Charles Haddon Spurgeon (6-19-1834 to 1-31-1892) was a British Baptist preacher who remains highly influential among Christians of different denominations & he is still known as the "Prince of Preachers". He was strong in the Reformed Baptist tradition, defending the Church in agreement with the "1689 London Baptist Confession of Faith", and opposing the liberal and pragmatic theological tendencies in the Church in his day.
In his lifetime, Spurgeon preached to around 10 million people, often up to 10 times each week at different places. His sermons have been translated into many languages. Spurgeon was the pastor of the congregation of the New Park Street Chapel (later the Metropolitan Tabernacle) in London for 38 years. Spurgeon was a prolific author of many types of works including sermons, an autobiography, a commentary, books on prayer, a devotional, a magazine, poetry, hymnist & more. Many sermons were transcribed as he spoke and were translated into many languages during his lifetime.
Born in Kelvedon, Essex, Spurgeon's conversion to Christianity came on January 6, 1850, at age fifteen where "God opened his heart to the salvation message." The text that moved him was Isaiah 45:22 - "Look unto me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth, for I am God, and there is none else." ln 1854, after preaching three months on probation and just four years after his conversion, Spurgeon, then only 19, was called to the pastorate of London's famed New Park Street Chapel, Southwark (formerly pastored by the Particular Baptists Benjamin Keach, theologian John Gill, and John Rippon). This was the largest Baptist congregation in London at the time. |
