Around the Wicket Gate

Summary

What separates almost believing from truly believing? In this short, warm, and searching work, Charles Haddon Spurgeon, the “Prince of Preachers,” speaks to the people he called seekers. They know the gospel, admire the faith, and may even sit in church every week, yet they have never entered by the narrow gate themselves. Spurgeon borrows his image from John Bunyan’s The Pilgrim’s Progress and takes up, one by one, the fears, doubts, delays, and excuses that keep people lingering outside. He answers each one with clear explanation, vivid everyday illustrations, and urgent pastoral love. Faith, he insists, is not complicated: it is simply trusting in the person of Jesus Christ, and doing so now. First published in 1890 and written to be passed from hand to hand, Around the Wicket Gate is still one of the most accessible invitations to faith ever written. It is equally valuable for the hesitant seeker and for the believer who wants to help a friend take that step.