Charles Spurgeon Warning: You are not logged in. Your IP address will be publicly visible if you make any edits. If you log in or create an account, your edits will be attributed to your username, along with other benefits.Anti-spam check. Do not fill this in! ===Final years and death=== [[File:Spurgeon's funeral cortege.png|thumb|Spurgeon's funeral cortege]] [[File:Grab Spurgeon.jpg|thumb|Tomb of Charles Spurgeon, West Norwood Cemetery, London]] Spurgeon's wife was often too ill to leave home to hear him preach. Spurgeon had a long history of poor health. He was already being reported as having [[gout]] when he was 33.<ref>Sheffield and Rotherham Independent. 15/6/1867</ref> {{Blockquote | It was true, he said, that he had had the gout, and a very horrible pain it was; but he had had the gout in his left leg, and he had preached standing on the other. He had not had the gout in his tongue, and he was not aware that people preached with their legs.}} By 1871, when he was 37 he was already being advised by his doctors to leave town for his health.<ref>The Bury and Norwich Post. 9/5/1871</ref> His favourite place to go to rest was [[Menton]] in the South of France. He was often there in the winter months.<ref>Bristol Mercury and Daily Post. 22/2/1879</ref> He was there often enough to have visitors, with George Müller visiting in 1879<ref>Bristol Mercury and Daily Post. 3/4/1879</ref> and members of the Baptist Union in 1887, attempting to get him to rejoin the Union.<ref>Daily News. 14/12/1887</ref> When he was on the improve in Menton he would preach in the local church,<ref>Glasgow Herald. 6/2/1880</ref> or write, such as in 1890 when he wrote a commentary on Matthew while ‘resting’.<ref>The Pall Mall Gazette. 1/2/1890</ref> He became increasingly unwell and in May 1891 he was forced 'to rest'. In 1891 he went to rest in London, and remained there three months. During this period he wrote 180 pages of commentary.<ref name="The Times 11/2/1892">The Times 11/2/1892</ref> However, he did not recover and died aged 57, while still in London, from gout and congestion of the kidneys.<ref>Aberdeen Journal, and General Advertiser for the North. 12/2/1892</ref> From May 1891 until his death in January 1892 he received 10,000 letters of 'condolence, resolutions of sympathy, telegrams of enquiry'.<ref name="The Times 11/2/1892"/> After returning the body to England it lay in state in the Metropolitan Tabernacle.<ref name="Western Mail 12/2/1892">Western Mail 12/2/1892</ref> Two days prior to the funeral, four memorial services were held at the Metropolitan Tabernacle. The first service at 11am was for those with current communion cards, the second at 3pm was for ministers and student pastors, the third at 7pm was for Christians who hadn't gotten in yet and the final service at 11pm included the Stockwell Orphans. Police controlled the crowds waiting to get in during the day, and to help with order, at the end of services people left through a back door.<ref name="The Times 11/2/1892"/> On the day of the funeral eight hundred extra police were on duty along the route the cortège took,<ref>Western Mail 12/2/92</ref> from the Metropolitan Tabernacle, past the Stockwell Orphanage and to the Norwood Cemetery. Accounts vary about the number of carriages in the cortege. One account puts it as:<ref>Daily News. 12/2/92</ref> {{Blockquote | Sixty-five pair-horse broughams were provided by the undertakers for conveying the invited mourners and delegates to the cemetery, but there were altogether from two to three hundred private carriages and other vehicles joining in the procession, which it is estimated must have been nearly two miles in length}} Extra trains were put on to cater for the crowd, along with extra omnibuses and cabs.<ref>Glasgow Herald 12/2/1892</ref> Except for a few tobacco shops and taverns, the businesses along the funeral route were shut, with some houses displaying black and white material.<ref>The Guardian 12/2/1892</ref> An estimated total of 100,000 people either passed by Spurgeon as he lay in state or attended the funeral services.<ref name="Western Mail 12/2/1892"/> An unknown number lined the streets for the cortége. As the cortége passed the Stockwell Orphanage it stopped briefly while the children sang a verse of one of his favourite hymns “For ever with the Lord,” with the refrain “Nearer home.<ref>Daily Mail 12/2/1892</ref>”. Along the route some flags were at half staff.<ref>Daily Mail 12/9/1892</ref> Spurgeon was survived by his wife and sons. His remains were buried at [[West Norwood Cemetery]] in London, where the tomb is still visited by admirers. His son Tom became the pastor of the Metropolitan Tabernacle after his father died<!