Letters of Charles Haddon Spurgeon

by Charles Haddon Spurgeon, Iain H. Murray (Editor)

Charles Haddon (C.H.) Spurgeon (June 19, 1834 – January 31, 1892) was a British Particular Baptist preacher who remains highly influential among Christians of different denominations, among whom he is still known as the "Prince of Preachers." In his lifetime, Spurgeon preached to around 10,000,000 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. He was part of several controversies with the Baptist Union of Great Britain and later had to leave that denomination. In 1857, he started a charity organization called Spurgeon's which now works globally. He also founded Spurgeon's College, which was named after him posthumously.
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, and more. Many sermons were transcribed as he spoke and were translated into many languages during his lifetime. Arguably, no other author, Christian or otherwise, has more material in print than C.H. Spurgeon.

Genres: Christian, Biography, Nonfiction

224 pages, Paperback

Published November 1, 1991

About the author

Charles Haddon Spurgeon (1834-1892) was England's best-known preacher for most of the second half of the nineteenth century. In 1854, just four years after his conversion, Spurgeon, then only 20, became pastor of London's famed New Park Street Church (formerly pastored by the famous Baptist theologian, John Gill). The congregation quickly outgrew their building, moved to Exeter Hall, then to Surrey Music Hall. In these venues, Spurgeon frequently preached to audiences numbering more than 10,000—all in the days before electronic amplification. In 1861, the congregation moved permanently to the newly constructed Metropolitan Tabernacle.

Reviews

[Martyn]

This is light reading. It's quite a short book, the letters are all fairly brief. Rather than being arranged chronologically, Murray tried to present a varied selection of letters under various themes - such as letters written to family, letters concerning doctrine, letters concerning his illness etc. It worked well.

It really is amazing how Spurgeon managed to fit such a voluminous correspondence into an already very crowded schedule. This small volume gives just a tiny snapshot of the varied range of inquiries he was probably being faced with daily, and all the many matters and considerations that he was required to deal with as part of his ministry. You get glimpses of many sides of his character and feelings, and see aspects of his life and ministry, which you don't ordinarily hear about elsewhere.

[Jacob Aitken]

Like anything else Iain Murray does, this book manifests much unction and warmth. It has some defects which probably couldn't have been helped: it is only a selection of letters (since Spurgeon likely wrote tens of thousands!) and Murray's choice of topics, while mostly relevant and helpful, aren't always relevant. The book could have been ten to twenty pages shorter.

Such as it is, the selection of Letters loosely follows Spurgeon's own life and controversies and are occasionally arranged topically. Highly recommend and filled with much beautiful prose.

[Robert Luff]

Some of these letters were quite encouraging to me to delight in my Savior, though a good number of them were so mundane that there I didn't see much purpose as to why they were selected. To me, the thing that stood out the most was his wit and humor. While I enjoyed that, and several made me laugh, that's not why I read the personal letters of past preachers/pastors. I read them to help me raise my affections and meditate on my Savior. So far, I haven't found any letter collection that gets close to the letters of John Newton. His is by far the Gold Standard. I think humble Spurgeon would agree.

[Philip Brown]

Essential reading if you want to understand Spurgeon. I was putting this off because it seemed like it would be tedious, almost like reading through someones texts or something. I was proven wrong big time. The letters cover a range of topics over a range of different years of his life. Like his sermons, his letters are full of his excellent sense of humor and Christianity. They honestly make me wonder whether we have gotten significantly worse at meaningfully communicating with each other since the rise of social media etc.

[Read1000books]

For those who have any interest in the most well-known British preacher of the latter 1800's and/or have been blessed by his voluminous writings as this reviewer has, you will find this a fun read as CHS reveals his thoughts and feelings on a variety of topics.

[Austin]

A very short read but exceedingly insightful. I would commend this as a starting point for anyone desiring to read Spurgeon, as reading these letters gives a wonderful window into the texture of his life beyond what can be observed from simply his sermons or lectures.

[Stephen Mccollum]

Nice light Sunday reading. I don't think I could have the letter ministry that this man had!

[Bradley]

A short but broad glimpse into the heart and life of Spurgeon from his own writing.

What a man.