Charles Haddon Spurgeon A Biographical Sketch

Transcription

1 Charles Haddon Spurgeon A Biographical Sketch Charles Haddon Spurgeon was born into a godly home in the heart of rural Essex on June 19, Just 10 days after the great missionary William Carey had died in India. Because of extremely difficult economic conditions, at the age of 18 months the young Spurgeon was sent to live with his grandparents. His grandfather, James Spurgeon, was a pastor of a small Congregationalist church, which he pastored for 54 years. By all accounts, those few years living with his grandparents had a profound impact on the young man s life! Although he never attended seminary, Spurgeon possessed an unrivaled passion for Christ, an insatiable love for the Word of God, an extraordinarily keen intellect, and an all-consuming zeal to reach the lost! With a unique package like that, its no wonder that by the age of 21 C. H. Spurgeon was the most popular preacher in all of London! And most historians agree that he was England's bestknown preacher for most of the second half of the 19th century! There are 5 aspects of Spurgeon s life that we re going to take a quick look at, and those are Spurgeon: 1) The Converted Sinner; 2) The Gifted Preacher; 3) The Influential Writer; 4) The Visionary Leader, and finally, 5) The Suffering Servant. Spurgeon, The Converted Sinner Like many of the young people of his day, for a number of years Spurgeon struggled with the idea of having a personal relationship with God. Despite his strong Christian upbringing, he was still lost in the darkness of his own heart. After some time of alternately searching and running, God led Spurgeon to an encounter that he never forgot. Listen to what he wrote, I must confess that I never would have been saved if I could have helped it. As long as ever I could, I rebelled, and revolted, and struggled against God. When I heard (the gospel), and the tear rolled down my cheek, I wiped it away and defied Him to melt my soul. But long before I began with Christ, He began with me! 164 years ago on January 6, 1850, in the middle of a blizzard, 15-year-old Charles Spurgeon was on his way to church. When the snow prevented him from going further, he turned down a narrow alley and made his way into a small Primitive Methodist Church. Doctrinally this little fellowship was worlds apart from the Congregationalist heritage of Spurgeon s family. And yet it was into this little congregation of less than 15 people that Spurgeon wandered that cold winter morning. 1

2 Although He recounted the story hundreds of time, the following is one of his most vivid recollections. Listen to what he wrote: I sometimes think I might have been in darkness and despair (even) now, had it not been for the goodness of God in sending a snowstorm one Sunday morning, when I was going to a place of worship. When I could go no further, I turned down a court and came to a little Primitive Methodist Chapel. In that chapel there might be a dozen or fifteen people. The minister did not come that morning: snowed up, I suppose. A poor man, a shoemaker, a tailor, or something of that sort, went up into the pulpit to preach. He was obliged to stick to his text, for the simple reason that he had nothing else to say. The text was, Isaiah 45:22 - Turn to me and be saved, all the ends of the earth! For I am God, and there is no other. During that message, the preacher looked directly at me and said, Young man, you look very miserable and you will always be miserable in life and in death if you don t obey my text - but if you obey now, this moment you will be saved! Then he shouted, Young man, look to Jesus Christ. Well I did Spurgeon wrote and then and there the cloud was gone, the darkness had rolled away, and that moment I saw the sun; and I could have risen that moment and sung with the most enthusiastic of them of the Precious Blood of Christ. Between half past ten, when I entered that chapel, and half past twelve, when I returned home, what a change had taken place in me! You see, Spurgeon had indeed become a child of God, and neither he nor the world would be the same as a result! The reality was that God was about to unleash Charles Haddon Spurgeon on the greatest city in the British Empire! Like the Apostle Paul, Spurgeon never got over the fact that God, in His infinite mercy, would reach down and break open his hard rebellious heart and pour in His marvelous lifetransforming Grace! Spurgeon, The Gifted Preacher While still a teenager, Spurgeon began preaching in his first pastorate in the village of Waterbeach. His boyish appearance contrasted sharply with the wisdom and maturity of his sermons. Many of the disciplines that he cultivated in those early years of ministry would mark his life for the next 40 years. For example, Spurgeon had an excellent memory, some would even say a photographic memory, and he always spoke extemporaneously from a simple outline. For an average sermon, Spurgeon would take no more than one small page of notes into the pulpit, and usually, it was only a small postcard sized piece of paper. And yet he spoke at a rate of 140 words per minute and did so for no less then 40 minutes! 2

