Spurgeon: A Life by Alex DiPrima. Reformation Heritage Books. 312 pages. 2024
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I’ve read a number of biographies of the great English preacher Charles Spurgeon. I would count this new book among the best of them.
The author tells us that Spurgeon accepted a call to pastor one of the most historic churches in the middle of London, what at that time was the largest city in the world, at age nineteen. He had never gone to college and had received no formal seminary training. He would minister in London for thirty-eight years as the pastor of the largest Protestant church in in the world until his death in 1892.
The author shares some amazing facts about Spurgeon, such as:
- Spurgeon was estimated to have preached to over ten million people.
- He helped to start nearly two hundred new churches in Britain alone.
- By his death in 1892, over 20 percent of all Baptist ministers serving in England and Wales had been trained by Spurgeon.
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- He published more words in English than any Christian ever.
- He wrote approximately five hundred letters per week.
- He founded a Pastor’s College, a monthly magazine, The Sword & Trowel, and an orphanage.
Part of the reason for Spurgeon’s premature death at age 57, was his immense workload. From 1867 on, he was seldom well physically and rarely got through a year without having to spend significant time away from the pulpit because of sickness and poor health.
In this book, intended to be an introduction to Spurgeon’s life, the author looks at Spurgeon’s life chronologically. Spurgeon was born in Kelvedon, Essex on June 19, 1834. His grandfather was a major influence on the young Spurgeon. It was as a young boy that Spurgeon began to develop an admiration for Puritan authors.
Spurgeon was fifteen years old when he turned from his sin and believed the gospel. Though he grew up in a Congregationalist family and had been baptized as an infant, he had come to Baptist convictions while still a boy through his reading of the New Testament. In the days following his baptism, Spurgeon began to give himself to two ministries that would thereafter remain close to his heart. First, Spurgeon started to teach Sunday school regularly at his local church. The second ministry that began to occupy a special place in Spurgeon’s life at this time was prayer.
Over the next three and half years, before his arrival in London, Spurgeon would preach over six hundred sermons. He regarded George Whitefield as his primary model.
On October 3, 1851, Spurgeon filled the pulpit of Waterbeach Baptist Chapel. They extended a formal call to Spurgeon to become their pastor though he was only seventeen, which he accepted.
New Park Street Chapel then extended a formal call to Spurgeon to come and fill the pulpit on a six-month trial basis. Just two months after he arrived, the church unanimously voted at a specially called meeting to invite Spurgeon to be their permanent pastor.
Spurgeon was known as a preacher who spoke directly to the average person on the street in plain English that anyone could understand.
His future wife Susie was not impressed with Spurgeon the first time she saw him. He would give her a copy of Bunyan’s classic A Pilgrim’s Progress, which he would read more than one hundred times throughout his life. That book, and Spurgeon’s preaching had the effect of reviving Susie’s faith and helping her make her way in her own spiritual pilgrimage.
Charles and Susie would have twin sons, Charles and Thomas, born on September 20, 1856. Health problems would prevent her from having additional children. Both Charles and Susie would endure severe tests of ill health throughout virtually the entirety of their adult lives. Susie eventually became a functional invalid. She was largely confined to the home for much of the rest of her life.
Charles suffered most of his adult life with rheumatic gout along with chronic kidney problems (later diagnosed as Bright’s disease).
A low point in Spurgeon’s ministry was a disaster at Surrey Gardens Music Hall, in which seven died and twenty-eight more were seriously injured. The event plunged him into the deepest depression of his life.
The church would eventually build what became known as the Metropolitan Tabernacle, where Spurgeon would become known as the Prince of Preachers. When he was healthy, Spurgeon never preached fewer than three sermons a week, often preached seven sermons a week, and occasionally preached more than ten sermons a week. Collections of his sermons fill roughly seventy published volumes. He published about seventy-five other books on a broad array of Christian subjects. His body of work earned Spurgeon the distinction of publishing more words in the English language than any other Christian author in history.
For Spurgeon, nothing he did in his life was more important to him than preaching. His published sermons sold twenty-five thousand copies per week and well over one million per year.
