On September 20, 1856, Charles Spurgeon came home to an unexpected surprise – twin sons. Susannah had given birth on that Saturday morning to Charles and Thomas.
Spurgeon taught his sons to love the Bible. He also encouraged them to study the historic confessions of faith like the Westminster Catechism and the Second London Confession of 1689. To make sure his sons were grounded firmly in the gospel, Spurgeon waited until their eighteenth birthday to baptize them.
“I would have children taught all the great doctrines of truth without a solitary exception.”
Both Thomas and Charles followed in their father’s footsteps and became Christian ministers. Spurgeon was constantly surrounded by children from the orphanage. He edited a catechism for kids and also wrote a book entitled Come Ye Children.
Children brought out Spurgeon’s brightest and tenderest side. His biographers claimed Spurgeon himself was childlike in his faith and in his preaching. Even children could understand the lofty theological doctrines he incarnated in the pulpit.
“You do not thoroughly know any truth till you can put it before a child so that he can see it.”
Here are thirteen quotes by Spurgeon about raising Godly children.
1. “As soon as a child is capable of being lost, it is capable of being saved.”
2. “Whether we teach young Christians truth or not, the devil will be sure to teach them error.”
3. “Children will imitate their fathers in their vices, seldom in their repentance.”
4. “Some of the worst of men have been the children of godly parents.”
5. “If we never have headaches through rebuking our children, we shall have plenty of heartaches when they grow up.”
6. “We must not expect to see our children blessed unless we ourselves grow in grace.”
7. “What a blessing to have our children enlisted in Christ’s army!”
8. “If you want the eminent men in God’s Church, look for them amongst those converted in youth.”
9. “I hope we seldom bow the knee without praying for our children.”
10. “You cannot pray for your children if you do not pray for yourselves.”
11. “It is not your instruction that can save the souls of your children; it is the blessing of God the Holy Spirit accompanying your labours.”
12. “It is not very easy, I know, to preach Christ to little children, but there is nothing else worth preaching.”
13. “Give us the first seven years of a child, with God’s grace, and we may defy the world, the flesh, and the devil.”
Spurgeon’s Secret
Spurgeon knew how to raise Godly children because his parents and grandparents raised him to fear the Lord.
“Here, then, is the secret. You must impart to the young your own soul; you must feel as if the ruin of that child would be your own ruin.”
Speaking about his own family tree, Spurgeon said,
“O that the line may continue for years to come, till as long as generations are born there shall be one of our kith and kin to carry the standard and sound the trumpet and fight for the Lord of Israel.”
Today, the Spurgeon family continues to uphold their ancestor’s great legacy and love for reaching the world with the gospel of Jesus Christ.
Charles Spurgeon’s great, great, great grandchildren though Thomas Spurgeon’s lineage (from left to right): Jonah David Cochrane (7), Hannah Rachel Spurgeon (6), Lily Grace Cochrane (6), Juliet Anna Cochrane (5) and Ezra John Spurgeon Cochrane (2)