3 What was said of John Bunyan, could have also been said of Charles Spurgeon His very soul was saturated with Scripture; the man was a living Bible! Prick him anywhere; his blood is Bibline, the very essence of the Bible flows from him. He could not speak without quoting a text, for his very soul was full of the Word of God! In light of this, its not at all surprising to learn that his first church quickly grew from fewer than a dozen members to more than 400, and it wasn t long before his energy and oratorical skills earned him such a reputation that within a year and a half he had caught the attention of New Park Street Church, which was London's largest Baptist church. In 1854, just 4 years after his conversion, Spurgeon, then only 20 years of age, became the pastor of New Park Street Church. But not only did Spurgeon gain a new place of ministry, he also gained a bride. In 1855 the Spurgeon baptized a lovely young woman by the name of Susannah Thompson, and one year later he and Susannah were joined in marriage. As is so often the case, a godly wife is a pastors greatest ministry partner, and that was certainly true of Susannah Spurgeon. Among the many roles that Susannah filled, she soon became her husband s personal secretary. In fact, it was reported that once she actually took notes while Spurgeon talked in his sleep, and when he awoke, he found the sermon that he had mumbled through the night all ready for him to preach that morning! Even after his death, Mrs. Spurgeon kept publishing her husband s sermons and distributing thousands of books to young pastors and missionaries all around the world. It is a little known fact that Spurgeon s wife became an invalid at age 33 and was seldom ever able to attend church and therefore rarely ever heard her beloved husband preach after that. In 1857 the Spurgeons welcomed the birth of their only children, twin sons Thomas and Charles. Both of these young men eventually became pastors themselves. In fact, Thomas succeeded his father as the pastor of The Metropolitan Tabernacle, and Charles, presided over the orphanage that his father had started. The New Park Street congregation grew so rapidly that soon it became too large for its 1,200- seat auditorium. On August 30, 1854, the membership agreed to enlarge the chapel. However, 8 months later, when the renovations were completed the chapel was still to small, and so in June of that same year a committee was formed to oversee the construction of the church's new home, the 6,000 seat Metropolitan Tabernacle. As word spread about this gifted young preacher, Spurgeon was invited to preach throughout the city of London and all over the country of England. As a result of accepting some of the many invitations to speak, Spurgeon often preached as many as 10 times a week. Because no church building seemed large enough to hold those who wanted to hear the the 3

4 preaching sensation of London as he was called, Spurgeon often preached to tens of thousands of people in some of London's greatest halls. And in those venues Spurgeon frequently spoke to audiences numbering between 10,000 to 25,000 people - and he did that in the days before electronic amplification! During those years, Spurgeon attracted to his services such notable people as the British Prime Minister, W. E. Gladstone; members of the royal family; Members of Parliament; Florence Nightingale; and General James Garfield, who would later become the 20 th president of the United States. Seats were in such demand that occasionally Spurgeon would ask the members of his congregation not to attend the next Sunday s service, so that newcomers might be able to find a seat. During one service he asked the regular congregation to give up their seats so that newcomers waiting outside might be able to get in. They did, and the building was once again immediately filled to capacity. On October 19, 1856, 12,000 people were crammed into the Surrey Music Hall to hear Spurgeon preach, with still another 10,000 people standing outside. Not long after service began, someone yelled, Fire! The balconies are giving way! And in the ensuing panic, 7 people were crushed to death and 28 others were hospitalized with very serious injuries. Spurgeon, was so totally devastated over the tragedy that he was literally carried from the pulpit and taken to a friend's house where he stayed for several weeks in a state of deep, inconsolable depression. Later he remarked, Perhaps never a soul went so near the burning furnace of insanity, and yet came away unharmed! Until Spurgeon's death, the image of that calamity so haunted him that a close friend and biographer said, I cannot but think, from what I saw, that his comparatively early death might be in some measure due to the furnace of mental suffering he endured on and after that fearful night. However, as is always the case, God uses even the worst of events to bring about His great and glorious purposes. And so it was that that tragic event led to the greatest chapter in Spurgeon s 40 year long ministry! It must be noted that above all else, Spurgeon was a devoted preacher of the whole counsel of the Word of God. He once said, The Word is like its author, infinite, immeasurable, without end. If you were to be ordained to be a preacher throughout eternity, you would have before you a theme equal to its everlasting demands. The truth that drove his preaching ministry was Biblical truth, which he believed to be God's truth. Once He held up his Bible and said, These words are God's (words). (This) book is a proclamation from the Emperor of Heaven; far be it from me to exercise my reason in contradicting (it). This book (is) untainted by any error; it is pure (absolute), perfect truth. Why? Because God wrote 4