Susie Spurgeon, though limited physically, started Mrs. Spurgeon’s Book Fund, a ministry whose sole design was to supply poor pastors with excellent literature entirely free of charge. This became one of the most successful and celebrated ministries of the Metropolitan Tabernacle.
The author tells us that the Downgrade Controversy defined the final years of Spurgeon’s life and in many ways still shapes his legacy today. In the Downgrade Controversy, Spurgeon sought to defend orthodox Christianity against what he regarded as serious doctrinal error in the Baptist Union and evangelical circles more broadly. The Downgrade Controversy was a debate not over obscure theological matters but over the very heart of orthodox Christianity.
On October 29, 1887, Spurgeon officially resigned from the Baptist Union. The Baptist Union Council, would later pass a resolution known thereafter as the “vote of censure,” which publicly reprimanded Spurgeon for what they regarded as divisive conduct and unfounded allegations. Spurgeon would never fully recover from his treatment during the Downgrade Controversy, and some even testified that his health suffered as a result. This was without question the greatest sorrow of his life.
On June 7, 1891, Spurgeon preached his final sermon in the Metropolitan Tabernacle, though he did not know then that it would be his last. In the final years of Spurgeon’s life, he made more frequent trips to Menton, France, which had become to him a quiet refuge and a home away from home. He would die there with Susie January 31, 1892.
The author tells us that Charles Haddon Spurgeon was without question the greatest preacher of the nineteenth century, and some would argue, of any century. His extraordinary preaching abilities, his genius for administration, and his massive global influence set him apart as a leader of rare brilliance.
- Non-Political Lessons from Original Sin. Tim Challies shares a few lessons that go beyond politics and apply to individual Christians and churches from the book Original Sin: Original Sin: President Biden’s Decline, Its Cover-Up, and His Disastrous Choice to Run Again by Jake Tapper and Alex Thompson.
- Study, Savor and Share Scripture: Becoming What We Behold. My wife Tammy has published a book about HOW to study the Bible. The book is available on Amazon in both a Kindle and paperback edition. She writes “Maybe you have read the Bible but want to dig deeper and know God and know yourself better. Throughout the book I use the analogy of making a quilt to show how the Bible is telling one big story about what God is doing in the world through Christ. Quilting takes much patience and precision, just like studying the Bible, but the end result is well worth it.”
Won’t you read along with us?
We are reading through Truths We Confess: A Systematic Exposition of the Westminster Confession of Faith by R.C. Sproul. From the Ligonier description:
“The Westminster Confession of Faith is one of the most precise and comprehensive statements of biblical Christianity, and it is treasured by believers around the world. R.C. Sproul has called it one of the most important confessions of faith ever penned, and it has helped generations of Christians understand and defend what they believe.
In Truths We Confess, Dr. Sproul introduces readers to this remarkable confession, explaining its insights and applying them to modern life. In his signature easy-to-understand style and with his conviction that everyone’s a theologian, he provides valuable commentary that will serve churches and individual Christians as they strive to better understand the eternal truths of Scripture. As he walks through the confession line by line, Dr. Sproul shows how the doctrines of the Bible—from creation to covenant, sin to salvation—fit together to the glory of God. This accessible volume is designed to help you deepen your knowledge of God’s Word and answer the question, What do you believe?”
This week we look at WCF 30: Of Church Censures. Here are a few helpful quotes from the chapter:
- One essential characteristic of the true church, according to the Westminster divines, is the presence of a duly established government. This government is designed to promote the purity and peace of the church and to enforce discipline when necessary.
- The church has the power to grant the assurance of pardon to those who repent and to impose censures and discipline on those who remain impenitent.
- The goal of church discipline is to bring sinful people to repentance, so that they may be restored to full, active participation in the church.
- Church discipline is also seen as a deterrent. When discipline is absent from the church, there may be rapid degeneration into worldly vices.
- Another purpose for church censures is to vindicate the honor of Christ.
- When scandalous sin is left unchecked, unbridled, and undisciplined in the visible church, it brings serious dishonor to Christ.
- Another purpose for church discipline is to prevent the wrath of God, which would justly fall upon the church if sins were left unchecked.
- It should be noted, however, that in one sense, there is only one sin that leads to excommunication: contumacy, which is the willful refusal to repent.
