The following was written by Susannah Spurgeon shortly after the death of her husband.  Anyone at all familiar with their story knows how deeply they loved one another.  If ever there were a love story in church history, theirs must be it.  Her grief here is almost palpable.  One can only silently mourn by her side as she calls to mind “treading this highway of life together, hand in hand-heart linked to heart.”  Yet, despite the trauma of her loss, she concludes with “the goodness and mercy” of God who faithfully followed and cared for them all those years.

This world is fleeting.  How soon we will be done with it. Our lives are but a vapor. But for those who are called and kept by the power of God, our hope is yet to come.  Susannah knew that. And even in her deep and abyssal mourning, the fire of her faith would not be extinguished.

____________________________________________

I have traveled far now on life’s journey; and, having climbed one of the few remaining hills between earth and Heaven, I stand awhile on this vantage-ground, and look back across the country through which the Lord has led me.

A well-defined pathway is visible, but it appears devious and wandering; sometimes skirting a mountain-top, whence one could catch glimpses of “the land that is very far off”; and, further on, descending into a valley shadowed by clouds and darkness. At one time, it runs along amidst steep places, and overhanging rocks; at another time, it winds across an open plain, brilliant with the sunshine of goodness and mercy, and fanned by breezes which are wafted from the fields of Heaven.

There are flowers of joy and love growing all along the way, even in the dark places; and “trees which the Lord has planted,” give shade and shelter from too great heat.

I can see two pilgrims treading this highway of life together, hand in hand—heart linked to heart. True, they have had rivers to ford, and mountains to cross, and fierce enemies to fight, and many dangers to go through; but their Guide was watchful, their Deliverer unfailing, and of them it might truly be said, “In all their suffering he also suffered, and he personally rescued them. In his love and mercy he redeemed them. He lifted them up and carried them through all the years.”

Mostly, they went on their way singing; and for one of them, at least, there was no joy greater than to tell others of the grace and glory of the blessed King to whose land He was hastening. And when he thus spoke, the power of the Lord was seen, and the angels rejoiced over repenting sinners.

But, at last, they came to a place on the road where two ways met; and here, amidst the terrors of a storm such as they had never before encountered, they parted company—the one being caught up to the invisible glory—the other, battered and bruised by the awful tempest, henceforth toiling along the road—alone.

But the “goodness and mercy” which, for so many years, had followed the two travelers, did not leave the solitary one; rather did the tenderness of the Lord “lead on softly,” and choose green pastures for the tired feet, and still waters for the solace and refreshment of His trembling child. He gave, moreover, into her hands a solemn charge—to help fellow-pilgrims along the road, filling her life with blessed interest, and healing her own deep sorrow by giving her power to relieve and comfort others.

“With Christ—which is far better!” Philippians 1:23.

Ever since the solemn midnight hour when God took to Himself my most precious treasure, “the desire of my eyes,” my loving and dearly-beloved husband—the above inspired words have been a wellspring of solace and comfort to my desolate heart. In the first anguish of my grief, I wrote them on the “farewell” card, and the palm-branches, which waved over his dead body in token of everlasting victory, bore their grand message of consolation to the thousands of weeping mourners.

Now, as the days go by, and the sense of loss deepens, and is still more acutely realized, the blessed fact set forth by these words comes again with Divine power of healing to my sorrowing soul. It is because it is far better for him to be with Christ—that I can patiently and even cheerfully endure my lonely life. I can sometimes dwell with such joy on the thought of his eternal glory “with Christ,” that I forget to sorrow over my own great and unspeakable loss.

A dear friend wrote thus to me, the other day—”Oh, when I think of him, as able to praise his Savior, and preach without fatigue or pain—no longer limping, or leaning on his staff—with no cough, no faintness—no swollen fingers or ankles—away from the fogs and mists; where no heresies distress his heart; when I think of him thus, my heart fairly leaps for joy!”

Yes, faith can truly exult in our beloved’s glory.

Online Source:  GraceGems

Welcome back to Heavenly Springs! Today we will conclude our series on Susannah Thompson Spurgeon. In Part 1, we covered her early years, courtship, and marriage. In Part 2 we discussed some of her sacrifices and sufferings. Today we will cover her life of service. Please don’t forget to enter to win a free book. The drawing will close at 9pm EST on Friday night – details are at the end of the post!