-- [Is this necessary?] (after much discussion) -->. <!--this should be incorporated into the text if important; deleted if unnecessary as an encyclopaedic entry... ==Chronology of Spurgeon's life and legacy== * Born at [[Kelvedon]], Essex, England, 19 June 1834 * Converted to Christianity at [[Colchester]], 6 January 1850 * Becomes a [[Baptist]], 3 May 1850 (Baptized in the [[River Lark]], at [[Isleham]]) * Preaches [http://www.spurgeon.org/s_and_t/1serm.htm first sermon], at a cottage in [[Teversham]], 1850 * Preached first sermon at [[Waterbeach]] Baptist Chapel, 12 October 1851 * Preached first sermon at [[New Park Street Chapel]], London, 18 December 1853 * Accepts pastorate at New Park Street Chapel, 28 April 1854, (then 232 members) * First sermon in the "New Park Street Pulpit" series published, 10 January 1855 * Marriage to Miss Susannah Thompson (born 15 January 1832), 8 January 1856 * 10-Day wedding trip in Paris, France by the newly married Spurgeons, Spring 1856 * Twin sons (not identical) Thomas and Charles born, 20 September 1856 * [[Metropolitan Tabernacle]] Building Committee begins, June 1856 * Establishes the Pastors' College, 1856, expanded in 1857 * Metropolitan Tabernacle opens with a great prayer meeting, 18 March 1861 * [http://64.233.167.104/search?q=cache:ETtwxDMPfZQJ:www.spurgeongems.org/vols7-9/chs375.pdf+%22Let+God+send+the+fire+of+His+Spirit+here%22+march+31+1861&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=2&gl=us First sermon in the Metropolitan Tabernacle], 31 March 1861. * Metropolitan Tabernacle Colportage Association founded, 1866 * [[Stockwell Orphanage]] (Boy's side) founded, 1867, foundation stone laid 9 September 1869 * Foundation stone laid by senior [[deacon]] Thomas Olney for the Pastors' College building, 6 May 1867; construction completed in March 1868 * Begins annual vacations to southern France for rest and recuperation, December 1871 * 571 new church members added by February 1873, now 4,417 total membership * Foundation stone laid for a newer Pastors' College building, 14 October 1873 * Mrs. Spurgeon's Book Fund inaugurated, 1875 * Presentation of the pastoral silver wedding gift (offering) 20 May 1879 * Stockwell Orphanage (Girl's side) founded, 1879; stone laid 22 June 1880 * Jubilee celebrations and testimonials, 18 & 19 June 1884 * The seven volumes of "The Treasury of David", an exposition of the [[Psalms]], were published weekly over a 20-year time period in ''The Sword and the Trowel'', with the final volume being released in 1885.<ref name="Christianity.com">{{cite web |url=http://bible.christianity.com/Commentaries/TreasuryofDavid/ |title= Treasury of David|access-date=25 October 2007}}</ref> * [http://www.spurgeon.org/s_and_t/dg01.htm "Downgrade" paper No. 1] published in ''The Sword & the Trowel'', March 1887 * Spurgeon's mother Eliza dies, aged 75 Years, 1888 * Last sermon delivered at Metropolitan Tabernacle, 7 June 1891 * During his pastorate, 14,692 were baptised and joined the Tabernacle * As year 1891 ends, membership given as 5,311. The Tabernacle capacity was 6,000 people, with 5,500 seated, 500 standing room; the Tabernacle dimensions were 146' long, 81' wide, 68' high * Suffers much pain and sickness during the months of June and July 1891 * Travels to [[Menton]], France again (for the last time), 26 October 1891. While there, becomes severely ill from his long-suffering combination of [[Rheumatism]], [[Gout]] and [[Bright's disease]] (Kidney) * Still resting in Menton, he finally takes to bed, 20 January 1892 * Spurgeon dies, 31 January 1892 * Remains interred and buried at [[West Norwood Cemetery]], 11 February 1892 * His brother (& Asst. Tabernacle Pastor) James dies, aged 61 years, 22 March 1899 * His brother (& friend) Zach dies, of head trama by pear * His father (& pastor) John dies, aged almost 92 years, 14 June 1902 * His wife Susannah dies, aged 71 years, 22 October 1903 * His son (& Pastor) Thomas dies, aged 61 years, 17 October 1917 * His son (& Pastor) Charles dies, aged 70 years, 13 December 1926 --> Summary: Please note that all contributions to Christianpedia may be edited, altered, or removed by other contributors. If you do not want your writing to be edited mercilessly, then do not submit it here. You are also promising us that you wrote this yourself, or copied it from a public domain or similar free resource (see Christianpedia:Copyrights for details). Do not submit copyrighted work without permission! Cancel Editing help (opens in new window) Discuss this page