Spurgeon, CHARLES HADDON, the greatest Nonconformist preacher of his day, the son of an Independent minister, was born at Kelvedon,
Essex, 19th June 1834. He was educated at Colchester and Maidstone, and in 1849 became usher in a school at Newmarket, where he studied French and Greek. He narrowly escaped receiving a college training a little later, but gradually grew into his great sphere of usefulness and influence without the help of the schools. His leisure time at Newmarket was spent in religious work, and he began to give addresses in the hall of the Independent chapel. In 1850 he removed to Cambridge, connected himself with the Baptist church there which had been presided over by Robert Hall, and was received as a member of the Lay Preachers' Association. His first sermon was preached in a cottage at Teyersham, about 4 miles from Cambridge. In his eighteenth year he had a call to be pastor of the Baptist chapel, Waterbeach, and soon the small congregation was doubled. In 1853 he was invited to preach in New Park Street Chapel, London, and in 1854 he was unanimously called to become pastor of the church. His sermons, which were issued in weekly numbers from the beginning of 1855, have been translated into most European languages. Growing popularity rendered the enlargement of New Park Street Chapel a necessity in 1855, and again in 1856, services being conducted first in Exeter Hall, and then in the Surrey Music Hall in the interim. A panic occurred (19th October 1856) while Spurgeon was preaching in the latter place, and when 7000 persons were assembled; seven persons lost their lives, and many were injured. At a service in the Crystal Palace, on a day of national humiliation in connection with the Indian Mutiny, Spurgeon preached to an audience of about 24,000. The vast Metropolitan Tabernacle was erected (1859-61); it cost £31,000, and was burnt down on the 20th of April 1898. Strangers flocked thither from all parts of the world to hear the popular preacher. In 1879 he received a pastor's silver-wedding testimonial of over £6000; a further sum of about £5000 was presented to him on his attaining his fiftieth year, all of which he devoted to benevolent schemes. In his later years he was a martyr to gout and rheumatism, and repeated attacks of illness and prostration led to his wintering in the south of France. He died at Mentone, 31st January 1892. A musical voice, clearness, directness, independence, and simplicity of style, combined with humour, common sense, a rich store of anecdote and continuous hard work, aided in keeping him in the front rank. He has been described as a 'hard-headed Englishman, full of sense, at moments so brightly expressed that it had all the effect of wit,' and of deep and genuine piety, if of narrow theology. The religious world learned with a shock of surprise in October 1887 of Mr Spurgeon's withdrawal from the Baptist Union, because no action would be taken by its leaders against persons charged with fundamental errors, whom he thought on the 'down-grade' theologically and spiritually.
Preaching was only one form of Mr Spurgeon's many-sided activity; his pen was as active as his mind and tongue, and many benevolent and useful institutions have grown up around the Metropolitan Tabernacle. The most important of these are the Almshouses, Pastor's College (1856), Stockwell Orphanage (1867), and a system of colportage, and book fund for ministers. He proved an excellent administrator, and his orphanages were models of good management. A publishing firm has found its main employment in dispersing his publications.
Mr Spurgeon, besides his weekly sermons and a monthly magazine, Sword and Trowel (1865), gave to the world upwards of a hundred volumes. He always preached extemporaneously, and had his notes written on a half sheet of note-paper. The text was noted on the top of the page; on the left-hand side were the subject divisions, on the right-hand side the subdivisions. His sermons, taken down in shorthand, were afterwards carefully revised by himself. The average weekly circulation of his sermons was 30,000; that on Baptismal Regeneration (1866) rose to 200,000. At the date of his death 2241 separate sermons and 37 volumes had been published, while there was material left to last at least twelve years longer. Besides he published The Saint and his Saviour (1867); the very popular John Ploughman's Talk (1868), which has been termed a cross between the Book of Proverbs and Poor Richard; John Ploughman's Pictures; Treasury of David, a commentary on the Psalms in 7 vols. (1865-80), a work upon which he was engaged for more than twenty years; Interpreter (1874); Morning by Morning; Evening by Evening; Feathers for Arrows; Lectures to my Students; Commenting and Commentaries; My Sermon Notes; Salt Cellars (Proverbs); Flashes of Thought; Sermons in Candles (1891); and Messages to the Multitude (1892). See Metropolitan Tabernacle and its Work (1876); Twelve Realistic Sketches of Mr Spurgeon; Speeches at Home and Abroad, edited by Pike (1878); Fernandez' Nonconformity in Southwark (1882); and Lives by Dyer, Stevenson, Pike, Walters, Shindler (1892), and the final one by his wife and Mr Harrald (1897-99).