Spurgeon's Afflictions

It was through great afflictions Charles Spurgeon became known as the Prince of Preachers. His sermons had more depth and insight, more compassion and understanding wisdom, more hitting the nail on the head, more of the fire of the Holy Spirit! Here is a passage from a book on Spurgeon that recalls some of what he went through.

Spurgeon empathized with those in his city who were suffering. In 1867, he suffered his first attack of chronic nephritis, or Bright’s disease. His failing kidneys often left him constantly fatigued. At thirty-five, Spurgeon was also diagnosed with gout, an arthritic disorder, which prevented him from even opening his hand. He once claimed, “I thought a cobra had bitten me and filled my veins with poison.”[xiii] Spurgeon’s friends sent him so much medicine that he once claimed he “would have been dead long ago if we had tried half of them.”[xiv]

Depression added to the pastor’s problems. He said, “I think it would have been less painful to have been burned alive at the stake than to have passed through those horrors and depressions of spirit.”[xv] He often wept without knowing why. Susannah often found him stretched out prostrate on the floor of his study. Each winter, Spurgeon traveled to Menton, France, to escape the dreary conditions of London.

Spurgeon’s suffering drove him to identify with London’s beleaguered working-class. “You must go through the fire,” he said, “if you would have sympathy with others who tread the glowing coals.”[xvi] Spurgeon also praised God for his pain, knowing that God was using his suffering to produce in him holiness, purity, and a deeper longing for heaven. Near the end of his life, Spurgeon declared:

I, the preacher of this hour, beg to bear my witness that the worst days I have ever had have turned out to be my best days, and when God has seemed most cruel to me, he has then been most kind. If there is anything in this world for which I would bless him more than for anything else, it is for pain and affliction. I am sure that in these things the richest, tenderest love has been manifested to me. Our Father’s wagons rumble most heavily when they are bringing us the richest freight of the bullion of his grace. Love letters from heaven are often sent in black-edged envelopes. The cloud that is black with horror is big with mercy. Fear not the storm, it brings healing in its wings, and when Jesus is with you in the vessel the tempest only hastens the ship to its desired haven.