Charles H. Spurgeon
1834 to 1892
Charles Haddon Spurgeon was an English Baptist preacher whom many called the Prince of Preachers. From the Metropolitan Tabernacle in London he preached to thousands every week, and yet he knew the dark valleys too, suffering for years with illness and depression. His sermons and his devotional Morning and Evening are still read all over the world. He wrote with warmth, plain speech and an unshakeable confidence in God's goodness.
It is easy to picture Spurgeon as the confident Prince of Preachers, filling a London hall week after week long before anyone had a microphone. The fuller truth is more comforting than that. For much of his life he carried real physical pain and long seasons of depression, and he said so plainly from the pulpit rather than hiding it. When he speaks about the goodness of God he is not calling down to us from above the valley. He is speaking from inside it.
That is why his lines still steady people. A cheerful word from someone who has never suffered is easy to set to one side. The same word from a man who knew the dark and went on trusting is harder to wave away and easier to lean on. We feature him for that rare mixture of plain speech, warmth, and a hope that had been tested and held.
Quotes with a reflection
Selected sayings
A few more lines from Charles H. Spurgeon, gathered as encouragement, each with a note on where it comes from or what it means.
-
“I have learned to kiss the wave that throws me against the Rock of Ages.”
Spurgeon, who suffered greatly with illness and depression, on finding God in the hard things.
Charles H. Spurgeon
-
“Anxiety does not empty tomorrow of its sorrows, but only empties today of its strength.”
Often misquoted and wrongly attributed elsewhere, these are Spurgeon’s own words on worry.
Charles H. Spurgeon