From the start, Susannah proved an invaluable asset to her husband. While still engaged, Charles asked a young Miss. Thompson to help him compose “a little book of extracts” from the writings of one of his favorite Puritan authors, Thomas Brooks. He asked her to mark up “all the paragraphs and sentences that seemed particularly sweet, quaint or instructive.”^[1] So she did. And the result was a small book called “Smooth Stones Taken from Ancient Brooks” which may very well be in your library! While her name is nowhere to be found, Charles Spurgeon’s very first literary work bears the stamp of Miss. Susie Thompson!

In their first year of marriage, Charles founded the Pastor’s College, a school for young preachers who couldn’t afford an education. Susie was every bit invested in the work as he was. She writes, “I rejoice to remember how I shared my beloved’s joy when he founded the Institution, and that together we planned and pinched in order to carry out the purpose of his loving heart; it gave me quite a motherly interest in the College, and ‘our own men.’”^[2] The college trained nearly 900 students during his lifetime.^[3] Reflecting on those early days, Susie writes, “… we never had enough left over to ‘tie a bow and ends’; but I can see now that this was God’s way of preparing us to sympathize with and help poor pastors in the years which were to come.”^[4]

You may not know this, but Charles usually didn’t pick his theme for the Sunday sermon until Saturday night.^[5] Whenever he would struggle to find a text for Sunday he would say, “Wifey! What shall I do? God has not given me a text yet?”^[6] Often she would make a suggestion and if he used it, would give her credit after the sermon. “You gave me that text!” he would say. She also helped him by reading books out loud. Late Saturday night she would often join him in his office where “there was always an easy chair … drawn up to the table by Mr. Spurgeon’s side, and a number of open books piled one upon another from which she used to read as directed by her husband.”^[7]

On one Saturday evening Charles was struggling with a particular text. He consulted commentary after commentary but to no avail. His wife, observing his frustration, suggested he go to bed and revisit in the morning. He complied but asked that she wake him early in order to prepare. Susie tells what transpired that night.

“By-and-by a wonderful thing happened. During the first dawning hours of the Sabbath, I heard him talking in his sleep, and roused myself to listen attentively. Soon I realised that he was going over the subject of the verse which had been so obscure to him, and was giving a clear and distinct exposition of its meaning with much force and freshness. I set myself with almost trembling joy to understand and follow all that he was saying, for I knew that if I could but seize and remember the salient points of the discourse he would have no difficulty in developing and enlarging upon them. Never preacher had a more eager and anxious hearer! What if I should let the precious words slip? I had no means at hand of ‘taking notes,’ so, like Nehemiah, ‘I prayed to the God of Heaven,’ and asked that I might receive and retain the thoughts which He had given to His servant in his sleep, and which were so singularly entrusted to my keeping. As I lay repeating over and over again the chief points I wished to remember, my happiness was very great in anticipation of his surprise and delight on awaking; but I had kept vigil so long, cherishing my joy, that I must have been overcome with slumber just when the usual time for rising came, for he awoke with a frightened start, and seeing the tell-tale clock, said, ‘Oh, wifey, you said you would wake me very early, and now see the time! Oh, why did you let me sleep? What shall I do? What shall I do?’ ‘Listen, beloved,’ I answered; and I told him all I had heard. ‘Why! that’s just what I wanted,’ he exclaimed; ‘that is the true explanation of the whole verse! And you say I preached it in my sleep?’ ‘It is wonderful,’ he repeated again and again, and we both praised the Lord for so remarkable a manifestation of His power and love.”^[8]

Susie was also the founder of The Pastors Book Fund, one of her most important and visible ministries. The humble origins of the ministry show how God blesses small sacrifices offered in faith. In 1875, after having completed the first volume of “Lectures to My Students,” Charles asked his wife to read it and offer her thoughts. “I wish I could place it in the hands of every minister in England,” was the reply, and the preacher at once rejoined, “Then why not do so: how much will you give?”^[9] Susie took up the challenge and sold a valuable (but unnecessary) item she had stashed away. From the sale she generated exactly enough to buy one hundred copies of the work. She writes, “If a twinge of regret at parting from my cherished but unwieldy favourites passed over me, it was gone in an instant, and then they were given freely and thankfully to the Lord, and in that moment, though I knew it not, the Book Fund was inaugurated.”^[10] Her biographer writes, “Mrs. Spurgeon’s name deserves to live for ever in the annals of the Christian Church in connection with her fund for supplying theological books to clergymen and ministers too poor to buy them.”^[11] And if anyone understood the importance of books it was she! Her husband’s personal library contained 12,000 volumes! ^[12] She writes, “Books are as truly a minister’s needful tools as the plane and the hammer and the saw are the necessary adjuncts of a carpenter’s bench. We pity a poor mechanic, whom accident has deprived of his working gear, we straightway get up a subscription to restore it, and certainly never expect a stroke of work from him while it is lacking; why, I wonder, do we not bring the same commonsense help to our poor ministers, and furnish them liberally with the means of procuring the essentially important books?^[13]

