A Rush of Interest

Thousands of lonely Australians rushed to hear Thomas Spurgeon. They welcomed him for his father's sake but loved him for his own. They showed him prized and tattered copies of his father's printed sermons which they had read, and re-read, in weary travels through the dry deserts and lonely forests of the Australian bush. Many of these British immigrants wept openly as memories of C. H. Spurgeon, and of England were revived. Tears flowed in heartfelt response to the evangelical Gospel proclaimed by another bearing the Spurgeon name and image. His preaching style was described as earnest, original, humorous, and forceful, and his language as animated and expressive as was his father's.

For Tom, bearing his father's name was somewhat of a handicap as well as privilege. But the young preacher wrote his father from Australia saying,

I do not think I am being lionized or idolized in the true sense of the term, The attention paid to me and the interest taken by the great majority is out of pure Christian love to the honored name of Spurgeon and the honored man who bears it.

Reaching A Nation

The young evangelist, barely into his twenty-first year, loved preaching to sheep shearers and outback residents of the Australian inland. He wrote home telling of battles with flies and mosquitos, and of the heat, the droughts and the floods. He told of broken wagon wheels and exhausting journeys, and of the joy of meeting many former London residents who were converts from his father's ministry, such as the engineer who drove the Southern and Western Railway over the ranges to Toowoomba in Queensland. He reported gatherings of great power among the settlers where he "enjoyed the songs of Zion and of Sankey," and spoke the word of the Gospel with great acceptance. He implored those at home to "pray for these lonely dwellers in the bush.

At a special open air service in South Australia he preached "by moonlight under the gum trees beneath a clear Australian sky" and his many months of itineration included rallies where many were unable to gain admittance.

Under his leadership many chapels and "manses" (pastoral residences) were established in Tasmania influencing one layman, W. Gibson, to give over 70,000 pounds for Baptist work in that island, including funds to bring out and support graduates from the London Pastors' College to minister there. He was counselor to many congregations and helped effect pastoral settlements right across the nation.

Faith In Providence

The impact of Thomas Spurgeon's life-long example of persistent faith in Providence far exceeds that of his pulpit ministries significant as those certainly are. Wrestling against illness, bereavement, incredible tensions created in the huge London congregation subsequent to his father's passing, and the destruction of that great Tabernacle by fire, Tom bore it all with radiant faith in the Sovereignty of God. That any son could succeed so great a father in such a prime pulpit is in itself a wonder. That one such as Tom could do it with such genuine humility and patient faith makes for a story "stranger than fiction" whose detail (now widely available for the first time) offers both challenge and encouragement for those of us who serve in some of the quieter corners of the Lord's vineyard.

1 C. H. Spurgeon (ed.) The Sword and Trowel (London, UK: Passmore and Alabaster, 1881) p.44.

2Cf. any of the major Spurgeon biographies. The latest (and most complete) is Drummond, Lewis, Spurgeon, Prince of Preachers (Grand Rapids, Mi.: Kregel Publications, 1992).

3His intriguing story also encompasses his sincere affection for a twelve-year old Australian girl, nine years his junior, and his patient wait for her to be his bride eleven years later.