Charles Spurgeon Was Depressed More Frequently Than Most

Charles Spurgeon the preacher — Charles Spurgeon Suffered significantly with his health. SRC: wikkimedia

Someone reading this needs to be reminded that Christians can get depressed. If that is you let me know in the comments and/or speak to someone you can trust. Charles Spurgeon, the renowned preacher, suffered with severe depression which he described as probably worse than anyone in his church. Would your pastor be too afraid to admit publicly if they were suffering in a similar way? Would your friend feel safe to confide in you with their struggles? Spurgeon’s sermon, “The Secret of Happiness,” highlights the joy found in the forgiveness of sins and God’s mercy, driving away the clouds of depression.

Nothing that follows should be read as implying that a Christian can’t get depressed. That idea is simply foolish, and Spurgeon himself featured many periods of time that he was enveloped in a cloud of depression so severe he could not function as despair gripped him. I wonder how many pastors today would dare to say, as he does in the quote below that they get more depressed than most of their congregations?

If that level of struggle with your emotions is all too familiar to you, allow him to share what he found to help him at those times. The quote I share below is talking about one of the four pillars of mental health. Which I will highlight briefly here. I call this the biopyschosocialspiritual model of mental health. Most secular practitioners do not address the crucial fourth leg of the stool, the spiritual. But if we only focus on one leg then a comfortable and safe stool will never be made!

Most of us who struggle with our emotions may need to take steps in terms of our physical or biological wellbeing which may include simply exercising more or in some cases taking medication such as antidepressants or to treat other physical health cases.
We may also need to address our own internal psychology. Here we are talking about harmful patterns of thinking or traumatic memories troubling our minds, and here counselling (and yes a Christian CAN see even a secular counsellor and have benefit), as well as certain types of self help books, or just talking to friends can be incredibly helpful.
Depression can also be helped by social interventions such as either taking a pause from overactivity and work, or increasing our sense of purpose by taking a more challenging role. Asking yourself if you are doing too much and causing excessive stress or too little leaving you struggling with a sense of a lack of purpose is crucial. We each have a capacity to work, socialise, and do things to help other people. But we also each need to learn to spend time with ourselves, perhaps pursuing creative hobbies. Relationships can be the cause of much joy but also of much pain.
Depression can also have spiritual roots. Seeking forgiveness from God, and both offering and receiving it to others can sometimes be the key that unlocks years of sturggling as a root of bitterness entwines our souls.

The following quote from Spurgeon’s sermon, The Secret of Happiness (No. 3,227) addresses the last of these four pillars very well Logos Bible Software’s new AI tool generated the following summary of this sermon:

“The sermon delivered by C. H. Spurgeon emphasizes the importance of finding true happiness through the forgiveness of sins. Spurgeon highlights that the pardon of sin brings genuine joy as it signifies divine favor, election, and a change in one’s relationship with God. He stresses that those whose sins are forgiven should be happy, as it is a fitting response to God’s mercy. Spurgeon encourages cultivating a spirit of cheerfulness rooted in the forgiveness of sins, which brings lasting joy even in the face of trials. He contrasts this with the lack of true happiness for those who remain unforgiven, urging them to seek forgiveness and find comfort in God’s mercy.” Logos Bible Software AI

Here is a quote from the sermon which highlights the joy forgiveness can bring.

“Ought we not to cultivate this blessed flower of true Scriptural happiness far more than we do? I find myself frequently depressed in spirit,—perhaps more so than any other person here, and I find no better cure for that depression than to trust in the Lord with all my heart, and seek to realize afresh the power of the peace-speaking blood of Jesus, and his infinite love in dying upon the cross to put away all my transgressions. As I gaze upon the incarnate God there made sin for me that I might be made the righteousness of God in him, streams of comfort flow into my soul from his many wounds. I could sit at Calvary, and weep; but I could not sit there without singing. It is strange, yet is it true that, in the hour of our greatest grief, we find comfort soonest in the place where grief reached its climax. Calvary was the very summit of sorrow for our dear Lord and Saviour, yet it is the death of sorrow to his people; and the cross, which caused him unspeakable agony, brings consolation and joy to all who put their trust in him. If we meditated more upon what Christ did to procure peace and pardon for us, we should more fully rejoice over the redemption that he bought for us when he gave “his life a ransom for many;” and if we more clearly realized what the pardon of sin really means, and how many other precious blessings are bound up in the same bundle with it, if we continually sought to live as pardoned men and women ought to live, we should find that nine out of ten of the things that depress us would be driven away, like clouds before a Biscay gale.

Spurgeon, C.H. (1910) “The Secret of Happiness,” in The Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit Sermons. London: Passmore & Alabaster, p. 595.