Being Blessed by Blessing Others (Susannah Spurgeon)

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Susannah Spurgeon

Susannah Spurgeon

Throughout much of her married life Charles Spurgeon’s wife, Susannah, was a semi-invalid.  For long periods at a time she was confined to her home and was not well enough to attend services at the Metropolitan Tabernacle where her husband preached.  But she longed to be useful to the Lord and of service to others.

In 1875 Spurgeon’s Lectures to My Students was published.  After reading the book, Susannah said to her husband, “I wish I could send a copy to every minister in England!” “Then why not do it?” he replied.  “How much will you give?”

For quite some time she had been in the habit of saving every five-shilling piece that had come to her.  (Each five-shilling coin was worth one-quarter of a pound.)  Using these savings, she had just enough to purchase 100 copies of the Lectures and to send them out to needy pastors.

Susannah assumed that was the end of the matter but God had much bigger plans in mind for her charitable ministry.  Though Susannah did not permit Spurgeon to mention what she had done, news of her donations quickly spread, and friends started contributing money so she could send out more books.  She ordered a number of sets of Spurgeon’s multi-volume commentary on the Psalms, The Treasury of David, and sent those out to disadvantaged ministers.

Charles and Susannah Spurgeon in older years

Charles and Susannah Spurgeon in older years

Donations for her Book Fund and requests for books from straitened pastors began to pour in.  These gifts and requests came from individuals in a variety of denominations and independent church settings.  In less than half a year she had sent out over 3,000 books.

The letters received from ministers were filled with expressions of hearty thanksgiving to God and Mrs. Spurgeon for supplying them with cherished study resources they could not afford to buy for themselves.  Some of these pastors were paid as little as 40 or 60 pounds (equaling 200 or 300 American dollars) per year.  Some had large families.  Not a few spoke of sick family members and heavy doctor bills.  While seeking to provide basic necessities for their families, these ministers had no extra funds with which to purchase books.

Some indicated they and their family members were in need of better and warmer clothing, more bedding or personal items.  In response, Susannah also launched the Pastors’ Aid Fund.  Her appeal for gifts of money, clothing, and blankets met with a tremendous response.  Donations of clothing and bedding were sent to the Tabernacle where a group of volunteers forwarded them to needy ministerial families.

Susannah Spurgeon

Susannah Spurgeon

Susannah continued to package the books in her own home.  Every two weeks a full cartload of volumes left for the railroad station en route to many different destinations.  Susannah sometimes carried out this ministry in weakness and pain. But she felt more than compensated by the rich blessings the ministry brought both to her and to others.

Of this ministry and its blessings to his wife, Spurgeon wrote: “Our gracious Lord ministered to His suffering child in the most effectual manner, when He graciously led her to minister to the necessities of His service.  By this means He called her away from her personal grief, gave tone and concentration to her life, led her to continual dealings with Himself, and raised her nearer the center of that region where other than earthly joys and sorrows reigned supreme.”

Susannah herself testified of these blessings: “I am personally indebted to the dear friends who have furnished me with the means of making others happy.  For me there has been a double blessing. I have been both recipient and donor.  My days have been made indescribably bright and happy by the delightful duties connected with the work and its little arrangements … that I seem to be living in an atmosphere of blessing and love, and can truly say with the Psalmist, “My cup runneth over” [Psalm 23:5].

As the years passed, Susannah increased the different books she made available.  She often sent sets of her husband’s sermons, as many as six volumes at a time, as well as several of his other writings.  She frequently added the works of other men, which volumes she described as “solid, old-fashioned, Scriptural, Puritanic theology.”

Year by year thousands of volumes went out to hundreds of pastors ministering on nearly every continent around the globe.  Susannah carried out this ministry the final twenty-eight years of her life.  By the time of her death, she had sent out over 200,000 books plus countless copies of her husband’s individual sermons.

 

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You’ll find many other enjoyable and beneficial incidents from the life and ministry of Charles Spurgeon in my book Timeless Stories, God’s Incredible Work in the Lives of Inspiring Christians. Two quality readable Spurgeon biographies are: Arnold Dallimore’s Spurgeon, A New Biography (Banner of Truth, 1987); W. Y. Fullerton’s Charles H. Spurgeon, London’s Most Popular Preacher (Moody, 1980). The latter work is currently out of print but is well-worth purchasing through used book sources at a reasonable rate.

