Biography of charles haddon spurgeon

Charles Haddon Spurgeon (1834-92) was England’s best-known preacher for most of the second half of the nineteenth century. After a childhood in Essex, when he owed much to Christian parents and grandparents, he was converted in 1850 at the age of fifteen. He was then assisting at a school in Cambridge and it was in these Cambridge years that he came to Baptist principles and was called to the Baptist pastorate in the near-by village of Waterbeach. From there he moved to New Park Street, London in 1854 at the age of nineteen.

Roughly speaking, Spurgeon’s public work can be divided up into four decades. Through the 1850s he was ‘The Youthful Prodigy’ who seemed to have stepped full-grown into the pulpit. At the age of twenty the largest halls in London were filled to hear him; at twenty-one the newspapers spoke of him as ‘incomparably the most popular preacher of the day’; when he was twenty-three, 23,654 people heard him at a service in the Crystal Palace.

In the next decade, the 1860s, his work might best be described in terms of ‘The Advancement of Gospel Agencies’. The institutions which he founded, and for which he remained responsible, included a College to train pastors; a publications enterprise (with a weekly published sermon and a monthly magazine The Sword and the Trowel); an Orphanage; a Colportage Association to spread Christian literature; and above all the Metropolitan Tabernacle itself, opened for the church he served in 1861 and capable of holding about 6,000. The congregation which he pastored grew from 314 in 1854 to 5,311 in 1892.

Onlookers often supposed that so many enterprises could never be maintained at the high level of usefulness with which they began, but they were, and the 1870s might well be described in terms of ‘Holding the Ground’. On every front the work was being blessed.

Then came the 1880s and by far the most difficult period in Spurgeon’s life. In this last decade he was faced with increasing cont

British preacher, author, pastor and evangelist (1834–1892)

Charles Haddon Spurgeon (19th June 1834 – 31st January 1892) was an English Particular Baptistpreacher. Spurgeon remains highly influential among Christians of various denominations, to some of whom he is known as the "Prince of Preachers." He was a strong figure in the Reformed Baptist tradition, defending the 1689 London Baptist Confession of Faith, and opposing the liberal and pragmatic theological tendencies in the Church of his day.

Spurgeon was pastor of the congregation of the New Park Street Chapel (later the Metropolitan Tabernacle) in London for 38 years. He was part of several controversies with the Baptist Union of Great Britain and later he left the denomination over doctrinal convictions.

While at the Metropolitan Tabernacle, he built an Almshouse and the Stockwell Orphanage. He encouraged his congregation to engage actively with the poor of Victorian London. He also founded Spurgeon's College, which was named after him posthumously.

Spurgeon authored sermons, an autobiography, commentaries, books on prayer, devotionals, magazines, poetry, and hymns. Many sermons were transcribed as he spoke and were translated into many languages during his lifetime. He is said to have produced powerful sermons of penetrating thought and precise exposition. His oratory skills are said to have held his listeners spellbound in the Metropolitan Tabernacle, and many Christians hold his writings in e

Who is Charles Haddon Spurgeon? Known as the “Prince of Preachers,” this Victorian, Calvinistic, Baptist minister testified as a powerful gospel witness in his time, but his influence endures today. So much so that Carl F. H. Henry, the dean of twentieth-century evangelical theologians, once called Spurgeon “one of evangelical Christianity’s immortals.”

But what makes Spurgeon immortal? Whether you are new to Spurgeon, or a familiar friend, here are a few things you should know about Charles Haddon Spurgeon.

Born on June 19th, 1834, in Kelvedon, Essex, to John and Eliza Spurgeon, he was the firstborn of seventeen children, although unfortunately only eight survived adolescence. A boy who loved books, he quickly became fascinated with John Bunyan’s Pilgrim’s Progress. However, Charles did not lose his own burden at the foot of the cross until January 6th, 1850. That morning a roaring blizzard forced Charles into the first church he could find, the Primitive Methodist Chapel on Artillery Street in Colchester, England. There Charles heard a sermon delivered by a man who was in his words, “really stupid” and who could “not even pronounce the words rightly.” Yet, by God’s grace Charles “looked to Christ” and was saved. Soon thereafter he moved to Cambridge, joined St. Andrews Street Baptist Church, and began his ministry as an itinerant preacher. In October of 1851 Charles was called to preach in first church, Waterbeach Chapel, and soon thereafter accepted the pastorate of New Park Street Chapel in Southwark, London in April of 1854. In 1861 the Metropolitan Tabernacle opened and his ministry exploded resulting in the founding of 66 parachurch ministries. His remarkable ministry in London would last 38 years before his death on January 31st, 1892 in Menton, France.

Charles lived during the Victorian age where “progress” was the prized virtue of the day. Born in the country, when the nineteen-year-old moved to London in 1854 he was

Charles Haddon (C.H.) Spurgeon (19 June 1834 – 31 January 1892) was a EnglishBaptistpreacher. 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 Christianwriter.

Spurgeon was the pastor of the Metropolitan Tabernacle in London for 38 years. Under the previous pastor, Dr John Rippon, it became the largest Baptist congregation in Great Britain. 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 Englishcounty of Essex. He was the eldest child of Eliza Jarvis and John Spurgeon. His mother Eliza was born in nearby Belchamp Otten on 3 May 1815. She was about 19-years-old when Spurgeon was born. His father John Spurgeon, born in Clare, Suffolk on 15 July 1810, was about 24-years-old. There were 17 children in