Regarding his wife’s ministry, Charles wrote, “This good work of providing mental food for ministers ought never to cease till their incomes are doubled. May ‘Mrs. Spurgeon’s Book Fund’ become a permanent source of blessing to ministers and churches!”^[14]

On January 31st, 1892, at age 57, Charles went home to Glory. After her beloved’s death, she devoted herself almost entirely to literary work, the most significant being, “C.H. Spurgeon’s Autobiography.” This monumental four-volume work was made possible only through the tireless efforts of a devoted wife who spent large quantities of time sifting through old correspondence, sermons and books. She also authored the chapters concerning home and marriage in which she expresses, in many places, her deep longing for her beloved. “Ah! my husband,” she says in one passage, “the blessed earthly ties which we welcomed so rapturously are dissolved now, and death has hidden thee from my mortal eyes; but not even death can divide thee from me or sever the love which united our hearts so closely. I feel it living and growing still, and I believe it will find its full and spiritual development only when we shall meet in the glory-land and worship together before the throne!”^[15]

Susannah went on to author several works of her own: “Ten Years of My Life in the Service of the Book Fund,” and “Ten Years After.” She also authored three devotionals: “A Carillon of Bells to Ring out the Old Truths of ‘Free Grace and Dying Love’ ”; “A Cluster of Camphire; or, Words of Cheer and Comfort for Sick and Sorrowful Souls”; and “A Basket of Summer Fruit.”

In the summer of 1903, Susie was struck with a severe case of pneumonia she never recovered from. Even on her sick bed, her faith shined. “Though He slay me, yet will I trust in Him,” she said feebly, and quoted the lines:

“His love in times past forbids me to think
He’ll leave me at last in trouble to sink.”^[16]

On October 22nd, 1903, Mrs. Spurgeon joined her husband. Her biographer tells what happened during those last moments. “When very near the end she clasped her feeble hands together, and, her face aglow with a heavenly radiance, exclaimed: “Blessed Jesus! Blessed Jesus! I can see the King in His Glory!”^[17]

Mrs. Spurgeon is gone but her work, having been built on the foundation that is Christ, remains.   It is a testament to the power of God that a woman so weak and frail could accomplish so much. Her biographer writes, “If greatness depends upon the amount of good which one does in the world, if it is only another name for unselfish devotion in the service of others—and surely true greatness is all this—then Mrs. C. H. Spurgeon will go down to posterity as one of the greatest women of her time.”^[18]

As we bring our series to a close, I’d like to share one final thought. There is a temptation, when we study the great men and women of the faith, to measure ourselves according to their accomplishments. This is a mistake. We are not called to live Susie’s life – or anyone else’s. Susannah Thompson Spurgeon was born for her time and her place; we are born to ours. Instead, may her life challenge and inspire us to trust God and be faithful in our varied spheres for which the allotments of Divine Providence has fixed for us.

This concludes Part 3 of our 3-Part Series. As a reminder, I will be giving away two copies of Susannah Spurgeon: Free Grace and Dying Love (Morning Devotions with the Life of Susannah Spurgeon). If you are interested in participating, please leave a comment. You may increase your chances by sharing on Facebook, Twitter, or other social media. Just let me know what you have done, and I will add your name once for each share. The Giveaway will close on Friday, September 5th at 9pm EST. Winners will be notified via email.