Copyright 2018 by Vance E. Christie

 

 

A Sacred Courtship (Charles Spurgeon)

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Susannah Spurgeon as a young woman

Susannah Spurgeon as a young woman

Some might think the courtship stories of yesteryear Christians quaint. But many of them have a lot to teach about courting in a way that is spiritually-focused and God-honoring. Charles Spurgeon’s courting of Susannah Thompson is one such beneficial example.

When Spurgeon preached his first Sunday evening service at London’s New Park Street Church on December 18, 1853, a young lady, Susannah Thompson, was in the audience.  Spurgeon was nineteen and Susannah was twenty-one years old at the time. Despite the young preacher’s eloquence and fervent Gospel appeal, she was more amused than impressed by him because of his rather countrified appearance and manner.

Charles Spurgeon preaching at New Park Street Church

Charles Spurgeon preaching at New Park Street Church

But when Spurgeon became the church’s pastor early the next year Susannah quickly came to appreciate and profit spiritually from his earnest, capable ministry.  He began to be attracted to her and, two and a half months after settling in London, sent her a copy of Pilgrim’s Progress as a gift.  In it he wrote:  “Miss Thompson, with desires for her progress in the blessed pilgrimage, from C. H. Spurgeon – April 20, 1854.”

On June 10 they attended, with a group of friends, the opening of London’s Crystal Palace.  This was a massive exhibition hall that also featured elaborate walkways and an extensive garden.  While they waited for the dedication ceremony to begin, Spurgeon handed Susannah a copy of Martin Tupper’s Proverbial Philosophy, pointed out a passage, and queried, “What do you think of the poet’s suggestion in those verses?”  She read:

Seek a good wife from thy God, for she is the best gift of His providence;

Yet ask not in bold confidence that which He hath not promised;

Thou knowest not His good will: be thy prayer then submissive thereunto,

And leave thy petition to His mercy, assured that He will deal well with thee.

If thou art to have a wife of thy youth, she is now living on the Earth;

Therefore think of her, and pray for her weal.

“Do you pray for him who is to be your husband?” Spurgeon asked in a whisper.  Susannah blushed and said nothing but felt in her heart “that heaven was coming near.”

Charles and Susannah Spurgeon in younger years

Charles and Susannah Spurgeon in younger years 1

“Will you come and walk around the palace with me?” he asked as the dedication ceremony drew to a close.  Leaving their companions, the couple enjoyed each other’s company while wandering for a long time through the building, its garden and down to a nearby lake.

On August 2 he proposed to her as they walked together in the garden at her grandfather’s home.  Years later she testified: “I think of that old garden as a sacred place, a paradise of happiness, since there my beloved sought me for his very own, and told me how much he loved me.  Though I thought I knew this already, it was a very different matter to hear him say it, and I trembled and was silent for very joy and gladness. To me, it was a time as solemn as it was sweet. With a great awe in my heart, I left my beloved and, hastening to the house and to an upper room, I knelt before God, and praised Him with happy tears, for His great mercy in giving me the love of so good a man.”

Charles and Susannah Spurgeon in younger years 2

Early the next year, 1855, Susannah applied to be baptized.  Though the couple had felt it best to keep their relationship a private matter, they were not entirely successful.  When it came time for the list of baptismal candidates to be read to the church, the name immediately before hers was that of an elderly man, Johnny Dear.  Two old maids at the back of the room were overheard conversing, as the first asked, “What was that man’s name?”

“Johnny Dear.”

“Oh, I suppose the next will be ‘Susie dear,’ then!”

Charles and Susannah were not married for another year, until January 8, 1856.  The ceremony was held at the New Park Street Church, with more than 2,000 people filling the recently-enlarged facility to overflowing.

 

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Timeless Stories by Vance Christie

You’ll find many other enjoyable and beneficial incidents from the life and ministry of Charles Spurgeon in my book Timeless Stories, God’s Incredible Work in the Lives of Inspiring Christians. Two quality readable Spurgeon biographies are: Arnold Dallimore’s Spurgeon, A New Biography (Banner of Truth, 1987); W. Y. Fullerton’s Charles H. Spurgeon, London’s Most Popular Preacher (Moody, 1980). The latter work is currently out of print but is well-worth purchasing through used book sources at a reasonable rate.