5 it! That undying allegiance to God s Word brought both great healing and triumph in Spurgeon s life and ministry. While to the casual observer Spurgeon seemed to brim with self-assurance, the reality was that he was filled with great trepidation. He often felt great anxiety, but it stemmed not so much from the multitudes that came to hear him preach but from the awesome responsibility of being accountable to God for the souls of so many. In 1861 he remarked, My deacons know well that there was scarcely ever an occasion, in which they left me alone for ten minutes before the service, but they would find me in a most fearful state of sickness, (that would be) produced by that tremendous thought of my solemn responsibility... This remained a constant source of spiritual suffering throughout his entire ministry. In 1883 He said, I have preached the gospel now these thirty years and more, and...often, in coming to this pulpit, have I felt my knees knock together, not that I am afraid of any one of my hearers, but I am thinking of that account which I must render to God, whether I speak his Word faithfully or not! During his lifetime it is estimated that Spurgeon, in person, preached to well over 10,000,000 people! And untold numbers of them were brought to saving faith in Jesus Christ! Spurgeon, The Influential Writer Shortly after Spurgeon started preaching he also began publishing. In January 1855, he began to publish what was called the Penny Pulpit. Every week one sermon would be published and 25,000 copies would be sold. In fact, those were translated into more than 20 different languages, and they made their way all around the world! This continued for 25 years after Spurgeon's death! Every year those sermons were reissued in book form, first in 6 volumes which are known as The New Park Street Pulpit and then later in 57 volumes in what are known as The Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit, which stands as the largest set of books by a single author in the history of Christianity. At least 3 of Spurgeon s works, including the multi-volume Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit series, have sold more than 1,000,000 copies. One of these, All of Grace, was the first book ever published by Moody Press and it is still their all-time bestseller! It is said that there was not a week that went by in his mature ministry that souls were not saved through his written sermons. Because of the unsurpassed value of possessing and reading Spurgeon s writings, one of his contemporary s said, Sell all you have and buy Spurgeon! 5

6 If there is any one remaining tangible evidence of the influence that Spurgeon had in his day it can be found in his printed sermons. They have had a monumental impact for over 120 years! For many years newspapers like the London Times, and even the New York Times carried his sermons on a weekly and sometimes daily basis. Well over 100 million of those weekly sermons were sold. In addition to his sermons, Spurgeon wrote scores of other books; the most significant works included Lectures to My Students, a collection of talks delivered to the students of his Pastors' College, and the 7-volume Treasury of David, a best-selling devotional commentary on the Psalms. By the way, Spurgeon spent 20 years studying writing that 7 volume set! Spurgeon's published works are literally voluminous, and nearly all of them are still in print to this day! Even by modern estimation the number of books that Spurgeon wrote and sold are staggering! People from California to New Zealand had one thing in common they could discuss, if ever they met, the writings of C.H. Spurgeon. Spurgeon was also a veracious reader. It was said that he typically read 6 books every week and that even may years later he could remember exactly what he had read and where he had read it! As a young child Spurgeon s love of reading began when he first discovered John Bunyan s A Pilgrim s Progress in his grandfather s library, and it was said that he read it over 100 times before his death. By the time of his death, Spurgeon had a personal library of over 25,000 volumes all of which he claimed to have read! Spurgeon, The Visionary Leader In addition to his regular pastoral duties, as a truly remarkable visionary leader Spurgeon also oversaw many evangelistic and charitable enterprises that took place all over the city of London and beyond. He was aggressively involved in extensive social endeavors, especially in the founding of an orphanage where hundreds and hundreds of children, who otherwise would have roamed the streets as thieves and vagrants, were housed, fed and trained in the Word of God. Spurgeon once said, We are a large church and we must have a large heart for this city. He also started organizations that distributed food and clothing to the poor, and a book fund that provided much needed resources for needy ministers and missionaries. Spurgeon also founded Sunday schools, churches, and a Pastor's College that averaged around 100 students at any given time and which still exists to this day. Spurgeon s Pastor s College, as it was known, was not a typical seminary or Bible College, instead, it was an active training ground for pastors that would eventually fill pulpits all over England. One of Spurgeon s contemporaries wrote that, Wherever the men came from, it was clearly understood that the college did not exist to make ministers but to train them. Unless a man 6