Click here to read Part 1 of Susannah Spurgeon: A Life of Sacrifice, Suffering, and Service
Click here to read Part 2 of Susannah Spurgeon: A Life of Sacrifice Suffering and Service

^[1] Charles Ray, Mrs. C. H. Spurgeon (London: Passmore & Alabaster, 1903), 113.
^[2] Ray, Mrs. C. H. Spurgeon, 35.
^[3] Christian History Magazine-Issue 29: Charles Spurgeon: England’s “Prince of Preachers” (Carol Stream, IL: Christianity Today, 1991).
^[4] Charles Ray, Mrs. C. H. Spurgeon (London: Passmore & Alabaster, 1903), 35.
^[5] Christian History Magazine-Issue 29: Charles Spurgeon: England’s “Prince of Preachers” (Carol Stream, IL: Christianity Today, 1991).
^[6] Charles Ray, Mrs. C. H. Spurgeon (London: Passmore & Alabaster, 1903), 102.
^[7] Ray, Mrs. C. H. Spurgeon, 102.
^[8] Ray, Mrs. C. H. Spurgeon, 37–39.
^[9]Ray, Mrs. C. H. Spurgeon, 67.
^[10] Ray, Mrs. C. H. Spurgeon, 68.
^[11] Ray, Mrs. C. H. Spurgeon, 66.
^[12] Christian History Magazine-Issue 29: Charles Spurgeon: England’s “Prince of Preachers” (Carol Stream, IL: Christianity Today, 1991).
^[13] Charles Ray, Mrs. C. H. Spurgeon (London: Passmore & Alabaster, 1903), 73.
^[14] Ray, Mrs. C. H. Spurgeon, 118.
^[15] Ray, Mrs. C. H. Spurgeon, 112.
^[16] Ray, Mrs. C. H. Spurgeon, 116.
^[17] Ray, Mrs. C. H. Spurgeon, 117.
^[18] Ray, Mrs. C. H. Spurgeon, 119.

Welcome! Thank you for visiting Heavenly Springs!  Today we continue with Part 2 of a series on the life of Susannah Thompson Spurgeon.  Yesterday, in Part 1, we covered her early years, courtship, and marriage to Charles Spurgeon.  Today we will discuss some of her sacrifices and sufferings. Don’t forget to enter to win a free book — details are at the end of the post!

The couple returned from their honeymoon to their first home, a modest house on New Kent Road. Susie lost no time throwing herself into her husband’s work “with a zeal not less than his own.”^[1] Within a year of being married, on September 20th, 1856, Susie gave birth to two beautiful baby boys; fraternal twins, Charles and Thomas. The delivery was a hard one – one she never fully recovered from.  Nonetheless, as a devoted mother, she faithfully taught (and lived) the doctrines of the faith so effectively that both boys made early professions of the faith. Years later, they would point to their mother’s influence. Thomas writes, “I trace my early conversion directly to her earnest pleading and bright example. She denied herself the pleasure of attending Sunday evening services that she might minister the Word of Life to her household: There she taught me to sing, but to mean it first … My dear brother was brought to Christ through the pointed word of a missionary; but he, too, gladly owns that mother’s influence and teaching had their part in the matter. By these, the soil was made ready for a later sowing.”^[2]   How telling it is that the boys credited their mother for their spiritual condition. One would expect that the children of a great preacher like Charles Spurgeon would point to their father.  But they recognized their mother. Let this be an inspiration to Christian mothers everywhere who labor, toil, and sacrifice to raise their children in the Lord.

For the first ten years of their marriage, Susannah traveled with her husband on various trips. She writes, “It was my joy and privilege to be ever at his side, accompanying him on many of his preaching journeys, nursing him in his occasional illnesses, his delighted companion during his holiday trips, always watching over and tending him with the enthusiasm and sympathy which my great love for him inspired.^[3]  But by 1868 Susannah was forced to concede that her traveling days were over. She became what she calls, a “prisoner in a sick-chamber.”^[4]  Her ministry became “suffering instead of service.”^[5]  Combined with the agony of her physical suffering was the emotional strain of being separated from her husband for long stretches of time. Due to his numerous physical ailments, not the least of which was a debilitating case of gout, Charles would travel to Mentone, France during the winter months where the warm Mediterranean weather helped him heal.  “These separations,” she says, “were very painful to hearts so tenderly united as were ours, but we each bore our share of the sorrow as heroically as we could and softened it as far as possible by constant correspondence.”^[6]

Despite the afflictive dispensation to which she was subjected for so many years, she learned to trust the Sovereignty and goodness of God. Her posture, in all her sufferings, was one of uncomplaining submission.  Having been schooled in her husband’s school of faith, she understood trials and sufferings were not designed to destroy but to refine and purify.  To that end, she could say, “Father, if you are willing, remove this cup from me. Nevertheless, not my will, but yours, be done” (Luke 22:42).

