Baptists and Presbyterians Together?

C.H. Spurgeon was a Baptist legend. It’s hard to overstate his influence. He preached to millions; he trained pastors and started orphanages; his writings are still read around the world.

Quick: Who succeeded Spurgeon at his church when he died? I didn’t know the answer until a week ago. His name was Arthur Tappan Pierson. When Spurgeon was sick, he asked Pierson to fill in for him. When Spurgeon died, Pierson filled the pulpit for two years.

Here’s the amazing part: Pierson was Presbyterian. Wikipedia states:

It is notable that Spurgeon asked a Presbyterian minister who had not been baptized as a believer to occupy the pulpit in his place. Pierson held the opinion that Christians could disagree on the mode of baptism and whether it should be administered to infants or believers only.

It’s not like all of this happened without problems, and Spurgeon’s brother did baptize him later. But I had no idea that Spurgeon invited a Presbyterian to preach for him. Baptists and Presbyterians worked together long before T4G. (We can perhaps forgive Spurgeon for some of the shots that he took against liturgy as well.)