Charles Spurgeon

Charles Haddon Spurgeon (1834–1892) was an English Baptist preacher, born at Kelvedon, Essex. He joined the Baptist communion in 1851 and quickly gained recognition for his preaching, becoming pastor of New Park Street Chapel in Southwark in 1853. His congregations soon overflowed every venue, and at twenty-two he addressed twenty-four thousand people at the Crystal Palace. The Metropolitan Tabernacle, seating six thousand, was built for his ministry and opened in 1861. His sermons, published weekly and eventually filling some fifty volumes, made him one of the most widely read preachers in the English-speaking world. He also established the Pastors' College, an orphanage at Stockwell, and edited The Sword and the Trowel magazine. He died at Mentone, France, in 1892.