Spurgeon Saturday: His Death
His "Final" Words
Yesterday marks the day Charles Spurgeon died: January 31, 1982.
While attempting to recover in Mentone, France, he was too ill to offer any “final words.” But a few days before his death, he did tell his close friend, personal secretary, a kind of armor-bearer, “My work is done.”
Ray Rhodes, a wonderful historian on Spurgeon, summarized three reasons why Spurgeon died at only 57 years old.
The Surrey Gardens Music Hall Disaster. This event—10,000 were gathered to hear him, someone yelled fire, and a stampede injured many and killed seven people—hobbled Spurgeon’s mind and body for the rest of his life. Today, he would be seen as a sufferer of PTSD. Spurgeon nearly resigned. I’ve held the letter he wrote to his mother about this event; the ink is blotted with his tears.
Poor Health. Gout, kidney problems, overworked, overweight, and severe depression all contributed to the decline of his health.
The Down-Grade Controversy. This doctrinal battle exhausted and injured Spurgeon in incalculabl…
