Charles Spurgeon

**Charles Haddon** (**C.H.**) **Spurgeon** (19 June 1834 – 31 January 1892) was a English Baptist preacher. People still know him as the "Prince of Preachers". In his lifetime, Spurgeon preached to about 10 million people. Spurgeon would often preach 10 times a week at different places. His sermons have been translated into many languages. Today, there are more writings and books by Spurgeon than by any other Christian writer. He was part of several controversies with the Baptist Union of Great Britain, and later had to leave that denomination. Throughout his life, Spurgeon suffered from depression and other mental illnesses. In 1857, he started a charity organisation called Spurgeon's which works all over the world.

## Biography 
### Family background and childhood 
#### His family 
Charles Spurgeon was born on 19 June 1834, in Kelvedon, in the English county of Essex. He was the eldest child of Eliza Jarvis and John Spurgeon. She was about 19-years-old when Spurgeon was born. Spurgeon was also very good at mathematics. As a young boy, he would read the Scriptures at family worship. He memorised many hymns as a child, and would use many of them in his sermons later in life.

#### Spirituality 
As an early teenager, he was very intelligent, but was also fearful and doubting. By the influence of his father and grandfather, Spurgeon was kept from most normal sins. As a child, he thought that he was a  person. But he later said that, "Day and night God's hand was heavy on me." While he was there, a worker there said to him, "Young man, you look very miserable." Spurgeon knew this, and he believed now that only God could heal him. The worker, seeing his need, replied, "Young man, look to Jesus Christ! Look! Look! Look! You have nothin' to do but to look and live." He later said that, "I thought I could dance all the way home." On 3 May 1850, he was baptised in the River Lark, at Isleham. Later that year, his family moved to Cambridge.

### Early adulthood 
#### Beginnings 
He  his first sermon in the winter of 1850–51. At that time, he was made the pastor of the Waterbeach Baptist Chapel in Cambridgeshire. His preaching was thought to be very good. In 1853, he authored his first written work: a Gospel tract.

#### New Park Street Chapel 
In April 1854, aged 19 and after he had preached for three months, Spurgeon became the pastor of the New Park Street Chapel in London. While he was at the New Park Street Chapel, Spurgeon became friends with James Hudson Taylor. Taylor was the man who started the China Inland Mission.

The way Spurgeon preached was not new, but it was easy to understand. When he would read and teach the Bible in his messages, many people would think about what Jesus had said. Because the church congregation became too large for their building, they had to move to Exeter Hall, then to Surrey Music Hall, and later to the Metropolitan Tabernacle. By the age of 22, he was a very  preacher. He would preach to more than 10,000 people at a time. Even before the microphone was invented, he spoke to an audience of almost 24,000 at the Crystal Palace.

On 8 January 1856, Spurgeon got married to Susannah Spurgeon. By the age of 33, she had to stay home because of her disabilities. This made many people  and run for the exits. It was later found out that seven people died after being trampled to death. Spurgeon read many books, up to six a week. There was always someone at his door the next day. He preached there until his death 31 years later.

When the missionary David Livingstone died in 1873, a  of Spurgeon's sermon, "Accidents, Not Punishments", was found among his belongings. There was a comment at the top of the first page that read, "Very good, D.L." Livingstone carried the sermon with him when he travelled to Africa, but it was given back to Spurgeon. Spurgeon had given the message on Sunday, 8 September 1861, at the Metropolitan Tabernacle, in Newington, London. He had preached it because of two disasters that  close to his house. On Sunday, 25 August 1861, there was a tragic accident between two trains in the Clayton Tunnel between London and Brighton. 23 people died from this crash and the crash also injured hundreds. About two weeks later, on Monday, 2 September another train wreck in North London that made 15 more people die.

### Final years and death 
Spurgeon gave his last sermon at the Metropolitan Tabernacle on 7 June 1891. During his pastorate, 14,692 were baptised and joined the Tabernacle. Spurgeon's wife was often too sick to leave their home to hear him preach.

Near the end of his life, he had poor health with rheumatism, gout, and Bright's disease. He died in Menton, in France, on 31 January 1892. Spurgeon's wife and sons lived longer than him. His body is buried in a tomb in West Norwood Cemetery, in London.

