Charles and Susie: Faith in the Midst of Pain
February 3rd, 2022 • by Ray Rhodes
On Sunday October 10, 1858, Charles Spurgeon, pain pulsating through his body, looked out over the vast congregation gathered at the Surrey Gardens Music Hall and proclaimed that he had changed his message. He said it was "owing to excruciating pain and continual sickness, I have been unable to gather my thoughts together." Hindered from preaching his planned sermon, he resorted to a theme that he said "has often been on my heart and not unfrequently upon my lips, and concerning which, I dare say, I have admonished a very large portion of this audience before."
A familiar theme, one often thought on, spoken about, and previously addressed was Spurgeon's solution to enable him to preach through suffering. His last words from that sermon reveal the seriousness of his condition. "I intended to have enlarged; [the sermon] but it is impossible for me to go further, I must therefore dismiss you with a sacred blessing."
This sermon indicates that Spurgeon faced intense physical suffering at least by 1858. He was but 24 years old.
Pain in Body, Sadness of Mind
It was not physical ailments alone that afflicted Spurgeon but also emotional sadness and trauma. His depression probably began before he came to London. It was later exasperated as a result of a tragedy that occurred when seven people were trampled to death while he was preaching to ten thousand in a large hall.
Sometimes he was depressed and he didn’t know why. Frequently on Sunday evenings after a full day of ministry at his church, he was emotionally drained. “How often, on Lord’s-day evenings, do we feel as if life were completely washed out of us! After pouring out our souls over our congregations, we feel like empty earthen pitchers which a child might break.”
Sorrows of Husband and Wife
Susie was also afflicted with physiological problems from early in her marriage to Charles. Just over thirty-six weeks after her wedding day, January 8, 1856, she gave birth to twin sons on September 20. As best we can discern, she was never pregnant again.
It is likely that Charles and Susie did not have more children after 1856 because they could not. And the nature of Susie’s surgery in late 1868 or early 1869 by the famed gynecologist James Simpson, is a strong indicator that Susie was afflicted with female-related health challenges. Unlike modern times, proper women in Victorian days were not as open in sharing the nature of such afflictions.
Though Susie kept busy during the first twelve-years of her marriage, even traveling across the continent with Charles, by 1867 her activities decreased. From mid 1867 she seldom was able to attend church for much of the rest of her marriage. Her symptoms included seasons of debilitating full-body pain. That said, she worked when she could by sending books to poor pastors and by supporting Charles in his ministry.
“Charles and Susie weathered each storm by faith, prayer, commitment, and hope. ”
Tears Many, Trials Plenty
Diverse trials crashed on the Spurgeon home like waves pounding England’s coastline. Charles and Susie weathered each storm by faith, prayer, commitment, and hope.
In 1887, Charles warned against the downgrade he saw in evangelicalism. Old truths were watered down. Some taught post-mortem salvation. Others denied biblical inspiration. Some compromised doctrine for the sake of unity. Spurgeon sounded the alarm, but his warnings were unheeded by leaders in the Baptist Union. He resigned the Union and was eventually censured.
The Down-Grade Controversy was coupled by personal griefs which weakened Spurgeon. He wrote in June 1888: “Mrs. John Spurgeon, our mother, fell asleep in the morning of May 23, at Hastings. She rests from pain and weakness of many years, at the age of 73. May her beloved husband be sustained under this heavy trial! Pray for him.’”
Along with the controversy and the death of his mother, Susie was suffering even as Spurgeon’s own health deteriorated.
Spurgeon’s words during this time are most revealing. In 1888 he released his book The Cheque Book of the Bank of Faith. In this devotional treasure he teems with raw honesty about his struggles during the Down-Grade Controversy.
I have endured tribulation from many flails. Sharp bodily pain succeeded mental depression, and this was accompanied by both bereavement, and affliction in the person of one as dear as life. The waters rolled in continually, wave upon wave. I do not mention this to exact sympathy, but simply to let the reader see that I am no dry-land sailor. . .. Never were the promises of Jehovah so precious to me as at this hour. Some of them I never understood until now; I had not reached the date at which they matured, for I was not myself mature enough to perceive their meaning. How much more wonderful is the Bible to me now than it was a few months ago.
Controversy. Physical and emotional pain. Anxiety over Susie, “the one as dear as life.” All of these waters swept over him. Yet he clung to God’s promises, and one of the positive results of this is The Cheque Book of the Bank of Faith, an encouraging book for gathering hope when life seems bare.
“Charles and Susie’s spirituality served as the foundation that kept them buttressed amidst their many sufferings.”
Faith in the Face of Death’s Cold Stare
Susie believed that Charles’s relatively early death on January 31, 1892 was in large part due to a broken heart over the Down-Grade Controversy, along with a body infected by kidney disease and enslaved by gout and wearied emotions. Charles died in Mentone, Susie at his side. As his death approached, he mustered the energy to whisper to Susie, “Oh, wifie, I have had such a blessed time with my Lord!”
Eleven years later, October 22nd, 1903, Susie died. Among her last words were these from the book of Job: “Though he slay me, yet will I trust in him” (Job 13:15 KJV). She sang with the small group gathered in her room, “His love in times past forbids me to think, He’ll leave me at last in trouble to sink.” Near the very end she testified, “Blessed Jesus! Blessed Jesus! I see the King in his glory.”
Charles and Susie’s spirituality served as the foundation that kept them buttressed amidst their many sufferings. They prayed. They read their Bibles. They worshipped God. They sang. They labored in the Lord’s service. They loved one another well. They died with hope.
Charles and Susie faced death’s cold stare by praising God, and such is the way they approached every trial along the way. Their settled belief and practice is reflected in a quote that Susie kept near at hand. “In times of trouble the soul is greatly helped by cherishing great thoughts of God.” Such was their faith and practice.
Susie’s encouragement to readers of her books is still relevant. In challenging times: trauma, depression, and physical affliction, think deeply on the wonderful character of God.
Ray Rhodes, Jr. is author of Susie: The Life and Legacy of Susannah Spurgeon and Yours, till Heaven: The Untold Love Story of Charles and Susie Spurgeon, both from Moody Publishers. He is presently working on a new biography of Charles Spurgeon for B&H Academic, scheduled for a 2024 release. Ray serves as founding pastor of Grace Community Church of Dawsonville, GA and as president of Nourished in the Word Ministries. Ray holds theological degrees from New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary (MDiv) and Southern Baptist Theological Seminary (DMin). He is married to Lori and they are blessed with six daughters and six grandchildren.
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