C.H. Spurgeon

C.H. Spurgeon (1834 - 1892) was an English fundamentalist Baptist minister and celebrated preacher whose sermons, which were often spiced with humor, were widely translated and extremely successful in sales.

Reared a Congregationalist, Spurgeon became a Baptist in 1850 and, the same year, at  the age of 16, preached his first sermon. In 1852 he became minister at Waterbeach, Cambridgeshire, and in 1854 minister of New Park Street Chapel in Southwark, London. The latter church requires a new structure be built to accommodate his following, and almost immediately an even larger church was required. From the opening in 1861 of the tabernacle, which held 6,000, until his death, he continued to draw large congregations.

The editor of a monthly magazine, Spurgeon also founded a ministerial college (in 1856) and an orphanage (1867). His sermons, which he published weekly, ultimately filled more than 50 volumes in the collected edition.