Susannah’s sufferings were not just physical; they were spiritual, too. Although the Spurgeon’s were, at some level, accustomed to the abuse of the press, those abuses reached new heights after the tragic events of  October 19th, 1856. On that night Charles was set to preach at Surrey Gardens Music Hall to thousands of people.  The service was just beginning when suddenly, in the middle of his prayer, several troublemakers shouted, “Fire! The galleries are giving way!” “In the ensuing chaos, seven people died and twenty-eight were hospitalized with serious injuries. Spurgeon, totally undone, was literally carried from the pulpit….” ^[7]

Susannah recalls the moment her husband returned. “When my beloved finally came home he looked a wreck of his former self,—an hour’s agony of mind had changed his whole appearance and bearing. The night that ensued was one of weeping and wailing and indescribable sorrow. He refused to be comforted. I thought the morning would never break; and when it did come it brought no relief.”^[8] Charles entered such a period of darkness they wondered if he would ever preach again.  It was their “valley of the shadow of death” and “ofttimes,” she writes, “when we lifted up our foot to set forward, we knew not where or upon what we should set it next.”^[9]

The darkness of that period was exacerbated by the malicious cruelty of the press.  A torrent of slander, the likes of which they had never seen, was unleashed against them.  Charles almost entirely lost his spiritual bearings, and a powerless Susannah could do nothing but watch.  She writes, “My heart alternately sorrowed over him and flamed with indignation against his detractors.”^[10] Finally she received strength through the words of Matthew 5:11-12. The words nearly jumped off the page, coming alive and equipping her to fight the battle raging against her husband’s soul.  She printed the text in large Old English type, put it in a pretty Oxford frame, and hung it in their room.  She made sure that Charles heard those words each day he left the house.  Charles did eventually emerge from his  depression — though some argue, he never fully recovered.  But by God’s grace he persevered and continued His work for the Lord.  For that we have, in large part, his wife to thank.

In 1871, Charles Spurgeon wrote to his beloved, “None know how grateful I am to God for you. In all I have ever done for Him you have a large share, for in making me so happy you have fitted me for service. Not an ounce of power has ever been lost to the good cause through you. I have served the Lord far more and never less for your sweet companionship.”^[11]

Given the high place Charles assigns to his wife, how little, comparatively speaking, we think of and honor her.  Each time we enjoy, even a small benefit from his labors, we do well to remember that we reap with joy, what she sowed in tears.

This concludes Part 2 of our 3-Part Series. Please join us tomorrow for Part 3. As a reminder, at the end of the series, I will be giving away two copies of Susannah Spurgeon: Free Grace and Dying Love (Morning Devotions with the Life of Susannah Spurgeon). If you are interested in participating, please leave a comment. You may increase your chances by sharing on Facebook, Twitter, or other social media. Just let me know what you have done, and I will add your name once for each share. The Giveaway will close on Friday, September 5th at 9pm EST. Winners will be notified via email.

Click here to read Part 1 of Susannah Spurgeon: A Life of Sacrifice, Suffering, and Service
Click here to read Part 3 of Susannah Spurgeon: A Life of Sacrifice Suffering and Service

^[1] Charles Ray, Mrs. C. H. Spurgeon (London: Passmore & Alabaster, 1903), 34.
^[2] Ray, Mrs. C. H. Spurgeon, 65.
^[3] Ray, Mrs. C. H. Spurgeon, 47–48.
^[4] Ray, Mrs. C. H. Spurgeon, 51.
^[5] Ray, Mrs. C. H. Spurgeon, 48.
^[6] Ray, Mrs. C. H. Spurgeon, 51.
^[7] Christian History Magazine-Issue 29: Charles Spurgeon: England’s “Prince of Preachers” (Carol Stream, IL: Christianity Today, 1991).
^[8] Ray, Mrs. C. H. Spurgeon, 42.
^[9] Ray, Mrs. C. H. Spurgeon, 42–43.
^[10] Ray, Mrs. C. H. Spurgeon, 45.
^[11] Ray, Mrs. C. H. Spurgeon, 55.