While he was at the New Park Street Chapel, Spurgeon became friends with James Hudson Taylor. His sermons were published every week, and many people read them. Even before he was 20, Spurgeon had preached over 600 times. Within months of Spurgeon being the pastor there, he became very famous. At that time, it was the largest Baptist congregation in the city. 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. In 1853, he authored his first written work: a Gospel tract. His preaching was thought to be very good. At that time, he was made the pastor of the Waterbeach Baptist Chapel in Cambridgeshire. He preached his first sermon in the winter of 1850–51. Later that year, his family moved to Cambridge.Įarly adulthood Beginnings Within moments, he was converted to Christianity, or as he said: 'God opened his heart to the Salvation message.' He later said that, 'I thought I could dance all the way home.' On, he was baptised in the River Lark, at Isleham. 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.'

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. On 6 January 1850, when he was 15, a snow storm made him seek shelter in a Primitive Methodist chapel in Colchester. As he got older, these things weighed on his conscience. But he later said that, 'Day and night God's hand was heavy on me.' He read the whole Bible, but he thought that it was threatening him, rather than promising him good things. As a child, he thought that he was a good person. By the influence of his father and grandfather, Spurgeon was kept from most normal sins. Spirituality Īs an early teenager, he was very intelligent, but was also fearful and doubting. He memorised many hymns as a child, and would use many of them in his sermons later in life. As a young boy, he would read the Scriptures at family worship. Spurgeon was also very good at mathematics. He read that book over 100 times in his life. When he was six, Spurgeon read The Pilgrim's Progress. There were 17 children in Spurgeon's family, but nine of them died when they were babies. His father John Spurgeon, born in Clare, Suffolk on 15 July 1810, was about 24-years-old. She was about 19-years-old when Spurgeon was born. His mother Eliza was born in nearby Belchamp Otten on. He was the eldest child of Eliza Jarvis and John Spurgeon. īiography Family background and childhood His family Ĭharles Spurgeon was born on 19 June 1834, in Kelvedon, in the English county of Essex. In 1857, he started a charity organisation called Spurgeon's which works all over the world. Throughout his life, Spurgeon suffered from depression and other mental illnesses. He was part of several controversies with the Baptist Union of Great Britain, and later had to leave that denomination. Under the previous pastor, Dr John Rippon, it became the largest Baptist congregation in Great Britain. Spurgeon was the pastor of the Metropolitan Tabernacle in London for 38 years. Today, there are more writings and books by Spurgeon than by any other Christian writer. His sermons have been translated into many languages. Spurgeon would often preach 10 times a week at different places. In his lifetime, Spurgeon preached to about 10 million people. People still know him as the 'Prince of Preachers'. 1856)Ĭharles Haddon ( C.H.) Spurgeon (19 June 1834 – 31 January 1892) was a English Baptist preacher.

Charles spurgeon