“An excellent wife, who can find? For her worth is far above jewels.” (Proverbs 31:10)
When a woman becomes the wife of a great man, and especially a world renowned minister, she has a difficult task and she will need all of the humbleness and strength of character she can get. Probably no finer example of selfless love and service can be found than Susannah Thompson Spurgeon.
As a tremendous helpmeet to her husband, Susannah often had to forget, to a certain extent, her own particular wishes and wants. This is not because she was a lesser person than her husband, or that her life was not as important as his, but because a popular man of God will also be giving up his own selfish desires in order to serve the Lord. Susannah’s husband was called to a special ministry, and neither did he seek to live as ordinary people did. Their time would be for the task that God had set before them.
In January 1856, Susannah Thompson (1832-1903) married Charles Haddon Spurgeon (1834-1892), probably the most famous preacher who
has ever lived. She knew what she was getting into when she married him. She felt it was her blessing to be the life partner of so great a man. She was thankful to God for the privilege to be able to serve alongside a man who touched millions of lives. Charles Spurgeon often had to travel and Susannah missed her husband, but was willing to make the sacrifice because she knew that God had called him to a special ministry.
He also missed her terribly as his frequent letters show. Husband and wife both sacrificed in order to bring God’s teaching to many thousands of people. He wrote of Susannah, that she was indeed “an angel of God” to him.
Susannah went from being a shy, modest young woman to a place of prominence, but she did not succumb to the temptation of being lifted up in pride. Instead, she met every circumstance that God brought into their lives with grace and piety. Though her husband was popular, he often had to bear abuse and slander. Susannah proved to be his strong port in the storms.
On September 20, 1856, Susannah gave birth to twin boys at their New Kent Road home. She remained weak for some time after the birth of her sons and, though she eventually recovered, she never again regained her full health. Much of Susannah’s life was spent suffering from physical ailments that kept her bedridden for weeks or months.
Although weak and ailing much of her adult life, Susannah brought up her two sons in Christian doctrine and she had the joy of seeing them both become Christians at an early age. Both of the boys acknowledged their godly mother’s influence in their lives when they became grown men.
In sickness and in health, good times or bad, Susannah supported her husband in all of his work. She took her vows seriously, and her frequent sicknesses did not stop her from pouring all of her effort and even much of her own finances into the work God had given them.
Because of her poor health, no one would have blamed her if she took it easy and did not make so many sacrifices. But her entire life was devoted to serving Christ. She is a shining example of what can be done, even by those who are weaker than others.
When it became known that there were large numbers of new, young ministers who could not afford many books for their libraries, Susannah took it upon herself to do something about it. She founded a Book Fund in order to supply them with theological books.
The Book Fund had a simple beginning, but God blessed Susannah’s efforts and over the years it grew from a few hundred works, many donated by caring clergymen, to over 10,000 volumes annually. With the addition of copies of her husband’s sermons, and other publications, there was a total of over 30,000 pieces of literature by 1885. In all, after twenty-seven years, there were 199,315 valuable theological works placed into the hands of ministers, preachers, and missionaries too poor to purchase them.
Besides supporting her husband in his work, raising and training her boys, and founding and maintaining the Book Fund, Susannah Spurgeon found time to write. In the last years of her life, she worked tirelessly on, “C.H. Spurgeon’s Autobiography, compiled from his Diary, Letters, and Records”. She had wonderful literary talent and the world can be grateful for her efforts. She also kept accounts of the work with the Book Fund and recorded those in two books – “Ten Years of My Life in the Service of the Book Fund” and “Ten Years After”. Her devotional works are also read and enjoyed by many. Several of these include: “A Cluster of Camphire; or, Words of Cheer and Comfort for Sick and Sorrowful Souls” and “A Basket of Summer Fruit”.
Susannah’s beloved husband died in 1892. Although she grieved, she knew that some time in the future she would join him in Heaven where there are no more partings. She allowed this thought to comfort her as she continued to work until her death. Several years after his death, in 1898, she wrote:
Ah! My husband, the blessed earthly ties which we welcomed so rapturously are dissolved now, and death has hidden thee from my mortal eyes; but not even death can divide thee from me or sever the love which united our hearts so closely. I feel it living and growing still, and I believe it will find its full and spiritual development only when we shall meet in the glory-land and worship together before the throne!
Susannah continued to give sacrificially of her time and money to the Book Fund in her remaining years. She not only kept the Book Fund going, but she had also continued to oversee the Pastors’ Aid Fund which she had founded to help poor ministers with other needs for their young families.
In the summer of 1903, Susannah had a severe attack of pneumonia which forced her to be bedridden from this time until her death. She waned for several months, slowly growing weaker and weaker. She had the comfort of her two sons who took turns visiting her daily to cheer her.
In October 1903, Susannah Spurgeon gave her parting blessing to her sons. Near the end, she clasped her hands together and exclaimed, “Blessed Jesus! Blessed Jesus! I can see the King in His Glory!” Then she went to be with her beloved husband and her Savior.
In his biography of Susannah Thompson Spurgeon, the author, Charles Ray, closes with these words:
If greatness is determined by the amount of good a person does in the world, if it is only another name for unselfish devotion in the service of others – and surely true greatness is all this – then (Mrs. C. H.) Susannah Spurgeon will go down in history as one of the greatest women of her time.
