Susannah+Spurgeon


 * ===(1832-1892) ===

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====Suzanna Spurgeon (born Thompson) was born on January 15, 1832 in the suburbs of London. She was raised in a Christian home and became herself a Christian as a young girl. In 1852, She saw Charles Spurgeon for the first time when he was 19 and had been asked to preach in the famous Park Street Chapter in London. At this point in her life, she had grown cold spiritually and was not impressed with his preaching. ==== ====She soon realized her Christian life was far from what it should be and when Spurgeon heard of her desire to improve her Christian walk, he gave her a copy of “The Pilgrim’s Progress”. That was when their friendship turned to love. Charles and Susannah were married on January 8, 1856. ==== || ==== ==== ||
 * ====On September 20, 1856, Susannah gave birth to twin boys, but became ailing and never recovered full strength and health. She raised their children in Christian doctrine and led them to the Lord at an early age. ====

====Charles Spurgeon was a prolific writer and had most of his sermons published. In the summer of 1875 he completed the first volume of “Lectures to my Students” and he gave his wife a proof copy of the book, asking for her opinion. She told her husband that she wished she could place that volume in the hands of every minister in England. To that her husband replied, “Then why not do so: how much will you give?” ====

====Susannah was not prepared for his question, but it challenged her to see if she could spare the money from her housekeeping or personal account to fulfill her wish. At that time she remembered some money that she had put away whenever she had some extra. She went to her room and got the money and when it was counted she realized that she had enough money to pay for one hundred copies of the work. It was in that instant that the Book Fund was born. ====

The next issue of “The Sword and the Trowel”, a magazine which was a magazine put out by her husband, contained an announcement of Mrs. Spurgeon’s intention of giving out the books and inviting poor Baptist ministers to apply for the book. The applications proved more numerous than she anticipated and in that first distribution she gave out two hundred copies instead of the one hundred she originally proposed. In the following issue of his publication, Charles told of the many ministers desiring new books to increase their knowledge and improve their ministries and of the Book Fund that Susannah created to fulfill these needs. Money began to come in to finance the Book Fund so that books could be provided to needy ministers.

 Susannah continued the work of the Book Fund for the rest of her life. Her last thoughts before her death were for the Book Fund, and for the poor ministers who were benefited by its aid. In her will she left a sum of money for the assistance of the work.

 Besides the support she gave her husband in his ministry, the time she spent raising and training her boys, and the work she did with the Book Fund, Susannah Spurgeon gave a good deal of time to literary work. Her most treasured work was “C.H. Spurgeon’s Autobiography, compiled from his Diary, Letters, and Records”. As a writer, Susannah had a rare literary gift. She wrote several books in her lifetime including “Ten Years of My Life in the Service of the Book Fund”, “Ten Years After”, and several devotional books.

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