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Early Years
MRS. SPURGEON was born on January 15th, 1832, and her
girlhood days were spent partly in the Southern suburbs and partly in the
City of London, which had not then, as now, ceased to be residential. In
the political world the times were stirring; there were wars and rumors
of wars, but probably little of the turmoil of the nations was known to
the young maiden, for English girls were not then allowed to read
morning and evening newspapers and encouraged to give their opinions
upon the latest events of the day. Her father, Mr. R. B. Thompson, and
her mother attended New Park Street Chapel, Southwark, from time to time,
and their daughter Susannah used to accompany ‘them, so that with ‘the
ministry of the Pastor, James Smith (afterwards of Cheltenham) she was
familiar. “A quaint and rugged preacher, but one well versed in the
blessed art of bringing souls to Christ,” is how Mrs.. Spurgeon describes
him. “Often had I seen him administer the ordinance of baptism ‘to the
candidates, wondering with a tearful longing whether I should ever be
able thus to confess my faith in the Lord Jesus. I can recall the
old-fashioned dapper figure of the senior deacon, of whom I stood very
much in awe. He was a lawyer and wore the silk stockings and
knee-breeches dear to a former generation. When the time came to give
out the hymns he mounted an open desk immediately beneath the pulpit; and
from where I sat, I had a side view of him. To the best of my
remembrance he was a short, stout man, and his rotund body, perched on
his undraped legs and clothed in a long-tailed coat gave him an
unmistakable resemblance to a gigantic robin; and when he chirped out the
verses of the hymn in a piping, twittering voice, I thought the likeness
was complete!” Those early experiences at New Park Street Chapel were
among the most vivid memories of Mrs. Spurgeon’s life. “Well, also,” she
continues, “did I know the curious pulpit without any stairs; it looked
like a magnified swallow’s nest and was entered from behind through a
door in the wall. My childish imagination was always excited by the
silent and ‘creepy’ manner in which the minister made his appearance
therein. One moment the big box would be empty — the next, if I had but
glanced down at Bible or hymn-book, and raised my eyes again, — there was
the preacher, comfortably seated or standing ready to commence the
service! I found it very interesting and though I knew there was a
matter-of-fact door, through which the good man stepped into his rostrum,
this knowledge was not allowed to interfere with, or even explain the
fanciful notions I loved to indulge in concerning that mysterious
entrance and exit. It was certainly somewhat singular that, in the very
pulpit which had exercised such a charm over me, I should have my first
glimpse of the one who was to be the love of my heart, and the light of
my earthly life.” The young girl’s visits to New Park Street Chapel were
no doubt more frequent than they would have, been, from the fact that old
Mr. and Mrs. Olney were very fond of her and often invited her to visit
them. Naturally on Sundays, during these visits, she usually accompanied
Mr. and Mrs. Olney to the chapel and thus she had more than one
association with the place which was to play so large a part in her after
history. Brought up in a godly family’ and having earnest Christian
friends, Susannah Thompson was not indifferent to the importance of
religion in the individual life, but it was by means of a sermon from
Romans 10:8, “The word is nigh thee, even in thy mouth, and in thy
heart,” preached at the old Poultry Chapel, by the Rev. S. B. Bergne,
that the girl was first aroused to a sense of her own personal need of a
Savior. “From that service,” she says, “I date the dawning of the true
light in my soul. The lord said to me, through His servant, ‘Give Me thy
heart, and, constrained by His love, that night witnessed my solemn
resolution of entire surrender to Himself.” In those days there were no
Christian Endeavor Societies, and few attempts at encouraging young
converts to engage in service for their Lord. The lack of communion with
kindred youthful spirits and the absence, of Christian work to occupy the
mind and lead to further knowledge of God, were, no doubt, more or less
responsible for a state of coldness and indifference which in a short
time took the place of the joy and gladness of soul that had followed
conversion. “Seasons of darkness, despondency and doubt had passed over
me,” she says, “but I had kept all my religious experiences carefully
concealed in my own breast,” the hesitancy and reserve in this respect
being the cause, in Mrs. Spurgeon’s judgment of the sickly and sleepy
condition of her soul. It was at this juncture that she first came under
the influence of the man who was in a few years, to become more dear to
her than all others.
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