7 could show some evidence that he was called to preach there was no welcome for him, however great his gifts in other directions. At the time of his 50th birthday a list of the names of no less then 66 organizations was read that he founded and conducted. Lord Shaftesbury, a prominent British politician, was there on that occasion and said, This list of associations, instituted by his genius, and superintended by his care, were more than enough to occupy the minds and hearts of fifty ordinary men. Spurgeon often worked 18 hours a day. In fact, his seemingly limitless reservoir of energy prompted the famous explorer and missionary David Livingstone to once asked him, How do you manage to do two men s work in a single day? Spurgeon replied, Awe, but you have forgotten that there are two of us! Later when he was questioned about his tenacious, even excessive work ethic, Spurgeon said, If by excessive labor, we die before reaching the average age of man, worn out in the Master's service, then glory be to God, we shall have so much less of earth and so much more of Heaven! It is our duty and our privilege to exhaust our lives for Jesus. We are not to be living specimens of men in fine preservation, but living sacrifices, whose lot is to be consumed! Spurgeon, The Suffering Servant Any biographical sketch of the life of C. H. Spurgeon would be in complete if it did not contain a description of his physical anguish and agonies. You see, Spurgeon was a man that was intimately acquainted with suffering! For starters, there were the ever-present labors of ministry which take their own toll on one s heart, mind, and body. He once remarked: No one living knows the toil and care I have to bear. I ask for no sympathy but ask for indulgence if I sometimes forget something. I have to look after the Orphanage, have charge of a church with four thousand members, sometimes there are marriages and burials to be undertaken, there is the weekly sermon to be revised, The Sword and the Trowel to be edited, and besides all that, a weekly average of five hundred letters to be answered. In 1872 he said that, the ministry is a matter which wears the brain and strains the heart, and drains out the life of a man if he attends to it as he should. One biographer wrote, Certainly, everyone faces adversity and they must find ways to persevere through the oppressing moments of life. Everyone must keep life going when the heart is breaking. But it's different with pastors - not totally different, but different. The heart is the instrument of our vocation. For as Spurgeon said, Ours is more than mental work - it is heart work, the labor of our inmost soul. 7

8 So, the biographer continued, when our heart is breaking we must labor with a broken instrument. It's one thing to survive adversity; it is something very different to keep on preaching, Sunday after Sunday, month after month when the heart is overwhelmed Addressing a large group of pastors, John Piper said, The question for us is not, how do you live through unremitting criticism and distrust and accusation and abandonment; for us the question is also, How do you preach through it? How do you do heart work when the heart is under siege and ready to fall? Preaching great and glorious truth in an atmosphere that is not great and glorious is an immense difficulty! Personally, when I have been faced with great pain and heartache I can t tell you how many times I have turned to Spurgeon, and have been greatly helped! However, at the same time that Spurgeon was preaching and pastoring, writing and leading, his life was also saturated with tremendous physical suffering. We know about his sufferings not only because of what was written by others, but also because of his own frequent and candid descriptions of them. What was the nature of his suffering? Well, to begin with Spurgeon battled with recurring bouts of depression. He comforted himself with the realization that such depression equipped him to minister more effectively. Once he said, I would go into the deeps a hundred times to cheer a downcast spirit. It is good for me to have been afflicted, that I might know how to speak a word in season to one that is weary. Spurgeon also suffered from what was called Bright's Disease, which was a chronic inflammation of the kidneys. And finally, the disease that most severely afflicted Spurgeon was debilitating Gout, a condition that produced severe and excruciating pain! Spurgeon s battle with Gout began in 1869 when he was only 35 years old. And for the remainder of his life he would often be laid aside with the its painful effects for weeks, and even months, nearly every year. Because of the severity of his physical suffering, beginning in the early 1870s, Spurgeon would regularly travel to the warmer climate of southern France where he would seek recovery and recuperation. However, as his health continued to decline, the intervals between those times of forced rest became increasingly shorter. In 1871 he wrote, It is a great mercy to be able to change sides when lying in bed...did you ever lie a week on one side? Did you ever try to turn, and find yourself quite helpless? Did others lift you, and by their kindness reveal to you the miserable fact that they must lift you back again at once into the old position, for bad as it was, it was preferable to any other? It is a great mercy to get one hour's sleep at night. What a mercy have I felt to have only one knee tortured at a time. What a blessing to be able to put the foot on the ground again, if only for a minute! 8