## Controversies 
### Baptist Union controversies 
Around the end of Spurgeon's life, he was part of many  in the Baptist Union of Great Britain (BUGB). Spurgeon later left the Baptist Union.

### Downgrade controversy 
A  with Baptists started in 1887 when Spurgeon wrote what was later called the "Downgrade Controversy." It got that name when Spurgeon used word "Downgrade" when talking about how other Baptists looked at the Bible. Spurgeon meant that things such as Charles Darwin's theory of evolution were making the Baptist Union weak.

### Baptismal regeneration 
The "baptismal regeneration" controversy was started by a sermon in the Metropolitan Tabernacle on 5 June 1864. The sermon is 16 pages long, so it took around an hour for Spurgeon to preach it. However, Spurgeon did work with Anglicans, as well as people from other denominations all his life.

## Spurgeon's ministries 
### Spurgeon's 
Stockwell Orphanage was an orphanage started by Spurgeon in London in 1867. It opened on 9 September 1869, and was originally for boys only. It began taking girls as well in 1879. The children were fed, clothed and taught at the orphanage. The money to pay for this mainly came from donations.

The orphanage was open until London was bombed in the Second World War. It later turned into Spurgeon's Child Care (and then into Spurgeon's). It is now mainly in England, but has international projects in Mexico, Africa and Eastern Europe.

### Spurgeon library 
In 1906, William Jewell College in Liberty, Missouri paid £500 ($2500) for most of the Spurgeon library. The Spurgeon library had around 5,100 books in it at the time. In 2006, the whole library was sold to the Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary.

## Works 
 of Spurgeon]]
His works have been  into many languages. He also made many volumes of commentaries, sayings, and other types of literature.

* *2200 Quotations from the Writings of Charles H. Spurgeon*
* *Able To The Uttermost*
* *According To Promise*
* *All of Grace* : 
* *An All Round Ministry*
* *Around the Wicket Gate*
* *Barbed Arrows*
* *C. H. Spurgeon’s Autobiography* : 
* *Chequebook of the Bank of Faith* : 
* *Christ’s Incarnation*
* *Come Ye Children*
* *Commenting and Commentaries*
* *The Dawn of Revival, (Prayer Speedily Answered)*
* *Down Grade Controversy, The*
* *Eccentric Preachers*
* *Feathers For Arrows*
* *Flashes Of Thought*
* *Gleanings Among The Sheaves*
* *God Promises You* : 
* *Good Start, A*
* *Greatest Fight In The World, The*
* *Home Worship And The Use of the Bible in the Home*
* *Interpreter, The or Scripture for Family Worship*
* *John Ploughman’s Pictures*
* *John Ploughman’s Talks*
* *Lectures to My Students* : 
* *Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit, The*
* *Miracles and Parables of Our Lord*
* *Morning & Evening* : 
* *New Park Street Pulpit, The*
* *Only A Prayer Meeting*
* *Our Own Hymn Book*
* *Pictures From Pilgrim’s Progress*
* *Power in Prayer* : 
* *The Preachers Power and the Conditions of Obtaining it*
* *Saint And His Saviour, The*
* *Sermons In Candles*
* *Sermons On Unusual Occasions*
* *Soul Winner, The* : 
* *Speeches At Home And Abroad*
* ''Spurgeon's Commentary on Great Chapters of the Bible*
* *Spurgeon’s Morning and Evening*
* *Spurgeon's Sermon Notes* : 
* *Sword and The Trowel, The*
* *Till He Come*
* *Treasury of David, The* : 
* *We Endeavour*
* *The Wordless Book*
* *Word and Spirit* : 
* *Words Of Advice*
* *Words Of Cheer*
* *Words Of Counsel''

## References 
## Bibliography 
* 
* 
* 

## Other websites 
* More information on Charles Spurgeon 
** Chronological index of Spurgeon's sermon 
** Index of Spurgeon's writings 
* Spurgeon Gems - Over 2,750 of Spurgeon's sermons in modern English
* Spurgeon's quotes and illustrations

### Biographies 
* Spurgeon's Biography - at Christian Biography Resources
* Spurgeon's Audio Biography 
* *"Charles Haddon Spurgeon, A Biography"*  - By W. Y. Fullerton
* *"The Autobiography of Charles Spurgeon"*, vols. 1 and 2