Charles Spurgeon called the "Prince of Preachers"

February 09, 2005

Born at Kelvedon, Essex, June 19, 1834; died at Mentone, France, Jan. 31, 1892. His father and grandfather had been Independent ministers. From the age of seven to fifteen he was educated in a school at Colchester; he spent a few months in an agricultural college at Maidstone in 1842; and in 1849 became usher in a school at Newmarket, kept by a Baptist. As a youth he was subject to inner restlessness and conflict and dated his conversion from Dec. 6, 1850, at the chapel of the Primitive Methodists in Colchester, on which occasion he was deeply stirred and greatly relieved by a sermon preached by a layman on Isa. 14:22. However, the study of the Scriptures brought further misgivings and he was not content until he was immersed. This took place in the Lark at Isleham May 3, 1851, and he then united with the Baptist communion. In 1851 he became usher in a school at Cambridge, and entered the lay preachers’ association in connection with the Baptist church meeting in St. Andrews Street, Cambridge.

Forced by circumstance he preached unprepared his first sermon in a cottage at Teversham near Cambridge, at the age of sixteen. His gifts were recognized at once and his fame spread. He preached in chapels, cottages, or in the open air in as many as thirteen stations in the villages surrounding Cambridge, and this after his school duties for the day were past. In 1852 he became pastor of the small Baptist church at Waterbeach, and in 1854, after preaching three months on probation, he was called to the pastorate of the New Park Street Church, Southwark, London. Only 100 persons attended his first service; but before the end of the year the chapel had to be enlarged, and he preached in Exeter Hall during the alterations. When the enlarged chapel was opened it proved at once too small, and a great tabernacle was projected. Meanwhile, in 1856, Spurgeon preached at the Surrey Gardens music-hall to congregations which numbered 10,000 people; and at twenty-two he was the most popular preacher of his day. In 1861 the Metropolitan Tabernacle, seating 6,000, was opened and there he ministered until his death, retaining his popularity and power as a preacher to the end.