9 Spurgeon s physical condition became progressively worse so that, approximately one third of the last 22 years of his ministry was spent out of the Tabernacle pulpit, either suffering, or convalescing, or taking precautions against the return of illness. Once, during a time of especially painful suffering, Spurgeon said the following in a sermon: When I was racked with pain, to an extreme degree, so that I could no longer bear it without crying out, I asked all to go from the room, and leave me alone; and then I had nothing I could say to God but this, `Thou art my Father, and I am thy child; and thou, as a Father, art tender and full of mercy. I could not bear to see my child suffer as thou makest me suffer, and if I saw him tormented as I am now, I would do what I could to help him and put my arms under him to sustain him. Wilt thou still lay on a heavy hand, and not give me a smile from thy countenance?'...so I pleaded, and I ventured to say, when I was quiet, and they came back who watched me: `I shall never have such pain again from this moment, for God has heard my prayer.' I bless God that ease came and the racking pain never returned. Spurgeon was seldom free from pain for the last 21 years of his life and ministry. So what was it that sustained him? It was confidence in God's sovereignty and His undying love. Listen to what he said, It would be a very sharp and trying experience to me to think that I have an affliction which God never sent me, that the bitter cup was never filled by his hand, that my trials were never measured out by him, not sent to me by his arrangement of their weight and quantity. Again he wrote, As long as I trace my pain to accident, my bereavement to mistake, my loss to another's wrong, my discomfort to an enemy, and so on, I am of the earth, earthy, and shall break my teeth with gravel stones; but when I rise to my God and see his hand at work, I grow calm, I have not a word of repining. I am sure there is no remedy for it like a holy faith in God. Less than a year before he died Spurgeon said, If it had not been that I had a simple faith in my Lord Jesus Christ, I am afraid I should not have found anything left...the result of melting is that we arrive at a true valuation of things, and we are poured out into a new and better fashion. And, oh, we may almost wish for the melting-pot if we may but get rid of the dross, if we may but be pure, if we may but be fashioned more completely like unto our Lord! Spurgeon candidly admitted that he dreaded suffering and that he would do whatever he legitimately could do to avoid it. And yet, ironically, when he was not suffering acutely, he longed for it! He said, The way to stronger faith usually lies along the rough pathway of sorrow....i am afraid that all the grace that I have gotten out of my comfortable and easy times and happy hours, might almost lie on a penny. But the good that I have received from my sorrows, and pains, and griefs, is altogether incalculable...affliction is the best bit of furniture in my house. It is the best book in a minister's library. On June 7, 1891, in extreme physical pain from his illnesses, Spurgeon preached what, unknown to him, proved to be his last sermon. His concluding words in the pulpit were, as 9

10 usual, about his Lord: He is the most magnanimous of captains. There never was his like among the choicest of princes. He is always to be found in the thickest part of the battle. When the wind blows cold he always takes the bleak side of the hill. The heaviest end of the cross lies ever on his shoulders. If he bids us carry a burden, he carries it also. If there is anything that is gracious, generous, kind, and tender, yea lavish and superabundant in love, you always find it in him. These forty years and more have I served him, blessed be his name! and I have had nothing but love from him. I would be glad to continue yet another forty years in the same dear service here below if so it pleased him. His service is life, peace, joy. Oh, that you would enter on it at once! God help you to enlist under the banner of Jesus even this day! Spurgeon preached his final sermon at the Metropolitan Tabernacle on June 7, He died in Mentone, France on January 31, Like John Calvin, Jonathan Edwards, George Whitefield, and William Tyndale, Charles Haddon Spurgeon, the Prince of Preachers left this earth at the age of 57. When Charles Spurgeon left this earth for Glory on January 31, 1892, the city of London went into mourning. Nearly 60,000 people came to pay homage during the 3 days that his body lay in state at the Metropolitan Tabernacle. Some 100,000 people lined the streets as a funeral parade 2 miles long followed his hearse from the Tabernacle to the cemetery. Flags flew at half-staff and shops and pubs were closed all over the city, and all of this for a country preacher - who happened to be the most extraordinary preacher of his day. One week after Spurgeon s death, B.H. Carroll preached an entire sermon on his larger influence that was felt around the world. He said, Yes Spurgeon is dead. The tallest and broadest oak in the forest of time is fallen. The sweetest, most silvery and far-reaching voice that published the glad tidings since apostolic times is hushed. The hand whose sickle cut the widest swath in the ripened grain fields of redemption lies folded and nerveless on a pulseless breast, whose heart when beating kept time with every human joy and woe. But he was ready to be offered. He fought a good fight. He kept the faith, and while we weep, he wears the triple crown of life and joy and glory, which God the righteous Judge has conferred upon him. In answer to the question: How do you account for Spurgeon? the answer is God! 10