Charles Haddon Spurgeon was born in Kelvedon, England, in the year 1834, and his family moved to Colchester while he was still very young. His earliest years were spent living with his grandfather.
Viewed by many as the greatest Baptist preacher in history, Spurgeon did not come from a Baptist background. Both his father and his grandfather were Congregational preachers, yet Charles, as a teenager, still had not come to know the Lord Jesus Christ as his Saviour.
Having purposed to visit every church in his area until he learned how to become a Christian, Spurgeon set out on January 6, 1850, to visit yet another church. It was a cold and snowy morning, but he had to keep searching. Rather than visit the church he had in mind, the weather forced him to change his plans and attend services at the Artillery Street Primitive Methodist Church. The regular minister was absent due to the weather conditions, so a tall country gentleman went to the pulpit and took his text from Isaiah 45:22: “Look unto me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth: for I am God, and there is none else.” The fill-in preacher was rather awkward and couldn’t pronounce his words correctly, but the power of God’s word hit young Spurgeon’s heart like a bolt of lightening. As the gentleman developed his message of simple salvation by faith, Spurgeon began to understand that Christ had finished the work of salvation and that he only had to believe. The preacher singled out Spurgeon and said, “Young man, you look miserable . . . young man, look to Jesus Christ! Look! Look!” He did, and he became a born-again child of God.
Immediately he began handing out tracts and trying to minister the word to others. He was baptized and joined Isleham Baptist Church in May of the same year. Not long afterwards he began teaching Sunday school, leading in prayer meetings, and preaching wherever God allowed. His fame began to spread, and at seventeen years of age, a small Baptist church called him as pastor. In a very short time, the church grew to over one hundred members.
Two years later, at age twenty, Spurgeon was called to pastor the New Park Street Chapel in south London. The church of about a hundred members grew to over 1,200 in a year, and the famous Metropolitan Tabernacle was eventually built.
Although Spurgeon was a Calvinist, his fame continued to spread. The Anglicans mocked and ridiculed him, but he pressed forward. Newspapers printed his sermons, even American newspapers, and he published a monthly paper titled “Sword and Trowel.” His church membership passed 5,000.
He founded Spurgeon’s College for pastors in 1856 and trained some 900 students for the ministry. He founded Stockwell Orphanage in 1867, which accommodated 500 children.
Spurgeon was ill during the several years preceding his death, but he continued to preach. He preached his final sermon on June 7, 1891, to over 5,000 people at the Tabernacle. With his every ounce of energy, Spurgeon exalted his blessed Saviour and encouraged his listeners to “enlist under the banner of Jesus Christ.”
At fifty-seven years of age, C.H. Spurgeon died on January 31, 1892. Memorial and funeral services were held at the Tabernacle a few days later with over 100,000 people attending in a five day period. His preaching Bible was placed on top of his casket and opened to Isaiah 45:22.
Spurgeon’s literary works are a treasure, especially his massive Metropolitan Pulpit sermons, a set of forty-nine volumes. His commentary on Psalms, The Treasury of David, is a must for any preacher, and his Morning and Evening Devotions are very good. Other works include Lectures to My Students, My Sermon Notes, Storm Signals, The Saint and His Saviour, Feathers for Arrows, John Ploughman’s Pictures and John Ploughman’s Talks. Spurgeon’s writings are some of the most circulated writings (possibly the most circulated writings) in Christianity.
Taken from The Christian's Guide to Church History, James L. Melton, 2000.
