"No instance of backsliding can be more aggravated than that of the apostle Peter, and yet no recovery was more signal. While that stands upon record, no traitor to his Lord and Master is justified in saying, 'the door of hope is closed against my return.' The Scriptures contain several instances in which lamentable and disgraceful lapses of God's people are shown to be followed by their recovery and restoration. Frequently such characters, after they have been corrected and chastened of the Lord, have risen to stations of great eminence in his church. David in the Old Testament and Peter in the New, while both illustrating the shame and sorrow of a backsliding state, stand forth as monuments of that sovereign grace which can forgive the penitent wanderer, and once more infuse into his heart the 'peace of God which passeth all understanding. - Leifchild, as quoted in Spurgeon's Sermon Notes'" (Source: Spurgeon's Sermon Notes)
Recommended reading:
The Conversion of Charles Spurgeon
The Forgotten Spurgeon, by Iain Murray
A Defense of Calvinism - by Charles Spurgeon
The Forgotten Spurgeon, by Iain Murray
A Defense of Calvinism - by Charles Spurgeon
