the Mind and Heart of the Prince of Preachers.
- Sermons read
- 3,563
- Volumes
- 63
- Sermons a day
- 1½
Four stars
After about 500 sermons, he found he could tell when a sermon was, in his words, “a base hit, a home run, or a grand slam.” Those became his three marks, and a fourth sets apart the very best.
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Good
A base hit. All of Spurgeon is good, so every sermon has at least one star.
183 sermons · 5%
See them all › -
Excellent
A home run. Much of Spurgeon is excellent.
1,018 sermons · 29%
See them all › -
Superlative
A grand slam. Some of Spurgeon is superlative.
1,270 sermons · 36%
See them all › -
One of the very best
The three he felt were best in every ten sermons. The place to start.
1,074 sermons · 30%
See them all ›
The best three in every ten
In his book the top mark is three stars. Then, going through the sermons ten at a time in the order they were published, he added a cross to the three he felt were best of each ten. Spurgeon HQ shows that cross as a fourth star, which is why 1,074 sermons, about three in every ten, have four.
Sermons No. 121 to 130, for example. The three with four stars are his picks of these ten.
How to use them
Start with four stars
New to Spurgeon? Begin with the four-star sermons. Every topic, book of the Bible and year on this site lists its sermons best first.
Two stars means excellent
His scale runs from one to four, not five, and it starts at good. A two-star sermon is excellent, not poor.
No order within a level
Sermons with the same stars aren’t ranked against each other. Top ranked lists them in the order Spurgeon published them.
Your view counts too
In the app you can rate any sermon on the same four-star scale, and readers’ ratings show beside his.
Topics and titles
He also filed every sermon under a topic. Those 432 topics are how you browse by topic here and in the app, and each one lists its sermons best first.
And where later reprints reworded Spurgeon’s titles, his book keeps them as Spurgeon published them. Spurgeon HQ uses his titles, more than 300 of them back in Spurgeon’s own words.
Questions
Did he really read every sermon?
Yes, all 3,563 in the 63 volumes, at about a sermon and a half a day for almost seven years. He read some thirty more of Spurgeon’s books besides.
Why does every sermon have at least one star?
Because, as he puts it, all of Spurgeon is good. The stars sort the good from the excellent and the superlative. None of them means poor.
Why four stars and not five?
His book has three marks, one to three stars, and a cross for the best three in every ten. Spurgeon HQ shows the cross as a fourth star. There’s no fifth, so two stars means excellent, not poor.
Is the first sermon on Top ranked the best one?
No. Every four-star sermon is one of the very best. Within each level the list follows the order Spurgeon published them, so sort or filter it whatever way helps you.
What if I disagree with a rating?
He’d expect that: he says himself that not everyone will agree with his choices. In the app you can rate any sermon on the same four-star scale, and readers’ ratings show beside his.
Why does his book list more sermons than this site?
His book counts 3,563, including two found only in some reprints of the last volume. Spurgeon HQ has 3,546 of them so far.
Read and listen in the app
Every sermon, read aloud as the words follow along, with Spurgeon’s Morning and Evening and a calendar of the days you’ve read. Spurgeon HQ is coming soon to iPhone and Android.