Evangelist Myrl Eddings

Matthew 6:33

Spotlight on --

Charles Haddon Spurgeon

Charles Haddon Spurgeon, one of Great Britain’s best-known Protestant ministers, was born June 19, 1834 in Kelvedon, England.  He spent his childhood and early teenage years in Stambourne, Colchester, and Newmarket    Not much else is recorded of his childhood except that, by the account of relatives, he grew up happy and well adjusted.

Spurgeon had no formal education beyond Newmarket Academy, which he attended from August 1849 to June 1850, but he was very well read in Puritan theology, natural history, Latin and literature. A few months after his conversion to Christianity, he began preaching at Teversham when he was only fifteen years old.  His limited training was no obstacle to his preaching career, which began in 1850. The next year, he accepted his first pastorate, at the Baptist Chapel in Waterbeach. The church rapidly grew from fewer than a dozen congregants to more than four hundred, and Spurgeon's reputation as a preacher caught the attention of New Park Street, London's largest Baptist church. He was invited to preach there in December 1853 and, following a brief probationary period, he agreed to move to London in 1854 and become the church's new pastor, still just 20 years of age.    To fully appreciate the responsibility assumed while still little more than an adolescent, the congregation had previously been led by the theologian John Gill, a seasoned preacher and acclaimed in his own right.

Spurgeon's New Park Street membership grew rapidly as well, and soon became too large for the 1200-seat sanctuary. On August 30, 1854, the membership agreed to enlarge the chapel. During the remodeling, services were held at the 5,000-seat Exeter Hall, a local public auditorium. The renovations to New Park Street were complete in May, 1855. But the chapel was still too small, so in June a committee was formed to oversee the construction of the church's new home, a 5,000-seat facility. Work began on the new chapel in 1859.  The congregation moved once again, meeting in Exeter Hall and the 8,000-seat Surrey Gardens Music Hall until the new Metropolitan Tabernacle was dedicated on March 18, 1861. Spurgeon began publishing shortly afterwards. The church’s The Sword and the Trowel magazine was established. He served as editor for the monthly periodical.

In 1856 he married Susannah Thompson; their only children were twin sons, Thomas and Charles, born on September 20, 1857.  Rev. Spurgeon also founded Pastors' College in 1857, and served as president. He established the Stockwell Orphanage, as well, which opened in 1867. After the publication of the book John Ploughman's Talk and the 7-volume Treasury of David, both in 1869, the ministry of Charles Spurgeon gained even wider recognition.

            Spurgeon became popular for his strong stance on Christian duty and simplistic living.  His eloquence served him well for purposes of ministering and publishing extensive literary pieces. But, as many who take firm stands on principle often experience, his articulate rhetoric was not enough to escape controversy as he spoke out against doctrinal corruption.  He was concerned not only with the guarded presumption of the Pope’s supposed infallibility, but was sharply critical of heresy he felt was creeping into the very organization to which he belonged—the Evangelical Alliance, an ecumenical association of Dissenters with the Church of England and Evangelical Anglicans. The "Down Grade" controversy began in 1887, when Spurgeon published a series of articles declaring that evolutionary thinking and liberal theology threatened to "Down Grade" the church.   The conflict ultimately led to Rev. Spurgeon’s departure from the group.

Spurgeon published dozens of religious books in addition to his sermons. One of the most significant works includes Lectures to My Students, a collection of talks delivered to the students of his Pastors' College in 1890.  Sickness forced Spurgeon to limit his appearances during the last few years of his life. He preached his final sermon at the Metropolitan Tabernacle on June 7, 1891. He died in France on January 31, 1892, still holding his pastoral title.

On February 9, over 60,000 people attended his funeral in the Tabernacle. He was buried at Norwood Cemetery on February 11. The weekly series "Penny Pulpit,” continued until 1917, a quarter-century after Spurgeon's death, and most of his published works survive to this day.

Charles Haddon Spurgeon supervised evangelistic and charitable projects such as almshouses, organizations for distributing food and clothing to the poor, and a fund for needy ministers.  He was a pastor, author, college founder and president, and much more.  Most importantly, though, he was a man who loved God.