“Can any man tell me when the beginning was? Years ago we thought the beginning of this world was when Adam came upon it.

But we have discovered that thousands of years before that God was preparing chaotic matter to make it a fit abode for man.

Putting races of creatures upon it who might die and leave behind the marks of His handiwork and marvelous skill before He tried His hand on man.”

Charles H. Spurgeon, Sermon #41-42. Election, Given on 2 September 1855, at New Park Street Chapel, Southwark.

Many millions of years

“We know not how remote the creation of this globe may be—certainly many millions of years before the time of Adam.

Our planet has passed through various stages of existence, and different kinds of creatures have lived on its surface, all of which have been fashioned by God.

But before that era came, wherein man should be its principal tenant and monarch, the Creator gave up the world to confusion. He allowed the inward fires to burst up from beneath, and melt all the solid matter, so that all kinds of substances were commingled in one vast mass of disorder.”

Charles H. Spurgeon. Sermon #30 – The Power of the Holy Ghost. 17 June 1855, at New Park Street Chapel, Southwark.

Any length of time

“Here is a good brother who writes a tremendous book to prove that the six days of creation represent six great geological periods; and he shows how the geological strata, and the organisms thereof, follow very much in the order of the Genesis story of creation.

It may be so, or it may not be so…. The Bible said, “In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.” That leaves any length of time for your fire-ages and your ice-periods, and all that, before the establishment of the present age of man”

Charles H. Spurgeon. The Greatest Fight in the World:
Spurgeon’s Final Manifesto. Pilgrim Publications, 1990, pp. 29-33

A period long ere this world

“But that was not the beginning, for revelation points us to a period long ere this world was fashioned, to the days when the morning stars were begotten…

We go back to years gone by, when worlds were made and systems fashioned, but we have not even approached the beginning yet…

We may go back, back, back, ages upon ages. We may go back, if we might use such strange words, whole eternities, and yet never arrive at the beginning. “

Charles H. Spurgeon, Sermon #41-42. Election, Given on 2 September 1855, at New Park Street Chapel, Southwark.